Open context-aware storage as a Web Service

Ubiquitous computing applications must have access to context information to provide context-aware services. The literature reports on applications that process and store context information as part of their functionality and also on reusable infrastructures dedicated to capturing, storing and processing context information. We advocate that infrastructures aimed at supporting context-aware applications should take advantage of the benefits leveraged by Web Services. We illustrate our position with the design of the Context Kernel Web Service, an ongoing project aimed at allowing applications to handle context information based on context dimensions identified in the literature.