METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REMOTELY OBSERVING AND CONTROLLING OBJECTS

摘要

A method and system for remotely observing and controlling objects in a networked computer, such as an intelligent device connected to a server, which uses less hardware resources in the device while allowing the server to probe (i.e. observe and/or control) objects in the device. Software within the device includes at least one 'probeable' object capable of being observed or controlled and a probe registry, to which the probeable object can report itself. Software within the server includes a probe registry managed object which is a proxy for the probe registry, allowing the probe registry to report the type(s) of probeable objects executing on the device to an application executing on the server. A probe object compatible with the device probeable object is stored on the server. A probe managed object which is a proxy for the probe object is also resident on the server, such that when the probe object is downloaded onto the device from the server, information gathered by the probe object can be reported to the application via the probe managed object. The method includes the probeable object reporting its probe-type to the probe registry on a predetermined event, such as initialization. The probe registry then reports these probe-types to the application on the server. Next, the application determines whether the server has a compatible probe object to the probeable object, and determines whether to deploy such a probe. Once a decision to deploy the probe object is made, it is downloaded to the device, where it queries the probe registry for a reference to the probeable object. The probe object then introduces itself to the probeable object, and the appropriate interfaces are established therebetween. The probe object then assumes its function of reporting events in the probeable object to the application on the server, and/or issuing control commands via method-calls to the probeable object based on instructions received from the application. Once the probe function is complete, the probe unloads from the device, freeing up random access memory on the device. The result is that the device can be remotely observed and controlled with a reduced consumption of device hardware resources, and updates to device software only require the creation of a new probe, and do not require a rewrite of the server application.