Method for updating contents of a DMS in a DLNA system

• US 8,805,923 B2
• Filed: 08/02/2006
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Chul-seung, Shin, Ho-Chul, Choi, Woo-Jun, Kang, Seung-Mi, Bae, Young-Kyu, Han, Young-Seop, Oh, Yun-Je
• Primary Examiner(s): BIAGINI, CHRISTOPHER D
• Application Number:
  US11/497,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20070130308A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,932 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/203
• 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 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances

Abstract

A method for updating contents of a Digital Media Server (DMS) in a digital living network alliance system (DLNA) is disclosed. An update process is performed through a periodic update event in a Digital Media Player (DMP) that receives all content information of the DMS. Upon determining that information loss has occurred in the update process, the DMP sends to the DMS a request for information about a list of items possessed by the DMS. The DMP receives the requested information about the list of items and compares the received information about the list of items with information about pre-stored items to obtain a comparison result. When a difference occurs as the comparison result, all information about contents of the DMS is obtained through a browse action. When the difference does not occur as the comparison result, the update process is continuously performed.

Claims

1. A method for updating contents of a Digital Media Player (DMP) in communication with a Digital Media Server (DMS) in a network having IP connectivity and including a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server and client, comprising the steps of:

a) performing an update process through a periodic update event in the DMP that receives all content information of the DMS in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format through a modified browse action in which a state variable is defined relative to the DMS and the state variable obtains a smaller amount of data than by a non-modified browse action;

b) sending a request for information by the DMP about a list of items possessed by the DMS to the DMS, upon determining that information loss has occurred in the update process;

c) receiving from the DMS by the DMP information about the list of items and comparing by the DMP the received information about the list of items with information about pre-stored items at the DMP to obtain a comparison result, the list of items including information about item tree layers and layer-by-layer IDs in the form of the state variable with a maintained state variable at the DMP for the given DMS to obtain the comparison result;

d) obtaining by the DMP all information about contents of the DMS associated with received information indicated to be different in XML format through the browse action when a difference occurs as a comparison result of step c).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the periodic update event of step a) is a “

ContainerUpdateIDs”

event.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the information about the list of items possessed by the DMS in step b) is made by the DMP sending a “

GetItemTreeList”

action to the DMS.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the information about the list of items of step c) is received from the DMS by the DMP in an “

ItemTreeList”

.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifiers (IDs) of items within an item tree of the DMS are hierarchically stored in the “

ItemTreeList”

in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format

6. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program configured to execute the method of claim 1.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the medium is selected from the group consisting of CD-ROM, RAM, floppy disk, hard disk, and optical magnetic disk.

8. A method for updating contents of a Digital Media Player (DMP) in communication with a Digital Media Server (DMS) in a network having IP connectivity and including a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server and client, comprising the steps of:

a) performing an update process through a periodic update event in the DMP that receives all content information of the DMS in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format through a modified browse action in which a state variable is defined relative to the DMS and receiving content information of the DMS when the DMP needs information and in which the state variable obtains a smaller amount of data than by a non-modified browse action;

b) sending a request for information by the DMP about a list of items possessed by the DMS to the DMS, upon determining that information loss has occurred in the update process;

c) receiving by the DMP from the DMS the requested information about the list of items and comparing by the DMP the received information about the list of items with information about pre-stored items at the DMP to obtain a comparison result, the list of items including information about item tree layers and layer-by-layer IDs in the form of the state variable with a maintained state variable at the DMP for the given DMS to obtain the comparison result;

d) requesting by the DMP from the DMS contents of a different list and obtaining information about contents associated with received information indicated to be different from the DMS in XML format, when a difference occurs as a comparison result of step c).

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the periodic update event of step a) is a “

ContainerUpdateIDs”

event.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the request for the information about the list of items possessed by the DMS in step b) is made by the DMP using a “

GetItemTreeList”

.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information about the list of items of step c) is received from the DMS by the DMP in an “

ItemTreeList”

.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein identifiers (IDs) of items within an item tree of the DMS are hierarchically stored in the “

ItemTreeList”

in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

13. An apparatus for updating contents of a Digital Media Player (DMP) in communication with a Digital Media Server (DMS) in a network having IP connectivity and including a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server and client, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable recording medium;

a state variable stored on said medium used to store a content tree list, including information about item tree layers and layer-by-layer IDs, of the DMS in which the state variable is defined relative to the DMS and receiving content information of the DMS when the DMP needs information and in which the state variable stored on said medium obtains a smaller amount of data via a modified browse action than by a non-modified browse action; and

a computer executable program stored on said medium to periodically update the DMS whenever the program performs a comparison of the state variable stored in said medium with a state variable describing the contents of the DMS, detects a difference between the state variable stored in said medium and the state variable describing the contents of the DMS and requests information corresponding to the difference of the comparison results to the DMS in the form of the state variable stored on said medium with a maintained state variable at the DMP for the given DMS to obtain the comparison results.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said state variable is define by an “

ItemTreeList”

.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the medium is selected from the group consisting of CD-ROM, RAM, floppy disk, hard disk, and optical magnetic disk.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the medium is selected from the group consisting of CD-ROM, RAM, floppy disk, hard disk, and optical magnetic disk.