Patent ID: 8161385

Claim:
A method for enabling a first user to interact with a plurality of second users in a virtual space, the virtual space comprising a first avatar and a plurality of second avatars, the first avatar being associated with a first client process, each second avatar of the plurality of second avatars being associated with a different second client process of a plurality of second client processes, the method comprising: receiving from each second client process of the plurality of second client processes a second received position of a second avatar associated with said each second client process, thereby obtaining a first plurality of second received positions; selecting a second plurality of N second received positions from the first plurality of second received positions, the second plurality of second received positions being smaller than the first plurality of second received positions; and transmitting the second plurality of second received positions to the first client process, wherein the first client process does not receive at least one second received position of the first plurality of second received positions; wherein the step of selecting the second plurality comprises: subdividing a bounding box around a first position of the first avatar into a plurality of cells; assigning said each second avatar to a single cell of the plurality of cells based on second received position of said each second avatar; and scanning the plurality of cells in an outwardly expanding wave from the first position of the first avatar until at least N second avatars are found.