Remote access between UPnP devices

• US 8,307,093 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Issued: 11/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Klemets, Anders E., Aiyar, Srinivas, Heredia, Edwin A.
• Primary Examiner(s): DAILEY, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US12/146,407
• Publication Number:
  US 20090327496A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,595 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/227, 713/155, 370/254
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4535 using an address exchange platform which sets up a session between two nodes, e.g. rendezvous servers, session initiation protocols [SIP] registrars or H.323 gatekeepers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A method is provided for allowing Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) technology to be used over the Internet or other wide area communications networks. In one illustrative example, a first UPnP-enabled device is to provide a UPnP service such as streaming media to various users over the Internet. The first UPnP-enabled device provides an on-line identity provider such as Windows Live or the like with user IDs of those users who are authorized to access the first UPnP-enabled device from a remote location. When a user wishes to receive the UPnP service from the first UPnP-enabled device, the user logs in to the on-line identity provider using his user ID and receives from the on-line provider an IP address associated with the first UPnP-enabled device. The user'"'"'s media player or other application constructs a URL from the IP address and contacts the UPnP-enabled device at that URL. The UPnP-enabled device provides the user with a list of media libraries that are available on it. Finally, the user'"'"'s media player can invoke the desired UPnP service using content or other information available from the media libraries.

Claims

1. A method for establishing communication between a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) control point and a UPnP device over a wide area communications network, the method comprising:

contacting a third party over the wide area communications network to obtain contact information;

accessing the contact information by the UPnP control point,

the contact information enabling an authorized user of the UPnP control point to remotely contact the UPnP device over the wide area communications network,

the UPnP device storing a list of user identifiers identifying users who are authorized to contact the UPnP device, the list of user identifiers stored in the UPnP device being informed to the third party by the UPnP device before the accessing the contact information,

the list of user identifiers identifying the authorized user of the UPnP control point;

receiving a machine identifier corresponding to the UPnP device from the third party that pre-provisions a list of machine identifiers including the machine identifier, the list of machine identifiers indicating UPnP devices that the authorized user is authorized to access;

constructing a network address based on the machine identifier corresponding to the UPnP device;

contacting the UPnP device over the wide area communications network at the network address to establish a network link in accordance with a UPnP protocol; and

invoking a service offered by the UPnP device over the network link.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting and receiving an IP address associated with the machine identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising pre-provisioning the contact information on the UPnP control point.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the contact information is included in a device description document for the UPnP device that is pre-provisioned on the UPnP control point.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact information includes a Universal Resource Locator (URL).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network link conforms to Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer (HTTPS).

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting authentication credentials of the UPnP device to the UPnP control point before invoking the service offered by the UPnP device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving authentication credentials from the UPnP device before invoking the service offered by the UPnP device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the UPnP control point is a mobile device and the UPnP device is a streaming media server.

10. The method of claim 3, further comprising pre-provisioning the contact information when the UPnP control point and the UPnP device are in communication with one another over a LAN in accordance with the UPnP protocol.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving from the UPnP device status information indicating whether remote access is enabled or disabled, wherein the status information is received when the UPnP control point and the UPnP device are in communication with one another over the LAN.

12. The method of claim 5, further comprising constructing the URL by combining the network address of the UPnP device with a UPnP service identifier identifying the service offered by the UPnP device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of user identifiers includes identifiers assigned to authorized users and not assigned to devices that communicate with the UPnP device.

14. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media including computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

performing a UPnP discovery process to discover a first UPnP device by a UPnP control point of a second UPnP device;

contacting a third party to obtain contact information of the first UPnP device to discover the first UPnP device by accessing the contact information for the first UPnP device, the first UPnP device storing a user identifier assigned to a user of the second UPnP device who is authorized to access the first UPnP device, the first UPnP device being registered with the third party before the second UPnP device contacts the third party;

receiving a machine identifier corresponding to the UPnP device from the third party that pre-provisions a list of machine identifiers including the machine identifier, the list of machine identifiers indicating UPnP devices that the user is authorized to access;

constructing an IP address for the first UPnP device based on the machine identifier corresponding to the UPnP device; and

establishing a UPnP network communication link over a heterogeneous wide area network between the first device and the UPnP control point of the second UPnP device using the contact information based on the IP address for the first UPnP device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the UPnP discovery process includes accessing a pre-provisioned device description document that includes the contact information.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the UPnP discovery process further comprises obtaining a UPnP service identifier identifying a UPnP service offered by the first UPnP device, the method further comprising constructing a URL composed of the IP address and the UPnP service identifier.