Patent ID: 7843471

Claim:
A method, in a data processing system, for rendering virtual world objects based on a detected presence of a real world object, comprising: detecting a presence of a real world object within a detection area of a detection device; retrieving, from a storage device associated with the data processing system, virtual object characteristic information corresponding to the real world object in response to detecting the presence of the real world object; and generating a virtual object in a virtual world environment rendered in the data processing system based on the virtual object characteristic information; wherein retrieving the virtual object characteristic information corresponding to the real world object further comprises: retrieving virtual object condition information corresponding to the real world object from a storage device associated with the data processing system, wherein the virtual object condition information is stored in association with an identifier of the real world object; and rendering the virtual object such that the virtual object has a condition corresponding to the virtual object condition information, wherein: the virtual object condition information is virtual object condition information stored in the storage device during a previous user session with the data processing system and corresponds to a last condition of the virtual object in the virtual world during the previous user session, and updated virtual object condition information corresponding to a last condition of the virtual object at the end of a current user session is maintained in the storage device between user sessions with the data processing system such that when the real world object is again placed in the detection area of the detection device during a subsequent session with the data processing system, the stored updated virtual object condition information, corresponding to the last condition of the virtual object in the virtual world during the current user session, is retrieved and used to render the virtual object as having a condition corresponding to the stored updated virtual object condition information, in the subsequent user session.