KR100498284B1 - Synchronizing system for universal plug and play network and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for synchronizing a UPnP-based network. In particular, when a user moves to another place while performing work at a certain place, the CP has information on the CP even if there is no CP in the place. Its purpose is to ensure continuity of work by transmitting to the media renderer, and to enable the construction of UPnP devices in mobile locations. To this end, the present invention provides a media server 530 that stores useful content on a network, media renderers 521 and 522 that exist in different spaces to render content over a network, and the media renderer 521. One Control Point (CP) 510 and the Media Renderer 522 that exist in the same space and control the operations of the Media Server 530 and the Media Renderer 521 and 522 by a user's command. And a CP agent 540 which is downloaded from the CP 510 to the media renderer 522 by a reconnection command transmitted from the CP and transmits a control command of the media renderer 522 to the CP 510. It is characterized by.

Description

 SYNCHRONIZING SYSTEM FOR UNIVERSAL PLUG AND PLAY NETWORK AND METHOD THEREOF

The present invention relates to a home network, and more particularly, to a synchronization system and method of a UPnP-based network.

Recently, as the computing power is applied to small and diverse devices, inexpensive and universal networking media technologies are emerging or commercialized.

In addition, various devices such as refrigerators, TVs, washing machines, PCs, and audio devices used in homes are connected with networking and given the computing power, so that people can enjoy a higher quality of life as their usage and setting methods become easier. It became possible.

For this purpose, the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) function has been proposed.

Since the Plug and Play (PnP) feature has been added to the current operating system, installing and configuring PC peripherals has become much easier, but UPnP has built this complete functionality based on Internet standard technologies such as TCP / IP, HTTP and XML. It extends to networks, enabling network devices such as home appliances, network printers, and Internet gates to be networking, especially home networking.

The basic configuration of the UPnP network is composed of a device, a service, and a control point (CP), as shown in FIG.

In this case, a device includes a service and various accessory devices. For example, a VCR device includes a tape move service, a tuner service, and a time service.

A service is the smallest small unit of control on the network and models the service itself through state variables.

A control point (CP) refers to a controller having a function of detecting and controlling other devices.

UPnP devices are devices that are based on a standard defined by the UPnP Forum according to the standard architecture (UPnP Device Architecture 1.0) distributed by Microsoft.

In addition, the UPnP Forum is a gathering that leads the development of standards for UPnP devices and services. It is currently comprised of six working groups.

In the UPnP device architecture version, as shown in FIG. 3, the UPnP protocol stack structure including Internet protocols such as TCP / IP and HTTP, and technologies such as XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) are used. The communication between CP and device is defined in six steps as follows.

The first step is an addressing step, where the CP and the controlled device each have an IP address.

The second step is to find a desired device (Discovery), the CP finds a desired controlled device or the controlled device advertises its location.

The third step is a product function description step, where the CP learns the product function of the controlled device.

The fourth step is a control step, in which the CP operates a function of the controlled device.

The fifth step is an eventing step, in which the CP receives an event change of the controlled device.

The sixth step is a presentation step, in which the CP displays the device state using HTML of the controlled device.

Thus, by using the functions defined as above, the user can configure a home network without complicated network settings.

When a UPnP device joins a network, it receives its IP address using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or, if there is no DHCP server in the network, uses the automatic IP function to randomly configure IP within a specific subnet to It is used after checking whether or not duplicate usage of. This is called addressing.

The discovery step is a process in which CPs find UPnP devices in a network, using a simple service discovery protocol (SSDP).

If the device is added to the network, the device delivers an SSD (alive) message to the network using the IP multicast function and the CP receives the appearance message and can know whether the device exists.

In addition, when the CP joins the network newly, the CP multicasts an SSD-search message (m-search) message to the network, and UPnP devices confirming the search message send a response message containing their information to the CP. do.

In addition, the CP checks the response message and, if desired, may request the device for detailed information related to the device, and the received device sends its information as an XML document. This process is called a description.

If the CP wants to control an arbitrary device, a desired service is sent to the device using SOAP based on the device description. SOAP is a protocol written in XML over HTTP for the purpose of remote function calls.

Finally, if the device wants to receive an event message, the CP sends a subscription request for the event to the device. If the subscription is successful, the device sends an event message to the CP using GENA.

In the current AV 1.0 standard, as shown in the block diagram of FIG. 2, the UPnP AV structure renders content through a network and a media server (MS), which means a space for storing useful content in a network. and a media renderer (MR) for rendering, and a control point (CP) for controlling the media server and the media renderer.

