Efficient Reachability Management with a Semantic User Profile Framework

The possession of mobile devices eased a lot our communication habits: contacting somebody in almost any situation is becoming more and more easier. However, this implies the fact that unexpected interruptions can occur that may cause discomfort to the user. A typical example is the case when an important meeting is interrupted by an unexpected phone call, which is not important to consider in the given context. The need for an efficient control of unexpected incoming communications is immediate. This paper proposes the efficient handling of interruptions by providing a new reachability preference model that considers two dimensions for a reachability preference: (i) the currenet situation of the user and (ii) the social category of the communication partner. We propose a mechanism to build user preferences that specify the level of interruptibility during an activity, situation or event. The proposed system leverages semantic technologies for modeling the user and data mining techniques for populating the user model.