Context adaptation

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Context adaptation is a term from software technology that is used to designate technical systems that can change their structure, functionality or behavior at runtime in order to adapt to different environmental conditions.

For technical systems, such environmental conditions are generally referred to as context . Context in this context refers to the sufficiently precise characterization of the situation of a system on the basis of information relevant to the adaptation of this system and perceptible by the system. In contrast to context awareness , the term context adaptation describes not only a vague attribute, but also a concrete approach of systems engineering , how the processing of context information can be designed and implemented in such systems. This includes the definition and application of special methods for requirements analysis, design and testing, modeling and description techniques as well as reference architectures, frameworks and middleware.

The main goal of context adaptation is to achieve omnipresence (= ubiquity ). Ubiquity in this sense means increasing the suitability for use ( usability ) a functionality in as many different situations. It is therefore important to consider the three main criteria of ubiquity when dealing with context adaptation: the availability of the necessary hardware and software infrastructure, the applicability of the functionality in the situation under consideration, i. that is, that the functionality can meet the current user needs, and the usability of the application, i. This means that the interactions required for this do not conflict with the user situation, i.e. correspond to the currently free interaction skills.

Nowadays, context adaptation is to be seen as a key requirement for future mobile and ubiquitous systems that envision heterogeneous environments in which the system and application functionality must be dynamically adapted to constantly changing situations, because the needs and wishes of the user are the focus.

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