Middleware device and method of supporting compatibility of devices in home network

• US 8,423,671 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2007
• Issued: 04/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Do-heon
• Primary Examiner(s): Tiv, Backhean
• Application Number:
  US11/652,606
• Publication Number:
  US 20070162586A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,286 Days
• Field of Search: 709/246
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2832 Interconnection of the control functionalities between home networks single bridge functionality H04L12/4625
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

A middleware device and a method of supporting compatibility of devices on a home network are provided, in which the compatibility of all kinds of devices based on UPnP and web service is supported by protocol conversion. The middleware device includes a discovery unit receiving discovery messages based on different protocols and converting each of the discovery messages to a message based on a protocol that can be processed by a device to which the messages are to be transmitted; a description unit creating a description file of a predetermined device requested from the UPnP and the web service and converting the created description file such that it can be processed by a device having requested the description file; and an information management unit managing service information and information on devices existing on the home network on the basis of the discovery message and the description file.

Claims

1. A middleware device for supporting compatibility of devices on a home network, the middleware device comprising:

a computer processor comprising;

a discovery unit which receives a discovery message based on a protocol among different protocols utilized by different devices existing on the home network, wherein the different protocols include a Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) protocol and a web service protocol;

a description unit which creates a description file of a predetermined device which is requested by a control point using a request message based on one of the different protocols and converts the description file which is created such that the description file can be processed by the control point which requested the description file; and

an information management unit which manages service information and information on devices existing on the home network based on the discovery message and the description file,

wherein the discovery unit determines whether the protocol of the discovery message is the UPnP protocol or the web service protocol and acquires description information of the discovery message corresponding to the determined protocol, and

wherein the information management unit checks whether a controlled device corresponding to the received discovery message is registered in the information management unit based on the received discovery message, and if it is determined that the controlled device is not registered in the information management unit, the information management unit creates device and service information of the controlled device directly from the description information of the discovery message, and stores the created device and service information of the controlled device in the information management unit, and if it is determined that the controlled device is registered in the information management unit, the discovery unit converts the received discovery message to a message based on a protocol that can be processed by the control point to which the discovery message is to be transmitted in the case when the received discovery message is received from the controlled device, and unicasts a response message with respect to the received discovery message to the control point, based on a protocol that can be processed by the control point in the case when the received discovery message is received from the control point.

2. The middleware device of claim 1, wherein the discovery unit converts the discovery message to the web service protocol if the discovery message is based on the UPnP protocol and the discovery message is to be transmitted to a device which is capable of processing discovery messages based on the web service protocol,

wherein the discovery message is converted to the UPnP protocol if the discovery message is based on the web service protocol and the discovery message is to be transmitted to a device which is capable of processing discovery messages based on the UPnP protocol.

3. The middleware device of claim 1, wherein the description unit creates the description file of the predetermined device in the web service protocol if the control point which requested the description file is not capable of processing the description files based on the UPnP protocol,

wherein the description unit creates the description file of the predetermined device in the UPnP protocol if the control point which requested the description file is not capable of processing the description files based on the web service protocol.

4. The middleware device of claim 1, wherein the discovery unit comprises:

a discovery management unit which classifies the protocol of the discovery message transmitted according to the UPnP protocol and the web service protocol and stores the transmitted discovery message in the information management unit; and

a discovery message conversion processing unit which converts the transmitted discovery message such that the discovery message is converted from the UPnP protocol if the discovery message is transmitted to a device which is capable of processing discovery messages based on the web service protocol and the discovery message is converted from the web service protocol if the discovery message is transmitted to a device which is capable of processing discovery messages based on the UPnP protocol.

5. The middleware device of claim 1, wherein the description unit comprises:

a description management unit which creates the description file of the predetermined device which is requested using the request message and stores the created description file in the information management unit; and

a description file conversion processing unit which converts the description file which is created in accordance with one of the UPnP protocol and the web service protocol which is utilized by the control point that requested the description.

6. The middleware device of claim 1, wherein the information management unit comprises:

a device and service information list which stores the service information and the information on the devices existing on the home network that have been transmitted from the discovery unit and the description unit; and

a device and service information list management unit which manages the device and service information list and updates information of the device and service information list and the discovery unit.

7. The middleware device of claim 1, further comprising a control unit which receives a control message based on one of the UPnP and web service protocols and converts the control message to a message based on the other of the UPnP protocol and the web service protocol that can be processed by a device to which the control message is to be transmitted.

8. The middleware device of claim 1, further comprising an eventing unit which receives an eventing message based on one of the UPnP and web service protocols and converts the eventing message to a message based the other of the UPnP protocol and the web service protocol that can be processed by a device to which the eventing message is to be transmitted.

