Patent ID: 8813179

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, by a first computing device, a request to initiate a device cloud with a second computing device; determining, by the first computing device, based on one or more policies and device state information, whether the device cloud can be initiated with the second computing device, wherein determining whether the device cloud can be initiated includes providing state information to one or more policy management servers and receiving management information from the one or more policy management servers; and in response to determining that the device cloud can be initiated with the second computing device, establishing, by the first computing device, a connection to the second computing device to initiate the device cloud, wherein at least one policy of the one or more policies is received from a policy management server, wherein the device cloud extends functionality of the second computing device to the first computing device to enable the first computing device and the second computing device to be used in combination to perform a single function, wherein an orchestration engine executing on the first computing device manages interactions between the first computing device and the second computing device after the device cloud is initiated, wherein the first computing device is located within a predetermined distance of the second computing device, wherein the device cloud is configured to dynamically link functionalities of the first computing device and the second computing device, wherein the device cloud is configured to provide at least one function that is not supported by the first computing device, the at least one function being supported by the second computing device, wherein the management information includes one or more commands generated by the one or more policy management servers, for execution by the first computing device, based on the state information provided by the first computing device to the one or more policy management servers, and wherein the state information provided by the first computing device to the one or more policy management servers includes state information obtained from the second computing device.