Patent ID: 7181494

Claim:
A computer network having a plurality of terminals each having a processor, a memory, a manual input and a network connection, wherein each of said terminals executes instructions to define a shared virtual environment; each of said instructions includes a local object defining a local entity, said object including data defining attributes of said entity, wherein said entity is perceived by a user as being controllable within said shared virtual environment in response to manual control that changes said data; said local object is duplicated on other network terminals as a duplica; each terminal predicts the data of its duplicas; each terminal modifies the predicted data of its duplicas in response to receiving updates from the duplicas' originating terminals; and each originating terminal sends updates to specific destination terminals in dependence on whether an error exceeds a threshold, wherein: said threshold is dependent upon a measurement of relevance between a first entity and a second entity, said first entity being defined by the local object at said originating terminal and said second entity being defined by a local object at the destination terminal, and said error is computed by comparing the data of said local object at said originating terminal and the predicted data of the duplica at the destination terminal.