METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REALIZING FUNCTION BY CAUSING ELEMENTS OF HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE TO PERFORM LINKAGE OPERATION

• US 20170070933A1
• Filed: 05/08/2015
• Published: 03/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: HAGIWARA, Takehiro, MASUDA, Hiroyuki, KONDO, Genta, TAKIZAWA, Hiromu
• Granted Patent: US 10,021,612 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• 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 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A system that stores functional information indicating a capability of each of a plurality of elements located remotely from the system; identifies a function capable of being performed by linking a plurality of the elements based on the stored functional information; and transmits information corresponding to the identified function capable of being performed by linking the plurality of elements to a first device remote from the system.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

circuitry configured to

store functional information indicating a capability of each of a plurality of elements located remotely from the system;

identify a function capable of being performed by linking a plurality of the elements based on the stored functional information; and

transmit information corresponding to the identified function capable of being performed by linking the plurality of elements to a first device remote from the system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

generate a program corresponding to the identified function capable of being performed by linking the plurality of the elements; and

transmit the program to the first device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

receive information corresponding to a desired function to be performed by linking a subset of the plurality of the elements;

generate information indicating the subset of the plurality of elements necessary to perform the desired function; and

transmit the generated information to the first device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

receive information identifying a function capable of being performed by linking a subset of the plurality of elements from the first device; and

transmit information identifying the function capable of being performed linking the subset of the plurality of elements to a second device remote from the system.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

generate a program to be executed to perform the function capable of being performed by linking the subset of the plurality of elements; and

transmit the program to be executed to the second device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

receive, from the first device, information corresponding to a desired function to be performed and a subset of the plurality of elements associated with the first device;

identify at least a first element not associated with the first device necessary to perform the desired function;

retrieve a cost associated with acquiring the at least first element; and

transmit the cost associated with acquiring the at least first element to the first device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein

the circuitry is configured to retrieve the cost associated with acquiring the at least first element from a second device remote from the system.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

receive, from the first device, information corresponding to a desired function to be performed by linking a subset of the plurality of elements associated with the first device;

share information corresponding to the desired function with a second device remote from the system; and

receive, from the second device, information indicating a linkage between the subset of the plurality of elements to perform the desired function.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

receive, from the first device, information corresponding to a desired function to be performed;

share information corresponding to the desired function with a second device remote from the system; and

receive, from the second device, information identifying a subset of the plurality of elements to perform the desired function and a linkage between the subset of the plurality of elements.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

identify that at least one of the subset of the plurality of elements is purchased based on the information received from the second device;

identify a cost associated with the at least one of the subset of the plurality of elements; and

reimburse a user associated with the second device with at least a portion of the cost associated with the at least one of the subset of the plurality of elements.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

receive, from a second device remote from the system, information identifying a function capable of being performed by linking a subset of the plurality of elements;

identify that the first device purchased at least a one of the subset of the plurality of elements based on the information identifying the first function received from the second device; and

reimburse a user associated with the second device with at least a portion of the cost associated with the at least one of the subset of the plurality of elements.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein

the circuitry is configured to receive, from a second device remote from the system, a plurality of functions capable of being performed by linking respective subsets of the plurality of elements.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein

the circuitry is configured to transmit, to the first device, the plurality of functions capable of being performed by linking respective subsets of the plurality of elements.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

store an application configured to link the subset of the plurality of elements to perform the function; and

transmit the application to the first device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein

the application includes a user interface configured to be displayed by the first device and accept a user input to configure the linking between the plurality of elements.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein

the system is a server.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein

the system is a plurality of servers.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein

the plurality of elements are each software elements configured to be communicatively coupled to the first device.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein

the plurality of elements are each hardware elements configured to be communicatively coupled to the first device.

20. A method performed by an information processing system, the method comprising:

identifying a function capable of being performed by linking a plurality of elements located remotely from the information processing system based on stored functional information indicating a capability of each of the plurality of elements; and

transmitting information corresponding to the identified function capable of being performed by linking the plurality of elements to a first device remote from the information processing system.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer program instructions, which when executed by an information processing system, cause the information processing system to:

identify a function capable of being performed by linking a plurality of elements located remotely from the system based on stored functional information indicating a capability of each of the plurality of elements; and

transmit information corresponding to the identified function capable of being performed by linking the plurality of elements to a first device remote from the system.