The UPnP AV configuration method proposed by the current AV 1.0 standard includes a method of configuring a CP, a media server, a media renderer as individual components, or a method of configuring a CP in a media server as a combo form and a CP in the media renderer. The method of providing and configuring is shown.

In the current home network configuration in the home, the device constituting the CP may be provided with a plurality of devices, which may be mainly configured as a device equipped with a user interface, such as desktop PC, notebook PC, TV (TV).

The operation of the home network adopting the general UPnP AV 1.0 version is as follows.

Operation on a home network consists of a CP (TV) in the living room, a media server (UPnP device with a storage disk, such as a PC or VCR), and a media renderer (such as a laptop PC or audio player) and another CP in the bedroom. It is assumed that TV2 is installed.

When the user listens to music in the living room and moves to the bedroom, the user disconnects the media server and the media renderer from the TV of the living room CP and moves to the bedroom.

Then, the user who moves to the bedroom again finds all the AV UPnP devices in another CP (TV2) provided in the bedroom and obtains information from the media server and the media renderer and listens to the music that was listening in the living room again.

However, conventionally, if a user wants to proceed at another location, the user must stop the work and then move to another location to find AV UPnP devices again to obtain information from the media server and the media renderer, and then reconfigure the network. For this purpose, there must be a CP, but if there is no CP in the moving place, there is a problem that the continuity of the work cannot be guaranteed because UPnP AV cannot be configured because information exchange cannot be performed.

For example, if there is no CP in the moving place as shown in the example of FIG. 4, assuming that the user moves to the second floor while listening to music on the first floor as shown in FIG. In this case, when the media renderer 421 is disconnected and the media renderer 422 is moved to the second floor and the media renderer 422 is turned on, the media renderer 422 broadcasts to the CP 410 on the first floor as shown in FIG. (ssdp: alive) and the CP 410 recognizes the entry of the media renderer 422 into the network. Then, the CP 410 of the first floor is the media server 430 and the media renderer as shown in FIG. Information is obtained from 422 to reconstruct the network.

However, since the user has moved to the second floor, the user cannot give a command to the CP 410, so that the CP 410 on the first floor cannot obtain the protocol information and format of the media renderer 422 on the second floor. Therefore, the AV network cannot be configured, which causes a problem in that the user cannot hear the music that was listening on the first floor with continuity on the second floor.

Therefore, in order to improve the conventional problem, when a user moves to another place while performing work in a certain place, the information contained in the CP is transferred to the media renderer of the moving place even when there is no CP in the moving place. It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for synchronizing UPnP-based networks, which are designed to ensure continuity of work by transmitting and to configure UPnP devices in a mobile location.

The present invention relates to a UPnP-based network including at least one media server, at least one media renderer, and one control point (CP), in order to achieve the above object, the media renderer If the CP is located in a different space from the CP, it transmits a multicast command at power-on to download a CP agent from the CP, transmits its protocol and format to the CP through the CP agent, matches the media server, and sends a user command. Characterized in that configured to execute the operation by transmitting to the CP through a CP agent.

The multicast command is a modified reconnection command (SSDP: Redirect) of the SSDP or a Redirect item is inserted into the device-UUID (Universally Unique IDentifier) value among the unique service name (USN) values by the user's command without the SSDP reconnection command. It is characterized by one.

The media renderer is configured to connect to a device capable of user input when a user input is not possible even when a CP agent is downloaded, that is, when a liquid crystal display device for description guidance is not provided.

The media renderer is configured to connect to a user inputtable device in a wireless communication method.

The wireless communication method is characterized in that the infrared communication method, FM modulation method, DSS (Digital Spread Spectrum) communication method and Bluetooth (BLUETOOTH) communication method for a wireless LAN.

In addition, the media renderer is configured to guide a menu by voice to enable user input when a user input is not possible even when a CP agent is downloaded, that is, when a liquid crystal display device for description guidance is not provided. do.

Meanwhile, the present invention relates to a method for synchronizing a UPnP-based network including at least one media server, at least one media renderer, and one control point. The media renderer located in a different space from the CP may include: transmitting a multicast command to the CP when the power is turned on; downloading a CP agent from the CP; And transmitting the protocol and format of the media renderer to match the media server.

The multicast command may be configured by modifying NTS (Notification Sub Type) to SSDP: Redirect.

