IEC 63240-1:2020

Active assisted living (AAL) reference architecture and architecture model - Part 1: Reference architecture

IEC 63240-1:2020 specifies the AAL reference architecture.
This document defines concepts and introduces terminology. It provides generic rules for designers of AAL systems and services with the aim to facilitate systems design and enable interoperability between components.
This document identifies safety, security, privacy, and other requirements for AAL systems such as usability, accessibility, and trustworthiness (reliability, resilience).

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 17-Nov-2020
• ICS: 11.020.99 - Other standards related to health care in general
• ICS: 11.180 - Aids for disabled or handicapped persons
• Technical Committee: SyC AAL - Active Assisted Living
• Drafting Committee: WG 2 - SyC AAL/WG 2
• Current Stage: DELPUB - Deleted Publication
• Start Date: 08-Nov-2024
• Completion Date: 30-Jun-2023

Relations

• Revised: IEC 63240-1:2024 - Active assisted living (AAL) reference architecture and architecture model - Part 1: Reference architecture
• Effective Date: 05-Sep-2023

Overview

IEC 63240-1:2020 - Active assisted living (AAL) reference architecture - Part 1: Reference architecture - specifies a high-level reference architecture for Active Assisted Living systems. The standard defines core concepts and terminology (for example AAL device, AAL gateway, AAL platform/backend system, AAL application, and AAL information system) and provides generic design rules to facilitate system design and enable interoperability between AAL components. It also identifies cross-cutting requirements such as safety, security, privacy, usability, accessibility, and overall trustworthiness (reliability, resilience).

Key topics and requirements

• Concepts & terminology: Standardizes vocabulary used across AAL solutions to improve clarity among designers, manufacturers and service providers.
• Reference architecture description: Conceptual layers and interfaces that guide how devices, gateways, backend systems and applications interconnect.
• Interoperability rules: Generic guidance to support consistent interfaces and data exchange between heterogeneous AAL components and networks (LAN, WAN, Internet).
• Security and privacy requirements: Identification of privacy risks (e.g., monitoring location, health and wellbeing, IoT data exposure), security process considerations, and the potential use of AI in cyberthreat contexts.
• Usability & accessibility: Early-stage guidance for embedding user-centered design to meet the needs of diverse AAL users.
• Trustworthiness: Requirements and considerations for reliability and resilience of AAL systems in real-world deployments.
• Relationship to IoT: Explains how AAL systems relate to Internet of Things deployments and implications for design and risk management.

Practical applications

• Designing interoperable smart home and assisted-living ecosystems that integrate sensors, consumer electronics and healthcare endpoints.
• Specifying system architecture for remote monitoring, telecare and wellbeing services.
• Guiding secure data flows between home devices, AAL gateways and backend platforms or external health information systems.
• Informing procurement, system integration and testing criteria for vendors and integrators.
• Supporting regulatory compliance and risk assessment work for privacy and safety in AAL deployments.

Who should use this standard

• AAL system architects and solution designers
• Consumer electronics and ICT device manufacturers
• Service providers and platform operators
• Healthcare and social-care technology integrators
• Regulators, procurement officers and standards implementers

Related standards

• IEC 63240 series (Part 2: Architecture model) - complements Part 1 by providing the architecture model and detailed design guidance.
• IEC Electropedia and other IEC/ISO terminology resources referenced for consistent definitions.

Keywords: IEC 63240-1:2020, AAL reference architecture, active assisted living, interoperability, AAL device, AAL gateway, privacy, security, usability, accessibility, IoT.

Standards Content (Sample)

IEC 63240-1 ®
Edition 1.0 2020-11
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Active assisted living (AAL) reference architecture and architecture model –
Part 1: Reference architecture
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
either IEC or IEC's member National Committee in the country of the requester. If you have any questions about IEC
copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication, please contact the address below or
your local IEC member National Committee for further information.

IEC Central Office Tel.: [phone]
3, rue de Varembé [e-mail]
CH-1211 Geneva 20 www.iec.ch
Switzerland
About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.

About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigendum or an amendment might have been published.

IEC publications search - webstore.iec.ch/advsearchform Electropedia - www.electropedia.org
The advanced search enables to find IEC publications by a The world's leading online dictionary on electrotechnology,
variety of criteria (reference number, text, technical containing more than 22 000 terminological entries in English
committee,…). It also gives information on projects, replaced and French, with equivalent terms in 16 additional languages.
and withdrawn publications. Also known as the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary

(IEV) online.
IEC Just Published - webstore.iec.ch/justpublished
Stay up to date on all new IEC publications. Just Published IEC Glossary - std.iec.ch/glossary
details all new publications released. Available online and once 67 000 electrotechnical terminology entries in English and
a month by email. French extracted from the Terms and Definitions clause of IEC
publications issued since 2002. Some entries have been
IEC Customer Service Centre - webstore.iec.ch/csc collected from earlier publications of IEC TC 37, 77, 86 and
If you wish to give us your feedback on this publication or need CISPR.

further assistance, please contact the Customer Service

Centre: [e-mail].
IEC 63240-1 ®
Edition 1.0 2020-11
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Active assisted living (AAL) reference architecture and architecture model –

Part 1: Reference architecture

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 11.020.99; 11.180 ISBN 978-2-8322-9080-4

