Application program execution system, sensor, first server, second server, and object thereof and application program execution method

• US 20050086264A1
• Filed: 09/10/2004
• Published: 04/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Masuda, Yoshihiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,150,952 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

The present invention enables to establish sensing environment and application environment respectively by managing the corresponding relationship between the objects and the application programs in object management servers. The application program execution system includes movable objects, detection units that detect the objects, application programs, control units that control the execution of the context-aware application program, corresponding relationship between the objects and the application programs, and notification units that notify the control units of detection information that the detection units have detected, according to the corresponding relationship. Thus, the appropriate application programs are executed. The present invention enables to establish and change the application program execution system flexibly. Development of the application programs is also flexible.

Claims

1. An application program execution system comprising:

a control unit that controls execution of an application program;

a detection unit that detects information on an object; and

a notification unit that notifies the information detected by the detection unit to the control unit based on relationship information between the object and the application program,

wherein the control unit executing the application program is identified from the relationship information.

2. The application program execution system as claimed in claim 1, wherein information on the object includes situation information showing an identifier of the object and a situation of the object.

3. The application program execution system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the relationship information includes the application program or address information on the control unit to which the detection result is sent.

4. The application program execution system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of detection units are respectively located in different places.

5. The application program execution system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of control units are respectively located in different places.

6. An application program execution system comprising:

a detection unit that detects an identifier given to an object together with information on a situation of the object;

a control unit that controls execution of an application program, based on a detection result of the detection unit;

a retaining unit that retains a corresponding relationship between the identifier and an address assigned to the application program;

an acquiring unit that acquires the address from the retaining unit, based on the identifier detected by the detection unit, the address corresponding to the identifier; and

a notification unit that notifies the detection result to the address acquired by the acquiring unit.

7. The application program execution system as claimed in claim 6 further comprising:

a sensor having the detection unit, the acquiring unit, and the notification unit;

a first server having the retaining unit; and

a second server retaining the application program and having the control unit,

wherein the sensor, the first server and the second server are connected to a network.

8. The application program execution system as claimed in claim 6 further comprising:

a sensor having the detection unit, the acquiring unit, and the notification unit;

a server having the control unit that controls execution of the application program; and

the object having the retaining unit,

wherein the sensor and the server are connected to a network.

9. The application program execution system as claimed in claim 6 further comprising:

a sensor having the detection unit, the retaining unit, the acquiring unit, and the notification unit; and

a server having the application program and the control unit,

wherein the sensor and the server are connected to a network.

10. A sensor comprising:

a detection unit that detects an identifier given to an object and information on a situation of the object;

a notification unit that notifies a detection result detected by the detection unit to an application program, a detection target of the application program being the object; and

an acquiring unit that acquires an address assigned to the application program that has a corresponding relationship with the identifier, based on the identifier that has been detected by the detection unit,

wherein the notification unit notifies the detection result to the address assigned to the application program.

11. The sensor as claimed in claim 10, wherein:

the acquiring unit acquires information required by the application program based on the identifier;

the application program has the corresponding relationship with the identifier; and

the notification unit notifies the detection result to the address assigned to the application program, in the case where the detection result include information required by the application program.

12. The sensor as claimed in claim 11, wherein

the acquiring unit acquires a threshold condition corresponding to the address and the address assigned to the application program, and

the notification unit notifies the detection result to the address assigned to the application program, in the case where the detection result satisfies the threshold condition.

13. The sensor as claimed in claim 10, wherein:

the acquiring unit acquires an encryption key to encrypt the detection result based on the identifier; and

the notification unit notifies the address of information on the object, after the information has been encrypted with the encryption key.

14. The sensor as claimed in claim 10, wherein:

the identifier includes another address assigned to a first server that retains a corresponding relationship between the identifier and the address assigned to the application program; and

the acquiring unit acquires from the first server, the address assigned to the application program, based on said another address assigned to the first server.

15. The sensor as claimed in claim 10, wherein:

the object retains a corresponding relationship between the identifier and the address assigned to the application program; and

the acquiring unit acquires from the object, the address assigned to the application program.

16. The sensor as claimed in claim 10, wherein:

the retaining unit retains a corresponding relationship between the identifier and the address assigned to the application program;

the acquiring unit acquires from the retaining unit, the address assigned to the application program.

17. The sensor as claimed in claim 10, wherein the sensor acquires the retained address assigned to the application program, in the case where the acquiring unit has retained the acquired address assigned to the application program for a given period, and still retains the address having a corresponding relationship with the detected identifier.

18. The sensor as claimed in claim 10, wherein the notification unit notifies the address assigned to the application program of the detection result, after a date and time when the information on the object was detected and/or an expiration date of the detection result having been added to the detection result.

19. The sensor as claimed in claim 10 further comprising:

an e-mail address acquiring unit that acquires e-mail address corresponding to the identifier; and

a reporting unit that reports a list of the addresses to the e-mail address, the list of the addresses to which the notification unit sends the detection result.

20. The sensor as claimed in claim 16, wherein:

the sensor is implemented on a network as a peer in a peer-to-peer framework; and

the retaining unit shares with another retaining unit of another sensor, the corresponding relationship between the identifier and the address assigned to the application program.

