Customizing mobile applications

TLDR

Mobile systems must adapt to changing configurations and environments, as user mobility continually alters the relationship between systems and devices. The study describes a workplace where users interact with stationary and mobile systems throughout the day and introduces a facility for mobile application customization called dynamic environment variables. The facility, called dynamic environment variables, enables flexible sharing of customization contexts, supports brief interactions with long‑term services, and efficiently notifies applications of environment changes. A sample application built in PARC's mobile computing environment and its initial performance evaluations are presented.

Abstract

The dynamics of mobile systems require applications to intelligently adapt to changes in system configurations and to their environment. We describe a workplace in which users interact with a number of stationary and mobile systems through the course of a day. The relationship between systems and devices is constantly changing due to user mobility. We present a facility for mobile application customization called dynamic environment variables. The facility allows flexible sharing of customization contexts, supports short interactions with long term services, and provides efficient notification of environment changes to applications. A sample application built in PARC's mobile computing environment and initial performance evaluations are described.