Modelling users, context and devices for adaptive user interface systems

Over the past years we are witnessing the growth of new and heterogeneous mobile devices and services with a wide range of capabilities. On the one hand, faster processors, larger memories and more accessible sensor capabilities allow the community to develop applications that take better advantages of the context information, taking into account the user preferences and several context situations. On the other hand, the spread of intelligent environments provides relevant information about the current context to/of the agents and involved entities. This situation enhances the possibilities of new research domains. For instance, adaptive user interfaces arise from the need of covering a wide range of users and environment conditions. Each user has his own preferences. Moreover, there are some groups of users who have special needs and capabilities: the disabled and the elderly. These groups suffer from very concrete limitations. The main problem is that market applications and devices usually are unable to guarantee a comfortable interaction. This situation makes that these groups suffer from inattention.