Method, system and apparatus of recording and playing back an experience in a virtual worlds system

Abstract

A recorded experience in a virtual worlds system may be played back by one or more servers instantiating a new instance of a scene using one or more processors of the one or more servers and playing back the recorded experience in the new instance by modeling objects of a recorded initial scene state of the recorded experience in the new instance and updating the recorded initial scene state based on subsequent recorded changes over a time period, a recorded experience file includes the recorded initial scene state and the subsequent recorded changes and is stored in one or more memories of the one or more servers. One or more client devices are in communication with the one or more servers to participate in the new instance.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of playing back a recorded experience in a virtual worlds system, comprising:
 instantiating, using one or more processors of a server, a new instance of a scene, the new instance being defined by data stored in memory, at least one client device displaying and participating in the new instance;   retrieving a recorded experience file from the memory, the recorded experience file having been generated by saving an initial scene state and saving subsequent changes and respective times during a time period of the recorded experience file;   creating a replay sequence by playing back the recorded experience file by rendering, for display by the at least one client device, objects of the initial scene state in the new instance, including at least a first avatar of a first user, and rendering updates to the initial scene state based on the subsequent changes over the time period;   a second avatar deployed within the replay sequence, the second avatar controlled by the first user and capable of interacting with the at least the first avatar.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first avatar is controlled using control inputs received when the recorded experience file was generated, and the second avatar controlled by the first user at a time of playback. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein an interaction between the first avatar and the second avatar is such that the first avatar is not affected by the interaction while the second avatar is affected by the interaction. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the interaction comprises the second avatar bumping against the first avatar, restricting movement of the second avatar through space occupied by the first avatar. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first avatar is controlled at least in part using control inputs received when the recorded experience file was generated, and the second avatar is controlled by the first user at a time of playback. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the first avatar is additionally controlled at least in part using control inputs by a computer. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the first avatar is controlled exclusively by control inputs previously received from a human during a recording of the recorded experience file. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second avatar is not subject to collisions with objects in the replay sequence. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein susceptibility of the second avatar to collisions with objects in the replay sequence is modified based on how crowded the replay sequence is. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a second user is present and controlling an avatar associated with the second user. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the avatars controlled during the replay sequence by at least the first user and the second user may interact with each other. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second avatar is invisible. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein only portions of the recorded experience are played back. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein alterations to an appearance of objects resulting from plug-in applications during the recording of the scene are recorded and utilized to modify the play back of the recorded experience file. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the new instance is empty of objects when initiated. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein objects of the new instance have a different degree of shading, color, clothing or different theme from objects of the recorded experience. 
     
     
         17 . A virtual worlds system for playing back a recorded experience, comprising:
 one or more servers instantiating a new instance of a scene using one or more processors, the new instance defined by data stored in memory, wherein the new instance comprises video inserted into the new instance of the scene, and playing back the recorded experience in the new instance by rendering for display objects of a recorded initial scene state of the recorded experience in the new instance and rendering updates to the recorded initial scene state based on subsequent recorded changes over a time period;   one or more client devices in communication with the one or more servers, the one or more client devices displaying and participating in the new instance, wherein private communications between users recorded as part of the recorded experience are made available for playback,   wherein an avatar controlled by a user and instantiated in conjunction with a replay of the scene is capable of interacting with at least one avatar from the recorded experience in the scene during the replay, and   wherein the at least one avatar is controlled at least in part by control inputs received from a human during the generation of the recorded experience file.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the private communications are played back only for users who were senders or receivers of the private communications at the time they were recorded. 
     
     
         19 . An apparatus for playing back a recorded experience in a virtual worlds system, comprising:
 one or more processors of a server system for instantiating a new instance of a scene and for communicating with one or more client devices participating in and displaying the new instance;   a memory of the server for storing one or more recorded experience files, the one or more recorded experience files having been generated by saving an initial scene state and saving subsequent changes and respective times during a time period of the recorded experience;   the one or more processors playing back the recorded experience files in the new instance by rendering, for display by the one or more client devices, objects of the initial scene state in the new instance and rendering updates to the initial scene state based on the subsequent changes over the time period;   at least one user operating at least one avatar that is present during playback of the recorded experience files;   wherein the at least one avatar was not present during recording of the recorded experience files;   the memory recording the actions that take place during the playback of the recorded experience files to a second recorded experience file;   the processor creating a combined playback scene by playing back the recorded experience files and the second recorded experience file in a manner that creates a scene that is a combination of the recorded experience files and the second recorded experience file; and   at least one user manifested as a second avatar interacting with the combined playback scene.   
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein interaction of the at least one user with the combined playback scene includes operation of an avatar by the at least one user not present when at least one of the recorded experience files was generated.