A framework for Java 3D based collaborative virtual environment

In the recent years, the hardware technology, high bandwidth network and 3D graphics systems bring the virtual reality (VR) technology into a new field: collaborative virtual environment (CVE). This field's goal is to use computers as tools for communication and information share. CVE is different from distributed virtual environment (DVE), it concerns more about the collaboration and the consistency in the cooperative work. And Java 3D is a new 3D technology, it offers a simple way to build up other virtual environments, and make the cooperation between the users easier to realize and control. By leveraging the inherent strengths of the Java language, Java 3D technology extends the concept of "write once, run anywhere" to 3D graphics applications, which makes the applications be independent of the hardware and software plat flat. So we put forward a new framework of the CVE system based on Java 3D technology. In this framework, we give a system architecture to realize scalability, persistence, consistency, and other requirements in CVE, and further more, it can realize complex cooperative works.