KR100722577B1 - Data Processing System Suitable for Ubiquitous Computing Environment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a data processing system that displays various types of contexts in a systematic form of context message, operates based on the context message, can easily cope with expansion of a context type, and can be easily applied to a real service environment. The device interface means receives the state information of the electric device and transmits a control signal for controlling the operation of the electric device, and the storage means stores the electric device state information and the operation execution setting information. The context generation means may include status information and setting information in association with a name element indicating an identifier of the electric device, a condition element indicating a time when the status information is generated or an execution is to be performed, a markup And generates a context message by expressing it in a language syntax. The decision and execution means analyzes the context message to determine a subsequent operation mechanism, and transmits a control message to the device interface means to control the operation of the electric device based on the operation execution setting information according to the determined operation mechanism. The external interface means notifies the external apparatus of the status information according to the operation mechanism and receives the setting information from the external apparatus.

Context, Context, Ubiquitous, Ubiquitous, XML, Markup Language, Situation Recognition

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a data processing system suitable for a ubiquitous computing environment,

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a home network system according to the present invention;

2 is a view showing the configuration of the home gateway shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view showing the user interface unit shown in FIG. 2 in detail; FIG.

4 is a view showing an example of a document type definition of HIML according to the present invention;

5 shows a tree hierarchy structure of the document type definition of the HIML shown in Fig. 4; Fig.

6 is a view showing an example of an HIML message;

The present invention relates to a computing system, and more particularly, to a computing system suitable for operating in a distributed network environment. In addition, the present invention relates to an electric device control and monitoring system.

Ubiquitous is a Latin word meaning 'anytime and anywhere'. Ubiquitous computing means a computing environment that enables a user to use devices spatially connected to the Internet anytime and anywhere without restriction of communication speed. It refers to a computing environment that is one step further than existing home networks or mobile computing. As an example of a ubiquitous computing environment, a computing function is added to all physical spaces and objects related to roads, bridges, tunnels, buildings, and building walls, so that objects and objects can be intelligent and connected to the Internet, ≪ / RTI >

One of the most important factors in realizing such a ubiquitous computing environment is appropriately expressing and recognizing a context. A context can be defined as 'the state of users and devices, including the surrounding environment, the situation, the location', or 'any information that can be used to characterize the situation of the entity' Represents an object that is considered to be related to the interaction between the place and the user. It is possible to make the present situation easier to understand by combining various context values. In particular, a main context such as position, object, action, and time can be used as an indicator of the source of other context information. For example, if a user's schedule is known with his location and current time, then the application can recognize the user's social situation, such as attendance at the meeting, lecture wait, waiting for boarding the aircraft.

Generally, contexts are broadly divided into three categories: (1) computing contexts such as network connections, communication costs or bandwidth, peripheral resources (e.g., printers, displays, workstations), (2) user profiles, locations, Social contexts and user contexts, and (3) physical contexts such as illumination, sound levels, traffic conditions, and temperature. In addition to the above categories, time information such as date, week, month, and season can be one of the most important context categories. Context history can also be collected by recording the physical context of the user over time, which context history can be effectively used in a particular application.

However, although there are various promising prospects for ubiquitous computing, there is not much specific discussion about how to express such context. Therefore, based on such a context, that is, the context-based service which adjusts the user's desired level according to the situation of the user by combining the information inputted by the user and the situation information is also actively researched It is expected that it will take a considerable time to develop a general-purpose system that can be applied to a real-world service environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for displaying various types of contexts in a systematic form of context message, And to provide a data processing system that can be easily applied regardless of the form of a service environment and a service environment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a data processing method for displaying various types of contexts in a systematic form of a context message, determining a subsequent operation mechanism according to a context message, and performing necessary operations .

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data processing system comprising: a device interface means for receiving status information of an electric device and transmitting a control signal for controlling the operation of the electric device; State information and operation execution setting information. The context generating means may generate the status information and the setting information by using a name element indicating an identifier of the electric device, a condition element indicating a time when the status information is generated or an execution is to be performed, The context message is generated by expressing it in an up-language syntax. The decision-making and execution means analyzes the context message to determine a subsequent operation mechanism, and transmits a control message to the device interface means to control the operation of the electric device based on the operation execution setting information according to the determined operation mechanism. The external interface means notifies the external device of the status information according to the operation mechanism, and receives the setting information from the external device.

