Bringing context-aware access to the web through spoken interaction

The web has become the largest repository of multimedia information and its convergence with telecommunications is now bringing the benefits of web technology to hand-held devices. To optimize data access using these devices and provide services which meet the user needs through intelligent information retrieval, the system must sense and interpret the user environment and the communication context. In addition, natural spoken conversation with handheld devices makes possible the use of these applications in environments in which the use of GUI interfaces is not effective, provides a more natural human-computer interaction, and facilitates access to the web for people with visual or motor disabilities, allowing their integration and the elimination of barriers to Internet access. In this paper, we present an architecture for the design of context-aware systems that use speech to access web services. Our contribution focuses specifically on the use of context information to improve the effectiveness of providing web services by using a spoken dialog system for the user-system interaction. We also describe an application of our proposal to develop a context-aware railway information system, and provide a detailed evaluation of the influence of the context information in the quality of the services that are supplied.     

CASD: Management of a context-aware service directory

Traditional web service discovery is strongly related to the use of service directories. Especially in the case of mobile web services, where both service requestors and providers are mobile, the dynamics impose the need for directory-based discovery. Context plays an eminent role with mobility, as a filtering mechanism that enhances service discovery through the selection of the most appropriate service. However, current service directory specifications do not focus on mobility of services or context-awareness. In this paper, we propose CASD, a context-aware service directory, envisioned as a context-based index for services on top of any traditional service directory, and design algorithms for construction, search, update and merge of such directories. Furthermore, we describe the architecture of our system for context-aware service discovery, we present a prototype implementation and discuss the experimental results as well as the overall evaluation. The contribution of this work is the proposal for a novel, enhanced representation model for a context-aware service directory.     

Personal service areas for mobile Web applications

Location-based mobile services let wireless mobile users access Web-based information about resources in their immediate vicinities. The authors describe an algorithm that draws on context mobility elements, such as the user's travel direction and speed, to form personal service areas. Their experimental context-aware tourist information system (CATIS) leverages XML technologies and Web services to provide tourist information to mobile users based on these personal service areas and the users' preferences. Because Web service performance depends on the underlying databases, the authors also developed a layered caching scheme for storing environmental data to improve response time.     

A Context-Aware Infrastructure for Supporting Applications with Pen-Based Interaction

Pen-based user interfaces which leverage the affordances of the pen provide users with more flexibility and natural interaction.However,it is difficult to construct usable pen-based user interfaces because of the lack of support for their development.Toolkit-level support has been exploited to solve this problem,but this approach makes it hard to gain platform independence,easy maintenance and easy extension.In this paper a context-aware infrastructure is created,called WEAVER,to provide pen interaction services for both novel pen-based applcations and legacy GUI-based applications.WEAVER aims to support the pen as another standard interactive device along with the keyboard and mouse and present a high-level access interface to pen input.It emplolys application context to tailor its sevice to different applications.By modeling the application context and egistering the relevant action adapters,WEAVER can offer servicxes,such as gesture recognition,continuous handwriting and other fundamental ink manipulations,to appropriate applications.One of the distinct features of WEAVER is that off-the-shelf GUI-based software packages can be easily enhanced with pen interaction without modifying the existing code.In this paper,the architecture and components of WEAVER are described.In addition ,examples and feedbacks of its use are presented.     

手机有声图书点播系统的设计

"手机有声图书点播系统"是一套基于3G移动互联网的网络通道设计的手机有声图书互动点播系统,系统分为手机客户端和内容推送服务器端。文章详细介绍了基于J2ME和J2EE平台开发的客户端和服务器端的系统架构,并对系统开发中所用的关键技术进行了描述。该系统可以丰富手机阅读功能和满足一些对内容的特殊需求。     

基于WebMap引擎的地图公众服务平台研建

当今世界已经进入信息化数字化时代,建设网络地图公众服务平台旨在提供强大的网络地图服务功能,使地图这一社会基础公共信息更加高效地服务于社会民众。文中从网络地图服务引擎、矢量电子地图数据组织以及河南地图网Web发布平台等方面,重点介绍了如何采用WebGIS技术研建网络地图公众服务平台。并以河南地图网为例,详细描述了基于WebMap引擎的网络地图服务平台主要功能特点。总之,本平台借助网络地图服务引擎（WebMap1.0）,利用ActiveX、COM、HTTP等综合技术,将地图以矢量格式在互联网进行发布,实现了地图信息查询、搜索、定位等多项功能,借以满足人们对地图应用的各项需求,方便实用。     

