Towards a Context Binding Transparency

Context-aware applications use context information, like location or identification of nearby objects of interest, to adapt their behavior to the current situation of the user. These applications acquire context information from distributed context sources, like GPS receivers and RFID beacons. Consequently, context-aware applications must be able to discover, select and bind to suitable context sources. Furthermore, due to the dynamic nature of context sources, their (lasting) availability is not guaranteed and the quality of their context information may vary. This makes maintaining a context binding – i.e., a binding between a context source and an application - complex. In this paper, we propose a context binding transparency that simplifies creating and maintaining a context binding. The proposed solution encompasses a language to specify context requirements and offerings, and interfaces to retrieve the requested context information. The responsibility for discovery, selection, binding and maintenance of required bindings is delegated to our underlying middleware, coined CACI. By providing this context binding transparency, we reduce the required development effort for creating context-aware applications.