In one embodiment, the storage means stores status information and configuration information in the form of a context message expressed in the markup language syntax. Furthermore, the device interface means may also receive the status information in the form of the context message and transmit the control signal. Meanwhile, the external interface means can also notify the external device of the status information in the form of the context message. However, in another embodiment, the external interface unit may convert the context message into a message format receivable by the external apparatus and transmit the message.

More generally, the data processing system of the present invention includes context generating means and interface means. The context generating means may include an operation execution setting information of the electric device as a name element defining an identifier of the electric device, a condition element defining a time when the execution should be performed, a mark including an operation element defining a kind of the operation, The context message is generated by expressing it in an up-language syntax. The interface means transmits the context message to the electric apparatus or an external system that controls the electric apparatus so that the electric apparatus is controlled by the operation execution setting information. In one embodiment, the context generating means generates the action execution setting information based on the electric device status information stored in the storage means, and generates the context message. In another embodiment, the context generation means receives the operation execution setting information from the storage means and generates the context message.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data processing method for a system, the system comprising: first, an electric device state information or an operation execution setting information; a name element indicating an identifier of the electric device; A context message represented by a markup language syntax including a condition element indicating a time at which execution should be performed and an operation element indicating a type of a state or an operation is generated. The system then analyzes the context message to determine the subsequent operation mechanism. According to the determined operation mechanism, the system notifies the external device of the electric device status information or controls the operation of the electric device according to the operation execution setting information.

More generally, according to the data processing method of the present invention, the data processing system first accepts context information for itself or an external device. The data processing system then determines a subsequent operation mechanism based on the context information, a naming element representing the identifier of the data processing system or external device associated with the operation mechanism, a condition element representing the time at which the operation should take place, And generates a context message expressed in a markup language syntax including an operation element indicating the type of the operation. Finally, the context message is analyzed and the operation is performed according to the operation mechanism or the context message is transmitted to the external system. The external system may be the external device or other system.

The data processing method of the present invention can be utilized for controlling an electric device at a remote location. In the control of the electric device, first, the operation execution setting information of the electric device is set to a name element for defining the identifier of the electric device, a condition element for defining the time when the execution is to be performed, an operation element for defining the type of the operation And generates a context message represented by the included markup language syntax. Then, the context message is transmitted to the electric device or an external system that controls the electric device, so that the electric device is controlled by the operation execution setting information. Instead of using predefined action execution setting information in generating the context message, the status information for the external device is received, a subsequent action mechanism is determined based on the abnormal condition information, and a context message is generated according to the determined action mechanism You may.

The data processing method of the present invention may be utilized for an electric device to report the status of itself or another device to an external system. Upon detecting the state information, the electric device includes the status information, a name element defining the identifier of the electric device, a time element defining the time when the status information is sensed, and a status element defining the type of the status information A context message expressed by a markup language syntax is generated and transmitted to the system to report the status information.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the data processing system of the present invention is implemented in a home gateway 10 for smart home to home automation.

The home gateway 10 is connected to various devices 80a to 80n in the home by, for example, an information communication device, a sensor, and a digital home appliance through a network so that the information communication device 90 can receive information service through the Internet And monitors the status of sensors and digital appliances in the house and controls the operation thereof. In addition, the home gateway can be connected to the external clients 90a and 90b via the wired / wireless Internet, thereby allowing the user to control and manage the domestic devices at a remote location.

In the following description, 'context' refers to status information provided from the premises devices 80a to 80n and user setting information provided through the premises client 90 or the external clients 90a and 90b, And a control message and a notification message newly generated by the home gateway 10 to control an external device or notify the external device. The home gateway 10 stores such a context in an internal database, and in some cases combines, processes, and processes previously stored contexts to create a new context. In addition, the home gateway 10 transmits a command for adapting to the newly received or generated context to one or more of the premises devices 80a to 80n so that the corresponding device operates according to the command.

