Developing context-aware pervasive computing applications: Models and approach
TL;DR: A set of conceptual models designed to support the software engineering process, including context modelling techniques, a preference model for representing context-dependent requirements, and two programming models are proposed.
About: This article is published in Pervasive and Mobile Computing.The article was published on 2006-02-01 and is currently open access. It has received 471 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Social software engineering & Software development.
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TL;DR: The requirements that context modelling and reasoning techniques should meet are discussed, including the modelling of a variety ofcontext information types and their relationships, of situations as abstractions of context information facts, of histories of contextInformation, and of uncertainty of context Information.
1,201 citations
Cites background or methods from "Developing context-aware pervasive ..."
...(Section 3 and [8]) cover tier 1–3, and the grammar used to define situations (as higher-level context abstractions) is located at tier 4....
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...A detailed discussion of both the model and the software engineering process used in conjunction with CML can be found in [8]....
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...Examples and further information can be found in [8]....
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...This example model is designed for use by context-aware communication applications such as the one described in [8]....
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...in 2002 [6] and refined in later publications [7,8]....
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TL;DR: The goal of this paper is to review the works that were published in journals, suggest a new classification framework of context-aware systems, and explore each feature of classification framework using a keyword index and article title search.
Abstract: Nowadays, numerous journals and conferences have published articles related to context-aware systems, indicating many researchers' interest. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to review the works that were published in journals, suggest a new classification framework of context-aware systems, and explore each feature of classification framework. This paper is based on a literature review of context-aware systems from 2000 to 2007 using a keyword index and article title search. The classification framework is developed based on the architecture of context-aware systems, which consists of the following five layers: concept and research layer, network layer, middleware layer, application layer and user infrastructure layer. The articles are categorized based on the classification framework. This paper allows researchers to extract several lessons learned that are important for the implementation of context-aware systems.
624 citations
TL;DR: A comprehensive analysis of the nature and characteristics of situations is provided, the complexities of situation identification are discussed, and the techniques that are most popularly used in modelling and inferring situations from sensor data are reviewed.
450 citations
Cites background from "Developing context-aware pervasive ..."
...Take an example from [1], which defines an Occupied situation when a person...
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...These days pervasive computing is maturing from its origin as an academic research topic to a commercial reality [1]....
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TL;DR: When two devices come into contact, albeit opportunistically, it provides a great opportunity to match services to resources, exchange information, cyberforage, execute tasks remotely, and forward messages.
Abstract: When two devices come into contact, albeit opportunistically, it provides a great opportunity to match services to resources, exchange information, cyberforage, execute tasks remotely, and forward messages.
302 citations
TL;DR: The framework within which uncertainty can be managed is introduced and the effects that the number of sensors in conjunction with the reliability level of each sensor can have on the overall decision making process are demonstrated.
250 citations
References
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TL;DR: A conceptual framework is presented that separates the acquisition and representation of context from the delivery and reaction to context by a context-aware application, and a toolkit is built that instantiates this conceptual framework and supports the rapid development of a rich space of context- aware applications.
Abstract: Computing devices and applications are now used beyond the desktop, in diverse environments, and this trend toward ubiquitous computing is accelerating. One challenge that remains in this emerging research field is the ability to enhance the behavior of any application by informing it of the context of its use. By context, we refer to any information that characterizes a situation related to the interaction between humans, applications, and the surrounding environment. Context-aware applications promise richer and easier interaction, but the current state of research in this field is still far removed from that vision. This is due to 3 main problems: (a) the notion of context is still ill defined, (b) there is a lack of conceptual models and methods to help drive the design of context-aware applications, and (c) no tools are available to jump-start the development of context-aware applications. In this anchor article, we address these 3 problems in turn. We first define context, identify categories of contextual information, and characterize context-aware application behavior. Though the full impact of context-aware computing requires understanding very subtle and high-level notions of context, we are focusing our efforts on the pieces of context that can be inferred automatically from sensors in a physical environment. We then present a conceptual framework that separates the acquisition and representation of context from the delivery and reaction to context by a context-aware application. We have built a toolkit, the Context Toolkit, that instantiates this conceptual framework and supports the rapid development of a rich space of context-aware applications. We illustrate the usefulness of the conceptual framework by describing a number of context-aware applications that have been prototyped using the Context Toolkit. We also demonstrate how such a framework can support the investigation of important research challenges in the area of context-aware computing.
3,095 citations
"Developing context-aware pervasive ..." refers background in this paper
...Our situation abstraction is conceptually similar to that proposed by Dey and Abowd [16] for use with their Context Toolkit, but is considerably more expressive....
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...These include the Context Toolkit [6], the Solar platform [7], and various context services [8,9]....
