A Systematic Literature Review on Ontology

Based Context Management System

Rajarajeswari Subbaraj and Neelanarayanan Venkatraman
VIT University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
{rajarajeswari.s,neelanarayanan.v}@vit.ac.in

Abstract. In ubiquitous environments, context modeling components and

personalization engines make systems adaptable to the user behavior. Current
research in context management focused on specific domain or environment. To
the best of our knowledge, there are no open standardized interfaces or standard
representation of context models exist. Recently, ontology based Context
Management System (CMS) has been proposed in research for the design of
context aware system in ubiquitous computing. The objective of this research
work is to systematically identify relevant research work from various
electronic data sources using systematic literature review (SLR) method. Our
searches identified 188 papers, out of which we found 31 for inclusion in this
study. The identified CMS have been analyzed in order to identify research
gaps in ontology based Context Management (CM) research domain. The
findings show that most ontology based CMS do exist which are predominantly
focused on specialized or specific application domain. Considering the findings
in the context of previously proposed research agendas, some of the key
challenges identified in ontology based CMS are: lack of consistency checker
component for verifying or ensuring consistency of sensed or gathered context
information against the context model and unsecured means of transferring
context information between various components in a distributed environment.
Keywords: Ontology, Context Management System, Context Management
Framework, Context-Aware Computing.

Introduction

Ubiquitous computing is an emerging trend where computers are made available for
human need. To emphasize more on this, ubiquitous computing plays a major role in
many areas like human computer interaction, artificial intelligence, context aware
computing etc. Out of the three, we shall focus more on context aware computing.
Context is nothing but a way of describing or characterizing the current status of an
entity or object. An entity may be anything like person, location, activity, time,
relation among them. This is termed as context information. Context information can
be an emotional status of the user or event or position or orientation or date or time or
objects which are used by the people. Context information can be obtained from
either physical or logical sensors. Context aware computing begins with acquisition of
Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
S.C. Satapathy et al. (eds.), Emerging ICT for Bridging the Future Volume 2,
Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 338, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-13731-5_66

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context data, then understanding the context and triggering the events based on the
context. Ubiquitous computing, or pervasive computing, supports the vision in which
computing is transparently integrated into our living environment and daily lives.
Everyday objects are empowered with computational capabilities in order to enable
users to interact with computing devices more naturally and casually than we
currently do with desktop computers. Context aware applications are capable of
autonomously adapting their behavior in response to context changes. Based on a
systematic literature review approach, we identify the requirements for modeling
context and for building a generic and flexible platform to support context-aware
application development. Kitchenham et al. suggest Systematic Literature Review
(SLR) [2] as a main method to undergo complete study on any research problem. The
aim of an SLR is not just to aggregate all existing evidence on a research question but
to provide appropriate software solution in a specific context. Searching can be done
in two ways either by automatic search, i.e. search for a text or string in Electronic
Data Sources (EDS) or by manual search, where searching is done manually by
browsing the journals or conference proceedings. Considering the growing amount of
literature on ontology based Context Management System (CMS), timely summary of
all relevant knowledge about modeling context information using ontologies, and
collection and provision of context information becomes the existing knowledge on
ontology based CMS. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 contains the
research methodology applied; it describes all the details explaining how the
systematic literature review has been applied and the information necessary to
replicate the study; Section 3 discusses about the existing context management system
based on ontology and comparison of context management system; and Section 4
presents the summary of results and discussion.

Methodology

2.1

Research Method

SLR is a review of research solutions. SLR is not just a method to gather all existing
system or solution for a research question; it provides support for practitioners in the
development by providing the existing solution. A protocol has been defined in which
the research questions were detailed and the process followed to report the results.
The screening phase has been broken down into two separate phases. In the initial
stage relevant papers were identified by analyzing publications title and abstract and
in the second stage, a full-text analysis was undertaken to discover and record the
concrete technologies reported in each of the relevant papers. After the second
screening stage, the primary studies were subsequently filtered by keywords. The first
author was responsible for designing and conducting the study; while, the second
author, was in charge of supervising every stage of the study. Tasks undertaken by the
second author therefore ranged from the validation of the protocol, the assessment of
decisions taken at each stage, the verification of a random subset of papers at each
inclusion/exclusion step, and the complete assessment of the final set of primary
studies.

