The Design and Implementation of a Flexible Middleware for Multimedia Communications Comprising Usage Experience

Distributed multimedia applications require a variety of communication services. These services and different application demands have to be provided and supported within end-systems in an efficient and integrated manner, combining the precise specification of Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements, application interfaces, multicast support, and security features. The Da CaPo++ system presented in this paper provides an efficient middleware and application framework for multimedia applications, capable of handling various types of applications in a modular fashion. Applications’ needs and communication demands are specified by values in terms of QoS attributes and functional properties, such as multicast groups, encryption or authentication requirements. Da CaPo++ automatically generates suitable communication protocols, provides for an efficient run-time support and offers an easy-to-use, object-oriented application programming interface. Its applicability for real-life scenarios was shown by various prototype implementations. Extensive performance evaluations have been carried out and practical experiences have yielded numerical results and con-