Overview - IEC TS 63134:2020 (Active assisted living use cases)
IEC TS 63134:2020 (consolidated with Amendment 1) documents real-world Active Assisted Living (AAL) use cases and scenarios to support the development, evaluation and harmonization of AAL solutions. The technical specification provides a structured use-case template, an AAL architecture model, representative example use cases (e.g., personal health checks, medication monitoring, social interaction) and identified user requirements. It is intended as a contribution to the IEC use case management repository to help collect, maintain and analyse AAL use cases for standards work.
Key topics and technical requirements
- AAL use case template: standardized fields for scope, objectives, narrative, actors, system component composition and versioning to enable consistent documentation.
- AAL architecture model: conceptual model to place use cases in an interoperability and systems context.
- Levels of criticality and assistance: classification of safety/criticality and functional assistance domains to guide risk management and system design.
- Actors and components: definitions for persons, technical components, systems and organisations involved in AAL scenarios.
- User requirements: explicit consideration of safety, security, privacy, ease of operation, performance and functional needs derived from real-world applications.
- Standards gap analysis: mapping of where existing standards address requirements and where further standardization work is recommended.
- Conformity and assessment aspects: pointers to assessment needs and alignment with IEC SyC AAL activities.
Practical applications - who uses IEC TS 63134
IEC TS 63134 is practical for:
- Product designers and system integrators building AAL platforms, devices and services (to capture real-world functional and non‑functional requirements).
- Standards developers and committees using representative use cases to prioritize interoperability and safety standardization.
- Healthcare providers and service operators assessing how AAL solutions meet clinical workflows and user needs.
- Manufacturers and suppliers preparing conformity evidence and addressing privacy/security requirements.
- Researchers and solution evaluators leveraging the use‑case repository for comparative analysis and trials.
- Policy makers and procurement teams using documented user requirements and safety classifications to specify services.
Related standards and value for interoperability
IEC TS 63134 does not replace technical standards but provides the use-case context needed to apply existing IEC and other standards (e.g., safety, data protection, communications, medical device frameworks) and to identify gaps where new standardization is needed. By standardizing use-case descriptions and user requirements, IEC TS 63134 helps accelerate interoperable, secure and user‑centric AAL deployments. Keywords: IEC TS 63134, AAL use cases, active assisted living, interoperability, user requirements, privacy, security, standards gap analysis.