EasyLife : a location aware service oriented mobile information system

Paper presented at KES 2008, 12th International Conference on Knowledge Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, Zagreb, Croatia, 3, 4 and 5 September 2008Many examples of Location-aware services have been developed in recent years as the enabling technologies mature. However, these services frequently exist in isolation and address specific niche markets. The diversity of the mobile computing community suggests that enabling dynamic combinations of location-area services would be an appropriate deployment strategy. In this way, customers could subscribe to those services that address their particular needs. This paper introduces EasyLife, an agent-based architecture designed to facilitate the development of suites of location-aware services that customers can configure according to their preferences.Science Foundation IrelandConference detailshttp://kes2008.kesinternational.org

Service fusion in mobile contexts

Service provision for mobile users poses several challenges for those managing enterprise information systems. Some of these are ubiquitous, for example, privacy and security. Others give rise to integration and interoperability issues. The agent paradigm, though offering potential in fixed networked scenarios, has not been seriously considered as a mechanism for incorporating mobile clients, primarily to their computational intractability on mobile devices. However, recent developments in agent and mobile computing technologies – both from a hardware and software perspective, have rendered the mobile phone a viable platform for agents. One implication of this is that agents now offer a viable platform for service delivery to mobile users. This chapter reflects on some of the pertinent issues necessary for this, including Agent Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE). The discussion is illuminated with a systematic description of EasyLife – a framework that harnesses the agent paradigm to construct and deliver services to mobile users.Science Foundation Irelan