Patent ID: 8370370

Claim:
A computer implemented method for sharing information between software objects managed by a non-virtual world interface and virtual world objects managed by a virtual world interface, the computer implemented method comprising: maintaining, by a mediator that enables communication between a non-virtual world and a virtual world, a mapping between web objects in a web application that provides a two-dimensional representation of the virtual world and virtual world objects in the virtual world using an information repository connected only to the mediator, wherein the information repository stores meta-data for both the web objects and the virtual world objects for retrieval by the mediator; receiving, by the mediator, a request from the non-virtual world interface for particular meta-data about one or more virtual world objects in the virtual world that are linked to a web object of the web application, wherein the web object is a two-dimensional object, wherein the one or more virtual world objects are three-dimensional objects, and wherein the virtual world is a software application that provides a computer-based simulated environment represented in a three-dimensional representation that mimics a real-world environment; obtaining, by the mediator, mapping information linking the web object to the one or more virtual world objects from the information repository; retrieving, by the mediator, the meta-data about the one or more virtual world objects using identifiers in the mapping information; and sending, by the mediator, the meta-data about the one or more virtual world objects to the non-virtual world interface.