Pervasive Systems in Health Care

Abstract

An important characteristic of ℌAmbient Intelligenceℍ (AmI) environments is the merging of physical and digital space (i.e. tangible objects and physical environments are acquiring a digital representation). As the computer disappears in the environments surrounding our activities, the objects therein are transformed to artifacts, that is, they are augmented with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) components (i.e. sensors, actuators, processor, memory, wire-less communication modules) and can receive, store, process and transmit information. Artifacts may be totally new objects or improved versions of existing objects, which by using the ambient technology, allow people to carry out novel or traditional tasks in unobtrusive and effective ways.