Abstract
The emergence of the Ambient Intelligence (AmI) paradigm and the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and services unveiled new potentials for the domain of domestic living, where the line between “the computer” and the (intelligent) environment becomes altogether invisible. Particularly, the residents of a house can use the living room not only as a traditional social and individual space where many activities take place, but also as a smart ecosystem that (a) enhances leisure activities by providing a rich suite of entertainment applications, (b) implements a home control middleware, (c) acts as an intervention host that is able to display appropriate content when the users need help or support, (d) behaves as an intelligent agent that communicates with the users in a natural manner and assists them throughout their daily activities, (e) presents a notification hub that provides personalized alerts according to contextual information, and (f) becomes an intermediary communication center for the family. This paper (i) describes how the “Intelligent Living Room” realizes these newly emerged roles, (ii) presents the process that was followed in order to design the living room environment, (iii) introduces the hardware and software facilities that were developed in order to improve quality of life, and (iv) reports the findings of various evaluation experiments conducted to assess the overall User Experience (UX).
Highlights
Today, we are witnessing the rise of a new paradigm [1] of information and communication technologies (ICT), spearheaded by smartphones and tablets revolutionizing mobility [2] and delivering easy-to-use touch interaction, the ever-growing Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, and wearables
As the presented literature review confirms, there are various approaches that use the TV as the primary I/O medium of the intelligent environment; some of them adopt second screening techniques that allow the audience to interact with the content they are consuming, while others introduce surface computing into the intelligent environment in order to improve the user experience and introduce novel interaction techniques
Reported in this article constitutes a holistic approach towards formulating a smart ecosystem aiming to: (a) enhance leisure activities by providing a rich suite of entertainment applications, (b) implement a home control middleware, (c) act as an intervention host that is able to contribute in illustrating appropriate content when the users need help or support, (d) behave as an intelligent agent that communicates with the users in a natural manner and assists them throughout their daily activities, (e) present a notification hub that provides personalized alerts according to contextual information, and (f) become an intermediary communication center for the occupants
Summary
We are witnessing the rise of a new paradigm [1] of information and communication technologies (ICT), spearheaded by smartphones and tablets revolutionizing mobility [2] and delivering easy-to-use touch interaction, the ever-growing Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, and wearables. This new paradigm is enhanced with the emergence of Ambient Intelligence (AmI), where the environment is aware of users and can intelligently respond and adapt to their needs [3]. The term “living room” appears in literature roughly at the end of the 19th century. It replaced the formal room for social events and became a room that reflected the taste and personality of the Sensors 2019, 19, 5011; doi:10.3390/s19225011 www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
