An Integrated Architecture for Open Distributed Multimedia Computing

Most existing research in the eld of distributed multimedia computing is at the level of isolated system components, such as communication and operating system support for multimedia. The application level support for distributed multimedia and continuous media has so far been largely neglected. Little work has yet been carried out on comprehensively integrated platforms that combine authoring, presentation, operating system support and network communications into a cohesive environment for multimedia development. On the other hand, the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) from the Object Management Group has become a standard for open distributed object systems in the industry. However, CORBA does not take the special requirements of distributed multimedia into consideration. To tackle these problems, we are pursuing an integrative approach of providing general mechanisms for developing open multimedia services in a high speed, telecommunication network environment in an..