Virtual World Object Search via Crawling Bot
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems fail to effectively collect, filter, and rank user-generated content in 3D virtual worlds, such as Second Life, due to incomplete data from virtual world servers and privacy concerns, leading to irrelevant search results.
Innovation Solution
A bot is used to crawl the virtual world, collecting metadata and additional information from objects and places, applying filters to remove unwanted data, and ranking results based on relevance using protocols like RICP and TF-IDF, while considering object and creator popularity, and user preferences.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a bot crawls the virtual world to collect comprehensive object information, then the quantity of collected data increases, but the relevance and quality of search results deteriorates due to inclusion of private or irrelevant content
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the relevant and publicly accessible portions of object information from the virtual world, separating useful data from private or irrelevant content. The bot selectively collects metadata based on predefined criteria, extracting only information that is both accessible and relevant to search queries, thereby maintaining data quality while reducing noise.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different collection strategies to different regions or types of objects within the virtual world. Publicly accessible objects are collected with full metadata, while private objects have their information filtered or excluded. This localized approach to data collection ensures that each object contributes appropriately to search results based on its accessibility and relevance characteristics.
2Measurement precision
If virtual world servers provide complete object data, then search accuracy improves, but privacy concerns and data security issues worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a bot as an intermediary between the virtual world servers and the search system. This intermediary collects and processes object information according to predefined rules and privacy constraints, acting as a buffer that prevents direct exposure of private data while still enabling accurate search functionality for public content.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameters of data collection by adjusting what information is collected based on object accessibility, owner permissions, and relevance criteria. Instead of uniformly collecting all object data, the system dynamically adjusts collection parameters to balance search accuracy with privacy protection, collecting detailed information only for publicly accessible objects.
3Quantity of substance
If all object information is stored in the database, then completeness of search results improves, but processing time and computational resources worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential and relevant metadata fields from complete object information before storing in the database. By extracting key attributes such as title, description, location, and accessibility status while excluding redundant or less useful data, the system maintains search result completeness for relevant queries while significantly reducing database size and processing requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by collecting and storing a subset of object information that is sufficient for effective searching. Rather than storing all possible object attributes, the system stores only the most relevant metadata fields needed for typical search queries, achieving adequate search completeness with reduced processing overhead.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for searching for objects located in a virtual world include having a virtual construct such as a bot crawl the virtual world by moving from place to place. Object information is collected about the objects associated with the place and the object information is stored in a searchable database. Users can search the database for objects in the virtual world. The information can be further filtered or classified to aid in searching.