Network appliance architecture for unified communication services

• US 9,363,214 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2012
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Krishna, Vikas
• Primary Examiner(s): Bates, Kevin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pant, Ranjan
• Application Number:
  US13/689,752
• Publication Number:
  US 20140149592A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,286 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/43 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A system and method for implementing a service oriented architecture that supports complex event processing and business activity monitoring. An enterprise service bus (ESB) generates a first list of one or more devices, receives a selection from a user associated with a first device of a second device in the first list, generates a second list that includes functions associated with the selection from the first user, receives a request from the first device to perform one of the functions in the second list, translates a first communication protocol of the request received from the first device into a second communication protocol used by the second device to create a translated request, translates a first message format of the request into a second message format and transmits the translated request to the second device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, using a server, a location of a first device;

generating, using the server, a first list of device locations within a set distance of the location of the first device, the first list for displaying on a user interface of the first device;

receiving, using the server, a selection of a device location in the first list of device locations from a user associated with the first device;

generating, using the server, a second list that includes a plurality of devices associated with the selected device location, the second list for displaying on the user interface of the first device;

receiving, using the server, a selection of a second device in the second list from the user associated with the first device;

generating, using the server, a third list that includes functions associated with the selected second device, the third list for displaying on the user interface of the first device;

receiving, using the server, a first request including media from the first device for transmitting to the selected second device, the first request including instruction for the selected second device to perform a function, present in the third list, on the media;

translating, using the server, a communication protocol of the first request from a first communication protocol received from the first device into a second communication protocol used by the selected second device;

translating, using the server, a message format of the first request from a first message format received from the first device into a second message format used by the selected second device; and

transmitting, using the server, the translated first request to the selected second device for the selected second device to perform the function on the media.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a search query from the first device for one or more types of media associated with a subject;

determining one or more resource servers that the search query is for based on the search query matching a global index, the one or more resource servers associated with one or more types of second devices;

determining a communication protocol of the search query and a communication protocol of each of the one or more resource servers;

determining a message format of the search query and a message format of each of the one or more resource servers;

translating the communication protocol of the search query into the communication protocol of each of the one or more resource servers;

translating the message format of the search query into the message format of each of the one or more resource servers;

retrieving the one or more types of media matching the translated search query from the one or more resource servers; and

sending the one or more types of media matching the translated search query to the first device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

registering the first device for use in the network by assigning an internet protocol (IP) address and a name to the first device and adding the IP address to a list; and

registering the second device for use in the network by assigning a device identifier and a name to the second device and adding the device identifier to a list.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

logging a device usage entry associated with the translated first request that includes a type of the first request, an internet protocol address for the first device, a user identifier for the user associated with the first device, a unique device identifier for the second device and a type of media that is included in the translated first request.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving device usage entries associated with at least one transaction performed by the second device;

determining a cost associated with the at least one transaction; and

generating a bill based on the cost associated with each transaction.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the selected second device from the second list of devices is idle for a set amount of time; and

generating a notification indicating that the selected second device from the second list of devices is idle; and

transmitting the notification to the first device.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining the one or more types of media stored in the one or more resource servers;

determining metadata associated with the one or more types of media based on a cardinality of the metadata; and

generating a local database index in the one or more resource servers, the local database index holding the metadata and a pointer reference pointing to a location where the one or more types of media related to the metadata are stored.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving requests that include one or more types of media;

identifying text in the media; and

compiling the global database index based on the text, the global database index including pointer references pointing to locations where the media associated with the requests are stored.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining one or more types of updates for an Application Programming Interface (API) of the one or more types of the second devices associated with the one or more resource servers; and

sending a notification indicating that a standard interface exposed to the first device for receiving requests for the one or more types of second devices should be updated before the one or more types of updates to the API of the one or more types of second devices is executed.

10. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

an enterprise service bus stored on a memory and executable by the one or more processors, the enterprise service bus configured to receive a location of a first device, to generate a first list of device locations within a set distance of the location of the first device, the first list for displaying on a user interface of the first device, to receive a selection of a device location in the first list of device locations from a user associated with the first device, to generate a second list that includes a plurality of devices associated with the selected device location, the second list for displaying on the user interface of the first device, to receive a selection of a second device in the second list from the user associated with the first device, to generate a third list that includes functions associated with the selected second device, the third list for displaying on the user interface of the first device, to receive a first request including media from the first device for transmitting to the selected second device, the first request including instruction for the selected second device to perform a function, present in the third list, on the media, to translate a communication protocol of the first request from a first communication protocol received from the first device into a second communication protocol used by the selected second device, to translate a message format of the first request from a first message format received from the first device into a second message format used by the selected second device and to transmit the translated first request to the selected second device for the selected second device to perform the function on the media; and

application services stored on a memory and executable by the one or more processors, the application services configured to identify the location of the first device in a network and provide the enterprise service bus with the first list of device locations within the set distance of the location of the first device.

