**2. Internet of things**

Regarding Ubiquitous Computing paradigm, it is worthwhile to talk about the Internet of Things. The term was first used in 1999 during a presentation performed by Kevin Ashton about the application of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) in the supply chain. In this context, the Internet of Things was born in the industrial sector or, at least, strongly stimulated to meet the demands of the industry. However, the technology is spreading rapidly and affecting several sectors of human activity [11].

After this start, gradually, the Internet of Things has undergone a profound transformation and expanded to refer to the concept of object networks, including everyday objects, "that are readable, recognizable, locatable, addressable, and/or controllable via the Internet [12]". The communication technologies used to connect these objects are not relevant to our definition. Further, it is crucial to enlarge the concept beyond electronic devices and other products with high added technology, such as vehicles or home appliances. The concept embraces less obvious things, as well as food, clothing and soil [12].

**Figure 3** reveals that the expectation is that the number of connected objects continues to increase. Currently, there are already more than 12 billion of IoT connected objects worldwide, and this number should exceed 25 billion by 2025, hence representing an increase of 100%. Another interesting fact is that there is an inversion, at the moment, since there are more connected objects with consumers than with industry. The consumer's objects are expected to grow 63%, whereas the objects of the industry are expected to grow 145% over the next five years. So, we can notice a vigorous movement of the productive sector to incorporate this new technology [13].

Considering the IoT spending, it is expected that the amount will reach USD 1 trillion by 2022. The current values are near USD 750 billion and it is foreseen an improvement of 34% in the next two years, which proves how thriving this market is [14].

#### **2.1 Internet of medical things**

As previously mentioned, IoT is causing a revolution in society. Obviously, the healthcare sector is part of it and is reaping great benefits from the implementation

**Figure 3.** *Number (in billion) of IoT connected objects worldwide from 2020 to 2025.*

*The Role of Ubiquitous Computing in the Transformation of the Healthcare System DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98303*

of this technology. Interestingly, IoT originated the term Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), which describes connected medical devices. It is estimated that the overall IoMT market will reach USD 158 billion by 2022 [15]. In addition, people are taking the initiative to use smartphones, wearables or other devices to support the monitoring and management of healthcare. **Figure 4** shows that most users are interested in information related to maintenance of good health and exercise level, for example, thus indicating how powerful IoMT can be in preventive medicine [16].

These data highlight the role of IoMT in the transformation of the healthcare system to an individualized and patient-centered system (eHealth), in opposition to the current one based on hospitals and mass services [17, 18]. We are observing the growing number of smart and connected medical devices "able to generate, collect, analyze or transmit health data or images and connect to health care provider networks, transmitting data to either a cloud repository or internal servers [15]".

**Figure 4.**

*Percentage of adults worldwide who currently use a connected healthy device or tool to manage their health and selected reasons.*

Accordingly, these devices represent a new territory with the possibility to create a fresh and innovative paradigm of connected system and data-drive healthcare. The upcoming changes have the potential to drop the costs and increase access to health care.

It is worthwhile mentioning that the COVID-19 crisis accelerated the adoption of IoMT due to increased pressure on the health system and high risk of contamination in hospitals. Remarkably, IoT improves efficiency in all the health systems through the integration of the network and the usage of all sorts of data in real time to better manage available resources, which is highly important at this moment of health emergency [17, 19].

Furthermore, numerous solutions able to reduce the circulation of patients in the hospitals are gaining attention, and there has been a rapid growth of technologies related to telemedicine and patient remote monitoring [17, 19]. Two main lines of application are here observed. First, the monitoring of COVID-19 patients to follow up the evolution of the disease and reduce the need for circulation of an infected individual. Also, there are examples of IoMT usage for monitoring of patients with chronic disease, because they are a risk group for COVID-19, but it is not possible to simply waive a regular medical supervision [17, 19].
