US006166732A [ii] Patent Number: [45] Date of Patent:
[54] DISTRIBUTED OBJECT ORIENTED MULTIUSER DOMAIN WITH MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATIONS
[75] Inventors: Don P. Mitchell; Steven M. Drucker, both of Bellevue; Kirk J. Marple, Redmond; Manny Vellon, Bellevue, all of Wash.
[73] Assignee: Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash.
[21] Appl. No.: 09/028,545 [22] Filed: Feb. 24, 1998
[51] Int. C I. G06F 9 00
[52] U.S. CI 345/329; 345/356; 709/303
[58] Field of Search 345/329, 330,
345/335, 339, 348, 349, 355, 356, 357, 302; 709/203, 204, 217, 218, 303
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,878,415 3/1999 Olds 707/9
5,907,704 5/1999 Gudmundson et al 717/1
5,926,179 7/1999 Matsuda et al 345/355
Primary Examiner—Crescelle N. dela Torre
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Ipsolon LLP
[57] ABSTRACT
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.
5,680,619 10/1997 Gudmundson et al. 5,802,296 9/1998 Morse et al
13 Claims, 13 Drawing Sheets
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