Patent ID: 7299160
Filing Date: 2007-11-20
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A sensor management system for managing a utilization of one or more sensors by a context source, whereby each sensor is made available by means of a sensor service providing a communication interface for the sensor to a direct link or a network link, the sensor management system comprising: a context source interaction means for interacting with the context source including a reception of a request from the context source for one or more sensors each of a defined characteristic; a sensor service discovery means for discovering locally or remotely available sensors via a respective sensor service available by the direct link or the network link on a regular basis, whereby the sensor service discovery means comprises a database for storing and managing lookup information of each discovered sensor service; a sensor management service means for determining from the sensor service discovery means the particular lookup information stored for the sensor service which provides access to the sensor of the characteristic requested by the context source and which is available by the direct link or the network link; and a sensor access object means for retrieving sensor data from the sensor service and to supply the sensor data to the context source by providing a specific query to the sensor service corresponding to the request received by the context source interaction means and the particular lookup information determined by the sensor management service, and said sensor access object means comprising: a probing means for probing the sensor with respect to its accessibility and/or its suitability corresponding to the request received by the context source interaction means, and a sensor instantiation means for establishing a communication link to a specific sensor service which corresponds to the request received by the context source interaction means; and a data access means for sending said specific query to the sensor service for retrieving sensor data from the sensor service and for supplying retrieved sensor data to the context source.