Virtual Lobby Interface for Unified Multi-Account Inventory Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users with multiple virtual world accounts face the inconvenience of managing separate inventories and accessing different virtual world accounts through distinct interfaces, requiring individual login credentials and separate interfaces for each account.
Innovation Solution
A virtual lobby interface is introduced that allows users to access and manage multiple virtual world accounts and their inventories from a single interface, enabling automatic entry into various virtual world accounts and unified inventory management across different providers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users access each virtual world account through separate interfaces with individual login credentials, then each account can be securely managed independently, but the complexity of account management increases and user convenience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate virtual world account interfaces into a single unified virtual lobby interface. This lobby serves as a central hub that aggregates access to multiple virtual world accounts, allowing users to manage all accounts through one interface rather than switching between multiple separate login screens and interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual lobby interface is designed as a universal access point that can handle multiple different virtual world accounts simultaneously. It provides a single interface that performs the function of multiple account-specific interfaces, enabling users to access and manage different virtual worlds without needing separate dedicated interfaces for each account.
2Productivity
If users maintain multiple virtual world accounts with separate inventories, then each account can be independently managed, but the time required to manage inventories across accounts increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the inventory management functionality of multiple separate virtual world accounts into a single unified inventory view within the virtual lobby. Users can see and manage items from all their virtual world accounts in one consolidated interface, eliminating the need to separately access each account's inventory.
Solution Approach 2:
The system preliminarily aggregates all inventory data from multiple virtual world accounts when the user enters the virtual lobby. This pre-loading and consolidation of inventory information allows users to immediately access and manage all their items without needing to sequentially log into each account to retrieve inventory data.
3Ease of operation
If users separately log into each virtual world account through distinct interfaces, then account-specific features can be fully accessed, but the number of login operations required increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate login operations into a single unified login process. Users authenticate once to the virtual lobby, which then handles access to multiple virtual world accounts automatically, eliminating the need for repeated login sequences for each account.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtual lobby acts as an intermediary between the user and multiple virtual world accounts. It serves as a middle layer that manages authentication and account access, allowing users to interact with multiple virtual worlds through a single interface without directly logging into each account separately.
Data Source
AI summary
A virtual lobby client automatically interfaces with multiple virtual world instances, each provided by a separate virtual world provider from among multiple virtual world providers, each interfaced with to access a separate virtual world account, to retrieve a separate selection of inventory items from each virtual world account. The virtual lobby client renders an inventory directory index of each separate selection of inventory items within a single lobby interface with at least one selectable option for managing each of the items in the inventory directory from the single lobby interface. The virtual lobby client renders, within the single lobby interface, a separate graphical portal for each virtual account, wherein entry of each of the separate graphical portals triggers the virtual lobby client to automatically open a virtual world specific interface window into a particular virtual world instance provided under the particular virtual world account associated with the entered graphical portal.