Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/28—Data switching networks characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks]
  • H04L12/2803—Home automation networks
  • H04L12/2807—Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network
  • H04L12/2814—Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/28—Data switching networks characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks]
  • H04L12/2803—Home automation networks
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/50—Network services
  • H04L67/51—Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/28—Data switching networks characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks]
  • H04L12/2803—Home automation networks
  • H04L12/283—Processing of data at an internetworking point of a home automation network
  • H04L12/2836—Protocol conversion between an external network and a home network
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/28—Data switching networks characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks]
  • H04L12/2803—Home automation networks
  • H04L2012/2847—Home automation networks characterised by the type of home appliance used
  • H04L2012/2849—Audio/video appliances
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
  • H04L69/30—Definitions, standards or architectural aspects of layered protocol stacks
  • H04L69/32—Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
  • H04L69/322—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions
  • H04L69/329—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a communication system to make possible for users to manage and utilize telecommunication and data services accessible over public network, in a home network with at least one user terminal, and a corresponding procedure to make possible management and utilization of such services.
• the development towards a full scale information society is rapid.
• One of the consequences of this is that a growing share of the households will, in a short time, demand an infra structure which supports this development. Brokerage, distribution and management of services will grow. Efficient management of information flows to, from, and in the home environment will at that be required to make possible a plurality of new services and combination of services in the home. Examples of such services can be uniform management of different messages, telephony and telephone services, web browsing services etc.
• the aim of the present invention is to effect a tool for the home user to facilitate dynamic management and use of telecommunication and data services.
• management and use is meant the whole process from when a service is detected, via installation and use, until the service is uninstalled.
• This aim is achieved by a communication system and a procedure of the kind mentioned by way of introduction with in the patent claims 1 respective 14 given characteristics.
• a platform for services is achieved which communicate to, from, or within the home, over access network, home network or both these two networks.
• the system is suitably run by a service operator and the services are suitably provided by a service provider.
• the service platform for communicating services is best based on a world standard, which at present is under preparation by OSGi, Open Gateway Service initiative.
• the communication system can be implemented in existing telecommunication systems and consequently constitutes an interface between serves in the public network, which distribute services, and the, in the broadband connected home, arranged home network.
• the system according to the invention consequently gives the user himself/herself possibility to, for instance, select and configure the services which are offered via the in the public network arranged service servers.
• a home network is connected to an information gateway, which manages all communication to and from the home, for instance between access networks and home networks and all communication between devices in the home. All external communication consequently is managed by this gateway and all .applications and necessary memory capacity are in this. This opens quite new possibilities to effect and provide services .
• a service selector is arranged to form a management interface for services on said service platform.
• This service selector is an application to assist the customer to locate, examine, select, install, configure, use and uninstall services on the platform.
• the service selector shows an access page for offered services and a home page for installed services and devices, and an interaction surface.
• the service selector then visualizes service installation respective uninstallation by in different steps move the graphical object which represents the service, from access page to home page.
• this graphical interface differs from an ordinary web page, where the graphical objects are fixed and not dynamically connected to the objects which constitute the interaction interface/interfaces of the service.
• the service selector includes a Jini-browser .
• the main advantage of such a one is that terminals, devices and services are provided with homogeneous interfaces .
• Jini-technology further electronic devices and services can be configured automatically. They can without previous knowledge about a system (environment) be connected to this and utilize already connected devices and services and the Jini- technology keeps the system continuously updated regarding available/accessible resources.
• a unit is arranged to, to each service, arrange a specific interface and that a look-up service unit is arranged to load down and make the interface accessible to service in question.
• Jini- technology electronic devices and services can be configured automatically. They can without previous knowledge about a system (environment) be connected to this and utilize already connected devices and services.
• said information gateway and service platform are implemented in a group access server. A plurality of apartments or houses can share such a group access server, which will reduce the costs, both for purchase, installation and administration. Common services in the house/housing area can be placed in the same server and be administered together with other services.
• the service platform is with advantage standardized, and services are provided to users via standardized web interfaces. The service platform is administered by the owner of the group server. Examples of services can be supervision services, booking of common resources, and different types of home control and energy saving services.
• a virtual subnetwork is created in the access network for each user to, for identification, allocate to a terminal or device on the subnetwork a reserved IP-number at set up.
• an access network where a plurality of households share a group access server, mechanisms are needed for identification of which terminals that belong to respective household.
• virtual subnetworks can be created in the access network for each apartment. In this way the identification problem is solved in an advantageous way in the cases the service platform in question is located in the access network instead of locally at the user in his/her apartment .
• said home network includes one or more of the networks: Electric mains, wireless communication network, telecommunication network, Ethernet- connection, communication network according to the standard IEEE 1394.
