WO2009083976A2

WO2009083976A2 - Methods and system for deployment, management and usage of digital home devices and services

Info

Publication number: WO2009083976A2
Application number: PCT/IL2008/001689
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dror Bashan; Benny Bloch
Original assignee: Dror Bashan; Benny Bloch
Priority date: 2007-12-30
Filing date: 2008-12-28
Publication date: 2009-07-09
Also published as: WO2009083976A3; EP2240838A2

Abstract

A digital home open platform system, the system includes: multiple infrastructure devices configured to provide brick services selected from networking services, communication services, storage services, information processing services, application services, entertainment services, control services (home automation) and resource allocation services; wherein at least one infrastructure device is coupled to a home network and is not directly controllable by an end user; and a service builder, coupled to the multiple infrastructure devices and to at least one end user accessible device; wherein the service builder is configured to: receive, via the home network, a final service establishment request for a final service to be provided to the end user; select at least one brick service that should be provided to fulfill the final service establishment request; and request the at least one selected brick services to be fulfilled; wherein the request is sent to at least one device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, that are capable of providing the at least one selected brick service.

Description

METHODS AND SYSTEM FOR DEPLOYMENT, MANAGEMENT AND USAGE OF DIGITAL HOME DEVICES AND SERVICES

RELATED APPLICATIONS

[001] This application claims the priority of U. S provisional patent serial number 61/017,652, filing date 30, December 2007.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [002] The invention relates to methods and system for deploying, managing and using digital technologies, products, devices and services within the home.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [003] The proliferation of new digital technologies and products within the home (e.g. UPnP, DLNA, wireless, Media Centers, Games) is seeking for significant improvement to the user's entertainment and productivity experience. As consumers continue to purchase digital equipment for their home, they increasingly gain access to wide range of digital content from a variety of sources.

[004] These sources include Personal Computers (PCs), the Internet, digital terrestrial broadcast receivers, satellite receivers, and Consumer Electronics (CE) devices, including CD/DVD players, PVR, camcorders, digital cameras, portable audio players, etc. [005] An important aspect of the new experience is the ability to enjoy rich digital content in any location throughout the home and on any device, regardless of where the content is physically stored or the type of the media. Although today's home networking provides a basis for distributing content throughout the home, some key barriers remain, which prevent the widespread adoption of high-quality solutions for consumers masses. [006] The significant barriers include: (i) the installation and configuration complexities; (ii) cost and different commercial aspects; (iii) technological and architectural limitations, including limited interoperability between diverse technologies and products, security concerns and the complexities associated with managing the relatively limited network bandwidth in order to meet the user's quality expectations.

[007] Users encounter great difficulties trying to install and configure devices belonging to even the same class. Each vendor deploys its own method of operation using different standards and with minimal or no interoperability between devices. Needless to say, attempting to setup an entire digital home environment is far beyond the capabilities of a typical mass consumer not having the required knowledge and experience. [008] Despite the growing impact of organizations such as the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) Forum and the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), consuming services and content from disparate physical locations and different devices is anything but convenient.

[009] The resulting situation is a complex digital home environment that is hard to setup and use. A single end-to-end solution, targeting the entire digital home aspects and functionalities classes is required in order to fulfill the vision of the Digital Home to mass consumers.

[0010] Several key barriers prevent from today's digital home solutions and products to fulfill the vision of the digital home environment. These barriers can be classified into three categories: (i) home network architecture limitations (ii) consumers' experience and (iii) commercial aspects. [0011] Inside the digital home environment, a growing number of devices are getting connected to several disjoined networks: PCs and other equipment (e.g. printers) connected to wireless or wire-line IP networks, TV network (cables, satellite), telephony service network and mobile telephony. Moreover, legacy consumer electronics (CE) devices, such as video and audio devices are completely detached from any type of network, and provide local and isolated functionality.

[0012] Consumers are expecting to experience one transparent home network of interconnected and interoperated devices, and shared content. Where in fact they are facing several separated domains (PCs, broadcast, power-line and mobile) with no interoperability and interconnectivity. [0013] The Digital Home (DH) environment allows consumers to experience simultaneous transport of multiple multimedia streams such as video (movies, TV) and audio (music, voice over IP) over the wireless home LAN. Consumers expect the quality of home media streaming applications to be at the same level as they experience with CE devices, such as their TVs/VCRs, DVD players, etc. The multitude of applications running simultaneously over the wireless LAN raises several challenges related to the deployment of the wireless I.AN, including the need for bandwidth management and QoS-based networking. Still ease-of-use is of great importance to hide the sophistication involved in setup and configuration of PCs, set top boxes, and access points from the users. What is required is minimal user interaction to provide the best digital home experience. [0014] Consumers are experiencing security problem with their home network related to threats coming from the Internet, disqualifying the environment as trusted and reliable one. An end-to-end solution must be put in place so that users trust the network, content and devices as safe and guarded under a single, trusted and well managed security framework. [0015] Achieving the required security level will encourage consumers to access their home service from remote. It will open new opportunities for service and content providers, and digital home OEM players to deploy a host of value-added advanced products and services such as backups, remote PVR (Personal Video Recording), messaging and telephony services, health service, parental control, support services and remote maintenance services. [0016] Home equipment is typically not engineered for high levels of availability and reliability. Should digital home services become widespread and trusted, challenges related to reliability and continues-availability will certainly arise. The digital home must support always-on availability and connectivity. For the critical services (such as networking) redundancy might be required for promising the always-on functionality.

