Inter-device cooperative control method

• US 6,983,306 B1
• Filed: 08/29/2000
• Issued: 01/03/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Industry & Control Solutions, Ltd. (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Sano, Koichi, Kawano, Katsumi, Funabashi, Motohisa, Kataoka, Masanori, Sameshima, Shigetoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain
• Assistant Examiner(s): LAZARO, DAVID R
• Application Number:
  US09/650,138
• Time in Patent Office: 1,953 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205, 709/201, 709/106, 709/202, 718/106
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50

Abstract

The present invention relates to a distributed system in which processors incorporated in machines and objects are mutually linked in operation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a distributed system in which each device can establish a link with a suitable device according to changes in the environment and conditions, independently from the system configuration controlled by a server.

In order to achieve the above object, each device provided by the present invention obtains information on surrounding devices through a sensor 131 or communication processing 112, recognizes the environment around it through environment recognition processing 111, and stores the environmental information in an environment management table 123. By employing link control processing 113, each device shares conditional information stored in a profile 122 and a policy 124 of each device through the communication processing 112. Each device locally and continuously determines a device to be linked with it or whether to perform a link operation requested by another device, using the shared conditional information, information on the surrounding environment, and the policy 124. The results of a link operation are made public and shared by each device through the link control processing 113, and used for narrowing the range of link target devices.

Claims

1. An inter-device cooperative control method wherein each of a plurality of devices having a communication function communicates with another device, said inter-device cooperative control method comprising the steps of:

providing each of said plurality of devices with functional information including at least one of information on a function possessed by a device and information on a function to be performed on the device, environmental information on the environment in which the device is located, status information which indicates the progress of at least one of a process performed by the device and a process performed on the device, and contribution rate information which indicates an amount of contribution a process either performed by or performed on the device adds to attaining a predetermined purpose;

extracting plural devices from said plurality of devices, each device of said plural devices performing a process to determine whether said device is to be linked to others of said plural devices based on said contribution rate information, when said device receives purpose data;

obtaining information on a process to be performed by said plurality of devices or information on a process to be performed on the extracted plural devices, this information obtaining step being performed by the extracted plural devices; and

determining a process to be performed by the extracted plural devices or a process to be performed on the extracted plural devices based on said obtained information and said functional information, said environmental information, and said status information, this process determining step being performed by the extracted plural devices;

wherein at least one of the extracted plural devices is movable;

wherein said environmental information includes position information indicating a position of a device; and

wherein when said position information is changed based on movement of the at least one movable device, said at least one movable device broadcasts the changed position information to the other devices.

2. The inter-device cooperative control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of pieces of information are obtained by said arbitrary device and said plurality of pieces of information include functional information, environmental information, and status information on said plurality of devices.

3. The inter-device cooperative control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein information obtained by said arbitrary device is a request for a process to be performed by said plurality of devices or a process to be performed on said plurality of devices.

4. The inter-device cooperative control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said position information includes at least one of an absolute position of the device, a relative position of the device to another device, and a distance obtained based on a route which can be used by the device.

5. The inter-device cooperative control method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of devices operate to perform a predetermined process, said predetermined process including information of changing of conditions of said predetermined process.

6. An inter-device cooperative control system composed of a plurality of devices having a communication function, each of said plurality of devices communicating with another device, said inter-device cooperative control system comprising:

storage means for storing functional information including at least one of information on a function possessed by a device and information on a function to be performed on the device, environmental information on the environment in which the device is located, status information which indicates the progress of at least one of a process performed by the device and a process performed on the device and contribution rate information which indicates an amount of contribution a process either performed by or performed on the device adds to attaining a predetermined purpose, said storage means being owned by each of said plurality of devices;

means for extracting plural devices from said plurality of devices each device of said plural devices performing a process to determine whether said device is to be linked to others of said plural devices based on said contribution rate information, when said device receives purpose data, and obtaining information on a process to be performed by said plurality of devices or information on a process to be performed on the extracted plural devices, said obtaining of information being performed by the extracted plural devices; and

means for determining a process to be performed by the extracted plural devices or a process to be performed on the extracted plural devices based on information obtained by said arbitrary device and functional information, environmental information, and status information each possessed by the extracted plural devices;

wherein at least one of the extracted plural devices is movable;

wherein said environmental information includes position information indicating a position of a device; and

wherein when said position information is changed based on movement of the at least one movable device, said at least one movable device broadcasts the changed position information to the other devices.

7. The inter-device cooperative control system as claimed in claim 6, wherein a plurality of pieces of information are obtained by said arbitrary device and said plurality of pieces of information include functional information, environmental information, and status information on said plurality of devices.

8. The inter-device cooperative control system as claimed in claim 6, wherein information obtained by said arbitrary device is a request for a process to be performed by said plurality of devices or a process to be performed on said plurality of devices.

9. The inter-device cooperative control system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said position information includes at least one of an absolute position of the device, a relative position of the device to another device, and a distance obtained based on a route which can be used by the device.

10. The inter-device cooperative control system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said plurality of devices operate to perform a predetermined process, said predetermined process including information of changing conditions of said predetermined process.

11. A device employed in an inter-device cooperative control system in which a plurality of devices communicate with one another, said device comprising:

storage means for storing functional information including at least one of information on a function possessed by the device and information on a function to be performed on the device, environmental information on the environment in which the device is located, status information which indicates the progress of at least one of a process performed by the device and a process performed on the device, and contribution rate information which indicates an amount of contribution a process either performed by or performed on the device adds to attaining a predetermined purpose;

means for extracting plural devices from said plurality of devices, each device of said plural devices performing a process to determine whether said device is to be linked to others of said plural devices based on said contribution rate information, when said device receives purpose data, and obtaining information on a process to be performed by the extracted plural devices or information on a process to be performed on the extracted plural devices; and

means for determining a process to be performed by the extracted plural devices or a process to be performed on the extracted plural devices based on information obtained by other devices and functional information, environmental information, and status information each possessed by the device;

wherein at least one of the extracted plural devices is movable;

wherein said environmental information includes position information indicating a position of a device; and

wherein when said position information is changed based on movement of the at least one movable device, said at least one movable device broadcasts the changed position information to the other devices.

12. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein pieces of information are obtained by the device and said plurality of pieces of information include functional information, environmental information, and status information on said plurality of devices.

13. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein information obtained by said other devices is a request for a process to be performed by said plurality of devices or a process to be performed on said plurality of devices.

14. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein said position information includes at least one of an absolute position of the device, a relative position of the device to another device, and a distance obtained based on a route which can be used by the device.

15. The device as claimed in claim 11, wherein said plurality of devices operate to perform a predetermined process, said predetermined process including information of changing of conditions of said predetermined process.