(A) conversational service mashup model to support end-user service mashup in IoT environments

Abstract

In Internet of Things (IoT) environments, users not only consume services provided by IoT devices, but also produce their own service mashup applications to personalize the environment. Several visual-based approaches have been proposed to support users in creating IoT service mashups. However, users may want to create and modify IoT service mashups using voice-enabled IoT devices as a shortcut to a visual approach. This study proposes a conversational service mashup model, that end-users without programming experience can use to create and modify IoT service mashups over multi-turn natural language conversations. To support users in creating service mashups in a convenient manner, the model has two core features: an iterative and incremental mashup model and a feedback mechanism. In addition, the model has a two-step mashup modification interaction, an implicature-based localization step, and a modification step with a disambiguation strategy. To evaluate the proposed model, a systematic user study was conducted based on a smart home IoT environment scenario. The study results confirm that end-users can easily use the conversational service mashup model to create and modify the required IoT service mashups.