Information providing system and method and storage medium

• US 8,335,928 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2008
• Issued: 12/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Oshima, Takuya, Suzuki, Tadashi, Miura, Atsushi, Hirano, Yoshiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Nunez, Jordany
• Application Number:
  US12/258,848
• Publication Number:
  US 20090055750A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,513 Days
• Field of Search: 715/733, 715/732, 715/730, 713/187, 713/168, 713/169, 726/4, 726/5, 726/2, 726/3
• US Class Current: 713/187
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

An information providing system and method and a storage medium which provide information services to each client apparatus on which a browser for browsing content and at least one object operate, through the cooperation with the operation of the object. A server apparatus has a view server for providing content to the browser, a communication server for making communication with the object, and an application sever for making the view server and the application server cooperate with each other. When a read operation from the object is performed, the communication server notifies the application server of a result of the read operation, thereby providing synchronization between the communication server and the view server.

Claims

1. A system to provide information to a client apparatus on which a browser to browse content and an object client operate, the object client communicating with an object connected to the client apparatus, the system comprising:

a view server configured to provide content to said browser over a network;

a communication server configured to make communication with said object client over the network, wherein the communication server is configured to;

issue a mutual authentication request to a secure application module (SAM);

receive, from the SAM, a mutual authentication command for the object that is connected to the client apparatus;

send the received mutual authentication command over the network to the object client, which is executing on the client apparatus;

receive a mutual authentication response over the network from the object client; and

send the received mutual authentication response to the SAM; and

an application server configured to;

request, to the communication server, establishment of a connection to the SAM,

receive, from the communication server, a report of the establishment of the connection to the SAM, and

receive, from the communication server, a report of the establishment of a connection to the object, which is connected to the client apparatus, to provide synchronization between the communication server and the view server, wherein the application server performs a cooperative operation between the view server and the communication server, but the communication server does not communicate directly with the view server.

2. The system as recited in claim 1,

wherein the application server is further configured to:

request that the communication server use the SAM to read the information from the object,

obtain a read result, and

synchronize with the view server upon receiving the result.

3. The system as recited in claim 2,

wherein the application server is further configured to:

send the read result to the view server, and

request that the communication server prompt the browser to request the read result from the view server.

4. The system as recited in claim 3,

wherein the view server is further configured to:

send a form requesting user input to the browser,

receive inputted information from the browser, and

dynamically generate for display on the browser contents corresponding to a state of communication with the object.

5. The system as recited in claim 1,

wherein the application server is further configured to:

request that the communication server use the SAM to write first information to the object,

receive a write result, and

synchronize with the view server upon receiving the result.

6. The system as recited in claim 5,

wherein the application server is configured to:

send the write result to the view server, and

request that the communication server prompt the browser to request the write result from the view server.

7. The system as recited in claim 6,

wherein the view server is further configured to dynamically generate for display on the browser contents corresponding to a state of communication with the object.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the application server is further configured to:

receive, from the view server, a request to initialize the object client, and in response, start an open operation and send a return initialize instruction to the view server; and

receive a report of activation of the object client from the communication server.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein no cooperative operation is performed between the browser and the object client on the client apparatus.

8. A method for providing information to a client apparatus on which an object client operates, the object client communicating with an object connected to the client apparatus, the method comprising:

requesting, to a communication server from an application server, establishment of a connection to a secure application module (SAM);

receiving, from the communication server, a report of the establishment of the connection to the SAM;

issuing, by the communication server, a mutual authentication request to the SAM;

receiving, by the communication server from the SAM, a mutual authentication command for the object that is connected to the client apparatus;

sending, by the communication server, the received mutual authentication command over a network to the object client, which is executing on the client apparatus;

receiving, by the communication server, a mutual authentication response over the network from the object client;

sending, by the communication server, the received mutual authentication response to the SAM; and

receiving, from the communication server, a report of the establishment of a connection to the object, which is connected to the client apparatus, to provide synchronization between the communication server and a view server, wherein the application server performs a cooperative operation between the view server and the communication server, but the communication server does not communicate directly with the view server.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, from the view server by an application server, a request to initialize the object client, and in response, starting an open operation and sending a return initialize instruction to the view server; and

receiving, by the application server from the communication server, a report of activation of the object client.