Smart virtual objects of a virtual universe independently select display quality adjustment settings to conserve energy consumption of resources supporting the virtual universe

• US 8,127,297 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Rick A. II, Moskowitz, Paul A., O'Connell, Brian M., Pickover, Clifford A., Seaman, James W.
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhao, Bing
• Application Number:
  US11/932,319
• Publication Number:
  US 20090113421A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,581 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Described herein are processes and devices that use smart objects in a virtual universe to conserve computing resources. One of the devices described is a virtual resource conserver. The virtual resource conserver reads data that indicates that a resource conservation setting is to be selected for a virtual object in a virtual universe. The virtual resource conserver selects the resource conservation setting for the displayed virtual object. The resource conservation setting comprises data that describes a displayable characteristic about the virtual object, which can be reduced in display quality. The virtual resource conserver reduces the display quality of the virtual object in accordance with the selected resource conservation setting, thus conserving computing resources.

Claims

1. A method for conserving resource consumption by a virtual universe comprising the steps of:

each of a plurality of virtual objects of the virtual universe detecting an indication to reduce the resource consumption by one or more degrees of resource reduction required for a computing resource that supports the virtual universe;

a first virtual object of the plurality of virtual objects selecting a resource conservation setting encoded in the first virtual object in response to said detecting the indication to reduce the resource consumption, wherein said resource conservation setting for the first virtual object indicates a displayable characteristic of the first virtual object;

the first virtual object calling at least a portion of first instructions referenced by the resource conservation setting encoded in the first virtual object, the first virtual object calling the at least a portion of the first instructions according to the one or more degrees of resource reduction required for the computing resource in response to selecting the resource conservation setting encoded in the first virtual object, wherein execution of the at least a portion of the first instructions, when the first virtual object is rendered, reduces display quality for the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object to one or more first degrees of reduction that correspond to the one or more degrees of resource reduction required by the computing resource, and wherein execution of the at least a portion of the first instructions causes consumption of less of the computing resource for the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object than a current setting of the first virtual object for the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object;

a second virtual object of the plurality of virtual objects selecting a resource conservation setting encoded in the second virtual object in response to said detecting the indication to reduce the resource consumption, wherein said resource conservation setting encoded in the second virtual object indicates a displayable characteristic of the second virtual object that is different from the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object; and

the second virtual object calling at least a portion of second instructions referenced by the resource conservation setting encoded in the second virtual object, the second virtual object calling the at least a portion of the second instructions according to the one or more degrees of resource reduction required for the computing resource in response to selecting the resource setting encoded in the second virtual object, wherein execution of the at least a portion of the second instructions, when the second virtual object is rendered, reduces display quality for the displayable characteristic of the second virtual object to one or more second degrees of reduction that corresponds to the one or more degrees of resource reduction required by the computing resource, and wherein execution of the at least a portion of the second instructions causes consumption of less of the computing resource for the displayable characteristic of the second virtual object than a current setting of the second virtual object for the displayable characteristic of the second virtual object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein execution of the at least a portion of the first instructions and execution of the at least a portion of the second instructions reduces usage of the computing resource via one or more of turning off the computing resource, reducing a rate of computer processor cycles of the computing resource, reducing a rate of data transfer to or from the computing resource, and reducing a rate of memory access by the computing resource.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the at least a portion of the first instructions and the at least a portion of the second instructions is configured to one or more of reduce a number of triangles devoted to render object structure, reduce object movements, reduce a display of object physical characteristics, reduce processing of one or more scripts that relate to object display, reduce an object sparkle effect, reduce an amount of object luminosity, and modify object locations inside the virtual universe.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the each of the plurality of virtual objects detecting the indication to reduce the resource consumption by the virtual universe comprises one or more of detecting an over usage of the computing resource, detecting an occurrence of a busy period in the virtual universe, detecting a performance degradation in the at least a portion of the virtual universe, detecting an occurrence of an error of the computing resource, detecting a hardware component failure of the computing resource, detecting a memory over usage of the computing resource, detecting a clock cycle maximization of the computing resource, detecting a bandwidth diminishment of data for the computing resource, and detecting that the computing resource is being used inefficiently.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

a computer determining that one or more of the first virtual object and the second virtual object belongs to an avatar associated with a virtual universe user account;

the computer determining that the virtual universe user account indicates permission for reduction of display quality of one or more of the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object and the displayable characteristic of the second virtual object; and

the computer providing a reward to the virtual universe user account in response to the reduction of the display quality of one or more of the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object and the displayable characteristic of the second virtual object.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

the first virtual object determining that a usage of the computing resource rises above a specific usage level;

after execution of the at least a portion of the plurality of first instructions, the first virtual object determining that usage of the computing resource remains above the specific usage level; and

the first virtual object calling an additional portion of the plurality of first instructions for execution until the usage of the computing resource falls below the specific usage level.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of first instructions are different from the plurality of second instructions.

