Patent ID: 8681144

Claim:
A method for prioritized rendering of objects in a virtual universe, comprising: analyzing a set of metadata descriptors associated with a set of items within an inventory of an avatar; ranking each of the set of metadata descriptors based on a number of occurrences of each of the set of metadata descriptors and an acquisition date of one or more of the set of items within the inventory of the avatar associated with each of the set of metadata descriptors; assigning a value to each of the set of items within the inventory of an avatar based on the ranking of each of the set of metadata descriptors; comparing a set of objects in a commercial area of the virtual universe to the value assigned to each of the set of items within the inventory of the avatar to determine a priority of each of the set of objects in the commercial area of the virtual universe, the commercial area having a plurality of virtual retail stores; assigning a priority to each of the plurality of virtual stores in the commercial area based on the priority of each of the set of objects in the virtual universe; determining a rendering radius of the avatar traversing the commercial area of the virtual universe; identifying a set of virtual stores from the plurality of virtual stores in the virtual universe that is outside the rendering radius of the avatar; downloading and caching within a cache, each of the objects from the set of virtual stores from the plurality of virtual stores in the virtual universe that are outside the rendering radius of the avatar based on the relative priorities of each of the set of the plurality of virtual stores in the virtual universe that are outside the rendering radius of the avatar, wherein each of the objects from a first virtual store of the set of virtual stores from the plurality of virtual stores that is outside of the rendering radius of the avatar are downloaded and cached within the cache prior to any objects from a second virtual store of the set of virtual stores from the plurality of virtual stores that is outside the rendering radius of the avatar, the first virtual store having a higher priority than the second virtual store; and rendering the set of virtual stores in the virtual universe based on the priority of each of the set of virtual stores in the virtual universe.