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26 Aug 2002
TL;DR: In this article, the development of appropriate context modeling concepts for pervasive computing, which can form the basis for such a context management infrastructure is discussed, and the model overcomes problems associated with previous context models, including their lack of formality and generality, and tackles issues such as wide variations in information quality, the existence of complex relationships amongst context information and temporal aspects of context.
Abstract: As computing becomes more pervasive, the nature of applications must change accordingly. In particular, applications must become more flexible in order to respond to highly dynamic computing environments, and more autonomous, to reflect the growing ratio of applications to users and the corresponding decline in the attention a user can devote to each. That is, applications must become more context-aware. To facilitate the programming of such applications, infrastructure is required to gather, manage, and disseminate context information to applications. This paper is concerned with the development of appropriate context modeling concepts for pervasive computing, which can form the basis for such a context management infrastructure. This model overcomes problems associated with previous context models, including their lack of formality and generality, and also tackles issues such as wide variations in information quality, the existence of complex relationships amongst context information and temporal aspects of context.
741 citations
01 Aug 2000
TL;DR: Through the work on the GUIDE project, researchers believe that they have produced a blueprint for the development of interactive context-aware systems that should be of real value to those in the community who wish to develop such systems in a practical environment.
Abstract: The GUIDE system has been developed to provide city visitors with a hand-held context-aware tourist guide. The system has been successfully deployed in a major tourist destination and is currently at the stage where it is publicly available to visitors who wish to explore the city. Reaching this stage has been the culmination of a number of distinct research efforts. In more detail, the development of GUIDE has involved: capturing a real set of application requirements, investigating the properties of a cell-based wireless communications technology in a built-up environment and deploying a network based on this technology around the city, designing and populating an information model to represent attractions and key buildings within the city, prototyping the development of a distributed application running across portable GUIDE units and stationary cell-servers and finally, evaluating the entire system during an extensive field-trial study. This paper reports on our results in each of these areas. We believe that through our work on the GUIDE project we have produced a blueprint for the development of interactive context-aware systems that should be of real value to those in the community who wish to develop such systems in a practical environment.
635 citations
"Developing context-aware pervasive ..." refers background in this paper
...In recent years, a variety of prototypical context-aware applications have appeared, such as context-aware guides that present tourists with information tailored to their location [1], and capture tools that augment various types of media with contextual metadata describing the context in which it was recorded [2]....
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27 Sep 1999
TL;DR: A layered real-time architecture for this kind of context-aware adaptation based on redundant collections of low-level sensors, which has shown that it is feasible to recognize contexts using sensors and that context information can be used to create new interaction metaphors.
Abstract: Mobile information appliances are increasingly used in numerous different situations and locations, setting new requirements to their interaction methods When the user's situation, place or activity changes, the functionality of the device should adapt to these changes In this work we propose a layered real-time architecture for this kind of context-aware adaptation based on redundant collections of low-level sensors Two kinds of sensors are distinguished: physical and logical sensors, which give cues from environment parameters and host information A prototype board that consists of eight sensors was built for experimentation The contexts are derived from cues using real-time recognition software, which was constructed after experiments with Kohonen's Self-Organizing Maps and its variants A personal digital assistant (PDA) and a mobile phone were used with the prototype to demonstrate situational awareness On the PDA font size and backlight were changed depending on the demonstrated contexts while in mobile phone the active user profile was changed The experiments have shown that it is feasible to recognize contexts using sensors and that context information can be used to create new interaction metaphors
634 citations
"Developing context-aware pervasive ..." refers background in this paper
...quality metadata, such as certainty and freshness estimates [9,11]....
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19 Oct 1998
TL;DR: A prototype application has been constructed to explore how some of the contextual capabilities of the Contextual Information Service could be deployed in a wearable system designed to aid an ecologist's observations of giraffe in a Kenyan game reserve.
Abstract: Context-awareness has an increasingly important role to play in the development of wearable computing systems. In order to better define this role we have identified four generic contextual capabilities: sensing, adaptation, resource discovery, and augmentation. A prototype application has been constructed to explore how some of these capabilities could be deployed in a wearable system designed to aid an ecologist's observations of giraffe in a Kenyan game reserve. However, despite the benefits of context-awareness demonstrated in this prototype, widespread innovation of these capabilities is currently stifled by the difficulty in obtaining the contextual data. To remedy this situation the Contextual Information Service (CIS) is introduced. Installed on the user's wearable computer, the CIS provides a common point of access for clients to obtain, manipulate and model contextual information independently of the underlying plethora of data formats and sensor interface mechanisms.
615 citations
"Developing context-aware pervasive ..." refers background in this paper
...These include the Context Toolkit [6], the Solar platform [7], and various context services [8,9]....
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