ETH Zurich : Computer Science : Pervasive Computing : Distributed Systems : Research : Events : Dagstuhl Ubicomp

Dagstuhl Ubicomp - Abstract

The Role of a Context Service in a System that aims at integrating the Digital with the Real World

Fritz Hohl, Sony Research, Germany

One aspect of Ubiquitous Computing is the one of integrating the Digital and the Real World. A corresponding system that aims at supporting this integration has to consider three aspects. First, it has to be possible to represent Real World objects and their attributes in the Digital World. Second, changes in the Real World have to be reflected in the Digital World. Third, it should be possible that some aspects of the Real World can be changed by the Digital World.

The second aspect and some parts of the first aspect can be covered by a Context Service. A Context Service is able to gather, process, store, and support context data to other components. Context data is "any information that can be used to characterize the situation of an entity," where an entity is e.g. a mobile user. Context data therefore always relate to such a focus entity, is of a certain type, and occurs in a certain format. In this talk, such a Context Service is roughly sketched and its relation to the overall system discussed.

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