SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REPRESENTING AN INFRARED PASS-THROUGH PROTOCOL IN A HOME NETWORK
First Claim
1. An audio-video (AV) media server adapted for connection to a local area network for network transmission of AV media content from a media source device, the media server comprising:
- an infrared (IR) transmitter for transmitting IR remote control (RC) commands to the media source device;
an adapter for conversion of the media content from the media source device to a network transmission format;
an IR decoder for decoding encoded IR RC signals received over the network into RC commands for transmission from the media server'"'"'s IR transmitter to the media source device; and
memory containing media content items representing media source devices available to the server and at least one IR pass-through protocol identifier (IRPT-ID) associated with each media content item and representing the IR pass-through encoding/decoding scheme usable by the media server'"'"'s IR decoder.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method in a local area network based on the Universal-Plug-and-Play (UPnP™) technology represents an infrared (IR) remote control (RC) pass-through protocol in the Content Directory Service (CDS) of a media server that transmits an audio-video (AV) media stream over the network to a media renderer. The CDS includes a listing of media content items that represent media source devices that provide media content to the media server, and a listing of associated IR pass-through protocol identifiers (IRPT-IDs) for each media content item. Each IRPT-ID identifies an IR pass-through encoding/decoding protocol usable by the IR decoder in the media server and each IRPT-ID has an associated internet protocol (IP) connection point (IRPT-CP). The media renderer browses the CDS to identify the media content item and its associated IRPT-ID/IRPT-CP pair. The IR RC at the media renderer sends RC commands to the media renderer that are encoded using the IR pass-through protocol represented by the IRPT-ID. The encoded RC commands are transmitted over the network in the reverse direction of the AV media stream back to the media server, where they are decoded using the same IR pass-through protocol and then IR transmitted via IR to the media source device to control its operation.
24 Citations
23 Claims
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1. An audio-video (AV) media server adapted for connection to a local area network for network transmission of AV media content from a media source device, the media server comprising:
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an infrared (IR) transmitter for transmitting IR remote control (RC) commands to the media source device; an adapter for conversion of the media content from the media source device to a network transmission format; an IR decoder for decoding encoded IR RC signals received over the network into RC commands for transmission from the media server'"'"'s IR transmitter to the media source device; and memory containing media content items representing media source devices available to the server and at least one IR pass-through protocol identifier (IRPT-ID) associated with each media content item and representing the IR pass-through encoding/decoding scheme usable by the media server'"'"'s IR decoder. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An audio-video (AV) media server system capable of connection to a local area network for transmission of AV media content on the network, the system comprising:
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a media server for providing media content to the network; a media source device controllable by infrared (IR) remote control (RC) commands for supplying media content to the media server; an adapter for conversion of the media content to a network transmission format; an infrared (IR) decoder for decoding encoded IR remote control (RC) signals received over the network into RC commands; an IR blaster for transmitting the RC commands to the media source device for controlling the media source device; and memory containing a content directory service (CDS) expressed in Extensible Markup Language (XML), the CDS including media content items representing media source devices available to the media server and at least one IR pass-through protocol identifier (IRPT-ID) associated with each media content item and representing the IR pass-through encoding/decoding scheme usable by the IR decoder. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. The system of claim 16 wherein the IR blaster is a first IR blaster, and further comprising a second IR blaster, each IR blaster being identified by an IRPT-CP.
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17. In a local area network for transmission of audio-video (AV) media content from a media source device through a media server to a media renderer, a method for enabling infrared (IR) remote control (RC) of the media source device by the media renderer, the method comprising:
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providing in the media server a content directory service (CDS), the CDS including a media content item representing a media source device providing media content through the media server to the media renderer and at least one IR pass-through protocol identifier (IRPT-ID) associated with the media content item and representing an IR pass-through encoding/decoding scheme; browsing the CDS from the media renderer to identify the media content item to be transmitted and its associated at least one IRPT-ID; sending RC commands from a RC to the media renderer via IR; encoding said RC commands at the media renderer according to the IR pass-through encoding/decoding scheme represented by the at least one IRPT-ID; transmitting said encoded RC commands from the media renderer over the network to the media server; decoding said RC commands at the media server according to the IR pass-through encoding/decoding scheme represented by the at least one IRPT-ID; and transmitting the RC commands via IR from the media server to the media source device to control the operation of the media source device. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification