APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT INTERFACE FOR MULTI-USER APPLICATIONS EXECUTABLE OVER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

摘要

An application development interface for developing multi-user applications executable over a distributed network. An object definition structure is provided for client-based definition of objects utilized by a multi-user application. The object definition includes characteristics associated with the object and utilized by the application to effect interaction with other clients over the distributed network. A broadcast schedule is associated with one or more of the characteristics and controls the transmission of object data from the creating client to other clients in the distributed network. During execution of the multi-user application, characteristics of the object are automatically updated periodically or upon the change of a charactistic relative to a preset threshold value, in accordance with values provided in the broadcast schedule. The object definition created by the client is used by all functions and processes within the multi-user application that utilize the object.