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XML Language Binding Support for Pervasive Communication in Distributed Virtual Shared Information Spaces
Abstract
We show a novel middleware approach for pervasive applications that communicate via an XML-based distributed virtual shared information space. This approach extends some common ideas on XML language binding frameworks by a dedicated "merge logic" that lets pervasive devices share their information with low overhead.
... called Start.c is generated by default which contains the appropriate functions. Additionally so-called contains and merge call-backs can be generated for complexTypes for information aggregation [11]. ...
In this paper we present a novel approach to information centric application development for wireless sensor networks acting as a swarm. We introduce the concept of a distributed virtual shared information space based on XML that makes use of a content based forwarding mechanism we call XCast for information sharing between devices and cardinally constraint automata for validating XML messages efficiently. We then outline a straightforward application development process and conclude with first experiences with regard to code efficiency.
... The optimization criteria are somewhat different from those used in querying heterogeneous databases, largely because the extraction of ontological information from documents is the dominant component of query execution time. On the other hand some researchers have been proposed some novel approaches for pervasive applications that communicate via an XML based distributed virtual shared information space [11]. ...
XML Based Information Management is an emerging standard which has gain its popularity because of its various features like transfer of data from one system to another without having a common environment between them and also due to elimination of its dependency on relational databases like Oracle, DB2, Sybase etc. Now days, various industries have developed their own formats for exchanging data to support the environment among professionals to share information in distributed systems in a meaningful way. This paper will present some of the components of XML as well as some potential applications including healthcare, data mining, and distributed systems.
... As an optimum solution, VoiceXML, a markup language for creating voice user interfaces, bridges the gap between the web and the speech world (Larson, 2003), by utilising speech and telephone touchtone recognition for input and prerecorded audio and Text-To-Speech synthesis (TTS) for output. It is based on the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C's) XML and leverages the web paradigm for application development and deployment (Luttenberger et al., 2004). By having a common language, application developers, platform vendors and tool providers can all benefit from code portability and reuse. ...
This study examines the Supply Chain Quality Orientation (SCQO) in Malaysian manufacturing organisations. About 550 questionnaires were distributed to the manufacturing organisations in Malaysia and 142 completed questionnaires were analysed to determine the level of SCQO. One-way ANOVA was applied to determine if significant difference exists between organisation profile and SCQO. The study found that the SCQO is quite substantial in the Malaysian manufacturing industry. In addition, it was found that there is no significant difference between organisation profile and SCQO. However, there is a significant difference in the SCQO between organisations that have EDI linkages with supply chain partners and organisations that are not EDI linked. Consequently, quality needs to be continuously managed from the supply chain standpoint. This study provides empirical evidence of SCQO in the manufacturing industry in Malaysia. Having an end-to-end supply chain manager and adoption of EDI are deemed vital in enhancing SCQO.
... As an optimum solution, VoiceXML, which is a mark-up language for creating voice user interfaces, bridges the gap between the web and the world of speech by utilising speech and telephone touch-tone recognition for input and pre-recorded audio and text-to-speech synthesis for output (Larson 2003). It is based on the World Wide Web Consortium's extensible mark-up language (XML) and leverages the web paradigm for application development and deployment (Luttenberger et al. 2004). By having a common language, application developers, platform vendors, and tool providers can all benefit from code portability and reuse. ...
Although most users currently receive web services from web browser interfaces, pervasive computing is emerging and offering new ways of accessing Internet applications from any device, any time and anywhere. It is not only a technological change, but a philosophical and psychological one. Our research project investigated the theoretical concepts of pervasive computing as well as their practical applications, by using cellular phones as the pervasive device to access a web application prototype, the voice-enabled web system (VWS), through the voice user interface technology. The acceptance rate of consumers on new pervasive interfaces was studied using factors (including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and fun) adapted from technology acceptance theories. Although our empirical findings were in general consistent with the findings from several prior studies on various information technologies, there were still some discrepancies. Our overall research results, including the implications derived from the user study, may be useful for the purpose of designing and developing successful business applications based on VWS.
