Method and system for aggregating the control of middleware control points
First Claim
1. A method of aggregating control point information in a first home network, the method comprising:
- at a first control point aggregator in the first home network, acquiring information regarding one or more control points located in a second home network, wherein the information was compiled by intercepting multicast discovery requests in the second home network at a second control point aggregator in the second home network, wherein the one or control points located in the second home network are not discoverable directly by control points in the first home network due to the presence of at least one firewall between the first home network and the second home network;
storing the information in a data structure at the first control point aggregator;
receiving, at the first control point aggregator, a multicast discovery request from a first control point in the first home network, the multicast discovery request intended to discover all available devices in the first home network;
accessing the data structure to retrieve the information regarding the one or more control points located in the second home network;
forwarding the discovery request to the one or more control points located in the second home network using the information from the data structure.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of aggregating control in a first network and a second network, the first network having first devices and the second network having second devices. A communication channel is established between the first and second networks; from the first network the second devices in the second network are discovered through the communication channel; and from the first network one of the second devices in the second network is controlled through the communication channel. The first and second network can be connected but isolated. Further, the first and second networks can implement different network protocols, or the same network protocol.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method of aggregating control point information in a first home network, the method comprising:
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at a first control point aggregator in the first home network, acquiring information regarding one or more control points located in a second home network, wherein the information was compiled by intercepting multicast discovery requests in the second home network at a second control point aggregator in the second home network, wherein the one or control points located in the second home network are not discoverable directly by control points in the first home network due to the presence of at least one firewall between the first home network and the second home network; storing the information in a data structure at the first control point aggregator; receiving, at the first control point aggregator, a multicast discovery request from a first control point in the first home network, the multicast discovery request intended to discover all available devices in the first home network; accessing the data structure to retrieve the information regarding the one or more control points located in the second home network; forwarding the discovery request to the one or more control points located in the second home network using the information from the data structure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 27)
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9. A first home network comprising:
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one or more control points; a firewall logically separating the first home network from the second home network such that the one or more control points in the first home network cannot discover control points in the second home network; a first control point aggregator adapted to; aggregate control point information from the second home network by directly addressing a second control point aggregator in the second home network using a previously known address for the control point aggregator in the second home network, wherein the second control point aggregator gathers control point information about the second home network via interception of multicast discovery requests from control points in the second home network; aggregate control point information from the first home network by discovering the one or more control points in the first home network; respond to a multicast discovery request from a control point in the first home network by providing at least aggregated control point information from the second home network; and respond to a multicast discovery request from the second control point aggregator in the second home network by providing at least aggregated control point information from the first home network. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A control point for use in a first home network having one or more control points, the control point comprising:
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a processor; a memory; and a first control point aggregator, comprising; a control point layer; an aggregation layer, wherein the aggregation layer provides communication among the control points and a second control point aggregator in a second home network, wherein the first home network and the second home network are separated by a firewall; and a device architecture stack layer including; a discovery layer which responds to control point discovery requests from the control point layer and forwards the discovery result to the second control point aggregator in the second home network via the aggregation layer, and which is invoked by control points through the aggregation layer to update control point information stored on the first control point aggregator; a description layer, which is invoked by control points in the second home network through the aggregation layer and forwards description request to control points in the first home network through the control point layer; an invocation layer, which is invoked by control points through the aggregation layer and forwards a control point invocation to control points through the control point layer; and an eventing layer, which responds to control point events and forwards them to other control points, including control points in the second home network, through the aggregation layer. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A non-transitory program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of aggregating control point information in a first home network, the method comprising:
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at a control point aggregator in the first home network, acquiring information regarding one or more control points located in a second home network, wherein the one or control points located in the second home network are not discoverable directly by control points in the first home network due to the presence of at least one firewall between the first home network and the second home network; storing the information in a data structure; receiving a discovery request from a first control point in the first home network; accessing the data structure to retrieve the information regarding the one or more control points located in the second home network; forwarding the discovery request to the one or more control points located in the second home network using the information from the data structure. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification