A Robust Component Model for Consumer Electronic Products

Abstract

The Robocop project defines an open, component-based architecture for the middleware layer in high-volume consumer electronic products. This architecture supports component trading, dynamic upgrading and extension of products in the field, and robust and reliable operation. The architecture consists of a development framework, an execution framework and optional download and resource management frameworks. The core of the architecture is the component model, which is defined at two levels. At the development level, a component is defined to be a collection of models and the relations between these models. These models allow system builders to reason a-priori about systems composed from the components. At the execution level a binary component model has been defined, combining elements of Object Management Group (OMG), Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM), and Philips' Koala. Key elements of the executable component model are explicit dependencies, dynamic third party binding, and a well-defined lifecycle that includes explicit interaction points with the resource management framework.