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2.2

611

Information Resources

The search has used various electronic sources as mentioned below to gather
information:

ACM Digital Library

IEEE Explore
Science Direct
Springer

These resources contain both the conference proceedings and journals. The
searches resulted in duplication of papers, and duplication can be removed manually.
2.3

Search Criteria

The search process was an automated search of specific online electronic sources as
given in Section 2.2. A critical phase in performing an automatic search is the
identification of the keywords to be used when building a search query string. A pilot
search was performed on IEEE Xplore to assess the quality of the search string
against the identified set of known relevant studies. The original query was modified
accordingly resulting in the following search string: (A1 [in abstract] AND A2 [in
document title]).
A1: Ontology
A2: Context Management System
Each document in the search result was reviewed by first author. The first author
applied the detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria to make the decision on including
or excluding the document. The second author checked all the documents that are
included and excluded at this stage to verify the correctness. When difference of
opinion existed, both authors discussed their point of view and a final decision on
inclusion of the document was made. The discussions and final outcome were
recorded for future reference.
2.4

Study Selection

To assess the relevance of each document, the documents were analyzed based on
their title and abstract and, when necessary to clear any doubts, their full text by first
author. Then the same process was repeated by the second author. Then the final
decision was made by both authors after a discussion. Based on titles, duplicate and
irrelevant papers are removed from the study in the first stage. At the end of the first
stage, 41 papers are included for the next stage. In the next stage, 41 papers were
analyzed based on the content in abstract. In the next stage, the full paper was
analyzed. After second and third stage, 31 papers were included for the final study. To
be included in this study a research paper needed to satisfy two requirements: (i) the
document should discuss the design and representation of a context management
system and (ii) the context management system must use context model based on
ontology.

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Ontology Based Context Management Systems

Context management system in [13] supports context-aware applications in a smart

home. The system collects, observes, interprets, and provides the context data to the
applications. Further, the system provides interoperability between system
components using semantic level. This system uses meta data about the context
information to remove the uncertainty in context data, to ensure the freshness and to
understand the context clearly. It uses rule based and ontology based reasoning
system.
CANDEL [30], a generic context representation framework that considers the
context as product line which consists of set of context primitives [30]. In this
approach context management composed of entities, called Context Proxy
Components [30] which are distributed in the environment, and it deliver the context
information as a feature model [30]. Adaptations of applications according to context
is described using petrinet [30] based approach.
Zhou Zhong et al. [32] address the interoperability between CMSs at application
level. They propose a context management system which comprises of cross task
management and context search engine to support scheduling when cross context
happens. Context search engine which derived from semantic searching accepts
context, filters the results using queries. Cross task management performs
scheduling, monitoring and cross space management of cross context.
Stefan Pietschmann et al. present CROCO [27] a context management service
based on ontology, which allows context gathering across different application and
context modeling. Cross application Context management Service (CROCO) uses the
blackboard approach, which is a data-centric approach where external events can post
information on a blackboard, or subscribe for notifications for changes. CROCO
performs functions like (context) data management, consistency checking, reasoning,
and updating context data.
Dejene Ejigu et al. propose a hybrid approach for collaborative context
management [9]. The system uses conceptual context representation model based on
ontology and relational database. This system uses ontology for representing the
context information and relational schema for the context information management.
They propose EHRAM conceptual model for context representation.
Carlos Baladrn et al. present a global context management framework [5] for
converged context management and its functioning in a future Internet for the
integration of context data from all sources and publish to client applications. Further,
the solution allow inference and context prediction with the help of context intelligent
approach. The open telco operator infrastructure can be used with this framework for
user provisioning and security features.
The architecture for a context aware system for mobility management [19] includes
a Global Context Server, some Local Proxy and Adaptation Servers, and the Mobile
Nodes [19]. Mobile nodes have a middleware for context management for collection
and processing context data and some context information are transferred to the local
servers. Initial level decisions on mobility are done in mobile node and high level
decisions on mobility are assessed in local servers [19].

