Derivation of the required elements for a definition of the term middleware

Thirteen contemporary definitions of Middleware were analyzed. The definitions agree that any software that can do the following should be classified as Middleware (1) provide service that provides transparent application-to-application interaction across the network, (2) act as a service provider for distributed applications, and (3) provide services that are primarily used by distributed applications (e.g., RPCs, ORBs, Directories, name-resolution services, etc.) Most definitions agree that Middleware is that level of software required to achieve platform, location, and network transparency. There is some discrepancy about the OSI levels at which middleware operates. The majority of definitions limit it to levels 5, 6, and 7. Additionally, almost half of the definitions do not include database transparency as something achieved by Middleware, perhaps due to the ambiguous classification of ODBC and JDBC as software. Assuming that the number of times a service is mentioned, the majority of the definitions rank services associated with legal access to an application as core to Middleware, along with valid, standardized APIs for application development as core to the definition of middleware

IETF standardization in the field of the Internet of Things (IoT): a survey

Smart embedded objects will become an important part of what is called the Internet of Things. However, the integration of embedded devices into the Internet introduces several challenges, since many of the existing Internet technologies and protocols were not designed for this class of devices. In the past few years, there have been many efforts to enable the extension of Internet technologies to constrained devices. Initially, this resulted in proprietary protocols and architectures. Later, the integration of constrained devices into the Internet was embraced by IETF, moving towards standardized IP-based protocols. In this paper, we will briefly review the history of integrating constrained devices into the Internet, followed by an extensive overview of IETF standardization work in the 6LoWPAN, ROLL and CoRE working groups. This is complemented with a broad overview of related research results that illustrate how this work can be extended or used to tackle other problems and with a discussion on open issues and challenges. As such the aim of this paper is twofold: apart from giving readers solid insights in IETF standardization work on the Internet of Things, it also aims to encourage readers to further explore the world of Internet-connected objects, pointing to future research opportunities

Development and standardization of an embedded Linux based triple-play IP settop box

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Izmir, 2007Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 46-48)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishix, 57 leavesWith the recent enhancements to the delivery of IP services and of the video codecs such as h.264, transmission of television through IP-based communication systems has been a viable option. An IP settop box (IPSTB) constructs a bridge between a television set and a broadband IP network such as DSL, cable modem, powerline or wireless broadband. IPSTB brings new challenges for the system designers, especially in the areas of inherently organized home networking systems, protocols, and architectures. Future IPSTB products are candidate to converge the information and entertainment technologies. This thesis suggests newly developed device and service discovery methods for the design of an IPSTB software structure that is compatible with the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) audio video (AV) device descriptions. At the design process, it suggests optimized communication schemes between the servers that are in the control of service providers, and the consumer IPSTBs. As a newly developed technology, since there is not any standardization for most parts of the overall IPTV system, this thesis takes proven mechanisms as basis and adapts them to the overall design that consists of the hardware drivers, middleware, and the additional programs which helps the middleware to handle the external components of the system connected via USB or serial interfaces. Being an innovative idea, we have used a control system called Virtual Bus Manager so as to communicate between the aforementioned system components. Some system components such as web browser is based on the X Windows architecture, so cross compiling the X system for the embedded platform has also been a challenge for the feasibility of the final design. Being the second part of the Triple-Play system, Voice over IP application has also been included and based on the compilation of open source software for the corresponding embedded system. Finally, the web browser itself has been based on the popular Gecko web-core that is derived from Firefox