11. The system of claim 10,

wherein the enterprise service bus is further configured to receive a search query for one or more types of media associated with a subject from the first device in the network, to transmit the search query to the application services, to determine a communication protocol of the search query and a communication protocol of each of the one or more resource servers, to determine a message format of the search query and a message format of each of the one or more resource servers, to translate the communication protocol of the search query into the communication protocol of each of the one or more resource servers, to translate the message format of the search query into the message format of each of the one or more resource servers, to retrieve the one or more types of media matching the translated search query from the one or more resource servers and to send the one or more types of media to the first device;

and

the application services are further configured to receive the search query from the enterprise service bus, to determine the one or more resource servers that the search query is for based on the search query matching a global index, the one or more resource servers associated with one or more types of second devices and to send the determination of the one or more resource servers to the enterprise service bus.

12. The system of claim 10,

wherein the application services are further configured to log a device usage entry associated with the translated first request that includes a type of the first request, an internet protocol address for the first device, a user identifier for the user associated with the first device, a unique device identifier for the second device and a type of media that is included in the translated first request.

13. The system of claim 10,

wherein the application services are further configured to retrieve device usage entries associated with at least one transaction performed by the second device, determine a cost associated with the at least one transaction and generate a bill based on the cost associated with each transaction.

14. The system of claim 11,

wherein the enterprise service bus is further configured to determine one or more types of media stored in the one or more resource servers, to determine metadata associated with the one or more types of media based on a cardinality of the metadata and to generate a local database index in the one or more resource servers, the local database index holding the metadata and a pointer reference pointing to a location where the one or more types of media related to the metadata are stored.

15. The system of claim 14,

wherein the enterprise service bus is further configured to receive requests that include one or more types of media, to identify text in the media and to compile the global database index based on the text, the global database index including pointer references pointing to locations where the one or more types of media associated are stored.

16. The system of claim 11,

wherein the application services are further configured to determine one or more types of updates for an Application Programming Interface (API) of the one or more types of second devices associated with the one or more resource servers and to send a notification indicating that a standard interface exposed to the first device for receiving requests for the one or more types of second devices should be updated before the one or more types of updates to the API of the one or more types of second devices is executed.

17. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

receive a location of a first device;

generate a first list of device locations within a set distance of the location of the first device, the first list for displaying on a user interface of the first device;

receive a selection of a device location in the first list of device locations from a user associated with the first device;

generate a second list that includes a plurality of devices associated with the selected device location, the second list for displaying on the user interface of the first device;

receive a selection of a second device in the second list from the user associated with the first device;

generate a third list that includes functions associated with the selected second device, the third list for displaying on the user interface of the first device;

receive a first request including media from the first device for transmitting to the selected second device, the first request including instruction for the selected second device to perform a function, present in the third list, on the media;

translate a communication protocol of the first request from a first communication protocol received from the first device into a second communication protocol used by the selected second device;

translate a message format of the first request from a first message format received from the first device into a second message format used by the selected second device; and

transmit the translated first request to the selected second device for the selected second device to perform the function on the media.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further causing the computer to:

receive a search query from the first device for one or more types of media associated with a subject;

determine one or more resource servers that the search query is for based on the search query matching a global index, the one or more resource servers associated with one or more types of second devices;

determine a communication protocol of the search query and a communication protocol of each of the one or more resource servers;

determine a message format of the search query and a message format of each of the one or more resource servers;

translate the communication protocol of the search query into the communication protocol of each of the one or more resource servers;

translate the message format of the search query into the message format of each of the one or more resource servers;

retrieve the one or more types of media matching the translated search query from the one or more resource servers; and

send the one or more types of media matching the translated search query to the first device.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, further causing the computer to:

log a device usage entry associated with the translated first request that includes a type of the first request, an internet protocol address for the first device, a user identifier for the user associated with the first device, a unique device identifier for the second device and a type of media that is included in the translated first request.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, further causing the computer to:

determine the one or more types of media stored in the one or more resource servers;

determine metadata associated with the one or more types of media based on a cardinality of the metadata; and

generate a local database index in the one or more resource servers, the local database index holding the metadata and a pointer reference pointing to a location where the one or more types of media related to the metadata are stored.