A smart spaces architecture based on heterogeneous contexts, particularly social contexts

Advances in smart technologies, wireless networking, and the increased interest in services have led to the emergence of ubiquitous and pervasive computing as one of the most promising areas of computing in recent years. Researchers have become specifically interested in smart spaces and the significant improvements it can introduce to our lives. Most smart spaces rely on physical components such as sensors to sense and acquire information about the real world environment and surroundings. Although sensor networks can provide useful contextual information, they are known for their high degree of unreliability and limited resources. We believe that it is necessary to augment physical sensors with other kinds of data to create more reliable and truly context-aware smart spaces. In this paper we therefore utilize mobile devices and social networks to acquire more detailed and useful contextual information that can help create smarter spaces. We then propose a smart spaces architecture that utilizes these new contexts and in particular the social context.