Goals for Telecare Networks

Telecare supports delivery of care to the home. Telecare networks link devices in the home, and provide access to local and remote services. Since telecare systems require a high degree of auton- omy, it is desirable to have automated rules that manage their op- eration. Telecare systems also require flexibility and adap tability, but modifying their technology normally needs expert intervention. The authors and their colleagues have developed policy-based man- agement as a higher-level, user-friendly way of supporting telecare. This work has now been extended to support abstract goals for tele- care. These goals manage the distributed networks, devices and services used in telecare. Goals are automatically refined i nto poli- cies that are executed dynamically. Sample goals and policies are given to illustrate the approach.