Locale (computer hardware)

About: Locale (computer hardware) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 599 publications have been published within this topic receiving 9093 citations.

Virtual objects for building a community in a virtual world

Abstract: A virtual world computer process includes portable virtual token objects that can be used by on-line users of the virtual world to facilitate exchange of goods and services within the virtual world. In particular, client-server computer processes are provided for the virtual world that allow on-line users to conduct activities within the virtual world including getting, putting, giving, and receiving portable virtual token objects as well as other portable virtual objects. Each on-line user is represented in the graphic user interface by a virtual avatar object. Token objects are put into circulation by virtual ATM objects. A virtual ATM object allows a user to obtain a balance, deposit tokens, and withdraw tokens. A vendroid object is an object that sells portable virtual items in exchange for tokens deposited by avatars. Different virtual items have different values, and vendroids do not all have the same virtual items for sale. In the virtual world, a lurker is represented in a locale by a ghost object. An icon is present, i.e, an eye-the-sky, in a locale, whenever a ghost object, or ghost objects are present. Ghost objects have anonymity, i.e. their names are not known to avatars of the locale, and have limited interaction choices. A ghost object cannot talk or think to other avatars. A ghost object retains the ability to transmit private “ESP” messages to other avatars.

Object-oriented operating system

Abstract: User interface objects are stored in a user interface object archive which is a database physically located in the shared library of an associated application program. In order to facilitate "localization", or preparation of an application developed in one language for use in an "area" or a locale which uses another language, the user interface objects are stored in a hierarchical locale tree within the archive. All objects are stored in the base or root of the hierarchy, but only those objects which require a translation are stored in an area associated with a more specific locale. At runtime, a complete collection of objects is assembled by starting at the desired locale and proceeding up the hierarchy level-by-level. Translated objects at lower levels of the hierarchy "override" those at higher levels so that the most complete translations of each object are obtained during this search. The user interface objects which are stored in an archive are actually created via a predefined "constructor" program, and, in order to allow newly-created user interface objects to use the predesigned constructor program, each user interface object is contained in a special "escort" object that interfaces with the constructor program. Both the user interface object and the escort object are stored at the appropriate locale in the archive, but when an archived object is requested, the related escort object is queried and streams out the attributes of the enclosed UI object. The escort object itself remains in the archive.

Methods and apparatus for globalising software

Abstract: A method is proposed for processing software or Website code associated with a primary locale by an automatic, or semi-automatic, parsing process. The method separates the code into a file of international code which is not locale dependent, and a resource pack of items specific to the primary locale. The international code and the resource pack co-operate to perform the function of the original code. The resource pack can be converted for any number of other locales. Each converted resource pack together with the international code has the effect of the original code adapted for another locale.

Ghost object for a virtual world

Abstract: A virtual world computer process includes portable virtual token objects that can be used by on-line users of the virtual world to facilitate exchange of goods and services within the virtual world. In particular, client-server computer processes are provided for the virtual world that allow on-line users to conduct activities within the virtual world including getting, putting, giving, and receiving portable virtual token objects as well as other portable virtual objects. Each on-line user is represented in the graphic user interface by a virtual avatar object. Token objects are put into circulation by virtual ATM objects. A virtual ATM object allows a user to obtain a balance, deposit tokens, and withdraw tokens. A vendroid object is an object that sells portable virtual items in exchange for tokens deposited by avatars. Different virtual items have different values, and vendroids do not all have the same virtual items for sale. In the virtual world, a lurker is represented in a locale by a ghost object. An icon is present, i.e, an eye-in-the-sky, in a locale, whenever a ghost object, or ghost objects are present. Ghost objects have anonymity, i.e. their names are not known to avatars of the locale, and have limited interaction choices. A ghost object cannot talk or think to other avatars. A ghost object retains the ability to transmit private “ESP” messages to other avatars.

Locales: supporting large multiuser virtual environments

Abstract: Creators of multiuser virtual environments naturally desire to make them large in spatial extent, large in numbers of objects, and large in numbers of users interacting with the environment. However, doing so creates several problems: efficiently managing the flow of large amounts of data between large numbers of users, representing precise position and velocity information about objects arrayed across a large volume of space, and allowing designers to create parts of a virtual environment separately and combine them together later. The concept of locales is based on the idea that even in a very large virtual world, most of what a single user can observe at a given moment is nevertheless local in nature. You would expect a large virtual world to be large primarily because, like a city, it combines a large number of relatively small, localized activities not because it contains very large individual activities. Locales divide a virtual world into chunks that can be processed separately. This division is purely an implementation issue-it is not apparent to the user. A user sees several locales at once-generally the locale containing the user's point of view and those neighboring it. The user does not see any seams between the locales nor any abrupt changes as the point of view moves from one locale to another, thereby changing the neighborhood set.