Wearable computing meets ubiquitous computing: reaping the best of both worlds

Abstract

This paper describes what we see as fundamental difficulties in both the pure ubiquitous computing and pure wearable computing paradigms when applied to context-aware applications. In particular, ubiquitous computing and smart room systems tend to have difficulties with privacy and personalization, while wearable systems have trouble with localized information, localized resource control, and resource management between multiple people. These difficulties are discussed and a peer-to-peer network of wearable and ubiquitous computing components is proposed as a solution. This solution is demonstrated through several implemented applications.