Overview of context-sensitive technologies for well-being

Abstract

Today smart devices such as smartphones, smartwatches and activity trackers are widely available and accepted in most developed societies. These devices present a broad set of sensors capable of extracting detailed information about different situations of daily life, which, if used for good, have the potential to improve the quality of life not only for individuals but also for the society in general. One of the key areas where this type of information can help to improve the quality of life is in healthcare since it allows to monitor and infer the current level of well-being of the smart devices carriers. In this paper, some of the available literature about well-being sensing through context-aware data is reviewed. Also, the main types of mechanisms used in these studies are identified. These mechanisms are related to monitoring, generalization, inference, feedback, energy management and privacy. Furthermore, a description of the mechanisms used in each study is presented.