Discovery apparatus and method

• US 8,051,157 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2007
• Issued: 11/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Sang Do, Kim, Jun Hyeong
• Primary Examiner(s): Hwang; Joon H
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE IV, THOMAS E
• Application Number:
  US11/744,997
• Publication Number:
  US 20080133776A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,639 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-205, 709223-227, 709/244, 709/248, 370/254
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4541 Directories for service discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A discovery apparatus among a plurality of networks including at least one client includes: a transceiver which transmits and receives shared information and a request message to and from the client within the plurality of networks, the shared information being intrinsic information of the clients; a storage unit which receives the shared information from the transceiver and stores the shared information of the transceiver; and a controller which creates a shared space, which stores the shared information in the storage unit, in accordance with the request message received through the transceiver, and manages the shared information stored in the shared space.

Claims

1. A discovery apparatus among a plurality of networks including a plurality of clients, the discovery apparatus comprising:

a transceiver which receives a shared space create message requesting creation of a shared space from a first client within a first network of the plurality of networks, transmits a notification of creation of the shared space to the first client within the first network and a second client within a second network of the plurality of network, receives first shared information from the first client and second shared information from the second client, the first shared information being created by intrinsic information of each of a plurality of clients within the first network and second shared information being created by intrinsic information of each of a plurality of clients within the second network of the plurality of networks;

a storage unit which receives the first shared information and the second shared information from the transceiver and stores the first shared information and the second shared information received from the transceiver; and

a controller which creates the shared space in accordance with the shared space create message received through the transceiver, controls to store the first shared information and the second shared information in the shared space, and controls to transmit shared information updated in the storage unit to all clients joining in the shared space,

wherein the intrinsic information of each of the plurality of clients within the first network is collected by using a multicast message broadcasted onto the first network from the first client and comprises an IP address and a port number of a corresponding client of the plurality of clients within the first network, and the intrinsic information of each of the plurality of clients within the second network is collected by using a multicast message broadcasted onto the second network from the second client of the plurality of clients within the second network and comprises an IP address and a port number of a corresponding client of the plurality of clients within the second network, and

wherein the first and second networks are Ad hoc networks.

2. The discovery apparatus of claim 1, wherein the server further receives at least one of a shared space join message requesting joining in the shared space, a shared information transmission request message requesting transmission of the shared information, a shared space leave message requesting to leave from the shared space, and a shared space delete message requesting deletion of the shared space.

3. A network interface comprising the discovery apparatus of claim 1.

4. A discovery apparatus supporting discovery among a plurality of networks, the discovery apparatus comprising:

a user interface provider which receives a user message;

a message processor which receives the user message from the user interface provider, analyzes and processes the received user message, creates a first control signal and a request message in accordance with the user message, and transmits the created request message to a certain server; and

a shared information management unit which receives the first control signal from the message processor, acquires and manages shared information through the message processor in accordance with the first control signal, and controls a discovery routine,

wherein the shared information management unit comprises;

a first shared information creation unit which creates a multicast message for requesting intrinsic information of each of a plurality of clients within a first network among the plurality of networks in accordance with the first control signal, broadcasts the created multicast message through the message processor onto the first network, receives the intrinsic information corresponding to the multicast message through the message processor, and creates first shared information using the received intrinsic information, the first shared information being included in the shared information;

a second shared information acquisition unit which receives second shared information from the server through the message processor, the second shared information being included the shared information; and

a storage unit which receives the first shared information and the second shared information from the message processor and stores the first shared information and the second shared information received from the message processor in the storage unit,

wherein the discovery apparatus is operated by a first client included in the first network among the plurality of networks, and the server includes a shared space for storing the first shared information and the second shared information, and

wherein the intrinsic information of each of the plurality of clients within the first network comprises an IP address and a port number of a corresponding client of the plurality of clients within the first network, and the second shared information is created by intrinsic information of each of a plurality of clients within a second network among the plurality of networks and the intrinsic information of each of the plurality of clients within the second network is collected by using a multicast message broadcasted onto the second network from a second client within the second network, and

wherein the first and second networks are Ad hoc networks,

wherein the message processor creates a shared space create message requesting creation of the shared space as the request message, transmits the created shared space create message to the server, receives a notification of creation of the shared space transmitted from the server to the first client and the second client, transmits the first shared information to the server in response to the notification of creation of the shared space.

5. The discovery apparatus of claim 4, wherein the user message comprises a message requesting creation of the shared space, a message requesting deletion of the shared space, a message requesting joining in the shared space, and a message requesting to leave from the shared space.

6. The discovery apparatus of claim 4, wherein the user interface provider comprises a display provider which displays, to a user, a client list of clients included in the plurality of networks, and a shared space list of the shared space, and the user message is inputted in the user interface provider from the user using the display provider.

7. The discovery apparatus of claim 6, wherein the client list includes the clients included in the plurality of networks corresponding to the shared information stored in the shared space.