8. A computer system for conserving resource consumption by a virtual universe, the computer system comprising:

one or more processors, one or more machine-readable memories and one or more machine-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 detect an indication that a computing resource on a client exceeds a usage level, for presentation of the virtual universe, by one or more usage level degrees;

program instructions to generate, in response to detection of the indication, a first reference to a first resource conservation setting encoded in a first virtual object of a plurality of virtual objects of the virtual universe, wherein said first resource conservation setting comprises first display quality reduction;

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 communicate to the client the first reference to the first resource conservation setting for rendering of the first virtual object in accordance with the first resource conservation setting, wherein the first display quality reduction instructions, when executed for rendering of the first virtual object, reduce a display quality of a displayable characteristic of the first virtual object by one or more first display quality reduction degrees that correspond to a first portion of the one or more usage level degrees by which the computing resource exceeds the usage level to use less of the computing resource for rendering the first virtual object than when the first virtual object is rendered with a default setting for the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object;

program instructions to generate, in response to detection of the indication, a second reference to a second resource conservation setting encoded in a second virtual object of the plurality of virtual objects, wherein said second resource conservation setting comprises second display quality reduction instructions;

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 communicate to the client the second reference to the second resource conservation setting for rendering of the second virtual object in accordance with the second resource conservation setting, wherein the second display quality reduction instructions, when executed for rendering of the second virtual object, reduce a display quality of a displayable characteristic of the second virtual object by one or more second display quality reduction degrees, differently from the one or more first display quality reduction degrees, that correspond to a second portion of the one or more usage level degrees by which the computing resource exceeds the usage level to use less of the computing resource for rendering the second virtual object than when the second virtual object is rendered with a default setting for the displayable characteristic of the second virtual object.

9. The system of claim 8 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 provide a reward to one or more of a virtual universe user account and an avatar that authorizes usage of one or more of the first display quality reduction instructions and the second display quality reduction instructions.

10. The system of claim 8 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 configure the first display quality reduction instructions of the first resource conservation setting to gradually reduce the display quality of the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object.

11. The system of claim 8 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 configure the first virtual object with a category; 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 configure the first virtual object to call the display quality reduction instructions in response to detection that the first virtual object is of the category.

12. The system of claim 8 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 configure the first virtual object to call one or more levels of the first display reduction instructions proportional to the one or more usage level degrees to which the computing resource exceeds the usage level.

13. A computer program product for conserving resource consumption by a virtual universe, the computer program product comprising:

one or more machine-readable, tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices and encoded in a first virtual object of the virtual universe, to detect a conservation indication that a computing resource that supports the virtual universe exceeds a usage level by one or more usage level degrees;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices and encoded in a second virtual object to detect the conservation indication concurrently and independently of the program instructions encoded in the first virtual object;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices and encoded in the first virtual object, to select a first resource conservation setting encoded in the first virtual object, in response to detection of the conservation indication, wherein said first resource conservation setting comprises first display quality reduction instructions that, when executed for rendering of the first virtual object, reduce a display quality of a displayable characteristic of the first virtual object to a first degree of display quality reduction that corresponds to a first portion of the degree of the usage level exceeded by the computing resource, said first quality reduction instructions to cause less usage of the computing resource for the rendering of the first virtual object than when the first virtual object is rendered with a default setting for the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices and encoded in the first virtual object, to communicate the first resource conservation setting to a virtual universe rendering process for the rendering of the first virtual object in accordance with the first resource conservation setting

