A Context-aware Service Framework for Large-Scale Ambient Computing Environments

This paper presents an infrastructure for building and operating context-aware services in large-scale public spaces. The system is managed in a fully non-centralized manner, provides users with agents, detects the locations of users, and deploys location-aware service-provider agents at computers near their current locations by using active RFID-tags. When a user moves from location to location, the system dynamically deploys his/her service-provider agents at the computers close to the current location by using mobile agent technology. It also introduces user movement as a natural user interface. To demonstrate the utility and effectiveness of the system, we constructed location/user-aware visitor-guide services and experimented with them for two weeks in a public museum. We also discuss the possibility of making the system available in large-scale public spaces.