A method for automatically interfacing a communication terminal with objects
Field of the invention
The invention relates to the field of the interaction between a communication
terminal and physical objects through a communication network.
Background
The invention notably relates to the internet of objects and more precisely to
the so-called "Web Of Things" which consists in transforming the physical objects in
resources available through the web. The physical object may communicate through
the Web. For instance, communication terminals, televisions, advertising boards,
lamps, household appliances can communicate through the internet.
One application of this architecture is, for a user, to interact through a
communication terminal and through the internet with the physical objects. Such a
terminal may be a personal computer, a notebook, a cellphone such as a
"Smartphone".
Such mechanisms are notably described in works concerning the "Web of
Things". See for instance, the paper "Towards the Web of Things: Web Mashup for
Embedded Devices" by D. Guinard and V. Trifa in Proc. 2nd Workshop on Mashups,
Enterprises Mashups and Lightweight Composition on the Web (MEMΌ 9), 2009.
Those works aim at allowing the consideration of physical objects as
available resources for applications in order to enlarge the interaction possibilities
between a user and physical objects through his communication terminal.
Summary
In an embodiment, the invention provides a method for interfacing a
communication terminal connected to a communication network with object devices,
comprising the steps of:
- determining required services of an application executable from the communication
terminal,
- determining services provided by a plurality of objects devices connected to the
communication network,
- comparing the required services to the provided services so as to determine a
missing service required by the application,
- determining an upgradable object device among the plurality of object devices for a
missing service, the upgradable object device belonging to an object type having a
hardware capability associated to said missing service,
- searching a software resource repository for a software module adapted so as to be
downloaded to the upgradable object device to enable the upgradable object device
to provide the missing service,
- triggering a transfer of the software module from the software resource database to
the upgradable object device.
According to embodiments, such device can comprise one or more of the
features below.
In embodiments of the method, the required services are determined on the
basis of a description of the application including identifications of the services
required by the application.
In embodiments of the method, the method further comprises an initial step
of generating the description of the application and the associated identifications of
the services required by the application as a function of a user's selection of a service
and/or a predefined application.
In embodiments of the method, the generation of a description comprises a
step of accessing a services database and/or predefined applications database, the
selection of a service and/or an predefined application being made on the basis of
the services and/or predefined applications included in the services and/or
predefined applications database.
In embodiments of the method, the generation of the description comprises
a step of generating a logic description in the application description as a function of
a logic determined by the user which describes the relations between services and/or
predefined applications for the execution of the application.
In embodiments of the method, the step of generating a description of the
application comprises a step of identifying a service required by the predefined
application as a function of the interface point of the internal application.
In embodiments of the method, a software module is associated to the
application in the initial step of generating description of the application and stored
on the communication terminal, the searching of the software module being made in
the communication terminal.
In embodiments of the method, the step of determining the required services
further comprises a step of accessing an object description comprising indications on
the services provided by the object, the determination of the provided services being
made on the basis of the indications on the provided services of the object
description.
In embodiments of the method, the determination of an upgradable object
comprises:
a step of accessing an object description of a plurality of object device, the object
description comprising an indication on the type of a respective object,
a step of identifying a type of object device needed as a function of the missing
service and
a step of selecting an object device as a function of the type of object needed and the
indications on the type of object, the triggering of the transfer being made to the
selected object device.
In embodiments of the method, the method further comprises:
a step of determining a second set of object devices after the first set of object
devices,
a step of determining an outdated object device as an object device which is
comprised in the first set of object devices but absent in the second set of object
devices, and
a step of triggering the uninstalling of the software module from the outdated object
device.
In embodiments of the method, the software module search step is made in
a software resource repository which is external to the communication terminal and
connected to the communication network.
In embodiments of the method, the search step is made in a software
resource repository which is integrated to the communication terminal and the
software module is associated to the application.
In embodiments of the method, the method further comprises a step of
determining a set of object devices connected to the communication network as a
function of the communication terminal localization and wherein the determination of
the services provided by a plurality of objects devices is made on said set of object
devices.
In an embodiment, the invention also provides a computer program
comprising computer-executable instructions that perform the above-mentioned
method when executed.
The invention originates from the observation that the objects cannot easily
change or evolve to integrate new services, especially as a function of the user e.g. at
the user's initiative. For instance, when an application cannot match the services it
requires with the objects in its environment, it cannot apply its logic to the objects and
therefore cannot fulfill its tasks. Therefore, when the objects present in the user's
environment change, for instance when the user is moving from a place to another
place, the continuity of the service may not be provided for the application as some of
the services may become unavailable.
