Displaying and manipulating virtual objects on virtual surfaces

An interactive apparatus to provide a virtual surface to display virtual objects, the apparatus comprising:

• a graphical user interface module to provide the virtual surface on a display screen, the virtual surface displaying at least one axis and a plurality of virtual objects;
• a monitoring module to monitor positioning of each of the plurality of virtual objects by a user on the virtual surface relative to the axis;
• and
• a storage module to persistently store virtual object association data identifying an association between each of the virtual objects and at least one attribute based on the positioning.

Apparatus to provide an interactive virtual surface for displaying a virtual object, the apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• memory to store instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
• provide a virtual surface via a graphical user interface on a display screen, the virtual surface displaying at least one axis and a plurality of virtual objects;
• monitor positioning of each of the plurality of virtual objects by a user on the virtual surface relative to the axis;
• and
• persistently store virtual object association data identifying an association between each of the virtual objects and at least one attribute based on the positioning.

A computer-readable medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a processor perform operations comprising:

• providing a virtual surface via a graphical user interface on a display screen, the virtual surface displaying at least one axis and a plurality of virtual objects;
• monitoring positioning of each of the plurality of virtual objects by a user on the virtual surface relative to the axis;
• and
• persistently storing virtual object association data identifying an association between each of the virtual objects and at least one attribute based on the positioning.