METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RETRIEVING AND DISPLAYING IMAGES OF DEVICES CONNECTED TO A COMPUTING DEVICE

1 . A method for retrieving and displaying a photorealistic image of a device that is connected to a computing device or available for connection, comprising the steps of:

using the computing device to receive data from the device;

using the computing device to retrieve identifying information from the device;

using the computing device to retrieve a photorealistic image from a database based on the identifying information; and

displaying the retrieved photorealistic image on the computing device.

2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , in which the identifying information is associated with a particular mode of communication.

3 . The method as recited in claim 2 , in which the identifying information is in the form of a signature assembled from one or more selected attributes associated with the particular mode of communication.

4 . The method as recited in claim 1 , in which the identifying information retrieved from the device includes a vendor ID (VID) and a product ID (PID).

5 . The method as recited in claim 1 , in which additional information about the device is retrieved along with the photorealistic image.

6 . A method for retrieving and displaying a photorealistic image of a device that is connected to a computing device or available for connection, comprising the steps of:

using the computing device to receive data from the device;

using the computing device to retrieve identifying information from the device;

using the computing device to query a local database to determine if there is a photorealistic image stored in the local database that is associated with the identifying information;

if so, using the computing device to retrieve the photorealistic image from the local database;

if there is no photorealistic image stored in the local database that is associated with the identifying information, using the computing device to query a remote database to retrieve a photorealistic image of the device based on the identifying information; and

displaying the retrieved photorealistic image on the computing device.

7 . The method as recited in claim 6 , and further comprising the step of updating the local database to store the retrieved photorealistic image and associate it with the identifying information if the photorealistic image was retrieved from the remote database.

8 . The method as recited in claim 6 , in which the identifying information is associated with a particular mode of communication.

9 . The method as recited in claim 8 , in which the identifying information is in the form of a signature assembled from one or more selected attributes associated with the particular mode of communication.

10 . The method as recited in claim 6 , in which the identifying information retrieved from the device includes a vendor ID (VID) and a product ID (PID).

11 . The method as recited in claim 6 , in which additional information about the device is retrieved along with the photorealistic image.

12 . The method as recited in claim 6 , in which the remote database is accessed by the computing device via a network connection.

13 . The method as recited in claim 12 , in which the remote database is queried through use of an XML-based messaging protocol in which a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) request is transmitted to the remote database with the identifying information, with the retrieved photorealistic image then being returned as a SOAP response.

14 . A method for retrieving and displaying a photorealistic image of a device that is connected to a computing device or available for connection, comprising the steps of:

using the computing device to receive data from the device;

using the computing device to retrieve identifying information from the device;

using the computing device to query a local database to determine if there is a photorealistic image stored in the local database that is associated with the identifying information;

if so, using the computing device to retrieve the photorealistic image from the local database;

if there is no photorealistic image stored in the local database that is associated with the identifying information, using the computing device to query a remote database to determine if there is a photorealistic image stored in the remote database that is associated with the identifying information;

if so, using the computing device to retrieve the photorealistic image from the local database;

if there is no photorealistic image stored in the remote database that is associated with the identifying information, using the computing device to retrieve a photorealistic image that is representative of the device from either the local database or the remote database; and

displaying the retrieved photorealistic image on the computing device.

15 . The method as recited in claim 14 , in which the identifying information is associated with a particular mode of communication.

16 . The method as recited in claim 15 , in which the identifying information is in the form of a signature assembled from one or more selected attributes associated with the particular mode of communication.

17 . The method as recited in claim 14 , in which the identifying information retrieved from the device includes a vendor ID (VID) and a product ID (PID).

18 . The method as recited in claim 14 , in which additional information about the device is retrieved along with the photorealistic image.

19 . The method as recited in claim 14 , in which the remote database is accessed by the computing device via a network connection.

20 . The method as recited in claim 19 , in which the remote database is queried through use of an XML-based messaging protocol in which a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) request is transmitted to the remote database with the identifying information, with the retrieved photorealistic image then being returned as a SOAP response.