Therefore, an idea on which the invention is based is to provide a method
which consists in detecting in the objects of the users environment the missing services
which are needed to launch an application, and automatically update the objects so
as the previously missing services become available in order to insure the operability
of the application. Therefore, the method allows to dynamically deal with changes in
the user's environment by providing missing required services to the objects so as to
make an application operational.
Brief description of the drawings
These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and
elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter, by way of
example, with reference to the drawings.
Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a general architecture of a system
in which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented.
Figures 2 to 4 are schematic representations of successive points in time
each time in two distinctive places when a method according to an embodiment of
the invention is employed on a communication terminal.
Figures 5 is a flowchart illustrating the method employed in figures 2 to 4 .
Detailed description of the embodiments
Figure 1 illustrates a communication terminal 1 controlled by a user 13 and
connected to a network 2. More precisely, the communication terminal 1 comprises a
communication interface 3 which allows it to communicate with the network 2. The
communication terminal 1 may be a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone i.e. a
smartphone or a notebook, and the communication interface 3 may then be a radio
interface, i.e. Wifi, 3G, LTE, etc.
A plurality of physical objects 4 , especially a television 14 and a lamp 15,
are connected to the communication network 2. For that purpose, the physical objects
4 also comprise communication interfaces 5 connected to the network 2 through an
interface device which is built directly in the physical objects 4 . Alternatively, an
interface device may form a gateway between a plurality of physical objects 4 and the
communication network 2.
The physical objects 4 may be of different nature. For instance, the physical
objects 4 may be devices such as advertisement boards, televisions, lamps,
household appliances, communication terminals, fridges, cameras, media drives,
information displays etc. These physical objects 4 may be present in the user's home
but also in public environments or other locations, for instance the user's workplace.
The communication network 2 is generally a composite network that may
comprise different kinds of networks e.g. a private wired network, a public network, a
radio network etc.
The physical objects 4 offer a plurality of services 8 via their network
interface 5 . A service 8 is a function offered by a physical object 4 which is available
through the "web of things" and therefore may be used or activated through the
user's terminal 1 or by another physical object 4 . For instance, the Television 14 may
offer several services 8 comprising changing of the channel, changing the luminance,
changing the volume, displaying a picture o r a videostream, etc. With this panel of
services it is possible to remotely control the Television.
Similarly, the lamp 15 provides services. For instance, the lamp provides a
switch-on/switch-off service. Furthermore, the lamp 15 comprises hardware 6 able to
change the light and the color of the lamp 15 . The switch-on/switch-off service is
enabled by the capability of the lamp 15 to change the light. More precisely, a
switch-on/switch-off module 17 enables turning the lamp 15 on or off based on
instructions emitted by the user's terminal 1. However, even if the lamp 15 already
integrates a switch-on/switch -off module providing a switch-on/switch-off service, the
lamp 15 may further evolve to propose new services.
For that purpose, each physical object comprises an extension module 7.
This extension module 7 comprises an information storage in which a software
module may be stored. When stored on a physical object, a software module allows
the physical object 4 to provide a new service. The new service is accessible to the
user's terminal 1 through the interfacing between the user's terminal 1 and an
interface point of the software module.
For instance, the software module may be a software module allowing the
interaction between an external object, such as the user terminal 1, with the hardware
6 of a respective physical object 4 . For that purpose, on a first end the software
module comprises an interface points which allows receiving and/or emitting a
datastream from or to an interface point of the user's terminal 1, or from or to an
interface point of another physical object 4 . O n the other end the software module
provides commands and/or receives data from the hardware 6 of the physical object
4 .
A specific example of a new service that may be implemented in the lamp
15 is a blink service. This blink service makes the lamp 15 blink at a specific
sequence of "on" and "off". Therefore, a software module may be installed on the
information storage of the lamp 15, and provide the blink service on demand. This
service allows the lamp to provide new capabilities or functionalities associated to its
hardware. However, another kind of service may also be data stored in the object 6.
The communication terminal 1 comprises a user interface which allows the
user to execute and/or create applications stored in a storage device of the
communication terminal 1.
Each application needs one or more service 8 provided by the physical
objects 4 to fulfill its tasks. Therefore, when the application is executed or active, the
user's terminal 1 communicates with the physical objects 4 and employs the offered
services notably through the software modules of the physical objects 4 . For instance,
when executed, a "turn on the lamp" application requires the use of the switchon/
switch-off module of the lamp.
