Peer-to-peer device management, monitor and control

The present invention provides a method and system for peer-to-peer device management, monitor and control. Communication devices connected by communication networks can manage, monitor and control each other; they can be in both managing-monitoring-controlling and managed-monitored-controlled roles. That is, a device A can manage, monitor and control a device B, and the device B can manage, monitor and control the device A. In one aspect, communication devices can send request messages comprising management, monitor and control commands to peers and receive response messages comprising results and statuses to the request messages from peers, and vice versa. In another aspect, communication devices can send notification messages to peers for management, monitor and control when their monitored contents or states meet predefined criteria, and vice versa.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the innovation and development of technology, more and more electronic devices have become part of people's daily lives. A person may have a number of communication devices such as smart phones, tablets, laptops, or personal computers. It is a challenging job for communication service providers, enterprise IT departments, and individual consumers to manage more and more devices.

Configuration, diagnosis, resource maintenance, health check, and security are the main tasks of device management, monitor and control. An example of configuration on a device is to select the proper language setting based on a user's preference. The analysis of call drops on a mobile phone is an example of diagnosis. An example of resource maintenance on a device is to manage files and applications regularly. The statistical report of cpu, memory, disk and process usages on a device is an example of health check. An example of security on a device is to setup proper passwords based on certain security policy.

Traditional device management, monitor and control systems are based on client-server model. A centralized server can manage, monitor and control a number of, such as hundreds, thousands or millions of, client devices. The client devices receive commands from the server and perform whatever actions the server asks for.

There are a few drawbacks for traditional device management, monitor and control approach. First, device management, monitor and control systems are mainly designed for communication service providers and enterprises, not for individual consumers. Second, due to the complexity to handle different devices, most of implementations and deployments of device management, monitor and control systems are very complicated, expensive, and unaffordable to individual consumers. Third, the client-server model in device management, monitor and control is a one-way management, monitor and control approach from a server to a client. The client cannot manage, monitor and control the server.

Therefore, there is a need to provide a cost-effective and flexible solution for individual consumers to manage, monitor and control their electronic assets.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and system for peer-to-peer device management, monitor and control where communication devices connected by networks can manage, monitor and control each other. Contrast to traditional client-server based model in device management, monitor and control where each device can be in either managing-monitoring-controlling role, or managed-monitored-controlled role, but not both, communication devices in the present invention can be in both managing-monitoring-controlling role and managed-monitored-controlled role. That is, a device A can manage, monitor and control a device B, and the device B can manage, monitor and control the device A.

One aspect of the present invention is that communication devices can send request messages comprising device management, monitor and control commands to peers and receive response messages comprising results and statuses to the request messages from peers. Another aspect of the present invention is that communication devices can send notification messages to peers for device management, monitor and control when their monitored contents or states meet predefined criteria.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1illustrates a perspective architecture of a communication device. In one embodiment, the communication device100comprises central processing units101, system memories102, disk storages103, input interfaces104, output interfaces105, network interfaces106, and system buses107.

The central processing units101provide a means for executing executable programs and can be any types of microcontrollers, processors, microprocessors, or multiprocessors. The system memories102provide a means for storing executable programs such as a basic input/output system (BIOS), one or more operating systems, a plurality of firmware modules, and a plurality of software modules. The system memories102can be any combinations of random-access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM). The disk storages103provide a means for storing programs, files and data, and can be any types of internal and external magnetic disks, optical disks, and the like.

The input interfaces104provide a means for transferring data into the communication device100through input components and/or devices (not shown) such as keyboard, keypad, touch-pad, touch screen, thumb-wheel, trackball, mouse, stylus, joystick, microphone, camera, sensor, etc. The output interfaces105provide a means for transferring data from the communication device100to output components and/or devices (not shown) such as screen, display, television, speaker, etc. The network interfaces106provide a means for transferring data between the communication device100and other communication devices (not shown) through communication networks (not shown) such as circuit-switched telephone networks and packet-switched data networks.

The system buses107provide a means for transferring data internally among the central processing units101, the system memories102, the disk storages103, the input interfaces104, the output interfaces105, the network interfaces106, and other components (not shown) of the communication device100.