The multicast command may be configured by adding a Redirect item to the device type of the device-UUID in the USN by a user's command.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the embodiment of the present invention, in order to clearly describe the technical configuration of the present invention, only the AV architecture will be described as an example.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an UPnP AV architecture for an embodiment of the present invention. As shown therein, a media server 530 that stores useful content on a network, and different spaces for rendering content over a network are shown. The media renderers 521 and 522 which exist in the same space as the media renderer 521 and control the operations of the media server 530 and the media renderers 521 and 522 by a user's command. The control command of the media renderer 522 is downloaded from the CP 510 to the media renderer 522 by a control point 510 of the CP and a reconnection command transmitted from the media renderer 522. It is configured to include a CP agent 540 to transmit to the CP (510).

The media renderer 522 is located in a different space from the CP 510 and transmits a multicast command at power-on to download the CP agent 540 from the CP 510 and its protocol through the CP agent 540. And transmits a format to the CP 510 to match the media server 530, and executes a corresponding operation by transmitting a user's command to the CP 510 through the CP agent 540.

Referring to the operation and effect of the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

The CP 510 may be configured by the media server 530 and the media renderer 521 that are UPnP devices according to a user's command (play, stop, seek, record, pause) to play a music file. The operation is managed and coordinated, and the procedure as shown in the signal flow diagram of Fig. 9 is carried out as follows.

1) All UPnP AV devices are found using SSDP, which is a UPnP standard protocol, and a list of all AV devices on the home network, that is, the media server 530 and the media renderer 521 is collected and stored in the database.

2) Use the Browse () command or the Search () command of the contents directory service (CDS) of the media server 530 to obtain the location of the desired content.

At this time, metadata information of the Contents Objects, transport information in a <res> </ res> Tag, and transport information such as a data format are obtained from the media server 530. .

In this case, the information obtained by the CP 510 is Meta Data (result, number returned, total Matches, updateID).

3) Protocol / Format list information, that is, Protocol, Network, Content Format, and additional Info, are obtained through the GetprotocolInfo () command of the connection manager of the media renderer 521.

For example, http-get, *, Mine-type.

Where * is a symbol used when it is not needed because all devices supporting http are part of a network using the same IP.

At this time, the information obtained by the CP 510 is Protocol, Network, Content Format.

4) Obtain information of AVT instance ID through PrepareforConnectiion () of the Connection Manager of the media server 530, and obtain information of Rendering Control Service :: instance ID of PrepareforConnection () of the Connection Manager of the media renderer 521.

In this case, the information obtained by the CP 510 is AVT instance ID and RCS instance ID.

In other words, the information obtained through the above four steps is an essential procedure that must be passed even if the CP is changed.

Eventually, the information required by the CP 510 is information about the media server 530 and the media renderer 521, and collects and stores them, matches each other with a suitable protocol and format, and receives a command directly from the user. To control the operation.

Meanwhile, the operation of the case where the user moves to a place without a CP according to the basic procedure as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8 and 10.

When the user moves to the second floor while listening to audio using the CP 510 on the first floor, the user presses a move button with a remote controller or the like before moving.

Thereafter, when the user moves to the second floor and powers on the media renderer 522, the media renderer 522 is a UPnP device and automatically sends a message (SSDP: alive) indicating that the user entered the network. 510 confirms the entry of the media renderer 522 and stores the entry in the device list.

In this case, when the user instructs the media renderer 522 to send the [REDIRECT] command, the media renderer 522 transmits a multicast command in the form of SSDP: rediret to the CP 510.

At this time, the second transmission multicast command (SSDP: redirect) is a part added to the current standard.

NTS (Notification Sub Type) is a notification type defined in GENA. When multicasting this part, the current standard is necessarily defined as [ssdp: alive] in the current standard. However, in the embodiment of the present invention, [ssdp: Modify with redirect] to apply.

In addition, another method of the multicast command is one item in front of the version information as shown in FIG. 7 (b) to indicate that the device wants to redirect to the device type among the device-UUIDs defined in UPnP vendor specific in the SSDP. You can also add (redirect) to define and send the current state.

As a result, when the CP 510 receives the reconnection command, the CP 510 downloads its agent, that is, the CP agent 540, to the media renderer 522.

The CP agent 540 internally receives the protocol and format of the media renderer 522 and transmits it to the CP 510.

At this time, the CP 510 receiving the information from the CP agent 540 matches the protocol and format with the media server 530, and receives a CM: PrepareForConnection () from the CP agent 540 by a user's command. .

Subsequently, the CP 510 that receives the command transmits the command to the media server 530 to transmit the content to the media renderer 522.

Here, the download method with the CP is configured by the manufacturer arbitrarily (vender specific).

Thereafter, the command input from the CP agent 540 is directly transmitted to the CP 510.

