Patent ID: 8032833
Filing Date: 2011-10-04
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for controlling devices that are currently connected to a physical layer of a network, the method comprising the steps of: for at least one of said devices: (a) discovering a plurality of devices that are currently connected to the network; (b) obtaining information for commanding and controlling at least one of the plurality of devices by at least one other device currently connected to physical layer of the network, wherein the information includes at least a device name and service type, and wherein the physical layer provides a communication medium that can be used by the plurality of devices to communicate with each other; wherein the service type comprises a type of service that each device can provide and the user control interface is generated and displayed based on at least an attribute and capability of the service type, each reference in the user interface includes at least one hyper-text link providing direct access from the user interface to at least the user control interface description, the user interface includes device data corresponding to each device based on the information obtained from each device, and upon the one link in the user interface being user activated, the activated link is used for accessing the associated device and retrieving control interface description contained in the associated device for generating and displaying a device user interface based on the retrieved control interface description, for user interaction with that associated device; (c) generating a graphical user interface based at least on the obtained information, the user interface including one or more references associated with each of the devices currently connected to the network; and (d) displaying the generated user interface such that a user can use each reference of the displayed user interface to access each device.