Interaction Points: Exploiting Operating System Mechanisms for Intercomponent Communications

This paper introduces the concept of interaction points which are currently used in an experimental progrmaming environment, the In-Process Modular Programming (IMP) platform. IMP is a Microsoft COM-style platform designed specifically for building component-based applications in real-time and embedded environments, and used for research prototyping at Lucent Technologies, Bell Labs. Interaction points serve as a unified abstraction for a wide range of inter-component communication techniques.