A context-aware workflow system framework and scheduling algorithm

In the pervasive and mobile computing environment, workflow and context information are closely linked, workflow management system have to interact with a variety of sensors. Therefore, the design and development context-aware workflow applications become complex and difficult to migrate to other platforms. In order to simplify the development of context-aware workflow applications and enhance its portability, a new context-aware workflow framework is proposed in this paper. This framework introduced into the context-aware middleware which shielded the various bottom sensors work details for the applications and make the workflow applications focus on using high-level context, so as to realize the intelligent workflow management. This framework also introduced into an ant colony optimization based scheduling algorithm for context-aware workflow. Performance test shows that the algorithm can quickly output scheduling results of the middle-scale problems.