Distributed implementation of a self-organizing decentralized multimedia appliance middleware

A middleware for real ad-hoc cooperation of distributed device ensembles must support self-organization of its components. Self-organization means that the independence of the ensembles' components is ensured, that the ensemble is dynamically extensible by new components and that real distributed implementation is possible. Furthermore the data-flow of messages within the ensemble may not be statically determined. This article presents the application of the SodaPop model for distributed device ensembles to physical heterogeneous devices as well as the distributed implementation of conflict resolution strategies that guarantee the data-flow even if there are competing components. The proposed approach relies on the principle of device representatives.