A system and method provides automated creation of device resident
services. A host computer includes an advertisement listener that
receives device service advertisements. One or more service generator
processes receive information about the advertised device services and
create hosted services acting as proxies for the device services. One or
more peripheral devices are linked to the host computer, with each device
including a device service. The device advertises the device service to
the host computer and provides a device service description describing
capabilities of the device and device service to the service generator. A
directory service maintains service entries for the hosted services
published by the service generators. Clients may search for and select a
required service in the directory service table, and the service entries
serve as links to the corresponding hosted services which may then be
used by the client. A selected hosted service may enhance the
corresponding device service and provide augmented services to the
client.