Zone based messaging in collaborative virtual environments

Massively multi-user simulation requires synchronous communication among the parties. In this paper, we present a multi-user collaboration architecture that divides the virtual world in multiple adjacent hexagonal regions in order to properly organize the entities and efficiently manage their liaison. An especial node, named hybrid node, be in charge of each hexagonal region and constructs a data distribution tree at the application layer rather at the network layer. While constructing the data distribution pathways among the end-hosts, protocol focuses to reflect the physical topology onto the overlay network to enhance the system performance. To control the excessive message overhead, necessary messages of a foreign region are only imported when needed to a particular region through a hybrid node. Dynamic adjustment of cheek-in and check-out marks reduces frequent connections and disconnections between a hybrid and an ordinary node, and provides resilience to the system. The effectiveness of this collaboration architecture is tested through the implementation.