Protocol independent communication system for mobile devices

• US 20040019683A1
• Filed: 07/25/2002
• Published: 01/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ozdemir, Hasan Timucin, Lee, Kuo Chu, Yu, Juan
• Granted Patent: US 7,089,313 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method provides protocol independent communication between mobile electronic devices. Multiple users may communicate using different applications running on different mobile electronic devices with different end-to-end protocols. A multimedia controller in connection with control agents provides the information to establish communications between mobile electronic devices having applications with incompatible communication protocols. A session and routing controller controls communication sessions and a Web hyperlink dictionary provides information regarding the location of the multimedia controller and control agents.

Claims

1. A method of communicating between devices independent of a specific communication protocol, the devices having applications for communicating using different protocols with specific communication requirements, the method comprising the steps of:

determining the communication capability for the applications of a specific device and provide a uniform controller for the capabilities using MC;

Loading an hosting agent to discover and utilize the MC capability to create a execution environment for visiting agents

creating an executable visiting agent for the hosting agent on top of the MC within the specific device adapted for communicating the determined communication capability provided through the hosting agent to the MC of the specific device to provide an arbitrary protocol for communication between the visiting agent and the hosting agent. Such protocol is between the visting agent and the hosting agent which is independent from protocol defined in the MC'"'"'s capability list and

down-load and executing the executable agent upon a request to a requesting device to thereby provide protocol independent communication between the requesting device and the specific device.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising restricting access to the executable agent to a predetermined set of users.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising storing the location of the executable agent for use in subsequent communications.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein communication is provided via the Internet and further comprising configuring the executable agent for access using the Internet.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising creating a profile to identify the communication capabilities for the applications of the specific device and the capability has weights for supporting automatic capability matching based on cost functions. The said cost function can be changed by users using service logic program which can be dynamically created by users or system administrators.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein the step of creating a profile further comprises creating a different profile for each mobile electronic device of a user.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising transmitting the executable agent to the requesting device.

8. A method of communicating between mobile electronic devices independent of a specific communication protocol, the mobile electronic devices having applications using different protocols with specific communication requirements, the method comprising the steps of:

accessing a first mobile electronic device from a second mobile electronic device; and

transmitting from the first mobile electronic device to the second mobile electronic device an agent adapted for automatically communicating the specific communication requirements of the first mobile electronic device for use in providing protocol independent communication between the first and second mobile electronic devices.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein the step of accessing a first mobile electronic device further comprises requesting permission to access the first mobile electronic device.

10. The method according to claim 8 further comprising determining the location of the agent using a web hyper link dictionary which provide index to agents and profiles that are distributed over the Web.

11. The method according to claim 10 wherein the communication is Internet based and further comprising linking to the location of the agent using a hyperlink Web dictionary.

12. The method according to claim 8 further comprising accessing a multimedia controller to determine the communication capabilities of the first mobile electronic device.

13. A method of communicating between mobile electronic devices independent of a common communication protocol, the mobile electronic devices having applications for communicating using different protocols with specific communication capabilities, the method comprising the steps of:

using an agent within a first mobile electronic device to identify the specific communication requirements for at least one of the applications of the first mobile device, the agent adapted for transmitting the communication requirements to a second mobile electronic device requesting communication with the first mobile electronic device; and

providing needed portions of the agent to the second mobile electronic device, the agent configured to automatically communicate the communication capability for the at least one application to provide communication with the first mobile electronic device independent of communication protocol.

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein the step of providing needed portions further comprises duplicating the needed portions of the agent within the second mobile electronic device.

15. The method according to claim 13 further comprising accessing an Internet implemented database to determine the location of the agent.

16. The method according to claim 13 further comprising accessing a sever to identify other mobile electronic devices having agents.

17. A method of communicating between two different application programs running on first and second machines using different end-to-end protocols, the method comprising the steps of:

loading a host agent into the first machine which determines the capability of a multimedia controller on the first machine and creates a visiting agent to support the remote operation of the multimedia controller; and

loading the visiting agent into the second machine which operates in response to applications on the second machine to control the multimedia controller on the first machine via the hosting agent on the first machine.

18. The method according to claim 17 further comprising storing the location of the host agent in an Internet based database.

19. The method according to claim 17 further comprising requesting the visiting agent before loading the visiting agent into the second machine.

20. The method according to claim 19 further comprising limiting access to the visiting agent to a predetermined set of users.

21. A method of operating components of a first machine that are controlled by a multimedia controller on the first machine with a second machine running a different application and end-to-end protocols than the first machine, the method comprising the steps of:

loading into the second machine a visiting agent that was created by a host agent on the first machine that assessed the capabilities of the multimedia controller on the first machine, the visiting agent permitting applications on the second machine to control components on the first machine via the host agent that created the visiting agent.

22. The method according to claim 21 further comprising limiting the set of machines into which the visiting agent is loaded.

23. The method according to claim 22 further comprising requesting the visiting agent and wherein loading is only provided to the limited set of machines.

24. The method according to claim 21 further comprising remotely loading the host agent into the first machine.

25. The method according to claim 21 wherein the first and second machines are adapted for Internet communication and further comprising storing the Internet address of the visiting agent in an Internet database.

26. The method according to claim 25 further comprising accessing the database to determine the location of the visiting agent to load into the second machine.

27. A method of providing communication between mobile devices operating different applications with interfaces having different protocols, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a host agent within a first mobile device to identify a set of modules provided by a multimedia controller of the first mobile device for use in communication;

creating a visiting agent within the first mobile device associated with the host agent for accessing the multimedia controller of the first mobile device;

using a session and routing controller to access a hyperlink dictionary and to identify available modules of the set of modules of the multimedia controller of the first mobile device; and

providing the visiting agent to a second mobile device to allow communication between the first and second mobile devices independent of a specific protocol.

28. The method according to claim 27 wherein the step of providing the visiting agent further comprises loading the visiting into the second mobile device.

29. The method according to claim 27 wherein the step of using the session and routing controller further comprises limiting access to the multimedia controller to a predetermined set of users.

30. A mobile device adapted for protocol independent electronic communication, the mobile device comprising:

a storage unit having a plurality of applications requiring different protocols for use in communication; and

a processor programmed to control the operation of the applications and wherein a host agent associated with a multimedia controller under the control of the processor assesses the protocol requirements of the plurality of applications and creates a visiting agent for loading into other mobile devices to provide protocol independent communication.

31. The mobile device according to claim 30 wherein the host and visiting agents are provided in an Internet based format and further comprising an interface for accessing the host and visiting agents.

32. In a communication system controlling a plurality of mobile electronic devices, a method of communicating between the mobile electronic devices with different applications having different communication protocols comprises the steps of:

selecting a specific mobile electronic device with which to communicate via an application of the specific mobile electronic device; and

obtaining from the specific mobile electronic device an agent configured for automatically communicating information for use in operating the application within the specific mobile electronic device to provide protocol independent communication.

33. The method according to claim 32 further comprising using a host agent of the specific mobile electronic device in connection with the visiting agent to control the application of the specific mobile electronic device to thereby provide protocol independent communication.

34. The method of supporting a flexible construction of unit directional communication channels according to claim 32 further comprising using pairs of visiting and hosting agents.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein said unidirectional channel is applicable for silent monitoring of a conversation from a third party.

36. The method of claim 32 further comprising, loading of at least one visiting agent from any location support a home agent to monitor multiple conversations dynamically using different media.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein said media are selected from the group consisting of voice telephony communication, video communication, internet chat communication and combinations thereof.