Dynamic event mechanism for objects with associational relationships

• US 6,049,805 A
• Filed: 02/24/1998
• Issued: 04/11/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Drucker, Steven M., Marple, Kirk J., Mitchell, Don P., Vellon, Manny
• Primary Examiner(s): Amsbury, Wayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): MIZRAHI, DIANE D
• Application Number:
  US09/028,544
• Time in Patent Office: 777 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/102, 379/68, 379/88.04, 379/88.22, 379/167, 379/201, 379/211, 709/229, 345/173, 345/302, 345/351, 455/445, 370/40, 340/313, 340/825.31, 714/11, 248/176.1, 600/300, 380/49, 434/38
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A dynamic or latebound event mechanism provides event mechanism operation according to associational relationships among objects. In addition, objects may be responsive to event notification methods that are not initially within the original object definition, thereby allowing the event notification methods to be inherited by objects dynamically during run-time. One implementation utilizes the associations Self, Contents, and Peer for objects representing entities in a virtual world environment. Event notifications methods are promulgated among the objects corresponding to the entities in a sequence based upon the associational relationships between the entities.

Claims

1. In a computer-readable medium having stored thereon software objects that have services including one or more methods and properties and that correspond to entities having corporeal relationships within a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

indications of associational relationships between the entities representing corporeal distinctions between the entities within the virtual world environment, the associational relationships between the entities including Self and Contents relationships and the associational relationships including an enveloping relationship for at least one of the objects in which relationship the object is enveloped by at least one enveloping entity; and

software instructions for promulgating event notification methods among the objects corresponding to the entities in a sequence based upon the associational relationships between the entities.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising software instructions for promulgating an event notification method to the object corresponding to the enveloped entity before event notification methods are promulgated to objects with other associational relationships.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 in which the enveloping entity corresponds to a region in the virtual world environment and the enveloping relationship corresponds to a Content relationship.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 in which the enveloping entity corresponds to an entity in the virtual world environment and the enveloping relationship corresponds to a Container relationship.

5. In a computer-readable medium having stored thereon software objects that have services including one or more methods and properties and that correspond to entities having corporeal relationships within a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

indications of associational relationships between the entities representing corporeal distinctions between the entities within the virtual world environment, the associational relationships between the entities including Self and Contents relationships;

software instructions for promulgating event notification methods among the objects corresponding to the entities in a sequence based upon the associational relationships between the entities; and

software instructions for firing an event with regard to one of the entities within the virtual world environment and designating the one of the entities with the Self relationship.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5 further comprising software instructions for promulgating an event notification method to the object corresponding to the Self entity after event notification methods are promulgated to objects of entities with enveloping relationships.

7. In a computer-readable medium having stored thereon software objects that have services including one or more methods and properties and that correspond to entities having corporeal relationships within a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

indications of associational relationships between the entities representing corporeal distinctions between the entities within the virtual world environment, the associational relationships between the entities including Self, Contents and Peer relationships; and

software instructions for promulgating event notification methods among the objects corresponding to the entities in a sequence based upon the associational relationships between the entities.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 further comprising software instructions for promulgating an event notification method to the object corresponding to the Self entity before event notification methods are promulgated to objects of entities with the Peer relationship.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 further comprising software instructions for promulgating event notification methods successively to the objects corresponding to the Self and Peer relationships.

10. In a computer-readable medium having stored thereon software objects that have services including one or more methods and properties and that correspond to entities having corporeal relationships within a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

indications of associational relationships between the entities representing corporeal distinctions between the entities within the virtual world environment;

indications of hierarchical relationships between the objects such that each object references or is referenced by another object;

software instructions for promulgating event notifications methods among the objects corresponding to the entities in a sequence based upon the associational relationships between the entities;

software instructions for determining in response to a call to an event notification method at a selected object whether the selected event notification method is available from the object;

software instructions for passing the call to a referenced object that is referenced by the selected object if the selected event notification method is unavailable at the selected object;

software instructions for determining in response to a call to the selected event notification method passed to a referenced object whether the selected service is available from the referenced object; and

software instructions for passing the call to successive other referenced objects if the selected event notification method is unavailable at one or more previously referenced objects.