In sensor networks [ASSC02] - and also other environments with small devices - the classical client/server co-operation paradigm does no longer seem to be adequate for a number of reasons: (1) Sensor nodes communicate via unreliable wireless media
While most users currently receive web services from web browser interfaces, pervasive computing is emerging and offering new ways of accessing internet applications from any device at any location. As a result, there is a growing demand for technology that will allow users to connect to the internet from anywhere through devices that are not suitable for the use of traditional keyboard, mouse and monitor. In this research, cellular phone was chosen as the pervasive device for accessing a multimodal internet application prototype, a voice-enabled web system, through voice user interface technology. The impacts of the forthcoming pervasive computing technology on consumer attitude and the acceptance rate of consumers on new pervasive interface were studied using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), a widely used technology acceptance theory. The research findings may be referenced for the purpose of the design and development of successful business applications to catch the revolutionary opportunity and benefit of Voice-enabled Web Systems (VWS).
Das Forschungsgebiet des Pervasive Computing hat in den letzten Jahren zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen. Hauptziel ist die Integration von Computertechnologie in Alltagsgegenstände und die Nutzung dieser hierdurch elektronisch angereicherten Benutzerumgebung, ihrer Geräte und Dienste für die Ausführung von Anwendungen. Dafür müssen diese Anwendungen in die Lage versetzt werden, sich dynamisch an wechselnde Umgebungen anzupassen, beispielsweise durch Verlagerung ihrer Funktionalität zwischen Geräten. Bedingt durch dynamische Umgebungen, Nutzermobilität sowie drahtlose Kommunikationstechnologien ist die Entwicklung von Anwendungen für Pervasive Computing Umgebungen hochkomplex. Daher wurden in diesem Projekt grundlegende Konzepte und Algorithmen entwickelt, um eine automatisierte Nutzerunterstützung in diesen Umgebungen zu ermöglichen. Hierbei lag der Schwerpunkt auf der Entwicklung von Algorithmen zur Selbstkonfiguration von Anwendungen mittels automatisierter Komposition und Adaption. Neben dynamischen, homogenen Ad Hoc Umgebungen sollten außerdem heterogene Umgebungen, in denen zusätzlich ressourcenstarke Infrastrukturgeräte vorhanden sind, berücksichtigt werden, um eine effiziente Ausführung von Konfigurationen und Adaptionen auch in solchen Umgebungen zu ermöglichen.
The way mobile computing devices and applications are developed, deployed and used today does not meet the expectations of the user community and falls far short of the potential for pervasive computing. This paper challenges the mobile computing community by questioning the roles of devices, applications, and a user's environment. A vision of pervasive computing is described, along with attributes of a new application model that supports this vision, and a set of challenges that must be met in order to bring the vision to reality.
The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is receiving much attention as a likely successor to HTML for expressing much of the Web's content. In addition, XML can benefit databases and data sharing by providing a common format in which to express data structure and content. But like many new technologies, XML has raised unrealistic expectations. We give a brief overview of XML and offer opinions to help separate the benefits from the hype. In some areas, XML promises to provide significant and revolutionary improvements, such as by increasing the availability of database outputs across diverse types of systems, and by extending data management to include semi-structured data. This paper will first describe the limitations of current Web technologies for data sharing, and how XML addresses them. Next, it assesses the impact of XML on data management for both well structured and more loosely structured data. The longest section outlines the challenges of data interoperability and then describes which of these challenges XML does (and does not) address. While some of the benefits of XML are already becoming apparent, others will require years of development of new database technologies and associated standards.
