Abstract
Context-awareness is an enabling technology of pervasive computing that allows applications to adapt themselves in responseto contexts (e.g. activity, location, temperature level, etc.). However, an issue of user conflicts in context-aware applicationsmay arise when multiple users want to access the same application. Our research focuses on this issue and proposes aconflict resolution approach that resolves the conflicts in context-aware home applications. The proposed approach takes intoconsideration the users’ special case contexts (e.g. illness of user) along with their priorities and preferences. The proposedapproach is also useful in cases where multiple users with multiple special cases try to access one application or service.To show the usefulness of the proposed approach, we have integrated the proposed conflict manager with the UbiREAL, asimulated context-aware home environment. The conflict manager utilizes different strategies and different approaches toresolve user conflicts according to the involved situation to suit the need of the family. The prototype evaluation shows thatthe users are satisfied with the proposed system and suggests that the use of users’ special case contexts in detecting andresolving the user conflicts is essential and necessary in the context-aware smart home environments.
Research on a New Type of Electronic Audio Communication system