Extending OSGi with Instant Messaging Communications and Peer to Peer Transfer Based on XMPP

In Recent years, the development of smart home applications based on OSGi framework has attracted increasing attention on the delivery of services on heterogeneous devices or platforms. In OSGi framework, bundles communicate with each other through service layer. However, the communication across OSGi frameworks for sharing services or exchanging information is rather limited and has no standard definition. In this paper, two types of services, instant messaging services and peer to peer transfer services, are introduced and implemented based on XMPP as a vehicle for extending OSGi framework. To be more specific, the scalability and mobility of OSGi bundles can be extended through the use of the proposed XMPP bundle with instant message communication and peer to peer transfer capabilities for collaborating and manipulating services provided by bundles located on remote OSGi platforms. A tour guide system is also implemented to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed approach.