Smart instant messenger in pervasive computing environments

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the potential of extrapolating the instant messaging paradigm into pervasive computing environments. Under this vision, an instant messenger is regarded as a unified interface for all communications among human, software services and various devices. To meet the demands, we introduce a novel instant messenger system i.e., Smart Instant Messenger, with original features of context-aware presence management, dynamic grouping, and resource buddy services. This system is built atop a context-aware supporting middleware, which adopts an ontology-based context model and handles the chore of retrieving and managing context information. Jabber protocol is exploited as the underlying message exchange format for extensibility. The system prototype is implemented and evaluated with respect to the responsiveness of queries and memory usage of the middleware. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.