mPERSONA: Personalized Portals for the Wireless User: An Agent Approach

The needs of the wireless and mobile user regarding information access and services are quite different than those of the desktop user. This need is not about browsing the Web but about receiving personalized services that are highly sensitive to the immediate environment and requirements of the user. Personalization appears to be the most appropriate solution to this need. It comes into aid by creating personalized portals that are specific for the wireless user, which (a) are focus on the local content and (b) directly tones down factors that break up the functionally of the Internet/wireless services when viewed through wireless devices; factors like the click count, user response time (the choice factor) and the size of the wireless network traffic. In this paper we present a flexible personalization system for the wireless user that takes into consideration user mobility, the local environment and the user and device profile. The system utilizes the various characteristics of mobile agents to support flexibility, scalability, modularity and user mobility. We present metrics appropriate to the wireless environment, and an initial performance evaluation indicating improvement ranging from 33% up to, for certain metrics, 60%.