System and method for managing applications of home network devices

• US 20070192462A1
• Filed: 10/20/2006
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Han, Young-Seop, Choi, Woo-Jun, Bae, Young-Kyu
• Granted Patent: US 8,510,730 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• 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 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless

Abstract

Disclosed is a system and a method for managing applications installed in home network devices (HNDs) providing services on an open service gateway initiative (OSGi) framework. In the system, a mobile hand-held device (MHD) including a display unit is defined as the subject of application management between a plurality of HNDs and an application server for storing applications of the HNDs. Service frameworks existing in a plurality of HNDs including vehicle devices are based on OSGi, and interoperation between the MHD and the HNDs depends on a digital living network alliance (DLNA) standard.

Claims

1. A method of managing applications of a plurality of home network devices (HNDs), the method comprising:

obtaining, by a mobile hand-held device (MHD), application information through middleware, which can support the HNDs, from HNDs supporting the middleware among the plurality of HNDs;

generating a user interface to manage the applications of the HNDs based on the obtained information;

if an updated request is input through the user interface, determining applications required to be updated; and

if update is required, downloading updated applications from an application server and updating applications of corresponding HNDs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the middleware is compatible with the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) specification and supports communication between the MHD and the plurality of HNDs.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein HNDs supporting the middleware from among the plurality of HNDs operate on an Open Service Gateway Initiative (OSGi) framework.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining the application information comprises:

multicasting, by the MHD, a query for inquiring whether the middleware is supported to the plurality of HNDs;

receiving a response from the HNDs supporting the middleware from among the plurality of HNDs in response to the query;

requesting the HNDs supporting the middleware for HND description and obtaining the HND description; and

requesting the HNDs supporting the middleware for application information based on the HND description and obtaining the application information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the HND description includes a location of the application information, and the application information includes at least one of application identification (ID), name, version, repository Uniform Resource Location (URL), life cycle status, function description, and version description.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining the application information comprises:

receiving, by the MHD, middleware format application information from the HNDs supporting the middleware; and

parsing the received application information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the applications required to be updated comprises:

transmitting, by the MHD, the application information to the application server; and

determining, by the application server, based on the application information whether updated applications exist for each of the HNDs supporting the middleware.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the applications required to be updated comprises:

receiving, by the MHD, version information of the applications from the application server and storing the received version information;

if the application information is obtained, checking version information from the application information and comparing the version information to the stored version information; and

if the version information is not the same as the comparison result, accessing the application server and requesting the application server for updated applications.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a status change control request to the HNDs supporting the middleware to perform life cycle status management using the user interface;

determining in response to the status change control request whether a status change has been completed in the HNDs supporting the middleware; and

if the status change has been completed, reconstructing the user interface.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of updating the applications of corresponding HNDs includes storing, by the MHD, the updated applications received from the application server, and if an update start command is input using the user interface, uploading the updated applications to the HNDs.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of updating the applications of corresponding HNDs comprises:

transmitting to the HNDs, by the MHD, location information of the updated applications in the application server; and

downloading, by the HNDs, the updated applications from the application server based on the location information.

12. A system for managing applications of a plurality of home network devices (HNDs), the system comprising:

an application server for storing applications for the HNDs;

the plurality of HNDs for performing an update by receiving updated applications from the application server; and

a mobile hand-held device (MHD) for obtaining among the plurality of HNDs application information through middleware, which can support the HNDs, from HNDs supporting the middleware from generating a user interface to manage the applications of the HNDs based on the obtained information, and determining applications required to be updated and transferring the applications if an updated request is input through the user interface.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the middleware is compatible with the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) specification and supports communication between the MHD and the HNDs.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the HNDs supporting the middleware operate on an open service gateway initiative (OSGi) framework.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the MHD multicasts to the plurality of HNDs a query for inquiring whether the middleware is supported, requests the HNDs supporting the middleware for HND description and obtains the HND description if a response is received from the HNDs supporting the middleware among the plurality of HNDs in response to the query, and requests the HNDs supporting the middleware for application information based on the HND description and obtains the application information.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the HND description includes a location of the application information, and the application information includes at least one of application identification (ID), name, version, repository Uniform Resource Location (URL), life cycle status, function description, and version description.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein if middleware format application information is received from the HNDs supporting the middleware, the MHD parses the received application information.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein if the application information is transmitted from the MHD, the application server determines whether updated applications exist for each of the HNDs supporting the middleware based on the application information, determines whether update is necessary, and informs the MHD of the determination result.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the MHD transmits a status change control request to the HNDs supporting the middleware to perform life cycle status management using the user interface, determines in response to the status change control request whether a status change has been completed in the HNDs supporting the middleware, and reconstructs the user interface if the status change has been completed.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the MHD stores the updated applications received from the application server and uploads the updated applications to the HNDs if an update start command is input using the user interface.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the MHD transmits location information of the updated applications in the application server to the HNDs so that the HNDs can directly downloads the updated applications from the application server.