US Patent 10366514 Locating communicants in a multi-location virtual communications environment

In a network communications environment supporting realtime communications between respective network nodes of a user and other communicants in virtual areas each of which is associated with its own respective set of communicant members, a graphical user interface is provided in connection with the user's network node. The graphical user interface includes controls for establishing presence in respective ones of the virtual areas, managing realtime communications with other communicants in respective ones of the virtual areas, and presenting different views of communicants associated with the network communications environment. Based on user input in connection with the graphical user interface, a presence is established for the user in a selected one of the virtual areas, realtime communications are administered between the user and one or more communicants who are present in the selected virtual area, and a visualization that shows graphical representations, locations of presence, and realtime activities of communicants across respective ones of the virtual areas is displayed.