Differential resource applications in virtual worlds based on payment and account options

• US 8,648,875 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2008
• Issued: 02/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Rick A. II, Harrison, Steven M., O'Connell, Brian M., Pickover, Clifford A., Walker, Keith R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Xiao, Ke
• Assistant Examiner(s): Imperial, Jed-Justin
• Application Number:
  US12/120,492
• Publication Number:
  US 20090284548A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,099 Days
• Field of Search: 345/619
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/22 Payment schemes or models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/005 General purpose rendering architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/16 involving adaptation to the client's capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/36 Level of detail
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/00 Image enhancement or restoration

Abstract

A system and method for enhancing the rendering of one or more objects based on payment and account options. The system comprises a computer infrastructure configured to control enhancement rendering of an object in a virtual universe by providing at least one augmentation attribute to a tag of the object. The method comprises providing enhancement rendering of an object in a virtual universe by augmenting the object based on a status of a user viewing the object.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a data storage device comprising a data structure of an object, the data structure comprising at least one tag to identify one or more levels of enhancement rendering;

an augmentation attribute database comprising at least one augmentation attribute that defines how the object is rendered, the at least one augmentation attribute being linked to at least one of the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering;

a tag interpreter configured to determine a total number of the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering that are available for the object;

a mechanism configured to allow a user to make a selection of at least one of the total number of the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering; and

a computer infrastructure configured to control the enhancement rendering of the object in a virtual universe by providing the at least one augmentation attribute to the at least one tag of the object based on the selection by the user and a user status related to one or more actions taken by a user within the virtual universe, the user status comprising how much money the user has spent in the virtual universe.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one augmentation attribute represents at least one of a geometric detail, a rendering method, a color palette, and a refresh rate.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one augmentation attribute comprises multiple levels of enhancement rendering.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer infrastructure is further configured to provide a metadata field for the object which contains instructions describing the enhancement rendering.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the tag interpreter is further configured to interrogate metadata of the object to ascertain whether a virtual universe server must modify its methods to enhance a presentation of the object.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a pass through tag identifier that is configured to determine whether an enhancement download to a remote client is required.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a selectable context menu providing the mechanism for a client to request the enhancement rendering at a remote location from a virtual universe server.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering is selective to a subset of objects.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one augmentation attribute corresponds to the user status or a payment level.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the object is comprised of one or more smaller objects structured and arranged to be rearranged, resized, rotated, twisted, tapered, dimpled, and/or linked by one or more levels of the enhancement rendering.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer infrastructure resides on a virtual universe server which is at least one of maintained, deployed, created and supported by a service provider.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering is provided on a fee and/or subscription basis.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer infrastructure is further configured to:

provide one or more discounted rates for the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering of the object to the user based on the user status; and

provide a fee for the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering of the object to the user based on an original level of enhancement rendering of the object for the user.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one augmentation attributes is associated with at least one augmentation attribute ID and the at least one augmentation attribute is stored in the at least one tag according to the at least one augmentation attribute ID.

15. A method comprising:

determining whether one or more levels of enhancement rendering is to be applied to an object, the object comprising metadata to identify the one or more levels of enhancement rendering;

determining whether the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering from a context menu has been selected;

interrogating the metadata to determine whether a modification of the object is needed;

determining a status of a user; and

providing at least one augmentation attribute included in the metadata of the object, that defines how the object is rendered from an augmentation attribute database corresponding to the determined modification of the object needed,

wherein the at least one augmentation attribute is linked to at least one of the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering of the object in a virtual universe based on the status of the user viewing the object, the status of the user being related to one or more actions taken by the user within the virtual universe, and the status of the user comprising how many interactions the user has had in the virtual universe within a predetermined time period and how much money the user has spent in the virtual universe.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising modifying the object when the user accesses another level of the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising adjusting computational resources to accommodate for utilization of the augmenting.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the augmenting the object includes at least one of increasing:

a refresh rate of the object;

a geometric detail of the object;

a rendering method; and

a color palette.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising allowing one or more users temporary access to the at least one augmentation attribute, which provides the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining whether the at least one augmentation attribute associated with the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering is required to be sent to the user.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the steps of claim 15 are implemented on a computer infrastructure maintained, deployed, created and supported by a service provider on one of a fee and/or subscription basis.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

providing one or more discounted rates for the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering of the object to the user based on the status of the user; and

providing a fee for the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering of the object to the user based on an original level of enhancement rendering of the object for the user.

23. A method for deploying an application for augmenting user experiences, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

detect a request to augment one or more objects from one or more users within a virtual universe, the one or more objects comprising metadata to identify one or more levels of enhancement rendering, wherein an augmentation attribute database comprising at least one augmentation attribute that defines how the one or more objects is rendered, the at least one augmentation attribute being linked to the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering;

determine a total number of the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering that are available for the one or more objects;

determine whether the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering from a context menu has been selected;

interrogate the metadata to determine whether a modification of the one or more objects is needed; and

transmit the at least one augmentation attribute, included in the metadata of the one or more objects, that corresponds to the determined modification of the one or more objects needed when a user within the virtual universe permits the one or more users to have the at least one augmentation attribute, and based on a user status related to one or more actions taken by the one or more users within the virtual universe, the user status comprising how much money the one or more users have spent in the virtual universe.

24. The method for deploying an application for augmenting user experiences of claim 23, wherein the request to augment the one or more objects includes at least one of altering:

a refresh rate of the object;

a geometric detail of the object;

a rendering method; and

a color palette.

25. The method for deploying an application for augmenting user experiences of claim 23, wherein the request to augment the one or more objects is triggered by a payment or a change in a user status.

26. The method for deploying an application for augmenting user experiences of claim 23, wherein the one or more objects have more than one level of enhancement rendering.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the computer infrastructure is further operable to:

transmit the at least one augmentation attribute when the user within the virtual universe permits the one or more users to have the at least one augmentation attribute and the one or more users is within a predetermined distance of the one or more objects;

provide one or more discounted rates for the at least one augmentation attribute to the one or more users based on the user status, and the user status comprising how frequently the one or more users enter the virtual universe, how many interactions the one or more users have had in the virtual universe within a predetermined time period, and how much money the one or more users have spent in the virtual universe; and

provide a fee for the at least one augmentation attribute to the one or more users based on an original level of augmenting of the one or more objects for the one or more users.

28. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, wherein the computer program product includes at least one component operable to:

determine a total number of one or more levels of enhancement rendering that are available for an object in a virtual universe, the object comprising metadata to identify the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering;

allowing a user to make a selection of at least one of the total number of the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering;

ascertain a user status and a payment level, the user status being related to one or more actions taken by the user within the virtual universe, and the user status comprising how many interactions the user has had in the virtual universe within a predetermined time period and how much money the user has spent in the virtual universe;

permit the user access to an augmentation attribute based on the user status and the payment level; and

augment the object by providing the augmentation attribute included in the metadata of the object, that defines how the object is rendered from an augmentation attribute database,

wherein the augmentation attribute is linked to the at least one of the total number of the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering to the object.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the at least one component is further operable to:

provide one or more discounted rates for the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering of the object to the user based on the user status; and

provide a fee for the one or more levels of the enhancement rendering of the object to the user based on an original level of enhancement rendering of the object for the user.