Part I

Surveys of Context-aware Systems

2008.01.28
임영희
http://idb.korea.ac.kr
DB & Mining Lab.
Korea University

Dept. of Computer & Information Science, Korea University

Contents
 Definition of Context & Context-aware Application
 Architecture of Context-aware System
 Context Models
 Existent Context-aware Applications
- Office and Meeting Tools
- Tourist Guide
- Memory Aids
- Context-aware Home
 Essential Technologies for Context-aware Services

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

2
Definition of Context
 Context is
- situational information

- any information that can be used to characterize the

situation of an entity. An entity is a person, place, or object
that is considered relevant to the interaction between a user
and an application, including the user and application
themselves.

- the set of environmental states and settings that either

determines an application’s behavior or in which an
application event occurs

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

3
Categories of Context(1)
 Categories of Context
- Primary context :
 Location (where)
 Identity (who)
 Time (when)
 Activity (what)
- Secondary context
 can be indexed by primary context
 Ex) given a person’s identity,
 phone number, addresses, birthdate
given an entity’s location,
 what object are near, what activity is occurring near the
entity

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

4
Categories of Context(2)
 Another categories of Context
- external (physical) context :
 can be measured by h/w sensors
 location, light, sound, movement, touch, temperature…
- internal (logical) context:
 be specified by users or captured monitoring the user’s
interaction
 user’s goal, tasks, user’s emotional state…

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

5
Context-aware Application
 Definition of Context-Aware
- A system is context-aware if it uses context to provide
relevant information and/or services to the user, where
relevancy depends on the user’s task
 Characteristics of Context-Aware application
- presentation of information and services to a user
- automatic execution of a service
- tagging of context to information for later retrieval

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

6
Context-aware Application
 Categories of Context-Aware applications
- Active context awareness:
 An application automatically adapts to discovered context, by
changing the application behavior.
- Passive context awareness:
 An application presents the new or updated context to an
interested user or makes the context persistent for the user to
retrieve later

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

7
Architecture of Context-aware Systems
 Different approaches context-aware systems
- Direct sensor access:
 the client s/w gathers the desired information directly form these
sensor without layer for gaining and processing sensor data
 drivers for the sensor are hardwired into the application
 law extensibility, impossibility of managing multiple concurrent
sensor access
- Middleware based:
 a layered architecture with the intention of hiding low-level
sensing details
 high extensibility
- Context Server
 middleware base architecture + distributed approach
 gathering sensor data  context server

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

8
Abstract Architecture(1)

application
storage/management
preprocessing
raw data retrieval
sensor

 Sensor
- sensing hardware + every data source which provide
usable context information
-Categories of Sensor
Physical sensors
Virtual sensors : sourcing context data from s/w
Logical sensors : combining physical sensor + virtual sensor
DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science
9
Abstract Architecture(2)

application  raw data retrieval

storage/management - raw data retrieval by using
preprocessing appropriate drivers for physical
raw data retrieval sensor and APIs for virtual and
sensor logical sensors

 preprocessing
- reasoning and interpreting (transforming)
- aggregating of raw context data
- solving of sensing conflicts

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

10
Abstract Architecture(3)

application  storage/management
storage/management - storing context history
preprocessing
raw data retrieval
sensor

 application
- implementing actual reaction on different events and
context-instances

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

11
Existent Context-aware Applications
 Categories of Context-aware Applications
- Office and Meeting Tools
- Tourist Guide
- Memory Aids
- Context-aware Home

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

12
Office and Meeting Tools(1)
 The Active Badge System(1992)
- Group: Olivetti Research Ltd.
- the first context-aware applications.
- persons with badges that transmitted IR-signal
- after sensing a location of a person, forwarding calls to
the closest phone

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

13
Office and Meeting Tools(2)
 The ParcTab System
- Group: Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
- ParcTab: small wireless palm-sized computer
- presenting information about the room the user was in
- helping the user find the most convenient local resource,
e.g. the nearest printer
- Locating other person with ParcTab  Displaying the
location information on Active map

