The last hop of global notification delivery to mobile users. Matching preferences, context, and device constraints

Events injected by publishers into a publish/subscribe system may reach users through a variety of devices: a stationary desktop, a laptop, a mobile phone, etc. We argue that the "last hop" -- from the network to the output device -- has unique properties, owing to the mobile nature of these devices, and as such demands special consideration. In particular, user's preferences and location may limit what should be forwarded to a device. Furthermore, technological constraints, such as network bandwidth availability and battery power, suggest that the decision when to forward messages is also important for optimizing user's experience. We describe a new publish/subscribe system with volume-limiting mechanisms and explain how user preferences, context, and device constraints can be accommodated in such a system. Notably, based on results of simulations, we propose a simple algorithm for low-cost "prefetching" of notifications to mobile devices in cases when network bandwidth is insufficient.