Context-aware automatic service discovery and execution engine in mobile ad-hoc networks

摘要

In mobile computing and context awareness in mobile ad-hoc networks (502a) node connectivity is unpredictably time-varying. A middleware entity (110') solves the problem of automatically executing a user-defined set of actions (214), collected in a user profile (210), upon detection of events such as an attachment of a mobile terminal (504) to the ad-hoc network (502a), changes of the underlying network topology, the moving of mobile terminals into the physical proximity of further mobile terminals, the presence of services and/or of users within said network, and a detachment of a mobile terminal from the ad-hoc network. Thereby, said actions (214) are invocations of services hosted on said mobile terminal (504) or other mobile terminals interconnected via said ad-hoc network (502a). The aforementioned profiles are stored on mobile terminals (e.g. PDAs, mobile phones, etc.) or on fixed or mobile customer-edge (CE) devices such as television sets, home gateways, etc. Also envisioned is the deployment of a distributed database holding said profiles (210).