REMOTE ACCESS BETWEEN UPnP DEVICES

• US 20090327496A1
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Heredia, Edwin A., Aiyar, Srinivas, Klemets, Anders E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,307,093 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4535 using an address exchange platform which sets up a session between two nodes, e.g. rendezvous servers, session initiation protocols [SIP] registrars or H.323 gatekeepers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A method is provided for allowing Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) technology to be used over the Internet or other wide area communications networks. In one illustrative example, a first UPnP-enabled device is to provide a UPnP service such as streaming media to various users over the Internet. The first UPnP-enabled device provides an on-line identity provider such as Windows Live or the like with user IDs of those users who are authorized to access the first UPnP-enabled device from a remote location. When a user wishes to receive the UPnP service from the first UPnP-enabled device, the user logs in to the on-line identity provider using his user ID and receives from the on-line provider an IP address associated with the first UPnP-enabled device. The user'"'"'s media player or other application constructs a URL from the IP address and contacts the UPnP-enabled device at that URL. The UPnP-enabled device provides the user with a list of media libraries that are available on it. Finally, the user'"'"'s media player can invoke the desired UPnP service using content or other information available from the media libraries.

Claims

1. A method for establishing communication between a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) control point and a UPnP device over a wide area communications network, comprising:

accessing contact information for remotely contacting the UPnP device over the wide area communications network;

contacting the UPnP device over the communications network at a network address determined at least in part from the contact information to establish a network link in accordance with a UPnP protocol; and

invoking a service offered by the UPnP device over the network link.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising contacting a third party over the wide area communications network to obtain the contact information.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein contacting the third party includes accessing the third party using a user identifier previously provided to the third party by the UPnP device.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising receiving a machine identifier for the UPnP device from the third party.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising requesting and received an IP address associated with the machine identifier.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising constructing the network address based at least in part on the IP address.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising pre-provisioning the contact information on the UPnP control point.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the contact information is included in a device description document for the UPnP device that is pre-provisioned on the UPnP control point.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the contact information includes a Universal Resource Locator (URL).

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the network link conforms to Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer (HTTPS).

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting authentication credentials of the UPnP device to the UPnP control point before invoking the service offered by the UPnP device.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving authentication credentials from the UPnP device before invoking the service offered by the UPnP device.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the UPnP control point is a mobile device and the UPnP device is a streaming media server.

14. The method of claim 7 further comprising pre-provisioning the contact information when the UPnP control point and the UPnP device are in communication with one another over a LAN in accordance with the UPnP protocol.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising receiving from the UPnP device status information indicating whether remote access is enabled or disabled, wherein the status information is received when the UPnP control point and the UPnP device are in communication with one another over the LAN.

16. A method for enabling interaction between first and second UPnP devices remotely located from one another, comprising:

performing a UPnP discovery process of a first UPnP device by accessing contact information for the first UPnP device; and

establishing a UPnP network communication link between the first and second UPnP devices using the contact information, the second UPnP device including a UPnP control point.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the UPnP discovery process includes obtaining an IP address for the first UPnP device using the contact information.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the UPnP discovery process includes contacting a third party over the Internet to obtain the contact information.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising receiving an IP address for the first UPnP device from the third party.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the UPnP discovery process includes accessing a pre-provisioned device description document that includes the contact information.