Abstract
Today, more and more devices are equipped with networking capabilities. When these devices are used to access network services, there are diversity and heterogeneity issues in terms of user preferences, device capabilities and network characteristics. To tackle these issues, many services are developed to be context-aware and adapt their behavior according to the environment. For facilitating the development of context-aware applications, one essential component is a comprehensive context service. This thesis introduces a context server using a centralized approach to systematically supporting context service for context-aware applications. Our context server collects context information including sensor data, service attributes, client device capabilities and user preferences. Through our context server, context-aware applications can acquire needed contexts to adapt their behaviors. As an illustration of the use of our context server, a system architecture for supporting pervasive computing is introduced. We will show how our context server cooperates with the JINI Lookup server to support context-aware and pervasive services.