METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHARING FUNCTIONS BETWEEN DEVICES VIA A NETWORK

• US 20110047214A1
• Filed: 08/24/2010
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: LEE, Keum-koo, Sung, Ju-yun, Kwahk, Ji-young, Choo, Hee-jeong
• Granted Patent: US 9,634,854 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• 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 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities

Abstract

A method of sharing a function via a network includes selecting a second device having a shared function desired by a first device from among at least one device connected to the network, linking the first device with the second device via the network, transmitting original multimedia content from the first device to the second device via the network, and performing the shared function with respect to the original multimedia content in the second device and transmitting result data of the performing of the shared function to the first device via the network.

Claims

1. A method of sharing a function between devices via a network, the method comprising:

selecting a second device having a shared function desired by a first device from among at least one device connected to the network;

linking the first device with the second device via the network;

transmitting original multimedia content from the first device to the second device via the network; and

performing the shared function with respect to the original multimedia content in the second device and receiving result data of the performing of the shared function in the first device via the network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the second device comprises:

searching for at least one device having a shared function desired by the first device from among at least one device connected to the network; and

selecting the second device from among the at least one searched device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the second device comprises:

receiving a device property list with respect to each of devices from among the at least one device connected to the network; and

selecting the second device in reference to the device property list.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, in the transmitting of the original multimedia content, information regarding types of result data to be acquired by performing the shared function with respect to the original multimedia content is transmitted together with the original multimedia content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, in the transmitting of the original multimedia content, the original multimedia content is converted to a Transport Stream (TS) and the TS is transmitted to the second device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, in the receiving of result data, the result data is either final decoded data or data encoded in a format different from that of the original multimedia content.

18. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for implementing the method of claim 1.

7. A method of sharing a function between devices via a network, the method comprising:

providing a device property list with respect to a second device having a shared function desired by a first device from among at least one device connected to the network, to the first device;

linking the first device with the second device via the network;

receiving original multimedia content from the first device in the second device via the network; and

performing the shared function with respect to the original multimedia content in the second device and transmitting result data of the performing of the shared function to the first device via the network.

19. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer program for implementing the method of claim 7.

8. An apparatus for sharing a function between devices via a network, the device comprising:

an external device selecting unit, which selects an external device having a shared function from among at least one device connected to the network;

a multimedia content transmitting unit, which transmits original multimedia content to the external device when the apparatus and the external device are linked with each other via the network; and

a processed result receiving unit, which receives result data acquired by performing the shared function with respect to the original multimedia content in the external device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the external device-selecting unit receives a device property list with respect to each of device connected to the network and selects the external device in reference to the received device property list.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising an output unit, which displays the result data received by the processing result-receiving unit.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a storage unit, which stores the result data received by the processing result-receiving unit.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the multimedia content transmitting unit transmits the original multimedia content together with information regarding types of result data to be acquired by performing the shared function with respect to the original multimedia content.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein at least one of the device property list and the information regarding types of result data is displayed as a user interface.

14. An apparatus for sharing a function between devices via a network, the device comprising:

a device link request processing unit, which processes a request for linking with an external device connected to the network if the apparatus has a shared function desired by the external device;

a multimedia content receiving unit, which, when the apparatus and the external device are linked with each other via the network, receives original multimedia content from the external device;

a shared function performing unit, which performs the shared function with respect to the received original multimedia content; and

a processed result transmitting unit, which transmits result data acquired by performing the shared function to the external device via the network.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the shared function-performing unit performs the shared function in correspondence to types of result data to be acquired by performing the shared function as defined in information received together with the original multimedia content.

16. A system for sharing a function between devices via a network, the system comprising:

a first device, which is connected to the network and requires a shared function; and

a second device, which includes the shared function, and is linked with the first device via the network, performs the shared function with respect to original multimedia content provided by the first device, and provides result data acquired by performing the shared function to the first device.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprises a relay unit, which, for linking the first device with the second device, manages a device property list with respect to each of at least one device connected to the network and either provides all of the device property lists to the first device or provides a device property list corresponding to a device having a shared function desired by the first device to the first device.