Resource control

• US 7,685,297 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2005
• Issued: 03/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Hietala, Marko J., Ojanaho, Janne J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Philip B
• Application Number:
  US11/296,648
• Publication Number:
  US 20070130336A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,568 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-225, 709/229, 709217-219
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2105 Dual mode as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/468 Specific access rights for resources, e.g. using capability register

Abstract

In a method for controlling an access to at least one resource by a plurality of clients, at least one set of rules is selected from a plurality of available sets of rules upon occurrence of an event relating to an access to the at least one resource by at least one of the clients. The selection depends at least on one of the type of the event, a state of at least one of the clients and a system state. The selected at least one set of rules is applied, resulting in a decision. The access to the at least one resource is then controlled according to this decision.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

selecting at least one set of rules from a plurality of available sets of rules upon occurrence of an event relating to an access to at least one resource by at least one of a plurality of clients, each client of said plurality of clients being configured to manage another feature of a single device, said selection depending at least on one of a type of said event, a state of at least one of said clients and a system state;

applying said selected at least one set of rules, resulting in a decision; and

controlling an access to said at least one resource according to said decision,

wherein said event is a received request from one of said clients relating to said access to at least one resource and said decision is a decision as to what extent said request is granted; and

wherein said plurality of available set of rules comprises at least a mixing rulebase comprising

a list of predefined ongoing activities,

a list of predefined incoming requests,

and a combination of each predefined ongoing activity with each predefined incoming request,

wherein each combination comprises at least one rule indicating how the incoming request is handled and at least one rule indicating the implications of the incoming request on the ongoing activity.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a priority value is associated to each client and wherein received requests from different clients are processed in an order of associated priority values.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein applying said at least one set of rules is interrupted by a further received request from a client having a higher priority.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining a category to which said client belongs, and selecting at least one set of rules from a plurality of available sets of rules depending in addition on said category of said client, or applying said selected at least one set of rules to said request taking account of said category of said client, or both.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

storing an original request corresponding to the received request, combined with preceding requests from said client, if any;

storing a work request which is initiated with said original request and modified while applying said at least one set of rules; and

storing an active request corresponding to a final work request.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said set of rules comprises rules which potentially affect an access to a resource by another client and wherein said effect on an access to a resource by another client is reversed in case a resource access resulting from said request is stopped by a new request.

7. An apparatus comprising:

a plurality of sets of rules;

a rule selection component configured to select at least one set of rules from said plurality of sets of rules upon occurrence of an event relating to an access to at least one resource by at least one of a plurality of clients, each client of said plurality of clients being configured to manage another feature of a single device, said selection depending at least on one of a type of said event, a state of at least one of said clients and a system state; and

a controller configured to cause an application of each set of rules selected by said rule selection component, said application resulting in a decision, and configured to cause a control of said access to said at least one resource according to said decision,

wherein said event is a received request from one of said clients via a client interface and relating to said access to at least one resource and said decision is a decision as to what extent said request is granted; and

wherein said plurality of sets of rules comprises at least a mixing rulebase comprising

a list of predefined ongoing activities,

a list of predefined incoming requests,

and a combination of each predefined ongoing activity with each predefined incoming request,

wherein each combination comprises at least one rule indicating how the incoming request is handled and at least one rule indicating the implications of the incoming request on the ongoing activity.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a request queue configured to cause a processing of requests by clients received via said client interface in an order of priority assigned to said clients.

9. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a client manager configured to manage an exchange of information with said plurality of clients.

10. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a component configured to determine a category to which said client belongs, wherein said rule selection component is configured to select at least one set of rules from a plurality of available sets of rules depending in addition on said category of said client, or wherein said controller is configured to cause said application of said selected at least one set of rules to said request taking account of said category of said client, or both.

11. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising said plurality of clients and said at least one resource.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, comprising for each of said clients

an original request container arranged for storing an original request corresponding to a combination of all current requests from said client;

a work request container arranged for storing a work request which is initiated with said original request and modified while applying said at least one set of rules; and

an active request container arranged for storing an active request corresponding to a final work request.

13. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said controller is configured to cause an application of said selected set of rules comprising taking a separate decision on how said received request should be handled based on each rule in said selected set of rules, and selecting a decision having a greatest context specific impact among said decisions resulting with all rules.

14. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein at least one of said set of rules comprises rules which potentially affect an access to a resource by another client.

15. The apparatus according claim 7, further comprising a client interface configured to inform said client of said decision, wherein said decision comprises one of accepting said request, accepting said request with a modification, accepting said request with a modification of another client, and rejecting said request.

16. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a component configured to restore a state of each of said clients that existed before applying said selected at least one set of rules, in case applying said selected at least one set of rules is aborted before being completed.

17. A chipset having at least one chip, said at least one chip comprising:

a plurality of sets of rules stored in said chipset;

a rule selection component configured to select at least one set of rules from said plurality of sets of rules upon occurrence of an event relating to an access to said at least one resource by at least one of a plurality of clients, each client of said plurality of clients being configured to manage another feature of a single device, said selection depending at least on one of a type of said event, a state of at least one of said clients and a system state; and

a controller configured to cause an application of each set of rules selected by said rule selection component, said application resulting in a decision, and configured to cause a control of said access to said at least one resource according to said decision,

wherein said event is a received request from one of said clients via a client interface and relating to said access to at least one resource and said decision is a decision as to what extent said request is granted; and

wherein said plurality of sets of rules comprises at least a mixing rulebase comprising

a list of predefined ongoing activities,

a list of predefined incoming requests,

and a combination of each predefined ongoing activity with each predefined incoming request,

wherein each combination comprises at least one rule indicating how the incoming request is handled and at least one rule indicating the implications of the incoming request on the ongoing activity.

18. An apparatus comprising:

means for selecting at least one set of rules from a plurality of sets of rules upon occurrence of an event relating to an access to at least one resource by at least one of a plurality of clients, each client of said plurality of clients being configured to manage another feature of a single device, depending at least on one of a type of said event, a state of at least one of said clients and a system state;

means for causing an application of each selected set of rules, said application resulting in a decision; and

means for causing a control of an access to said at least one resource according to said decision,

wherein said event is a received request from one of said clients via means for receiving a request and relating to said access to at least one resource and said decision is a decision as to what extent said request is granted; and

wherein said plurality of sets of rules comprises at least a mixing rulebase comprising

a list of predefined ongoing activities,

a list of predefined incoming requests,

and a combination of each predefined ongoing activity with each predefined incoming request,

wherein each combination comprises at least one rule indicating how the incoming request is handled and at least one rule indicating the implications of the incoming request on the ongoing activity.

19. A software program product in which a software code is stored in a computer-readable storage medium, said software code when being executed by a processing unit of an electronic device for realizing the following:

selecting at least one set of rules from a plurality of available sets of rules upon occurrence of an event relating to an access to at least one resource by at least one of a plurality of clients, each client of said plurality of clients being configured to manage another feature of a single device, said selection depending at least on one of a type of said event, a state of at least one of said clients and a system state;

applying said selected at least one set of rules, resulting in a decision; and

controlling an access to said at least one resource according to said decision;

wherein said event is a received request from one of said clients relating to said access to at least one resource and said decision is a decision as to what extent said request is granted; and

wherein said plurality of available sets of rules comprises at least a mixing rulebase comprising

a list of predefined ongoing activities,

a list of predefined incoming requests,

and a combination of each predefined ongoing activity with each predefined incoming request,

wherein each combination comprises at least one rule indicating how the incoming request is handled and at least one rule indicating the implications of the incoming request on the ongoing activity.