Apache SOAP threading

[Chris Laws]

I am using Apache Tomcat SOAP to do distributed applications in Java. When my client app sends a request to the server, it appears as if all threads on the client side are paused until the response is received and processed from the server. Sometimes the data sent from the server is of a relativly large size which results in 10-15 seconds of total transaction time. While this transaction is occuring, my user interface is frozen. Any attempt to isolate the request/response process in its own thread has no effect. I'd like to be able to allow the user to be able to access the interface without the "freezing" effect. Any suggestions?