Techniques for limiting network access

• US 20050138179A1
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Flaks, Jason, Srinivasan, Jai, Encarnacion, Mark J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,647,385 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A network architecture in a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) network includes a resource sharing service to govern the distribution of resource information from a server to a recipient entity (such as rendering device or a control point). The network architecture includes one or more of the following provisions: (a) setting the server to operate in a predetermined private address range or an Auto IP range; (b) operating one or more parts of the network architecture on the same subnet; (c) setting a time to live (TTL) parameter associated with messages transmitted by the server to a predetermined number; (d) setting a number of permitted recipient entities to a predetermined number; (e) setting a number of permitted concurrent content distribution sessions to a predetermined session number; (f) granting access to a recipient entity on condition that the recipient entity has generated a message that conforms to the UPnP protocol; and (g) retiring a URL used to identify a location of a resource provided by the server after a predetermined amount of time.

Claims

1. A network architecture for disseminating resource information, comprising:

a network;

a server coupled to the network including;

a shared resource store that identifies a collection of sharable resources; and

logic for sharing resource information, obtained from the sharable resources, over the network; and

a recipient entity, coupled to the network, including logic configured to present resource information received from the server,

wherein the network architecture includes at least one of features (a) through (g);

(a) logic configured to operate one or more parts of the network architecture in a predetermined address range that is not compatible with the transmission of messages over a wide area network;

(b) logic configured to operate the server and the recipient entity on a same subnet;

(c) logic configured to set a time to live (TTL) parameter associated with messages transmitted by the server to a predetermined TTL number, wherein the TTL parameter is associated with a maximum number of nodes that a message is permitted to pass through en route from a source node to a destination node;

(d) logic configured to set a number of permitted recipient entities coupled to the network that the server is approved to serve out resource information to to a predetermined device number;

(e) logic configured to set a number of permitted concurrent sessions granted by the server for disseminating resource content to respective recipient entities to a predetermined session number;

(f) logic configured to grant access to a recipient entity on condition that the recipient entity has generated a message that conforms to an expected network protocol;

or

(g) logic configured to retire a resource locator, used to identify a location at which a resource is stored in the server, in a predetermined amount of time, so that that the resource locator is no longer usable after that predetermined amount of time.

2. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the network is configured as a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) network.

3. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the recipient entity comprises a control point, coupled to the network, including logic configured to coordinate the transfer of the resource information from the server to a rendering device,

4. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the recipient entity is a rendering device for rendering resource information.

5. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the resource information shared out by the server is resource metadata that describes high level information regarding respective resources.

6. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the resource information shared out by the server is resource content that provides information that can be presented at the recipient entity.

7. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the network architecture is configured to include the feature (a), and wherein the predetermined address range is at least one of:

approximately 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255;

approximately 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255;

approximately 169.254.0.0 through 169.254.255.255;

or

approximately 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255.

8. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the network architecture is configured to include the feature (c), and wherein the predetermined TTL number is 3 or less.

9. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the network architecture is configured to include the feature (c), and wherein the nodes are Internet Protocol Layer 3 Nodes.

10. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the network architecture is configured to include the feature (f), wherein the expected network protocol is an UPnP network protocol.

11. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the network architecture is configured to include feature (f), wherein the server ignores an entity that is attempting to retrieve a resource content item if that entity has not been previously approved by the server.

12. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the network architecture includes at least two of the features (a) through (g).

13. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the network architecture includes at least three of the features (a) through (g).

14. The network architecture according to claim 1, wherein the network architecture includes each of the features (a) through (g).

15. A server coupled to a network for disseminating resource information to at least one recipient entity over the network, the server comprising:

a shared resource store that identifies a collection of sharable resources; and

logic for sharing resource information, obtained from the sharable resources, over the network;

wherein the server includes at least one of features (a) through (g);

(a) logic configured to operate one or more parts of the network in a predetermined address range that is not compatible with the transmission of messages over a wide area network;

(b) logic configured to operate the server and the recipient entity on a same subnet;

(c) logic configured to set a time to live (TTL) parameter associated with messages transmitted by the server to a predetermined TTL number, wherein the TTL parameter is associated with a maximum number of nodes that a message is permitted to pass through en route from a source node to a destination node;

(d) logic configured to set a number of permitted recipient entities coupled to the network that the server is approved to serve out resource information to to a predetermined device number;

(e) logic configured to set a number of permitted concurrent sessions granted by the server for disseminating resource content to respective recipient entities to a predetermined session number;

(f) logic configured to grant access to a recipient entity on condition that the recipient entity has generated a message that conforms to an expected network protocol;

or

(g) logic configured to retire a resource locator, used to identify a location in at which a resource is stored in the server, in a predetermined amount of time, so that the resource locator is no longer usable after that predetermined amount of time.

