System and method to visualize activities through the use of avatars

摘要

A system and method to visualize activities through the use of avatars. The system includes a display engine configured to display at least one automated activity as an avatar. The system also includes a management system configured to monitor the progress of the at least one automated activity and alter at least one of an appearance and a movement of the avatar in relation to the progress of the at least one automated activity.

主权项

1. A system implemented in hardware comprising:
a processor; a computer readable hardware storage device; program instructions stored on the computer readable hardware storage device which, when executed by the processor, perform operations comprising:
displaying a virtual representation of at least one automated activity occurring in a first environment, wherein the at least one automated activity involves a system in the first environment, and wherein the first environment is a real-world environment, anddisplaying and rendering a representation of the at least one automated activity in a second environment using a computer-controlled avatar that interacts with a representation of the system in the second environment, wherein the second environment is a virtual universe (VU), which is an interactive simulated environment accessed by users through an online interface, and the users inhabit and interact in the VU via user avatars which are representations of the users,receiving, by the computer-controlled avatar, the at least one automated activity from a user via a user avatar that represents the user;monitoring information generated in the first environment in association with a progress of the at least one automated activity occurring in the first environment;altering at least one of an appearance and a movement of the computer-controlled avatar in the VU to represent the progress of the at least one automated activity based on the information generated in the first environment;wherein the rendering the representation of the at least one automated activity in the second environment using the computer-controlled avatar comprises displaying a name of the at least one automated activity given to the computer-controlled avatar by the user avatar;altering the appearance of the computer-controlled avatar comprising:
displaying a percentage complete for the at least one automated activity; andchanging a color of the computer-controlled avatar based on the percentage completed of the at least one automated activity, wherein:the changing the color and the altering the appearance of the computer-controlled avatar occurs periodically;the system is a datacenter;components of the system rendered in the VU are a software package and a system object;the virtual representation of the at least one automated activity occurring in the first environment represents installing the software package on the system object by the computer-controlled avatar; andthe user avatar represents an administrator of the datacenter;identifying a number of errors incurred by the at least one automated activity; andchanging at least one of the color and the appearance of the computer-controlled avatar based on the number of errors.