Accordingly, the user reconnects the media server 530 to the new media renderer 522 from the media renderer 521 to receive contents.

This will be described briefly with reference to the signal flow chart of FIG. 6.

When the media renderer 522 is powered on, the media renderer multicasts [ssdp: alive] according to the standard to inform the CP 510 that it has entered the network. Then, the command in the form of [ssdp: redirect] is executed by the user's command. Will multicast.

In this case, the CP 510 downloads the CP agent 540 to the media renderer 522, and the media renderer 522 provides the CP agent 540 with information related to its protocol and format to the CP agent 510. To send).

Accordingly, the CP 510 matches the information between the media server 530 and the media renderer 522.

Thereafter, when a user inputs a CM: PrepareForConnection () command to the CP agent 540, the CP agent 540 internally transmits a command to the media server 530 through the CP 510 and the media server 530. The retransmission is made by transmitting the content to the media renderer 522.

Accordingly, the user checks the product function displayed by the CP agent 540 and then executes the desired task in the media renderer 522.

That is, in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the media renderer 522 downloads the CP agent 540 and converts the CP agent 540 into a Combo type UPnP AV device in which the CP is coupled to perform the operation as shown in FIG. 8.

As described in detail above, the present invention simplifies the system configuration as well as convenience for the user by automatically transmitting information even when there is no CP in the place where the user moves by the minimum modification of the current standard to ensure the continuity of work. It is effective to provide.

1 is a block diagram of a general UPnP network.

2 is a configuration diagram of a general UPnP AV architecture.

3 is an exemplary view showing the structure of a UPnP protocol stack.

Figure 4 is an exemplary view showing an operation state when moving to a place without a conventional CP.

5 is a block diagram of a UPnP AV architecture for an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a signal flowchart when moving a place without a CP in FIG. 5; FIG.

Figure 7 is an exemplary view showing an SSDP configuration in an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a signal flow diagram of a UPnP AV device in COMBO form.

9 is a signal flow diagram of a UPnP AV device according to the standard.

10 is a flowchart illustrating operations during roaming in an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

510: CP 521,522: Media Renderer

530: media server 540: CP agent

Claims (15)

In the UPnP-based network system having at least one media server, at least one media renderer and one control point, The media renderer If the CP is located in a different space from the CP by transmitting a multicast command to the CP agent from the CP and configured to perform information exchange with the CP through the CP agent, the synchronization system of the UPnP-based network. The media renderer of claim 1, wherein the media renderer UPnP-based network synchronization system, characterized in that configured to multicast by modifying the NTS of SSDP to [SSDP: Redirect] at power-on. The media renderer of claim 1, wherein the media renderer And multicasting the network entry message (SSDP: alive) by inserting a [Redirect] item into the device-UUID value among the USN values by a user command. The media renderer of claim 1, wherein the media renderer UPnP-based network synchronization system characterized in that it is configured to connect to a device capable of user input when the user input is impossible even after downloading the CP agent. The media renderer of claim 4 wherein the media renderer A system for synchronizing UPnP-based networks, characterized in that configured to connect to a user inputtable device in a wireless communication manner. The method of claim 5, wherein the wireless communication scheme UPnP-based network synchronization system characterized in that the infrared communication method. The method of claim 5, wherein the wireless communication scheme UPnP-based network synchronization system characterized in that the FM modulation scheme. The method of claim 5, wherein the wireless communication scheme UPnP-based network synchronization system, characterized in that the DSS (Digital Spread Spectrum) communication method for the wireless LAN. The method of claim 5, wherein the wireless communication scheme UPnP-based network synchronization system characterized in that the Bluetooth (BLUETOOTH) communication method. The media renderer of claim 1, wherein the media renderer UPnP-based network synchronization system characterized in that it is configured to guide the description by voice so that user input is possible even if the user input is not available even after downloading the CP agent. A method of synchronizing a UPnP-based network having at least one media server, at least one media renderer, and one control point, If the media renderer is located in a different space from the CP, performing a step of downloading a CP agent from the CP to operate as a Combo type UPnp device with a built-in CP, UPnP-based network, characterized in that Synchronization method. 12. The method of claim 11, comprising transmitting a multicast command to the CP for downloading of the CP agent when the power is turned on. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the multicast command is A method of synchronizing UPnP-based networks, characterized by modifying NTS with [SSDP: Redirect]. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the multicast command is Method of synchronizing UPnP-based network, characterized by adding [Redirect] item to device-UUID in USN by user's command. 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of the CP agent sending a protocol and format of the media renderer to the CP to match the media server.