Method and apparatus for outputting a user interface (UI) event of 3rd party device in home network

• US 7,958,272 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2006
• Issued: 06/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Jeong-ja, Kim, Yoon-soo, Ko, Young-goo, Choi, Sang-sun
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomas; Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): NASH, LASHANYA RENEE
• Application Number:
  US11/528,615
• Publication Number:
  US 20070089055A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,713 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/249, 370/238, 370/463
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/545 Gui
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/452 Remote windowing, e.g. X-Window System, desktop virtualisation protocols for virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• 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 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 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and apparatus for outputting a user interface (UI) event of a 3rd party device in a home network having a server, a client and a control point, the server and the client joining a UI session by using a remote protocol, the control point controlling the server and the client. The method includes (a) receiving by the control point a UI event message from the 3rd party device not joined in the UI session, the UI event message representing change in a state of the 3rd party device, (b) selecting by the control point a target client for processing a UI event, (c) transmitting by the control point an Out-of-session connect action message (OOSConnect Action) requesting connection setup with the 3rd party device to the selected target client, and (d) transmitting by the target client a permission message for the OOSConnect Action to the control point, thereby setting an Out-of-session connection OOSConnect with the 3rd party device and processing the UI event.

Claims

1. A method of outputting a user interface (UI) event of a 3rd party device in a home network comprising a server, a client and a control point, wherein the server and the client are joined in a UI session using a remote protocol, and the control point controls the server and the client, the method comprising:

(a1) transmitting, by the control point, a UI event subscription request to the server within the home network, and receiving both a response message and an initial event message for the transmitted request;

(a2) collecting, by the control point, information about the client within the home network;

(a3) receiving, by the control point, a UI event message from the 3rd party device not joined in the UI session, wherein the UI event message represents a change in a state of the 3rd party device;

transmitting a response message in response to reception of the UI event message,

comparing, by the control point, the information about the remote protocol of the information about the client collected in (a2) with a remote protocol supported by the 3rd party device, so that the target client is selected;

(b) selecting, by the control point, a target client for processing a UI event of the received UI event message based on Out-of-session connection information provided by the target client;

(c) transmitting, by the control point, an Out-of-session connect action message (OOSConnect Action) requesting connection setup with the 3rd party device to the selected target client;

(d) transmitting, by the target client, a permission message for the OOSConnect Action to the control point, thereby setting an Out-of-session connection (OOSConnect) with the 3rd party device; and

processing the UI event,

wherein the information about the client in (a2) comprises both information about a remote protocol supported by the client and Out-of-session Cap Info (OOSCapaInfo) representing whether the UI event generated by the 3rd party device can be processed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the UI event message is transmitted only to a control point having transmitted the UI event subscription request in (a1).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the UI event message comprises both Unique Device Name (UDN) information of the 3rd party device and UI event sequence information representing a sequence of multiple UI events generated by the 3rd party device, and the UI event sequence information increases by one whenever the state of the 3rd party device changes and thus the UI event occurs.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein (c) comprises:

(c1) inserting both the UDN information of the 3rd party device and the UI event sequence information into the OOSConnect Action, and transmitting the OOSConnect Action to the selected target client; and

(c2) storing the received UDN information and UI event sequence information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, when the target client receives a second OOSConnect Action from a second control point having received the UI event message, (d) comprises:

(d1) comparing UDN information and UI event sequence information, which are stored in the second OOSConnect Action, with the UDN information and the UI event sequence information stored in (c2); and

(d2) if the received UDN information and UI event sequence information coincide with the stored UDN information and UI event sequence information, transmitting a message representing that the UI event has been previously processed to the second control point, and if the received UDN information and UI event sequence information do not coincide with the stored UDN information and UI event sequence information, transmitting the permission message to the second control point, thereby setting an OOSConnect with the 3rd party device and processing the UI event.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the OOSCapalnfo comprises information representing that the UI event can always be processed, information representing that the UI event can be processed only when the client joins the remote UI session, and information representing that the UI event cannot always be processed.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recording program codes for executing the method of claim 1.

8. An apparatus for outputting a user interface (UI) event of a 3rd party device in a home network including a server, a client, the 3rd party device and a control point, wherein the server and the client are joined in a UI session using a remote protocol, the 3rd party device not joined in the UI session, the control point controlling the server and the client, the apparatus comprising:

the control point which transmits a UI event subscription request to the server within the home network, receives both a response message and an initial event message for the transmitted request, collects information about the client, and receives a UI event message from the 3rd party device, the UI event message representing a change in a state of the 3rd party device; and

the control point compares the information about the remote protocol of the collected information about the client with a remote protocol supported by the 3rd party device, thereby selecting the target client; and

a target client which processes a UI event, wherein the target client has been selected by the control point based on Out-of-session connection information provided by the target client,

the control point transmits an Out-of-session connect action (OOSConnect Action) requesting connection setup with the 3rd party device to the selected target client, the target client transmits a permission message for the OOSConnect Action to the control point, thereby setting an Out-of-session connection (OOSConnect) with the 3rd party device and processing the UI event,

wherein the information about the client comprises both information about a remote protocol supported by the client and Out-of-session Cap Info (OOSCapaInfo) representing whether the UI event generated by the 3rd party device can be processed.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the UI event message is transmitted only to a control point having transmitted the UI event subscription request.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the UI event message comprises both Unique Device Name (UDN) information of the 3rd party device and UI event sequence information representing a sequence of multiple UI events generated by the 3rd party device, and the UI event sequence information increases by one whenever the state of the 3rd party device changes and thus the UI event occurs.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the control point inserts both the UDN information of the 3rd party device and the UI event sequence information into the OOSConnect Action, transmits the OOSConnect Action to the selected target client, and the target client stores the received UDN information and UI event sequence information.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein, when the target client receives a second OOSConnect Action from a second control point having received the UI event message, the target client compares UDN information and UI event sequence information, which are stored in the second OOSConnect Action, with the stored UDN information and UI event sequence information, transmits a message representing that the UI event has been previously processed to the second control point if the received UDN information and UI event sequence information coincide with the stored UDN information and UI event sequence information, and transmits the permission message to the second control point if the received UDN information and UI event sequence information do not coincide with the stored UDN information and UI event sequence information, thereby setting an OOSConnect with the 3rd party device and processing the UI event.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the OOSCapalnfo comprises information representing that the UI event can always be processed, information representing that the UI event can be processed only when the client is joining the remote UI session, and information representing that the UI event cannot always be processed.