Universal interactions with smart spaces

A critical challenge facing the pervasive computing research community is the need to manage complex interactions among numerous interconnected computers and devices. In such a pervasive space, a given application's functionalities are partitioned and distributed across several computing devices that are spontaneously discovered and used. In recent years, researchers have devoted much attention to universal interactions with diverse devices in richly networked settings. We can categorize the numerous approaches explored into two groups: universal user interface languages and user interface remoting. We review recent noteworthy efforts for universal interactions using these two approaches. Such efforts aim to raise interoperability in interactive smart spaces by standardizing user interface languages or communication protocols.