[0017] For most consumers, the Digital Home environment is built one device at a time over a long period of time. Each added device performs a specific and constant task. [0018] The continuous need to support new services, media and content types, and the desire to enjoy entertainment everywhere within the house result in piles of stacked boxes spread around the house. [0019] Boxes are from different vendors, connected to disparate networks (if at all) and experienced by users as very different. These devices and services are kept isolated, unshared and bound to a local connected device. For example, a Personal Video Recording (PVR) which is connected to a single set-top box and TV set, cannot be utilized by others TV sets, PC desktops or set-tops within the house. [0020] Each box added to the pile dictates a new and different process to install, configure and maintain, together with its esoteric and proprietary GUI and other commands.

[0021] Digital home services must be end-to-end easy to install, configure, use and maintain. Consumer widespread adoption of digital home environment depends largely on the overall ease and quality of experience users are facing when integrating the digital home environment.

[0022] The system as a whole and each of its element devices and services should be installed, configured and maintained in an identical and standard manner and in a simple way as possible requiring minimal user interaction. [0023] The complexities of the setup should be hided from the non technical-sawy user and the deployment process should not assume any computer-related knowledge whatsoever. The level of complexity should match the one of connecting a phone plug to the wall outlet. [0024] Components and elements configuration should be totally automatic; devices and services should discover and connect each other transparently, without any interaction or intervention from the user. [0025] Each box added to the pile also dictates a new operation procedures, proprietary commands and different Ul. Learning to operate a PVR is whole different story than operating a set-top box. Moreover, operating a PVR from vendor A is completely different than operating a PVR from vendor B.

[0026] Consumers are expecting a unified operation procedure which is simple, service-oriented, transparent and fully interoperable between the different digital home elements regardless of vendor, device and service type. [0027] The Digital Home ecosystem consists of consumers, service and content providers, CE equipment and infrastructure vendors. For the digital home environment to gain mass-consumer acceptance, it should be affordable for consumers, create new revenue channels for service and content providers and allow CE equipment and infrastructure vendors to differentiate, focus on their main added value enabling them with fast time to market, flexible cost objectives and sales grow.

[0028] In order for the digital home environment to gain mass consumer adoption, interoperability and ease of use are the key challenges. To avoid the 'convergence' of the digital home to become a 'collision', the digital home solution should:

(i) Be easy to setup, deploy, manage and maintain; (ii) Have a unified and excellent user experience; (iii) Support super connectivity and interoperability between the different elements of the solution; (iv) Support resources sharing and utilization; (v) Support seamless scalability and expendability of infrastructure, devices, functions and services; (vi) Support high level of system reliability and availability; (vii) Support security framework; and (viii) Match mass-market consumer price objectives. [0029] Relevant Standard and Technologies: (i) UPnP - (ii) DLNA - are some of the building blocks on top of which the suggested method and system are built. They supply basic standards and technologies for communicating and managing consumer devices (especially for the entertainment). [0030] The OSGi Alliance is an open standards organization founded in March 1999. The Alliance and its members have specified a Java-based service platform that can be remotely managed. The core part of the specifications is a framework that defines an application life cycle model and a service registry. Based on this framework, a large number of OSGi Layers, APIs, and Services have been defined.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0031] A digital home open platform system, the system includes: multiple infrastructure devices configured to provide brick services selected from networking services, communication services, storage services, information processing services, application services, entertainment services, control services (home automation) and resource allocation services; wherein at least one infrastructure device is coupled to a home network and is not directly controllable by an end user; and a service builder, coupled to the multiple infrastructure devices and to at least one end user accessible device; wherein the service builder is configured to: receive, via the home network, a final service establishment request for a final service to be provided to the end user; select at least one brick service that should be provided to fulfill the final service establishment request; and request the at least one selected brick services to be fulfilled; wherein the request is sent to at least one device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, that are capable of providing the at least one selected brick service.