XML queries typically specify patterns of selection predicates on
multiple elements that have some specified tree structured
relationships. The primitive tree structured relationships are
parent-child and ancestor-descendant, and finding all occurrences of
these relationships in an XML database is a core operation for XML query
processing. We develop two families of structural join algorithms for
this task: tree-merge and stack-tree. The tree-merge algorithms are a
natural extension of traditional merge joins and the multi-predicate
merge joins, while the stack-tree algorithms have no counterpart in
traditional relational join processing. We present experimental results
on a range of data and queries using the TIMBER native XML query engine
built on top of SHORE. We show that while, in some cases, tree-merge
algorithms can have performance comparable to stack-tree algorithms, in
many cases they are considerably worse. This behavior is explained by
analytical results that demonstrate that, on sorted inputs, the
stack-tree algorithms have worst-case I/O and CPU complexities linear in
the sum of the sizes of inputs and output, while the tree-merge
algorithms do not have the same guarantee
Mobile devices need two basic renewable resources - power and
data. Power recharging is easy; data recharging is a much more
problematic activity. It requires complex interaction between a user and
a collection of data sources. We provide an automatic data recharging
capability based on user profiles written in an expressive profile
language. A profile identifies relevant information and orders it by its
usefulness. We discuss the issues involved in designing a profile
language for data recharging
This article introduces a sensor information networking
architecture, called SINA, that facilitates querying, monitoring, and
tasking of sensor networks. SINA serves the role of middleware that
abstracts a network of sensor nodes as a collection of massively
distributed objects. SINA's execution environment provides a set of
configuration and communication primitives that enable scalable and
energy-efficient organization of and interactions among sensor objects.
On top the execution environment is a programmable substrate that
provides mechanisms to create associations and coordinate activities
among sensor nodes. Users then access information within a sensor
network using declarative queries, or perform tasks using programming
script
In the next decade, millions of sensors and small-scale mobile
devices will integrate processors, memory, and communication
capabilities. Networks of devices will be widely deployed for monitoring
applications. In these new applications, users need to query very large
collections of devices in an ad hoc manner. Most existing systems rely
on a centralized system for collecting device data. These systems lack
flexibility because data is extracted in a predefined way. Also, they do
not scale to a large number of devices because large volumes of raw data
are transferred. In our new concept of a device database system,
distributed query execution techniques are applied to leverage the
computing capabilities of devices, and to reduce communication. We
define an abstraction that allows us to represent a device network as a
database and we describe how distributed query processing techniques are
applied in this new context
The Extensible Markup Language, HTML's likely successor for
capturing much Web content, is receiving a great deal of attention from
the computing and Internet communities. Although the hype raises
unrealistic expectations, XML does reduce the obstacles to sharing data
among diverse applications and databases by providing a common format
for expressing data structure and content. Although some benefits are
already within reach, others will require new database technologies and
vocabularies for affected application communities
Querying XML has been the subject of much recent investigation. A formal bulk algebra is essential for applying database-style optimization to XML queries. We develop such an algebra, called TAX (Tree Algebra for XML), for manipulating XML data, modeled as forests of labeled ordered trees. Motivated both by aesthetic considerations of intuitiveness, and by efficient computability and amenability to optimization, we develop TAX as a natural extension of relational algebra, with a small set of operators. TAX is complete for relational algebra extended with aggregation, and can express most queries expressible in popular XML query languages. It forms the basis for the Timber XML database system currently under development by us.
Information Dissemination applications are gaining increasing popularity due to dramatic improvements in communications bandwidth and ubiquity. The sheer volume of data available necessitates the use of selective approaches to dissemination in order to avoid overwhelming users with unnecessazyinfonnation. Existing mechanisms for selective dissemination typically rely on simple keyword matching or "bag of words" information retrieval techniques. The advent of XML as a standard for information exchange and the development of query languages for XML data enables the development of more sophisticated filtering mechanisms that take structure information into accouaL We have developed scval index organizations and search algorithms for performing efficient filtering of XML documents for large-scale information dissemination systems. In this paper we descnbe these techniques and examine their performance across a range of document, workload, and scale scenarios.
Abstract AsXML becomes ,ubiquitous so the ,need for powerful ,tools to manipulate ,XML data becomes ,more pressing. Merging XML is particularly tricky, but often necessary to consolidate data feeds from heterogeneous systems, or to synchronize submissions of XML fragments which make up a larger document. An automated,mechanism,for defining and controlling such merges has been developed and is demonstrated to provide a consistent, adaptable and resilient solution to this problem. Integration into an information pipeline allows limitless customization. AsXML tools become more powerful and able to handle many of the peculiarities of real data, so the
We explore theoretical foundations of the Merge operation. Merge functions as a kind of "recursive union" over similarly structured XML documents to produce a new XML document, and can be used for creating aggregates over streams of XML fragments. We describe the Merge operation and show that Merge is in fact the join operation of an upper semi-lattice of conformant documents. Our work relies on a representation of unordered XML documents as sets of attributed paths. We have found this representation useful for comparing the information content of documents, and determining when a given document satisfies certain key-like constraints.