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HyCoRE [4], a generalized hierarchical Hybrid Context Reasoning Engine design

consists logical layers for the following processes: gathering context information
which includes sensing the data and preprocessing it, context consumption,
processing the context information and context reasoning; knowledge storage and
knowledge retrieval. The reasoning engine proposed here supports both probabilistic
reasoning and also non-probabilistic reasoning to improve the reasoning mechanism
in new or existing CMS.
Herma van Kranenburg et al. designed a generic framework for context processing
in tailored applications and provide services in a multi domain mobile environment
[16]. This framework supports context which are application specific, cross-layer
context processing, exchange of context information in heterogeneous environment,
and multi domain context sources are accessed through single interface.
Holger Schmidt et al. [17] propose a context service which provides a generic Web
service interface performing functionality like gathering, discovering and managing
of context at runtime. The Web Ontology Language (OWL) is used for describing the
context and the SPARQL and RDF Query Language are used for discovery.
Beatriz Fuentes et al. [3] present a novel framework for the context management of
future networks, that is able to collect, transform and reason on context information.
This framework comprised of Context Source, Context Provider, Context Information
Base, Context Broker, Context Ontology, Context Client, and Context Quality
Control Function. The framework focuses on autonomic context discovery,
monitoring, diagnosis and prediction. The proposed framework aims at improving the
context awareness level in the network and, thus facilitating the realization of
autonomic management mechanisms.
Jinhwan Lee and Kwei-Jay Lin [20] present the context management framework
for real-time SOA by using the inteLLigent Accountability Middleware Architecture
(LLAMA) . LLAMA is an open-source middleware framework to manage service
composition, run-time monitoring, problem analysis, and reconfiguration and
optimization [20]. The context agent, which is available in the users device, collects
context information and transfer to the context manager. The context manager
incorporates with Qbroker [20], trust broker and context agent for service
composition and reconfiguration of services
ConServ is a context management web service which enables sharing of context
information and management of context information between heterogeneous smart
spaces [15]. ConServ is a REST based web service which uses model-view-controller
architectural pattern [15]. RDF data store is used to store user details. The RDF data
and normal data is segregated for the effective performance of ConServ and data
which is not to be shared or which is not to be used for reasoning is stored in the
relational data store.
Amel Bouzeghoub et al. propose a hybrid architecture combining a process
oriented context management system COSMOS [1], COntext entitieS coMpositiOn
and Sharing) and an ontology-based context management system (MUSE, Multi
ontology based User Situation awarenEss). The situation identification is performed at
two levels. The first level identifies the situation from the data collected from devices
and sensors. The next level applies knowledge base. The hybrid approach leads to
scalability and efficiency.

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Essa Basaeed et al. proposes a knowledge-centered framework [12] based on

ontology which provides the context aware model which identifies learners goal and
activities and mapping the activities to available learning resources and services.
Dexter H. Hu et al. present a context management framework based on semantic
technology named Context Torrent [11], which provides semantically searchable and
sharable context information among different context-aware applications. In this
framework context is modeled using OWL and RDF.
Daniela Nicklas et al. proposes a Nexus semantic services [8] which carry out
rules represented using first order logic for reasoning. This approach is explained
with the help of a smart environment scenario in the Smart Room, the Conference
Guard [8].
Dejene Ejigu et al. propose a collaborative context aware service platform (CoCA)
[10] which is independent and used for context-aware application development.
CoCA proposes an architecture using ontology and collaborative approaches for
context-aware services with reasoning mechanism.
Maria A. Strimpakou et al. describes the COMANTO [25] ontology which is a
generic upper level ontology to be used in the context management system and enable
stakeholders to share, collaborate and augment their services and context knowledge.
Run Yang et al. provide Context-Aware General Service Model (CAGSM) [26] for
use in next generation network NGN. The CAOSM is structured in multiple layers.
Through the general description language in CAGSM we can model the context
information. The developers can easily use context for applications creation by
selecting appropriate description language, as well as discovering and binding with
various context service.
Federica Paganelli et al. [14] propose a context management system using ontology
which includes a service oriented framework for handling and monitoring the patient
health condition. This framework can be integrated with the home care network for
handling critical situations of patient and providing alarm.
Josue Iglesias et al. present an inference system PIRAmIDE [21] for context
management, for reasoning tasks in resource-constrained devices. The rule-based
reasoning is used for retrieving the information from the inference system.
M. Khedr and A. Karmouch present ACAI [24], an innovative Agent-based
Context Aware Infrastructure based on ontology, which maintains spontaneous
applications both locally and across different domains. A multiagent framework was
proposed for assisting development and runtime provisioning of spontaneous
applications.
Cinzia Cappiello et al. provide a framework for context representation and context
management in a common environment which is adaptable in nature and supports
multichannel access. This framework was explained with MAIS [7] architecture and
services related to the tourism domain. The MAIS architecture provides required
services with appropriate features automatically and efficiently from service providers.
Chiung-Ying Wang et al. proposes UbiPaPaGo [6], a mechanism for finding path
in spatial conceptual map (SCM) [6] using genetic algorithm (GA) [6]. The SCM
model is used to represent the map of the environment. UbiPaPaGo [6] automatically
finds the optimal path that satisfies the requirements of user.

