A Java framework for Web-based multimedia and collaborative applications

L. Fuentes, J.M. Troya
1999 IEEE Internet Computing  
O ngoing technological advances in distributed systems have made services much more software based, thus moving the focus of service development from telephonic switch environments to more traditional computer environments. At the same time, broadband networks have evolved to support more sophisticated applications that include multimedia data exchange, such as computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW). The ability to rapidly create and deploy such applications depends heavily on a software
more » ... rchitecture's support for the dynamic cooperation of stand-alone programs acting as independent components. 1 Beyond this, if the applications are to run on an open platform, the first challenge is to extend the platform to address, transparently for programmers, multimedia and networking issues. We are especially interested in Web-based platforms because the Web is becoming the common denominator for information access and exchange, both on the Internet and within the enterprise. There are currently several tools to help design multimedia applications over the Web, but most address only the integration of animated images into Web pages. Sun has proposed the Java Media Framework API as a collection of classes that enable the synchronization, display, and capture of time-based data within Java applications and applets. 2 JMF offers a multiplatform framework for multimedia programming, although it lacks hardware device control and predefined classes for multiparty collaboration. This article summarizes the multimedia and networking issues addressed in the MultiTel framework for multimedia services (a detailed discussion will be published later this year by John Wiley & Sons 3 ). Multi-Tel supports a distributed, compositional platform that manages multi-The MultiTel compositional framework for developing collaborative applications separates communication from data-processing components and also designates a Web-based distributed platform for intercomponent communication.
doi:10.1109/4236.761654 fatcat:mc5mwsy4ovbkpesb3aqj7ney5u