iMobile: An Agent-Based Platform for Mobile Services

iMobile is a platform that addresses the research issues in building mobile services. iMobile acts as a message gateway that allows mobile devices using various protocols on different access networks to relay messages to each other. It also allows these thin clients to access resources and information on the internet and various networks. iMobile implements three key abstractions: devlet, infolet, and applet. A devlet is a driver attached to iMobile that receives and sends messages through a particular protocol for mobile devices. An infolet hosted on iMobile uses a particular access method to provide an abstract view of an information space. An applet implements service or application logic by processing information from various infolets. The foundation of iMobile, the let engine, implements the basic framework for maintaining applets, devlets and infolets, supports user and device profiles for personalization and transcoding, and invokes proper applets and infolets to answer requests from a devlet. The iMobile architecture allows new access devices and protocols to be added to its framework without changes in the service logic. iMobile effectively provides a personal agent on the network that enables a user to have mobile access to the information and services available, without being limited by where the user is or whatever communication or device protocol is available.