How to make Personal Smart Spaces Context-aware

Pervasive computing [1] or as otherwise called Ambient Intelligence [2] aims to assist users in their everyday tasks in a seamless unobtrusive manner. In this framework, there have been various research initiatives aiming towards the design and realization of smart spaces [3] in homes, offices, universities, schools, hospitals, hotels, museums, and other private or public places, where various automation facilities support the users. In these cases, research has focused on developing techniques to support building automation (such as intelligent light controls, window shutters, security systems, electrical appliances, door control, etc.), as well as mechanisms to adapt the behaviour of electronic devices (such as TV, radio and multimedia players), desktops and peripherals, etc. Nevertheless, these are fixed spaces that provide pervasive features and adapt to the user needs in a static and geographically limited environment.12 However, mobile users require the same pervasive services wherever they are and whatever devices they carry along. Irrespective of the user’s location, such a mobile pervasive system would be expected to provide access to devices and services in the user’s current environment. Fixed smart spaces do not address the needs of mobile users, as outside their boundaries, only limited pervasive computing features are offered. For example, a Smart Home may control the devices within it and the services it offers to its residents, but it cannot easily share these with the mobile network of any visitor. To bridge this gap, the notion of self-improving Personal Smart Spaces has been introduced [4]. Personal Smart Spaces (PSSs) aim to couple the facilities offered by next generation mobile communications with the features provided by the static smart spaces to support a more ubiquitous and personalised smart space that is able to follow the user wherever he/she goes. As the owner of the PSS moves to different locations and places, his/her PSS interact with other mobile or fixed PSSs located in the owner’s surrounding environment, aiming for a unique support for pervasive service provisioning. In a nutshell, a Personal Smart Space can be defined as a set of services within a dynamic space of connectable devices, where the set of services are owned, controlled, or administered by a single user. It facilitates interactions with other PSSs, it is self-improving and is capable of pro-active behaviour. Thus, a PSS is user centric and