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Current Trends on Knowledge-Based Systems pp 3–22Cite as

im4Things: An Ontology-Based Natural Language Interface for Controlling Devices in the Internet of Things

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Part of the book series: Intelligent Systems Reference Library ((ISRL,volume 120))

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) offers opportunities for new applications and services that enable users to access and control their working and home environment from local and remote locations, aiming to perform daily life activities in an easy way. However, the IoT also introduces new challenges, some of which arise from the large range of devices currently available and the heterogeneous interfaces provided for their control. The control and management of this variety of devices and interfaces represent a new challenge for non-expert users, instead of making their life easier. Based on this understanding, in this work we present a natural language interface for the IoT, which takes advantage of Semantic Web technologies to allow non-expert users to control their home environment through an instant messaging application in an easy and intuitive way. We conducted several experiments with a group of end users aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach to control home appliances by means of natural language instructions. The evaluation results proved that without the need for technicalities, the user was able to control the home appliances in an efficient way.

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Acknowledgements

María Pilar Salas-Zárate and Mario Andrés Paredes-Valverde are supported by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT) and the Mexican government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Proyectos Y Soluciones Tecnológicas Avanzadas, SLP (Proasistech) Edificio CEEIM, Campus de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain

    José Ángel Noguera-Arnaldos

  2. Department of Informatics and Systems, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain

    Mario Andrés Paredes-Valverde, María Pilar Salas-Zárate & Rafael Valencia-García

  3. Computational Bioscience Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, 4700 KAUST, P.O. Box 2882, 23955-6900, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Miguel Ángel Rodríguez-García

  4. Department of Industrial Engineering, Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Mexico

    José Luis Ochoa

Authors
  1. José Ángel Noguera-Arnaldos
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  2. Mario Andrés Paredes-Valverde
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  3. María Pilar Salas-Zárate
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  4. Miguel Ángel Rodríguez-García
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  5. Rafael Valencia-García
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  6. José Luis Ochoa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mario Andrés Paredes-Valverde .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. 852 Col. Emiliano Zapata, Instituto Tecnologico de Orizaba 852 Col. Emiliano Zapata, Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico

    Giner Alor-Hernández

  2. Campus de Espinardo s/n., Facultad de Informática Campus de Espinardo s/n., Murcia, Spain

    Rafael Valencia-García

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Noguera-Arnaldos, J.Á., Paredes-Valverde, M.A., Salas-Zárate, M.P., Rodríguez-García, M.Á., Valencia-García, R., Ochoa, J.L. (2017). im4Things: An Ontology-Based Natural Language Interface for Controlling Devices in the Internet of Things. In: Alor-Hernández, G., Valencia-García, R. (eds) Current Trends on Knowledge-Based Systems. Intelligent Systems Reference Library, vol 120. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51905-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51905-0_1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51905-0

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