[0032] A method for managing digital home services, that are provided by multiple infrastructure devices and at least one end user accessible device; wherein the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device provides brick services that are used to compose a final service, the method includes: receiving, via a home network, a final service establishment request for a final service to be provided to an end user; selecting at least one brick service that should be provided to fulfill the final service establishment request; and requesting the at least one selected brick services to be fulfilled; wherein the request is sent to at least one device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, that are capable of providing the at least one selected brick service. [0033] A computer readable medium having a computer-readable code embodied therein, the computer-readable code includes instructions for: receiving a final service establishment request for a final service to be provided to an end user; selecting at least one brick service that should be provided to fulfill the final service establishment request; and requesting the at least one selected brick services to be fulfilled; wherein the request is sent to at least one device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, that are capable of providing the at least one selected brick service.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which: [0035] Figure 1 illustrates the current situation of product and functionality approach of digital technologies within the home, in which every function is implemented via a dedicated device; [0036] Figure 2 illustrates the solution oriented approach (vs. the current product oriented situation) that views the entire home environment as a whole system, according to an embodiment of the invention; [0037] Figure 3 illustrates the three layer scheme of the digital home open platform (DHOP) system's services, according to an embodiment of the invention; [0038] Figure 4 illustrates how end to end final services are composed from cooperative work of one or more devices, according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0039] Figure 5 illustrates the hardware deployment architecture and its location within the layering model, according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0040] Figure 6 is a block diagram of the DHOP Home Server and Computation Nodes according to an embodiment of the invention; [0041] Figure 7 illustrate the complete picture of the DHOP system within the home environment, according to an embodiment of the invention; [0042] Figures 8A-8D illustrates the management functions (denoted: home manager) according to an embodiment of the invention, wherein: Fig.8A is a block diagram of the main components of the home manager; Fig. 8B is a flow diagram of a service registration process that takes place at the initialization of a service; Fig. 8C is a flow diagram of the final service establishment process; and Fig. 8D is a flow diagram of services monitor process;

[0043] Figure 9 is a flow chart of a method 200 of managing the services, according to an embodiment of the invention; [0044] Figure 10 illustrates a possible implementation of a device that is connected to the system, its architecture and the standards it should comply; and

[0045] Figure 11 illustrates a possible implementation of the DHOP home manager and its management interfaces with the DHOP complied device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0046] The terms "end user accessible device" and "Frequently accessed service" have substantially the same meaning.

[0047] The Digital Home Open Platform (DHOP) is a comprehensive digital home environment, covering the entire home functionalities and services, including: (i) Home Networking; (ii) Home Communication; (iii) Home Entertainment; (iv) Home Gaming; (v) Home Automation and Control; and (vi) Home Maintenance and Support Application (e.g. backup & restore), (vii) security applications (e.g. anti-virus) and update services; (viii) Home General Applications, e.g. productivity (office), health management; and (ix) any other functionality required by consumers within the home although not mentioned here.

[0048] Inside the home, a growing number of diverse devices are placed and getting connected, forming a Digital Home (DH) environment. The DH environment typically consists of multiple device classes capable of handling a specific home task.

[0049] For example, home entertainment, including CE devices such as TVs and home theater, CD players, PVRs and Media Centers; Home communication, including phones; PCs and intercom; and Home networking, including routers, switches and residential getaways. [0050] Devices can be interconnected by one or more networks or not connected at all. Legacy (analog) devices may also be connected to the Digital Home environment by special-purpose adapters. [0051] The Digital Home Open Platform (DHOP) is an innovative architecture and a new approach for the implementation and the deployment of digital home environments (networking, entertainment, automation and more). The DHOP system is a key factor for digital home environment where different networks (TV, Phone, IP, Power-Line), devices and services should coexist and interoperate in transparent way, and be easy to use for consumers. [0052] The DHOP system enables consumers to expand their digital home functionality by adding devices hosting and exposing set of services. New added device and its hosted and exposed services are automatically registered, discovered, configured and ready to use, not requiring any special skill or knowledge from the consumer. [0053] The DHOP system views digital home environment as a set of manageable digital services. The DHOP system specification defines two types of services: Final Service, which is a high level service describing users' daily tasks, e.g. "Watching TV" or "Internet Browsing". The second type is Brick Service, which is an atomic building-block service that together with cooperative work of others Brick Services construct a Final Service.

[0054] Featuring its Service Oriented GUI, the invocation and operation of a home service become as simple as selecting a channel for watching TV or dialing a phone number. With additional architectural concepts and layers, such as user-transparent Service Management Layer and Centralized Infrastructure Architecture, The DHOP system provides a unified method of operation, common look-and-feel and user-experience for all digital home services and applications.

[0055] The DHOP system has a solution oriented conceptual approach for covering the entire digital home as one appliance that is controlled through single method of operation and with flexibility for supporting scalable platform that enables consumers to easily expand their home with more capabilities and additional functionalities.

[0056] The DHOP system can be characterized by. (i) Solution Oriented approach vs. Product and Functionality approach; (ii) Centralized Management vs. Distributed Management for the Home Services, Devices and Resources; (iii) Home Services Layers and Categories (Final, Brick, Infrastructure, Frequently-Accessed); and (iv) Centralized Deployment Architecture for the Home Infrastructure Services, Devices and Resources vs. Pile of Boxes distributed across the home. [0057] The DHOP system is based on the following concepts: Service oriented architecture, service layers and hardware deployment architecture. [0058] The DHOP system views digital home environment as a set of manageable digital services. The DHOP system defines two types for digital home services: Final services, representing high level, consumers' daily tasks such as "reading news paper", "performing phone call", "watching a movie" or "playing a game"; and

Brick Services, representing atomic functionality such as "Display Service", "TV Tuner" or "Media Center" services. [0059] Cooperative work of one or more brick services constructs an end- to-end final service. For example the Final Service "Watching TV" may be constructed from the following brick services: "setop box", "TV tuner" and "display service". [0060] Digital Home Services are exposed to the user through DHOP Service Oriented GUI mechanism which exposes only final services. Brick services are totally hidden from users.