– 2 – IEC 63240-1:2020 © IEC 2020
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms . 6
3.1 Terms and definitions . 6
3.2 Abbreviated terms . 8
4 General . 8
5 Relationship between IoT and AAL . 9
6 AAL reference architecture . 9
6.1 Purpose of AAL reference architecture . 9
6.2 Users of AAL reference architecture . 10
6.3 Description of AAL reference architecture . 10
7 Security requirements in the context of AAL . 10
7.1 General . 10
7.2 Privacy requirements . 11
7.3 Security requirements . 11
7.4 Areas relating to AAL security for consideration . 11
7.5 Use of AI for cyberthreats . 12
7.6 AAL privacy risk examples . 12
7.6.1 Monitoring location . 12
7.6.2 Monitoring health and well-being . 12
7.6.3 IoT . 12
7.6.4 Frame risks for the AAL system . 12
Bibliography . 13

Figure 1 – Conceptual level of AAL reference architecture . 10
Figure 2 – Security process within the context of AAL standards . 11

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
ACTIVE ASSISTED LIVING (AAL) REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE AND
ARCHITECTURE MODEL –
Part 1: Reference architecture

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and
in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports,
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as "IEC Publication(s)"). Their
preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with
may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising
with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence between
any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of patent
rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 63240-1 has been prepared by IEC systems committee AAL: Active
Assisted Living.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
SyCAAL/176/CDV SyCAAL/190/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this International Standard can be found in the
report on voting indicated in the above table.
This document has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

– 4 – IEC 63240-1:2020 © IEC 2020
A list of all parts in the IEC 63240 series, published under the general title Active assisted living
reference architecture and architecture model, can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data related to
the specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
IMPORTANT – The 'colour inside' logo on the cover page of this publication indicates
that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding
of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a colour printer.

INTRODUCTION
IEC SyC AAL is developing an architecture model and a reference architecture for AAL to guide
the development and deployment of AAL services and technologies. IEC 63240 consists of the
following parts, under the general title Active assisted living (AAL) reference architecture and
architecture model:
• Part 1: Reference architecture;
• Part 2: Architecture model.
This document provides information to ensure usability and accessibility from the earliest stages
of design and provides guidance to developers on how to incorporate these requirements.
Additional requirements such as security, privacy, and trustworthiness are introduced and
considered.
This document captures the results the work of SyC AAL on architecture and interoperability.
This document reflects contributions and discussions by SyC AAL experts, mirror committees
and liaison members. This document also contains material gathered from reports and group
output from the SyC AAL meetings in November 2015 (Tokyo), April 2016 (Wellington), October
2016 (Frankfurt), April 2017 (Beijing), September 2017 (Cleveland), December 2017
(Eindhoven), May 2018 (Tokyo), October 2018 (Seoul), June 2019 (Frankfurt) and October 2019
(Shanghai), as well as information obtained during various web meetings.
Experts from liaison organizations and the following national committees have contributed: CA,
CH, CN, DE, GB, IN, JP, KR, NL, NZ, SE, US.
The target audience for this document includes the following stakeholders who have an interest
in the AAL system:
• AAL users and service provider personnel who can learn about AAL user needs and how to
operate AAL systems;
• consumer electronics and information and communication technology device manufacturers
who want to understand AAL devices and interface and interoperability requirements;
• stakeholders who are interested in the usability, accessibility and performance of the AAL
system as well as AAL operators who need to understand the system requirements;
• regulators who are responsible for developing and supervising AAL and related regulations.

– 6 – IEC 63240-1:2020 © IEC 2020
ACTIVE ASSISTED LIVING (AAL) REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE AND
ARCHITECTURE MODEL –
Part 1: Reference architecture

1 Scope
This document specifies the AAL reference architecture.
This document defines concepts and introduces terminology. It provides generic rules for
designers of AAL systems and services with the aim to facilitate systems design and enable
interoperability between components.
This document identifies safety, security, privacy, and other requirements for AAL systems such
as usability, accessibility, and trustworthiness (reliability, resilience).
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1.1
AAL device
material element or assembly of such elements intended to perform a required function used in
an AAL service (IEV 871-01-04)
Note 1 to entry: There are 1) medical devices (IEV 871-06-06), as defined by regulatory agencies, 2) personal
health devices and sensors (IEV 871-04-29) for fitness, well-being, personal comfort and personal security and 3)
devices which can serve as aggregators of personal data produced by the user of the device.
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-151:2001, 151-11-20, modified – The term "device" has been replaced
by "AAL device". In the definition, "used in an AAL service" has been added.]
3.1.2
AAL gateway
functional unit that connects two computer networks with different network architectures and
protocols used in an AAL service (IEV 871-01-04)
Note 1 to entry: The computer networks may be local area networks, wide area networks, or other types of networks.
Note 2 to entry: Examples of gateways are a LAN gateway, a mail gateway used in an AAL service.

[SOURCE: IEC 60050-732:2010, 732-01-17, modified – The term "gateway" has been replaced
by "AAL gateway". In the definition and in Note 2 to entry, "used in an AAL service" has been
added.]
3.1.3
AAL platform backend system
AAL backend system
system that houses a number of components (functionalities) in order to collect the data from
AAL gateways or AAL devices directly over a wide area networ
...