A hybrid peer-to-peer solution for context distribution in mobile and ubiquitous environments

Abstract

With the proliferation of mobile devices such as PDAs and smart-phones, users get accustomed to using them in their daily life. This raises the expectations for user-customized and environment-aware services. However, mobile contextaware systems inherently feature characteristics of distribution and heterogeneity which pose great challenges to their developers. In this chapter, we focus on context distribution in mobile and ubiquitous computing environments. After describing the requirements in such environments, we propose a hybrid peer-to-peer based context distribution approach, which is built on top of the JXTA framework, a standard for peer-to-peer systems. We categorize context-aware system entities into three types of peers according to their device capabilities and their roles in context distribution. The peers are able to dynamically discover each other along with their offered services, form groups, and communicate with each other. The proposed approach is evaluated against the derived requirements and illustrated through a motivating scenario. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.