Index of Pervasive Computing Framework
1. Structure
The structure of a pervasive system contains different elements. The main component is the Entity.
1.1 Definition of an Entity
An entity describes any object which belongs in the system. It is anything physical or virtual that has a distinguished, separate existence.
- physical entity: an object that exists in the domain of the material world, for instance a human, a car.
- virtual entity: an object that exists in the domain of the immaterial world, for instance a community, a social network.
The pervasive entity of the ZeusCell Library describes and contains information of an entity of the real world. All collected information and relations are stored and treated by this object type.
1.2 Observation of Entities
The observation of entities is a subjective task. An observer (which is an entity too) is used to look at entities. The observer interprets the situation and classifies the entities. The entity classification uses the taxonomy of domain-class-kind.
Also the structure is subjective and depends on the view of an observer
2. Definitions
- Actor
- (1): Role of an entity who performs an activity
- others: A person who does something or participates in something (www.yourdictionary.com)
- Agent
- (1): An entity that is capable of action (by wikipedia)
- Communication
- (1): Communication is a process of transferring information from one entity to one or more entities (wikipedia)
- Communication channel
- (1): A communication channel is a media used to transmit information from one entity to one or more entities (B.Hadorn)
- others: A communication channel is the medium used to transmit a signal from transmitter to receiver (by Shannon and Weaver)
- Cooperation
- (1) the act of working or acting together to achieve a common goal (encarta.msn.com)
- Coordination
- (1): Coordination is managing dependencies between activities (T.W. Malone)
- Entity
- (1): An entity is anything that has a distinguished, separate existence. It can exist physically or virtually (B.Hadorn)
- others: An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, though it need not be a material existence (wikipedia)
- Environment
- (1) The environment is the sum of context in which an entity is placed and/or is carring out its activity. (P.Bruegger, B.Hadorn)
- Interaction
- (1): Interaction is a kind of action e.g communication or physical forces, that occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another (wikipedia).
- (2): the data exchange between two or more entities, where as the exchange has an effect on all participating entities (B. Hadorn)
- Law
- (1) In general, a rule of being or of conduct, established by an authority able to enforce its will; a controlling regulation; the mode or order according to which an agent or a power acts. (www.brainyquote.com)
- Resource
- (1): A resource is any physical or virtual entity of limited availability, which can be used to accomplish an activity (B.Hadorn)
- others: A resource is any physical or virtual entity of limited availability, or anything used to help one earn a living (wikipedia)
- Situation
- (1): A situation is an snapshot of an activity performed within a context.
- others: A situation is a particular condition or set of circumstances (wikipedia)
3. Terminology (temporary Definitions)
- Action: Action is what an agent can do during an activity. It involves an intention, a goal.
- Activity:
- List of actions to achieve the desired state of the world.
- (2) List of actions to achieve a desired state.
- Actor: see definitions
- Agent: see definitions
- Artifact: Entities which are made or modified by agents.
- Atom: Atomic entities can not be decomposed any further.
- bidding: is an offer (often competitive) of setting a price one is willing to pay for something (wikipedia)
- bilateral Negotiation: Affecting or undertaken by two sides equally; binding on both parties. (www.thefreedictionary.com)
- Black board: An area of shared memory or workspace used to post and read information time independend.
- Broadcast: Sending information to all available entities.
- commanding: To direct with authority and give orders to other entities.
- Communication: see definitions
- Community: A community is a group of interacting entities that is organized around common values and social cohesion within a shared geographical location (local or global) (wikipedia)
- Composition: A decomposable entity
- Cooperation: see definitions
- Coordination: see definitions
- Entity: see definitions
- Environment: see definitions
- Generic communication
- Goal: A goal is a projected state of affairs that an entity plans or intends to achieve.
- Interaction: see definitions
- Interactive Communication: Message is related to a number of previous messages and to the relationship between them. (wikipedia)
- Law: see definitions
- listening: Receiving information.
- Location: Physical entity which can be contain other sub entities (Physical composition).
- Mirror: Entity which reflects information back.
- Motive: Needs or desire to change the current world.
- Multicast: Sending information to a particular group of entities.
- multilateral Negotiation: Like bilateral negotiation but involving more than two parties
- Negotiation: A discussion set up or intended to produce a settlement or agreement (www.thefreedictionary.com)
- Network: A network is a directed graph with weighted edges, where the vertices are entities and the edges are realtions.
- Non Interactive Communication: A Message is not related to previous sent messages.(wikipedia)
- Object: Any unclassified entity
- Objective Coordination: Manages the objective dependencies. The main consideration is the organization of the world and the communication between the entities of the world.
- Observer: Role of an entity which observes a situation.
- Organisation: An organisation is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment (wikipedia)
- Peer-to-Peer: Direct communication between two entities.
- Physical entity: is an object that exists throughout a particular trajectory in space over a particular duration of time (wickipedia)
- Place: Role of an composed entity. The activity takes place within this entity.
- planing: To formulate a scheme or program for the accomplishment of activities.
- Port: An entity used for communication
- Reactive Communication: Message is related to only one immediately previous message (wikipedia)
- Resource: see definitions
- Role: A function or position of an entity within an activity.
- Rule: A generalized statement that describes what is allowed or denied in particular situations.
- Situation: see definitions
- Social dependency: How are entities put into relation to each other.
- Social Law: Social law defines how entities interaction with each other and how social structures are created
- Spacial dependency: How depend entities from the current location.
- Stigmergy: Stigmergy is a form of self-organization. It is a mechanism of spontaneous, indirect coordination between agents or actions, where the trace left in the environment by an action stimulates the performance of a subsequent action, by the same or a different agent. (wikipedia)
- Subjective Coordination: Manages the subjective dependencies, which result from the individual point of view of each entity.
- Task: A transformation of the system structure. Contains subtasks, activities and motives.
- Task dependency: dependency between resources and activities.
- Tool: Role of an entity which is passively used to accomplish an activity.
- trading: An exchange of one thing for another (www.thefreedictionary.com)
- Universe: The universe is the border of the system. No entities can exist outside the universe
- View: A virtual entity describing what, where and how an observer looks at the system.
- Virtual entity: an object that exists in the domain of the immaterial world and does not need any place or time to exist. This includes all logical and abstract entities.
- Virtual Place: A place which can range over a part of an physical entity or over many physical entities.
- Window: A filter which allows to pass information from outside into a closed environment.