2 shows a configuration of the home gateway 10 shown in FIG. The illustrated home gateway 10 mainly comprises a database 20, a device dispatcher 30, and a context management unit 40.

The database 20 includes a context table 22 and a device history table 24 and a device log table 26. The context table 22 stores a context that has already been coped with or should be dealt with in the future. The device history table 24 stores information on the device type, installation date and time, reset date and time, and device specification for each of the external devices 80a to 80n. The device log table 26 stores information on the history from which a context is received from each device or a control signal is transmitted to the device. The device history table 24 or the device log table 26 may be provided separately for each device.

The device dispatcher 30 receives the context from the external devices 80a to 80n and provides the context to the context management unit 40. [ In the preferred embodiment, the device dispatcher 30 refers to the storage information of the device history table 24 or, based on device information contained in itself or information received from the external devices 80a to 80n, And provides information on the transmitted external devices 80a to 80n to the context management unit 40 together with the context. The device dispatcher 30 also transmits command signals sent from the context management unit 40 to the external devices 80a to 80n so that the external devices 80a to 80n perform operations corresponding to the command signals.

In the context management unit 40, the command driving unit 42 operates as an interface with the device dispatcher 30. That is, the command driver 42 receives the context information from the device dispatcher 30, converts the format, and provides the context information to the context storage unit 48 so that the context storage unit 48 stores the context table 22 ). The command driving unit 42 generates a command signal for controlling the external devices 80a to 80n according to an instruction from the operation processing unit 54 and outputs the command signal to the device dispatcher 30. [

The position sensing unit 44 receives the context information from the command driving unit 42 and determines the position information of the mobile entity, e.g., the user, based on the received context information. In determining the position of the mobile entity, the position sensing unit 44 may use only one of the information about positions reported by the external devices 80a to 80n, or may combine a plurality of pieces of information. When the user location is determined, the location sensing unit 44 transmits the location information of the mobile entity to the context storage unit 48. The user recognition unit 46 receives the context information from the command driving unit 42 and recognizes the mobile object, for example, the user based on the received context information. Here, the recognition of the mobile entity may be a specification of the mobile entity specifically, or a determination of whether the mobile entity is entitled to receive the service. After recognizing the mobile entity, the user recognition section 46 transmits information on the mobile entity to the context storage section 48. The position sensing unit 44 and the user recognition unit 46 may be selectively provided, and may be omitted.

The context storage unit 48 stores context information received from the command driving unit 42 and position information and user information respectively output from the position sensing unit 44 and the user recognition unit 46 to the context table 22 ). The context storage unit 48 stores the context information in the database 20 and stores the status information provided from the premises devices 80a to 80n in the in-house client 90 or the external clients 90a and 90b. And a control message and a notification message newly generated by the home gateway 10 to control an external device or notify the external device, may be stored in a tabular form And may be stored in the form of a context message expressed in the HIML syntax as described later.

The context generation unit 50 uses the contexts stored in the context table 22 by the context storage unit 48 to define and classify the operations and data necessary for the next step, and generates a new context. At this time, the context generation unit 50 may replace the context stored in the context table 22 with a newly generated context. Although the context storage unit 48 and the context generation unit 50 are separately shown in Fig. 2, it should be noted that they may be integrated into one.

The decision unit 52 determines an operation mechanism for how to implement the new context generated by the context generation unit 50. [ That is, the decision unit 52 makes decisions on what external device to communicate with, what information to be transmitted to the external device, when and how to operate the external device, and the like.

When the decision unit 52 instructs to select a specific apparatus and control the operation of the apparatus, the operation processing unit 54 creates an execution plan for realizing the operation of the apparatus selected by the decision unit 52, The instruction driving section 42 generates a command signal for controlling the external apparatuses 80a to 80n and outputs the command signal to the device dispatcher 30 by giving an instruction to the command driving section 42 in accordance with the created execution plan.

