System and method for UPnP discovery advertisement byebye by proxy

• US 20050251549A1
• Filed: 05/10/2004
• Published: 11/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hlasny, Daryl James
• Granted Patent: US 7,739,375 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

In a UPnP network, a system and method have been provided for multicasting a byebye message by proxy. The method comprises: maintaining a list of available networked devices; maintaining a record of advertised UPnP elements; comparing the list of available networked devices to the record of advertised UPnP elements; and, multicasting a byebye message by proxy, for advertised UPnP elements associated with networked devices that are no longer available. The comparison of the list of available networked devices to the record of UPnP elements includes determining advertised UPnP elements in the record that cannot be cross-referenced to available networked devices. The method further comprises removing UPnP elements from the record in response to the comparison.

Claims

1. In a UPnP network, a method for multicasting a byebye message by proxy, the method comprising:

maintaining a list of available networked devices;

maintaining a record of advertised UPnP elements;

comparing the list of available networked devices to the record of UPnP elements; and

,

multicasting a byebye message, for advertised UPnP elements associated with networked devices that are no longer available.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein comparing the list of available networked devices to the record of UPnP elements includes determining advertised UPnP elements in the record that cannot be cross-referenced to available networked devices.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

in response to comparing the list of available networked devices to the record of UPnP elements, removing UPnP elements from the record that are associated with unavailable networked devices.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein maintaining a record of advertised UPnP elements includes maintaining a record of UPnP element types selected from the group including root devices, each device embedded in a root device, services associated with a root device, and each service associated with an embedded device;

and,

wherein multicasting a byebye message, for advertised UPnP elements associated with networked devices that are no longer available, includes multicasting a byebye message for each UPnP element type.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein maintaining a record of advertised UPnP elements includes:

monitoring multicast UPnP element advertisements; and

,

entering the UPnP element to the record in response to receiving an advertisement.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein maintaining a record of advertised UPnP elements includes:

receiving a ssdp;

alive message for a UPnP element;

extracting a universal resource locator (URL) parameter from the alive message;

using the URL parameter to determine a MAC address for a networked device;

using the determined MAC address, accessing the list of available networked devices; and

,

if the determined MAC address is found in the list of available networked devices, adding the UPnP element to the record.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein maintaining a record of advertised UPnP elements includes maintaining notification type (NT) and unique service name (USN) fields for each advertised UPnP element in the record;

and,

wherein multicasting a byebye message, for advertised UPnP elements associated with networked devices that are no longer available, includes adding the NT and USN fields to the byebye message.

8. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving a byebye message from a UPnP element; and

,

removing the advertised UPnP element from the record of UPnP elements in response to receiving the byebye message.

9. The method of claim 3 wherein maintaining a list of available networked devices includes maintaining a first list with the availability of a first networked device accessible through a first network interface and a second list with the availability of the first networked device through a second network interface;

wherein removing UPnP elements from the record that are associated with unavailable networked devices includes removing UPnP elements from the record in response to;

performing a search for the first networked device via the first network interface;

detecting the unavailability of the first networked device;

performing a search for the first networked device via the second network interface; and

,

detecting the unavailability of the first networked device; and

,

wherein multicasting a byebye message for advertised UPnP elements associated with networked devices that are no longer available includes multicasting a byebye message for UPnP elements associated with the first networked device via both the first and second network interfaces.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein maintaining a list of available networked devices in the network includes maintaining a plurality of lists with the availability of the first networked device accessible through a corresponding plurality of network interfaces;

wherein removing UPnP elements from the record that are associated with unavailable networked devices further includes;

performing a search for the first networked device via the plurality of network interfaces; and

,

detecting the unavailability of the first networked device; and

,

wherein multicasting a byebye message for advertised UPnP elements associated with networked devices that are no longer available includes multicasting a byebye message for UPnP elements associated with the first networked device via each of the plurality of network interfaces.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein maintaining a list of available networked devices includes:

a master device periodically polling slave devices in a Bluetooth piconet; and

,

maintaining a list of slave devices that acknowledge the polling.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein maintaining a list of available networked devices in a network includes:

an access point (AP) polling station (STA) devices registered with the AP in an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN); and

,

maintaining a list of STA devices sending acknowledgements in response to the polling.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein maintaining a list of available networked devices in a network includes:

an Ethernet switch monitoring link integrity signals from connected devices in an IEEE 802.3 Ethernet network; and

,

maintaining a list of devices sending the link integrity signals.

14. In a UPnP network, a system for multicasting a byebye message by proxy, the system comprising:

a monitor including;

a transceiver having a network interface to search for available networked devices and to receive advertised UPnP element information;

a controller having an interface to receive the networked device and UPnP element information from the transceiver, the controller maintaining a list of available networked devices and a record of advertised UPnP elements, and supplying a signal in response to comparing the list of available networked devices to the record of advertised UPnP elements; and

,

wherein the transceiver multicasts a byebye message for advertised UPnP elements associated with networked devices that are no longer available, in response to the signal from the controller.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the controller determines advertised UPnP elements in the record that cannot be cross-referenced to available networked devices.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the controller removes UPnP elements from the record that are associated with unavailable networked devices.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the controller maintains a record of UPnP element types selected from the group including root devices, each device embedded in a root device, services associated with a root device, and each service associated with an embedded device;

and,

wherein the transceiver multicasts a byebye message for each UPnP element type associated with a networked device that is no longer available.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the transceiver monitors multicast UPnP element advertisements;

and,

wherein the controller enters the UPnP element to the record in response to the transceiver receiving an advertisement.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the transceiver receives a ssdp:

alive message for a UPnP element;

wherein the controller extracts a universal resource locator (URL) parameter from the alive message, uses the URL parameter to determine a MAC address for a networked device, uses the determined MAC address to access the list of available networked devices, and, if the determined MAC address is found in the list of available networked devices, adds the UPnP element to the record.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the controller maintains notification type (NT) and unique service name (USN) fields for each advertised UPnP element in the record;

and,

wherein the transceiver multicasts the NT and USN fields in the byebye message.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein the transceiver receives a byebye message from a UPnP element;

and,

wherein the controller removes the advertised UPnP element from the record of UPnP elements in response to the transceiver receiving the byebye message.

22. The system of claim 16 wherein the transceiver has a first and second network interface;

wherein the controller maintains a first list with the availability of a first networked device accessible through the first network interface and a second list with the availability of the first networked device through the second network interface; and

,

wherein the transceiver fails to detect the first networked device in response to performing a search for the first networked device via the first and second network interfaces, and multicasts a byebye message for UPnP elements associated with the first networked device via both the first and second network interfaces.

23. The system of claim 16 wherein the transceiver has a plurality of network interfaces;

wherein the controller maintains a list with the availability of a first networked device accessible through each network interface;

wherein the transceiver fails to detect the first networked device in response to performing a search for the first networked device via each network interface, and multicasts a byebye message for UPnP elements associated with the first networked device via each network interface.

24. The system of claim 14 wherein the monitor is a master device periodically polling slave devices in a Bluetooth piconet, and maintaining a list of slave devices that acknowledge the polling.

25. The system of claim 14 wherein the monitor is an access point (AP) polling station (STA) devices registered with the AP in an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN), and maintaining a list of STA devices sending acknowledgements in response to the polling.

26. The system of claim 14 wherein the monitor is an Ethernet switch monitoring link integrity signals from connected devices in an IEEE 802.3 Ethernet network, and maintaining a list of devices sending the link integrity signals.