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Shared Workspace

The shared workspace activities of multimedia conferences should not require the facilities of the CMMC. Shared applications can be divided into several categories:

1. Centralised with floor control. An example is Shared-X, where the display of an existing application is replicated, and control can come from any of the remote sites, but only from one at any time.

2. Centralised without floor control. An example is the distributed sketchpad developed for the CAR project by FhG-IGD Darmstadt, where a central server communicates with remote clients at each site, allowing all participants to draw simultaneously.

3. Distributed with explicit membership.

4. Distributed with implicit membership. An example is the distributed whiteboard from LBL, where any user running a whiteboard on a particular multicast group receives the history to date, and can make modifications.

All except the last option require a list of current members of the conference in order to initiate communication, start remote clients, or replicate the display. Some applications (category 1) also require some form of floor control, which may either be provided on a per application or a per conference basis. This implies a need for some form of conference control system.