Research Article Open Access

Survey on Context Based Input of Microenvironment through Sensors and Inference of Activity to Alert Smartphone User

Abstract

Basic functionalities of Mobile phones have changed from mundane activities like call, SMS to performing the tasks like navigation, tracking etc. which has made mobile units smart. This has become possible due to the introduction of sensors. Sensors enable a mobile phone to be context aware i.e.; aware of the environment and activities of phone and its user. Sensors are of various types and each of them has a different functionality e.g.: magnetometer, accelerometer, proximity, camera, Wi-Fi, gyroscope etc. They can be used individually or in group to detect the microenvironment (a few centimeters around a unit) activities. At the lowest level sensors take as input the context of user and then at the next level these are analyzed using various techniques and algorithms for the purpose of inferring the correct activity that is being performed. At the application level according to the activities the various tasks are executed. For example when a call activity occurs then by inferring the proximity of user the task of automatically call receiving is executed. These types of functionalities help the user in using their mobile unit in an efficient manner without much interference from user’s side.as all this requires the sensors to be activated for long intervals of time which in turn results in battery consumption and some performance issue. These can be dealt by stopping unnecessary processes and activating sensor only when its related activity is being performed.

Monika Sharma, S.R.Idate

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