However, the services required by the application may not be initially
available on the physical objects 4 present in the user's environment.
Indeed, the required services may not have been expected in the
manufacturing phase of the physical object 4 . Therefore, in order to interface the
application with the surrounding physical objects 4 so as to be able to execute said
application, the communication terminal 1 is able to initiate the implementation of an
additional software module in one of the appropriate physical object 4 in which the
required service is lacking.
As a specific example, the user's terminal comprises an "ambilight"
application. When executed in an environment with the lamp 15 and the television
14, the ambilight application makes the lamp 15 communicating with the television
14, in a transparent way, for calculating the dominant color of the picture of the
television 15 when the user watch a movie on this television 15. The lamp 15
changes then the color of the user environment according to the dominant color.
However, the above mentioned lamp 15 does not initially offer a service that
provides a functionality of changing the light color as a function of the screen
dominant color, as well as a functionality that provides a physical object to physical
object communication which will initiate the communication the dominant color from
the television 14 to the lamp 15.
Therefore, the communication terminal 1 automatically implements a
software module in the lamp 15 which will enable to provide this ambilight service to
the ambilight application. More precisely the software module will communicate with
the television 14 in order to receive a datastream comprising the dominant color.
With the dominant color, the software module will give instructions to the hardware 6
to change the color of the lamp 15 accordingly.
This implementation may be made at the moment of the execution of the
application. Alternatively, the implementation may be achieved as a background
protocol which continuously upgrades the physical object 4 so as to enable the
execution of the application in the user's terminal 1 in its environment.
The automatic implementation of the required services in the physical objects
4 enables a continuity of the operation of an active application when the user's
environment changes.
In order to manage and create applications, the communication terminal 1
comprises an Activity Creation Module 20 (AC-M) and an Activity Management
Module 2 1 (AM-M).
The Activity Creation Module 20 allows the user to create extended
applications, also called oriented activities that will use one or more object's services
and may also use applications when executed. The creation of such an extended
application allows the user to organize several applications and services in one same
extended application. This extended application may be executed as a background
application on an extended period of time.
More precisely, an extended application is a meta-data package which may
contain applications references, a logic description and at least one service extension.
The logic description specifies the logical relations between the applications
and the services extensions in the extended application.
A service extension makes references to a service to be used in the
surrounding physical objects 4 and may be for instance associated to an application
programming interface (API) which corresponds to a software interface which will
allow the application to communicate with the physical objects 4 through the interface
points.
In other words, the extended application corresponds to a services profile
which indicates the necessary services in order to execute the application and
comprises a logic that organizes the services and applications. The service extensions
are identified by their semantic description.
The user 13 creates the extended application by adding one or several
applications and/or one or several services extension.
The service extensions may be found by queering an extension database 10
and the applications may be retrieved in an application database 9 which may be
external to the user's terminal 1. When an application is retrieved from the
application database 9, services extensions are added to the oriented activity and
linked to the application according to the needs of the application i.e. the interface
point of the respective application. More precisely, these needs may be indicated by a
semantic description of the respective application, and the appropriate service
extensions may be identified by the user's terminal from the extension database 10
according to these needs.
During the creation of the oriented activity, the user 13 may orchestrate the
execution of the called applications and services by configuring a logical scheme that
will organize the services and the application as expected by the user during its
execution.
For instance, in figure 3, an application 53 comprises three service
extensions Fl , F2 and F3, and one application Al which are interrelated by logical
relations II , 12, 13.
The Activity Management Module 2 1 enables the user 13 to access and
execute the extended applications. Therefore, the Activity Management Module 2 1
allows the user to manually execute an extended application or executes
automatically the extended application as a function of the current time. In other
words, the extended application may be automatically activated by the
communication terminal 1 when the current time is in a specified timeslot predefined
by the user through the Activity management module 2 1. Moreover, several extended
application may be active at a same time.
The Activity Management Module 2 1 retrieves the extended applications
which are for instance created by the user in an internal database 12 of the
communication terminal 1 or accesses it by querying a remote database 11. In the
case of a remote database 11, when the application is selected, the application is
downloaded and stored on the communication terminal 1.
In order to control the execution of the extended applications, the
communication terminal 1 further comprises an execution module 22 (EXE-M) which
ensures the execution and the organization of the applications and the services
according to the services extensions and of the extended application and according to
the respective control logic of the extended applications.