11. In a computer-readable medium having stored thereon software objects that have services including one or more methods and properties and that correspond to entities having corporeal relationships within a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

indications of associational relationships between the entities representing corporeal distinctions between the entities within the virtual world environment, the associational relationships between the entities including Self and Contents relationships;

indications of hierarchical relationships between the objects such that each object references or is referenced by another object;

software instructions for promulgating event notifications methods among the objects corresponding to the entities in a sequence based upon the associational relationships between the entities;

software instructions for determining in response to a call to an event notification method at a selected object whether the selected event notification method is available from the object; and

software instructions for passing the call to a referenced object that is referenced by the selected object if the selected event notification method is unavailable at the selected object.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 further comprising software instructions for firing an event with regard to one of the entities within the virtual world environment and designating the one of the entities with the Self relationship.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12 further comprising software instructions for promulgating an event notification method to the object corresponding to the Self entity after event notification methods are promulgated to objects of entities with the Contents relationship.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 in which the indications of associational relationships between the entities include a Peer relationship.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising software instructions for promulgating an event notification method to the object corresponding to the Self entity before event notification methods are promulgated to objects of entities with the Peer relationship.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising software instructions for promulgating event notification methods successively to the objects corresponding to the Self and Peer relationships.

17. In an interfaced software object stored on a computer-readable medium and corresponding to one of plural entities in a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

an event notification method provided through the object according to an associational relationship between the one entity and the other entities, the one entity representing an acting entity in the virtual world environment with respect to which a given event arises and the one entity having a Self associational relationship to the occurrence of the event.

18. In an interfaced software object stored on a computer-readable medium and corresponding to one of plural entities in a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

an event notification method provided through the object according to an associational relationship between the one entity and the other entities, the one entity representing an area entity within which a given event arises and the one entity having a Room associational relationship to the occurrence of the event.

19. In an interfaced software object stored on a computer-readable medium and corresponding to one of plural entities in a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

an event notification method provided through the object according to an associational relationship between the one entity and the other entities, the one entity representing an entity in the virtual world environment area where a given event arises, the given event not arising with respect to the entity, and the one entity having a Peer associational relationship to the occurrence of the event.

20. In an interfaced software object stored on a computer-readable medium and corresponding to one of plural entities in a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

an event notification method provided through the object according to an associational relationship between the one entity and the other entities, the one entity representing an entity in the virtual world environment area where a given event arises, the given event not arising with respect to the entity, the entity including functionaility to contain another entity, and the one entity having a Container associational relationship to the occurrence of the event.

21. In an interfaced software object stored on a computer-readable medium and corresponding to one of plural entities in a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

an event notification method provided through the object according to an associational relationship between the one entity and the other entities, the event notification method being provided indirectly through the object.

22. The object of claim 21 in which the event notification method is provided indirectly through the object by a dynamic inheritance method.

23. In a computer system utilizing software objects that have services including one or more methods and properties and that correspond to entities having corporeal relationships within a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

providing indications of associational relationships between the entities representing corporeal distinctions between the entities within the virtual world environment, the associational relationships between the entities including Self and Contents relationships;

promulgating event notification methods among the objects corresponding to the entities in a sequence based upon the associational relationships between the entities; and

firing an event with regard to one of the entities within the virtual world environment and designating the one of the entities with the Self relationship.

24. The system of claim 23 further comprising promulgating an event notification method to the object corresponding to the Self entity after event notification methods are promulgated to objects of entities with the Contents relationship.

25. The system of claim 23 in which the indications of associational relationships between the entities include a Peer relationship.

26. The system of claim 25 further comprising promulgating an event notification method to the object corresponding to the Self entity before event notification methods are promulgated to objects of entities with the Peer relationship.

27. The system of claim 26 further comprising promulgating event notification methods successively to the objects corresponding to the Self and Peer relationships.

28. In a computer-readable medium having stored thereon software objects that have services including one or more methods and properties and that correspond to entities having corporeal relationships within a virtual world environment, the improvement comprising:

indications of associational relationships between the entities representing corporeal distinctions between the entities within the virtual world environment, the associational relationships between the entities including Container, Content, Peer, and Self relationships; and

software instructions for promulgating event notification methods among the objects corresponding to the entities in a sequence based upon the associational relationships between the entities.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 further comprising software instructions for promulgating an event notification method to objects corresponding to entities with the Container and Content relationships before event notification methods are promulgated to objects with other associational relationships.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29 further comprising software instructions for promulgating event notification methods successively to the objects corresponding to the Self and Peer relationships.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 28 further comprising software instructions for promulgating an event notification method to the object corresponding to the Self entity before event notification methods are promulgated to objects of entities with the Peer relationship.