Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Kirk J Marple

Steven Mark Drucker

Manny Vellon

Don P Mitchell

Donald P Mitchell

Alex Colburn

A virtual world environment (VWE) employing a client-server architecture to organize data defining the VWE and objects contained therein in a system of distributed databases. An object in the VWE is one of four basic types including: an artifact, an avatar, a portal, and a room. A world database is maintained by a server computer and is the central storehouse for data defining the entire VWE. Each user has a client computer that is coupled in communication with the server computer. The client computer administers a local database defining at least a portion of the VWE. Each object that is affected by a change in another object is said to be in a bystander region of the other object. The local database maintained by the user's client computer is only updated by the server computer to include changes to the objects associated with the client computer (user) in the bystander region of the other object, i.e., changes evident to an object associated with the user. As a result, many more users can be supported by the server computer and data transmission over the network link between the server and client computers is minimized.

Virtual environment bystander updating in client server architecture

Object services like methods or properties are provided to or inherited by objects dynamically during run-time. In one method of providing dynamic inheritance, hierarchical relationships are defined between multiple objects such that each object references or is referenced by another object. A call is made for a particular service (e.g., a method or property) at a selected object. The service is provided directly from the object whenever the service is available therefrom. Whenever the selected service is unavailable at the selected object, the call is passed to a hierarchically superior object. Another aspect of dynamic inheritance is that an object, such as the root object, may include one or more methods for adding or otherwise changing the methods or properties available from that object.

Dynamic inheritance of software object services

A software object security mechanism addresses system security risks that arise due to interactions between software objects. Conditions are imposed on the accessing of targets by accessing object instances according to attributes of the accessing object and the target object that is being accessed. One security feature is that an owner identifier is incorporated into objects. The owner identifier includes identification of the user, person, or entity (e.g., corporation) who or that creates the object, or identification of a computer system used by the user, person, or entity to create the object definition. The owner identifier provides a basis for distinguishing the creator of an object from the user of that object. Another security feature is a set of access authorizations that allow different access rights to be made available to different object creators. In one implementation the access authorizations are All, Owner, and Exemplar. Another security feature is that exemplar identifiers are encoded into properties and methods in which the properties and methods are defined. Since exemplars may be authored by anyone and may be changed at run time, these security features insure that inheritance from exemplars of questionable lineage is safe. These security features prevent an exemplar in the hierarchy for an object or object instance from damaging the instance data.

Software object security mechanism

Updating of local object databases at client computers, dynamic inheritance, and event notification methods cooperate to provide a persistent object oriented multi-user domain capable of supporting multimedia presentation features for large numbers of users over conventional networks like the Internet. This includes distributing the objects of such a domain between a server and multiple clients and providing the objects with multimedia presentation features. Such a domain includes the persistence of conventional text-based MUDs and MOOs while also giving users the ability to vary or control a wide range of object attributes and properties. As a result, multimedia (e.g., graphical) presentation capabilities are combined with persistence and variability features of text-based MUDs and MOOs to provide a rich, dynamic, multimedia virtual world environment suitable for standard networks.

Distributed object oriented multi-user domain with multimedia

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.

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Kirk J Marple