| 摘要 |
A method and apparatus is provided which enables users to communicate in a perceived real-time environment. In one embodiment, a number of musical parts are contributed one each from a number of client terminals. Each terminal generates and sends to a server a short sequence or sequence of sequences, for example a few bars of music. The server echoes the sequences out to each of the other clients' terminals where they are synchronised to a local clock and repeated a plurality of times, with the generated sequence being repeated at the sending client a similar number of times. The local synchronisation overcomes the problems of propagation delay between clients and server, and the repetition of sequences allows a continuous stream of data to be output at each client. A solo or non-repetitive line may be added by commencing sending the solo line to the server before the remaining lines. The solo line is buffered at each of the clients and then synchronised to the local clock. The non-solo lines arrive at the solo client after the solo data stream has commenced. However, as they are repetitive, they are synchronised by the local clock to the next sequence repeat.
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