Review of cross-device interaction for facilitating digital transformation in smart home context: A user-centric perspective

With the permeation of smart devices and connected intelligence in people’s daily life, human–computer interaction is no longer between users and single products, but exists between users and complex product systems. It greatly facilitates the digitalization of user data, environment conditions, and interaction process, which makes digital transformation (DT) feasible in smart home context to help create innovative life services and additional user values. Cross-device interaction has thusly become an important measure in realizing DT in smart home areas, and related studies are growing rapidly. Unlike previous reviews, which mainly focus on the historical development, the applications and evaluation strategies of cross-device interaction, a user-centric perspective was proposed in this work to emphasize the user experience and user values. For the purpose, a systematic literature review approach was developed, and 130 articles in recent 15 years were obtained and reviewed. Through text mining and bibliometric analysis, the topics attracting higher research attention were identified. Following the identified research spots, the related works were analyzed from the aspects of (i) main services supported by cross-device interaction, (ii) common interaction configurations for different service purposes, and (iii) user-perceived values brought by cross-device interaction. Moreover, the challenges which hinder the deepened digitalization of smart home systems were discussed, including data quality, user experience and system safety issues. Accordingly, future development opportunities in the further integration of emerging digital technologies, attempts in natural interaction, and extension of smart home scenarios were suggested. This review is expected to help researchers better understand the role of cross-device interaction in digitalizing a complex smart home system, provide references on effective configuration of interaction systems for different purposes, and shed light on future development directions in this area.