Electronic unit, communication system and method, information processing terminal and method, and information processing apparatus and method

• US 10,270,814 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2015
• Issued: 04/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ayatsuka, Yuji, Matsushita, Nobuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Mirza, Adnan M
• Application Number:
  US14/729,168
• Publication Number:
  US 20150295958A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,420 Days
• Field of Search: 709227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/268 Signal distribution or switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

The present invention relates to electronic units, communication systems and methods, information processing terminals and methods, and information processing apparatuses and methods which allow easy and quick communications. When a link pin 21A is inserted into a VCR 3, the VCR 3 reads the pin ID stored in the RF tag of the link pin 21A, and reports the pin ID and the address to a management server 1. When the management server 1 has already obtained the pin ID of a link pin 21B read by a television receiver 5, the management server 1 determines whether the group ID included in the pin ID reported by the VCR 3 is the same as the group ID included in the pin ID reported by the television receiver 5. When the management server 1 determines that they are the same, the management server 1 connects the VCR 3 to the television receiver 5. The present invention can be applied to various types of information processing apparatuses connected to a network.

Claims

1. An information processing terminal comprising:

a processing circuitry configured to

detect a first connection with an electronic unit storing identification information;

read the identification information from the electronic unit; and

establish a second connection with an information processing apparatus based on the identification information,

wherein the second connection is released when the electronic unit is disconnected, and

wherein, prior to establishment of the first connection with the electronic unit, the second connection is not established.

2. The information processing terminal according to claim 1, wherein the first connection is formed by a physical contact between the information processing apparatus and the electronic unit.

3. The information processing terminal according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine a role in the second connection.

4. The information processing terminal according to claim 3, wherein the role is one of a master role and a slave role.

5. The information processing terminal according to claim 1, wherein the second connection is a Bluetooth connection.

6. An information processing method comprising:

detecting a first connection with an electronic unit storing identification information;

reading the identification information from the electronic unit; and

establishing a second connection with an information processing apparatus based on the identification information,

wherein the second connection is released when the electronic unit is disconnected, and

wherein, prior to establishment of the first connection with the electronic unit, the second connection is not established.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a program, which when executed by a computer causes the computer to execute a method, the method comprising:

detecting a first connection with an electronic unit storing identification information;

reading the identification information from the electronic unit; and

establishing a second connection with an information processing apparatus based on the identification information,

wherein the second connection is released when the electronic unit is disconnected, and

wherein, prior to establishment of the first connection with the electronic unit, the second connection is not established.