Method and system for managing control of groups of networked heterogenous devices in a network
First Claim
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1. A system for managing a plurality of networked, heterogeneous devices, the system comprising:
- an application configured to communicate with a user, wherein the application is further configured to control heterogeneous devices;
a session manager configured to manage the heterogeneous devices as a group wherein the application utilizes the session manager and event notifications from the session manager to achieve at least one operation;
wherein the session manager maintains a dynamic session by forming a group of the heterogeneous devices and retaining the attributes of the group of the heterogeneous devices, wherein the session manager manages the group of the heterogeneous devices as a single logical device that transitions from one state to another state based on state interaction of the managed heterogeneous devices necessary to control the managed heterogeneous devices, wherein the session manager provides high level state information for the logical device by sending session state event notifications to the applicationwhen the state of the logical device changes, the session state event notifications providing the high level state information representing state transitions of the logical device.
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Abstract
A system and method for managing a group of networked, heterogeneous devices, wherein the group of devices are regarded as a logically single “device”. This method separates the state management aspect from control aspect, such that applications using this method need not manage the devices and data directly, and as a result can interact with a simplified, single ‘device’, or focus on controlling the simplified, single ‘device.
28 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A system for managing a plurality of networked, heterogeneous devices, the system comprising:
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an application configured to communicate with a user, wherein the application is further configured to control heterogeneous devices; a session manager configured to manage the heterogeneous devices as a group wherein the application utilizes the session manager and event notifications from the session manager to achieve at least one operation; wherein the session manager maintains a dynamic session by forming a group of the heterogeneous devices and retaining the attributes of the group of the heterogeneous devices, wherein the session manager manages the group of the heterogeneous devices as a single logical device that transitions from one state to another state based on state interaction of the managed heterogeneous devices necessary to control the managed heterogeneous devices, wherein the session manager provides high level state information for the logical device by sending session state event notifications to the application when the state of the logical device changes, the session state event notifications providing the high level state information representing state transitions of the logical device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for managing a plurality of networked, heterogeneous devices, comprising:
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in a controller device; managing heterogeneous devices as a group in a session management process; controlling the heterogeneous devices as a group in an application process; wherein the application process communicates with a user, wherein the session management process maintains a dynamic session by forming a group of heterogeneous devices and retaining the attributes of the group of the heterogeneous devices, wherein the session management process manages control of the group of heterogeneous devices as a single device that transitions from one state to another state based on state interaction of the managed heterogeneous devices necessary to control the managed heterogeneous devices, and sends session state event notifications to the application process when the state of the logical device changes, and the session state event notifications providing a high level state information representing state transitions of the logical device. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A system for managing a plurality of networked, heterogeneous devices, the system comprising:
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a session manager configured to manage the heterogeneous devices as a group; and an application configured to control the heterogeneous devices utilizing the session manager and event notifications from the session manager, wherein the application is configured to communicate with a user; wherein the session manager maintains a dynamic session by forming a group of heterogeneous devices and retaining the attributes of the group of the heterogeneous devices, wherein the session management process manages the group of heterogeneous devices as a single logical device that transitions from one state to another state based on interactive states of the managed heterogeneous devices in the group of heterogeneous devices, and the session manager provides high level state information for the logical device by sending session state event notifications to the application when the state of the logical device changes, the session state event notifications providing high level state information representing said logical device transitions, and the session manager further communicates with a first device and a second device in the group of heterogeneous devices to set the state of each device, the application further initiates transfer of information between the first and second devices based on the device states set by the session manager, wherein based on a user request the application sends a change message to the session manager, such that the session manager changes the transfer of information between the first and second devices. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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Specification