HIC: An interactive and ubiquitous home controller system for the smart home

Abstract

This paper presents the Home Interactive Interface (HIC), a ubiquitous projected GUI providing the dwellers of a Smart Home with an instrument for controlling appliances, comfort metrics and systems. This paper describes the architecture of the HIC and its underlying system, focusing on its appearance, modules and functions. The services provided by HIC are contextualized in two different use cases taking place inside a domestic environment. The first use case illustrates HIC's services and functionalities dedicated to support the dwellers during meal preparations; the use case describes how HIC is able to provide step-by-step tailored instructions and to monitor the whole process. In the second use case, HIC's features for easy comfort metrics management are depicted. The main advantages deriving from the adoption of this home controller system are summarized in the last section, together with the future directions of this work and the usability tests considered to validate the home controller.