For the purpose of upgrading the appropriate physical objects 4 of the user
environment so as to enable the execution of the extended applications, the
communication terminal 1 comprises a object overview module 18 (OFO-M), and a
missing services collector module 19 ( MFC-M).
The object overview module 18 analyses the environment of the user 13 in
order to list a set of available physical objects 4 in this environment and determine
the services offered by these physical objects 4 .
An external database may reference the available physical objects 4. This
database can associate the objects 4 and their geographical position. For instance,
the database can contain data associating the identifier of the physical objects 4 with
their characteristics, state, hardware capabilities, provided services, type of object and
geographical position. These data are stored as a description associated to each
physical object 4. The description is for instance in XML language and may also be
called a semantic description. Notably, the geographical position may be latitude and
longitude coordinates. The set of physical objects 4 may be determined dynamically
by the localization of the communication terminal 1. In other words, the computing
means in the terminal 1 may continuously refresh, through a background protocol
the set of physical objects 4 as a function of the localization of the communication
terminal 1.
The object overview module 18 determines the missing services in the set of
physical objects 4 according to a list of offered services in the environment
determined by the Object overview module 18.
The missing services collector module 19 then implements software modules
enabling the provision of the required services on the appropriate physical objects 4.
The software modules are provided from the service extension database 10 or from a
local database.
Figures 2 to 4 illustrate the state of the physical objects 4 and
communication terminals 1 and 52 in several successive moments in two separate
places. During these successive moments, the operation's continuity of extended
applications 53 and 54 is enabled by the automatic implementation of software
modules.
Figure 2 corresponds to an initial state in the two different places. Each
place corresponds to a logical identification of a set of neighboring physical objects
4 :
A first place 50 corresponding to the user's living room comprises three
different physical objects 4 : a video camera O l , a Television 0 2 and a Hi-Fi system
03.
A second place 5 1 corresponding to the user's kitchen comprises two
different physical objects 4 : a baby phone 0 4 and a screen on a fridge 05.
In this initial state a set of services are already available from the several
physical objects 4 present in the two places and are illustrated by the schematized
circles. For instance, the television 0 2 offers two different services schematized by two
different patterns, the X pattern corresponding to a ShowVideoStream services 55.
In figure 3, a user Ul arrives at the first place 50 and activates a video call
application 53, which is an extended application, by means of the communication
terminal 1. The video call application 53 makes a video call using the surrounding
physical objects 4 with an automatic capture of the minutes, and the displaying of the
videocall on a screen as a function of the behavior of the user 13. Especially, when
the user looks into the direction of the television 02, the video call is displayed on the
television 02. This application 52 contains three services extensions Fl , F2, F3 that
indicate the services to be provided by the surrounding physical objects 4 that will
affect their behavior or state.
More precisely, Fl corresponds to a speechToText function that requires the
provision of the minutes as a function of the soundtrack. F2 corresponds to a
"presence sensor" function and may be fulfilled by an eyeTracking service allowing a
physical object recording a video to monitor the attention of the user and the
direction of his field of view. F3 indicates a function requiring the video call to be
broadcasted to a screen of a physical object 4.
The service extensions Fl , F2 and F3 are preferably associated in the
extended application semantic description to semantic values. The object overview
module 18 of the user's terminal 1 analyses the surrounding physical objects 4 in
order to determine if the objects provide services matching the service extensions of
the application or equivalents services by comparing the semantic values of the
service extensions and the services provided by the surrounding objects.
An association of a service extension and a provided service can be made
when the corresponding semantic value of the provided services and required
services present an important semantic correlation.
The semantic values may be the identifier of the service or complementary
keywords. Therefore, the correlation may be made directly on the identifier of the
service or complementary keywords associated to the service. Similarly, the
correlation can be based on the identifier of the service extension or on keywords
associated to the service extension. For instance, the association can be made if the
service extension and the provided services present an identical Keyword or identifier.
However, other methods may be employed and can take into account the
fact that a semantic value may be more generalized than another. For instance the
service may have a "display picture" semantic value and the application may have a
"display photograph" semantic description. Such correlations may be then detected
by the user's terminal 1 which then associates of the application with the respective
physical object 4 . A correlation may also be detected by the user's terminal when two
semantic values are synonyms.
It may also be required to make a finer correlation. For that purpose, the
computation means of the communication terminal 1 may use an ontology. This
ontology may be accessible on the web, or can be local. The ontology may evolve to
integrate new services, new evolutions and new devices. The use of an ontology
allows to correlate similar concepts: for instance "scintillate" may be correlated with
"blink".
