Jini

Jini

Description: Jini connection technology provides simple mechanisms which enable devices to plug together to form an impromptu community -- a community put together without any planning, installation, or human intervention. Each device provides services that other devices in the community may use. These devices provide their own interfaces, which ensures reliability and compatibility.

Jini technology uses a lookup service with which devices and services register. When a device plugs in, it goes through an add-in protocol, called discovery and join-in. The device first locates the lookup service (discovery) and then uploads an object that implements all of its services' interfaces (join).

To use a service, a person or a program locates it using the lookup service. The service's object is copied from the lookup service to the requesting device where it will be used. The lookup service acts as an intermediary to connect a client looking for a service with that service. Once the connection is made, the lookup service is not involved in any of the resulting interactions between that client and that service.

It doesn't matter where a service is implemented -- compatibility is ensured because each service provides everything needed to interact with it. There is no central repository of drivers, or anything else for that matter.

Links:

Jini.org -  web site is a focal point for the growing community that is exploring, developing, and evolving Jini connection technology. It is a place to share not just ideas, but related source code, documentation and other development work based on Jini technology. The site facilitates collaborative development by providing discussion forums, newsgroups, chats, mailing lists, and anything else that brings the community together: www.jini.org