Reference is now toFIG. 2, which illustrates a block diagram of a communication device201and another communication device202connected by a communication network203. The communication network203provides a means for transporting messages between message senders and message receivers. The communication network203comprises one or more of satellite networks, wired networks, and wireless networks. Wired networks comprise one or more of internet, intranet, local area network (LAN) such as ethernet, wide area network (WAN) such as frame relay and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), virtual private network (VPN), public switched telephone network (PSTN), and the like. Wireless networks comprise one or more of wireless personal area network (WPAN) such as bluetooth and near field communication (NFC), wireless local area network (WLAN) such as Wi-Fi, wireless wide area network (WWAN), wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) such as worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WIMAX), long term evolution (LTE), cellular network such as global system for mobile communications (GSM), general packet radio service (GPRS), code division multiple access (CDMA), evolution-data optimized (EV-DO), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT), integrated digital enhanced network (IDEN), and the like.

The communication device201and the communication device202share the same architecture as the one denoted inFIG. 1. They communicate with each other through their network interfaces via the communication network203.

Reference is now toFIG. 3, which illustrates a schematic block diagram of an exemplary request and response. In one embodiment, the communication device201fromFIG. 2is denoted herein as the first device, and the communication device202fromFIG. 2is denoted herein as the second device. In the block301, keys for message encryption and message decryption between the first device and the second device are negotiated and agreed by both devices, based on credentials such as public keys, private keys, and/or account names, passwords from the first device and/or the second device.

In the block302, a request message with commands to manage, monitor and control the second device is generated at the first device. The request message may contain commands to retrieve or modify configurations, retrieve voice or data contents, perform security actions, start or stop hardware components, install or uninstall firmware modules and software modules, and the like. The request message is encrypted with the keys at the first device in the block303, and then transported from the first device to the second device in the block304via the communication network203.

The request message is received and stored in the block305and decrypted in the block306at the second device. In the block307, the commands in the request message are executed by their corresponding components or modules (not shown) at the second device. A response message with the result and status to the request message is generated in the block308and encrypted with the keys in the block309at the second device. In the block310, the response message is transported from the second device to the first device via the communication network203.

The response message is received and stored in the block311and decrypted in the block312at the first device. In the block313, the response message with result and status to the request message is displayed at the first device.

Reference is now toFIG. 4, which illustrates a schematic block diagram of an exemplary event and notification. In one embodiment, the communication device201fromFIG. 2is denoted herein as the first device, and the communication device202fromFIG. 2is denoted herein as the second device.

In the block401, event criteria for notification are setup at the second device. The events can be the state changes of device, hardware components, firmware modules and software modules, such as being started, being stopped, being installed, being uninstalled, being enabled, being disabled, being activated, being deactivated, being turned on, being turned off, and the like. The events can also be the changes of network reachable identifiers, such as the changes of email addresses, mobile subscriber integrated services digital network (MSISDN) numbers, instant messenger ids, social network ids, session initiation protocol (SIP) addresses, and internet protocol (IP) addresses including internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) address and internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) address. In addition, the event criteria can be contents matching rules, such as email messages, text messages, instant messages, voice call contents, and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) data contents matching predefined keywords, voice caller ids matching predefined blacklists, hypertext transfer protocol web site addresses matching predefined categories, device being located in predefined geo-location ranges, and the like. When an event associated with the event criteria occurs at the second device in the block402, a notification message will be generated at the second device in the block403, and then sent from the second device to the first device in the block404via the communication network203.

The notification message is received in the block405, stored in the block406, and then displayed in the block407at the first device.

Likewise, the communication device201fromFIG. 2can be acted as the second device inFIG. 3andFIG. 4, and the communication device202fromFIG. 2can be acted as the first device inFIG. 3andFIG. 4. A request message can be generated at the communication device202and then sent from the communication device202to the communication device201via the communication network203inFIG. 3; a response message can be generated at the communication device201and then sent from the communication device201to the communication device202via the communication network203inFIG. 3. In addition, a notification message can be generated at the communication device201and then sent from the communication device201to the communication device202via the communication network203inFIG. 4.