Turning back to the example, only the television 0 2 provides one of the
required services, which is the ShowVideoStream service 55. As two services are
missing in the environment corresponding to the first place 50, the missing services
56 and 57 are retrieved from a database, in order to guarantee the execution of the
application. Alternatively, the software modules are directly packaged into the activity
as a software package.
The appropriate software modules corresponding to missing services 56 and
57 are installed onto the appropriated physical objects 4 by the missing services
collector module 19 so as to offer the required services: speechToText service 56 is
installed onto the Hifi System 0 3 and an EyeTracking service 57 is installed onto the
video camera O l .
The execution module 22 then executes the video call application 53
according its control logic.
In figure 4, the user Ul has moved to the second place 5 1 while its video
call application 53 is still active. The user's environment and more precisely the
surrounding objects have completely changed.
Therefore, the object overview module 18 and the missing services collector
module 19 fulfill the automatic update of the surrounding objects 0 4 and 05. The
object overview module 18 identifies that the service extension F2 is already available
by object 05.
The missing services collector module 19 installs the missing services Fl and
F3 onto the two objects 0 4 and 05. The application can therefore continue its tasks
and therefore the continuity of the application is insured.
Meanwhile, a second user U2 arrived at the first place 50 and uses a
application 54 that comprises the service extensions F2, F4 and F5. The service
extension F2 requires the service 57, the service extension F4 requires the service 59
and the service extension F5 requires the service 58. Therefore, the object overview
module 18 identifies that the service required by service extensions F5 and F2 are
already available on the objects O l and 02. However, the service required by the
service extension F4 is absent from the surrounding physical object O l , 0 2 and 03.
The missing services collector module 19 installs the missing service 59 onto the
object O l . Therefore, the application 54 takes advantage of the previously installed
software modules gained through the video call application 53 of the first user Ul as
it uses the service 57 added by the communication terminal 1 for the video call
application 53.
In embodiments the installed software modules can be automatically
uninstalled from an updated object of a place after the user has left the place. For
that purpose the communication terminal 1 determines outdated physical objects
which are not in his environment anymore and on which a software was installed,
and then triggers the uninstall of the software module. Alternatively the physical
object 4 may automatically uninstall the software module after a certain time.
A method for upgrading the physical objects according to the needs of the
application will now be described with reference to figure 5.
In a first step 30, the object overview module 18 analyses the user
environment in order to find the objects in the user's environment. In a first test 3 1,
the object overview module 18 verifies if objects are present in the environment. If no
object is present the process is stopped.
If objects are detected by the object overview module, the object overview
module generates in a resources listing step 32 a set of objects according to the user
environment. The object overview module 18 further lists the available services
provided by the set of objects. For that purpose, the object overview module 18
analyses the semantic descriptions of the set of objects.
In a required services listing step, the object overview module 18 generates
a list of required services according to the application executed by the user. For that
purpose, each application is associated to a semantic description which describes
notably the services which need to be interfaced with the application. The object
overview module 18 compares the semantic descriptions of the provided services and
the semantic description of the required services.
If all required services are provided by the objects, the application is
launched by the execution module in a step 40, otherwise the object overview module
18 makes a list of the services which do not have a match in the objects of the user
environment.
In a further step 36, the object overview module 18 determines the types of
objects on which may be implemented the missing features by generating a table
associating the missing services with the types of objects that may implement the
missing services. For that purpose, the object overview module 18 retrieves missing
service requirements for each missing service. The missing service requirement may
be retrieved from the extension database 10 or may be directly indicated in the
service extension description. The object overview module 18 analyses the semantic
description of the physical objects 4 in order to identify the hardware capabilities of
the physical objects 4 . The hardware capabilities of each object 4 are then compared
with the hardware requirements of each of the missing services so as to determine if
the physical object 4 belongs to a type compatible with a missing service.
If no matching physical object may be associated to a missing service, the
method stops. Else, the test 37 is followed by a step of installing, on the matching
physical object, an appropriate software module 38 which is able to use the
hardware capabilities so as to provide the missing service.
In other embodiments, the objects overview module may identify the drivers
references, or the product and manufacturer identifier of a physical object in the
semantic description in order to determine if the physical object and the missing
service are compatible. The data about a physical object which is analyzed may be
initially stored in the external database referencing the physical objects 4 or in a data
storage in said physical object 4 itself.
