Dynamic machine synthesis for wireless device access and management

Abstract

Disclosed are techniques for effective wireless device access and management via device capability integration. A method for constructing a machine using a plurality of devices selected from a group of devices, wherein each device in the group is configurable for providing short-range wireless communication, includes the steps of: starting an application template in response to an instruction from a user; analyzing the template to determine one or more capabilities required for the machine; searching in the group for devices substantially matching at least one of the capabilities; and integrating the matching devices into the machine.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for constructing a machine using a plurality of devices selected from a group of devices, wherein each device in said group of devices is configurable for providing short-range wireless communication, the method comprising the steps of:
 starting an application template in response to an instruction from a user, wherein the application template comprises coding of capability requirements and runtime logic; 
 analyzing the template to determine one or more capabilities required for the machine; 
 searching in the group for devices substantially matching at least one of said capabilities; 
 filtering devices according to predetermined criteria comprising at least one of device rating, device cost and device location; and 
 integrating the filtered devices substantially matching at least one of said capabilities into the machine. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said template defines the machine formed with one or more components each having required capabilities, and said integrating step comprises:
 linking devices from the group with at least one of the required capabilities so as to build each of said one or more components using the linked devices; and 
 integrating said one or more components into said machine. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , characterized by further comprising the steps of determining whether a pool processing device capable of performing a pool processing for said template application exists in said group. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein when it is determined that a pool processing device exists in said group, the pool processing device carries out the searching step and device management. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 3 , wherein when it is determined that no pool processing device exists in said group, said searching step comprises:
 broadcasting an inquiry message over the group; and 
 allowing each device in the group to respond to the inquiry message with information associated therewith. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein said information associated with the device comprises at least one built-in page, which describes at least one of capabilities of the device, properties of the device, and events. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , wherein said at least one built-in page includes a detailed profile of the device written in one or more languages common to all the devices in the group and in a readable format. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein said profile includes information selected from an information group consisting of
 device capability description; 
 device property description; 
 device method description; and 
 event description. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 7 , further comprising the step of generating information regarding the machine for higher-level management. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 5 , further comprising the step of selecting devices to be used for building the machine based on the information associated with the device. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the short-range wireless communication comprises infrared transmission. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the short-range wireless communication comprises a Bluetooth protocol. 
     
     
       13. A computer program product comprising a computer usable readable non-transitory storage medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing means for construction of a machine using devices selected from a group of devices, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to:
 start an application template in response to an instruction from a user, wherein the application template comprises coding of capability requirements and runtime logic; 
 analyze the template to determine one or more capabilities required for the machine; 
 search in the group of devices for devices matching at least one of the capabilities; and 
 filter devices according to predetermined criteria comprising at least one of device rating, device cost and device location; and 
 integrate the filtered devices matching at least one of the capabilities into the machine. 
 
     
     
       14. An apparatus for constructing a machine using a plurality of devices selected from a group of devices, wherein each device in the group of devices is configurable for providing short-range wireless communication, the apparatus comprising:
 a processor operative to: (i) start an application template in response to an instruction from a user, wherein the application template comprises coding of capability requirements and runtime logic; (ii) analyze the template to determine one or more capabilities required for the machine; (iii) search in the group of devices for devices matching at least one of the capabilities; (iv) filter devices according to predetermined criteria comprising at least one of device rating, device cost and device location; and (v) integrate the filtered devices matching at least one of the capabilities into the machine. 
 
     
     
       15. An article of manufacture for constructing a machine using a plurality of devices selected from a group of devices, wherein each device in the group of device is configurable for providing short-range wireless communication, the article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory machine readable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:
 starting an application template in response to an instruction from a user, wherein the application template comprises coding of capability requirements and runtime logic; 
 analyzing the template to determine the capabilities required for the machine; 
 searching in the group for devices matching at least one of said capabilities; 
 filtering devices according to predetermined criteria comprising at least one of device rating, device cost and device location; and 
 integrating the filtered devices searched-out in the searching step into the machine. 
 
