Communication middleware for multi-party multimedia applications

This paper describes a communication middleware system called CoMMware. The CoMMware software package contains a set of modules that supports a wide variety of multimedia communication applications, such as real-time conference programs, distance learning tools, and distributed games. It encourages modular program development and software use through its registry and brokering mechanisms. CoMMware also supports behavior policies, which act as plug-ins for controlling how program modules interact with each other. In addition to aiding development of distributed programs, communication middleware provides a means of exchanging data in multiple media. CoMMware's virtual transport is a programming interface for specifying communication paths among program modules and qualities of service for transmission of multimedia data over these paths. CoMMware also helps people use multimedia applications. The system's persistent environment helps users locate and access applications during real-time interactive communication sessions, and it coordinates information storage between these sessions. The paper also presents brief overviews of some applications built with CoMMware.