8. The discovery apparatus of claim 6, wherein the display provider includes a message creator which creates the user message, and the message creator creates a message requesting creation of the shared space, deletion of the shared space, joining in the shared space, and leaving the shared space.

9. The discovery apparatus of claim 4, wherein the message processor further creates at least one of a shared space join message requesting joining in the shared space, a shared information transmission request message requesting transmission of the shared information, a shared space leave message requesting leave from the shared space, and a shared space delete message requesting deletion of the shared space.

10. A network interface comprising the discovery apparatus of claim 4.

11. A discovery method among a plurality of networks including a plurality of clients, the discovery method comprising:

receiving a shared space create message requesting creation of a shared space from a first client within a first network of the plurality of networks;

creating the shared space in accordance with the shared space create message;

transmitting a notification of creation of the shared space to the first client and a second client within a second network of the plurality of networks;

receiving a shared space join message and a second shared information from the second client within the second network of the plurality of networks, the shared space join message requesting joining in the shared space, and the second shared information being created by intrinsic information of each of a plurality of clients within the second network, the intrinsic information being collected by using a multicast message broadcasted onto the second network from the second client;

storing the second shared information in the shared space;

receiving a shared space join message and first shared information from the first client, the first shared information being created by intrinsic information of each of a plurality of clients within the first network, the intrinsic information being collected by using a multicast message broadcasted onto the first network from the first client;

receiving a shared information transmission request message from the first client, the shared information transmission request message requesting transmission of the second shared information; and

transmitting the second shared information to the first client in accordance with the shared information transmission request message,

wherein the intrinsic information of each of the plurality of clients within the first network comprises an IP address and a port number of a corresponding client of the plurality of clients within the first network, and the intrinsic information of each of the plurality of clients within the second network comprises an IP address and a port number of a corresponding client of the plurality of clients within the second network, and

wherein the first and second networks are Ad hoc networks.

12. A non-transitory computer programmable recording medium having instructions stored therein for allowing a computer to perform the discovery method of claim 11.

13. A discovery method among a plurality of networks including a plurality of clients, the discovery method comprising:

receiving a user message;

broadcasting a multicast message onto a first network in accordance with the received user message, the multicast message requesting first network intrinsic information of each of a plurality of clients within the first network among the plurality of networks, receiving the first network intrinsic information corresponding to the multicast message, and creating first shared information using the first network intrinsic information;

storing the first shared information;

transmitting a shared space create message requesting creation of a shared space to the server;

receiving a notification of creation of the share space from the server;

transmitting a shared space join message and the first shared information to the server, the shared space join message requesting joining in the shared space;

transmitting a shared information transmission request message to the server, the shared information transmission request message requesting second shared information created by reflecting second network intrinsic information of each of a plurality of clients within a second network among the plurality of networks, the second network intrinsic information being collected by using a multicast message broadcasted onto the second network from a second client within the second network;

receiving the second shared information from the server;

storing the second shared information; and

discovering the clients within the second network using the second shared information,

wherein the discovery method is operated by a first client within the first network and the first network intrinsic information comprises an IP address and a port number of a corresponding client of the plurality of clients within the first network and the second network intrinsic information comprises an IP address and a port number of a corresponding client of the plurality of clients within the second network, and

wherein the first and second networks are Ad hoc networks, and wherein the notification of creation of the shared space is transmitted form the server to the first and second client.

14. A discovery method for discovering among a plurality of networks, the plurality of networks including a server, a first network communicating with the server and including a first client, and a second network including a second client, the discovery method comprising:

receiving a user message through the first client;

broadcasting a multicast message onto the first network in accordance with the received user message, the multicast message requesting first network intrinsic information of each of a plurality of clients within the first network through the first client, receiving the first network intrinsic information corresponding to the multicast message, and creating first shared information using the first network intrinsic information;

storing the first shared information through the first client;

transmitting a shared space create message to the server through the first client, the shared space create message requesting creation of a shared space;

creating the shared space by the server;

transmitting a notification of creation of the shared space from the server to the first client and the second client;

transmitting a shared space join message and the first shared information to the server through the first client, the shared space join message requesting joining in the shared space;

storing the first shared information received from the first client in the shared space by the server;

transmitting a shared space join message to the server by the second client;

receiving second shared information from the second client through the server, the second shared information being created by second network intrinsic information of each of a plurality of clients within the second network, the second network intrinsic information being collected by using a multicast message broadcasted onto the second network from the second client;

storing the second shared information in the shared space through the server;

transmitting a shared information transmission request message to the server through the second client, the shared information transmission request message requesting transmission of the first shared information;

transmitting the first shared information to the second client through the server;

receiving the first shared information of the second client from the server;

storing the first shared information received from the server, through the second client; and

discovering the first client within the first network using the first shared information, through the second client,

wherein the first network intrinsic information comprises an IP address and a port number of a corresponding client of the plurality of clients within the first network and the second network intrinsic information comprises an IP address and a port number of a corresponding client of the plurality of clients within the second network, and

wherein the first and second networks are Ad hoc networks.