     
     
       16. A non-transitory program storage device readable by machine for constructing a dynamic machine using a plurality of devices selected from a group of devices, wherein each device in the group of devices is configurable for providing short-range wireless communication, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine which when executed implement the steps of:
 starting an application template in response to an instruction from a user, wherein the application template comprises coding of capability requirements and runtime logic; 
 analyzing the template to determine the capabilities required for the machine; 
 searching in the group for devices matching at least one of said capabilities; 
 filtering devices according to predetermined criteria comprising at least one of device rating, device cost and device location; and 
 integrating the filtered devices searched-out in the searching step into the dynamic machine. 
 
     
     
       17. A method of assembling an equipment using a plurality of configurable devices capable of being communicatively linked together, comprising:
 determining a problem that cannot be solved using any single one of the plurality of devices and requires a solution;   performing a requirements analysis to find required capabilities/components for the solution;   performing a system design which includes defining a device user's interaction and data exchange among system components and between other ones of the plurality of devices;   performing template programming including coding of capability requirements and runtime logic written into a template;   installing the programmed template onto a user device among the plurality of devices;   assembling an equipment application by starting the template;   analyzing the template to determine the required capabilities/components and to estimate the required processing power; searching for the required capabilities/components among the plurality of devices; (and)   filtering the devices according to predetermined criteria including at least one of device rating, device cost and device location; and   constructing necessary logical functional components from found capabilities/components to complete assembly of the equipment.    
     
     
       18. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 17 wherein an object-oriented script language is used for the template programming to ensure cross-platform compatibility.  
     
     
       19. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 18 wherein standards involved in the template programming include device capability description, device property description, device method description, and/or event description.  
     
     
       20. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 19 wherein each of the plurality of devices is wireless-communication enabled and has runtime environment, necessary processing power, and memory.  
     
     
       21. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 17 wherein following the search for required capabilities/components, a determination is made whether or not dynamic machine device pool (DMDP) processing is available, and if the result of the determination is “NO”, an inquiry message is broadcast to the plurality of devices, making use of dynamic machine transfer protocol (DMTP) for protocol-independent data exchange, and the process then waits for devices to reply in dynamic machine markup language (DMML) pages which may involve at least one of the following; device capability description, device property description, device method description and/or event description.  
     
     
       22. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 21 wherein in response to receipt of device replies, pages from the candidate devices are filtered according to predetermined criterions including whether the device is the best, whether the device is satisfactory, whether the device is the cheapest, and/or the location of the device.  
     
     
       23. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 22 wherein if the result of the determination is YES, DMDP is available, then the process sends the requirements to a DMDP server which provides device warehousing services for device management and accelerates device searching, and when the server finds appropriate devices, the result is sent back to the user device for determination as to whether or not the required devices have been found; if the result is “NO”, the required devices have not been found, then the user is prompted of the failure, and the process is aborted; if the result is “YES”, the required devices have been found, connections to the found devices are set up.  
     
     
       24. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 23 wherein after the devices are set up, a dynamic device linking is performed and logic components of the equipment are built according to template requirements and runtime logic definition.  
     
     
       25. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 24 wherein after the dynamic device linking is performed and logic components of the equipment are built, the components/devices are named with user-friendly names for multi-modal processing.  
     
     
       26. A method as recited in claim 17 wherein the equipment is a wireless communication system using a Bluetooth protocol.  
     
     
       27. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 26 wherein an object-oriented script language is used for the template programming to ensure cross-platform compatibility.  
     
     
       28. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 27 wherein standards involved in the template programming include device capability description, device property description, device method description, and/or event description.  
     
     
       29. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 28 wherein each of the plurality of devices is wireless-communication enabled and has runtime environment, necessary processing power, and memory.  
     
     
       30. A method as recited in claim 25 wherein the equipment is a wireless communication system using a Bluetooth protocol.  
     
     
       31. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 25 wherein an object-oriented script language is used for the template programming to ensure cross-platform compatibility.  
     
     
       32. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 31 wherein standards involved in the template programming include device capability description, device property description, device method description, and/or event description.  
     
     
       33. A method of assembling an equipment as recited in claim 25 wherein each of the plurality of devices is wireless-communication enabled and has runtime environment, necessary processing power, and memory.