System and method for automatically discovering accessible services on a computer network and providing automatic access thereto
US6839757B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 28, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jan 4, 2005 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 28, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L67/561
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system and method for automatically discovering accessible services on a computer network and providing automatic access thereto. In particular, a gateway server is provided which periodically scans a building network for available network services and publishes links to the available network services over the Internet. Advantageously, a scanning engine of the gateway server periodically attempts to open a connection, or socket, with the port associated with each service to determine the availability of that service. The scanning engine initiates a second exchange with the port to validate the availability of the particular network service if the attempt to establish a connection with the port was successful. The scanning engine then creates a list of the identified accessible services. The list of accessible services may be configured as dynamic links on a gateway server web page to allow access to the identified network services from an outside network, via the dynamic links.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.