Method and apparatus for supporting multicast of AV data in a network

• US 8,873,446 B2
• Filed: 04/08/2005
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Ahn, Sung Joon, Min, Ku Bong
• Primary Examiner(s): SAMS, MATTHEW C
• Application Number:
  US11/578,314
• Publication Number:
  US 20070280145A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,490 Days
• Field of Search: 370/312, 709217-219
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast

Abstract

The present invention relates to a multicast supporting method for AV data in a network such as UPnP AV network. In the present invention, it is checked based on protocol information of an object containing media data whether multicasting of the object is supported and, if supported, a multicast address is assigned to the object to which an IP address has not been allocated.

Claims

1. A method of performing multicast in a network, the method performed by a media server and comprising:

receiving, at the media server, a browse action from a controller;

transmitting a browse response to the controller in response to the browse action, wherein the browse response includes access information providing a path to a specific media file; and

generating a multicast address for multicast of the specific media file in a case that metadata of the specific media file includes a multicast-support identifier, after the browse action is received,

wherein the specific media file accessed by the access information is played using the generated multicast address on at least one renderer controlled by the controller,

wherein the multicast-support identifier is included in protocol information of the metadata, and

wherein the protocol information is comprised of the multicast-support identifier, the multicast address and a port number.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the multicast-support identifier indicates a protocol type and is specified as “

rtp-udp-multicast”

, “

internal-multicast”

, or “

rtsp-rtp-udp-multicast”

.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein generating the multicast address comprises generating a multicast address for multicast of each media file when a number of the specific media file is more than two.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the multicast address is transmitted from the controller to at least one media renderer, and whereby the at least one media renderer renders the media file multicasted from the media server.

5. The method as set forth in claim 4, wherein upon request from another media renderer for rendering of the media file that is being multicasted by the at least one media renderer, the controller checks whether the multicast of the media file being multicasted is supported based on the metadata of the media file being multicasted, and determines whether to allow the other media renderer to join a multicast group based on the checked result.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising receiving, at the media server, the multicast address transmitted to the controller from the controller for multicast preparation.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

updating the metadata of the specific media file by reassigning a new multicast address in a case that the multicast address is not valid.

8. A networked apparatus for performing multicast, comprising:

an interface unit; and

a processor configured to;

receive, via the interface unit, a browse action from a controller;

transmit, via the interface unit, a browse response to the controller in response to the browse action, wherein the browse response includes access information providing a path to a specific media file; and

generate a multicast address for multicast of the specific media file in a case that metadata of the specific media file includes a multicast-support identifier, after the browse action is received,

wherein the specific media file accessed by the access information is played using the generated multicast address on at least one renderer controlled by the controller,

wherein the multicast-support identifier is included in protocol information of the metadata, and

wherein the protocol information is comprised of the multicast-support identifier, the multicast address and a port number.

9. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein the multicast-support identifier indicates a protocol type and is specified as “

rtp-udp-multicast”

, “

internal-multicast”

, or “

rtsp-rtp-udp-multicast”

.

10. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a multicast address for multicast of each media file when a number of the specific media file is more than two.

11. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein the multicast address is transmitted from the controller to at least one media renderer, and whereby the at least one media renderer renders the media file multicasted from the media server.

12. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 11, wherein upon request from another media renderer for rendering of the media file that is being multicasted by the at least one media renderer, the controller checks whether the multicast of the media file being multicasted is supported based on the metadata of the media file being multicasted, and determines whether to allow the other media renderer to join a multicast group based on the checked result.

13. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to receive, via the interface unit, the multicast address transmitted to the controller from the controller for multicast preparation.

14. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to update the metadata of the specific media file by reassigning a new multicast address in a case that the multicast address is not valid.