Ebook: Migratory Interactive Applications for Ubiquitous Environments

Ubiquitous environments should provide users with the ability to freely move about while interacting through a variety of interactive devices (including cell phones, PDAs, desktop computers, digital television sets, and intelligent watches) without losing continuity. A big source of frustration for users is having to start a session over again from the beginning at each interaction device change. Migratory interactive services can overcome this limitation and support continuous task performances with the ability to adapt to the changing context of use.

This comprehensive review with chapters written by authors working in various academic and industrial centres opens with an overview of what to migrate and what adaptation opportunities are available from a mobile operator perspective, before outlining the state-of-the-art from various perspectives. This sets the scene for more detailed coverage of the design of platforms and tools able to support migration, distinguishing between the support for user interfaces, networks and protocols, and application logic. Applications for migration, games and emergency scenarios are outlined, and the book concludes with an assessment of usability and programmability in migratory interactive applications.

Researchers in pervasive information systems and ubiquitous environments, HCI, user interfaces, software engineering, middleware, programming and operating systems, as well as interactive service developers and providers for ubiquitous environments will find much to interest and inspire them in this book.

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Ubiquitous environments are important because they allow users to move about freely and continue the interaction with the available applications through a variety of interactive devices (including cell phones, PDA's, desktop computers, digital television sets, and intelligent watches). A frustrating limitation is that people have to start their session over again from the beginning at each interaction device change. This book reports results based on the work in the OPEN project. It provides solutions able to address three key aspects: device change, state persistence and content adaptation. There is a lack of migratory services technology for the migration of applications in different usage scenarios. This book offers a general and open migratory service platform solution based on a sound and innovative scientific approach developed by a multi-disciplinary consortium combining the expertise of three technological world leaders, three well-known research organizations and one SME.