Patent Document ID: 9183560
Application ID: 13068942
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising on an electronic device providing standalone functions to a user at a location, on the electronic device, running a process, the process providing functions of a portal for a user of the electronic device to be present simultaneously in two or more different non-fictional alternate realities that are distinct from a non-fictional physical reality of the user, each of the alternate realities being shared by the user with at least one other user of another electronic device, the user being present in the two or more alternate realities persistently on one or more electronic devices, in one or more locations, and at one or more times, the process providing the portal functions by at least: recognizing that the user is present at the electronic device, in response to determining that the user is present at the electronic device, automatically using pre-stored access information to connect the electronic device to digital elements that include a set of real-time non-fictional representations of one or more other people and other digital elements, together constituting interactive versions through which the user can be present in each of the alternate realities, automatically configuring each set of real-time non-fictional representations of one or more other people and other digital elements in accordance with stored information to present a makeup of each interactive version at an earlier time so that the user can resume a presence in the alternate reality as it existed at the earlier time, the non-fictional alternate realities being dynamically constructed by real-time blending of blendable parts that include real-time live video of non-fictional people and digital elements that comprise places and other content, the blendable parts not being limited by a theme or concept of a game or of a third-party, presenting each of the dynamically constructed non-fictional alternate realities to the user on the electronic device as a blended scene of the blendable parts, the blended scene comprising any arbitrary selection and configuration of the blendable parts, the blended scene including at least two of the blendable parts, the blendable parts including blendable parts that comprise real-time live video of non-fictional people and digital elements that are drawn from blended scenes being presented to other users in their non-fictional realities, the elements that are blended to construct the non-fictional alternate realities being received at the location of the electronic device and from locations other than the location of the electronic device, including from capture devices operating at the location or other locations, the real-time blending including segmenting real-time video and other digital elements to obtain at least some of the blendable parts, obtaining information about size and other characteristics of at least some of the blendable parts that have been segmented from the real-time video and other digital elements, and combining the blendable parts in a presentable composite of a scene, including background and foreground parts, based at least in part on the sizes and other characteristics of the blendable parts, in response to a user's indications, adding to the set of real-time non-fictional representations, one or more real-time non-fictional representations of other people and other digital elements from another of one of the non-fictional alternate realities, or one or more non-fictional representations of one or more other people and other digital elements from other available non-fictional representations of other people and other digital elements, receiving the indications of the user selecting the non-fictional representations of one or more other people and other digital elements, and configurations of the non-fictional representations of one or more other people and digital elements, for the alternate realities, without constraining the representations and configurations based on a theme or concept imposed by a third party or a game, providing to the user of the electronic device a presence in each of the alternate realities that is either (a) an active presence in which the user is actively interacting with the alternate reality or (b) an inactive presence in which the user is not actively interacting with the alternate reality, in response to the user, switching manually or automatically between active presence and inactive presence in each of the alternate realities, causing the active or inactive presence of the user in each of the alternate realities to be made known to another user who shares that alternate reality, displaying to the user an indication of the active presence or inactive presence of each other user and the states of connections to digital elements in each of the alternate realities, storing information that identifies whether the user has an active presence or an inactive presence in each of the alternate realities, changing the makeup of the interactive version of each of the alternate realities dynamically in response to real-time interaction of the user or stored instructions of the user as the user interacts with the real-time non-fictional representations of one or more of the other people and digital elements, updating the stored information that identifies the makeup of the interactive version of the alternate reality and whether each user and each digital element has an active presence or an inactive presence in each of the alternate realities at least when the electronic device disconnects from the set of real-time non-fictional representations of one or more other people and other digital elements, and assuring that the user can run a portal process on one or more devices, at one or more locations, and at one or more times to continue a persistent active presence or inactive presence in each of the alternate realities.