Virtual Area Communications

Abstract

A virtual area has a spatial visualization and includes zones that are associated with respective geometric boundaries located in relation to the spatial visualization. Realtime data stream connections between sources and sinks of network nodes in the zones of the virtual area are administered to provide a wide variety of virtual area applications, including virtual area applications that implement spatial rules for one or more synchronous conferencing services (e.g., instant messaging, such as text chat, audio conferencing, video conferencing, application sharing, and file sharing).

1 - 91 . (canceled) 
     
     
         92 . A method, comprising:
 administering one or more real-time data stream connections between network nodes in a virtual area comprising zones and having a spatial visualization, wherein each of the network nodes respectively has at least one of a source and a sink of one or more data types and is associated with a respective object in a respective one of the zones of the virtual area, each of the zones is associated with a respective geometric boundary located in relation to the spatial visualization of the virtual area, and the administering comprises administering connections between sources of ones of the network nodes associated with respective objects in a first one of the zones and outside a second one of the zones and sinks of respective ones of the network nodes associated with respective objects in the second zone and outside the first zone.   
     
     
         93 . A method, comprising:
 managing communications between network nodes in a virtual area comprising a first zone and a second zone and having a spatial visualization, wherein each of the network nodes has at least one of a source and a sink of one or more data types and is associated with a respective object in the virtual area;   locating the objects in respective ones of the zones of the virtual area based on requests received from the network nodes; and   providing to respective ones of the network nodes a respective specification of the virtual area and state information locating graphical representations of the objects in the spatial visualization according to the zones in which the objects are located;   allowing network nodes associated with respective objects in a first one of the zones to communicate realtime data of a respective one of the data types to network nodes associated with respective objects in a second one of the zones; and   disallowing network nodes associated with respective objects in the second zone to communicate realtime data of the respective data type to network nodes associated with respective objects in the first zone.   
     
     
         94 . A method, comprising:
 managing communications between network nodes in a virtual area having a spatial visualization of a support center, wherein each of the network nodes has at least one of a source and a sink of one or more data types and is associated with a respective object in the virtual area, and the virtual area comprises a first zone associated with a visualization of a first support area and a second zone associated with a visualization of a second support area;   locating the objects in respective ones of the zones of the virtual area based on requests received from the network nodes; and   providing to respective ones of the network nodes a respective specification of the virtual area and state information locating graphical representations of the objects in the spatial visualization according to the zones in which the objects are located; and   allowing network nodes associated with respective objects in the first zone to communicate realtime data of a first specified one of the data types with each other, network nodes associated with respective objects in the second zone to communicate realtime data of a second specified one of the data types with each other, and network nodes associated with respective objects in the first zone to communicate realtime data of a third specified one of the data types to network nodes associated with respective objects in the second zone.   
     
     
         95 . A method, comprising:
 managing communications between network nodes in a virtual communication environment comprising virtual areas including at least one incident response virtual area, wherein each of the network nodes has at least one of a source and a sink of one or more data types and is associated with a respective object in a respective one of the virtual areas, the virtual areas comprise respective sets of zones and have respective spatial visualizations that are associated with a navigation bar that comprises links for navigating to respective ones of the virtual areas and a respective visual incident status indicator for each incident response virtual area;   locating the objects in respective ones of the zones of the virtual areas based on requests received from the network nodes;   for each incident response virtual area, determining a current status of an incident associated with the incident response virtual area; and   providing to respective ones of the network nodes specifications of the virtual  30  areas, locations of the objects in the zones of the virtual areas, and for each incident response virtual area a respective visual status indicator corresponding to the current status determined for the associated incident.   
     
     
         96 . A method, comprising:
 administering one or more real-time data stream connections between network nodes in a virtual area comprising zones arranged in spatial layout according to a directed graph of tasks defining a workflow, wherein the zones are associated with respective sets of one or more of the tasks and arranged in the spatial layout in a sequence that tracks locations of the associated tasks in the directed graph, ones of the network nodes are associated with respective objects in respective ones of the zones, each of the objects is associated with at least one of a source and a sink of one or more data stream types, and the administering is based on the respective sources and sinks associated with the objects and the respective zones in which the objects are located.   
     
     
         97 . A method, comprising by a client network node:
 displaying a graphical representation of a virtual area comprising zones arranged in spatial layout according to a directed graph of tasks defining a workflow, wherein the zones are associated with respective sets of one or more of the tasks and arranged in the spatial layout in a sequence that tracks locations of the associated tasks in the directed graph, each set of tasks is associated with a respective set of communicants assigned to process respective cases through respective ones of the tasks in the set, ones of the network nodes are associated with respective objects in respective ones of the zones, each of the objects is associated with at least one of a source and a sink of one or more data stream types;   establishing a presence of the client network node in a selected one of the zones;   administering one or more real-time data stream connections between respective ones of the sources and sinks of the client network node and complementary ones of the sources and sinks of other ones of the network nodes in the selected zone;   in connection with a respective object in the selected zone, presenting a graphical representation of the associations between respective ones of the cases associated with the selected zone and the communicants assign ed to those cases.   
     
     
         98 . A method, comprising:
 administering one or more real-time data stream connections between network nodes in a virtual area comprising zones arranged in a spatial layout according to a structured workflow of successive steps, wherein adjacent zones in the spatial layout are respectively designated for supporting realtime communications between ones of the network nodes in connection with successive ones of the steps of the structured workflow, and the administering is based on sources and sinks respectively associated with the network nodes and the respective zones in which the network nodes are present.   
     
     
         99 . A method, comprising:
 based on a directed graph of tasks defining a workflow, associating sets of one or more tasks with respective zones of a virtual area;   determining a spatial layout of the zones in which the zones are arranged in a spatial sequence that tracks locations of the associated tasks in the directed graph;   associating one or more switching rules with respective ones of the zones of the virtual area, wherein each of the switching rules defines a respective connection between sources of a respective real-time data stream type and sinks of the real-time data stream type in terms of positions in the virtual area; and   storing a specification of the virtual area comprising definitions of the spatial layout of the zones and the one or more switching rules.