Patent Document

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    Not applicable. 
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED-RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    The invention described herein was funded in part by a grant from the Republic of Korea, Institute of Information Technology and Assessment (IITA), and in part by Korea Ubiquitous Computing Lab (UCL). The government of the Republic of Korea may have certain rights under the invention. 
       INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC 
       [0003]    Not Applicable. 
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The invention disclosed broadly relates to the field of mobile computing devices and more particularly relates to the field of ubiquitous collaboration architecture for mobile devices. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    Handheld communication devices, especially when endowed with a programmable computing engine and connectivity, allow users to work and enjoy pastime activities while on the move. These mobile devices are portable, private, and easy to purchase. As computing power and telecommunications range increase, the functionality of the mobile devices also increases. A cellular phone that only twenty years ago was considered on the cutting edge of technology because it allowed a user to make and receive phone calls without a land line connection now has capabilities for web browsing, e-mail, calendaring, photography and shooting videos (in addition to making and receiving calls, of course). In 2005 in the country of Chile, with a population of 16 million people, there were 9 million cell phones in use. Taking into consideration that the total population figure includes young children, the elderly, and the poor, one could conclude that just about every adult in Chile who could afford a cellular phone owned one. 
         [0006]    The popularity and utility of mobile devices is apparent. However, handhelds today still face distinct limitations. They must be small and lightweight enough for users to carry them, yet size restrictions place a limit on the size of their display screens and number of buttons or dials. Voice-based interfaces cannot always solve these problems because handheld use often occurs in public places where noisy environments interfere with voice commands. Further, for the time being, powerful handhelds will be restricted by their relatively short battery life. Given these limitations, we can reasonably ask whether handheld usage will continue to proliferate in the near future. It seems that connectivity, better I/O capabilities, and CPU power offset the larger size of these laptops. At the other end of the spectrum, wearable computers or even body-implanted computers could replace handhelds if these alternatives become easily available and safe; just as pagers, which were so commonplace in the 1980s, were replaced by the more functional cellular phones. 
         [0007]    Biomimicry (from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate) is a newly-formed field of scientific thought that studies natural processes and designs and then mimics those designs and processes to solve human problems. Studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell is an example. Biomimicry focuses on how non-human communities in nature evolve and adapt to their environment. These communities, although immensely varied, all have one thing in common—they are limited in their adaptations by the confines and constraints of their environment. The successful communities are those that maximize long-term sustainability by closely following natural laws. To predict the future of handhelds, we borrow some ideas and models from biology and model our current computational environment on a jungle model where multiple device types compete for (market) survival. As in nature, the fittest devices rapidly increase their presence and succeed. In this modern-day jungle, success is measured by how useful humans perceive a device to be. 
         [0008]    In nature, organisms pursue many different survival strategies, but we will explore only one survival mechanism that biological organisms use: symbiosis. Initially defined by Anton de Bary in 1879, symbiosis describes a mutually beneficial relationship between dissimilar organisms. Normally, we can distinguish three types of symbiotic relationships: 1) mutualism, in which all organisms benefit from their relationship to each other; 2) commensalisms, in which one organism benefits with minimal cost or benefit to the others; and 3) parasitism, in which the benefits that one organism derives come at a cost to all others. Common usage treats the term commensalism as a synonym for symbiosis, even though symbiosis refers to the entire continuum of symbiotic relationships. 
         [0009]    Developers of handhelds have already explored symbiosis to overcome some limitations. Referring now to  FIG. 1  there is shown a simplified depiction of a typical architecture for a tech user&#39;s computing environment. In this environment the user has three commonly-used mobile devices: a cellular phone  170 , a laptop  160  and a personal digital assistant (PDA)  150 . The commensal relationship between the PDA  150  and the laptop computer  160  offers a classic example. The laptop&#39;s full-size keyboard and large display simplify the management of data and applications on the linked PDA  150 . The linked relationship is depicted by the dashed line. The synchronization process between the two devices simply and safely backs up the PDA&#39;s  150  data. In addition there are other advantages, such as ease of use and application availability. Symbiosis with personal computers gave PDAs a clear competitive advantage over simpler electronic address books, rapidly pushing these rivals toward extinction. 
         [0010]    As  FIG. 1  also shows, the laptop  160  and the cellular phone  170  both have internet access and can traverse the world wide web (shown here as a server farm)  130  through the internet  120 . The PDA  150  is linked to the laptop  160  so that it can synchronize calendars, contacts, e-mails, and the like, with the laptop  160 . A user of this environment  100  would typically use the laptop  160  at work and then take it home to continue working or keep up with e-mail. The user would also typically travel with the laptop  160  on business trips in order to maintain contact with his co-workers and to keep up with work assignments while traveling. The cellular phone  170  is a mobile device that tends to be the most ubiquitous of all. And now smart phones, which implement the cell phone and PDA functionality in the same device are becoming increasingly popular. 
         [0011]    Although as stated earlier PDAs and laptops enjoy a symbiotic relationship, just as in biology, the relationship is limited by the constraints imposed by their environment. The PDA  150  is limited by its relatively short battery life, small display area and less than ergonomic keypad. A laptop  160  is limited by its short battery life, its dependence on AC power, and although a laptop  160  is portable, it is not as small and lightweight as a handheld device. 
