DEVICE DISCOVERY SERVICE

• US 20140075488A1
• Filed: 09/13/2012
• Published: 03/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Paul, Abhilash, Limbasia, Sunil D., Perumandla, Aravind, Christudass, John J., Penumatsa, Ravi
• Granted Patent: US 9,112,810 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5005 to service a request
• 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 41/5058 Service discovery by the service manager
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811

Abstract

A network device receives, from a set-top box within a local network, a discovery request for a server application within the local network. The network device identifies, based on the discovery request, a wide area network (WAN) Internet Protocol (IP) address for a router in the local network and retrieves, from a database of multiple discovery records, a particular discovery record with an IP address that matches the WAN IP address for the local network. The network device sends, to the set-top box, the particular discovery record for use in initiating a communication session with the server application.

Claims

1. A network device in a remote provider network, comprising:

a network interface to communicate with one or more remote systems;

one or more memories to store instructions; and

one or more processors configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to;

receive, at the remote provider network and from a set-top box within a local network, a discovery request for a server application within the local network;

identify, based on the discovery request, a wide area network (WAN) Internet Protocol (IP) address for a router in the local network;

retrieve, from a database of multiple discovery records of media server applications, a particular discovery record with an IP address that matches the WAN IP address for the local network; and

send, to the set-top box via the remote provider network, the particular discovery record.

2. The network device of claim 1, wherein each of the multiple discovery records in the database includes a router WAN IP address, a local IP address, and a port for each of the media server applications.

3. The network device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to:

receive, from a user device within another local network, a registration request including a local IP address for the user device and a listening port for another server application residing on the user device;

identify, based on the registration request, a WAN IP address for another router in the other local network; and

store, in the database, a new discovery record for the other server application, wherein the new discovery record includes the WAN IP address for the other router, the local IP address for the user device, and the listening port for the other server application.

4. The network device of claim 3, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to:

provide, to the user device, a response indicating that the registration request has been received.

5. The network device of claim 1, wherein, when retrieving the particular discovery record with the IP address that matches the WAN IP address for the local network, the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to:

retrieve multiple discovery records that match the WAN IP address for the local network, wherein each of the retrieved multiple discovery records is associated with a different user device.

6. The network device of claim 1, wherein the particular discovery record is configured cause a client application on the set-top box to initiate a communication session with the server application on a user device.

7. A method, comprising:

sending, by a set-top box within a local network and to a network device outside the local network, a discovery request for a media server application within the local network;

receiving, by the set-top box and from the network device, a response including a local IP address for a user device including the media server application and a port being used by the media server application; and

initiating, by the set-top box, a communication session with the user device based on the local IP address and the port.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the set-top box is not compliant with Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) digital media standards.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the user device includes one of:

a desktop personal computer,

a laptop personal computer,

a tablet computer,

a smart phone,

a gaming system, or

a personal media player.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

storing, in a local memory, the local IP address for the user device and the port being used by the media server application.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein, when sending the discovery request to the network device, the set-top box uses Internet Protocol.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the set-top box is a closed device including a hardware/software configuration that is not accessible to the public.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein, when sending the discovery request, the set-top box sends the discovery request without an express instruction from a user.

14. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a network device in a provider network and from a first user device within a local network, a registration request including a local Internet Protocol (IP) address for the first user device and a listening port for a server application residing on the first user device;

identifying, by the network device and based on the registration request, a wide area network (WAN) IP address for a router in the local network;

storing, by the network device, a discovery record for the server application, wherein the discovery record includes the WAN IP address, the local IP address, and the port;

receiving, by the network device and from a second user device executing a client application within the local network, a discovery request for a server application within the local network;

identifying, by the network device and based on the discovery request, the WAN IP address for the router in the local network;

retrieving, by the network device, the discovery record with the WAN IP address that matches the WAN IP address for the client application; and

sending, by the network device and to the second user device, the discovery record.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the discovery record provides information to enable the client application to initiate a TCP/IP session with the server application via the local network.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the second user device is a set-top box.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein at least one of the first user device or the second user device is not compliant with Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) digital media standards.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein storing the discovery record for the server application, comprises:

storing the discovery record in a database of multiple other discovery records, wherein at least some of the other discovery records include different WAN IP addresses.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the registration request is received at the network device via hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) or secure HTTP (HTTPS).

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

providing, to the first user device, a response indicating that the registration request has been received.