A resource and context model for mobile middleware

Abstract

Mobile computing systems should be self-managed to simplify operation and maintenance plus meet user's expectation with respect to Quality of Service (QoS). When architecting self-managed mobile computing systems, one must take a holistic view on both QoS management and the entities in the mobile environment. This paper presents a novel model that includes both resources and context elements. To illustrate the usefulness of the model, it is applied to a video streaming application by: (1) modelling context elements and resources in the environment, (2) specifying context dependencies and QoS characteristics of the application, and (3) designing weakly integrated resource and context managers. We describe a middleware that uses the developed managers when evaluating context dependencies and predict offered QoS of alternative implementations of the application. In order to select the one that can operate in the current environment and that best satisfies given user preferences. © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2006.