Patent ID: 8250476

Claim:
A method for transmitting an asynchronous immersive communication in a virtual universe, comprising: receiving an asynchronous immersive communication created by a resident of a virtual universe, the asynchronous immersive communication containing content therein that forms a three-dimensional rendering of avatars and objects within the virtual universe along with software scripts that control their behavior in the rendering and that allows immersion within the content and interaction therewith, wherein the content of the asynchronous immersive communication is embodied in a data structure that maintains information of each frame forming the asynchronous immersive communication, the information including an avatar identifier that identifies each avatar in the frame, a texture identifier that identifies a texture associated with each avatar in the frame at a time that the asynchronous immersive communication was created, location of each avatar in the frame, location of all other objects in the frame that are part of the asynchronous immersive communication and an object texture identifier that identifies a texture associated with each object in the frame at the time that the asynchronous immersive communication was created, the asynchronous immersive communication further including a plurality of indicators associated therewith that each correspond with handling of the asynchronous immersive communication by a recipient, the plurality of indicators comprising a time of existence indicator that indicates a time length that the asynchronous immersive communication may be in existence before the recipient will no longer be able to access the asynchronous immersive communication, an asynchronous immersive communication forwarding indicator that indicates whether the asynchronous immersive communication can be copied by the recipient and forwarded to other residents within the virtual universe, and an asynchronous immersive communication access indicator that indicates a preferred method of accessing the asynchronous immersive communication that is specified by the resident that created the asynchronous immersive communication; transmitting the asynchronous immersive communication with the content embodied in the data structure that forms the asynchronous immersive communication directly to the recipient; and enabling the recipient to directly access the transmitted asynchronous immersive communication including the content that forms the asynchronous immersive communication in accordance with the plurality of indicators that specify handling of the asynchronous immersive communication by the recipient.