Enhancing Jini´s lookup service using XML-based service templates

We present an extension to Jini´s lookup service. The existing lookup service has certain limitations when it comes to searching for specific services. We introduce more advanced service descriptors and a lookup service that enables flexible searching for specific services. Our proposal makes it easy to incorporate non-functional requirements, such as quality-of-service. This means that services can publish themselves with a descriptor describing their guarantees for the service they deliver. Clients will then be able to fill out a descriptor containing requirements (expectations). When the client asks a lookup service for matches based on the descriptor, only services fufilling the requirements will be returned. The advanced searching in Jini is done client-side, while we have moved it to the lookup services. This way even small devices with limited memory and computation power will be able to perform advanced searches and easier be able to find a match. The implementation utilizes XML as storage format