Method, apparatus and system for addressing resources

1. An apparatus comprising:

a first interface to communicate with end-points operationally connected to the apparatus using a binary web service, the end-points comprising one or more resources;

a second interface for communicating with web applications making use of the resources;

a component for forming a group comprising one or more end-points or other groups;

a component for creating a first abstract universal resource identifier (URI) for the group to be used over the second interface, the abstract URI comprising a domain name and a group identifier and being independent of the protocol used to access the resources of the end-points of the group;

a component for creating a second abstract universal resource identifier (URI) for the end-points to be used over the second interface, the abstract URI comprising an end-point and domain name and being independent of the protocol used to access the end-point;

a component configured to receive over the second interface a look-up URI, the look- up URI comprising a tag identifying the look-up URI as a group look-up, the address of the apparatus, optional domain and group parameters; and

a component configured to resolve the look-up URI to one or more first or second abstract URIs.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus further comprising:

a component for creating universal resource locators (URL) for resources of the end-points to be used over the first interface, the URLs comprising the protocol used to access the resource, the Internet Protocol address, port and path of the resource; and

a component configured to link the URLs and the second abstract URIs together.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to resolve a look-up URI to a linked second abstract URI if the received look-up URI points to a resolvable address, and otherwise to first look-up URL.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured to resolve a look-up URI to a JavaScript Object Notation object comprising one or more arrays of responses.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus further comprising a component configured to:

receive over the second interface a request, the request comprising a domain name and a group identifier and optional parameters;

resolve the members of the group;

send the request to the members;

receive response from the members; and

send a response to the sender of the request.

6. The apparatus claim 5 , where the apparatus further comprises a component configured to:

receive a request comprising an indicator that the request should be executed by the members of the group simultaneously;

determine an individual time-out for each member; and

send the request to the members of the group with a time-out instructing each member to execute the request when the time-out has expired.

7. The apparatus claim 5 , where the apparatus further comprises a component configured to:

receive a request comprising an indicator that the request should be executed by the members only if all members receive the request;

send the request to the members of the group with a tag or group id indicating to the members that they should acknowledge the request but not execute it yet;

receive acknowledgements from the members; and

send a message to the members to execute the request if all members acknowledged the request.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the apparatus is configured to send the response to the sender of the request as a JavaScript Object Notation object comprising one or more arrays of responses.

9. A system comprising:

a server and one or more end-points operationally connected to the server using a binary web service, the end-points comprising one or more resources;

a first interface in the server to communicate with end-points operationally connected to the apparatus using a binary web service, the end-points comprising one or more resources;

a second interface in the server for communicating with web applications making use of the resources;

a component in the server for forming a group comprising one or more end-points or other groups;

a component in the server for creating a first abstract universal resource identifier (URI) for the group to be used over the second interface, the abstract URI comprising a domain name and a group identifier and being independent of the protocol used to access the resources of the end-points of the group;

a component in the server for creating a second abstract universal resource identifier (URI) for the end-points to be used over the second interface, the abstract URI comprising an end-point and domain name and being independent of the protocol used to access the end-point;

a component in the server configured to receive over the second interface a look-up URI, the look-up URI comprising a tag identifying the look-up URI as a group look-up, the address of the apparatus, optional domain and group parameters; and

a component in the server configured to resolve the look-up URI to one or more first or second abstract URIs.

10. A method comprising:

communicating over a first interface with end-points operationally connected to the apparatus using a binary web service, the end-points comprising one or more resources;

communicating with web applications making use of the resources over a second interface;

forming a group comprising one or more end-points or other groups;

creating a first abstract universal resource identifier (URI) for the group to be used over the second interface, the abstract URI comprising a domain name and a group identifier and being independent of the protocol used to access the resources of the end-points of the group;

creating a second abstract universal resource identifier (URI) for the end-points to be used over the second interface, the abstract URI comprising an end-point and domain name and being independent of the protocol used to access the end-point;

receiving over the second interface a look-up URI, the look-up URI comprising a tag identifying the look-up URI as a group look-up, the address of the apparatus, optional domain and group parameters; and

resolving the look-up URI to one or more first or second abstract URIs.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

creating universal resource locators (URL) for resources of the end-points to be used over the first interface, the URLs comprising the protocol used to access the resource, the Internet Protocol address, port and path of the resource; and

linking the URLs and the second abstract URIs together.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising resolving a look-up URI to a linked second abstract URI if the received look-up URI points to a resolvable address, and otherwise to first look-up URI.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising resolving a look-up URI to a JavaScript Object Notation object comprising one or more arrays of responses.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving over the second interface a request, the request comprising a domain name and a group identifier and optional parameters;

resolving the members of the group; sending the request to the members;

receiving response from the members; and

sending a response to the sender of the request.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving a request comprising an indicator that the request should be executed by the members of the group simultaneously;

determining an individual time-out for each member; and

sending the request to the members of the group with a time-out instructing each member to execute the request when the time-out has expired.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving a request comprising an indicator that the request should be executed by the members only if all members receive the request;

sending the request to the members of the group with a tag or group id indicating to the members that they should acknowledge the request but not execute it yet;

receiving acknowledgements from the members; and

sending a message to the members to execute the request if all members acknowledged the request.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising creating, modifying or deleting a group on the basis of a request received over the second interface.

18. A method comprising:

communicating with a server operationally connected to a number of end-points using a binary web service, the end-points comprising one or more resources;

sending to the server over an interface a look-up universal resource identifier (URI), the look-up URI comprising a tag identifying the look-up URI as a group look-up, the address of the server, optional domain and group parameters, wherein the group comprises one or more end-points or other groups; and

receiving, after an unspecified time-out, one or more first abstract universal resource identifiers (URI) of a group and/or one or more second abstract universal resource identifiers (URI) of an end-point, the first abstract URI comprising a domain name and a group identifier and being independent of the protocol used to access the resources of the end-points of the group, and the second abstract URI comprising an end-point and domain name and being independent of the protocol used to access the end-point.

19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

communicate over a first interface with end-points using a binary web service, the end-points comprising one or more resources;

communicate with web applications making use of the resources over a second interface;

form a group comprising one or more end-points or other groups;

create a first abstract universal resource identifier (URI) for the group to be used over the second interface, the abstract URI comprising a domain name and a group identifier and being independent of the protocol used to access the resources of the end-points of the group;

create a second abstract universal resource identifier (URI) for the end-points to be used over the second interface, the abstract URI comprising an end-point and domain name and being independent of the protocol used to access the end-point;

receive over the second interface a look-up URI, the look-up URI comprising a tag identifying the look-up URI as a group look-up, the address of the apparatus, optional domain and group parameters; and

resolve the look-up URI to one or more first or second abstract URIs.