Inter-space Interaction Issues Impacting Middleware Architecture of Ubiquitous Pervasive Computing

Abstract

We believe that smart spaces, offering pervasive services, will proliferate. However, at present, those islands of smart spaces should be joined seamlessly with each other. As users move about, they will have to roam from one autonomous smart space to another. When they move into the new island of smart space, they should setup their devices and service manually or not have access to the services available in their home spaces. Sometimes, there will conflicts between users when they try to occupy the same space or use a specific device at the same time. It will also be critical to elder people who suffer from Alzheimer or other cognitive impairments when they travel from their smart space to other visited spaces (e.g., grocery stores, museums). Furthermore our experience in building the Gator Tech Smart House reveals to us that home residents generally do not want to lose or be denied all the features or services they have come to expect simply because they move to a new smart space. The seamless inter-space interaction requirements and issues are raised automatically when the ubiquitous pervasive computing system tries to establish the user's service environment by allocating relevant resources after the user moves to a new location where there are no prior settings for the new environment. In this paper, we raise and present several critical inter-space interactions issues impacting middleware architecture design of ubiquitous pervasive computing. We propose requirements for resolving these issues on seamless inter-space operation. We also illustrate our approach and ideas via a service scenario moving around two smart spaces.