ESTABLISHING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN REMOTE DEVICES WITH A HYPERTEXT TRANSFER PROTOCOL

• US 20020152311A1
• Filed: 03/03/1999
• Published: 10/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/1998
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Limited (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: VELTMAN, MARKUS, BUCHNER, PETER
• Application Number:
  US09/261,340
• Publication Number:
  US 20020152311A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40058 Isochronous transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40065 Bandwidth and channel allocation home automation networks H04L12/2803; flow control H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40117 Interconnection of audio or video/imaging devices home automation networks H04L12/2803; bitstream network arrangements specially adapted for distribution of digital video signals H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4113 PC
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4227 Providing Remote input by a user located remotely from the client device, e.g. at work
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43632 involving a wired protocol, e.g. IEEE 1394 high-speed IEEE 1394 serial bus H04L12/40052
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4586 Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8166 involving executable data, e.g. software arrangements for executing specific programs G06F9/44; broadcasting computer programmes in broadcast systems H04H20/91; involving the movement of software or configuration parameters H04L67/34

Abstract

A connection between remotely controllable devices (1; 1A, 1B, 1C) is established by controlling said remotely controllable devices (1; 1A, 1B, 1C) independently by use of a hypertext transfer protocol. Such a remotely controllable device (1; 1A, 1B, 1C) comprises a control interface (3) using a hypertext transfer protocol to establish said connection. A control device (2) for performing such a remote control comprises a first interface (2a) to control said controllable devices (1; 1A, 1B, 1C) remotely using a hypertext transfer protocol to establish said connection between at least two of said remotely controllable devices (1; 1A, 1B, 1C). A control device (2) according to the present invention is characterized by a second interface (2b) to control said control device (2) using a hypertext transfer protocol. With the invention directly controllable connections between remotely controllable devices can be established with a hypertext transfer protocol.

Claims

1. A method for establishing connections between remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C), characterized by controlling said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) independently by using a hypertext transfer protocol.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) are controlled via a control device (2), which controls said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) by using a hypertext transfer protocol.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized by remotely controlling said control device (2) by using a hypertext transfer protocol.

4. The method according to claim 2, characterized by directly controlling said control device (2) via a user interface (8).

5. The method according to anyone of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that said control device (2) respectively downloads a user interface from each of said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) which is to be connected with said connection and offers said user interfaces or a modified user interface based on said user interfaces to a user who wishes to control said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C).

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that a graphical user interface is used as said user interface.

7. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that said connection between said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) is a guaranteed bandwitdh connection.

8. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that said connection between said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) is established via an IEEE 1394 bus system (5).

9. The method according to anyone of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that a fully qualified domain name is assigned to each of said remote devices (1:

1A, 1B, 1C) in an initialization step that respectively consists of a name of a respective remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) prepended to a name of said controller (2).

10. The method according to anyone of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that said name of said controller is a domain name which is assigned by an Internet access provider.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that said fully qualified domain name is copied to the path of each hypertext transfer protocol command of each universal resource locator used to control said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C).

12. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that a hyperlink to all connected remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) is assigned to each of said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) in an initialization step.

14. The remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) according to claim 13, characterized in that said control interface (3) is a hypertext transfer protocol server and stores a user interface to be downloaded by said remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) to a control device (2).

15. The remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) according to claim 14, characterized in that said user interface is a graphical user interface.

18. The remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) according to claim 17, characterized in that said remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) starts forwarding or generating at least one service via said data interface (4) automatically after being switched-on.

19. The remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that said data interface (4) is an IEEE 1394 interface for isochronous connections.

20. The remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) according to anyone of claims 14 to 19, characterized in that it includes a domain name server that assigns a fully qualified domain name to each of said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) in an automatic initialization step that respectively consists of a name of a respective remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) prepended to a name of said control device (2) which could be assigned by an Internet access provider.

13. A remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) for establishing a connection to other remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C), characterized by a control interface (3) via which said remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) is controllable using a hypertext transfer protocol to establish said connection.

16. The remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) according to anyone of claims 13 to 15, characterized in that said connection is a guaranteed bandwitdh connection.

17. The remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) according to anyone of claims 13 to 16, characterized by a data interface (4) via which said connection is established.

21. The remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) according to anyone of claims 13 to 20, characterized in that it includes a unit to poll all other connected remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) to generate a hyperlink to all other connected remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C).

22. The remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) according to anyone of claims 13 to 20, characterized in that it includes a unit to snoop the traffic on the connections to and inbetween the connected remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) to generate a hyperlink to all other connected remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C).

24. The control device (2) according to claim 23, characterized by means for downloading at least one user interface from said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) connected thereto via said first interface (2a) and for offering at least one of said user interfaces at a time to a user so as to establish a connection between at least two of said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C).

25. The control device (2) according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that said connection is a guaranteed bandwitdh connection.

23. A control device (2) with a first interface (2a) for controlling remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) by use of a hypertext transfer protocol characterized by a second interface (2b) for controlling said control device (2) using a hypertext transfer protocol for establishing a connection between at least two of said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C).

26. The control device (2) according to anyone of claims 23 to 25, characterized in that said user interface is a graphical user interface.

27. The control device (2) according to anyone of claims 23 to 26, characterized in that it is integrated into a standard personal computer.

28. The control device (2) according to anyone of claims 23 to 27, characterized in that it includes a domain name server that assigns a fully qualified domain name to each of said remote devices (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) in an initialization step that respectively consists of a name of a respective remote device (1;

1A, 1B, 1C) prepended to a name of said control device (2) which could be assigned by an Internet access provider.