Inter-home sharing apparatus and method using home network device

• US 8,560,497 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2008
• Issued: 10/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Choi, Sang-hoon, Kim, Yoon-soo, Cho, Joon-ho, Yoon, Hyun-sik
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahn, Sangwoo
• Application Number:
  US12/020,875
• Publication Number:
  US 20080243869A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,087 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/622
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2832 Interconnection of the control functionalities between home networks single bridge functionality H04L12/4625
• 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 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data

Abstract

An inter-home content sharing apparatus and method are provided. The inter-home content sharing apparatus includes a home network protocol stack which communicates with the home network devices according to a home network protocol; a remote storage controller which receives a request for sharing content from the home network devices through the home network protocol, connects to a remote storage to upload the content, and controls the remote storage to extract metadata of the content; and a message controller which controls transception of notification messages including sharing information on the uploaded content.

Claims

1. An inter-home content sharing apparatus using one or more home network devices, the apparatus comprising:

a home network protocol stack which communicates with a home network device, of the one or more home network devices, according to a home network protocol;

a remote storage controller which receives a request for sharing content from the home network device through the home network protocol, connects to a remote storage, distinct from the home network device, uploads the content according to the received request, and extracts metadata of the content;

a message controller which controls transception of a notification message including sharing information on the uploaded content to be shared with other apparatus;

a sample data storage which downloads sample data of the content from the remote storage and stores the sample data; and

a metadata controller which extracts sample data from the sample data storage and generates metadata based on the extracted sample data,

wherein, the remote storage controller compares the stored sample data with sharing information on the uploaded content, connects to the remote storage, and downloads sample data which does not exist in the sample data storage, and

wherein the sample data is a portion of the content for generating the metadata.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the home network protocol stack transmits an event message based on the extracted metadata to the home network device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the home network protocol stack transmits an event message corresponding to the sharing request of the home network device to the home network device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the remote storage controller generates a uniform resource locator (URL) of the remote storage by using a key value corresponding to the uploaded content.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the remote storage controller connects to the remote storage which receives a request of releasing the content sharing from the home network device, and deletes contents corresponding to the request of releasing the content sharing.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the notification message includes information on the content sharing release.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the remote storage controller compares contents stored in the remote storage with sample data stored in the sample data storage when the apparatus is booted up.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the home network protocol is Universal Plug and Play (UPnP).

9. An inter-home content sharing system using home network devices, the system comprising:

two or more inter-home content sharing apparatuses, each of which comprising;

a home network protocol stack which communicates with the home network devices according to a home network protocol;

a remote storage controller which receives a request for sharing contents from a home network device, of the home network devices, through the home network protocol stack, connects to a remote storage, uploads the contents according to the received request, and extracts metadata of the content;

a message controller which controls transception of a notification message including sharing information on the uploaded contents to be shared with other apparatus;

a sample data storage which downloads sample data of the content from the remote storage and stores the sample data; and

a metadata controller which extracts sample data from the sample data storage and generates metadata based on the extracted sample data,

wherein, the remote storage controller compares the stored sample data with sharing information on the uploaded content, connects to the remote storage, and downloads sample data which does not exist in the sample data storage,

the home network devices, which are connected to the inter-home content sharing apparatus through a home network and request a transmitting inter-home content sharing apparatus to share contents or release content sharing; and

the remote storage which is connected to two or more inter-home content sharing apparatuses through an Internet, stores contents uploaded by the transmitting inter-home content sharing apparatus, extracts metadata of the uploaded contents, and transmits the metadata to a receiving inter-home content sharing apparatus,

wherein the sample data is a portion of the content for generating the metadata.

10. An inter-home content sharing method using home network devices, the method comprising:

receiving, by a receiving inter-home content sharing apparatus, a notification message including sharing information on uploaded content from a transmitting inter-home content sharing apparatus which uploads content to a remote storage;

connecting, by the receiving inter-home content sharing apparatus, to the remote storage according to the received notification message, checking the uploaded content, and downloading metadata of the content from the remote storage;

transmitting, by the receiving inter-home content sharing apparatus, an event message based on the downloaded metadata to a receiving home network device;

downloading sample data of the content from the remote storage and storing the sample data in a sample data storage;

extracting sample data from the sample data storage and generating metadata based on the extracted sample data;

comparing the stored sample data with sharing information on the uploaded content; and

connecting to the remote storage and downloading sample data which does not exist in the sample data storage,

wherein the sample data is a portion of the content for generating the metadata.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the event message indicates that the uploaded content in the remote storage is shared content.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

downloading, by the transmitting inter-home content sharing apparatus, the content from the transmitting home network device,

wherein the uploading the content comprises uploading the downloaded content.

12. An inter-home content sharing method using home network devices, the method comprising:

receiving, by a transmitting inter-home content sharing apparatus, a request for sharing content from a transmitting home network device;

uploading, by the transmitting inter-home content sharing apparatus, the content to a remote storage according to the sharing request;

transmitting, by the transmitting inter-home content sharing apparatus, a notification message including sharing information on the uploaded content to a receiving inter-home content sharing apparatus;

connecting, by the receiving inter-home content sharing apparatus, to the remote storage according to the notification message and downloading or extracting metadata of the uploaded content,

downloading sample data of the content from the remote storage and storing the sample data in a sample data storage;

extracting sample data from the sample data storage and generating metadata based on the extracted sample data;

comparing the stored sample data with sharing information on the uploaded content; and

connecting to the remote storage and downloading sample data which does not exist in the sample data storage,

wherein the sample data is a portion of the content for generating the metadata.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the connecting comprises:

connecting to the remote storage according to the notification message and downloading the metadata of the uploaded content; and

transmitting an event message based on the downloaded metadata to a receiving home network device.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the connecting comprises:

connecting to the remote storage according to the notification message and downloading sample data of the uploaded content;

extracting the metadata based on the sample data; and

transmitting an event message based on the extracted metadata to a receiving home network apparatus.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein downloading sample data of the uploaded content comprises accessing a uniform resource locator (URL) of the remote storage which is generated by using a key value corresponding to the uploaded content.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the downloading sample data of the uploaded content comprises accessing a uniform resource locator (URL) of the remote storage which is generated by using a key value corresponding to the uploaded content.