Mashup service support method and apparatus

Claim 2

A mashup service support method comprising: externally receiving a mashup service application, comprising a plurality of Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), in an image forming apparatus; acquiring and managing authentication keys corresponding to the plurality of Open APIs of the received mashup service application in the image forming apparatus; storing the authentication keys in an authentication key database in the image forming apparatus by matching each of the acquired authentication keys to an Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs of the received mashup service application; and executing the received mashup service application in the image forming apparatus by inserting the stored authentication keys into the Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs.

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 , wherein, the receiving of a mashup service application comprises receiving the mashup service application through a LAN or wired/wireless network.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 , wherein the mashup service application is an application comprising device-executable codes including binary codes, execution codes, source codes, and/or web pages.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving of a mashup service application comprises: receiving the mashup service application; and storing the mashup service application in a device.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4 , wherein the receiving of a mashup service application further comprises: determining whether a storage capacity of the device is sufficient to store the mashup service application; and receiving the mashup service application when the storage capacity of the device is sufficient to store the mashup service application.

Claim 7

The method of claim 5 , wherein the receiving of a mashup service application further comprises displaying an error message, when the storage capacity of the device is insufficient to store the mashup service application.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 , wherein the acquiring and managing of the authentication keys further comprises: determining whether the authentication keys are inserted in the received mashup service application; and acquiring the authentication keys according to an authentication key acquisition process when the authentication keys are not inserted in the received mashup service application.

Claim 9

The method of claim 7 , wherein, in the acquiring of the authentication keys, the authentication keys are acquired from an Open API provider using a push download or a pull download.

Claim 10

The method of claim 7 , wherein the Open API address includes URL (uniform resource locator).

Claim 11

The method of claim 1 , wherein the executing of the received mashup service application comprises: confirming the Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs of the received mashup service application; determining whether an authentication key corresponding to the confirmed Open API address is inserted; and executing the received mashup service application when the authentication keys corresponding to the plurality of Open APIs are inserted.

Claim 12

The method of claim 10 , wherein the executing of the received mashup service application further comprises: determining whether the authentication keys corresponding to the Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs exists in the authentication key database when the authentication keys are not inserted; and extracting the corresponding authentication keys and inserting the extracted authentication keys in the mashup service application when the authentication keys corresponding to the Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs exist.

Claim 13

The method of claim 11 , wherein the executing of the received mashup service application further comprises: displaying an error message when the authentication key corresponding to the Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs do not exist.

Claim 14

A mashup service support apparatus comprising: a network interface unit to transmit and receive data; a control unit in an image forming apparatus to externally receive a mashup service application comprising a plurality of Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), to acquire and manage authentication keys corresponding to the plurality of Open APIs of the received mashup service application in the image forming apparatus, and to execute the mashup service application in the image forming apparatus by inserting the acquired authentication keys into an Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs; and a storing unit including a memory to store the mashup service application and an authentication key database to store the authentication keys by matching each of the acquired authentication keys to the Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs of the received mashup service application.

Claim 15

A mashup service support apparatus comprising: a network interface unit to transmit and receive data; a control unit in an image forming apparatus to externally receive a mashup service application comprising a plurality of Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), to acquire and manage authentication keys corresponding to the plurality of Open APIs of the received mashup service application in the image forming apparatus, and to execute the mashup service application in the image forming apparatus by inserting the acquired authentication keys into an Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs; and a storing unit including a memory to store the mashup service application and an authentication key database to store the authentication keys by matching each of the acquired authentication keys to the Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs of the received mashup service application.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the network interface unit receives the mashup service application and the authentication keys through a LAN or wired/wireless network.

Claim 17

The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the mashup service application is an application comprising device-executable codes including binary codes, execution codes, source codes, and/or web pages.

Claim 18

The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the control unit determines whether the authentication keys are inserted in the received mashup service application, and when the authentication keys are not inserted, the authentication keys are acquired according to an authentication key acquisition process.

Claim 19

The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the control unit determines whether the authentication keys corresponding to the mashup service application exists in the storing unit, extracts the authentication keys corresponding to the mashup service application if the authentication keys exist in the storing unit, and inserts the extracted authentication keys in the mashup service application to execute the mashup service application.

Claim 20

A mashup service providing system, comprising: a plurality of mashup service providers to provide at least one mashup service application; a plurality of application program interface (API) providers to provide at least one API and corresponding authentication keys; and an image forming apparatus including a memory to request the at least one mashup service application comprising a plurality of Open APIs from the corresponding mashup service providers via a network, to request authentication keys for the plurality of Open APIs corresponding to the at least one mashup service application via the network, and to store the requested authentication keys received from the plurality of API providers in the memory by matching each of the requested authentication keys to an Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs of the mashup service application so as to allow a user to execute the at least one mashup service application in the image forming apparatus by inserting the stored authentication keys into the Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs.

Claim 21

A mashup service providing system, comprising: a plurality of mashup service providers to provide at least one mashup service application; a plurality of application program interface (API) providers to provide at least one API and corresponding authentication keys; and an image forming apparatus including a memory to request the at least one mashup service application comprising a plurality of Open APIs from the corresponding mashup service providers via a network, to request authentication keys for the plurality of Open APIs corresponding to the at least one mashup service application via the network, and to store the requested authentication keys received from the plurality of API providers in the memory by matching each of the requested authentication keys to an Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs of the mashup service application so as to allow a user to execute the at least one mashup service application in the image forming apparatus by inserting the stored authentication keys into the Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs.

Claim 24

The method of claim 19 , further comprising: acquiring the authentication keys from an application program interface (API) provider; and storing the authentication keys in the local storage unit together with a mapping relating the authentication keys to corresponding mashup service applications.

Claim 25

A mashup service support apparatus comprising: a storage unit including a memory; and a controller in an image forming apparatus to request a mashup service application comprising a plurality of Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and to store the mashup service application in the memory in the storage unit, to request authentication keys for the plurality of Open APIs corresponding to the mashup service application and to store the authentication keys in an authentication key database in the storage unit together by matching each of the requested authentication keys to an Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs of the mashup service application, and to execute the mashup service application in the image forming apparatus by inserting the authentication keys into the Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs.

Claim 26

A mashup service support apparatus comprising: a storage unit including a memory; and a controller in an image forming apparatus to request a mashup service application comprising a plurality of Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and to store the mashup service application in the memory in the storage unit, to request authentication keys for the plurality of Open APIs corresponding to the mashup service application and to store the authentication keys in an authentication key database in the storage unit together by matching each of the requested authentication keys to an Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs of the mashup service application, and to execute the mashup service application in the image forming apparatus by inserting the authentication keys into the Open API address of each of the plurality of Open APIs.