For that purpose the services collector module 19 retrieves the software
module adapted to provide the missing service with the matching object from a
software database which may be an external software database on internal to the
communication terminal 1. Alternatively packaged software modules which are
already associated to the application may be installed. The communication terminal
initiates the downloading from the database to the physical object 4 of the software
module and its installation on the physical object.
In a further test 39, the services collector module 19 verifies if the software
module is successfully installed. If the software module is successfully installed, the
application may be launched by the execution module 22 in a next step 40, therefore
activating or using the services of the physical objects 4.
The invention is not limited to the described embodiments. The appended
claims are to be construed as embodying all modification and alternative
constructions that may be occurred to one skilled in the art, which fairly fall within the
basic teaching here, set forth. The use of the verb "to comprise" or "to include" and its
conjugations does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those
stated in a claim. Furthermore, the use of the article "a" or "an" preceding an element
or step does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements or steps. The
invention may be implemented by means of hardware as well as software. The same
item of hardware may represent several "means".
In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be
construed as limiting the scope of the claims.

CLAIMS
1. A method for interfacing a communication terminal ( 1 ) connected to a
communication network (2) with object devices (4), comprising the steps of:
- determining (33) required services (Fl , F2, F3) of an application executable from
the communication terminal ( 1 ),
- determining (32) services provided by a plurality of objects devices (4) connected to
the communication network (2),
- comparing (35) the required services to the provided services so as to determine a
missing service required by the application,
- determining an upgradable object device (Ol , 03) among the plurality of object
devices for a missing service, the upgradable object device belonging to an object
type having a hardware capability (6) associated to said missing service,
- searching a software resource repository ( 1 0) for a software module adapted so as
to be downloaded to the upgradable object device to enable the upgradable object
device to provide the missing service,
- triggering a transfer (38) of the software module from the software resource
repository to the upgradable object device.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the required services (Fl , F2, F3)
are determined on the basis of a description of the application including
identifications of the services required by the application.
3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises an
initial step of generating the description of the application and the associated
identifications of the services required by the application as a function of a user's
selection of a service and/or a predefined application.
4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the generation of a description
comprises a step of accessing a services database ( 1 0) and/or predefined
applications database (9), the selection of a service and/or an predefined application
being made on the basis of the services and/or predefined applications included in
the services and/or predefined applications database.
5. A method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the generation of the
description comprises a step of generating a logic description in the application
description as a function of a logic determined by the user which describes the
relations (II , 12, 13) between services and/or predefined applications for the
execution of the application (53).
6 . A method according to anyone of claims 3 to 5, wherein the step of
generating a description of the application comprises a step of identifying a service
required by the predefined application as a function of the interface point of the
internal application (Al ).
7 . A method according to anyone of claims 3 to 6, wherein a software module
is associated to the application (53) in the initial step of generating description of the
application and stored on the communication terminal ( 1 ), the searching of the
software module being made in the communication terminal.
8 . A method according to anyone of claims 1 to 7, wherein the step of
determining the required services further comprises a step of accessing an object
description comprising indications on the services provided by the object, the
determination of the provided services being made on the basis of the indications on
the provided services of the object description.
9 . A method according to anyone of claims 1 to 8, wherein the determination
of an upgradable object comprises:
a step of accessing an object description of a plurality of object device (4), the object
description comprising an indication on the type of a respective object,
a step of identifying (36) a type of object device needed as a function of the missing
service and
a step of selecting an object device as a function of the type of object needed and the
indications on the type of object, the triggering of the transfer being made to the
selected object device.
10 . A method according to anyone of claims 1 to 9, wherein the method further
comprises:
a step of determining a second set of object devices after the first set of object
devices,
a step of determining an outdated object device as an object device which is
comprised in the first set of object devices (Ol , 02, 03) but absent in the second set
of object devices (04, 05), and
a step of triggering the uninstalling of the software module from the outdated object
device.
1 1. A method according to anyone of the claims 1 to 10, wherein the software
module search step is made in a software resource repository ( 1 0) which is external to
the communication terminal and connected to the communication network (2).
. A method according to anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the search
step is made in a software resource repository which is integrated to the
communication terminal ( 1 ) and the software module is associated to the application.
3 . A method according to any of claims 1 to 12,
wherein the method further comprises a step of determining a set of object (Ol , 02,
03) devices connected to the communication network as a function of the
communication terminal ( 1 ) localization and wherein the determination of the
services provided by a plurality of objects devices is made on said set of object
devices.
14. A computer program comprising computer-executable instructions that
perform the method in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 13 when executed.