Controlling application devices simultaneously

• US 20050125718A1
• Filed: 12/09/2002
• Published: 06/09/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Van Doorn, Markus Gerardus Leonardus Maria
• Granted Patent: US 8,966,561 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/00 Arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless electrical link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/31 Voice input
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/33 Remote control using macros, scripts
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/41 Remote control of gateways
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/42 Transmitting or receiving remote control signals via a network
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/50 Receiving or transmitting feedback, e.g. replies, status updates, acknowledgements, from the controlled devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/91 Remote control based on location and proximity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2829 involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4131 home appliance, e.g. lighting, air conditioning system, metering devices home automation data switching networks exchanging configuration information on appliance services H04L12/2807
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80

Abstract

A method and a system of controlling application devices simultaneously. The application devices can be a Web tablet, a set-top box, a VCR, a TV, and PDA, a lamp, a coffee machine, a radio, a telephone, a background wall, a DVD player or an electronic information panel. The method includes four steps controlled by a server: retrieving first documents (501) from a first set of application devices; retrieving identification (502) of a user; generating (505) second documents, each comprising an instruction, on the basis of at least a part of the retrieved identification of the user and at least a part of the first documents; simultaneously sending (506) at least one of the second documents to each device of a second set of the application devices; and performing (507) for a given device of the second set one instruction from at least one of the second documents received in the given device. The step of retrieving identification by the server includes the steps of retrieving user profile (503) information based on the user identification, and retrieving context profile information (504) relating to present surroundings of the user. The said documents include Hyper Text Markup Language, Scalable Vector Graphics, Resource Description Framework and Extensible Markup Language (XML).

Claims

1. A method of controlling application devices (103-106, 203, 204, 305, 405, 408-412) said method comprising the steps of:

retrieving first documents (501) from a first set of application devices by a server (107, 205, 304, 404);

retrieving identification (115, 502) of a user by the server;

characterized in that the method further comprises the steps of;

generating (505) second documents by the server, each comprising an instruction, on the basis of at least a part of the retrieved identification of the user and at least a part of the first documents;

sending (506) at least one of the second documents to each device of a second set of the application devices by the server; and

performing (507), for a given device of the second set, one instruction from at least one of the second documents received in the given device.

2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of retrieving identification of the user further comprises the steps of

retrieving user profile (503) information based on the user identification by the server;

and

retrieving context profile information (504) relating to surroundings of the user by the server.

3. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the documents comprise at least one of Hyper Text Markup Language, Scalable Vector Graphics, Resource Description Framework and Extensible Markup Language (XML).

4. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the application devices comprise at least one of Web tablet, set-top box, VCR, TV, PDA, lamp, coffee machine, radio, telephone, background wall, DVD player and electronic information panel.

7. A computer system for performing the method according to claim 1.

8. A computer program product comprising program code means stored on a computer readable medium for performing the method of claim 1 when the computer program is run on a computer.

5. A system for controlling application devices (103-106, 203, 204, 305, 405, 408-412) comprising:

means for (107, 205, 304, 404) retrieving first documents from a first set of application devices;

means for (107, 205, 304, 404) retrieving identification (115) of a user;

characterized in that the system further comprises;

means for (107, 205, 304, 404) generating second documents, each comprising an instruction, on the basis of at least a part of the retrieved identification of the user and at least a part of the first documents;

means for (107, 205, 304, 404) sending at least one of the second documents to each device of a second set of the application devices; and

means for performing, for a given device of the second set, one instruction from at least one of the second documents received in the given device.

6. A system, according to claim 5, characterized in that the means for retrieving identification of the user further comprises:

means for (107, 205, 304, 404) retrieving user profile information based on the user identification; and

means for (107, 205, 304, 404) retrieving context profile information relating to surroundings of the user.