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices and encoded in the second virtual object, to select a second resource conservation setting encoded in the second virtual object, in response to detection of the conservation indication, wherein said second resource conservation setting comprises second display quality reduction instructions that, when executed for rendering of the second virtual object, reduce a display quality of a displayable characteristic of the second virtual object to a second degree of display quality reduction that corresponds to a second portion of the degree of usage level exceeded by the computing resource, said second quality reduction instructions to cause less usage of the computing resource for the rendering of the second virtual object than when the second virtual object is rendered with a default setting for the displayable characteristic of the second virtual object; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices and encoded in the second virtual object, to communicate the second resource conservation setting to the virtual universe rendering process for the rendering the second virtual object in accordance with the second resource conservation setting.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to query a database to locate one or more records related to the first virtual object; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to encode the program instructions to detect the conservation indication, the program instructions to select the first resource conservation setting encoded in the first virtual object, and the program instructions to communicate the first resource conservation setting into the one or more records related to the first virtual object.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices and encoded in the first virtual object, to configure the first resource conservation setting with one or more quality reduction levels assigned to the first display quality reduction instructions that, when called in a sequence, reduce the display quality of the displayable characteristics of the first virtual object to the first degree of display quality reduction proportional to the at least a first portion of the degree of usage level exceeded by the computing resource.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the conservation indication comprises an indication of excessive usage of the computing resource via one or more of a machine configured to render the plurality of virtual objects and one or more servers configured to support the virtual universe.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to configure the first virtual object with a category; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to configure the first virtual object to call the first display quality reduction instructions in response to detecting that the first virtual object is of the category.

18. A method for conserving resource consumption by a virtual universe, the method comprising the steps of:

each of a plurality of virtual objects of the virtual universe detecting an indication to reduce the resource consumption by one or more degrees of resource reduction required for a computing resource that supports the virtual universe;

a first virtual object of the plurality of virtual objects, detecting that the first virtual object is of a first category of object in response to detecting the indication to reduce the resource consumption;

the first virtual object selecting a first setting encoded in the first virtual object, in response to said detecting that the first virtual object is of the first category of object, wherein said first setting encoded in the first virtual object indicates a displayable characteristic of the first virtual object;

the first virtual object calling instructions referenced by the first setting, wherein the instructions are associated with the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object, wherein the calling of the instructions is in an order of degrees of display quality reduction that corresponds to the degrees of resource reduction required for the computing resource;

the first virtual object reducing display quality for the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object in the order of the degrees of display quality reduction in response to said calling the one or more instructions, wherein the first virtual object consumes less of the computing resource for the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object than a second setting encoded in the first virtual object consumes by default;

a second virtual object of the plurality of virtual objects, detecting that the second virtual object is a second category of object different from the first category of object, in response to said detecting the indication to reduce the resource consumption;

the second virtual object selecting a third setting encoded in the second virtual object, in response to said detecting that the second virtual object is of the second category of object;

wherein said third setting encoded in the second virtual object indicates that the displayable characteristics of the second virtual object are not to be reduced in display quality; and

the first virtual object being rendered in the order of the degrees of display quality reduction according to the first setting encoded in the first virtual object while, concurrently and independently the second virtual object is rendered with no reduction in display quality according to the third setting encoded in the second virtual object.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the steps of:

the first virtual object determining that a usage of the computing resource rises above a specific usage level;

the first virtual object calling a first portion of the instructions proportional to a first portion of the degrees of the resource reduction required for the computing resource;

after the first virtual object calling the first portion of the instructions, the first virtual object determining that usage of the computing resource remains above the specific usage level; and

the first virtual object calling a second portion of the instructions associated with the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object proportional to a second portion of the degrees of the resource reduction required for the computing resource, in response to determining that the computing resource remains above the specific usage level, until the usage of the computing resource falls below the specific usage level.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

a third virtual object of the plurality of virtual objects detecting that the third virtual object is of the first category of object in response to detecting the indication to reduce the resource consumption;

the third virtual object selecting a fourth setting encoded in the third virtual object, in response to said detecting that the third virtual object is of the first category of object, wherein said fourth setting encoded in the third virtual object indicates a displayable characteristic of the third virtual object that is different from the displayable characteristic of the first virtual object;

the third virtual object calling additional instructions associated with the displayable characteristic of the third virtual object in the order of degrees of display quality reduction that corresponds to the degrees of resource reduction required for the computing resource;

the third virtual object reducing display quality for the displayable characteristic of the third virtual object in the order of the degrees of display quality reduction in response to said calling the additional instructions associated with the displayable characteristic of the third virtual object, and wherein the third virtual object consumes less of the computing resource for the displayable characteristic of the third virtual object than a fifth setting encoded in the third virtual object consumes by default; and

a computer rendering the third virtual object in accordance with the fourth setting encoded in the third virtual object while the computer renders the first virtual object in accordance with the first setting encoded in the first virtual object.