On the other hand, when the decision unit 52 instructs the user client 90, 90a or 90b to transmit the information, the operation processing unit 54 sends the information instructed to be transmitted through the user interface unit 56 to the corresponding client send. In another embodiment of the present invention, the information to be transmitted to the external client may be directly provided to the user interface unit 56 by the decision unit 52 without passing through the operation processing unit 54. [

The user interface unit 56 converts the format of the device status information as requested by the decision unit 52 via the operation processing unit 54 or directly and transmits the format to the corresponding client. Conversely, the user interface unit 56 accepts the information received from the external clients 90, 90a, 90b, for example, a request to change the device setting state, and converts the format to the decision unit 52, (52) in the context table (22) of the database (52). Accordingly, the user can check the current state of the system at any time and anywhere on the external client 90, 90a, 90b and customize the setting information as desired by setting or adjusting several parameters, thereby efficiently and specifically Can be controlled.

The context management unit 40 shown in FIG. 2 uses a Human Interaction Markup Language (HIML), which is based on a markup language such as XML (eXtendable Markup Language) and displayed using a tag that is additionally introduced according to the present invention, . The grammar of HIML will be described later.

FIG. 3 shows the user interface unit 56 shown in FIG. 2 in detail. The HIML parsing unit 60 receives the information in the HIML format directly from the decision unit 52 or via the operation processing unit 54 and parses the syntax of the information. The command agent 62 converts the HIML carousel information into a predetermined standard format, for example, a UIML (User Interface Markup Lanuage) format based on the parsed result. Here, the conversion into the standard format differs depending on the type of the external clients 90, 90a, and 90b, because the file formats to be transmitted and received with the external clients 90, 90a, and 90b are different from each other, In the modified embodiment, this conversion operation may be omitted. Since UIML is not a core matter of the present invention, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The context conversion unit 64 converts the UIML format information into a form such as WML, HTML, or XHTML that can be output from the external clients 90, 90a, and 90b, and transmits the converted UIML format information to an external client. On the other hand, the command agent 62 receives information in a format such as WML, HTML, or XHTML received from the external clients 90, 90a, 90b through the context conversion unit 64, converts the received information into the UIML format, The HIML constructing unit 66 converts the UIML format information into the HIML format and transmits the converted UIML format information to the decision unit 52.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a document type definition of the HIML according to the present invention. The HIML is a markup language based on XML and is used as a basic format for exchanging information within the context management unit 40. [ The top-level model of HTML has context ("CONTEXT") elements. The main elements that make up the "CONTEXT" element are name ("NAME"), condition ("CONDITION"), action ("ACTION") and parameter ("PARAM"). The description ("DESCRIPTION"), category ("CATEGORY"), version ("VERSION") and date ("DATE") elements also belong to the context element as a means of describing the context specifically. The CONDITION element consists of a period (DURATION), a time ("ONTIME"), a previous ("BEFORE") and a subsequent ("AFTER" . Multiple condition ("CONDITION") elements may be used, but it is desirable to avoid overlapping the time range of each element to avoid ambiguity of the schedule.

5 shows a tree hierarchy structure of the HIML DTD. The time ("TIME") element represents a specific moment. Each sub-element of a condition ("CONDITION") element has a time ("TIME") element as a parameter. The duration ("DURATION") element indicates the period of time that an event occurs with the start ("BEGIN") and end ("END") elements. The action ("ACTION") element describes the action that the system performs when the current time is within the time range of the condition ("CONDITION") element, where a particular action is designated by an action ("OPERATION" Specific device is designated by a device ("DEVICE") element. This information is included in the parameter ("PARAM") element when the operation of the device requires certain configuration information in performing a task. The parameter ("PARAM") element contains information about the recipient of the service and information about the system resources used, information about the recipient is specified by a person ("PERSON & Is specified by a resource ("RESOURCE") element.

In one embodiment, such an HIML context message may be generated in the context management unit 40 between the context generation unit 50 and the decision unit 52, between the decision unit 52 and the operation processing unit 54, And is used for exchanging context information between the unit 52 and the operation processing unit 54 and the user interface unit 56. [ However, in the modified embodiment of this embodiment, the context information stored in the context table 22 of the database 20 may also be stored in this message format. In this case, the position sensing unit 44 and the user recognition unit 46 may be connected to the command driving unit 42 and the context storage unit 48. In this case, ).

