System and a method for remotely using electrical devices

摘要

A controller device (209) is enabled to provide a virtual user interface of an electrical device (201) to be remotely used and to generate control messages (241) for controlling the electrical device by providing the controller device with a proxy (211) of the electrical device. The proxy is a movable software package which can be used for representing the electrical device in the controller device. The proxy can be configured to have a limited time-to-live in the controller device and/or a surrounding system may have been arranged to send to the controller device a proxy removal message when the corresponding electrical device is leaving the system or a data transfer connection to it has otherwise been lost. Therefore, a sufficiently up-to-date awareness of the electrical devices and a capability of remotely using them can be maintained in the controller device.

主权项

1. A controller device (400) comprising:
user interface equipment (401) configurable with software, and a data interface (402) for transmitting and receiving data, wherein the controller device further comprises a processing system (403) arranged to: transmit a request message in order to request a proxy (411) from an external device wherein the request message contains identifier data of the controller device that identifies the controller device from other controller devices, configure the user interface equipment to provide a virtual user interface of an electrical device to be remotely used on the basis of the received proxy (411) related to the electrical device to be remotely used, the received proxy including user interface software (421) for configuring the user interface equipment and driver software (431) for generating control messages for controlling the electrical device to be remotely used, generate, using the driver software, a control message (441) on the basis of a control action (440) given through the virtual user interface, and transmit the control message to the electrical device to be remotely used, wherein the request message is received by one of plural server devices having respective memory devices (151, 152, 251, 252, 253, 254) for storing data and relaying data traffic between the data interface and the electrical device, each said memory device comprising a database storing the respective proxy of each electrical device connected to each of the server devices so that each proxy is stored in at least two distinct servers, the proxies being stored into nested hierarchical groups corresponding to child-parent relationships, with the electrical devices being children and each server being a parent of the child-parent relationships, wherein the proxy of the electrical device is retrievable by the controller device from either of the at least two distinct servers upon receipt of the request message comprising the identifier of the controller device that identifies the controller device sending the request message from other controller devices.