         [0012]    WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) Cafés address part of the problem of providing services for mobile devices. WiFi Cafés are internet hotspots housed in “friendly” business establishments such as cafés. These hotspots provide a wireless infrastructure, often for free, to customers and locals. A wireless-enabled laptop can access the WiFi network of the café during the time the person is within range of the hotspot. The popularity of these WiFi Cafés has prompted wireless businesses to implement Internet “Hot Zones.” Internet. Hot Zones are larger wireless infrastructures spanning neighborhoods, generally in busy metropolitan retail districts. In May of 2004, AnchorFree, a provider of wireless services, expanded the Hot Zone to include an entire city by transforming downtown Palo Alto, Calif. into one of the first Wi-Fi Hot Zones in America. Locals and visitors in Palo Alto are able to access the Internet anywhere in downtown Palo Alto (both indoors and outdoors). Unarguably, consumers are asking for, and receiving, more “on-the-go” capabilities for their wireless devices in their quest for an interconnected lifestyle. Hotspots and hot zones have filled a need in the mobile device marketplace. Still, the hotspots and even the broader hot zones are limited to providing wireless connectivity only. There remains a need for an environment which can provide a broad range of services to users of mobile devices, not just internet access. 
         [0013]    For these and other reasons described above, there is a need for a more comprehensive mobile device architecture to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0014]    Briefly, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a method for establishing symbiotic relationships between at least one mobile computing device and at least one stationary computing device, includes steps of: interacting with a computing entity assigned to an area where the at least one mobile and stationary computing devices are located using at least one networking protocol; receiving software modules from the computing entity, each one customized for the at least one mobile computing device for establishing the symbiotic relationships between the at least one mobile computing device and the at least one stationary computing device; running the software modules to interact with the at least one stationary computing device and the computing entity to establish symbiotic relationships that enable the performing of tasks selected by the at least one mobile computing device. The steps may be executed automatically upon receiving a trigger selected from a group consisting of: the at least one mobile computing device entering a designated location; an action of a mobile device user; a pre-selected preference of the mobile device user; and a time event. 
         [0015]    In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an environmental services broker provides computing services to a plurality of mobile devices. The environmental services broker includes: a memory for storing program code therein; a processor, operatively connected to the memory, for carrying out instructions according to the stored program code; wherein the program code, when executed by the processor, enables the processor to: register each of the computing services; handle queries from the mobile devices; and set up and tear down sessions between the mobile devices and the computing services. The processor also manages a workload between the plurality of mobile devices and the computing services and controls access to the computing services such that unauthorized users are restricted from accessing the computing services. The environmental services broker also includes an input/output subsystem for mapping input/output controls from the mobile devices to the computing services. 
         [0016]    Also in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a device resident agent includes an interface for providing a user with information about a service zone. A service zone includes a plurality of computer-based services stored in the same geophysical location. The information provided to the user may include: information about the location of the service zone relative to a mobile device; information about services available at the service zone located within range of the mobile device; duration of the services provided; and a cost for the service provided, if applicable. 
         [0017]    A method for providing computing services to a plurality of mobile devices includes steps or acts of: receiving an indication that a mobile device is within range of an entity providing the computing services; receiving a query form the mobile device; setting up a session for enabling the mobile device to utilize the computing services provided by the entity, wherein the mobile device and the computing services are participants of the session, and wherein the session comprises associations indicating relationships among the participants of the session; and managing the session. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0018]    To describe the foregoing and other exemplary purposes, aspects, and advantages, we use the following detailed description of an exemplary embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawings, in which: 
           [0019]      FIG. 1  is a simplified illustration of a basic mobile device system architecture, according to the known art. 
           [0020]      FIG. 2  is a high level architectural diagram showing an ubiquitous collaboration system architecture, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0021]      FIG. 3  is a high level block diagram of an Environmental Services Broker, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 4  is a high level block diagram showing the functions of an environmental services broker according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating the collaboration process from the perspective of the mobile device, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0024]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating the collaboration process from the perspective of the Environmental Services Broker, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0025]      FIG. 7  is an illustration of a PDA shown with a list of services offered, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0026]      FIG. 8  is a high level block diagram of an information processing system configured to operate according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0027]      FIG. 9  is a simplified illustration of a mobile device with an embedded agent supporting the Rich Client Platform, according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0028]    We describe a system to facilitate the creation and management of symbiotic relationships between one or more mobile devices and one or more environmental services (i.e., services offered by environmental devices). These environmental services may include: high resolution display services, computational offload services, transportation scheduling services, product review services, and many more. By establishing symbiotic relationships between mobile computers and environmental computing devices, users receive the advantages of mobile computing devices such as the portability, sole ownership, and privacy as well as the advantages of the richer set of capabilities of non-mobile environmental devices such as larger display sizes, access to abundant resources such as computing power and energy, and faster network communication. 
         [0029]    Establishing such symbiotic relationships in a seamless fashion, as and when required (on demand), to a multitude of different users with differing needs in a variety of settings is a difficult challenge addressed by ongoing work in the field of pervasive computing, also known as ubiquitous computing, or ubicomp. Pervasive computing is the next generation computing environment making information and communication technology available everywhere, for everyone, at all times by embedding computing into existing human systems. As an example, IBM is working with distributed display surfaces called “Blue Boards” that, combined with wireless technology, allow users to access personal content anywhere and anytime. 
