Event consistent graphical user interface on a high communication latency mobile computer

摘要

A method for consistently interpreting events generated by a mobile computer in response to a screen display, where events are transmitted to an application server through an unreliable communication channel is disclosed. In operation, an epoch number is associated with screen drawing information created by the application server. Screen drawing information is transmitted from the application server to the mobile computer for generation of a screen display, and an event is generated in the mobile computer in response to the screen display. A combination of the event in response to the screen display and the epoch number associated with the screen display is transmitted to the application server for processing, and the epoch number received by the application server is compared to the epoch number last transmitted to the mobile computer. To ensure consistent operation of the graphical user interface on the mobile computer, the application server only processes those events having an epoch number that matches the last epoch number transmitted. Duplicate events are ignored, and events received out of order are buffered and sequentially processed in the correct order.