A methodology for generating an assistive system for smart environments based on contextual activity patterns

Despite the existence of various approaches addressing the development of nowadays interactive systems, smart environments impose an additional set of challenges for the designer. The main tenet of those environments is to deliver proper assistance to resident users who are performing their daily life tasks. However, an assistive system to be deployed in a smart environment has to meet some crucial requirements in order to successfully accomplish its mission. Thus, a well-defined development methodology for the generation of such a system to be employed in a given smart environment is highly beneficial. In this paper, we present a development methodology enabling the generation of tailored (user-specific) assistive user interfaces based on contextual activity patterns. We illustrate step by step the various stages by which the development of a supportive system for smart environments has to pass.