Performing Workflows in Pervasive Environments Based on Context Specifications

The workflow performance consists of the performance of activities and transitions between activities. Along with the fast development of varied computing devices, activities in workflows and transitions between activities could be performed in pervasive ways, whichcauses that the workflow performance need to migrate from traditional computing environments to pervasive environments. To perform workflows in pervasive environments needs to take account of the context information which affects both the performance way ofactivities and the transition control between activities. Accordingly, a framework is described in this paper based on definitions of activity-context and transition-context to performingworkflows in pervasive environments. After that, a context specifying method, in which activity-context and transition-context could be represented through simple or composite context, is provided to append necessary context on workflow definitions. Furthermore, corresponding performance principles are proposed, including capturing relevant actual context value according to given specifications, mapping captured context information withcorresponding specifications based on presented context mapping algorithm, and making appropriate response according to predefined reaction rules relevant to matched context specifications. Moreover, we also illustrate our work through a case study about the instantmeeting on call.