Creating a virtual universe data feed and distributing the data feed beyond the virtual universe

• US 8,458,352 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2008
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Rick A. II, Kozloski, James R., O'Connell, Brian M., Pickover, Clifford A., Walker, Keith R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Winder, Patrice
• Assistant Examiner(s): WIDHALM, ANGELA M
• Application Number:
  US12/120,625
• Publication Number:
  US 20090287758A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,847 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5506 using advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/575 for trading virtual items
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Business transactions are becoming more prevalent in virtual universes. Functionality can be implemented within a VU to allow syndication of data feeds to subscribers outside the VU. Feeds collect and serve data from one or more VU objects and locations based on changes made to the VU either by the VU itself, or by avatars in the VU. A location in a virtual universe can be an area defined by at least three coordinates, as an example. Data feeds from a VU can be used to create a VU application with and/or using the data feeds, to derive data from the data feeds, to monitor use of objects or space and billing for such use based on the data feeds, etc.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a computer system receiving data collected by a virtual universe server collecting data from a plurality of virtual universe objects collectively designated as a data source in the virtual universe for a data feed, wherein the plurality of virtual universe objects comprise a building in the virtual universe, and wherein the plurality of virtual universe objects comprise a first virtual universe object that contains one or more additional virtual universe objects;

the computer system aggregating the data collected by the virtual universe server into the data feed, wherein the data comprises data defining an interaction between the plurality of virtual universe objects and a plurality of avatars, wherein the interaction comprises at least one of a number of sales, a number of the plurality of avatars in the building, and demographics of the number of the plurality of avatars in the building; and

the computer system distributing the data feed to one or more feed readers external to the virtual universe at a defined time interval, and distributing the data feed as a continuous stream of updates to a subset of the one or more feed readers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data collected comprises graphical data about the plurality of virtual universe objects collected in accordance with one or more parameters that indicate at least one of a resolution level, an area limitation that limits a scene to be rendered, a number of avatars to depict, how to render any avatars in a scene corresponding to the plurality of virtual universe objects, and how to render the plurality of virtual universe objects.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer system aggregating the data collected by the virtual universe server from the plurality of virtual universe objects comprises accumulating the data collected by the virtual universe server over a span of time and deriving statistical data from the data collected by the virtual universe server from the plurality of virtual universe objects.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the computer system generating graph data that represent one or more correlations between the statistical data and avatar activity over the span of time, wherein the data feed comprises the graph data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

before the distributing the data feed, formatting the data collected by the virtual universe server;

wherein the formatting comprises separating the data collected by the virtual universe server based on data types into different fields.

6. A computer program product for distributing a virtual universe data feed beyond a virtual universe, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive data collected over a span of time from a plurality of virtual universe objects collectively designated as a data source for a data feed within a virtual universe, wherein the plurality of virtual universe objects comprise a building in the virtual universe, wherein the data comprises data defining an interaction between the plurality of virtual universe objects and a plurality of avatars, and wherein the interaction comprises at least one of a number of sales, a number of the plurality of avatars in the building, and demographics of the number of the plurality of avatars in the building;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to derive statistical data from the data collected over the span of time; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to distribute the statistical data to one or more feed readers external to the virtual universe at a defined time interval, and distributing the statistical data as a continuous stream of updates to a subset of the one or more feed readers.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to generate graph data of one or more correlations between the statistical data and avatar activity over the span of time; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to distribute the graph data to the one or more feed readers.

8. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to format the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects prior to distributing the data feed;

wherein the program instructions to format the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects prior to distributing the data feed separate the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects based on data types into different fields.

9. A computer system for distributing a virtual universe data feed beyond a virtual universe, the computer system comprising:

a set of one or more processing units;

a network interface;

one or more computer-readable memories and one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive data collected from a plurality of virtual universe objects collectively designated as a data source in a virtual universe for a data feed, wherein the plurality of virtual universe objects comprise a building in the virtual universe;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to aggregate the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects into the data feed, wherein the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects comprises data defining an interaction between the plurality of virtual universe objects and a plurality of avatars, and wherein the interaction comprises at least one of a number of sales, a number of the plurality of avatars in the building, and demographics of the number of the plurality of avatars in the building; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to distribute the data feed to one or more feed readers external to the virtual universe at a defined time interval, and distributing the data feed as a continuous stream of updates to a subset of the one or more feed readers;

wherein the program instructions to aggregate the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects into the data feed accumulate the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects over a span of time and derive statistical data from the data accumulated from the plurality of virtual universe objects.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects comprises graphical data about the plurality of virtual universe objects collected in accordance with one or more parameters that indicate at least one of a resolution level, an area limitation that limits a scene to be rendered, a number of avatars to depict, substitute objects to render for any avatars in a scene corresponding to the plurality of virtual universe objects, and rendering limitations on the plurality of virtual universe objects.

11. The computer system of claim 9, wherein said program instructions to aggregate the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects accumulate the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects over a span of time and derive statistical data from the data accumulated over the span of time.

12. The computer system of claim 9, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to format the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects, prior to distributing the data feed;

wherein the program instructions to format the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects prior to distributing the data feed separate the data collected from the plurality of virtual universe objects based on data types into different fields.