[0061] The Service Oriented GUI exposes a unified method of operation and navigation for all Digital Services. [0062] Figure 1 illustrates the current situation of the digital home products and functions.

[0063] As of today, every home function is tied to a specific device or group of devices. For example, for phone calls we use the specific phone that receives the call (and hence is ringing). For Internet calls we use a computer connected to the Internet. For watching TV we use a TV set with its dedicated display while for working on PC we use the PC with a different dedicated display.

[0064] Such model of isolated functionalities without end-to-end consideration of the digital home as a whole, leads to the unfortunate situation where the digital home is a collection of unrelated boxes that required separate setup, maintenance and operation. Each box is provided by different vendor and operates in a different way using different remote controls. Such kind of home environment is complex to setup, maintain and use. [0065] Figure 2 illustrates the solution oriented approach (vs. the current Product and Functionality approach) that views the entire home environment as a whole system. The DHOP system architecture is based on three layers: [0066] (i) Final Services layer, representing high level, consumers' daily tasks; [0067] (ii) Frequently Accessed Services layer, representing collection of standalone players, controls services and other frequently accessed services; and

[0068] (iii) Infrastructure Brick Services layer, representing home partial and specific functionality which is not required end user direct access and used as building blocks together with frequently accessed brick services for establishing Final Services.

[0069] The DHOP system layering architecture physically and logically decouples Frequently Accessed services (such as players) from infrastructure brick services (such as PVR and TV Tuner). [0070] The DHOP system service layering approach enables to share presentation brick services (for example speakers and Display screen) between different final services so any final service can use any presentation brick service regardless of its physical location. For example, the same display brick service can be used once for watching TV (final service) and in other time to work on PC (final service). [0071] Another example is a video clip, stored in the home storage service, can be once viewed with media service in display service located in the living room and at another time or in parallel to be viewed by different player service in the bedroom. [0072] Brick Service can serve other Brick Services. For example storage Brick Service can share its storage between PVR Brick Service and Media Center Brick Service.

[0073] Figure 3 Illustrates the three layer scheme of the DHOP system services: End user layer 11 is composed of Final Services 51 representing high level, user related, daily functionalities;

Frequently Accessed layer 12 representing services and devices often accessed by end-users (such as players, DVD, control). These services and devices are part of the building blocks of final services, thus considered brick services; and

Infrastructure layer 13 representing Brick services 52, not requiring end user access, performing specific functionality and serve as building blocks along with the Frequently Accessed layer to construct Final Services 51. [0074] Figure 4 illustrates how Final Service 51 is composed from cooperative work of one or more Brick Services 52. This composition is part of a service building process, further described in figure 8B. [0075] Figure 5 illustrate the hardware deployment architecture and its location within the layering model that was described above. [0076] The layering concept enables 'mix-and-match' flexibility for sharing services and content within the home but cannot account for the many boxes to setup and maintain. This issue is addressed in the DHOP hardware deployment architecture.

[0077] As mentioned above, DHOP specification defines two types of services: Brick Services and Final Services. Brick Services are further classified into two types: Infrastructure Service and Frequently Accessed

Services.

[0078] Infrastructure Services and Frequently Accessed Services differ with the level of direct accessibility and interaction required with the user. [0079] Infrastructure Brick Services does not requires direct end-user access (e.g. TV Tuner, PVR, disk storage)

[0080] Frequently-Accessed Brick Services requiring end-user often direct access. For example, in order to watch video, the user requires a direct access to a video screen (defined as a Player Service). Another example is a DVD player which requires user accessibility in order to insert and remove the media.

[0081] In consequence of the above observation, DHOP has a centralized architecture in respect to the Infrastructure services and a distributed architecture in respect to the Frequently-Accessed services. [0082] The centralized architecture of the digital home infrastructure services is implemented using a flexible Home Server hardware architecture, example for such an architecture is blade computing . Infrastructure services such as networking, TV tuners and Voice over IP are implemented and hosted on Computation Nodes (an example for implementation is blade computer) installed within the DHOP Home Server.

[0083] Centralization of infrastructure services has many benefits such as enhanced performances, better management and utilization of the home bandwidth and services quality,' efficient services management, including support of continuous availability, and bridging between different home application domains (PC, TV, Phone).

[0084] In a typical installation, a Home Server consists of several pre- installed Computation Nodes, each hosting different infrastructure services that provide the basic functionality of the digital home environment. 3^rd party Computation Nodes based on the DHOP specification may be added in order to expand functionality and capacity. [0085] The Home Server is designed for real plug-n-play experience: after inserting the computation node in a free slot (no tools required), the new computation node will self configure and the new services will be live and running - no lengthy installations, setups, complex configuration and repeated boots.

[0086] Connectivity between Frequently-Accessed services and Infrastructure services is implemented via wire-line or wireless communication. The DHOP system traces the location of each of the Frequently-Accessed services and ongoing applications in order to optimize home bandwidth utilization and ensure matched QoS for Frequently-Accessed services and Infrastructure services broadcasting or streaming content over the network.

