Observable Context-Based User Intention Specification in Context-Aware Environments

The capability to accurately recognize users´ new intentions is critical for service evolution, because software systems are designed and implemented to assist their users. In sensor-rich context-aware environments, it is possible to recognize users´ intentions from what users do (actions) and their interactions with and effects on the environment (environmental contexts). However, in order to establish the computational model and implement the intention recognition mechanism, it is essential that intentions and the critical situations used to define human intentions be clearly specified using observable contexts and events. In this paper, we present a set of definitions that enable systems to capture these situations and recognize users´ intentions to support service evolution. An algorithm for intention recognition and the implementation of this algorithm to simulate the process of recognizing intentions at runtime are also presented. A case study of ATM cash withdraw is used to demonstrate the intention specification process.