Patent ID: 8645112

Claim:
A simulation system comprising: a plurality of computerized simulation stations connected with each other via a network, each having a respective computer-accessible data storage storing a respective version of scene data corresponding to a virtual environment, a respective computerized image generator generating in real time serial frames each of which is a rendered view for a respective point of view in said virtual environment, and a display device displaying said frames to a respective user of the computerized simulation station; said versions of the scene data each including respective client data defining a virtual client entity in the virtual environment, said client data including respective position data associated with the virtual client entity and defining a respective position thereof in the respective version of the virtual environment; said computerized simulation stations each modifying the respective client data in real time pursuant to the respective version of the scene data and to communications over the network such that the respective version of the scene data defines the virtual client entity moving in the virtual environment according to predetermined physics rules defined in the computerized simulation station controlling movement of virtual objects in the virtual environment; wherein each simulation station has a physics engine accessing physics based environment data stored at said simulation station corresponding to all virtual objects in the virtual environment of the scene data, the predetermined physics rules being implemented by said physics engine, said physics engine controlling the respective version of the scene data such that the virtual client entity and the virtual objects in the respective version of scene data move according to the physics based environment data and the physics rules; wherein the simulation stations each transmit physics based data over the network corresponding to physical forces applied to some of the virtual objects in the virtual environment; a simulation computer system determining behavior of the virtual client entity in the virtual environment and transmitting client synchronization data via the network to the simulation stations, said client synchronization data corresponding to said behavior and defining a location of the client entity in the virtual environment, and time-constraint data indicative of a point in time for the entity to be at the location; and each simulation station having a slave synchronizer receiving the client synchronization data and based thereon causing the respective version of the scene data to be modified so as to reflect movement toward synchronization of the location of the client entity in the respective version of the scene data with the virtual client entity being at said location at said point in time according to the predetermined physics rules and the respective version of the scene data so as to reduce any latency-caused differences between the positions of the virtual client entity in the versions of the scene data.