[0087] Figure 6 is a block diagram of the DHOP system's platform according to an embodiment of the invention. [0088] Each home server 60 includes computation nodes 50 interconnected by an internal communication 55, such as a fully meshed internal high speed backplane (e.g. Gigabit Ethernet or other technology). [0089] Each computation node 50 is an independent Self Boot Computer (SBC) with its own controller 53 and may host one or more Brick Services 52, represents infrastructure devices or a home manager 30 that includes all the service management functionalities.

[0090] Inter process communication (IPC) between computation nodes 50, services and service management is implemented over the internal communication 55 using existing standards such as TCP/IP, HTTP, SOAP, XML etc.

[0091] In order to enhance flexibility and account for diversity of deployment architectures, Home Server 60 can split into several home servers communicating over a home network 56. [0092] DHOP system's centralized architecture facilitates Appliance-like level of reliability without scarifying the requirement for easy expandability and scalability.

[0093] Figure 7 illustrates the complete picture of the DHOP system. [0094] The various functionalities of the digital home are aggregated and centralized within the home server 60.

[0095] Computation Node 50 inside the Home Server is responsible to implement one or more Brick Services 52 representing infrastructure devices or the Home Manager 30 that includes all the system management functionalities (services and devices).

[0096] Players Brick Services 52" and Control Brick Services 51 ' are standalone devices through which the end user access and control home functionalities (the Final Services). Activating a final service is done using a control brick service or using a menu displayed on a player brick service. [0097] The outcome of the final service (e.g. video stream, TV program) is displayed on a player brick service.

[0098] Infrastructure Brick Services 52 are interconnected using the internal communication (not shown) of Home Server 60, which can use a high bandwidth network and further connected to Player & Control through home network 56.

[0099] Home network 56 is based on wire and wireless technologies spread around the home and networking Computation Nodes (not shown, such as router, switch) hosted in Home Server 60. The networking Computation Node can bridge between different networking technologies such as Ethernet, Power-Line and Phone line enabling the usage of them all as required.

[00100] Home Server 60 can host Computation Nodes that bridge between home network 56 and an external network 57 such as PSTN. In such cases external network 57' is connected to the specific Computation Node which then distributes it over the DHOP system to the entire home. [00101] Legacy Devices can be connected to the DHOP digital home environment through DHOP system complied Legacy Adapters 54. The

Legacy Adapter 54 implements the required functionality for integrating the

Legacy Device with the DHOP system environment. Example for the reuse of legacy devices is a TV screen which can be converted into the DHOP system

Video Player.

[00102] Figures 8A-8D illustrates home manager 30 according to an embodiment of the invention, wherein:

[00103] Fig.δA is a block diagram of the main components of home manager 30;

[00104] Fig. 8B is a flow diagram of a service registration process that takes place at the initialization of a service.

[00105] Fig. 8C is a flow diagram of a final service establishment process; and [00106] Fig. 8D is a flow diagram of a monitoring services and devices.

[00107] Referring now to Fig.8A that illustrates the main components of home manager 30.

[00108] Home Manager 30 is an infrastructure layer responsible to activate, control and manage home services. Home Manager 30 is an extension and enhancement of standards such as the Universal Plug and Play

(UPnP), DLNA and Web Services, and provides a unique services management capability for creating end-to-end, transparent and simple-to-use service environment.

[00109] Home manager 30 includes the following components: [00110] Service Repository 31 - is a storage that stores information indicative of brick services, such as their description and status. Service

Repository 31 provides operations such as service registration and deletion.

For constructing a Final Service, the service repository is responsible to supply information about available Brick Services and their status. [00111] Service builder 32 is in charge of dynamically building of final services out of its building brick services, available and stored in service repository 31. [00112] Service editor 33 enables CE vendors and end users to define new Final Services and the relationships between the Brick Services required for their implementation.

[00113] Home Monitor 34 monitors ongoing status of the all the final services and brick services stored in service repository 31 , their performance and other conditions while active. Home Monitor 34 uses service repository 31 to retrieve the list of services that it monitors. Home Monitor 34 also monitors the status of the computation nodes and it uses computation node repository

35 to retrieve their details. Home monitor 34 reports to a fault manager 37 in case it detects a problem.

[00114] Device manager 36 is responsible for the management of computation nodes installed within the Home Server and for the management of Frequently-Accessed devices distributed across the home. Device manager

36 uses an Auto Computation Nodes Discovery mechanism which is part of the Home Blade Server that detects insertion and removal of a computation node. Once inserted, device manager 36 constantly traces the state of the new computation node using a Computation Node Management Protocol that supports: (i) notification messages: Inserted, Booting, Ready, Shutting Down, Removed, In Error (ii) Action APIs: Shutdown, Re-Start, Status. [00115] The Computation Node Management Protocol is available for 3^rd parties wishing to manufacture Computation Nodes and add functionality to the digital home environment though the DHOP system.

