The Virtual Object System (VOS) is a computer software

Computer software

Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....

 technology for creating distributed object systems. The sites hosting Vobjects are typically linked by a computer network

Computer network

A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....

, such as a local area network

Local area network

A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...

 or the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

. Vobjects may send messages to other Vobjects over these network links (remotely) or within the same host site (locally) to perform actions and synchronize state. In this way, VOS may also be called an object-oriented remote procedure call

Remote procedure call

In computer science, a remote procedure call is an inter-process communication that allows a computer program to cause a subroutine or procedure to execute in another address space without the programmer explicitly coding the details for this remote interaction...

 system. In addition, Vobjects may have a number of directed relations to other Vobjects, which allows them to form directed graph

Directed graph

A directed graph or digraph is a pair G= of:* a set V, whose elements are called vertices or nodes,...

 data structures.

VOS is patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

 free, and its implementation is Free Software

Free software

Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...

. The primary application focus of VOS is general purpose, multiuser, collaborative 3D virtual environments or virtual reality

Virtual reality

Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...

. The primary designer and author of VOS is Peter Amstutz.