Patent Document ID: 9911282
Application ID: 15212393
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for identifying virtual objects having inappropriate content in a virtual universe (VU) having one or more regions and a set of virtual objects, the set of virtual objects having content, and the method comprising: rating each of the set of virtual objects with an offensiveness rating from a hierarchical rating system, wherein each rating level is associated with increasingly restricted offensive material, based on an inappropriateness of content of each of the set of virtual objects, wherein the rating for each of the set of virtual objects is generated and periodically updated throughout a life-cycle of virtual object based on feedback from users of the virtual universe; storing a tag indicating the offensiveness rating in an object rating field of a virtual object of the set of virtual objects for each virtual object of the set of virtual objects; monitoring movement of each of the set of virtual objects within the VU based on movement within the VU of an avatar having an inventory comprising the set of virtual objects; scanning the inventory of the avatar to read the rating in the object rating field of each of the set of virtual objects in the inventory of the avatar to determine the rating of each virtual object in the inventory in response to a movement of the avatar from a first region to a second region of the one or more regions, the second region having a rating level from the hierarchical rating system; identifying an object in the scanned inventory of the avatar as an object having inappropriate content for the second region based on the rating of each virtual object and the rating level of the second region and a policy restricting movement of a rated virtual object between regions; and prohibiting movement to the second region of the identified virtual object of the scanned inventory by disabling access to the identified virtual object by the avatar while the avatar is in the second region.