9. A method of supporting compatibility of devices on a home network, the method comprising:

receiving, from a controlled device, a first discovery message including CD information of the controlled device, based on a protocol among a plurality of different protocols utilized by different devices existing on the home network, wherein the plurality of different protocols include a Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) protocol and a web service protocol;

determining whether the protocol of the first discovery message is the UPnP protocol or the web service protocol and acquiring description information of the first discovery message corresponding to the determined protocol;

checking whether the controlled device corresponding to the CD information in the first discovery message is registered in a middleware device using the CD information in the first discovery message;

if it is determined that the controlled device is not registered in the middleware device by checking, creating device and service information of the controlled device directly from the description information of the discovery message received from the controlled device, and storing the created device and service information of the controlled device;

if it is determined that the controlled device is registered in the middleware device by the checking, converting the first discovery message to a message based on a protocol that can be processed by the control point to which the first discovery message is to be transmitted, and multicasting the converted first discovery message on the home network;

receiving, from the control point, a second discovery message including the CD information, based on a protocol among a plurality of different protocols utilized by different devices existing on the home network,

determining the protocol of the second discovery message;

unicasting a response message using the discovery information registered in the middleware device on the corresponding controlled device corresponding to the CD information included in the second discovery message, to the control point.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first discovery message is converted to the web service protocol if the first discovery message is based on the UPnP protocol and the first discovery message is to be transmitted to a device which is capable of processing discovery messages based on the web service protocol,

wherein the first discovery message is converted to the UPnP-protocol if the first discovery message is based on the web service protocol and the first discovery message is to be transmitted to a device which is capable of processing discovery messages in the UPnP protocol.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the devices existing on the home network include a UPnP control point (CP) which transmits second discovery messages based on the UPnP protocol and a web service CP which transmits second discovery messages based on the web service protocol.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the second discovery message includes a Search or Probe message.

13. A method of supporting compatibility of devices on a home network including a middleware device, the method comprising:

receiving by the middleware device, from a control point, a description request message which is based on a protocol among a plurality of different protocols utilized by different devices existing on the home network, the description request message requesting description on device and service of a controlled device, wherein the plurality of different protocols include a Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) protocol and a web service protocol;

determining by the middleware device, whether the protocol of the description request message is the UPnP protocol or the web service protocol;

searching by the middleware device, information on the controlled device corresponding to the determined protocol of the description request message received from the control point;

converting by the middleware device, a description message of the controlled device to a message based on a protocol that can be processed by the control point if it is determined on the basis of a result of the searching that the controlled device supports a protocol different from the protocol of the description request message; and

transmitting by the middleware device, the converted description message to the control point.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the description message of the controlled device is converted to the web service protocol if the description request message is based on the UPnP protocol and the controlled device supports the web service protocol, and the description message of the controlled device is converted to the UPnP protocol if the description request message is based on the web service protocol and the controlled device supports the UPnP protocol.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the devices existing on the home network include a UPnP control point (CP) which transmits description request messages based on the UPnP protocol and a web service CP which transmits description request messages according to the web service protocol.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein if a control message is transmitted from the UPnP CP or the web service CP existing on the home network,

determining whether the transmitted control message is based on the UPnP protocol or the web service protocol;

searching information on a predetermined control device (CD) to which the control message is to be transmitted; and

converting the transmitted control message to a control message based on the web service protocol if the transmitted control message is determined to be based on the UPnP protocol as a result of the determining and the CD is determined to be based on the web service protocol as a result of the searching.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein if an eventing message is transmitted from the UPnP CP or the web service CP existing on the home network,

determining whether the transmitted eventing message is based on the UPnP protocol or the web service protocol;

searching information on a predetermined control device (CD) to which the eventing message is transmitted; and

converting the transmitted eventing message to an eventing message based on the web service protocol if the transmitted eventing message is determined to be based on the UPnP protocol as a result of the determining and the CD is determined to be based on the web service protocol as a result of the searching.

18. A middleware device for supporting compatibility of devices on a home network, the middleware device comprising:

a computer processor comprising;

a discovery unit which receives, from a first device among different devices existing on the home network, a discovery message based on a protocol among different protocols utilized by the different devices, wherein the different protocols include a Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) protocol and a web service protocol;

a description unit which creates a description file of a predetermined device which is requested using a request message based on one of the different protocols and converts the description file which is created such that the description file can be processed by a device which requested the description file; and

an information management unit which manages service information and information on devices existing on the home network based on the discovery message and the description file,

wherein the discovery unit determines whether the protocol of the discovery message is the UPnP protocol or the web service protocol and acquires description information of the discovery message corresponding to the determined protocol,

wherein the information management unit checks whether the first device is registered in the information management unit, and the discovery unit converts the discovery message to a message based on a protocol that can be processed by a second device to which the discovery message is to be transmitted and multicasts the converted message if it is determined that the first device is registered in the information management unit, and

wherein the information management unit creates information on the first device directly from the description information of the discovery message received from the first device, and stores the created information, the information being independent from the different protocols, if it is determined that the first device is not registered in the information management unit.

19. A method of supporting compatibility of devices on a home network including a middleware device, the method comprising:

receiving by the middleware device, from a first device, a discovery message based on a protocol among a plurality of different protocols utilized by different devices existing on the home network, wherein plurality of different protocols include a Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) protocol and a web service protocol;

determining by the middleware device, whether the protocol of the discovery message is the UPnP protocol or the web service protocol and acquiring description information of the discovery message;

checking by the middleware device, whether the first device is registered in the middleware device;

converting by the middleware device, the discovery message to a message based on a protocol that can be processed by a second device to which the discovery message is to be transmitted and multicasting the converted message if it is determined that the first device is registered in the middleware device; and

creating by the middleware device, information on the first device directly from the description information of the received discovery message, and storing the created information, the information being independent from the different protocols, if it is determined that the first device is not registered in the middleware device.