ARTIFACT: An Experimental Real-Time Window System

Abstract

: Multimedia and advanced real-time systems integrate a variety of applications and media types in one environment, many of which have timing properties which are not supported by current window systems running in multitasking environments. This paper discusses several key aspects to designing window systems which support continuous media and other real-time applications. These design considerations were used to construct ARTIFACT, a window system designed to investigate issues in building real-time window systems. Several of the behaviors of a prototype implementation of ARTIFACT are described, along with preliminary scheduling models and avenues for further research. Keywords: real-time systems, operating system support, window systems, multimedia support, scheduling theory 1. Introduction Multimedia systems integrate a variety of media types into a unified display environment. Some media types, such as text and static graphics, have been in use for quite some time. Other types, su..