This is interesting!
-Doug
The Obje™ Software Architecture
The Obje™ software architecture is an interconnection technology that
enables digital devices and services to easily interoperate over both
wired and wireless networks. It provides a simple "meta standard" for
interoperation that enables people to access information and services
from anywhere, in a completely hassle-free, ad hoc manner.
"Thirty years ago, PARC reinvented the software industry with the notion
of object-oriented programming. Today the most famous of research labs
is applying many of the same ideas to mobile hardware, and the results
could be just as revolutionary."
- Cade Metz, PC Magazine
By providing a uniform solution to interoperation, the Obje platform
makes it easier for suppliers to build devices and services that work
together. Putting assembly control into the hands of end-users also
reduces the burden of developing applications, because particular
customization can be performed in context.
Standards-Independent
The Obje platform works with all standards, including those that have
not yet been defined. It requires no central coordination,
pre-configuring, or special set-up, and can be easily used by people
with no technical expertise.
It provides users a way to combine devices to build simple solutions for
hundreds of problems – easily assembling their particular applications
from available devices and services. It offers manufacturers a simple,
fast, and timely solution to the increasing requirement to connect products.
The Obje platform works with devices of all kinds – including cell
phones, computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), printers, set-top
boxes, bar-code scanners, video displays, and others – from any
manufacturer.
How it works
Typically, communication among devices or services is structured into
layers of protocols. Agreement on all layers is required before the
devices and services are built. Developing and gaining acceptance of
these agreements is a long, costly process that depends on broad
industry consensus.
The Obje Interoperability Platform builds upon other industry standards.
For example, it can run on top of any mobile code mechanism, such as
Jini. Pyramid of protocol layers.
Instead of working out all agreements in advance, The Obje platform
specifies a few very general agreements in the form of
domain-independent programmatic "meta-interfaces". These meta-interfaces
use mobile code to allow new agreements to be put in place at run-time,
enabling devices and services to dynamically extend the capabilities of
their clients.
The Obje meta-interfaces reduce the number of agreements that must be
made between communicating entities. All Obje devices or services, which
are called “components,” implement and make use of one or more of these
meta-interfaces.
Applications
The PARC research team has developed a wide variety of components and
applications that require the architecture to cope with diverse
performance, security, and usability requirements, as well as a variety
of data types.
Applications include a multimedia set top box, a public display system,
and a system called “Casca,” which enables members of a team to share
documents and device resources such as cameras, printers, and speakers.
While Casca was designed to be a collaborative tool, no component
functionality was hardwired into it. For example, Casca was not
specifically written to support video conferencing, but it could acquire
that functionality as soon as members of the group shared cameras,
speakers, and microphones.
These applications demonstrate that the Obje platform supports a wide
range of applications and components.
The Obje platform is a key enabler for PARC’s vision of ubiquitous
computing, in which people are able to connect with the computation that
is all around them, no matter where they are or what type of device they
are using. It overcomes the problem of multiple, incompatible standards
that prevents ubiquitous computing from becoming a reality.
Licensing
PARC is seeking corporate partners interested in leveraging the Obje
platform inside their own products and applications. To learn more,
please contact Hermann Calabria, Business Development, 650-812-4751.
Last modified Tuesday, 09-Dec-2003 09:48:05 PST
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