With the creation of computer networks in the 1970s came the birth of distributed network applications. Since then, there have been many applications that spanned multiple machines, but in the last 20 years no one created a serviceable network middleware package for developing highly effective distributed applications, that is, until now. This paper describes the design and architecture of T Spaces, a project at the IBM Almaden Research Center that fills the network middleware void. T Spaces embodies the three main characteristics of a useful mechanism for network programs, namely, data management, computation, and communication. Since it has the potential to connect any program to any other program on a computing network, T Spaces is an ideal platform on which to build a global computing services platform where any program or system service is available to any other program or service. In addition, its small footprint and Java™ implementation make T Spaces an ideal platform for writing distributed applications for embedded and palm-top computers, thus forging a needed gateway from the emerging embedded and palm-top computers to established desktop and server computers.
In this paper, we assume that sensor nodes in a wireless sensor network cooperate by posting their information to a distributed
virtual shared information space that is built on the basis of advanced XML technology. Using a flooding protocol to maintain
the shared information space is an obvious solution, but flooding must be tightly controlled, because sensor nodes suffer
from severe resource constraints. For this purpose we propose a content-based flooding control approach (”XCast”) whose performance
is analyzed in the paper both analytically and by ns2 simulations. Results show that already a generic XCast instance effectively
controls the number of messages generated in a sensor network. It is argued that application-specific XCast instances may
expose an even better behavior.
In this paper, we investigate the issues that arise when binding statically typed languages to XML data. In particular, our motivation is to exploit the computational facilities of mainstream languages when computing over real-world entities encoded as XML documents or document fragments. These include completeness, strong typing, efficiency, as well as user-base and support. We first show that standard binding solutions, such as the SAX and DOM APIs, do not preserve the semantics of such entities, and thus hinder program specification, verification, and optimisation. We then compare two novel approaches, which rely on type information to preserve semantics. The first is Sun's JAXB architecture, in which types are automatically generated from document descriptions. The second is our SNAQue architecture, where types are directly specified by binding computations. For certain classes of applications, we show that the latter offers substantial advantages in terms of simplicity and flexibility. In previous work [4, 8], we have formally proven that SNAQue bindings can be correctly built for a representative, canonical language. Here, we extend that work and present SNAQue/J, a binding mechanism specific to the Java language.
The Ninja project seeks to enable the broad innovation of robust, scalable, distributed Internet services, and to permit the emerging class of extremely heterogeneous devices to seamlessly access these services. Our architecture consists of four basic elements: bases, which are powerful workstation cluster environments with a software platform that simplifies scalable service construction; units, which are the devices by which users access the services; active proxies, which are transformational elements that are used for unit- or service-specific adaptation; and paths, which are an abstraction through which units, services, and active proxies are composed.
This article presents MARS-X, a programmable coordination architecture for autonomous and mobile Internet agents. In MARS-X, mobile Internet agents coordinate through programmable XML dataspaces, accessed by agents in a Linda-like fashion. Therefore, MARS-X enforces open and uncoupled interactions and, via XML, it offers a high degree of standard interoperability. These properties suit very well the characteristics of both mobile Internet agents and the Internet environment itself. In addition, coordination in MARS-X is made more flexible and secure by the capability of programming the behavior of the XML dataspaces by reaction to the agents' accesses. An application example related to the management of on-line academic courses shows the suitability and effectiveness of the MARS-X architecture.