         [0030]    Referring to  FIG. 2  there is shown a ubiquitous computing environment  200  including Environment Services Brokers, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system  200  of  FIG. 2  includes a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)  225 , and a hosting center  240  including three remote Environmental Services Brokers  220 . Two service zones,  260  and  280 , are shown, each with its own Environmental Services Broker A service zone is a physical public space where several environmental services are available for use by mobile devices. Examples of such spaces may be a meeting room, a train/bus or other transportation vehicle, a shopping mall, a bus station, a section of an airport, and so on. Generally service zones are located in public areas that experience a high density of mobile users, for at least a significant portion of the day. The MAN  225  and the Hosting Center  240  are connected to the Internet  230 . 
         [0031]    Environmental Services Broker. Central to the environment of  FIG. 2  is the Environmental Services Broker  220 . An Environmental Services Broker (ESB)  220  is a special kind of environmental service that is aware of the other environmental services available in a particular zone and manages the use of these services, making them available to mobile devices that visit the zone (are in range of the zone). The ESB  220  is configured to provide services that are customized to its service zone, taking into consideration the location of the zone, and the device configurations within the zone. Such customized services may include media transcoding services which are characteristic of the device capabilities in the zone. 
         [0032]    The ESB  220  can be aware of the other environmental services through the use of location-aware applications. The ESB  220  may also carry out some of the requested environmental services. The ESB  220  is essentially a machine offering a collection of services to the mobile devices that transit a service zone. It facilitates the creation and management of symbiotic relationships between one or more mobile devices and one or more environmental services and also helps manage the other services that are deployed in the zone. Managing the services includes authenticating the mobile devices transiting the zone, maintaining a registry of the services available in the zone, some of which are offered by the mobile devices, controlling access and metering access to these services. Each service zone is managed by an ESB and the ESB may either be resident in the zone itself, such as for zones  260  and  280 , or housed at a remote hosting center, such as the Hosting Center  240 . An ESB could also be responsible for multiple service zones. In this way the reach of the ESB is easily extended rather than adding additional ESBs for every additional service zone. 
         [0033]    Additionally, an ESB could delegate its services to another processor if that is what is necessary to accommodate the requirements of the service zone. Note that even though an ESB in this scenario is not performing all of the broker services itself, it is still managing the service zone. 
         [0034]    Service Zones. The system  200  shows two service zones,  260  and  280 . A service zone is a physical space where several environmental services are available for use by mobile devices. Examples of such spaces may be a meeting room, a bus/train station, a section of an airport, a train/bus or other transportation vehicle, and the like. Each zone may offer several environmental services, examples of which include high resolution display services, high speed wireless network connectivity services, and computation offload services. The service zones  260  and  280  include computing power with a network interface, high-speed wireless connectivity and an Everywhere Interactive Display (EID). The EID is a steerable projector equipped with a motion-detecting web cam. These are just some examples of the services offered in service zones. Mobile devices such as the PDAs and cell phones shown in  FIG. 2  can access the computing power of the service zones  260  and  280  through a wireless connection, such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Service zones can be implemented in just about any location equipped with environmental devices and are configured to accommodate a wide variety of devices, with multiple interconnection technologies and types of services. A service zone can scale from a small service zone with one or two environmental devices, such as in a bus station, to hundreds of devices in a large zone, such as a major train station. 
         [0035]    Infrastructure. The networking infrastructure of the environment  200  accommodates existing interconnect technologies and is designed to accommodate emerging technologies. As such, the infrastructure is scalable. The backbone of a service zone is preferably an IP LAN implemented using switched 100/1000 Mbps Ethernet. Access points for available wireless communication technologies, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and IrDA (Infrared Data Association), are connected to the LAN. All these access points are configured in bridging mode. As a result, Bluetooth-connected clients can communicate seamlessly with WiFi, IrDA or wired Ethernet-connected mobile or environmental devices, or with Bluetooth-connected devices on a different piconet (a network of devices connected in an ad hoc fashion using Bluetooth technology). This is an example of using off-the-shelf products to provide a robust solution to assuring interoperability between mobile devices with different connection technologies. 
         [0036]    The design of the architecture  200  makes every attempt to be independent of the networking technologies, hardware platforms, operating systems, runtime frameworks and programming languages used for its initial implementation. However, given the self-describing nature of XML (extensible Markup Language) documents, including web service interfaces and messages, and the growing popularity of web service technologies, for now it is desirable to use web services for inter-device communication and other open, XML-based standards for describing device capabilities and other elements of the architecture  200 . 
         [0037]    Users should also be provided with adequate security and privacy guarantees. Adequate safeguards must be in place to ensure that the information exchanged between a user&#39;s mobile device and the environmental services are protected from various kinds of attacks. There should be a way for environmental services to certify to the users that they will protect the confidentiality of the information they receive from the mobile devices, and also a way for the mobile devices to transparently validate these certifications without explicit involvement of the users of the mobile devices. Well-tested cryptographic technologies, such as SSL are used to protect the communication between client and broker from attacks. A client agent on the mobile device can automatically authenticate the device to the broker using standard account/password techniques or directly, by using SSL connections configured with client authentication. 
         [0038]    In order to realize the vision of such a wide-spread deployment of services, the architecture needs to ensure that the entry barrier to deploying such a service zone is low. In addition the service zone should be immediately accessible and usable by a wide range of mobile devices already in existence. Further, once deployed, a service zone should be easy to manage and administer. As newer devices are introduced in the market, and newer services are developed, it should be easy to roll out support for these to existing zones. The administrative cost of managing such roll-outs should be minimal. Towards these goals, service zones should be adequately equipped with equipment for remote testing of existing and newly deployed services and for intelligently monitoring and reporting problems that mobile users experience. The ESB  220  could conduct the monitoring and testing. 
         [0039]    Since service zones are in public spaces, service providers may have to procure licenses for operation and abide by local regulations. Compliance could include maintaining a secure log with the identity of the individuals utilizing services, ensuring that standards of decency are maintained, such as disallowing viewing of content suitable only for mature audiences, providing zone services without discrimination, documenting zone quality and user satisfaction and obtaining a certified rating from a local governing body, and so on. This collection of stringent requirements mandates incorporating as many proven technologies as possible into the service zone architecture and its implementations. 
         [0040]    For simplicity and clarification,  FIG. 2  is shown with only a few environmental devices and two service zones. The environment  200  as shown is easily extensible to support more than two service zones. 
         [0041]      FIG. 3  shows ubiquitous collaboration system architecture  300 , according to an embodiment of the invention. The ESB  220  in this example is shown as a single device such as a server. In actuality, the ESB  220  may be any computing system or even program code stored in a computing system. Local Producers  365  are devices within the zone that host services, such as an intelligent display or a thermostat accessible across a wireless connection. Remote producers are Internet sites that provide services, such as amazon.com which provides a web services-based interface for shopping. A large collection of plug-ins is used to customize the ESB to the requirements of the zone and its users. Roughly, the plug-ins are either Application plug-ins  340 , which enhance the application-level functionality of the devices (fixed or mobile) in the zone or even that of the ESB  220  when viewed as a device providing application-level services, or Infrastructure plug-ins  350 , which enhance the ability of the ESB  220  and zone devices to interact with each other in an efficient (secure, scalable, maintainable, cost-efficient) manner. This system  300  also includes an UPnP™ (Universal Plug and Play) gateway  380  to accommodate UPnP™ clients. UPnP™ uses standard TCP/IP protocols and can be supported on most operating systems. It offers pervasive peer-to-peer network connectivity of PCs of all form factors, intelligent appliances, and wireless devices. Some of the services available in the service zone  330  are: large display  318 , PC  316 , handheld or watch  314 , speaker or handset  312 , and others  310 . Some of these devices may need custom plug-ins to make them work well with the local ESB or directly with the mobile devices in the zone. These plug-ins are stored and managed by the ESB. 
         [0042]      FIG. 4  shows the elements of the ESB  220 . Note that these elements are logical constructs, defined here to illustrate the different functions of the ESB  220 . All of the different aspects of the ESB  220  services can be installed on any computing device that is network connected and has adequate computing resources to perform these operations in an efficient manner. The ESB  220  services can be embedded into devices that are appropriate for the zone being managed. For instance, if the zone is in a user&#39;s home then the broker services may run on a set top box and manage the services offered by various large screen displays in the home, personal computers in the home and the like. Wireless access points are also suitable devices where the broker services may be embedded. Any device offering a service, such as a projector or a high resolution display, may host broker services so that other devices in the vicinity may register themselves with it. 
         [0043]    Input/Output Manager  405 : this element of the ESB  220  handles the interaction with the mobile devices  415  and the environmental services  425  hosted on environmental devices. All inputs and outputs to/from the ESB  220  are handled by the I/O Manager  405 . Discovery and use of the services should be intuitive and readily apparent even to users who do not possess a high degree of technical skills; they should also be quick, as users may be only traversing the zone. In many scenarios, mobile devices can interact with environmental devices without the intervention of the user. The mobile device will attempt to get the attention of its owner only after it is determined that the user attention is desired or necessary. The architecture and its implementations are context aware, therefore they should be aware of the level of cognitive load they place on the users. It should be easy for users to express their intentions to their mobile device as well as to the environmental services. User annoyance as a result of devices seeking user attention unnecessarily should be minimized. Inside a zone, the mobile device should solicit the user attention based on the available services, user profile and context, such as time of day, day of the week, purpose of the trip, and based on who else is in zone—e.g., friends, family, and so on. As mobile users integrate usage of certain Celadon services into their daily routines, they will expect these services to be highly available (inside the zones) and exhibit predictable response times. These expectations will be enforced by their usage of cell phones as the preferred mobile device, which is typically associated with the highly available cellular service. 
