there are world patents and they are with countries that are part of a consortium that respects the process...you have to apply separately--to how many entities i do not know but they do exist in some sense exactly how one applies for them and how they are registered i do not know.
As far as requirements for patents there are several stringent requirements--i suspect the delay for the calypso patent being issued was that initially it seemed too general and the officers had to wait a bit for the landscape to developed so as to be sure that the process was actually practical
patents have to be 1.) original, 2.) novel, and 3.) practical
if a generalized process patient is too far ahead of its time it will not meet the practical requirement and its award will be delayed--so it would seem that unless there was an existing infrastructure to support the process one would have to file additional patents on other processes to support the process and / or to detail the construction of the infrastructure in the original patent
this all sounds pretty complex--its a good thing CLYW got its patent