Mobile hub and managing events in a mobile hub

1. A method for managing events in a mobile hub, the method comprising:

storing an event in a circular buffer;

monitoring a storage period of the stored event in the circular buffer; and

discarding the event from the buffer when the storage period exceeds a time-out; wherein the time-out is a variable time-out that depends on an event arrival rate;

wherein the monitoring further comprises monitoring acknowledgement messages received from entities in response to a notification that was sent to these entities;

wherein the discarding further comprises discarding an event from the buffer when an acknowledgement message was received before the time-out of the timer from each entity notified with regard to this particular event; and else discarding the event from the buffer when the time-out of the associated timer is exceeded and when an acknowledgement message was not received before the time-out of the timer from all the entities notified with regard to this particular event.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising notifying registered entities upon the arrival of an event.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein an entity is an external entity communicating with the mobile hub via a wireless network.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein an entity is an internal entity of the mobile hub for processing events.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising distributing an annotation to registered entities which annotation was received in combination with an acknowledgement message.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising distributing an annotation to registered entities which annotation was received in combination with an event.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising distributing an event to registered entities which event comprises an annotation attached to the original event.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the appearance of an event follows an event notation which notation comprises different fields per event, each field specifying a certain category of information.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein at least some of the fields follow a hierarchy.

10. A mobile hub comprising:

a circular buffer configured to store sensor values;

a timer configured to monitor the storage period of a sensor value stored in the buffer; and

an event manager configured to discard the event from the buffer when a time-out of the associated timer is exceeded, wherein the time-out is a variable time-out that depends on a sensor value arrival rate; and

wherein the event manager is further configured to:

monitor acknowledgment messages received from entities in response to a notification that was sent to these entities;

discard the sensor value from the buffer when an acknowledgement message was received before the time-out of the timer from each of the entities notified with regard to the sensor value; and

discard the sensor value from the buffer when the time-out of the associated timer is exceeded and when an acknowledgement message was not received before the time-out of the timer from all the entities notified with regard to the sensor value.

11. The mobile hub according to claim 10 , wherein the time-out differs for sensor values associated to different applications.

12. The mobile hub according to claim 10 , wherein every sensor value stored in the buffer has an associated timer.

13. The mobile hub according to claim 10 , wherein the buffer has a capacity for storing less than 200 sensor values.

14. The mobile hub according to claim 13 , wherein the buffer has a capacity for storing less than 100 sensor values.

15. The mobile hub according to claim 10 , further comprising an interface to a wireless local area network for receiving and/or transmitting sensor values from/to external entities.

16. The mobile hub according to claim 10 , further comprising an interface to a wireless wide area network configured to receive and/or transmit sensor values from/to external entities.

17. The mobile hub according to claim 10 , further comprising an adapter configured to convert an internal representation of the sensor value into a representation of the sensor value comprehensible to an external entity and vice versa.

18. The mobile hub according to claim 10 , further comprising an internal entity configured to process sensor values.

19. The mobile hub according to claim 10 , wherein the event manager is configured to store an arriving sensor value in the buffer and to start the associated timer.

20. The mobile hub according to claim 10 , further comprising a registration list configured to identify entities that should be notified at the appearance of the sensor value.

21. The mobile hub according to claim 20 , wherein the event manager is configured to notify entities according to the registration list upon the arrival of the sensor value.

22. A computer program product for managing events in a mobile hub, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code configured to:

store an event in a circular buffer;

monitor a storage period of the stored event in the circular buffer; and

discard the event from the buffer when the storage period exceeds a time-out; wherein the time-out is a variable time-out that depends on an event arrival rate,

wherein the monitoring further comprising monitoring of acknowledgement messages received from entities in response to a notification that was sent to these entities; and

wherein the discarding further comprising discarding an event from the buffer when an acknowledgement message was received before the time-out of the timer from each entity notified with regard to this particular event; and else discarding the event from the buffer when the time-out of the associated timer is exceeded and when an acknowledgement message was not received before the time-out of the timer from all the entities notified with regard to this particular event.