To read this content please select one of the options below:

A context management framework for context‐aware applications in mobile spaces

Penghe Chen (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore)
Shubhabrata Sen (Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, National University of Singapore, Singapore)
Hung Keng Pung (Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, National University of Singapore, Singapore)
Wenwei Xue (Nokia Research Center, Beijing, China)
, and
Wai Choong Wong (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore)

International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications

ISSN: 1742-7371

Article publication date: 22 June 2012

522

Abstract

Purpose

The rapid proliferation of mobile context aware applications has resulted in an increased research interest towards developing specialized context data management strategies for mobile entities. The purpose of this paper is to aim to develop a new way to model mobile entities and manage their contexts accordingly.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper proposes the concept of “Mobile Space” to model mobile entities and presents strategies to manage the various contexts associated therein. To handle availability related issues, two system services are designed: the “Availability Updating Service” which is an identifier based mechanism and is designed to keep track of mobile objects and handle availability related issues, and the “Application Callback Service” which is a publish/subscribe based mechanism to handle application disruptions and interruptions arising due to mobility.

Findings

The paper presents a detailed study of the proposed framework and a description of the underlying services and the components therein to validate the framework. Experimental results carried out in WiFi and 3G environments indicate that the proposed techniques can support mobile applications and minimize application disruptions with minimal overhead.

Originality/value

The proposed context management framework is generic in nature and is not designed for a specific class of applications. Any mobile context aware application can leverage on the framework and utilize the provided functionalities to manage application disruptions. Also, the decoupling of mobile application layer and the underlying context data management layer renders context data management layer transparent to the application design.

Keywords

Citation

Chen, P., Sen, S., Keng Pung, H., Xue, W. and Choong Wong, W. (2012), "A context management framework for context‐aware applications in mobile spaces", International Journal of Pervasive Computing and Communications, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 185-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/17427371211245382

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles