Machine to machine (M2M) application server, XDMS server, and methods for M2M applications group management

A machine to machine application server (M2M-AS) for use in M2M group management, the M2M-AS comprising:

• a communications interface communicating with a network;
• a processor operationally connected to the communications interface;
• and
• an instructions repository storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the later to obtain information related to a group of M2M applications, the information comprising a group identity and identities of a plurality of M2M applications that belong to the group, and to update, via the communications interface, an XML Data Management Server (XDMS) server with the group's identity and identities of the plurality of M2M applications that belong to the group, the instructions repository further including instructions, that when executed by the processor cause the later, when receiving a request from a requestor for a group membership for one of the plurality of M2M applications, the one M2M application being other than the requestor, and the request comprising an identify of the one of the plurality of M2M applications, to interrogate, via the communications interface and using the identity of the one of the plurality of M2M applications, the XDMS server for obtaining one or more identities of groups the one of the plurality of M2M applications is part of and to obtain from the XDMS server the one or more identities of groups the one of the plurality of M2M applications is part of, and further to send to the requestor, which is different than the one M2M application, the one or more group identities.

A method for the management of information related to groups of machine to machine (M2M) applications, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving at an XDMS (XML Data Management Server) server from an M2M application server (M2M-AS) an identity of a group of M2M applications and a plurality of identities of M2M applications that belong to the group of M2M applications;
• and
• storing in a data repository of the XDMS the identity of the group and the identities of the plurality of M2M applications that belong to the group;
• receiving a request issued by a requestor for a group membership for one of the plurality of M2M applications, the one M2M application being other than the requestor, and the request comprising an identity of the one of the plurality of M2M applications;
• determining the identity of at least one group of applications comprising the one of the plurality of M2M applications based on the identity of the one of the plurality of M2M applications;
• responding to the request with the identity of the at least one group of applications that comprises the one of the plurality of M2M applications.

An XDMS (XML Data Management Server) server for use in M2M group management, the XDMS server comprising:

• a data repository for storing information related to groups of M2M applications;
• a communications interface communicating with a network;
• a processor operationally connected to the communications interface and to the data repository;
• and
• an instructions repository storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the later, when the communication interface receives from an M2M application server (M2M-AS) an identity of a group of applications and a plurality of identities of M2M applications that belong to the group, to store on the data repository the identity of the group and the identities of the plurality of M2M applications that belong to the group, the instructions repository including further instructions, that when executed by the processor cause the later, when the communications interface receives a request originated by a requestor, the one M2M application being other than the requestor, for a group membership of one of the plurality of M2M applications, to retrieve from the data repository the identity of at least one group of applications comprising the one of the plurality of M2M applications using the identity of the one of the plurality of M2M applications, and to respond via the communications interface to the request with the identity of the at least one group of applications comprising the one of the plurality of M2M applications.