A web-based Collaborative Workspace Using Java 3D

This paper presents a framework for building web-based collaborative workspaces using the latest Java technologies - Java 3D, JavaServer Page (JSP), and Java Servlet. This web-based approach allows designers, engineers and production managers to share a common workspace that can be used for design review, production monitoring, remote control, and trouble-shooting, based on a set of interactive Java 3D models that represent the physical world with common interests. Following a brief overview of the related research work, this paper discusses the Java 3D concept from its scene graph structure to behavior control, and explains our approach to building web-based collaborative workspaces using Java 3D. The proposed framework uses the popular client-server architecture and view-control-model design pattern with a secured session control. Control logic and the interfaces, which interact with the real world, are handled by an application server through servlets. The benefits enabled by the framework include reduced network traffic, increased flexibility of remote monitoring, interactive control, web-based synchronous collaboration and quick response. It also shows a large potential for various web-based real-time and distributed applications.