On the fly service composition for local interaction environments

Abstract

Dynamically creating new, composite services "on the fly" using existing ones in a local interaction environment (e.g. a home, meeting room, airport lounge, etc.) presents challenging problems. In this paper, we describe a middleware model for such service composition targeted, initially, to a home area network (HAN) scenario. Being able to automatically synthesize new and useful services in a HAN (or other environment) without user intervention makes the use of the network simpler and more attractive for non-expert users (e.g. home owners). We propose a service composition model which involves third-party "service providers" (SPs) in the composition process thereby allowing the discovery of services without direction from the users as to what type of service is desired. We also discuss our experiences with our initial prototype system where ontology based matching is done by the service providers and the resulting composite service is deployed as a workflow using available in-home protocols (e.g. UPnP, Jini, etc.)