SERVICE FRAMEWORK SUPPORTING SERVICE DISCOVERY AND CONNECTION

摘要

In an information appliance system, a user device comprises a client platform (200) that includes a service framework (235) to discover and connect with a variety of services, both remote and local, transient and persistent, and to disconnect from them when they are no longer of interest or become unavailable. The service framework (235) provides a standard, consistent, simplified way for services to make themselves available and for service-using entities to locate and connect with the services of interest to them. When a service is requested from a remote server, a service frontend on the client platform attempts to find its corresponding service backend on a server providing the requested service and, if it finds it, the frontend and backend coalesce in a fully formed service that is made available to a requesting service-using entity. As a result, platform resources and security are maintained. Various methods of operating a service framework are also described.