         [0044]    Registration and Query Manager  410 : the ESB  220  provides a centralized registration service where different environmental services  425  register themselves with it and for mobile devices  415  to be able to query and learn about these services. When an environmental service  425  becomes available in a service zone, it must first register itself with the ESB  220 . It must provide information on its address, capabilities and functionality. Similarly, mobile devices transiting the zone can register the services they host with the local ESB using the Registration and Query Manager  410 . Mobile devices can query the broker to discover these services eliminating the need for complex protocols such as multicasts. The discovery of the ESB  220  itself is piggy-backed on the IP address assignment in cases where the mobile devices only have local connectivity. When a mobile device obtains a local IP address from the zone-local. DHCP server, we use a naming convention that enables the mobile device to find the location of the ESB  220  by performing a DNS lookup for ESB  220  in the assigned domain name. In cases where the mobile device has an IP address assigned by a DHCP server outside of the local service zone, the mobile device finds the ESB  220  using a DNS lookup for the name of the ESB  220  that manages the zone in question. For example, when a mobile device  415  enters a service zone, it first discovers the ESB  220  services and communicates with it to discover the other services that are present in the zone and also to discover the ones that are currently free and available for the mobile device  415  to use. The mobile device  415  can “discover” the ESB  220  services because it is equipped to receive radio frequency (RF) signals from at least one wireless access point assigned to the zone and connected over the LAN to the ESB  220 , or directly from the ESB  220  if the ESB  220  is implemented in the access point device. When the mobile device  415  is within range of a service zone, it will pick up the RF signal characteristic to the service zone. The user of the mobile device  415  will be made aware of the signal by an LED (light-emitting diode), a beep or some other signal. If the user wishes to receive information about the services currently offered in this service zone, the user will acknowledge the signal. Referring to  FIG. 7  there is shown the PDA  314  of  FIG. 3  with an active LED  715  using IrDA standards, indicating communication from the ESB  220 . The display, screen  720  shows a textual representation of the services available. Rather than a textual representation, the display might be generic icons corresponding to the different services. For example, a printer icon would resemble a printer, or a sheet of paper. 
         [0045]    The PDA  314  might also be fitted with sensors and actuators to receive information about the services available. Once the signal is acknowledged by a mobile device  415 , the ESB  220  transmits information about the services.  FIG. 9  is a simplified illustration of a mobile device  900  with an embedded agent supporting the Rich Client Platform. The mobile device  900  contains embedded Rich Client Platform (eRCP) bundles, which are used for the user interface. These eRCP bundles act as an embedded agent, handling the communication between the mobile device  900  and the ESB  220 . A sensors  915  and actuator  935  facilitates the communication between the device  900  and the ESB  220 . 
         [0046]    Session Manager  420 : when the user of a mobile device  415  discovers that there are services in the zone that are of value to it, and that these services  425  are currently available as shown in  FIG. 7 , the user can request the ESB  220  to enable the device  415  to use these services  425 . The ESB  220  then sets up a session where the services  425  are reserved for the requesting mobile device  415 . Until the mobile device  415  has released the service  425 , it will not be made available to another user. The ESB  220  also enables the mobile device  415  to remove services  425  from the session that was created. Session management also includes the operations required to tear down sessions (for example when the mobile devices  415  in a session leave the zone). 
         [0047]    In a service zone, available services can be in use by multiple mobile devices. In a simple scenario, each mobile device uses one or more services independent of the other mobile devices. In a more complex scenario, there may be multiple users who wish to work collaboratively, sharing the environmental services amongst their own devices and exchanging data and control between their mobile devices as well as the environmental services. The owner of a mobile device  415  may wish to include the mobile devices of other users in the session. The ESB  220  facilitates this as well. When requested by a mobile device, the ESB  220  sets up a session where the requested subset of the zone services is reserved for the requesting mobile device. These services are usable only by the devices that are part of the session. The ESB  220  also enables the user of the mobile device to add or remove services from the session that was created. 
         [0048]    In addition, the ESB  220  facilitates including the mobile devices of other users in the session, if the mobile user who started the session wishes to do so. This way the ESB  220  can support both the simple usage scenario, where there is a single mobile device that is using one or more of the services in the zone, and the more complex scenario where multiple users get together at a zone to share information. In the latter case, one of the mobile devices creates the session and then allows the other mobile devices to join the session. Active sessions are made apparent to any mobile device  415  within the zone by the ESB  220 . To join a session, the user of the mobile device  415  may select a session based on off-channel information, such as verbal communication with other mobile device users in the same area. Once in the session, the devices have access to all of the services that have been reserved for that session. The actual coordination of the usage of these services is managed by way of associations that are described below. 
         [0049]    The ESB  220  offers session management services, which provide the operations required to set up and tear down sessions, and to ensure that devices in different sessions are prevented from interfering with each other. In addition, the ESB maintains session ownership, which includes mediating the transfer of session ownership from one device to another. Session tear down may either be explicitly initiated when the owner of a mobile device decides to terminate a session that it owns, or when the mobile devices in a session simply exit the zone. 
         [0050]    Association Manager  430 : Within a particular session one or more mobile devices  415  may act as clients for the services  425  that have been reserved for that session. While some services  425  may be simultaneously usable by more than one client, some services  425  such as the use of display services such as an EID may support only one client at a time. The ESB  220  also manages the relationship between such single-use services and its clients. The management of such relationships is called association management. An association is a relationship between a service and the client that is authorized to use the service. An association is like a pipeline where you can send a message only in one direction at a time. There may be several associations within a session. Associations may be created and terminated several times within the same session. The ESB  220  manages associations, ensuring that devices in a zone can work together without interfering with each other. If a particular service can support only one client at a time, the ESB  220  ensures that the current association is terminated before creating a new one. As part of the association management, the ESB  220  also creates and distributes access control tokens to the service provider and the consumer of the service to ensure that unauthorized clients are prevented from accessing services that are not permitted. Access tokens are destroyed when the corresponding association is terminated. 