Figure 6 shows an example of a HIML context message, which is a message informing the upcoming Elizabeth birthday. The "NAME" element indicates that this context message is a birthday notification service, and the condition ("CONDITION") element indicates that the birthday notification context is 13:30 on April 10, 2004 and 13:30 on April 13, 2004 Minute, and April 15, 2004, Elizabeth's birthday, is activated throughout the day. And the action ("OPERATION") element that is a sub-element of the action ("ACTION") element defines the notification of the birthday to the PDA. Finally, the resource ("RESOURCE") element and the person ("PERSON") element, which are sub-elements of the parameter ("PARAM") element, define to provide Elizabeth with a music file called "Birthday.mp3".

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. For example, in the above description, it is described that the user interface unit 56 is included in the context management unit 40, but these may be implemented as separate modules. In addition, the device dispatcher 30 and the command driving unit 42 may be integrated into one, and the context storing unit 48 and the context generating unit 50 may also be integrated.

The control signal or the status information signal which the command driver 42 sends and receives to and from the external devices 80a to 80n via the device dispatcher 30 may be a simple signal but may be in the HIML context message format described above . In addition, in the modified embodiment, the context-based data processing apparatus may transmit and receive information in the HIML context message format with other context-based data processing apparatuses located outside.

The case where the context management unit 40 controls the premises devices 80a to 80n according to the context information or provides the context information to the external clients 90a and 90b through the user interface unit 56 The context management unit 40 stores the status information on the premises devices 80a to 80n in addition to the premises devices 80a to 80n and the user clients 90a and 90b You can also report to an external system. In addition, the process of reporting the electric device state information by the markup language based context may be performed by the home devices 80a to 80n itself, not by the home gateway 10. Also, as described above, the method of controlling the electric device at a remote location by expressing the context by the markup language may be performed by an external system other than the in-house device such as the home gateway 10.

On the other hand, the data processing apparatus and method of the present invention have been described above with the electric device state information notification and control process as the center. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can be widely used for general remote meter reading and remote control. Furthermore, the context display and data processing based on the markup language schema according to the present invention can be applied to various application fields such as Human Intelligence, Human Emotion or context aware middleware, and the context can be expressed by a markup language, It is contemplated that all devices, systems, and methods that utilize the spirit of the invention to control or guide the operation of the device or to convey status information are within the scope of the present invention.

It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the detailed description and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents are to be construed as being included within the scope of the present invention do.

As described above, the present invention displays various types of contexts in a systematic form of a context message, and determines and performs a subsequent operation mechanism based on the context message. Context-based data processing can be performed in a unified manner regardless of the service environment. In particular, even if the service environment is changed, even if the device for control is enlarged or changed, for example, It has the advantage of being adaptable. In particular, since the context message is based on the markup language, it is easy for the user or the developer to understand it and can be easily applied to various application fields.

Claims (20)

