AdaptUI: A Framework for the development of Adaptive User Interfaces in Smart Product-Service Systems

Abstract

Smart Product–Service Systems (S-PSS) represent an innovative business model that integrates intelligent products with advanced digital capabilities and corresponding e-services. The user experience (UX) within an S-PSS is heavily influenced by the customization of services and customer empowerment. However, conventional UX analysis primarily focuses on the design stage and may not adequately respond to the evolving user needs during the usage stage and how to exploit the data surrounding the use of S-PSS. To overcome these limitations, this article introduces a practical framework for developing Adaptive User Interfaces within S-PSS. This framework integrates ontologies and Context-aware recommendation systems, with user interactions serving as the primary data source, facilitating the development of adaptive user interfaces. One of the main contributions of this work lies on the integration of various components to achieve the creation of Adaptive User Interfaces for digital services. A case study of a smart device app is presented, to demonstrate the practical implementation of the framework, with a hands-on development approach, considering technological aspects and utilizing appropriate tools. The results of the evaluation of the recommendation engine show that using a context-aware approach improves the precision of recommendations. Furthermore, pragmatic aspects of UX, such as usefulness and system efficiency, are evaluated with participants with an overall positive impact on the use of the smart device.