ParcTab terminal
DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science
14
Office and Meeting Tools
 Gaia
- Group : Dept. of CS, University of Illinois
- extending typical operating system concepts to include
context, location awareness, mobile computing devices
and actuators like door locks and light switches

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

15
Tourist Guides
 GUIDE
- Group: Lancaster University(96~99)
- terminal: Fujitsu Teampad 7600 portable PC
- supporting Lancaster city visitor
- screenshot of GUIDE

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

16
Memory Aids(1)
 Forget-Me-Not
- Group: Rank Xerox Research Center
- PDA system that records where its user is, who they are
with, whom they phone, and other autobiographical
information and store it in a DB for later query
- terminal: ParcTab

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

17
Memory Aids(2)
 StartleCam
- Group: MIT Media Lab.
- wearable computer (with digital camera, digital modem)
+ skin conductivity sensor

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

18
Context-aware Homes(1)
 EasyLiving
- Group: Vision Group at Microsoft Research
- computer vision for person-tracking and visual user
interaction.
- multiple sensor modalities combined.
- use of a geometric model of the world to provide context.
- automatic or semi-automatic sensor calibration and
model building.
- fine-grained events and adaptation of the user interface.
- device-independent communication and data protocols.

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

19
상황 인식 서비스 요소 기술 (1)
 상황 인식 서비스 요소기술들
1. 상황정보 감지 기술 (context sensing)
2. 상황정보의 변화 감지 기술 (context change sensing)
3. 상황정보 모델링 기술 (context modeling)
4. 상황정보 융합 및 추론 기술 (context fusion &
reasoning)
5. 상황정보 교환 기술 (context exchange)
6. 상황정보 툴킷 기술 (context toolkit)
7. 상황인식 서비스 묘사 및 발견 기술 (context-aware
service description language)
8. 상항인식 서비스 구조 기술 (context-aware service
infrastructure)

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

20
상황인식 서비스 요소 기술 (2)
1. 상황정보 감지 기술
- 상황정보 수집 경로 :
 사용자 인터페이스 , 센서 , 센서 네트워크
- 위치 인식 시스템의 분류
 매크로 위치인식 시스템 – 광역 위치 인식 시스템 ( 주로
GPS 사용 )
 마이크로 위치인식 시스템
 실내나 지하 , 건물 밀집 지역의 위치 인식 제공
 적외선 기반 , 초음파 기반 , 무선랜 기반 , 영상 기반
시스템
 Ad hoc 위치인식 시스템
 위치인식을 위한 추가적인 h/w 도입이 어려운 환경에서
사용
 위치정보를 가지는 레퍼런스 노드와의 무선 링크
연결성만으로 위치를 계산

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

21
상황인식 서비스 요소 기술 (3)
2. 상황정보의 변화 감지기술
- 상황정보의 변화 주기에 따라 주기적인 polling 이나
상황정보가 특정조건을 만족할 경우에만 reporting
3. 상황정보 모델링 기술
4. 상황정보 융합 및 추론 기술
− 상황정보 융합을 위한 계층적 모델링 요구
− 지능적인 추론이나 확률적인 메커니즘이 도입
5. 상황정보 교환기술
− application 간의 복잡한 자료구조를 교환하기 위한
통신 매커니즘 개발이 요구됨
6. 상황정보 툴킷 기술
− 코딩부담을 줄여주는 비주얼 프로그래밍 툴이 요구됨

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

22
상황인식 서비스 요소 기술 (4)
7. 상황인식 서비스 묘사 및 발견 기술
- 상황인식 서비스 묘사 언어 개발  WSDL 등이 사용
- 서비스 발견 기술  에이전트 기술이 주로 활용
8. 상황인식 서비스 구조 기술
− 센서 , 네트워크 , 서비스 , 장치 등에 독립적인 infrastructure
개발이 요구됨

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

23
 Part II
Context-Aware Artifacts:
Two Development Approaches

http://idb.korea.ac.kr
DB & Mining Lab.
Korea University

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

24
Introduction
 Two development approaches for CA
- Self-supported context awareness
 designers build the ability to perceive context, reason with it, and
act accordingly into the device or its dedicated hardware support.

