A Visual Framework for Securing Impromptu Collaboration in Pervasive Computing

Impromptu collaboration, often characterized as being opportunistic, spontaneous, proximity-based, and transient, is fast becoming a common way of interactions in mobile and pervasive computing. Though continued research efforts have been made to secure this type of collaboration, the increasing computational and storage capabilities of mobile devices pose a new security challenge of access control for sharing a variety of their resources. In this paper we present a visual framework for securing impromptu collaboration in a pervasive computing environment. The framework incorporates a method of demonstrative identification of mobile devices, key-based capability list, and 2-dimensional visual barcode technology to support a convenient access control service in mobile and pervasive computing. Impromptu collaboration, often characterized as being opportunistic, spontaneous, proximity-based, and transient, is fast becoming a common way of interactions in mobile and pervasive computing. Though continued research efforts have been made to secure this type of collaboration, the increasing computational and storage capabilities of mobile devices pose a new security challenge of access control for sharing a variety of their resources. In this paper we present a visual framework for securing impromptu collaboration in a pervasive computing environment. The framework incorporates a method of demonstrative identification of mobile devices, key-based capability list, and 2-dimensional visual barcode technology to support a convenient access control service in mobile and pervasive computing