Virtual Environment Web Content Integration via JavaScript Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current virtual environments lack effective integration with web content and applications, limiting user interaction and functionality, as web content is typically displayed separately and not influenced by the virtual environment, and vice versa.
Innovation Solution
A virtual environment is rendered in a web browser, allowing events in the 3D virtual environment to update web content and applications, and vice versa, through a JavaScript mapping component that captures and passes parameters to trigger events, enabling a hybrid application that combines the benefits of both environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If web content is displayed separately from the virtual environment, then web content accessibility is maintained, but integration and interactivity between web content and virtual environment is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the virtual environment and web content into a unified interface where web content is embedded within the virtual environment. The system combines the 3D virtual world with web browser functionality, allowing web pages, applications, and content to be displayed and interacted with directly within the virtual environment context, eliminating the need for separate display windows or tabs.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a multi-functional platform that simultaneously provides virtual environment experiences and web content access. The unified interface can display both 3D virtual elements and 2D web content, handle both virtual environment interactions and web browser operations, and support multiple application types (web pages, rich applications, lightweight applications) within a single interface.
2Ease of operation
If web content is embedded in the virtual environment, then user interaction is enhanced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mapping component as an intermediary layer between the virtual environment and web content. This mapping component translates virtual environment events into web content events and vice versa, handling the complexity of interaction translation internally while presenting a simplified unified interface to the user. The mapping component manages event capture, parameter passing, and cross-platform communication protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements bidirectional feedback mechanisms where events in the virtual environment trigger updates in web content, and events in web content trigger updates in the virtual environment. The mapping component continuously monitors and translates events between the two systems, creating a responsive feedback loop that enhances user interaction while managing system complexity through automated event translation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If events in virtual environment update web content, then functionality is enhanced, but data synchronization complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-defining event mappings between virtual environment events and web content events. The mapping component is configured in advance with correspondence rules that automatically translate specific virtual environment events into appropriate web content events. This preconfiguration reduces real-time synchronization complexity by establishing predetermined translation pathways for common event types.
Solution Approach 2:
The system manages data synchronization by translating and adapting parameters between the virtual environment and web content systems. The mapping component transforms event parameters, coordinates, and data formats to be compatible between the two different systems, handling parameter changes automatically based on the configured mappings rather than requiring complex real-time coordination.
4Ease of operation
If a unified interface is created, then user experience is improved, but development complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the unified interface into distinct functional layers: the virtual environment layer, the web content layer, and the mapping component layer. This segmentation allows developers to work on each layer independently while the mapping component handles the integration complexity. The modular architecture reduces development complexity by allowing separate development and testing of individual components before integration.
Data Source
AI summary
Interaction with web content in a web browser can control actions in an embedded virtual environment, and events in the virtual environment can be used to update content and applications running in the web browser. In one embodiment, particular events in the virtual environment are passed to a mapping component that listens for triggers and issues commands in the web browser. A JavaScript mapping component may be used to listen for the triggers, capture parameters associated with the trigger, lookup the trigger type in a mapping table, and call a mapped JavaScript function with the trigger parameters. In the reverse direction, if a JavaScript function call is entered in the web browser, the JavaScript function invokes a function exposed by a virtual environment plugin. The plug-in invokes an event within the virtual environment so that interaction with the web content can control actions in the virtual environment.