XML is rapidly becoming a standard for data exchange on the Internet. While XML’s document management roots have led many to focus on querying and processing of large documents, we believe much XML data will be in the form of streams. One can envision streams of XML data flowing throughout the Internet: a stream of stock quotes or minute-by-minute updates on positions of a fleet of vehicles- one XML fragment per vehicle report. In this paper, we propose a new operation, Merge, which provides the capability to create aggregates over streams of data and the ability to take XML documents from different inputs and piece them together to create a new XML document. The Merge operation effectively handles highly-nested, semi-structured data and was designed to be used in an environment where there are long-running queries and stream-based data sources. We describe a flexible mechanism, called a Merge Template, which we have developed to specify how to merge two XML documents. 1
Designing distributed real-time systems as being composed of communicating objects offers many advantages with respect to modularity and extensibility of these systems. However, distributed real-time applications exhibit communication patterns that significantly differ from the traditional object invocation style. The publisher/subscriber model for inter-object communication matches well with these patterns. Any implementation of that model must address the problems of binding subscribers to publishers, of routing and filtering of messages, as well as reliability, efficiency and latency of message delivery. In the context of real-time applications, all these issues must be subject to a rigid inspection with respect to meeting real-time requirements. We argue that for embedded control systems built around smart microcontroller-powered devices these requirements can only be met when exploiting the properties of the underlying network. The CAN-Bus (CAN: Controller Area Network) which is an emerging standard in the field of real-time embedded systems is particularly suited to implement a publisher/subscriber model of communication. We present an implementation of the real-time publisher/subscriber model that exploits the underlying facilities of the CAN-Bus. In particular, we introduce a novel addressing scheme for publisher/subscriber communication that makes efficient use of the CAN-Bus addressing method. We provide a detailed design and implementation details along with some preliminary performance estimations
The DEAPspace group at IBM Research, Zurich Lab is developing a
system in which services can be shared between proximate devices. The
target environment is single-hop short-range wireless systems, and the
solution must offer prompt responsiveness for transient devices. In this
article, the service discovery algorithm is presented. Through this new
algorithm, a computing device can detect the presence of neighboring
devices, share configuration and service information with those devices,
and also notice when devices become unavailable. Targeted for wireless
ad hoc single-hop networks, this solution improves the responsiveness of
devices to changes in their environments. The effectiveness of this
algorithm is demonstrated through comparison with others that achieve
similar goals, considering the responsiveness to changes in the local
environment, power consumption, and bandwidth requirement of devices
We introduce a new conception of three-dimensional DataSpace, which is physical space enhanced by connectivity to the network. DataSpace is addressed geographically as opposed to the current logical addressing scheme of the Internet. Here, a local area network is replaced by a room, a street, a mountaintop, and so on. Billions of objects populate DataSpace, each aware of its own geographic location. These objects move through DataSpace, and produce and locally store their own data. They can be selectively queried, monitored, and controlled based on their properties. We propose two architectures for DataSpace. We describe mechanisms to use the network as a DataSpace engine in order to perform querying and monitoring operation in a highly scalable way
Describes our on-going efforts to construct a service
infrastructure to support smart environments. We characterize
“fusion services”, which extract and infer useful context
information from sensor data, using evidential reasoning techniques. We
specify sensing services as Bayesian networks and use
information-theoretic algorithms to optimize the resources consumed by
the rendering of a service. We define a
“quality-of-information” metric to characterize sensing
service performance. We have implemented an infrastructure for
supporting a dynamic set of sensors and services in a smart space. Using
this infrastructure and an IEEE 802.11 network, we implemented a
probabilistic indoor location system that optimizes the number of
sensors consulted when determining the location of a user while
maintaining a high degree of accuracy
The article focuses on the role component-based software may play
in realizing smart environments. A scenario describes a future smart
environment in a university campus setting. The scenario illustrates how
software components might contribute to the various phases of
development, deployment and use of smart environments. Key research
areas identified include: development of component frameworks, component
interface standards, addressing schemes, and protocols
An ad hoc network must operate independent of a preestablished or
centralized network management infrastructure, while still providing
administrative services needed to support applications. Address
allocation, name resolution, service location, authentication, and
access control policies represent just some of the functionality that
must be supported-without preconfiguration or centralized services. In
order to solve these problems, it is necessary to leverage some aspect
of the environment in which the network operates. We introduce the
notion of a spontaneous network, created when a group of people come
together for some collaborative activity. In this case, we can use the
human interactions associated with the activity in order to establish a
basic service and security infrastructure. We structure our discussion
around a practical real-world scenario illustrating the use of such a
network, identifying the key challenges involved and some of the
techniques that can be used to address them
The Dataspace is a three dimensional physical space 100 kilometers above and 10 kilometers below the surface of earth that is accessible to the network. It is addressed geographically as opposed to the current "logical" addressing scheme of the Internet. With the enormous 128 bit addressing space of IP version 6, one can individually address every cubic centimeter of physical space on earth with approximately 80 bits of area code. This would include every street, building, room, basement or even drawer of a desk. The Dataspace would thus serve as the host for the entire part of the physical world that is connected to the network. The billions of objects populating the Dataspace, each aware of its own geographic location 2 will form "dataflocks", mobile object classes which can be selectively queried, monitored and controlled. To support the dataspace, we propose a version of the multicast protocol called "spacecast". Here, the network plays the role of a Database machine, handling ...