基于uSD的情境感知系统设计与实现*

基于移动终端、情境感知以及无线传感器网络的结合需求,提出了一种应用于移动终端的情境感知系统,包括若干无线传感器节点、情境感知及处理终端、应用服务及执行装置等。针对移动电子设备一般都不具备接入无线传感器网络所需功能单元的现状,利用uSD概念为移动终端设计了一个ZigBee通信功能扩展模块,使移动终端能够从无线传感器网络中获取情境信息,并提供相应的情境感知和处理功能。最后,设计了包含位置等信息的情境感知服务演示系统,初步验证了基于uSD的情境感知系统在移动终端上应用的新颖性和有效性。     

基于Web Services的高考服务系统的设计和开发

Web Services是一种构建应用程序的应用实体,形成特定条件下的API;同时也是一个可互操作的分布式应用程序平台,并能在所有支持HTTP协议操作系统上实施运行。在网络中服务方提供了一个Web Services平台,该平台不仅提供相关的网络服务,而且会提供一种标准来描述它的服务;而客户可以在网络中其它任何一点调用该服务,并且可以得到足够的信息来得知如何调用。本文设计并开发一款基于Web Services技术的高考服务系统,即在移动终端开发客户端系统,并通过Web Services获取服务器提供的各种信息。在系统中采用多种算法完成模拟志愿填报、高校查询、学习计划等多种模块,并提供高考动态、工具娱乐、心理辅导等多种工具模块,能够帮助考生在高考过程中得到更好的发挥。     

Experiences in developing mobile applications using the Apricot Agent Platform

The trend of increasing mobile services has set a new challenge for service providers: how to develop more advanced and user-friendly, context-aware and personalized mobile services for the users. Apricot Agent Platform is an agent-based software platform designed for developing context-aware and personalized mobile services. Apricot Agent Platform supports the development of user-friendly mobile services by providing tools for combining various mobile and Internet-based services. Apricot agent architecture consists of an agent platform, agents and agent containers. For the developers of mobile services, it provides built-in functionality and communication mechanism. Furthermore, this paper describes four demonstrators that are built up on the Apricot Agent Platform to evaluate the usability and efficiency of the platform in the processes of building mobile services. The outcome of the evaluation indicates relatively promising results and the further target for development is revealed.     

iConAwa - An intelligent context-aware system

Context-awareness becomes an increasingly important concept in the development of mobile and ubiquitous systems. Applications and services, which run in these kinds of highly dynamic environments, should be aware of and adapt to their contexts. Context-aware applications improve and enrich people’s interactions with devices, computers and other people.In this paper, design and development of iConAwa, which is an intelligent context-aware multi-agent system proactively providing mobile users with context-aware information and services, is described. In iConAwa, mobile users can get information and services about nearby resources (attraction points) according to their context and also communicate with each other by exchanging messages. Context and point of interest ontologies are developed in OWL. Context and points of interest are modelled in a flexible and extensible way by the developed ontology models. Knowledge sharing and knowledge reuse are also provided by using these ontology models. iConAwa makes use of rule-based context reasoning which provides derivation of high level implicit context from low level explicit context. With this approach context reasoning is decoupled from the source code of the system. JADE agent development framework is used to develop the agents and Jena semantic web framework is used to manipulate ontologies and for rule based reasoning.     

A JESS-enabled context elicitation system for providing context-aware Web services

Providing context-aware Web services is an adaptive process of delivering contextually matched Web services to meet service requesters’ needs. We define the term “context” from two perspectives: one from service requesters; and the other from Web services. From the former perspective, context is defined as the surrounding environment affecting requesters’ services discovery and access, such as requesters’ preferences, locations, activities, and accessible network and devices. From the latter perspective, context is defined as the surrounding environment affecting Web services delivery and execution, such as networks and protocols for service binding, devices and platforms for service execution, and so on. This paper presents a Java Expert System Shell (JESS)-enabled context elicitation system featuring an ontology-based context model that formally describes and acquires contextual information pertaining to service requesters and Web services. Based on the context elicitation system, we present a context-aware services-oriented architecture for providing context-aware Web service request, publication, and discovery. Implementation details of the context elicitation system and the evaluation results of context-aware service provision are also reported.     

适用于无线城市建设的宽带接入技术

无线数字城市建设是指利用3G通信技术和WiFi,WiMAX等无线宽带接入技术,为政府、公众提供无所不在的高速无线网络链接。并在基于无线网络、地理信息系统、综合业务管理平台、智能化生活平台等基础设施上,为政府、城市居民和企业提供丰富多彩的移动互联网业务。     

Exploring Context-aware Information Push

Despite much interest over recent years in the area of context-aware computing, there are still a number of significant gaps in our understanding of the HCI issues associated with such systems. One particular issue that remains relatively unexplored is how to design around the apparently conflicting goals of adapting to changes in context while at the same time adhering to the principle of predictability. In this paper, we describe our exploration into this issue through two alternative designs of an interactive context-aware tourist guide. One original design was based around information pull, i.e. the emphasis is on the user to decide when context-aware information is presented. Our second design incorporates the notion of information push whereby the actual presentation of context-aware information is triggered by contextual events, e.g. changes in the user’s location or changes to the opening times of attractions. Through the evaluation of these alternative designs we hope to gain a better understanding of the usability implications relating to push vs. pull in both this specific domain and in interactive context-aware systems in general.     

