PROGRAM AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD AND APPARATUS

• US 20080183875A1
• Filed: 03/28/2008
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: NOMURA, Takashi, Sakata, Haruhiko, Yamashita, Kei, Tominaga, Hiroyuki, Takahashi, Masayuki
• Granted Patent: US 8,281,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

The present invention relates to an information processing method and apparatus with which a connection can be formed reliably between apparatuses having different capabilities. An application #1, using a presence function, announces a profiled space ID representing processing for a service that can be provided. An application #n receives the announcement. The application #n requests the application #1 for detailed information of the service and registration to the service. The application #n connects to the application #1 by peer to peer, based on a URI needed for peer-to-peer access, transmitted from the application #1. The present invention can be applied to personal computers, network-enabled CE devices, and commercial application servers on the Internet.

Claims

1. An information processing method for a direct connection comprising:

sending an instruction for the direct connection, from a first information processing apparatus to a server;

sending information of the direct connection, from the server to a second information processing apparatus; and

enabling the direct connection between the second information processing apparatus and the first information processing apparatus based on the information of the direct connection,

wherein the server comprehends the second information processing apparatus as a client for the direct connection before sending the instruction for the direct connection from the first information processing apparatus to the server.

2. An information processing apparatus for connecting directly to another information processing apparatus comprising:

a receiving portion configured to receive information of a direct connection from a server based on an instruction for the direct connection sent from another information processing apparatus to the server; and

a connecting portion configured to connect directly to another information processing apparatus using the information of the direct connection received by the receiving portion,

wherein the information processing apparatus is comprehended as a client for the direct connection by the server before the instruction for the direct connection sent from another information processing apparatus to the server.

3. An information processing apparatus for connecting directly to another information processing apparatus comprising:

a sending portion configured to send to a server an instruction for the direct connection; and

a connecting portion configured to connect directly to another information processing apparatus based on information of the direct connection sent from the server to another information processing apparatus according to the instruction for the direct connection,

wherein the information processing apparatus is comprehended as a client for the direct connection by the server before the instruction for the direct connection sent from the sending portion to the server.