Internet-scale distributed applications (such as wide-area service and device discovery and location, user preference management, Domain Name Service) impose interesting requirements on information storage, management, and retrieval. They maintain structured soft-state and pose numerous queries against that state. These applications typically require the implementation of a customized proprietary query engine, often not optimized for performance, and costly in resources. Alternatives include using traditional databases, which can hamper flexibility and extensibility (both of which are critical requirements of Internet-scale applications), or LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), which poses composability problems and imposes rigid structure on queries. This paper proposes a different approach, based upon the use of the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) [7] as a data storage language, along with a main memory-based database and search engine. Using XML allows applications to use dynamic, simple, flexible data schemes and to perform simpler, but faster queries. The approach yields a single, common data management platform, XSet. XSet is an easy to use, main memory, hierarchically structured database with incomplete ACID properties. Preliminary measurements show that XSet performance is excellent: insertion time is a small constant value, and query time grows logarithmically with the dataset size. A portable Java-based version of XSet is available for download, both as a standalone application and as a component of the Ninja service infrastructure.
The advent of web services that use XML-based message exchanges has spurred many eorts that address issues related to inter-enterprise service electronic commerce interactions. Currently emerging standards and technologies enable enterprises to describe and advertise their own Web Services and to discover and determine how to interact with services fronted by other businesses. However, these technologies do not address the problem of how to reconcile structural dierences between similar types of documents supported by dierent enterprises. Transformations between such documents must thus be created manually on a case-by-case basis. In this paper, we explore the problem of how to automate the transformation of XML E-business documents. We develop an integrated solution that automates as much as possible all steps of the document transformation process. One, we propose a set of schema transformation operations that establish semantic relationships between two XML document schemas. Two, we dene a model that allows us to compare the cost of performing these operations. Three, we introduce an algorithm that discovers an ecient sequence of operations for transforming a source document schema into a target document schema based on our cost model. The operation sequence then is used to generate an equivalent XSLT transformation script. Experimental results indicate that our algorithm can satisfactorily discover acceptable transformations. 1.
This paper describes the design of Siena,anInternet-scale event notification middleware service for distributed eventbased applications deployed over wide-area networks. Siena is responsible for selecting the notifications that are of interest to clients (as expressed in client subscriptions) and then delivering those notifications to the clients via access points. The key design challenge for Siena is maximizing expressiveness in the selection mechanism without sacrificing scalability of the delivery mechanism. This paper focuses on those aspects of the design of Siena that fundamentally impact scalability and expressiveness. In particular, wedescribe Siena's data model for notifications, the covering relations that formally define the semantics of the data model, the distributed architectures wehave studied for Siena's implementation, and the processing strategies wedeveloped to exploit the covering relations for optimizing the routing of notifications. 1. INTRODUCTION There is ...
T spaces://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/373/wycko
- P Wycko
P. Wycko. "T spaces", IBM Systems Journal 37(3), 1998, http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/373/wycko.html.