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Tarak Chaari et al. [28] propose a context model based on ontology which can be
reused. Context model is of two levels: generic level and domain specific level. They
propose a generic framework which is adaptable in nature where applications are
adaptable to the context in surrounding environment.
Tobias Rho et al. present a context-management system based on RDF which
provides reasoning mechanism with tight integration with programming languages. It
supports flexible context queries using Context Query Language and it implemented
the query library for JCop [29] language.
Zakwan Jaroucheh et al. propose infinitum [31], a middleware architecture that
incorporates the Google Wave Federation Protocol [31] which uses ontology-based
context models. Infinitum context management system contains a set of context
server, which stores context information available in a predefined domain. This
architecture builds a cross-domain scalable context management and collaboration
framework, which is implemented and evaluated in a real time application of SMART
University [31] to support virtual team collaboration.
Korbinian Frank et al. [22] propose the inference system based on probabilistic
logic for reasoning and it also includes special inference rules extending Bayesian
networks.
Hong-Linh Truong et al. [18] propose a context representation for disaster
management domain. This representation is extensible and supports interoperability to
include entities existing in disasters and relationships among them.
Lobna Nassar et al. proposed VANET IR-CAS which is a context aware system
that utilizes information retrieval (IR) techniques, such as indexing, document scoring
and document similarity [23] to enhance context aware information dissemination in
VANET. It uses a hybrid context model; spatial model for service filtering, ontology
model for context reasoning [23] and knowledge sharing, markup model for file
exchange, and situational model for safety and convenience services.

3.1

Criteria for Evaluating Context Management System

Earlier research work in Context management system defines how sensor data can be
gathered, processed and evaluated for static environment. To support dynamic
adaptation, generic and reusable context management systems are required. The
context management is continuously evolving towards a higher intelligence with the
better security and privacy management. Various criteria can be identified to evaluate
the context management system as discussed below:

Consistency of context information

Security of the context information
Reasoning mechanism
Privacy of context data

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R. Subbaraj and N. Venkatraman

Results and Discussions

We found that earlier work on context management system focused on domain

specific and location based applications. Further work on context management system
supports various domain and different types of context information. Recently
ontology based context management system has been widely adapted as it provides
extensibility and reasoning mechanism. The goal of this study was to analyze various
context management systems which use the ontology for modeling context. The
papers were obtained in a search of electronic resources which includes journals,
conference and workshop proceedings. Then a systematic selection process was
undergone to identify papers related to context management system based on
Table 1. Comparison of Context Management Systems
Paper ID
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32

Consistency

Privacy

Security

Reasoning

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ontology. The results tabulated in Table 1 give a good understanding of context

management system. Of 188 papers are analyzed in the systematic review, 31 papers
were identified as an ontology based context management system. Considering the
findings in the context of previously proposed research agendas, some of the key
challenges in ontology based CMS are (i) Lack of consistency checker component for
verifying or ensuring consistency of sensed or gathered context information against
the context model (ii) Unsecure means of transferring context information between
various components in a distributed environment.

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