Ubiquitous Services (UBISERV)

Ubiquitous Computing is the most recent step in an evolution chain characterizing different eras of internetworking computer systems. While deriving the properties of Mobile Computing and Distributed Computing systems, Ubiquitous Computing systems are further characterized by at least three salient properties: context-awareness, ad-hoc networks as well as smart sensors and devices. From a service perspective, enhancements in the three respective research areas should enable a transition from the mobile services paradigm which is "any service for any person any time any where (at any cost)" to the more desirable ubiquitous services paradigm which is "the right service for the right person at the right time and at the right place". Here is an example of the context-awareness aspect in Ubiquitous Services:

Imagine yourself on vacation. You are standing in front of the Golden Roof in Innsbruck, Austria, taking photographs with your mobile phone. Nowadays, you can use your mobile phone to send them to a printing shop. The service you are using to upload your photographs will ask you how many copies of your pictures you would like to have printed. In an ubiquitous computing world, the service will also assume a place where you would very likely go to pick up your pictures, suggest that you go there and tell you when your pictures are ready. The service will arrive at that assumption by taking into account all information that is known about you at that particular time: your travel schedule, your preferences, local characteristics, etc. If you are somewhere unfamiliar, the service will suggest convenient places to pick up your pictures and tell you how to get there.

In our cluster we elaborate on the challenges of services in the emerging field of Ubiquitous Computing. This includes research on service description, discovery, distribution, deployment, composition and execution in Ubiquitous Computing environments. An important aspect is the area of ontology based context modelling and retrieval as a key enabler of context-aware service discovery and execution technology in Ubiquitous Computing environments.