Patent ID: 7822489

Claim:
An electronic device control apparatus for controlling plural electronic devices, said electronic control apparatus comprising: a reception portion for receiving operational status data containing an operational status of each electronic device and a time at which the operational status of each electronic device has changed; an operational status data accumulation portion for accumulating the operational status data received at the reception portion; a link information management portion for managing operational status link information containing: trigger device information to specify an operational status of a single electronic device among the plural electronic devices; linked device information to specify another electronic device that activates in association with the operational status of the single electronic device; and a maximum detection time corresponding to a predetermined time interval for extracting the operational status of the another electronic device in correlation with the operational status of the single electronic device; an operational status data extraction portion for extracting, from the operational status data accumulated in the operational status data accumulation portion, operational status data of the single electronic device corresponding to an operational status in the trigger device information contained in the operational status link information, and extracting, within the maximum detection time, from the operational status data accumulated in the operational status data accumulation portion, operational status data of the another electronic device corresponding to the linked device information contained in the operational status link information; an associated control information generation portion for generating, according to the operational status data extracted by the operational status data extraction portion: associated control information containing the operational status of the single electronic device, and which is used as a condition to start associated control of the single electronic device and the another electronic device; and a content of control on the another electronic device; an associated control information accumulation portion for accumulating the associated control information generated by the associated control information generation portion; and an associated control portion for enabling associated control of the single electronic device and the another electronic device according to the associated control information accumulated in the associated control information accumulation portion.