Context-aware pervasive systems

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Context-aware computing refers to a general class of mobile systems that can sense their physical environment, i.e., their context of use, and adapt their behavior accordingly. Such systems are a component of a ubiquitous computing or pervasive computing environment. Three important aspects of context are: (1) where you are; (2) who you are with; and (3) what resources are nearby. Although location is a primary capability, location-aware does not necessarily capture things of interest that are mobile or changing. Context-aware in contrast is used more generally to include nearby people, devices, lighting, noise level, network availability, and even the social situation; e.g., whether you are with your family or a friend from school.

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[edit] History

The concept emerged out of ubiquitous computing research at Xerox PARC and elsewhere in the early 1990s. The term was first used by Schilit and Theimer in their 1994 paper Disseminating Active Map Information to Mobile Hosts where they describe a model of computing in which users interact with many different mobile and stationary computers and classify a context-aware systems as one that can adapt according to its location of use, the collection of nearby people and objects, as well as the changes to those objects over time over the course of the day.

[edit] References

  • Context-Aware Computing Applications. Bill N. Schilit, Norman I. Adams, and Roy Want. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Mobile Computing Systems and Applications, Santa Cruz, CA, December 1994. Pages 85-90. IEEE Computer Society.
  • X. Wang, J. S. Dong, C. Chin, S. R. Hettiarachchi and D. Zhang. Semantic Space: A Semantic Web Infrastructure for Smart Spaces. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 3(3):32-39, July-September 2004

[edit] See also

[edit] External Links

  • Xerox PARCTAB is generally considered the first context-aware mobile computer.