MoCA: A Middleware for Developing Collaborative Applications for Mobile Users

This article presents a middleware architecture for the development and deployment of context-aware collaborative applications for mobile users. The architecture, named Mobile Collaboration Architecture MoCA comprises client and server APIs, a set of core services for registering applications, monitoring and inferring the execution context of mobile devices, and an object-oriented framework for instantiating and customizing server proxies according to the specific adaptation and context-processing requirements of the applications. MoCA facilitates the development of distributed programs which require access to individual and group context in order to adapt its behavior. The design focused on simplicity, extensibility, scalability, protocol heterogeneity and application customization.