Transparent dissemination of adapters in Jini

Jini is a Java-based technology for \´spontaneous\´ distributed computing which enables programs to dynamically discover nearby services by means of a type-based lookup mechanism. However, this mechanism requires that all the parties involved first agree on a set of common wellknown interfaces for describing services which offer the same high-level functionalities. We believe that this mechanism will in some situations prove to be too rigid or complex and that "interface fragmentation" will inevitably happen. We propose a mechanism for automatically disseminating adapters, small downloadable components that convert between types that describe similar services but are yet incompatible. The implementation of the solution consists in the definition of a new Jini service, the Adapter Service, which is a repository for adapters that registers adapter-augmented proxy objects with the Jini Lookup Service when new services appear on the network. This solution does not require any modification to clients, services or to the Lookup Service