- Infrastructure-supported context awareness

 designers obtain context aware capabilities by harnessing a
hardware and software infrastructure external to and associated
with the device’s space.

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

25
Context-aware mobile phones (1)
 SenSay
- context-aware mobile phone that modifies its behavior
based on its user's state and surroundings
- uses a combination of sensors, including a voice
microphone, an ambient-noise microphone, accelerometers,
and a light sensor.

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

26
Context-aware mobile phones (2)
- uses a finite-state machine to track the phone’s internal
states (uninterruptible, high activity, normal, and idle)
- automatically controls ringer and vibration levels, send
short-message-service messages to callers, suggest calls to
make
- provides access to the user’s electronic calendar
- Architecture of Sensay

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

27
Context-aware mobile phones (3)
 TEA-II (Technology for Enabling Awareness)
- self-contained hardware device that plugs into mobile phones
to add context-aware capabilities
- The plug-in’s sensors: two light sensor, two microphones, a
dual axis accelerometer, a digital temperature sensor and a
touch sensor.
- detects phone situations( in hand, on table, in pocket, and
outdoors)
- explores an exchange of context information between caller
and callee.
- adds a delay of up to 30 seconds.
- Doesn’t consider internal phone state and action decision
making
DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science
28
Other context-aware objects (1)
 Sensor-Doll
- emits different sounds and music according to its situation
and how users handle it

 Spoons and cups

- Mediacup
- MIT’s Chameleon Mug
- MIT’s Intelligent Spoon

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

29
Other context-aware objects (2)
 Funiture
- Chameleon Table
- Smart Couch
 Medication dispensers
- Context-aware pill bottle

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

30
Other context-aware objects (3)
 Cameras
- Context photography:
 uses sound and movement as context information and a set of
custom-made computer graphics effects which affect images in real
time
 Example of context pictures

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

31
Discussion
 Advantages of self-supported CA
- By equipping objects with sensors, we can gain otherwise
unavailable information about the object’s situation
- Reduced dependency on external infrastructure
 Challenges of self-supported CA
- embedding sensors unobtrusively
- reasoning with the context efficiently and accurately given
limited computational resources
- enabling appropriate actions

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

32
Infrastructure-supported CA (1)
 Infrastructure for CA
- acts as a mechanism for detecting, combining, and reasoning with
different objects’ disparate context information
- should not only consist of an architecture to represent objects and
events, but also provide various services
- a well-established, pervasive, reliable, and publicly accessible set of
technologies that act as a foundation for other systems

The relationship between CA

artifacts and the context-awareness
infrastructure

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

33
Infrastructure-supported CA (2)
 Weather-aware clothes hanger
- hangers light up according to the day’s forecast

 RFID Chef prototype

- Detects RFID-tagged grocery items on a kitchen counter
- Display a list of recipes using these items as ingredients

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

34
Infrastructure-supported CA (3)
 Benefits of infrastructure support
- hardware, platform, and language independence
- ease of maintenance, in that administrators can change
infrastructure-linked services, sensors, and artifacts
while the system is running
- improved context awareness economics
- Users can update infrastructures and add new artifacts
to an existing environment
- can support complex context-awareness behavior

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

35
Conclusion
 Considerations for CA Developers
- How can a system best acquire context?
- Should we choose a self-supported or infrastructure-
based approach (or some combination)?
- How can the system reason with and use context for a
particular application given the constraints of cost,
reasoning efficiency, timeliness of action, and user
intelligibility?
- How can we program such entities to respond
appropriately to richer contextual information?
- How will users perceive automatic responses from
artifacts and devices?

DB & MINING Lab., Dept. of Computer & Information Science

36