A spatial model for ubiquitous computing services

We present a world model for location-aware and user-aware services in ubiquitous computing environments. It can be dynamically organized like a tree based on geographical containment, such as in a user-room-floor-building hierarchy and each node in the tree can be constructed as an executable software component. The model is unique to existing approaches because it enables location-aware services to be managed without databases, can be managed by multiple computers, and provides a unified view of the locations of not only physical entities and spaces, including users and objects, but also computing devices and services. A prototype implementation of this approach was constructed on a Java-based mobile agent system. This paper presents the rationale, design, implementation, and applications of the prototype system.