         [0051]    Transcoder  440 : The ESB  220  also provides conventional transcoding services to help perform syntactic transformation of data, if necessary, from the mobile devices  415  to the services  425 . This is necessary when the mobile devices  415  use a different format than the format accepted by the environmental services  425 . For example, an environmental display service  425  may be capable of displaying only Adobe® PDF and postscript formats, yet the mobile device  415  needs a display for a document in Microsoft Word. The transcoding service provided by the ESB  220  will transform the user&#39;s Word document into PDF or postscripts formats, so that the display service can display it to the user. Service providers may add their own transcoding services and could include language translation, or document format conversions, such as size and resolution reduction, color depth conversion, and the like, and make them available in the service zones. 
         [0052]    Metering and Logging Manager  450 : some environmental services  425  are made available on a pay per use basis, where the owners of the mobile devices  415  pay a certain usage fee to use these environmental services  425 . Within a particular session one or more mobile devices may act as clients for the services that have been reserved for that session. Since the ESB  220  manages the set-up and tear-down of sessions and associations, it also logs the usage of the services and tracks their usage so that the mobile device owners can be billed for the usage of these services  425 . Some environmental services are made available on a pay-per-use basis. Service providers may use existing payment mechanisms to allow users to enjoy pay-per-service facilities. The ESB  220  is also responsible for upgrades and installation of new capabilities, especially on mobile devices. The ESB  220  performs these responsibilities so that the mobile user does not have to. 
         [0053]    Access Control Manager  460 : the ESB  220  also manages the access permissions associated with the environmental services  425 , which represent all services available in the zone. Although environmental services  425  are shown in  FIG. 4  as being external to the ESB  220 , in certain zones, some of these services are implemented as ESB plug-ins; note that the collection of environmental services is dynamic, as mobile services transiting the zone can host and register services they host. The Access Control Manager  460  authenticates a new device entering the zone and identifies the subset of environmental services  425  the new device is allowed to use, if any. 
         [0054]    Dynamic Code Provisioning Manager  470 : in many cases the mobile devices  415  may not have the appropriate code installed to use the services that are available in a particular service zone. The ESB  220  also maintains required client code for the services  425  that are under its purview and enables mobile devices  415  to download and run the client code so that the mobile devices  415  can use the services  425  that are available. Different mobile devices  415  may support different code execution environments (i.e., code containers) and the ESB  220  keeps copies of the client code for each such container and dynamically identifies and supplies the appropriate version of the client code that is suitable for the code container supported on the mobile device  415 . The dynamic code provisioning aspect operates at a much finer granularity compared to the code provisioning that OSGi (universal middleware) or other similar software lifecycle management tools use. In the service zone architecture, mobile devices that enter a zone may come in without the code required to interact with the services in the zone. The requisite code is downloaded on demand into the mobile devices; when the mobile device exits the zone, and the downloaded code is no longer relevant, it may be deleted from the mobile device. This aspect of the architecture enables the deployment of mobile devices that require a minimum level of pre-installation or pre-configuration in order to use the services in the service zones. All that a mobile device needs is an environment into which code may be downloaded from and executed. When the device enters the zone, the device enters into a dialog with the ESB  220  to help the broker determine the type of code container that the device supports. The broker  220  then directs the device to download the appropriate code that matches the code container on the mobile device. Additional parameters that represent the context of the mobile device may be provided as part of this initial dialog so that the code that is downloaded to the mobile device can be customized to suit the context of the mobile device, such as its screen resolution or battery level, the ambient noise level, the users preferences, etc. 
         [0055]    For dynamic code provisioning on mobile devices and environmental services and on the ESB  220 , Service Management Framework (SMF), which is IBM&#39;s implementation of OSGi, is the preferred framework. SMF is a proven solution for dynamically managing the lifecycle of the software components in these devices. For environmental devices and the ESB  220 , SMF helps reduce management costs. For mobile devices, SMF allows for context-aware on-demand provisioning of these resource-constrained platforms. 
         [0056]    I/O Mapping  480 : Some services may support control operations that can be sent to them from the mobile devices  415 . For instance a high resolution display service may support zoom and pan operations. The I/O mapping function supported by the ESB  220  helps users find a way to use the I/O controls that are available on their mobile device  415  to generate the appropriate control operations required by the service. The ESB  220  maintains descriptions of various mobile device types and the types of I/O controls that are available on each device type. It also maintains a collection of mappings between the I/O controls and the service operations. When a user wishes to control a particular service with his mobile device  415 , the ESB  220  searches through its mapping database and shows the user the possible ways in which his mobile device can generate the appropriate control operations and allows the user to choose one of the mappings. Once such a mapping is chosen, the user can generate the appropriate control operations by manipulating the controls on his device  415 . The ESB  220  dynamically provisions code to the user&#39;s mobile device  415  that can capture the manipulation of the control signals, and maps these operations to the appropriate control operations that the service  425  understands. 
         [0057]    Queues  490 : The ESB  220  maintains queues for sessions waiting for a service  425  to become available. The ESB  220  sets up an association between such single-use services and the corresponding clients when requested and queues up requests from other clients so that the other clients wait until the current association is ended. When the current association is ended, the single-use service will be made available to the next client in the queue. 
         [0058]    Network Access  495 : An ESB  220  is typically connected to a LAN which has one ore more WiFi or Bluetooth access points connected to it as well. Mobile devices talk to the access points which communicate with the ESB  220  over the LAN (or the LAN+MAN for remotely located ESBs). The ESB  220  can be equipped with a wireless interface for those situations when the ESB  220  is also performing as a wireless access point for the zone. 
