DYNAMIC SPAWNING OF FOCAL POINT OBJECTS WITHIN A VIRTUAL UNIVERSE SYSTEM

• US 20090259946A1
• Filed: 04/15/2008
• Published: 10/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dawson, Christopher J., Hamilton, Rick A. II, Pickover, Clifford A., Moskowitz, Paul A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,214,751 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/747
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

In various embodiments, the density of a plurality of virtual universe avatars within a predetermined proximity from a designated focal point object in a virtual universe is determined. One or more auxiliary focal point objects associated with the designated focal point object are dynamically spawned within the virtual universe based on the determined density of the virtual universe avatars. Dynamic spawning of auxiliary focal point objects can reduce the load on virtual universe host servers and the corresponding client devices, and thus may improve performance of the virtual universe system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a density of virtual universe avatars within a predetermined proximity from a designated focal point object in a virtual universe, wherein the designated focal point object is associated with transmissions of information within the virtual universe; and

dynamically spawning one or more auxiliary focal point objects within the virtual universe based on the determined density of the virtual universe avatars, wherein the one or more auxiliary focal point objects are associated with the designated focal point object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said dynamically spawning comprises dynamically spawning one or more auxiliary focal point objects at different virtual universe locations than the designated focal point object.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said dynamically spawning comprises dynamically spawning a first auxiliary focal point object at a first virtual universe location within the virtual universe if the determined density of the virtual universe avatars is greater than a first predetermined density threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said dynamically spawning comprises dynamically spawning a second auxiliary focal point object at a second virtual universe location within the virtual universe if the determined density of the virtual universe avatars is greater than a second predetermined density threshold, wherein the second predetermined density threshold is greater than the first predetermined density threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the virtual universe locations of the one or more auxiliary focal point objects within the virtual universe.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the virtual universe locations of the one or more auxiliary focal point objects within the virtual universe based on at least one of load balancing between virtual universe servers, on-the-fly bidding, historical analysis of past placement of auxiliary focal point objects, and predicted migration patterns of the virtual universe avatars.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying at least a subset of the virtual universe avatars within a predetermined proximity from the designated focal point object of at least one virtual universe location having a dynamically spawned auxiliary focal point object.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting requests to at least a subset of the virtual universe avatars within a predetermined proximity from the designated focal point object requesting that the avatars relocate to a virtual universe location having a dynamically spawned auxiliary focal point object.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reading preference data associated with profiles of the virtual universe avatars within a predetermined proximity from the designated focal point object; and

teleporting a subset of the virtual universe avatars to a virtual universe location having a dynamically spawned auxiliary focal point object based on the preference data associated with profiles of the virtual universe avatars.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting information to a first plurality of virtual universe avatars located within the predetermined proximity from the designated focal point object of the virtual universe; and

transmitting the information to a second plurality of virtual universe avatars located within a predetermined proximity from a dynamically spawned auxiliary focal point object associated with the designated focal point object.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information comprises at least one of news, music, an advertisement, multimedia, a video feed, financial information, and entertainment information.

12. A method comprising:

determining a number of virtual universe avatars within a predetermined proximity from a designated focal point object in a virtual universe, wherein the designated focal point object is associated with transmissions of information within the virtual universe;

determining one or more loading conditions on a virtual universe host server supporting the designated focal point object in the virtual universe; and

dynamically spawning one or more auxiliary focal point objects within the virtual universe based, at least in part, on the determined number of virtual universe avatars and the determined one or more loading conditions on the virtual universe host server.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said dynamically spawning one or more auxiliary focal point objects within the virtual universe comprises dynamically spawning one or more auxiliary focal point objects if the determined number of virtual universe avatars is greater than a predetermined threshold and the determined one or more loading conditions on the virtual universe host server are greater than a predetermined overload threshold.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said dynamically spawning one or more auxiliary focal point objects within the virtual universe comprises dynamically spawning one or more auxiliary focal point objects at different virtual universe locations than the designated focal point object.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining the virtual universe locations of the one or more auxiliary focal point objects within the virtual universe based on at least one of load balancing between virtual universe servers, on-the-fly bidding, historical analysis of past placement of auxiliary focal point objects, and predicted migration patterns of virtual universe avatars.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting information to a first plurality of virtual universe avatars located within the predetermined proximity from the designated focal point object of the virtual universe; and

transmitting the information to a second plurality of virtual universe avatars located within a predetermined proximity from a dynamically spawned auxiliary focal point object associated with the designated focal point object.

17. One or more machine-readable storage media having stored therein a program product, which when executed by a set of one or more processor units causes the set of one or more processor units to perform operations that comprise:

determining a density of virtual universe avatars within a predetermined proximity from a designated focal point object in a virtual universe, wherein the designated focal point object is associated with transmissions of information within the virtual universe; and

dynamically spawning one or more auxiliary focal point objects within the virtual universe based on the determined density of virtual universe avatars, wherein the one or more auxiliary focal point objects are associated with the designated focal point object.

18. The machine-readable storage media of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise determining the virtual universe locations of the one or more auxiliary focal point objects within the virtual universe.

19. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processing units; and

a memory unit coupled to the one or more processing units, the memory unit having stored therein program instructions that are executable by the one or more processing units to;

determine a density of virtual universe avatars within a predetermined proximity from a designated focal point object in a virtual universe, wherein the designated focal point object is associated with transmissions of information within the virtual universe; and

dynamically spawn one or more auxiliary focal point objects within the virtual universe based on the determined density of virtual universe avatars, wherein the one or more auxiliary focal point objects are associated with the designated focal point object.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory unit further comprises program instructions that are executable by the one or more processing units to determine the virtual universe locations of the one or more auxiliary focal point objects within the virtual universe.