Patent ID: 6983306

Claim:
An inter-device cooperative control method wherein each of a plurality of devices having a communication function communicates with another device, said inter-device cooperative control method comprising the steps of: providing each of said plurality of devices with functional information including at least one of information on a function possessed by a device and information on a function to be performed on the device, environmental information on the environment in which the device is located, status information which indicates the progress of at least one of a process performed by the device and a process performed on the device, and contribution rate information which indicates an amount of contribution a process either performed by or performed on the device adds to attaining a predetermined purpose; extracting plural devices from said plurality of devices, each device of said plural devices performing a process to determine whether said device is to be linked to others of said plural devices based on said contribution rate information, when said device receives purpose data; obtaining information on a process to be performed by said plurality of devices or information on a process to be performed on the extracted plural devices, this information obtaining step being performed by the extracted plural devices; and determining a process to be performed by the extracted plural devices or a process to be performed on the extracted plural devices based on said obtained information and said functional information, said environmental information, and said status information, this process determining step being performed by the extracted plural devices; wherein at least one of the extracted plural devices is movable; wherein said environmental information includes position information indicating a position of a device; and wherein when said position information is changed based on movement of the at least one movable device, said at least one movable device broadcasts the changed position information to the other devices.