16. The server according to claim 15, wherein the network is configured as a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) network.

17. The server according to claim 15, wherein the recipient entity comprises a control point, coupled to the network, including logic configured to coordinate the transfer of the resource information from the server to a rendering device,

18. The server according to claim 15, wherein the recipient entity is a rendering device for rendering resource information.

19. The server according to claim 15, wherein the resource information shared out by the server is resource metadata that describes high level information regarding respective resources.

20. The server according to claim 15, wherein the resource information shared out by the server is resource content that provides information that can be presented at the recipient device.

21. The server according to 15, wherein the network is configured to include the feature (a), and wherein the predetermined address range is at least one of:

approximately 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255;

approximately 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255;

approximately 169.254.0.0 through 169.254.255.255; and

or

approximately 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255.

22. The server according to claim 15, wherein the network is configured to include the feature (c), and wherein the predetermined TTL number is 3 or less.

23. The server according to claim 15, wherein the network is configured to include the feature (c), and wherein the nodes are Internet Protocol Layer 3 Nodes.

24. The server according to claim 15, wherein the network is configured to include the feature (f), wherein the expected network protocol is an UPnP network protocol.

25. The server according to claim 15, wherein the network configured to include feature (f), wherein the server ignores an entity that is attempting to retrieve a resource content item if that entity has not been previously approved by the server.

26. The server according to claim 15, wherein the network includes at least two of the features (a) through (g).

27. The server according to claim 15, wherein the network includes at least three of the features (a) through (g).

28. The server according to claim 15, wherein the network includes each of the features (a) through (g).

29. A computer readable medium including machine readable instructions for implementing the logic for sharing the resource information and at least one of the logic features of (a) through (g) recited in claim 15.

30. A method for disseminating resource information stored by a server over a network to a recipient entity, comprising:

receiving, at the server, a request to provide resource information;

providing, by the server, the requested resource information to the recipient entity; and

presenting, at the recipient entity, the provided resource information,

wherein the network applies at least one of the provisions (a) through (g) in disseminating the resource information;

(a) setting one or more parts of the network to operate in a predetermined address range that is not compatible with transmission of messages over a wide area network;

(b) operating the server and recipient entity on the same subnet;

(c) setting a time to live (TTL) parameter associated with messages transmitted by the server to a predetermined TTL number, wherein the TTL parameter is associated with a maximum number of nodes that a message is permitted to pass through en route from a source node to a destination node;

(d) setting a number of permitted recipient entities coupled to the network that the server is approved to serve out resource information to to a predetermined device number;

(e) setting a number of permitted concurrent sessions granted by the server for disseminating resource content to respective recipient entities to a predetermined session number;

(f) granting access to a recipient entity on condition that the recipient entity has generated a message that conforms to an expected network protocol;

or

(g) retiring a resource locator, used to identify a location at which a resource is stored in the server, in a predetermined amount of time, so that the resource locator is no longer usable after that predetermined amount of time.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the network is configured as a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) network.

32. The method according to claim 30, wherein the recipient entity comprises a control point, coupled to the network, including logic configured to coordinate the transfer of the resource information from the server to a rendering device,

33. The method according to claim 30, wherein the recipient entity is a rendering device for rendering resource information.

34. The method according to claim 30, wherein the resource information shared out by the server is resource metadata that describes high level information regarding respective resources.

35. The method according to claim 30, wherein the resource information shared out by the server is resource content that provides information that can be presented at the recipient device.

36. The method according to 30, wherein the network architecture is configured to include the provision (a), and wherein the predetermined address range is at least one of:

approximately 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255;

approximately 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255;

approximately 169.254.0.0 through 169.254.255.255;

a or

approximately 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255.

37. The method according to claim 30, wherein the network is configured to include the provision (c), and wherein the predetermined TTL number is 3 or less.

38. The method according to claim 30, wherein the network is configured to include the feature (c), and wherein the nodes are Internet Protocol Layer 3 Nodes.

39. The method according to claim 30, wherein the network is configured to include the provision (f), wherein the expected network protocol is an UPnP network protocol.

40. The method according to claim 30, wherein the network is configured to include feature (f), wherein the server ignores an entity that is attempting to retrieve a resource content item if that entity has not been previously approved by the server.

41. The method according to claim 30, wherein the network includes at least two of the provisions (a) through (g).

42. The method according to claim 30, wherein the network includes at least three of the provisions (a) through (g).

43. The method according to claim 30, wherein the network includes each of the provisions (a) through (g).

44. A computer readable medium including machine readable instructions for implementing the receiving, providing, presenting, and least one of the provisions (a) through (g) recited in claim 30.