Method and system for searching for object in network

• US 8,923,828 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2012
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Hong, Jung-kih, Choi, Min-suk, Kang, Seong-hoon, Choi, Yoon-suk
• Primary Examiner(s): MITCHELL, NATHAN A
• Application Number:
  US13/595,537
• Publication Number:
  US 20130072170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 855 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 455/41.2, 455/414.1, 455/456.3, 709/227, 709/228
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A method of searching for an object in a network, performed by a first device is provided. The method includes communicating with at least one device in a network regarding whether an object corresponding to an object included in the first device is installed in the at least one device; receiving terminal information from devices in which the corresponding object is installed from among the at least one device; and creating a list of devices in which the corresponding object is installed, and displaying the list of devices on a screen, wherein the list of devices includes the received terminal information.

Claims

1. A method of searching for an object in a network, performed by a first device, the method comprising:

determining a communication method for communicating with at least one device in a network;

communicating with the at least one device regarding whether an object corresponding to an object included in the first device is installed in the at least one device, based on the communication method;

receiving terminal information from devices in which the corresponding object is installed from among the at least one device; and

creating a list of devices in which the corresponding object is installed, and displaying the list of devices on a screen,

wherein the list of devices includes the received terminal information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving location information from the devices in which the corresponding object is installed, and

wherein the list of devices includes the received terminal information and the received location information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication method comprises at least one of broadcasting, unicasting, and multicasting.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the communication method is based on whether the first device and the at least one device are in a same network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication method is determined based on whether the at least one device is defined.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device communicates with the at least one device regarding whether an object corresponding to the object included in the first device is installed in the at least one device,

wherein the first device and the at least one device are in a same network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device communicates with the at least one device regarding whether an object corresponding to the object included in the first device is installed in the device,

wherein the first device and the at least one device are not in a same network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is an application that is operated in at least one of the first device and the at least one device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating, by the first device with the at least one device regarding whether the corresponding object is activated; and

updating the list of devices, based on whether the corresponding object is activated.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first device communicates with the at least one device regarding whether the corresponding object is activated, in a predetermined cycle.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a user input based on the list of devices displayed on the screen; and

providing a service to at least one of the devices in which the corresponding object is installed, based on the received user input.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the service comprises at least one of an information search service, a file transmission service, a content streaming service, a content printing service, a file sharing service, and a remote control service.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein during the providing of the service to at least one device in which the corresponding object is installed, the first device communicates with the at least one device in which the corresponding object is installed regarding whether the corresponding object is activated in the devices.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the predetermined cycle is set based on types of the network and the service.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding object is the same as or is compatible with the object in the first device.

16. A method of searching for an object in a network, performed by a first device, the method comprising:

determining a communication method for searching for a device;

communicating with at least one device in a network regarding whether an object corresponding to an object included in the first device is installed in the device, based on the communication method; and

displaying a list of devices in which the corresponding object is installed on a screen, based on a response to the communication,

wherein the communication method is determined, based on whether the first device and the at least one device are in a same network.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the communication method is determined based on whether the at least one device is defined.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the communication method comprises at least one of broadcasting, unicasting, and multicasting.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the object is an application that is operated on at least one of the first device and the at least one device.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the list of devices comprises terminal information and location information.

21. A method of searching for an object in a network, the method comprising:

receiving a communication, regarding whether an object corresponding to an object that is being performed in a first device is installed, from the first device according to a communication method predetermined to search for the corresponding object; and

providing terminal information to the first device, in response to the communication,

wherein a list of devices created based on the terminal information is displayed on a screen of the first device.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

providing the first device with location information, in response to the communication,

wherein a list of devices created based on the location information is displayed on the screen of the first device.

23. The method of claim 21,

wherein the communication method is determined, based on whether the first device and the at least one device are in a same network.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the communication method comprises at least one of broadcasting, unicasting, and multicasting.

25. A first device for searching for an object in a network, the first device comprising:

an object search unit for determining a communication method for communicating with at least one device in a network, communicating with the at least one device regarding whether an object corresponding to an object included in the first device is installed in the at least one device, based on the communication method, and receiving terminal information from devices in which the corresponding object is installed, from among the at least one device; and

a search result display unit for creating a list of the devices in which the corresponding object is installed, based on the terminal information, and displaying the list of devices on a screen.

26. The first device of claim 25, wherein the object search unit receives location information from the devices in which the corresponding object is installed, and

the search result display unit creates a list of devices in which the corresponding object is installed, based on the terminal information and location information, and displays the list of devices on the screen.

27. The first device of claim 25, wherein the object search unit communicates with at least one device, regarding whether the corresponding object is installed in the at least one device,

wherein the first device and the at least one device are not in a same network.

28. The first device of claim 25, wherein the communication method comprises at least one of broadcasting, unicasting, and multicasting.

29. The first device of claim 25, wherein the object search unit determines the communication method, based on whether the first device and the at least one device are in a same network.

30. The first device of claim 25, wherein the object search unit determines the communication method, based on whether the at least one device is defined.

31. The first device of claim 25, further comprising:

an object search update unit for communicating with the devices in which the corresponding object is installed regarding whether the corresponding object is activated, and updating the list of the devices, based on whether the corresponding object is activated.

32. The first device of claim 31, wherein the object search update unit communicates with the devices regarding whether the corresponding object is activated, in a predetermined cycle.

33. The first device of claim 31, further comprising:

a service-providing unit for providing a service to at least one device from among the list of the devices, according to a user input based on the list of the devices displayed on the screen.

34. The first device of claim 33, wherein the service comprises at least one of an information search service, a file transmission service, a content streaming service, a content printing service, a file sharing service, and a remote control service.

35. The first device of claim 33, wherein, while providing the service to the at least one device from among the list of the devices, the service-providing unit communicates with the at least one device from among the list of the devices regarding whether the corresponding object is activated in the at least one device.

36. The first device of claim 25, wherein the corresponding object is the same as or compatible with the object in the first device.

37. A first device for searching for an object in a network, the first device comprising:

an object search unit for determining a communication method for searching for an object, and communicating with at least one device in a network regarding whether an object corresponding to an object included in the first device is being performed in the at least one device, based on the communication method; and

a search result display unit for displaying a list of devices in which the corresponding object is being performed on a screen, based on a response to the communication,

wherein the communication method is determined based on whether the first device and the at least one device are in a same network.

38. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for executing a method of searching for an object in a network, performed by a first device, the method comprising:

determining a communication method for communicating with at least one device in a network;

communicating with the at least one device regarding whether an object corresponding to an object included in the first device is installed in the at least one device based on the communication method;

receiving terminal information from devices in which the corresponding object is installed from among the at least one device; and

creating a list of devices in which the corresponding object is installed, and displaying the list of devices on a screen,

wherein the list of devices includes the received terminal information.

39. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for executing a method, the method comprising:

determining a communication method for searching for a device;

communicating with at least one device in a network regarding whether an object corresponding to an object included in the first device is installed in the device, based on the communication method; and

displaying a list of devices in which the corresponding object is installed on a screen, based on a response to the communication,

wherein the communication method is determined, based on whether the first device and the at least one device are in a same network.

40. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for executing a method, the method comprising:

receiving a communication, regarding whether an object corresponding to an object that is being performed in a first device is installed, from the first device according to a communication method predetermined to search for the corresponding object; and

providing terminal information to the first device, in response to the communication,

wherein a list of devices created based on the terminal information is displayed on a screen of the first device.