System and method for accessing and managing mobile device metadata

• US 20070150479A1
• Filed: 12/27/2005
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Original Assignee: FlashPoint Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Amidon, Christopher, Walsh, Richard, Issa, Alfredo
• Granted Patent: US 8,719,341 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A system and method are provided for accessing and managing information, or metadata, describing content residing on a number of agent devices. In general, the system includes a central node and a number of agent devices communicatively coupled by a network. In operation, the central node communicates with the agent devices to obtain content information describing content stored at the agent devices and optionally the locations of the agent devices from the agent devices. The content information and optionally the locations of the agent devices are stored in a database associated with the central node. Thereafter, the central node enables requesting nodes such as the agent devices to access the database. For example, the agent devices may communicate with the central node to obtain the content information for one or more known agent devices or to query the database to find agent devices having content information and optionally locations that satisfy specified criteria. In addition or alternatively, the central node may provide automatic alerts to the agent devices when other agent devices matching specified criteria are available.

Claims

1. A central node comprising:

a) a communication interface adapted to communicatively couple the central node to a network; and

b) a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to;

i) obtain content information describing content stored by a plurality of agent devices;

ii) store the content information from the plurality of agent devices in a database; and

iii) provide information to one of a plurality of requesting nodes including the plurality of agent devices based on the content information for the plurality of agent devices.

2. The central node of claim 1 wherein the control system is further adapted to:

obtain locations of the plurality of agent devices from the plurality of agent devices; and

store the locations of the plurality of agent devices in the database in association with the content information for the plurality of agent devices.

3. The central node of claim 1 wherein in order to provide the information to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes, the control system is further adapted to:

receive a request from the one of the plurality of requesting nodes for the content information for one of the plurality of agent devices; and

provide the content information for the one of the plurality of agent devices to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes in response to the request.

4. The central node of claim 1 wherein in order to provide the information to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes, the control system is further adapted to:

receive a query from the one of the plurality of requesting nodes to identify at least one of the plurality of agent devices satisfying specified criteria;

search the database to identify the at least one of the plurality of agent devices satisfying the specified criteria; and

provide information identifying the at least one of the plurality of agent devices to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes.

5. The central node of claim 4 wherein the information identifying the at least one of the plurality of agent devices comprises an identifier and the content information for the at least one of the plurality of agent devices.

6. The central node of claim 4 wherein the information identifying the at least one of the plurality of agent devices comprises an identifier and compatibility information for the at least one of the plurality of agent devices.

7. The central node of claim 4 wherein the specified criteria comprises at least one criterion selected from a group consisting of:

a maximum distance from the at least one of the plurality of requesting nodes, at least one desired value to be in the content information for the at least one of the plurality of agent devices, and at least one user defined rule.

8. The central node of claim 1 wherein in order to provide the information to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes, the control system is further adapted to:

receive instructions from the one of the plurality of requesting nodes to provide an alert to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes when at least one of the plurality of agent devices satisfying specified criteria is available;

periodically search the database to identify the at least one of the plurality of agent devices satisfying the specified criteria; and

provide an alert to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes identifying the at least one of the plurality of agent devices in response to identifying the at least one of the plurality of agent devices.

9. The central node of claim 8 wherein the alert comprises an identifier of the at least one of the plurality of agent devices.

10. The central node of claim 8 wherein the alert comprises the content information for the at least one of the plurality of agent devices.

11. The central node of claim 8 wherein the one of the plurality of requesting nodes is a first one of the plurality of agent devices and the alert comprises compatibility information for each of the at least one of the plurality of agent devices.

12. The central node of claim 11 wherein the control system is further adapted to generate the compatibility information based on comparisons of the content information for the first one of the plurality of agent devices and the content information for the at least one of the plurality of agent devices.

13. The central node of claim 11 wherein the control system is further adapted to generate the compatibility information based on comparisons of user preferences for the first one of the plurality of agent devices and the content information for the at least one of the plurality of agent devices.

14. The central node of claim 8 wherein the specified criteria comprises at least one criterion selected from a group consisting of:

a maximum distance from the at least one of the plurality of requesting nodes, at least one desired value to be in the content information for the at least one of the plurality of agent devices, and at least one user defined rule.

15. The central node of claim 8 wherein the control system is further adapted to provide the alert when the one of the plurality of requesting nodes and the at least one of the plurality of agent devices are within a coverage area of a local area network, wherein communication is established between the one of the plurality of requesting nodes and the at least one of the plurality of agent devices via the local area network.

16. The central node of claim 1 wherein the one of the plurality of requesting nodes is a first one of the plurality of agent devices and in order to provide the information to the first one of the plurality of agent devices, the control system is further adapted to:

receive a request from the first one of the plurality of agent devices to provide compatibility information for a second one of the plurality of agent devices;

obtain the content information for the first and second ones of the plurality of agent devices from the database;

generate the compatibility information based on a comparison of the content information for the first and second ones of the plurality of agent devices; and

provide the compatibility information to the first one of the plurality of agent devices.

17. The central node of claim 1 wherein the one of the plurality of requesting nodes is a first one of the plurality of agent devices and in order to provide the information to the first one of the plurality of agent devices, the control system is further adapted to:

receive a request from the first one of the plurality of agent devices to provide compatibility information for a second one of the plurality of agent devices;

obtain the content information for the second one of the plurality of agent devices from the database;

generate the compatibility information based on a comparison of the content information for the second one of the plurality of agent devices and user preferences for the first one of the plurality of agent devices; and

provide the compatibility information to the first one of the plurality of agent devices.

18. A central node comprising:

receiving content information at a central node from a plurality of agent devices via a network, the content information describing content stored by the plurality of agent devices;

storing the content information from the plurality of agent devices in a database associated with the central node; and

providing information to one of a plurality of requesting nodes including the plurality of agent devices based on the content information from the plurality of agent devices.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein providing the information to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes comprises:

receiving a request from the one of the plurality of requesting nodes for the content information for one of the plurality of agent devices; and

providing the content information for the one of the plurality of agent devices to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes in response to the request.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein providing the information to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes comprises:

receiving a query from the one of the plurality of requesting nodes to identify at least one of the plurality of agent devices satisfying specified criteria;

searching the database to identify the at least one of the plurality of agent devices satisfying the specified criteria; and

providing information identifying the at least one of the plurality of agent devices to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein providing the information to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes comprises:

receiving instructions from the one of the plurality of requesting nodes to provide an alert to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes when at least one of the plurality of agent devices satisfying specified criteria is available;

periodically searching the database to identify the at least one of the plurality of agent devices satisfying the specified criteria; and

providing an alert to the one of the plurality of requesting nodes identifying the at least one of the plurality of agent devices in response to identifying the at least one of the plurality of agent devices.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the one of the plurality of requesting nodes is a first one of the plurality of agent devices and providing the information to the first one of the plurality of agent devices comprises:

receiving a request from the first one of the plurality of agent devices to provide compatibility information for a second one of the plurality of agent devices;

obtaining the content information for the first and second ones of the plurality of agent devices from the database;

generating the compatibility information based on a comparison of the content information for the first and second ones of the plurality of agent devices; and

providing the compatibility information to the first one of the plurality of agent devices.