Device interface means for receiving the electric device state information and transmitting a control signal for controlling the operation of the electric device; Storage means for storing the electric device state information and operation execution setting information; Decision and execution means for analyzing the state information and the setting information to determine a subsequent operation mechanism; A status element indicating an identifier of the electric device, a condition element indicating a time when the status information is generated or a time at which the execution is to be performed, an operation indicating a type of the status or operation Context generating means for generating a context message by expressing the context message in a markup language syntax including an element; And External interface means for notifying the external device of the status information and receiving the setting information from the external device; Wherein the device interface means receives the status information in the form of the context message expressed in the markup language syntax and transmits the control signal. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, And stores the status information and the setting information in the form of the context message expressed by the markup language syntax. delete 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the external interface means And notifies the external device of the status information in the form of the context message expressed in the markup language syntax. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the external interface means And converting the context message into a message form receivable by the external apparatus and transmitting the converted message to the external apparatus. The operation execution setting information of the electric device is expressed by a markup language syntax including a name element defining an identifier of the electric device, a condition element defining a time when the execution should be performed, and an operation element defining a kind of the operation Context generating means for generating a context message; And Interface means for transmitting the imaginary context message expressed by the markup language syntax to the electric device or an external system for controlling the electric device so that the electric device is controlled by the operation execution setting information; And the data processing system. The method according to claim 6, Storage means for storing status information of the electric device; Wherein the context generation means generates the operation execution setting information based on the state information stored in the storage means and expresses the operation execution setting information in the markup language syntax including the name element, the condition element and the operation element, A data processing system for generating a message. The method according to claim 6, Storage means for storing the electric appliance operation execution setting information; Wherein the context generation means receives the operation execution setting information from the storage means and expresses the operation execution setting information in the markup language syntax including the name element, the condition element, and the operation element, system. (a) an electric device status information or operation execution setting information, which includes a name element indicating an identifier of the electric device, a condition element indicating a time when the status information is generated or a time at which the execution is to be performed, Generating a context message represented by a markup language syntax including an element; (b) analyzing the context message to determine a subsequent operation mechanism; And (c) notifying the external device of the electric device status information according to the determined operation mechanism or controlling the operation of the electric device according to the operation execution setting information; Based data processing method. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein in the step (c) And converting the context message into a message format receivable by the external device and transmitting the context message to the external device. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein in the step (c) And transmitting the electric device state information to the external device in the form of the context message expressed by the markup language syntax. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein in the step (c) Generating a control signal for controlling the operation of the electric device according to the operation execution setting information, and transmitting the generated control signal to the electric device. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein in the step (c) And transmitting the context message expressed in the markup language syntax to the electric device so that the electric device operates in accordance with the condition element and the operation element. A data processing method in a data processing system operating in conjunction with an external system, (a) receiving context information for the data processing system or an external device; (b) a naming element for determining a subsequent operation mechanism based on the context information and indicating an identifier of the data processing system or external device associated with the operation mechanism, a condition element indicating a time when the operation should be performed, Generating a context message represented by a markup language syntax including an action element representing a context element; And (c) analyzing the context message, performing the operation according to the operation mechanism or transmitting the context message to the external system; Based data processing method. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the external system is the external device. CLAIMS 1. A method for controlling an electrical device at a remote location, (a) an operation execution setting information of the electric device, comprising: a name element that defines an identifier of the electric device; a condition element that defines a time at which the execution is to be performed; and an operation element that defines a type of the operation Generating a context message expressed in a language syntax; And (b) transmitting the context message to the electric apparatus or an external system that controls the electric apparatus, so that the electric apparatus is controlled by the operation execution setting information; Based on the result of the comparison. 17. The method according to claim 16, wherein before the step (a) Receiving status information of the electric device and storing the status information in a predetermined storage means; Wherein in the step (a), the operation execution setting information is generated based on the state information stored in the storage means and is expressed in the markup language syntax including the name element, the condition element, and the operation element, And generating a context message. 17. The method according to claim 16, wherein before the step (a) Storing the electric appliance operation execution setting information in a predetermined storage means; Wherein in the step (a), the operation execution setting information is received from the storage means and is expressed by the markup language syntax including the name element, the condition element, and the operation element to generate the context message Device control method. (a) receiving status information on an external device; (b) determining a subsequent operation mechanism based on the status information, determining a name element indicating an identifier of the external apparatus according to the determined operation mechanism, a condition element indicating a time when the operation is to be performed, Generating a context message represented by a markup language syntax including an element; And (c) transmitting the context message to the external apparatus or an external system that controls the external apparatus, so that the external apparatus is controlled according to the operation mechanism; And a context-based device control method. A method for reporting a state of an electrical device to an external system, (a) detecting state information of the electric device; (b) a markup language syntax including a name element defining an identifier of the electric device, a time element defining a time at which the status information is sensed, and a status element defining a type of the status information, Generating an expressed context message; And (c) transmitting the context message to an external system to report the status information; Wherein the marking language-based electrical device status reporting method comprises:

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