Context-aware real-time framework for local collaboration

This paper describes a cost-effective infrastructure and implementation for creating dynamic, scalable context-aware networks for collaboration and interaction amongst multiple parties. The infrastructure combines auto-detection and network presence sensing, hybrid peer-to-peer and client-server architectures, autonomous connection negotiation, and real-time web-based interactivity to provide a rich information sharing system. The system uses many patterns of interactions supported by a range of mobile and handheld computer devices to allow for comprehensive connectivity and information exchange. A prototype system is designed and built and a few use-case scenarios have been successfully tested.