Hybrid Jini For Limited Devices

Introduction We envision a future that computers and electronics will be mobile and collaborate spontaneously, bringing convenience to life. Two immediate problems before realizing such a future are ways to handle heterogeneity and mobility of these devices. These devices, for example mini-laptops, mobile phones, and home appliances have very distinct hardware and software profiles. The task of configuring and inter-operating them will be too difficult for average users, not to mention that these devices are likely to be mobile and whenever they enter a new environment they need to be re-configured. To counter the problems of automatic configuration and seamless interoperation, the industry and research community have offered a few solutions that encompass (1) a resource discovery/management protocol and (2) a framework of uniform programming interface and code base. One prominent example is the Jini and Java combination. In the Jini/Java paradigm, devices can come and di