Policy-based management method for remote management of home devices

1. Policy-based management method for remote management of a home device ( 3 ), said method comprising:

a triggering step wherein the operational state of the home device ( 3 ) changes under occurrence of a triggering event belonging to one of the following event categories:

a device event, where the event is automatically produced by the home device ( 3 );

a scheduled event, where the event is automatically produced by a clock; and

a user event, where the event is produced by a user;

an evaluation step, wherein a home device management (HDM) server ( 9 ) evaluates at least one device selection criterion; and

a policy run cycle, wherein the HDM server ( 9 ) runs a policy on the home device ( 3 ), said policy being selected among the following policies:

an activation policy if the triggering event is of the device type;

a management policy if the triggering event is of the scheduled type; and

a transient policy if the triggering event is of the user type.

2. Policy-based management method according to claim 1 , further comprising an exit step wherein the HDM server ( 9 ) evaluates success or failure of the policy on the home device ( 3 ).

3. Policy-based management method according to claim 1 , wherein, in the evaluation step, the at least one device criterion is a device parameter.

4. Policy-based management method according to claim 3 , wherein the at least one device criterion is selected among the following: home device IP address, home device serial number, service identification.

5. Policy-based management method according to claim 1 , further comprising, if the selected policy is the transient policy, a locking step wherein the home device ( 3 ) is locked before the beginning of the policy run cycle, and an unlocking step wherein the home device ( 3 ) is unlocked after completion of the policy run cycle.

6. Home device policy-based management system, comprising:

means ( 9 ) for identifying a triggering event belonging to one of the following event categories:

a device event, where the event is automatically produced by the home device ( 3 );

a scheduled event, where the event is automatically produced by a clock; and

a user event, where the event is produced by a user;

means ( 9 ) for evaluating at least one device selection criterion; and

means ( 9 , 10 ) for launching a policy run cycle on the home device ( 3 ), said policy being selected among the following policies:

an activation policy if the triggering event is of the device type;

a management policy if the triggering event is of the scheduled type; and

a transient policy if the triggering event is of the user type.

7. Home device policy-based management system of claim 6 further comprising a policy repository database (PRD) ( 12 ) wherein rules underlying the policies are implemented.

8. Computer program product described in a computer-readable format in order to execute a home device policy-based management method, said product comprising a non-transitory medium, said non-transitory medium including:

instructions for identifying a triggering event belonging to one of the following event categories:

a device event, where the event is automatically produced by the home device ( 3 );

a scheduled event, where the event is automatically produced by a clock; and

a user event, where the event is produced by a user;

instructions for evaluating at least one device selection criterion; and

instructions for launching a policy run cycle on a home device, said policy being selected among the following policies:

an activation policy if the triggering event is of the device type;

a management policy if the triggering event is of the scheduled type; and

a transient policy if the triggering event is of the user type.