Association control apparatus, association control method and service association system

• US 20060150142A1
• Filed: 11/19/2004
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamaguchi, Takahiro, Ishikawa, Akira, Matsunaga, Satoru, Yamamoto, Kakuya
• Granted Patent: US 7,600,218 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5048 Automatic or semi-automatic definitions, e.g. definition templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

In the service association system according to the present invention, an “association template” in which service association details are described is prepared in advance; an actual service adaptable to a template instructed by a user is extracted; a specific association operation description is generated by adapting the actual service instructed by the user to the template; and the service is operated in association. As the result, it becomes possible to construct a service association system in which different services can be automatically adapted to the template in addition to the service which simply adapted to the template.

Claims

1. An association control apparatus which controls an association of operations of a first appliance and a second appliance that are connected to each other via a network, the operations being categorized in advance, the apparatus comprising:

a template specification unit operable to specify, based on an instruction received from a user, an association template in which an outline of the association of the operations is described;

an operation information search unit operable to search, based on description details in the specified association template, information relating to an operation of the first appliance and information relating to an operation of the second appliance;

an operation description unit operable to describe specific operation details in the specified association template using the searched information; and

an association execution unit operable to control the operation of the second appliance based on the association template in which the specific operation details are described.

2. The association control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

an operation description conversion unit operable to convert, based on a conversion descriptor, a description indicating an operation of one category to a description indicating an operation of another category,

wherein the operation description unit further describes the specific operation details using the description converted by the operation description conversion unit.

3. The association control apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising

a descriptor storage unit operable to store the conversion descriptor,

wherein the operation information search unit includes:

a pre-extraction processing unit operable to specify a location in the association template at which the specific operation details are described;

a descriptor search unit operable to search the descriptor storage unit for a conversion descriptor appropriate to the specific operation details whose description location is specified; and

an operation search unit operable to search, using the searched conversion descriptor, for an operation appropriate to said conversion descriptor.

4. The association control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the operations of the first appliance and the second appliance are categorized depending on a service type indicating characteristics of the operations,

the second appliance has an appliance identification (ID) for identifying said appliance and a service type appropriate to said appliance,

the operation information search unit performs the search based on the service type,

the operation description unit performs the description using the service type, and

the association execution unit controls the operation of the second appliance using the service type and the appliance ID.

5. The association control apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising

an operation information storing unit operable to store the information relating to the operation of the first appliance and the information relating to the operation of the second appliance,

wherein the operation information search unit further includes

a similar operation specification unit operable to specify, among the searched operations, a new operation similar to the searched operation based on the information stored in the operation information storage unit, and

the association execution unit further controls the operation using the specified similar operation.

6. The association control apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein the service type includes:

a data type indicating data inputted to the first appliance or the second appliance and outputted from the first appliance or the second appliance;

a connection type indicating a form of connection between the first appliance and the second appliance; and

a constraint type indicating a constraint according to the data input and output at the first appliance or the second appliance.

7. The association control apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising

an instruction receiving unit operable to receive specifications of the first appliance, the second appliance and the service type.

8. The association control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a schedule information obtainment unit operable to obtain information indicating an operation schedule of the first appliance via the network,

wherein the operation description unit further describes specific operation details in the association template using the obtained information indicating the operation schedule.

9. The association control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the operation information search unit searches for an operation appropriate to the association template using at least one of user'"'"'s physical, mental and peripheral conditions.

10. The association control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the operation description unit describes the specific operation details in the association template based on at least one of user'"'"'s physical, mental and peripheral conditions.

11. The association control apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the operation description conversion unit performs the conversion based on a conversion descriptor which defines the plurality of operations.

12. A service association system including a first appliance, an association control apparatus and a second appliance that are connected to each other via at least one network,

wherein the first appliance includes an information supply unit operable to supply information necessary for the association control apparatus according to a request from the association control apparatus,

the association control apparatus controls an association of operations of the first appliance and the second appliance, the operations being categorized in advance,

a template specification unit operable to specify, based on an instruction from a user, an association template in which an outline of the association of the operations is described;

an operation information search unit operable to search for information relating to an operation of the first appliance and information relating to an operation of the second appliance based on description details of the specified association template;

an operation description unit operable to describe specific operation details in the association template using the searched information; and

an association execution unit operable to control the operation of the second appliance based on the association template in which the specific operation details are described.

13. An association control method for controlling an association of operations of a first appliance and a second appliance that are connected to each other via a network, the operations being categorized in advance, the method comprising:

specifying, based on an instruction from a user, an association template in which an outline of the association of the operations is described;

searching for information relating to an operation of first appliance and information relating to an operation of the second appliance based on description details described in the specified association template;

describing specific operation details in the specified association template using the searched information; and

controlling the operation of the second appliance based on the association template in which the specific operation details are described.

14. A program used for an association control apparatus which controls an association of operations of a first appliance and a second appliance that are connected to each other via a network, the program causing a computer to execute:

specifying, based on an instruction from a user, an association template in which an outline of the association of the operations is described;

searching for information relating to an operation of the first appliance and information relating to an operation of the second appliance based on description details of the specified association template;

describing specific operation details in the specified association template using the searched information; and

controlling the operation of the second appliance based on the association template in which the specific operation details are described.