Host device and slave device controlling method

• US 20110047239A1
• Filed: 03/01/2010
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jeon, Seung-hun, Choi, Myoung-soon, Cho, Sang-wook, Hyun, Lyun-sik
• Granted Patent: US 8,856,258 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/208
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/105 where the programme performs an input/output emulation function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable

Abstract

A host device is provided, which includes a network communication unit connected to network; a local communication unit locally connected to a slave device; a virtualization unit to virtualize the slave device as a network device within the network; and a controlling unit to control the virtualized slave device as the network device. Therefore, a developer may implement an application in consideration of a single type of network without considering various physical input and output ports.

Claims

1. A host device, comprising:

a network communication unit connected to a network;

a local communication unit locally connected to a slave device;

a virtualization unit to virtualize the slave device as a network device within the network; and

a controlling unit to control the virtualized slave device as the network device.

2. The host device according to claim 1, wherein the virtualization unit comprises:

a determination unit to identify a communication protocol of the slave device;

a message conversion unit to convert a message of the controlling unit into a message which complies with a communication protocol of the slave device and a message of the slave device into a message which complies with a communication protocol of the network device according to the identified communication protocol; and

a message transmission unit to transmit the message converted by the message conversion unit to a destination of the message.

3. The host device according to claim 2, wherein the message conversion unit analyzes the message of the controlling unit and the message of the slave device and converts the messages to correspond to the analyzed result.

4. The host device according to claim 2, wherein the virtualization unit further comprises:

an Internet Protocol (IP) address generation unit to allocate an IP address to the slave device when the slave device is connected to the host device.

5. The host device according to claim 2, wherein when the message of the slave device is received from an external network device connected to the network, the controlling unit controls the virtualization unit to convert the received message into a message which complies with the communication protocol of the slave device and transmit the converted message to the slave device.

6. The host device according to claim 5, wherein the message transmission unit controls the network communication unit to transmit the converted message of the slave device to the external network device.

7. The host device according to claim 2, wherein the communication protocol of the network device is a universal plug-and-play (UPnP) communication protocol.

8. The host device according to claim 1, wherein the slave device is connected to the host device in at least one of a universal serial bus (USB) communication protocol, an IEEE 1394 communication protocol, a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) communication protocol, and a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) communication protocol.

9. A method to control a slave device locally connected to a host device via a network, the slave device controlling method comprising:

virtualizing the slave device as a network device within the network; and

controlling the virtualized slave device as the network device.

10. The slave device controlling method according to claim 9, wherein the virtualizing comprises:

allocating an Internet Protocol (IP) address to the slave device when the slave device is connected to the host device; and

identifying a communication protocol of the slave device.

11. The slave device controlling method according to claim 10, wherein the controlling comprises:

converting a message of the host device into a message which complies with a communication protocol of the slave device and a message of the slave device into a message which complies with a communication protocol of the network device, according to the identified communication protocol; and

transmitting the converted message to a destination of the message.

12. The slave device controlling method according to claim 11, wherein the converting analyzes the message of the host device and the message of the slave device and converts the messages to correspond to the analyzed result.

13. The slave device controlling method according to claim 9, wherein when the message of the slave device is received from an external network device connected to the network, the controlling converts the received message into a message which complies with the communication protocol of the slave device and transmits the converted message to the slave device.

14. The slave device controlling method according to claim 13, wherein the controlling transmits the converted message of the slave device to the external network device.

15. The slave device controlling method according to claim 10, wherein the communication protocol of the network device is a universal plug-and-play (UPnP) communication protocol.

16. The slave device controlling method according to claim 9, wherein the slave device is connected to the host device in at least one of a universal serial bus (USB) communication protocol, an IEEE 1394 communication protocol, a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) communication protocol, and a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) communication protocol.

17. A slave device controlling method, comprising:

converting a message at a host device connected to the slave device via a network from a first communication protocol to a second communication protocol so that the slave device is virtualized as a network device of the network.

18. The slave device controlling method according to claim 17, wherein the first communication protocol is a communication protocol of the network device and the second communication protocol is a communication protocol of the slave device, and the message is converted from the first communication protocol of the network device into the second communication protocol of the slave device and transmitted to the slave device.

19. The slave device controlling method according to claim 17, wherein the first communication protocol is a communication protocol of the slave device and the second communication protocol is a communication protocol of the network device, and the message is received from the slave device and converted from the first communication protocol of the slave device into the second communication protocol of the network device.

20. The slave device controlling method according to claim 17, wherein the host device receives the message from an external network device, converts the message from a first communication protocol of the external network device into a second communication protocol of the slave device and transmits the converted message to the slave device.