AppBus: Mobile Device Application Collaboration via Short Term Memory

The increasing quality of computation and connectivity on mobile devices has motivated a need for data-sharing between resident services. Most such services rely on the user to transfer data manually between them. This approach is not only prone to input error but also creates a significant data-entry burden for the user on a mobile device. With AppBus, we envision a cooperative data- sharing facility that provides the equivalent of a “short-term memory” for the mobile device. By leveraging this transient data store and event notification system, services can collaborate in a loosely-coupled manner that makes their combined operation appear more intuitive and seamless. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of AppBus for a mobile phone and initiate a discussion on both the utility and the limitations of this paradigm in mobile computing.