• Electric mains for simple services, such as automation and control services in the home, existing electric mains or wireless communication network will be good enough.
• the telephone network or specific Ethernet-connection can be used.
• technologies such as the standard IEEE 1394 can be used.
• FIG. 1 shows an example of the infrastructure which is needed for realization of the invention
• FIG. 1 illustrates the function of the system in Figure 1
• FIG 3 and 4 illustrates and example of embodiment of the system according to the invention with a common group access server for a plurality of households (houses/apartments) .
• the in Figure 1 shown example of embodiment includes a home network 2 of broadband type to which a number of user terminals 4 are connected.
• a so called residential gateway 6 controls communication between the home network 2 and an access network 8.
• the by said residential gateway 6 run infrastructure serves as platform 10, the RG-platform, for services which communicate to, from, or within, the home, over access network 8, home network 2, or both these networks.
• the by residential gateway 6 run service platform 10 consequently serves as run-time platform for current, delivered services.
• a service selector which is an application to help the user to locate, examine, select, install, configure, use and uninstall services, offers a management interface for services on the residential gateway run infrastructure.
• the service selector mediates communication between access 8 and home network 2 , and this state of things is reflected graphically in the service selector by it showing two pages, one for offered services, that is, an access page, and one for installed services and devices, that is, a home page, plus an interaction surface.
• the service selector visualizes service installation and uninstallation by in different steps move the graphical objects which represent the service from access page to home page.
• the specific about this graphical interface which makes it different from an ordinary web page, is that said graphical objects are directly connected to the objects which constitute the interaction interface/interfaces of the service.
• the in Figure 1 shown system further includes a residential gateway portal 12, RG-portal, which forms a platform 14 for the service provider' s services and which distributes the services to residential gateway 6 and the run-time platform 10.
• the access network 8 includes at least one IP- connection and one telephone connection at the same time.
• the home network 2 can be designed in different ways. For simple services, such as automation and control services for the household, wireless connection or even electric power cable can serve as home network. Data carrying services need higher transmission speeds, which may require some kind of separate twisted pair cable, such as telephone wire/cable, separate Ethernet-connection or via radio.
• Jini- technology is utilized with advantage.
• Jini is a Java-based technology to achieve distributed service provision, DSP, at which the communication is based on IP-protocol.
• Jini makes possible for electronic devices and services, in the following only called services, to configure automatically.
• the services consequently can, without previous knowledge about a system or an environment, connect to this and utilize already connected services.
• Each service has an interface, which identifies the type of offered service, the graphical user interface, if any such exists, and controls interaction with the service, that is, how to communicate with it.
• the central part consists of a look-up service, which loads down the interface/interfaces of the services and at request makes them accessible.
• a Jini- adapted device When a Jini- adapted device is plugged into the network, this is recorded in the look-up service and services, and the resources which are offered are immediately accessible for use.
• the Jiri-adapted device in question will control which other resources are accessible/available in the network. If, for instance, a web camera is plugged into a new network, there are investigated which services that are accessible for use. Because a possible service is to take photos, the services can be to store on disk and to print.
• the big advantage with Jini is that terminals, devices and services are provided with homogeneous interfaces which express ability and functionality. Jini also keeps the system updated all the time regarding available/accessible resources.
• the Jini-objects are also "jinified”.
• the following can be offered to the user:
• IP-gateway and PSTN-gateway the user can have a plurality of PCs connected to Internet.
• Each member of a household can have his/her own personal, uniform, message mailbox for telefax, E-mail and voice messages.
• Different persons in the same household can have different message mail boxes with different configurations etc.
• personal information service can be offered.
• FIG 2 is illustrated schematically an example of service management at the system in Figure 1.
• the management means brokerage of services from "access broker”, access services from an "access provider”, and services between access provider, service provider in Figure 2, and "end user” in Figure 2.
• the service broker in Figure 2 has three kinds of customers, namely end users, service providers and access providers.
• the service provider produces services for the user.
• the access provider provides network communication between service provider, service broker and user.
• the service provider can have a platform where he/she can load down and process information and programs in a controlled environment. Billing can be done externally as can user support, program updating, configuration, installation and uninstallation of services, etc.
• the invention implies the advantage that the residential gateway generated traffic easily can be routed to selected access provider, who consequently is offered more traffic.
• the service broker of course can in practice very well be the residential gateway provider.
• residential gateway 6 is located where the broadband access network 8 reaches the home, that is, normally there is such a residential gateway in each apartment.
• Figures 3 and 4 are illustrated an alternative embodiment, at which a group access server 16 is arranged for a plurality of apartments. By a plurality of apartments in this way sharing the server 16, the costs per apartment will be reduced, both for purchase, installation and administration.
• the group access server 16 is arranged in the access network 18 and provides standardized service platform, memory capacity and processor power. A condition is that the apartments have a broadband connection, for instance of Ethernet-type, or of other kind.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
• Data Exchanges In Wide-Area Networks (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=20279750

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Cited By (3)

Citations (4)

• 2000
  • 2000-05-19 SE SE0001868A patent/SE0001868D0/xx not_active Application Discontinuation
• 2001
  • 2001-05-18 WO PCT/SE2001/001149 patent/WO2001091434A1/en not_active Ceased

Patent Citations (4)

Non-Patent Citations (6)

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