         [0059]    All of the different aspects of the ESB  220  service can be installed on any computing device that is network connected and has adequate computing resources to perform these operations in an efficient manner. The ESB  220  service can be embedded into devices that are appropriate for the zone being managed. For instance if the zone is in a user&#39;s home the ESB  220  service may run on a set top box and manage services offered by various large screen displays in the home, personal computers in the home. Wireless Access Points (WAPs) are also suitable devices where the ESB  220  service may be embedded. In an embodiment of the present invention, the ESB  220  can be linked to, and share space with, Internet Hotspots, providing an excellent symbiosis between the WiFi capabilities of the currently available Internet Hotspots and the broader range of services offered by the ESB  220 . In fact, any device offering a service such as a projector or a high resolution display may host the ESB  220  service so that other devices in the vicinity may register themselves with it. The ESB  220  should have ample storage used for its own programs and plug-ins, the code that it dynamically provisions to mobile devices, for storing metering and logging information, and so on. 
         [0060]    Referring to  FIG. 5  there is shown a flowchart  500  illustrating an information processing method according to an embodiment of the invention. This method is shown from the perspective of the mobile device  415 . The process begins at step  510  with a mobile device  415  entering a service zone range. The mobile device  415 , once it is within range, receives an RF signal emitted by the ESB  220 . The mobile device always acknowledges the RF signal. This is how mobile devices attach to an access point. During that process, which includes the exchange of more than one RF signal, it is determined if the mobile device  415  is allowed to attach to the access point. Once attached, the device can try to get a network address, which also requires multiple RF signals and link-level messages to be exchanged. The messages could be in the form of audio messages, visual messages, vibrations, or any other message type representative of the device in use. 
         [0061]    Only after that, the mobile device  415  authenticates himself to the ESB  220 . If the authentication is successful and if the user of the mobile device  415  is interested in accessing available services in the zone, the ESB  220  identifies itself to the device  415  at that point. The device  415  will then request the list of services available and accessible to it (based on the result of the device authentication step). Overall, there a lot of messages between the ESB  220  and the mobile device  415  until the list of services, if any, is provided to the device  415 . Also, note that this list is only provided by the ESB  220  upon request. 
         [0062]    Assume the mobile device  415  has authenticated itself in step  520 . This indicates that the user is interested in an environmental service  425  offered at this service zone. Once the ESB  220  receives the acknowledgment from the user, it transmits a listing of currently available services. These are all of the services which have been registered in that service zone. 
         [0063]    Once in receipt of the list of services, the user, by selecting a particular service, submits the query in step  530  to the Registration and Query Manager  410  (via the Input/Output Manager  405 ). Selecting a particular service may be as simple as clicking on a service listed on the user&#39;s display  720  as shown in  FIG. 7 . The ESB  220  starts a session to process the user&#39;s request in step  540 . Also in step  540  a device can come into the service zone at this point and join an existing session. Next, in step  550  the ESB  220  creates an association for the requested service  425 , which also includes the creation of access token for the mobile device to use when accessing this service. This access control token is then provided to the mobile device  415  and to the service  425  so that the service  425  can authenticate that the device  415  is authorized to use the service  425 . It is up to the environmental service  425  to authenticate this access token. If an access control token presented by a mobile device is not valid, the environmental service  425  ignores the request and informs the ESB about the security violation. Every session must have an owner and the owner is the device with the access control token. A new device wishing to join an ongoing session must defer to the owner of the session and that owner can establish an association for the new device. If the owner of the session leaves the session before transferring the access control token, the session is terminated because it does not have an owner. This concept is analogous to a conference call situation where the call is terminated when the primary caller hangs up. 
         [0064]    If the token is accepted, the mobile device  415  must query the Association Manager  430  (via the Input/Output Manager  405 ) if the device is currently available for use in decision  550 . If the device is not available, in step  560  the mobile device  415  request is placed in a queue until the device becomes available. Once the device becomes available, in step  570  the request is processed and the mobile device  415  uses the services it needs. The mobile device  415  may invoke the service or any other service in the zone hosted by a device included in the same session multiple times. Therefore, if the mobile device  415  wishes to invoke another service in step  575 , the processing loops back to step  560  where it is determined if the requested service is available. 
         [0065]    Once finished with invoking the services in that session in step  575 , the mobile device  415  signals to the ESB  220  that the session is ended. In step  585  the association between the mobile device  415  and the service  425  is terminated. If the departing mobile device  415  is the owner of the session then in step  585  the session is torn down and the process ends. Alternatively, the mobile device  415 , as owner of the session, could simply exit the service zone and this will automatically trigger the ESB  220  to tear down the session. A departing device may choose to transfer the access token to a device just joining a session in order to keep the session going. 
         [0066]    It is important to note that sessions are not established and terminated every time a mobile device  415  invokes a service. The same service, or the same collection of services can be invoked multiple times from within the same session. Sessions are modified when interactions with new devices are necessary, i.e., the new device(s) are added to the existing session or the mobile device  415  terminates its session and joins the ongoing session with which the desired devices are already associated. Sessions can be thought of as “non-overlapping groups of devices”. 
