Title:
Accord: Middleware Support for Contextual, Ubiquitous Data Management on User Devices
Accord: Middleware Support for Contextual, Ubiquitous Data Management on User Devices
Author(s)
Cooper, Brian F.
Isbell, Charles L.
Pierce, Jeffrey S.
Roberts, David L.
Bhat, Sooraj
Isbell, Charles L.
Pierce, Jeffrey S.
Roberts, David L.
Bhat, Sooraj
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Editor(s)
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Abstract
People increasingly use a diverse array of computational devices,
including desktop PCs, one or more laptops, a cell phone, a PDA,
tablet PCs, digital music players, automobile computers, and so on. We
present Accord, a middleware system we have implemented to manage
user data across all of these devices. Accord emulates an ideal abstraction
we call a user data-space: a virtual space in which user files exist
independent of any particular physical device. Users put files into the
space with whatever device is convenient, and later access those files
using any of their devices. This abstraction is difficult to implement,
and requires Accord to predict when a file will be needed and on which
device. We describe two mechanisms the middleware uses to support
such predictions: an object graph, which records contextual and statistical
information about file objects, and a file transfer planner, which uses
predictions to determine how to efficiently move files between devices despite
connectivity, bandwidth and storage constraints. Predictions can be
constructed using simple usage statistics, or from more complex machinelearned
models of user activities. We also present experimental results
demonstrating the effectiveness of our system.
Sponsor
Date Issued
2006
Extent
183690 bytes
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Technical Report