Region access authorization in a virtual environment

• US 8,245,283 B2
• Filed: 03/03/2009
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dawson, Christopher J., Diluoffo, Vincenzo V., Hamilton, Rick A. II, Seaman, James W.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAW, YIN CHEN
• Application Number:
  US12/396,715
• Publication Number:
  US 20100229235A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,260 Days
• Field of Search: 726 2- 6, 715/706, 713155-156
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2109 Game systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/006 involving public key infrastructure [PKI] trust models network architecture or network communication protocol for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3265 using certificate chains, trees or paths; Hierarchical trust model

Abstract

The passage of avatars into and out of regions in a virtual universe is regulated through the use of secure communications between and among the avatar, an authority managing of the region and a trusted third party who maintains a database of avatar characteristics. Permission to move from one virtual region to another is determined based upon the avatar characteristics.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

regulating crossing, by an avatar, of a region boundary of a region in a virtual universe, the crossing of the region boundary comprising entering the region by the avatar or exiting the region by the avatar, the regulating comprising;

providing said avatar with a public key pair of indicia for secure communication with a region authority associated with said region, and for secure communication with a trusted third party, the region authority regulating access of the avatar to one or more regions in the virtual universe, and the trusted third party storing a persona profile of the avatar, protected with said public key pair, said persona profile comprising one or more attributes describing the avatar;

providing, by the avatar, credentials to the region authority, the credentials indicating permission of the region authority to obtain the persona profile from the trusted third party;

responsive to the region authority providing the credentials to the trusted third party, the trusted third party obtaining the persona profile and providing the persona profile to the region authority; and

determining by the region authority whether to deny permission of the avatar to cross the region boundary based on the one or more attributes of the persona profile provided by the trusted third party.

2. The method of claim 1 in which, responsive to the determining, permission of the avatar to cross the region boundary is denied.

3. The method of claim 2 in which the one or more attributes describe one or more items held by the avatar, and wherein said permission is denied since an item of the one or more items held by said avatar is found to preclude entry.

4. The method of claim 2 in which the one or more attributes describe one or more items contained in inventory associated with the avatar, and wherein said permission is denied since an item of the one or more items contained in the inventory is found to preclude entry.

5. The method of claim 2 in which the one or more attributes indicate that the avatar has no authority to enter the region, and wherein said permission is denied since said avatar has no authority to enter the region.

6. The method of claim 2 in which the one or more attributes indicate interactions with one or more other avatars, and wherein said permission is denied since said avatar has interacted with at least one other forbidden avatar.

7. The method of claim 2 in which the one or more attributes indicate behavioral history of the avatar, and wherein said permission is denied since said one or more attributes indicate violation of a behavioral rule by said avatar.

8. The method of claim 1 in which, responsive to the determining, permission of the avatar to cross the region boundary is granted.

9. The method of claim 1 in which in determining said permission, permission is denied since said avatar has acquired an object which is precluded from leaving the region.

10. The method of claim 1 further including providing, by the region authority, a time stamp for data exchanged with said trusted third party.

11. The method of claim 1 further including scanning, by the trusted third party, said persona profile for malicious code.

12. The method of claim 1 further including providing, by the trusted third party, said persona profile with information as to time associated with changes thereto and an identifier associated with a changing entity thereof.

13. The method of claim 1 in which permission is denied since said persona profile has expired.

14. The method of claim 1 further including granting permission of the avatar to cross the region boundary based on payment of a toll.

15. The method of claim 1 further including granting permission of the avatar to cross the region boundary based on the avatar providing an inventory item to be held as security.

16. The method of claim 1 in which permission is denied since said avatar does not possess a required visual format.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the region authority comprises one region authority of multiple region authorities of the virtual universe, and wherein said region authority is the only region authority of the multiple region authorities with access to said persona profile.

18. The method of claim 1 in which said public key pair is obtained under a certificate of authority.

19. A method comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure operable to regulate crossing, by an avatar, of a region boundary of a region in a virtual universe, the crossing of the region boundary comprising entering the region by the avatar or exiting the region by the avatar, wherein the regulating comprises;

providing said avatar with a public key pair of indicia for secure communication with a region authority associated with said region, and for secure communication with a trusted third party, the region authority regulating access of the avatar to one or more regions in the virtual universe, and the trusted third party

storing a persona profile of the avatar, protected with said public key pair, said persona profile comprising one or more attributes describing the avatar;

providing, by the avatar, credentials to the region authority, the credentials indicating permission of the region authority to obtain the persona profile from the trusted third party;

responsive to the region authority providing the credentials to the trusted third party, the trusted third party obtaining the persona profile and providing the persona profile to the region authority; and

determining by the region authority whether to deny permission of the avatar to cross a the region boundary based on the one or more attributes of the persona profile provided by the trusted third party.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing thereon program for execution by a processor to perform a method comprising:

regulating crossing, by an avatar, of a region boundary of a region in a virtual universe, the crossing of the region boundary comprising entering the region by the avatar or exiting the region by the avatar, the regulating comprising;

providing said avatar with a public key pair of indicia for secure communication with a region authority associated with said region, and for secure communication with a trusted third party, the region authority regulating access of the avatar to one or more regions in the virtual universe, and the trusted third party;

storing a persona profile of the avatar, protected with said public key pair, said persona profile comprising one or more attributes describing the avatar; and

providing, by the avatar, credentials to the region authority, the credentials indicating permission of the region authority to obtain the persona profile from the trusted third party;

responsive to the region authority providing the credentials to the trusted third party, the trusted third party obtaining the persona profile and providing the persona profile to the region authority; and

determining by the region authority whether to deny permission of the avatar to cross the region boundary based on the one or more attributes of the persona profile provided by the trusted third party.

21. A data processing system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor in communications with the memory, wherein the data processing system is configured to perform a method comprising;

regulating crossing, by an avatar, of a region boundary of a region in a virtual universe, the crossing of the region boundary comprising entering the region by the avatar or exiting the region by the avatar, the regulating comprising;

providing said avatar with a public key pair of indicia for secure communication with a region authority associated with said region and for secure communication with a trusted third party, the region authority regulating access of the avatar to one or more regions in the virtual universe, and the trusted third party storing a persona profile of the avatar, protected with said public key pair, said persona profile comprising one or more attributes describing the avatar;

providing, by the avatar, credentials to the region authority, the credentials indicating permission of the region authority to obtain the persona profile from the trusted third party;

responsive to the region authority providing the credentials to the trusted third party, the trusted third party obtaining the persona profile and providing the persona profile to the region authority; and

determining by the region authority whether to deny permission of the avatar to cross the region boundary based on the one or more attributes of the persona profile provided by the trusted third party.