Patent ID: 7657614

Claim:
A method for managing time-shifted presentation data between multiple participants in a shared virtual environment, comprising: if real-time presentation data is received by a given participant from a second participant, updating a presentation environment of the given participant using the received real-time presentation data; if the given participant initiates a request to obtain time-shifted presentation data from one of the other participants: requesting time-shifted presentation data for the time-shifted participant; determining any influence participants, wherein the influence participants are those other participants whose input presentation data are influenced by the time-shifted participant and whose output presentation data influence the presentation environment of the requesting participant; pausing changes to the presentation environment of the requesting participant for real-time presentation data from the time-shifted participant and the influence participants; retrieving the requested time-shifted presentation data for the time-shifted participant and any influence participants; updating the presentation environment of the requesting participant using the retrieved time-shifted presentation data; repeating the above beginning with retrieving the requested time-shifted presentation data until new time-shift request is initiated by the requesting participant; and if the new request indicates a return to real-time operation: updating the presentation environment of the requesting participant to reflect real-time presentation data of the time-shifted participant and any influence participants, otherwise: repeating the above beginning with retrieving the requested time-shifted presentation data; otherwise: repeating the above.