Method and apparatus for proximity discovery of services

• US 7,412,518 B1
• Filed: 09/07/2000
• Issued: 08/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Slaughter, Gregory L., Abdelaziz, Mohamed M., Saulpaugh, Thomas E., Traversat, Bernard A., Duigou, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Blair; Douglas B
• Application Number:
  US09/656,588
• Time in Patent Office: 2,896 Days
• Field of Search: 709/218, 709/227, 709/228, 709/238, 709/217, 715/513, 713/156, 726/4, 726/5
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A service discovery protocol may allow clients to discover services on a proximity basis. A service device that provides one or more computing services may support a proximity communication link. A client device may form a proximity communication link with the service device. The client device may directly request from the service device a document that describes an interface to access a service provided by the service device. The service device may provide the document directly to the client device over proximity communication link. The document may include a service advertisement for the service, and the service advertisement may include a schema specifying an interface to at least a portion the service. The client device may use the information from the document to access the service. The client device may support a transport connection in addition to the proximity communication link, and the client device may make the document available to other devices over the transport connection. Thus, the client device may provide a bridge from the transport connection to the proximity communication link so that other devices from a distributed computing environment may access the service.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a proximity service, comprising:

a client device forming a direct point-to-point communication link with a service device;

the client device directly requesting to the service device a document that describes an interface to access a service provided by the service device;

the client device receiving said document directly from the service device, wherein said document comprises information describing how to access the service;

wherein said requesting and said receiving are performed over said direct point-to-point communication link; and

the client device using the information from said document to access the service, wherein said using the information from said document to access the service comprises a client on the client device requesting a security credential from an authentication service specified in said document.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said requesting comprises the client sending an advertisement request message for the service to the service device over the direct point-to-point communication link, wherein the advertisement request message is in a data representation language.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the data representation language is eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said document comprises a service advertisement for the service, wherein said service advertisement comprises a schema specifying an interface to at least a portion the service.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein said schema is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema defining XML messages for a client on the client device to send to the service and the service to send to the client in order for the client to access capabilities of the service.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the client device using the information from said document comprises the client sending one or more of said XML messages to the service over said direct point-to-point communication link.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said receiving comprises receiving said document in an advertisement request response message sent from the service over said direct point-to-point communication link, wherein the advertisement request response message is in a data representation language.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the data representation language is eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the client device is in physical proximity of the service device.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said direct point-to-point communication link is an IrDA infrared link.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the client device is in wireless proximity of the service device.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said requesting comprises including a client security credential in a request to said service device for said document, and wherein said service device authenticates said client security credential before sending said document to the client device.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said client device using the information from said document to access the service further comprises:

the client receiving said security credential; and

the client including said security credential with a subsequent request to the service to access a capability of the service.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising the service verifying the client'"'"'s security credential before allowing access to the capability.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein said authentication service is provided by the service device.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the client device supports a transport connection in addition to said direct point-to-point communication link, wherein said client device using the information from said document to access the service comprises the client device making said document available to other devices over said transport connection, wherein the client device provides a bridge from said transport connection to said direct point-to-point communication link so that the other devices may access the service.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein said transport connection comprises a network connection.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein said network connection comprises an Internet connection.

19. A system, comprising:

a service device configured to support a direct point-to-point communication link and provide a service;

a client device configured to form said direct point-to-point communication link with the service device;

wherein the client device is further configured to directly request from the service device a document that describes an interface to access the service;

wherein the service device is further configured to provide said document directly to the client device over said direct point-to-point communication link;

wherein the client device is further configured to use the information from said document to access the service, and

wherein the client device is further configured to support a transport connection in addition to said direct point-to-point communication link, wherein said client device is further configured to make said document available to other devices over said transport connection and provide a bridge from said transport connection to said direct point-to-point communication link so that the other devices may access the service.

20. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein the client device is configured to request said document by sending an advertisement request message for the service to the service device over the direct point-to-point communication link, wherein the advertisement request message is in a data representation language.

21. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the data representation language is eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

22. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein said document comprises a service advertisement for the service, wherein said service advertisement comprises a schema specifying an interface to at least a portion the service.

23. The system as recited in claim 22, wherein said schema is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema defining XML messages for a client on the client device to send to the service and the service to send to the client in order for the client to access capabilities of the service.

