Patent ID: 8907981

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for governing plural physical devices in a real world through a single virtual device in a virtual world, the virtual world being a computer-based simulated environment, the method comprising: registering virtual adaptors of the plural physical devices to a virtual device broker; using at least one virtual device in a virtual device library as a template to construct the single virtual device, the virtual device library storing a plurality of virtual devices; using at least one virtual device description and at least one virtual adaptor description to customize the constructed single virtual device, the at least one virtual device description including: the registered virtual adaptors and connection information between the registered virtual adaptors, a description of controlling signals associated with the one or more registered virtual adaptors for controlling the plural physical devices in the real world, characteristics of each controlling signal, an encoding method of each controlling signal, one or more communication channels associated with the one or more registered virtual adaptors, an encoding method of each communication channel, and a quality characteristic of each communication channel, wherein the one or more communication channels send and receive said controlling signals over an electric power transmission line; operating the customized single virtual device in the virtual world, by specifying one or more commands, through a user interface accessible via the customized single virtual device, the virtual world enabling avatars to interact with other avatars, an avatar being a virtual representation of a user; and translating the specified command to a controlling signal, the controlling signal operating, simultaneously and in an identical manner, the plural physical devices in the real world according to the operation of the customized single virtual device in the virtual world, wherein the registering, the using the at least one virtual device, the using the at least one virtual device description, the operating and the translating are performed by a computing system that includes at least one processor and at least one memory device.