         [0067]    Referring to  FIG. 6  there is shown a flowchart of the above process, but from the perspective of the ESB  220 . The process begins at step  605  when the ESB  220  receives a registration request for an environmental service  425  in the service zone. Note that the service can be hosted either by an environmental device  425 , in which case the registration request is issued when the environmental device  425  is installed in the zone, or by a mobile device  415 , in which case the registration request is issued when the mobile device enters the zone. Service registrations are removed when the environmental device  425  is shut down, say for maintenance or upgrade, or when the mobile device  415  leaves the zone. At this point the ESB  220  must determine if it can effectively accommodate this service  425  or, if this service  425  does not conflict with an existing service or if it is even necessary or desirable (from a regulatory perspective) in this service zone. If so, the ESB  220  registers the service in step  610 . Registering a service involves receiving information from the service, including the physical location of the service, its name, interfaces, capabilities, compatibility, limitations, and soundness 
         [0068]    After the service is registered in step  610 , the ESB  220  waits for other services to be registered or for a mobile device  415  to enter its service zone. When a mobile device  415  enters the zone it picks up the RF signals that are being constantly emitted by the wireless (WiFi, Bluetooth) access points connected to the ESB  220 , or by the ESB  220  itself if the ESB  220  is implemented on the access point device. This is similar to the signals picked up by users entering a WiFi Hotspot. After authenticating the device, the ESB  220  receives a query for services in step  615  and then acknowledges receipt of the query in step  620 . Additionally, at this time the ESB  220  informs the mobile device  415  of the services available to it in that service zone. 
         [0069]    Next in step  625  the ESB  220  sets up a session and later an association between the device  415  and the service  425 . Setting up the session involves creating a session ID, allocating the mobile device  415  and the device  425  hosting the service to the session and registering the new session in the registry. The mobile device  415  becomes the owner of the new session. Alternatively, as stated earlier, the device  415  can join an existing session if the service or services it wants to access are already assigned to a session. The mobile device  415  can join an existing session only with the permission of the owner of the existing session. Similarly, after the mobile device  415  joins an existing session, the ESB  220  will have to establish an association in step  630  between the mobile device  415  and the environmental service  425 . At any time, the session owner can transfer the session ownership to another device in the session. This is necessary if the owner device leaves the zone but wants the session to continue. 
         [0070]    Once the association is made in step  630 , if the service  425  determines in step  635  that the access control token supplied by the device  415  is invalid, the environmental service  425  ignores the request and the ESB  220  is informed about the security violation. If the session is valid, the ESB  220  performs any intervention services needed by the mobile device  415  in step  645 . The ESB  220  may determine that I/O mapping is necessary. If so, the mapping is done. It may be necessary to manage the queuing of the device  415  if the service is in use and/or at capacity. If dynamic code provisioning is necessary, it is done at this point. Likewise if transcoding is required, it is performed. If the session is a pay-per-service session, then the ESB  220  must perform metering and logging tasks. An alternative to a pay-per-service financial arrangement is a subscription service where a user pays a monthly fee. Another alternative is a no-contract debit card similar to phone service cards available today. A user would purchase a card for a set amount, enter the key code from the card into the mobile device  415  and would use the services  425  until the card zeroed out. These are just a few examples of the services performed by the ESB  220 , and should not be construed as limitations to the scope of the capabilities of the ESB  220 . 
         [0071]    In step  670  the ESB  220  receives an indication from the service  425  that the association is ended. This indicates that the mobile device  415  has no further need of the environmental service  425 . The session, however, is still ongoing until the owner of the session ends it. If, in step  665  the mobile device  415  wishes to use another service, it will loop back to step  630  and begin another association to partake of another environmental service  425 . After the association is ended the process is complete until the next request is received, or until a new device enters the zone to participate in that existing session. If, however, the owner of the session wishes to terminate the session and/or leaves the zone, then in step  670  the session is torn down in order to make availability for a new session. 
         [0072]    In another embodiment the ESB  220  provides services for multiple zones and these services are aggregated and run on a back-end network server that is physically far removed form the zone where the services are found. Aggregating the Environmental Services Brokering services and running them on a network server enables easy management and load balancing. 
         [0073]    “Context refers to the physical and social situation in which computational devices are embedded. One goal of context-aware computing is to acquire and utilize information about the context of a device to provide services that are appropriate to the particular people, place, time, events, etc. For example, a cell phone will always vibrate and never beep in a concert, if the system can know the location of the cell phone and the concert schedule.” See Thomas P. Moran, IBM Almaden Research Center and Paul Dourish, University of California, Irvine, “Introduction to This Special Issue on Context-Aware Computing,”  Special Issue of Human - Computer Interaction , Volume 16, 2001, which is fully incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. The ESB  220  is capable of managing context-aware provisioning of public services to the participants. Location-aware applications can be utilized to assist the services in conforming to a participant&#39;s surroundings. 
         [0074]    A further advantage of the ESB  220  and the infrastructure in which it operates is its scalability. Because it operates within a wireless infrastructure, the entire system can be extended by simply adding more services or even by the addition of another LAN with its own ESB  220  and its own selection of services. 
         [0075]    Referring to  FIG. 8  there is shown a high-level block diagram of a computing system configured to operate according to an embodiment of the invention. The system  800  includes a Processor  810  which may include several microprocessors. It also includes Memory  820 , a USB Interface and slots  830 , a BIOS  840 , Flash Memory  850 , a Network Interface  860 , Mass Storage  870 , Wireless Interface  880  and a CDROM  890 . A UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) resides in the software operating system. 
         [0076]    Therefore, while there have been described what are presently considered to be the preferred embodiments, it will understood by those skilled in the art that other modifications can be made within the spirit of the invention.

Technology Category: g