Context-aware services

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Context-aware services is a computing technology which incorporates information about the current location of a mobile user to provide more relevant services to the user. [1] [2] [3] [4] An example of a context-aware service could be a real-time traffic update or even a live video feed of a planned route for a motor vehicle user. Context can refer to real-world characteristics, such as temperature, time or location. This information can be updated by the user (manually) or from communication with other devices and applications or sensors on the mobile device.[ citation needed ]

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Location-based service (LBS) is a general term denoting software services which use geographic data and information to provide services or information to users. LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor object search, entertainment, work, personal life, etc. Commonly used examples of location-based services include navigation software, social networking services, location-based advertising, and tracking systems. LBS can also include mobile commerce when taking the form of coupons or advertising directed at customers based on their current location. LBS also includes personalized weather services and even location-based games.

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Context awareness refers, in information and communication technologies, to a capability to take into account the situation of entities, which may be users or devices, but are not limited to those. Location is only the most obvious element of this situation. Narrowly defined for mobile devices, context awareness does thus generalize location awareness. Whereas location may determine how certain processes around a contributing device operate, context may be applied more flexibly with mobile users, especially with users of smart phones. Context awareness originated as a term from ubiquitous computing or as so-called pervasive computing which sought to deal with linking changes in the environment with computer systems, which are otherwise static. The term has also been applied to business theory in relation to contextual application design and business process management issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile device</span> Small, hand-held computing device

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Context-aware computing refers to a general class of mobile systems that can sense their physical environment, and adapt their behavior accordingly.

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Location awareness refers to devices that can determine their location. Navigational instruments provide location coordinates for vessels and vehicles. Surveying equipment identifies location with respect to a well-known location wireless communications device.

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Spatial contextual awareness consociates contextual information such as an individual's or sensor's location, activity, the time of day, and proximity to other people or objects and devices. It is also defined as the relationship between and synthesis of information garnered from the spatial environment, a cognitive agent, and a cartographic map. The spatial environment is the physical space in which the orientation or wayfinding task is to be conducted; the cognitive agent is the person or entity charged with completing a task; and the map is the representation of the environment which is used as a tool to complete the task.

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Spatial cloaking is a privacy mechanism that is used to satisfy specific privacy requirements by blurring users’ exact locations into cloaked regions. This technique is usually integrated into applications in various environments to minimize the disclosure of private information when users request location-based service. Since the database server does not receive the accurate location information, a set including the satisfying solution would be sent back to the user. General privacy requirements include K-anonymity, maximum area, and minimum area.

References

  1. "Building a context-aware service architecture". Developer Works. IBM. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  2. Kapitsaki, Georgia M.; Prezerakos, George N.; Tselikas, Nikolaos D.; Venieris, Iakovos S. (August 2009). "Context-aware service engineering: A survey". Journal of Systems and Software. 82 (8): 1285–1297. doi:10.1016/j.jss.2009.02.026.
  3. Truong, Hong‐Linh; Dustdar, Schahram (3 April 2009). "A survey on context‐aware web service systems". International Journal of Web Information Systems. 5 (1): 5–31. doi:10.1108/17440080910947295.
  4. Baldauf, Matthias; Dustdar, Schahram; Rosenberg, Florian (2007). "A survey on context-aware systems". International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing. 2 (4): 263. doi:10.1504/IJAHUC.2007.014070. S2CID   1113420.