Standardization Activity of OSGi ( Open Services Gateway Initiative ) Global Standardization Activities

This article provides an overview of OSGi (open services gateway initiative) standardization activities for software technology that is applicable to gateways that control and manage, in a coordinated fashion, various services and devices connected to networks in homes, offices, vehicles, and factories. The OSGi architecture allows for the timely provision of various new network-based services, such as home security and home automation, energy conservation, telematics (in which automobiles and the network interwork with each other), and factory control. Standardization Activity of OSGi (Open Services Gateway Initiative) Global Standardization Activities † NTT Cyber Solutions Laboratories Yokosuka-shi, 239-0847 Japan E-mail: [email protected] Global Standardization Activities Vol. 2 No. 1 Jan. 2004 95 way is shown in Fig. 2. Both the OSGi Framework and bundles use the Java language, and can run on Java-compatible devices. (Considering the application to set-top boxes and other small devices, the operational conditions of the Java virtual machine (VM) for OSGi are specified in the latest version of the OSGi specification and these allow J2SE as well as J2ME and other VMs to be used). The actual implementation of the framework is a type of Java application. The framework contains the basic functionality for executing bundles, such as downloading, starting, and stopping bundles, and providing interbundle services, a security mechanism, and event processing. It is pre-installed on the gateway. Bundles contain the algorithms and protocols to control individual devices. They can be either downloaded from a server or read from a local disk and then executed. Bundles are classified as either basic service bundles or application bundles. Basic service bundles provide basic functions for OSGi gateways, and are defined as part of the OSGi specification. Application bundles perform the individual application functions that are executed in the gateway. In other words, if a unique service based on the OSGi specification is implemented, it is usually necessary to develop and provide an application bundle. Links between bundles are provided by the framework. For example, the network control bundle in Fig. 2 can easily perform UPnP-based control by using the service provided by the UPnP Device Service Bundle (UPnP: universal plug and play). A bundle is actually a JAR file, which contains Java class files with specified interfaces and a MANIFEST file. By specifying a relevant URL, a bundle can be downloaded from a server on the Internet or from a local disk using Java’s class loading function. In this way, the OSGi specification provides a means to build gateway functions. It exhibits its greatest benefit when a connection to an external network, such as the Internet, is available allowing bunWhite goods AV PC Sensors Data center Download Bundle Gateway OSGi Framework Remote control/management