A Framework for Ontology-based Context Base Management System

Although many context-aware systems have been developed, little attention has been paid to building a uniform framework of a Context Base and Context Base Management Systems (CBMS). Consequently, each context-aware system has to be built from the ground up. It is important that context-aware systems share context data across different domains and with all devices or services. Therefore, context data in the context base is represented as ontology which represents a new paradigm for modeling and representing the context data in this research. In this paper, we describe a CBMS framework and a model of an ontology-based Context Base. CBMS consists of 3 modules which are a browse module, a logical module and a physical module. A business trip request system has been implemented as a prototype. Traditional databases and DBMSs have limitations adapting to a ubiquitous computing environment. As context-aware services develop further, the necessity of a uniform framework of Context Base and CBMS increases. It will support many services which use context data and give guidelines to developers who seek methods to handle context data.