Instant Matchmaking: Simple and Secure Integrated Ubiquitous Computing Environments

Effective ubiquitous computing applications need to integrate users’ personal devices and data with the devices and resources they encounter around them. Previous work addressed this problem by simply enabling the user to take all of their data with them wherever they go. In this paper, we present a more flexible approach: the “instant matchmaker”, a personal device that allows a user to seamlessly and securely connect his local computing environment with his other personal resources, wherever they are. The matchmaker provides an intuitive user experience, while simultaneously enabling extremely fine-grained control over access to resources. We have implemented a cellphone-based matchmaker and explored its use in a secure media sharing application. The matchmaker concept, however, is general, and can be used to enable a range of appealing and secure ubicomp applications.