基于Agent的移动Web服务集成方案

结合Aglets平台和J2EE servlet技术,提出一种基于Agent的J2ME移动Web服务3层集成方案。在终端层,使用轻量级代理接入方式减少移动设备资源受限系统的负载需求。在Web接入层,采用Web服务标准接入方式确保异构移动平台的统一接入。在移动Agent层,通过多Agent协同工作保证系统高效性与灵活性。在此基础上,设计并实现一个移动进货比价系统。应用结果表明,该方案能提高无线环境下J2ME设备发现、访问Web服务的效率与健壮性。     

基于移动Agent和Web服务的分布式地理信息查找研究

提出并实现了一种基于移动Agent和Web服务进行分布式地理信息查找的系统框架。根据系统的查找策略移动Agent可以对分布于网络中的地理信息进行自主搜索,利用移动Agent和Web服务之间的交互可以允许多种类型的应用程序透明访问查找服务。     

移动设备笔式编辑系统PenEditor的结构设计

随着移动计算和便携式设备的出现以及笔交互设备的普及,迫切需要研究适用于笔交互方式的应用软件。研究实现了一个基于笔输入方式的文本输入、编辑系统,利用人们日常生活中的纸笔交互方式和编辑习惯,完成文本输入、修改等任务,试图建立一个以用户为中心,符合人们日常生活、交流方式的工作环境。由于移动设备跨平台使用的特点,文件存取采用XML格式,所有笔迹信息统一存储在同一个结构已预定义的XML文件中。     

Mobile-IT Education (MIT. EDU): m-learning applications for classroom settings

Abstract In this paper, we describe the Mobile-IT Education (MIT.EDU) system, which demonstrates the potential of using a distributed mobile device architecture for rapid prototyping of wireless mobile multi-user applications for use in classroom settings. MIT.EDU is a stable, accessible system that combines inexpensive, commodity hardware, a flexible sensor/peripheral interconnection bus, and a powerful, light-weight distributed sensing, classification, and inter-process communications software architecture to facilitate the development of distributed real-time multi-modal and context-aware applications. We demonstrate the power and functionality of this platform by describing a number of MIT.EDU application deployments in educational settings. Initial evaluations of these experiments demonstrate the potential of using the system for real-world interactive m-learning applications.     

基于Web Service的家庭人体健康监护系统快速开发平台

家庭人体健康监护系统作为上下文感知应用的一种,越来越多的被应用到有老人或病人的家庭中。该文提出一种新的面向服务的开发平台,引入Web Service框架,将家庭人体健康监护系统中的软硬件集成模块抽象成独立的网络服务,开发人员既可以直接调用这些服务,又可以创建基于这些服务的业务流程,极大的提高了工作效率。     

基于语义Web技术的上下文感知的智能移动服务

语义Web技术应用于上下文感知的智能移动服务，通过构建上下文信息本体，使得移动服务的实体之间可以进行上下文信息共享和语义互操作，并进行上下文信息推理，实现智能服务。本文首先介绍了语义Web及本体技术，其次阐述了语义Web技术应用于上下文感知的移动服务，然后详细分析了智能移动服务中的上下文信息本体构建，包括通用的上下文信息本体、用户概况本体、情境本体以及服务本体等，接着介绍了相关的研究项目，最后进行展望和总结。     

Toward work-centered digital information services

Work-centered digital information services are a set of library-like services meant to address work group needs. Workplace users especially need to access legacy documents and external collections. They also frequently want to retrieve information (rather than documents per se), and they require that digital information systems be integrated into established work practices. Realizing work-centered digital information systems requires a broad technical agenda. Three types of analysis-document image, natural language, and computer vision, are necessary to facilitate information extraction. Users also need new user interface paradigms and authoring tools to better access multimedia information, as well as improved protocols for client-program interaction with repositories (collections). Moreover, entirely new types of documents must be developed to exploit these capabilities. The system developed by the authors follows a client-server architecture, in which the servers are repositories implemented as databases supporting user-defined functions and user-defined access methods. The repositories also serve as indexing servers. The authors are creating a prototype set of information services called the California Environmental Digital Information System, which includes a diverse collection of environmental data