IUserCtxRefiner.java

/**
 * Copyright (c) 2011, SOCIETIES Consortium (WATERFORD INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (TSSG), HERIOT-WATT UNIVERSITY (HWU), SOLUTA.NET 
 * (SN), GERMAN AEROSPACE CENTRE (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.) (DLR), Zavod za varnostne tehnologije
 * informacijske družbe in elektronsko poslovanje (SETCCE), INSTITUTE OF COMMUNICATION AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS (ICCS), LAKE
 * COMMUNICATIONS (LAKE), INTEL PERFORMANCE LEARNING SOLUTIONS LTD (INTEL), PORTUGAL TELECOM INOVAÇÃO, SA (PTIN), IBM Corp., 
 * INSTITUT TELECOM (ITSUD), AMITEC DIACHYTI EFYIA PLIROFORIKI KAI EPIKINONIES ETERIA PERIORISMENIS EFTHINIS (AMITEC), TELECOM 
 * ITALIA S.p.a.(TI),  TRIALOG (TRIALOG), Stiftelsen SINTEF (SINTEF), NEC EUROPE LTD (NEC))
 * All rights reserved.
 *
 * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following
 * conditions are met:
 *
 * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
 *
 * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
 *    disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
 *
 * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING,
 * BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT 
 * SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
 * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
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 */
package org.societies.context.api.user.refinement;

import java.util.List;

import org.societies.api.context.model.CtxAttributeIdentifier;
import org.societies.api.context.model.CtxAttribute;
import org.societies.context.api.user.inference.UserCtxInferenceException;

/**
 * @author fran_ko
 */
public interface IUserCtxRefiner {
	
	/**
	 * Refines context for an indicate Context Attribute identifier.
	 * The CtxAttribute object related to the parameter attrId is manipulated according to the refiner and returned. 
	 * 
	 * @param attrId ID of context attribute to be inferred/refined.
	 * @return the refined context attribute or <code>null</code> if the 
	 *         identified attribute cannot be refined.
	 * @since 0.3
	 */
	public CtxAttribute refineOnDemand(CtxAttributeIdentifier attrId) throws UserCtxInferenceException;
	
	/**
	 * Starts continuous inference process of context attributes a user has registered for. 
	 * 
	 * @param id ID of context attribute to be inferred/refined continuously.
	 * @param updateFreq Frequency of re-evaluation of inference/refinement algorithms.
	 * @since 0.3
	 */
	public void refineContinuously(CtxAttributeIdentifier id, double updateFreq) throws UserCtxInferenceException;
	
	/**
	 * Called by the Context Inference Manager. The return parameter List contains strings
	 * with the names of the context types for which rules exist in the IUserCtxRefiner.
	 * 
	 * @since 0.3
	 */
	public List<String> getInferrableTypes( );
}