Word ID – Intuitive representations of object identifiers

This disclosure describes a system and a method for mapping the numeric/alphanumeric identifiers of objects to words/phrases/sentences for the purpose of increasing memorability and/or human interactions

An Infrastructure for Privacy-Enabled Sharing of Context Data

The concept of context originated in the ubiquitous computing domain where information regarding the user\u27s situation was gathered using sensing devices, allowing the application to automatically adapt according to the user\u27s current situation. Context awareness enabled the development of smart spaces in a multitude of different environments such as offices, homes, cars, hospitals and universities. Traditionally, the smart space that produced the context data was the sole consumer of that data and accessing the context data from third-party applications was cumbersome. Consequently, smart spaces became stovepipes; having little integration beyond their isolated application scenarios. The development of context-aware applications was limited to environments with access to rich sources of context data and which had large resources available for the development of context-aware applications. The development of these context-aware applications required expertise in the areas of context modelling, context gathering, context management and data privacy. As a result, the inclusion of context-aware behaviours in applications outside of ubiquitous computing research prototypes has been limited. This thesis defines and presents a distributed web-based model for the controlled shar-ing of context data between heterogeneous third-parties. A web-based approach is adopted in order to maximize the variety of potential applications, such as mobile, desktop, smart space and web-based applications. This `Context as a Service\u27 (CxaaS) approach to context management enables applications to access context-data from domains beyond their usual operational boundaries. The support for ubiquitous computing scenario oriented sharing of context data has been addressed in three key areas: (i) discovery of context data from remote sources concerning new and returning users, (ii) enabling the privacy sensitive sharing of context data between heterogeneous third-parties, and (iii) provision of a formal context model appropriate for use with the discovery and privacy mechanisms. The model defined in this thesis is evaluated with an implementation of a comprehensive business use-case. A RESTful approach is adopted in this particular instantiation of the CxaaS model which facilitates the rapid development of context-aware applications through the use of popular libraries. The core CxaaS context ontology is supported and mechanisms are provided to extend this model if necessary

Transmitting and Gathering Streaming Data in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks within Expected Network Lifetime

Using multimedia sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can significantly enhance the capability of WSNs for event description. Different kinds of holes can easily appear in WSNs. How to efficiently transmit multi-media streaming data and bypass all kinds of holes is a challenging issue. Moreover, some applications do not need WSNs to work for a long lifetime, e.g. monitoring an erupting volcano. These applications generally expect that WSNs can provide continuous streaming data during a relatively short expected network lifetime. Two basic problems are: (1) gathering as much data as possible within an expected network lifetime; (2) minimizing transmission delay within an expected network lifetime. In this paper, we proposed a cross-layer approach to facilitate the continuous one shot event recording in WSNs. We first propose the maximum streaming data gathering (MSDG) algorithm and the minimum transmission delay (MTD) algorithm to adjust the transmission radius of sensor nodes in the physical layer. Following that the two-phase geographical greedy forwarding (TPGF) routing algorithm is proposed in the network layer for exploring one/multiple optimized hole-bypassing paths. Simulation results show that our algorithms can effectively solve the identified problems

SAGE: An Ambient Intelligent Framework for Manufacturing

To profit in today¿s market, small manufacturers must be efficient and agile to minimise cost and to meet variable market demand. This paper discusses an envisaged Semantic, Ambient, Generic and Extensible framework (SAGE) focused on the manufacturing environment. SAGE is based on the ambient intelligence philosophy which means it is focused on the human actor with the aim of aiding them to optimise their companies manufacturing processes. In order to achieve this goal SAGE combines several technologies: semantic reasoning, multi-modal communication and context-aware technologies within a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). SAGE provides the manager with intuitive access to the real-time data describing the status of the shop floor environment and the ability to automate a response. Two manufacturing processes are targeted for systemic innovation: shop floor control and machine maintenance. Keywords: Manufacturing, Semantic Web, Context Awareness.peer-reviewe

Integrating Social Networks and Sensor Networks

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