Implementing context-aware regulation of context-aware mobile services in pervasive computing environments

We view a pervasive computing environment as a collection of mobile users, mobile services, contexts, policies and computing devices. Applicable policies are selected depending on context of users (e.g., location, activity and a user’s role), and policies determine what services one can see and access in different contexts. This paper discusses the concepts, design, and implementation of an infrastructure, which we call Mobile Hanging Services (MHS), for building, delivering, and regulating mobile services, realised using policy-based access and execution of contextual services. The context-aware policy system governs mobile services visibility and execution in pervasive computing environments. MHS provides important abstractions for delivering, downloading and executing a service interface with a policy mechanism that hides details of interactions with remote services. Our novel approach for contextual services using web services, highly compact mobile code, and policies to govern service execution is illustrated through a case study of a Mobile Windows Media Player application in a pervasive campus environment.