Interfaces and devices for lightweight service brokering systems

摘要

The invention provides an interface between a user of an electronic device and a plurality of resources. The interface operates by procuring resource category and network location information relating to the resources and conveying the resource category information to the user in a manner whereby the resources are grouped together in accordance with their category. The resources include: network resources, which represent functional services; and input resources, which represent documents, input data or the similar, wherein all resource types may be represented by a corresponding network presence. The method further may include the step of procuring resource description information relating to the resources and assessing the compatibility of the resources with specified criteria and filtering the resources category information such that information relating to non-compatible resources is not conveyed to the user. The specified criteria relate to user requirements including the users context and the characteristics of the electronic device. The invention also provides a device configured to operate with such an interface and an interface implementation itself.