Instant-X: a component-based middleware architecture for a generic multimedia API

ABSTRACT

Today, it is a complex task to develop multimedia applications because only basic protocols and codecs are available. This leads to inflexible proprietary software implementing unavailable functionality on its own.

In this work we present Instant-X, a novel OSGi-based middleware for a generic multimedia API. Instant-X provides standard multimedia components and supports dynamic deployment, i.e., unavailable components are automatically discovered and loaded in a peer-to-peer network on demand. This eases application development and allows reusing common components for multiple applications. Unlike related work, Instant-X provides a generic API for essential tasks of multimedia applications. This API abstracts from concrete component implementations and thus allows replacing specific protocol implementations at runtime.

REFERENCES

• 1: OSGi Alliance. OSGi Service Platform: Core Specification, Release 4, 2007.
• 2: Holger Schmidt , Jon H. Yip , Franz J. Hauck , Rüdiger Kapitza, Decentralised dynamic code management for OSGi, Proceedings of the 6th workshop on Middleware for network eccentric and mobile applications, p.10-14, April 01-01, 2008, Glasgow, Scotland [doi>10.1145/1435467.1435470]
• 3: Sun Microsystems. Java Media Framework API Guide, 1999.
• 4: H. Schulzrinne. The tel URI for Telephone Numbers. IETF RFC 3966, 2004.
• 5: ITU-T. X.200 (07/94) The Basic Reference Model (OSI), 1994.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
        D.2.11 Software Architectures
            Subjects: Domain-specific architectures

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.4 Distributed Systems
          Subjects: Distributed applications

General Terms:
Design

Keywords:
API, OSGi, middleware, multimedia