As distributed multimedia applications are starting to be offered as services in enterprise and residential cable networks, there is
a growing interest in platforms that provide a standard framework for the development and deployment of these applications.
Key issues in platform design are service diversity, service portability and interoperability of user terminal equipment. We pro-pose
a platform architecture for the provision of multimedia communication services which logically separates application pro-cessing
from media processing. Applications are installed in application pools from where they control a set of communicating
multimedia terminals. Application-specific intelligence is downloaded into the terminals in the form of Tcl/Tk or Java scripts
that generate graphical user interfaces, control media processing components, and communicate with the application in the
pool. The platform architecture is based on CORBA and is defined as an extensible set of IDL interfaces for control and stream
interfaces for multimedia communication. The platform supports application development with high-level programming inter-faces.
This paper is published in MMCN 1997, SPIE 3020, Multimedia computing and networking, February 10-11, 1997, San Jose, USA and is made available as an electronic preprint with permission of SPIE. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic or multiple reproduction, distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.
