Promondia: A Java-Based Framework for Real-Time Group Communication in the Web

Promondia: A Java-Based Framework for Real-Time Group Communication in the Web

Ulrich Gall, Franz J. Hauck

english Jan. 1997, 9 pages

TR-I4-96-08

[Abstract] [Full Paper (ps,http) , 148 kB] [Full Paper (pdf) , 104 kB]

Abstract: The World Wide Web has evolved from a distributed hypertext system to a platform-independent graphical user interface that integrates many network services. So far, its technology has restricted it mainly to applications for information retrieval. As networks become ubiquitious and more and more users have a permanent connection, there is an increasing demand for other network services, such as real-time data feeds, group communication, and teleconferencing. So far, these services have been provided by various proprietary software systems, which were hard to set up and use, and thus not very successful. Integrating real-time group communication services into the World Wide Web is a natural way to make them more accessible and will take the Web a step further on its way to becoming the universal network application. In this paper, we describe functionalities required for these services and present an implementation based on Sun Microsystem's Java programming language. We focus on the high-level functionalities and abstractions, but also describe an object-oriented programming model for group communication systems.