Providing agreement information to allow access by a client device of selected equipment from among multiple equipment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9559981-B2
Application number	US-201214391824-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 30, 2012
Priority date	Jul 30, 2012
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

Agreement information based on agreements between an intermediary service provider and a plurality of provider entities that operate respective multiple equipment is stored by an intermediary system. The agreement information includes information to enable access of each of the multiple equipment by a client device. Client information associated with the client device is also stored by the intermediary system. The agreement information is useable to provide access by the client device of selected ones of the equipment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
storing, by an intermediary system, agreement information based on agreements between an intermediary service provider and a plurality of provider entities that operate respective multiple equipment, wherein the agreement information includes information to enable access of each of the multiple equipment by a client device; and
storing, by the intermediary system, client information associated with the client device, where the client information is based on registration of a user of the client device with the intermediary service provider,
wherein the agreement information and client information is useable to provide access by the client device of selected ones of the respective multiple equipment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein storing the client information comprises storing information based on an agreement between the user and the intermediary system.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
storing additional information based on additional agreements between the intermediary system and respective additional users.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein storing the client information comprises storing information regarding a personal grid of the user, the personal grid including multiple client devices of the user.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein storing the client information comprises storing a location of the client device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein storing the agreement information comprises storing a credential to allow the intermediary system to be authenticated by a respective external provider entity.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein storing the agreement information further comprises storing equipment and operational information that describes protocols associated with operating the respective multiple equipment of the plurality of provider entities.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein storing the client information comprises storing information relating to a personal grid of the user, wherein the information relating to the personal grid includes information relating to client devices owned by the user and equipment of one or multiple ones of the plurality of provider entities that have been temporarily added to the personal grid.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein storing the client information comprises storing information relating to a plurality of network connections established by the client device.

10. An intermediary system comprising:
a storage system to store agreement information based on agreements between an intermediary service provider of the intermediary system and a plurality of provider entities that operate respective multiple equipment, wherein the agreement information includes information to enable access of each of the multiple equipment by a client device, and wherein the storage system is to further stare client information associated with the client device, where the client information is based on an agreement between a user of the client device and the intermediary service provider; and
at least one processor to use the agreement information and the client information to provide access of selected ones of the respective multiple equipment by the client device in response to requests of the client device.

11. The intermediary system of claim 10 , wherein the client information includes information identifying client devices owned by the user and information relating to selected ones of the respective multiple equipment that have been made available for use by the client devices of the user.

12. The intermediary system of claim 10 , wherein the client information includes location information identifying a location of each of client devices owned by the user, and an operational status of each of the client devices owned by the user.

13. The intermediary system of claim 10 , wherein the client information includes information pertaining to each of multiple network connections established by at least one client device of the user.

14. The intermediary system of claim 13 , wherein the client information further includes task information that identifies tasks being performed for a request of the at least one client device.

15. An article comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions that upon execution cause an intermediary system to:
access agreement information based on agreements between an intermediary service provider and a plurality of provider entities that operate respective multiple equipment, wherein the agreement information includes information to enable access of each of the respective multiple equipment by a client device;
access client information associated with the client device, where the client information is based on registration of a user of the client device with the intermediary service provider; and
use the agreement information to provide access by the client device of selected ones of the respective multiple equipment.

Assignees

• Hiscock James S
• Congdon Paul T
• Hewlett Packard Entpr Dev Lp

Inventors

• Hiscock James S
• Congdon Paul T

Classifications

• H04L63/102 Primary

  Entity profiles · CPC title

• H04L47/80 Primary

  Actions related to the user profile or the type of traffic · CPC title

• H04L9/32

  including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system {or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials} · CPC title

• H04L12/16

  Arrangements for providing special services to substations · CPC title