From UAProf towards a Universal Device Description Repository

Abstract

Techniques to create software and content that adapt to different apparatus require gathering information about device features. Traditionally, Device Description Repositories (DDRs) have provided limited descriptions, in terms of description granularity and of the amount of devices included. A Universal DDR (UDDR) would allow any software developer or content creator to have complete, up-to-date and trustworthy device descriptions for any application domain. Collaboration of all stakeholders in the adaptation business would be necessary to populate the UDDR, but without compromising the quality of the information. Device manufacturers usually publish first-hand device descriptions using UAProf. Unfortunately, UAProf documents are known to contain mistakes or inaccurate/incomplete information. This work suggests a multi-step process to manipulate UAProfs in order to correct their most common mistakes, to extend their expressiveness and to allow amendments from different contributors. More specifically, amendments are annotated with provenance information, enabling device description consumers to decide whether to trust them.