Multimodal interfaces for the smart home: Findings in the process from architectural design to user evaluation

Abstract

Smart Environments have specific natural interaction needs that can be provided for with multimodal interfaces. There are still challenges to face, such as the adaptability of the interaction and an evaluation of the proposed systems. This work focuses on these problems and proposes an architectural design evaluated in the domain of Smart Homes. The architectural approach is based on the Model View Presenter Pattern and the Service Oriented paradigm. The evaluation was conducted with a laboratory deployment of a prototype of the system and usability tests were carried out with a usability questionnaire. Results show the technical feasibility of the proposed design and positive user acceptance of the multimodal interface as compared to mono-modal interfaces. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.