21. A first server comprising:

a retaining unit that retains a corresponding relationship between an identifier and an address, the identifier having been given to an object, and the address having been assigned to an application program whose detection target is the object,

wherein according to an inquiry via a network, the address is notified to a source address of the inquiry, the address has a corresponding relationship with the identifier.

22. The first server as claimed in claim 21, wherein:

the retaining unit retains a corresponding relationship between the identifier and the address, the identifier having one identifier or a group of identifiers, and the address having one address or a group of addresses, and according to an inquiry via the network, notifies the source address of the inquiry, of all addresses having a corresponding relationship with the identifier, the identifier having one identifier or a group of identifiers, and the address having one address or a group of addresses.

23. The first server as claimed in claim 21, wherein the retaining unit, corresponding to the identifier, retains information required by the application program, and in response to the inquiry via the network, notifies the source address of the inquiry about information required by the application program having a corresponding relationship with the identifier.

24. The first server as claimed in claim 21, wherein the acquiring unit retains a threshold condition corresponding to the address, and notifies the source address of the inquiry of the address and the threshold condition in response to the inquiry via the network.

25. The first server as claimed in claim 21, wherein the retaining unit retains an encryption key corresponding to the identifier, and notifies the source address of the identifier and the inquiry, in response to the inquiry via the network.

26. The first server as claimed in claim 21 further comprising:

a receiving unit that receives the address to which information on the object that has been detected by the source address of the inquiry is sent;

an accumulating unit that accumulates history information on the address corresponding to the identifier, the address having been received by the receiving unit; and

a displaying unit that displays with the use of a terminal connected to the network, history information on the address and the identifier, the history information having been accumulated in the accumulating unit.

27. The first server as claimed in claim 21, further comprising:

the retaining unit that retains an e-mail address corresponding to the identifier; and

a notification unit that notifies the source address of the inquiry of the e-mail address, in response to the inquiry via the network.

28. The first server as claimed in claim 21, further comprising:

the retaining unit that retains an e-mail address corresponding to the identifier, an editing unit that adds, edits, or deletes the corresponding relationship between the identifier and the address; and

a notification unit that notifies the corresponding relationship which has been added, edited, or deleted by the editing unit to the e-mail address.

29. The first server as claimed in claim 21, wherein:

the first server is implemented on the network as a peer in a peer-to-peer framework; and

the retaining unit shares with a retaining unit that another sever retains, the corresponding relationship between the identifier and the address.

30. A second server comprising:

a control unit that executes an application program based on a situation of an object, the application program having a corresponding relationship with the object; and

a judging unit that detects information on the situation of the object having been received via a network, wherein

the control unit executes the application program, when the judging unit detects an identifier or the information on the situation of the object is received.

31. The second server as claimed in claim 30, wherein

the information on the situation of the object has been encrypted with the use of an encryption key, and further comprising

a retaining unit that retains a decryption key that decrypts the information on the situation of the object, corresponding to the application program, wherein

the judging unit decrypts the information on the object by the decryption key.

32. The second server as claimed in claim 30, wherein

the information on the situation of the object includes a date and time when the information on the situation of the object was detected and/or a expiration date of the information on the situation of the object, and further comprising

an accumulating unit that accumulates the information on the situation of the object, wherein

the accumulating unit abandons the information on the situation of the object whose expiration date has expired.

33. An object comprising a retaining unit that retains an identifier, wherein the identifier includes an address assigned to a first server that retains a corresponding relationship between the identifier and the address assigned to an application program.

35. The object as claimed in claim 33, wherein the object being an RF-ID tag or an IC-card having a wireless communication unit.

34. An object comprising a first retaining unit and a second retaining unit, the first retaining unit retaining an identifier, and the second retaining unit retaining a corresponding relationship between the identifier and an address assigned to an application program.

36. An application program execution system comprising:

an object having an identifier;

a detection unit that detects information on a situation of an object together with the identifier of the object;

a retaining unit that retains a corresponding relationship between the identifier and an address that has been assigned to an application program whose detection target is the object; and

a control unit that controls execution of the application program, based on a detection result of the detection unit, and further comprising;

detecting the identifier and the information on the situation of the object, with the use of the detection unit;

acquiring an address from the retaining unit, the address corresponding to the identifier; and

notifying the address of the information on the situation of the object, the address having been acquired with the acquiring step.

37. An application program execution system comprising:

an object that is capable of moving around;

a detection unit that detects information on the object;

an application program;

a control unit that executes the application program;

relationship information showing relationship between the object and the application program; and

a notification unit that notifies, based on the relationship information, the control unit of a detection result of the detection unit.

38. The application program execution system as claimed in claim 37, wherein information on the object includes situation information showing an identifier of the object and a situation of the object.

39. The application program execution system as claimed in claim 37, wherein the relationship information includes the plurality of application programs or address information on the plurality of control units to which the detection result is sent.

40. The application program execution system as claimed in claim 37, wherein the plurality of detection units and the plurality of control units are respectively located in different places.