Patent ID: 8201099

Claim:
A method to generate a virtual environment, comprising: linking a first hierarchical software machine (“s-machine”) to a second hierarchical s-machine to form a hierarchically arranged data structure, wherein the first hierarchical s-machine groups one or more first rendering s-machines for controlling rendering at a background rendering layer of a rendering region on a display screen and the second hierarchical s-machine groups one or more second rendering s-machines for controlling rendering at a foreground rendering layer of the rendering region overlaying at least a portion of the background rendering layer, wherein relative positions of the first and second hierarchical s-machines within the hierarchically arranged data structure correspond to the background rendering layer and the foreground rendering layer, respectively, on the display screen; linking a third s-machine to the first hierarchical s-machine, the third s-machine to manage data associated with a screen element to be rendered within the rendering region at the background rendering layer; and rendering the virtual environment including the screen element to the display screen, wherein the first and second hierarchical s-machines and the third s-machine comprise executables that each execute one or more commands to implement one or more tasks.