[00116] The current state of Computation Node optionally can be displayed on Computation Node's state panel and in case of failure the consumer is notified with a detailed explanation of how to identify the failed Computation Node and actions required for replacing it. Similar auto discovery mechanism exists for Frequently-Accessed devices, the only difference is with the Auto Discovery mechanism which in computation node can be physical sensor that senses insertion and removing of the computation node, while here it is a software one. [00117] Device manager 36 reports to a fault manager 37 in case it detects a problem with one of the devices.

[00118] Fault manager 37 receives problem reports from all the other modules, or at least from home monitor 34 and from device manager 36. Fault manager 37 analyses the problem and choose the way to handle it. [00119] One of its major duties is taking care of redundancy of critical function. Computation Nodes responsible for critical functionality can be deployed in redundant configuration. Fault manager 37 is responsible for transparently managing availability by failover mechanism. [00120] Interface 38 represents the home manager services' interfaces through which the Home Manager services communicate with the other DHOP services and devices located within the Home Server or distributed around the home and connected via the home network. These interfaces are based on communication software standards such^' as UPNP and DLNA with additional functionality for supporting the DHOP platform requirements.. [00121] Figure 8B illustrates the flow of the service registration process. [00122] Each brick service 52 automatically registers itself within Service Repository 31 of Home Manager 30, by sending a service registration request 71 that includes a description for its inputs and outputs capabilities. This information is used for the dynarriic connectivity of Brick Services to form the requested Final Service functionality. [00123] Note that final services are also stored in service repository 31 , either as predefined services, but they can also register when a user selects a new final service to be added, using the Home menu. Another example to final service that registers is - a game. The game is coming implemented on a device that is installed at the home server. The game final service registers it self in the system so end user can access and play it through the access devices.

[00124] A similar registration process takes place for computation nodes 50. Each computation node 50 installed in home server 60 automatically registers itself within computation node Repository 35 of Home Manager 30, by sending a computation node registration 72. [00125] Figure 8C describes the flow of establishing a Final Service. [00126] When a user activates a final service from the Home Main Menu e.g. "Watch TV", a final service establishment request 73 is sent to Home Manager 30 which forwards it to Service Builder 32. Service Builder 32 examines the Final Service description and sends a message - get service descriptor 74 to service repository 31 for each of the required Brick Services. Once the relevant Brick services were located and allocated, Service Builder 32 concatenates the Brick Services to dynamically establish a Final Service. [00127] Since Services Repository 31 also maintains services' status and utilization, when Service Builder 32 queries for required Brick Service it will get response only by Brick Services which are actually available to provide the service. [00128] As part of establishing the Final Service, Service Builder 32 can query other brick services for various conditions of specified services or the DHOP system in general, by sending a message - service consulting 75 and receive a service consulting information 76, in response. [00129] For example, when a Final Service involves streaming video over the network, Service Builder 32 can query a QoS brick service for the required bandwidth of the streaming route and if the added stream will not interfere other running services.

[00130] This process is completed when service builder 32 activates each of the brick services involved in the final service, by sending them messages: Service setup 77, in the right order. It also sends service repository 31 , a message - allocate services 78 for all the brick services involved in the process, to indicate that these services are occupied for the duration of the final service.

[00131] Once the chain of activation is completed, all the involved brick services start running. [00132] Figure 8D illustrates the flow of monitoring computation nodes as well as active Final and Brick services performance and health by periodically sending messages - status and control query 79.

[00133] Figure 9 is a flow chart of a method 200 of managing digital home services. [00134] Method 200 starts by stage 210 of receiving a service registration request of brick and final services, related to infrastructure devices and end user accessible device.

[00135] The service registration is triggered by an insertion and/or a reset of a computation node that controls brick services, after it starts the brick services it hosts. The service registration is also triggered by connecting, to the home network, new distributed infrastructure devices and user accessible devices.

[00136] Stage 210 includes receiving service registration requests 71 , via the home network or the home server internal communication. Service registration request 71 includes information describing the registered service

(it can be either brick or final).

[00137] Stage 210 further includes storing information indicative of brick service in service repository 31.

[00138] Brick services can be deleted from the service repository upon receiving a service deletion request that it sent by Home Monitor 34 when it detects unavailability of brick services. The service deletion request can be also sent by device manager 36 when it detects a removal of a computation node.

[00139] In a similar manner, computation nodes are registered and stored in Computation Node Repository 35 upon receiving Computation Node registration request 72 that is triggered upon insertion of a computation node to the home server. Computation nodes are deleted from computation node repository 35 when the computation node is removed from the home server.

This stage is further described in figure 8B. [00140] Method 200 further includes stage 215 of receiving final service definition describing the brick services and the relationships between them, required for final service establishment.

[00141] Method 200 further includes stage 220 of establishing a final service, which must be preceded by a registration of all the brick services related to the requested final service, as described in stage 210 and also preceded by receiving the final service definition as described in stage 215.

[00142] Stage 220 is triggered by an end user that selects a desired Final

Service from the Home Main Menu e,g, "Watch TV".

[00143] Stage 220 includes the following sub-stages: [00144] Sub-stage 221 of receiving, by the service builder, a Final Service establishment request.

