Conflict Resolution Method utilizing Context History for Context-Aware Applications*

Abstract

In this paper, we propose Conflict Manager to resolve conflicts for context-aware applications in smart home environments. Conflicts arise when multiple users access an application or when various applications share limited resources to provide services. In order to resolve conflicts among users, the Conflict Manager assigns priority to each user so that the user with the highest priority can be selected by exploiting conflict history of users. In addition, Conflict Manager detects and resolves conflicts among applications by utilizing preferences of users and properties of the services. To show the usefulness of the proposed conflict resolution method, we apply the proposed conflict resolution method to ubiHome, a smart home test-bed. The experimental results proved that Conflict Manager enable context-aware applications to offer personalized services to multiple users by resolving service conflicts among applications as well as among users.