24. The system as recited in claim 23, wherein the client device is configured to use the information from said document to send one or more of said XML messages to the service over said direct point-to-point communication link.

25. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein the client device is configured to receive said document in an advertisement request response message sent from the service over said direct point-to-point communication link, wherein the advertisement request response message is in a data representation language.

26. The system as recited in claim 25, wherein the data representation language is eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

27. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein the client device is in physical proximity of the service device.

28. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein said direct point-to-point communication link is an IrDA infrared link.

29. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein the client device is in wireless proximity of the service device.

30. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein the client device is configured to include a client security credential in a request to said service device for said document, and wherein said service device is configured to authenticate said client security credential before sending said document to the client device.

31. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein said client device is configured to:

request a security credential from an authentication service specified in said document;

receive said security credential; and

include said security credential with a subsequent request to the service to access a capability of the service.

32. The system as recited in claim 31, wherein the service is configured to verify the client'"'"'s security credential before allowing access to the capability.

33. The system as recited in claim 32, wherein said authentication service is provided by the service device.

34. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein said transport connection comprises a network connection.

35. The system as recited in claim 34, wherein said network connection comprises an Internet connection.

36. A client device, comprising:

a port configured to form a direct point-to-point communication link with a service device;

an interface configured to directly request over the point-to-point communication link a document that describes an interface to access a service;

wherein the interface is further configured to receive said document directly from the service over the point-to-point communication link; and

wherein the interface is further configured to use the information from said document to access the service, wherein said using the information from said document to access the service comprises a client on the client device requesting a security credential from an authentication service specified in said document.

37. A service device, comprising:

a port configured to form a direct point-to-point communication link with a client device;

an interface configured to receive over the point-to-point communication link a request from a client for a document that describes an interface to access the service, wherein the interface is further configured to provide said document directly to the client over the point-to-point communication link;

an authentication service configured to receive a request from the client for a security credential; and

a service unit configured to be accessed by the client according to information specified in said document.

38. A tangible, computer accessible storage medium, comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable on a client device to implement:

forming a direct point-to-point communication link with a service device;

directly requesting to the service device a document that describes an interface to access a service provided by the service device;

receiving said document directly from the service device, wherein said document comprises information describing how to access the service;

wherein said requesting and said receiving are performed over said direct point-to-point communication link;

using the information from said document to access the service, and

wherein the client device is further configured to support a transport connection in addition to said direct point-to-point communication link, wherein said client device is further configured to make said document available to other devices over said transport connection and provide a bridge from said transport connection to said direct point-to-point communication link so that the other devices may access the service.

39. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 38, wherein said requesting comprises the client sending an advertisement request message for the service to the service device over the direct point-to-point communication link, wherein the advertisement request message is in a data representation language.

40. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 39, wherein the data representation language is eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

41. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 38, wherein said document comprises a service advertisement for the service, wherein said service advertisement comprises a schema specifying an interface to at least a portion the service.

42. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 41, wherein said schema is an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schema defining XML messages for a client on the client device to send to the service and the service to send to the client in order for the client to access capabilities of the service.

43. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 42, wherein said using the information from said document comprises the client sending one or more of said XML messages to the service over said direct point-to-point communication link.

44. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 38, wherein said receiving comprises receiving said document in an advertisement request response message sent from the service over said direct point-to-point communication link, wherein the advertisement request response message is in a data representation language.

45. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 44, wherein the data representation language is eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

46. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 38, wherein the client device is in physical proximity of the service device.

47. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 38, wherein said direct point-to-point communication link is an IrDA infrared link.

48. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 38, wherein the client device is in wireless proximity of the service device.

49. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 38, wherein said requesting comprises including a client security credential in a request to said service device for said document, and wherein said service device authenticates said client security credential before sending said document to the client device.

50. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 38, wherein said using the information from said document to access the service comprises:

a client on the client device requesting a security credential from an authentication service specified in said document;

the client receiving said security credential; and

the client including said security credential with a subsequent request to the service to access a capability of the service.

51. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 38, wherein said transport connection comprises a network connection.

52. The tangible, computer accessible storage medium as recited in claim 51, wherein said network connection comprises an Internet connection.