[00145] Sub-stage 221 is followed by sub-stage 222 of selecting the brick services and the devices (which host the brick services) that are involved in the final service. [00146] Sub-stage 222 includes requesting service descriptor from the service repository. Conveniently, Sub-stage 222 can also include requesting information from brick services by sending them a service consulting message

(e.g. is there enough bandwidth for a requested video stream?) and receiving a service consulting information, in response. [00147] Sub-stage 222 is followed by sub-stage 223 of requesting the brick services that are involved in the final service, to provide the service, by sending them a service setup message.

[00148] Stage 220 is further described by figure 8C.

[00149] Method 200 further includes stage 230 of periodic monitoring computation nodes, accessible devices, final and brick services performance and health by sending them status and control query messages in order to detect unavailability of existing infrastructure devices, end user accessible devices, brick and final services. The periodic monitoring of services and devices starts at the moment they have been registered. Since stage 230 is a background process, it can be executed in parallel to stages 210-223.

[00150] If unavailability of a computation node is detected, and the computation node has a redundant computation node with the same functionality, then a failover mechanism can be triggered, that switch between the failed computation node and its redundant computation node. [00151] Figure 10 illustrates a possible implementation of a device that is connected to the system, its architecture and the standards it should comply: [00152] DHOP complied device 80 should fulfill the following requirements: (i) Hardware - reliable HW configuration including elements such as: solid state disk, no fans, etc; (ii) Software - operating systems such as: Embedded Linux, Mobile Linux, Windows CE; and (iii) Networking - networking primary boot does not need device main CPU, support 100M/ 1 G/ 10G connections. [00153] OSGI framework 83 is used for: (i) control the solutions that are running within DHOP complied device, one device can run one or more OSGI frameworks; and (ii) manage solution software life cycle, boot, start, stop, run, exit, etc.

[00154] Solution/ bundle 82 - is the software implementing the device functionality through implementing software services representing brick and final services. [00155] UPnP/ DNLA services 81 - is used as building blocks for the DHOP management protocol, supporting operations required for services management (registration, discovery) through which the device functionality is exposed.

[00156] DHOP management protocol 84 - is described in figure 11.

[00157] DHOP complied device, is a network device implementing UPnP and DLNA for communication. The device is managed using the OSGI platform. Device functionality is implemented software modules comply with OSGI bundles.

[00158] The DHOP complied device should have very reliable hardware (no solid disks, no fans) operating with very low noise level (no fans). [00159] Infrastructure DHOP complied devices are configured as computation nodes to fit into the home server platform. [00160] Figure 11 illustrates a possible implementation of the DHOP home manager and its management interfaces with the DHOP complied device that is described in figure 10. [00161] Device management 86 - manages the DHOP complied devices early stage boot (HW and OS) with minimum resources (network before Os boot); OSGI management 87 - manages the OSGI framework running on the DHOP complied device; Solution management 88 - manages the solutions running within an OSGI framework; Service management 89 - manages the device/solution services exposed through the UPnP interface; DHOP management protocol 84 - manages the entire DHOP platform; and External management 91 - Manages interface exposed to service provider. [00162] For a device to be complied with DHOP, it should support additional management features embedded within the DHOP Management Protocol. The DHOP Management Protocol adds more functionality to the UPnP and DLNA, example is A Centric Management concept compared with the distributing management concept of UPnP and DLNA, or hardware management which is not covered by UPnP and DLNA and more. [00163] All DHOP complied devices are communicating with the DHOP Home Manager 30 over the DHOP Management protocol 84. This protocol is based on UPnP and DLNA with additional features.

[00164] The DHOP Home Manager 30 exposes also Remote Management protocol to enable remote control for the home functionality. [00165] Variations, modifications, and other implementations of what is described herein will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as claimed. Accordingly, the invention is to be defined not by the preceding illustrative description but instead by the spirit and scope of the following claims.

Claims

WE CLAIM

1. A digital home open platform system, the system comprises: multiple infrastructure devices configured to provide brick services selected from networking services, communication services, storage services, information processing services, application services, entertainment services, control services (home automation) and resource allocation services; wherein at least one infrastructure device is coupled to a home network and is not directly controllable by an end user; and a service builder, coupled to the multiple infrastructure devices and to at least one end user accessible device; wherein the service builder is configured to: receive, via the home network, a final service establishment request for a final service to be provided to the end user; select at least one brick service that should be provided to fulfill the final service establishment request; and request the at least one selected brick services to be fulfilled; wherein the request is sent to at least one device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, that are capable of providing the at least one selected brick service.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the system comprises a housing, multiple interfaces adapted to receive multiple infrastructure devices and multiple sensors configured to sense whether an infrastructure device is physically connected to an interface; wherein each infrastructure device that physically connected to an interface is located within a space that is at least partially surrounded by the housing.

