Electronic unit, communication system and method, information processing terminal and method, and information processing apparatus and method

• US 9,066,026 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2013
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ayatsuka, Yuji, Matsushita, Nobuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): MIRZA, ADNAN M
• Application Number:
  US14/025,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20140016039A1
• Time in Patent Office: 649 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/268 Signal distribution or switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

The present invention relates to electronic units, communication systems and methods, information processing terminals and methods, and information processing apparatuses and methods which allow easy and quick communications. When a link pin 21A is inserted into a VCR 3, the VCR 3 reads the pin ID stored in the RF tag of the link pin 21A, and reports the pin ID and the address to a management server 1. When the management server 1 has already obtained the pin ID of a link pin 21B read by a television receiver 5, the management server 1 determines whether the group ID included in the pin ID reported by the VCR 3 is the same as the group ID included in the pin ID reported by the television receiver 5. When the management server 1 determines that they are the same, the management server 1 connects the VCR 3 to the television receiver 5. The present invention can be applied to various types of information processing apparatuses connected to a network.

Claims

1. An information processing terminal comprising:

a reading unit configured to read, when an electronic unit for associating information processing terminals to be connected with each other is inserted into the information processing terminal or placed into communication with the information processing terminal, identification information stored in the electronic unit;

a transmission unit configured to transmit the identification information read by the reading unit and first positional information indicating a position of the information processing terminal on a network to an information processing apparatus for managing a connection of the information processing terminal to another information processing terminal; and

a connection unit configured to connect the information processing terminal to the another information processing terminal in accordance with second positional information of the another information processing terminal, when the second positional information of the another information processing terminal is reported from the information processing apparatus in response to receipt of the transmission of the identification information and the first positional information performed by the transmission unit,

wherein the information processing terminal is not communicatively connected to the another information processing terminal prior to the insertion of the electronic unit into the information processing terminal or the placing of the electronic unit into communication with the information processing terminal, and

wherein the reading unit, the transmission unit, and the connection unit are each implemented via at least one processor.

2. An information processing method comprising:

reading, when an electronic unit for associating information processing terminals to be connected with each other is inserted into an information processing terminal or placed into communication with the information processing terminal, identification information stored in the electronic unit;

transmitting the read identification information and first positional information indicating a position of the information processing terminal on a network to an information processing apparatus for managing a connection of the information processing terminal to another information processing terminal; and

connecting the information processing terminal to the another information processing terminal in accordance with second positional information of the another information processing terminal, when the second positional information of the another information processing terminal is reported from the information processing apparatus in response to receipt of the transmission of the identification information and the first positional information performed by the transmission,

wherein the information processing terminal is not communicatively connected to the another information processing terminal prior to the insertion of the electronic unit into the information processing terminal or the placing of the electronic unit into communication with the information processing terminal.

3. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a program, which when executed by a computer causes the computer to execute an information processing method, the method comprising:

reading, when an electronic unit for associating information processing terminals to be connected with each other is inserted into an information processing terminal or placed into communication with the information processing terminal, identification information stored in the electronic unit;

transmitting the read identification information and first positional information indicating a position of the information processing terminal on a network to an information processing apparatus for managing a connection of the information processing terminal to another information processing terminal; and

connecting the information processing terminal to the another information processing terminal in accordance with second positional information of the another information processing terminal, when the second positional information of the another information processing terminal is reported from the information processing apparatus in response to receipt of the transmission of the identification information and the first positional information performed by the transmission,

wherein the information processing terminal is not communicatively connected to the another information processing terminal prior to the insertion of the electronic unit into the information processing terminal or the placing of the electronic unit into communication with the information processing terminal.