Group licenses for virtual objects in a distributed virtual world

Abstract

A group licensing scheme for validating groups of virtual objects within a distributed virtual world is provided. Each of a number of distributed virtual world servers hosts a cell, or virtual space, of the virtual world. In operation, a first virtual world server categorizes virtual objects into a number of groups. Either before or after creating the groups, the first virtual world server validates each virtual object individually. Once the virtual objects are validated and the groups are formed, the first virtual world server generates a group license for each of the groups. When a group of virtual objects or an avatar associated with one or more groups of virtual objects moves to a virtual space hosted by a second virtual world server, the corresponding group licenses are provided to the second virtual world server, which validates the one or more groups of virtual objects based on the group licenses.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of managing avatar access rights to a group of virtual objects in a distributed virtual world comprising:
 predicting on a first network node an avatar will move from a first virtual space to a second virtual space; and   sending from the first network node to a second network node the avatar access rights wherein the second network node hosts the second virtual space.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first network node hosts the first virtual space. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the first network node is a virtual world authority. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the virtual world authority granted the access rights.