3. The system according to claim 1 wherein each infrastructure device is a printed circuit board.

4. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a service repository, that stores information indicative of brick services, wherein a brick service is provided by a device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device; wherein the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device are coupled to a home network.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the service repository is configured to: receive service registration requests, associated with a brick service, provided by a device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, to be stored in the service repository. receive service deletion requests, associated with one of the brick services that are stored in the service repository, to be deleted from the service repository. receive at least one final service definition that defines at least one brick service, provided by a device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, and a relationship among multiple brick services that is required for a fulfillment of the final service establishment request.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the system is adapted to receive commands from an end user accessible device that is connected to the home network; wherein the end user accessible device communicates with the system through the home network.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the service builder is configured to request, prior to the selection of the at least one brick service, service consulting related to an infrastructure device, wherein the service builder is further configured to select the at least one brick service, further in response to the service consulting information.

8. The system according to claim 1 wherein the service builder is configured to coordinate between multiple brick services, required for a fulfillment of the final service establishment request, further to the select of the at least one brick service.

9. The system according to claim 4 wherein the service builder is configured to request a service descriptor, related to the at least one brick service, from the service repository, wherein the service builder is further configured to select the at least one brick service, in response to the service descriptor.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the system is adapted to receive commands from a legacy end user accessible device that has no direct network interface; wherein the legacy end user accessible device is connected to the home network by a special-purpose adapter.

11. The system according to claim 1 further comprises a home monitor that is configured to send periodically status and control query messages to the infrastructure devices, end user accessible devices, brick services and final services.

12. The system according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the multiple infrastructure devices comprises a service builder, a service repository and a home monitor; wherein the service repository stores information indicative of brick services, wherein a brick service is provided by a device selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device; and the home monitor is configured to send periodically status and control query messages to the infrastructure devices, end user accessible devices and final services.

13. The system according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the multiple infrastructure devices is coupled to the home network, to communicate with the at least one end user accessible device.

14. The system according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the multiple infrastructure devices can bridge between the home network and an external network, that communicates with the outer world.

15. The system according to claim 2 further comprises an auto discovery mechanism that detects insertion and removal of an infrastructure device and an existence of a new end user accessible device.

16. The system according to claim 2 further comprises at least one infrastructure device that is active and has a redundant infrastructure device, which is identical to the at least one infrastructure device but is not active, wherein the system is configured to perform a failover mechanism, that switch between the at least one infrastructure device and the non-active infrastructure device, when the at least one infrastructure device fails to operate.

17. A method for managing digital home services, that are provided by multiple infrastructure devices and at least one end user accessible device; wherein the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device provides brick services that are used to compose a final service, the method comprises: receiving, via a home network, a final service establishment request for a final service to be provided to an end user; selecting at least one brick service that should be provided to fulfill the final service establishment request; and requesting the at least one selected brick services to be fulfilled; wherein the request is sent to at least one device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, that are capable of providing the at least one selected brick service.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: receiving of a service registration request, associated with the brick service, provided by a device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, and storing information indicative of brick service in a service repository; and receiving of a service deletion request, associated with one of the brick services that are stored in the service repository, and deleting the brick service from the service repository.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising receiving at least one final service definition that defines at least one brick service, provided by a device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, and a relationship among multiple brick services that is required for a fulfillment of the final service establishment request.

20. The method according to claim 17, further comprising receiving commands from an end user accessible device that is connected to the home network; wherein the end user accessible device communicates with the system through the home network.

21. The method according to claim 17, further comprising requesting, prior to selecting of the at least one device, service consulting related to an infrastructure device, further to selecting the at least one device, from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, further in response to the service consulting information.

22. The method according to claim 17, further comprising coordinating between multiple devices, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, required for a fulfillment of the final service establishment request.

23. The method according to claim 17, further comprising requesting service descriptor, related to the at least one brick service, further to selecting the at least one device, from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, in response to receiving service descriptor.

24. The method according to claim 17, further comprising receiving commands from a legacy end user accessible device that has no direct network interface; wherein the legacy end user accessible device is connected to the home network by a special-purpose adapter.

25. The method according to claim 17, further comprising monitoring of the infrastructure devices, end user accessible devices, brick services and final services by sending periodically status and control query messages to the infrastructure devices, end user accessible devices, brick services and final services.

26. The method according to claim 17, further comprising detecting new added infrastructure devices and new end user accessible devices and detecting unavailability of existing infrastructure devices and new end user accessible devices.

27. The method according to claim 17, further comprising automatic switching between a computation node that fails to function and its redundant computation node that has the same functionality.

28. A computer readable medium having a computer-readable code embodied therein, the computer-readable code comprises instructions for: receiving a final service establishment request for a final service to be provided to an end user; selecting at least one brick service that should be^" provided to fulfill the final service establishment request; and requesting the at least one selected brick services to be fulfilled; wherein the request is sent to at least one device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, that are capable of providing the at least one selected brick service.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 28 wherein the computer- readable code comprises instructions for receiving of a service registration request, associated with a brick service, provided by the device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, and storing information indicative of brick service in a service repository.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 28 wherein the computer- readable code comprises instructions for at least one final service definition that defines at least one brick service, provided by a device, selected from the multiple infrastructure devices and the at least one end user accessible device, and a relationship among multiple brick services that is required for a fulfillment of the final service establishment request.