Scaling and extending UPnP v1.0 device discovery using peer groups

• US 20060184693A1
• Filed: 02/15/2005
• Published: 08/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Rao, Ravi T., Kumaraguru, Gurunathan
• Granted Patent: US 7,640,329 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1046 Joining mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1068 Discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential source peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• 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 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for scaling and extending the reach of UPnP device discovery and eventing by leveraging the use of a peer-to-peer network infrastructure. Peer-to-peer networking allows for the organization of a set of nodes into a group for efficient exchange of information and the group has an efficient and scalable mechanism for flooding data to all members in it. In one embodiment one PC in a peer group can receive device discovery announcements and subscribe for device event notifications. A discovery proxy and an eventing proxy running on the PC package the announcement and/or notification in a record and proceed to flood it to the group. The group flooding semantics route the notification to the subscribed controllers, which can subsequently take suitable action. Ultimately, this method produces a result whereby device discovery and eventing tasks can be fulfilled by locating the closest peer and obtaining the device announcements and notifications from that peer.

Claims

1. A method for disseminating a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) device announcement from a UPnP enabled device to a control point on a UPnP network, the method comprising:

receiving, at a UPnP device discovery proxy, the UPnP device announcement;

updating a local data store for a peer-to-peer networking infrastructure with a record corresponding to the UPnP device announcement;

propagating the update to the data store to local data stores residing on at least one other peer in a peer-to-peer network group; and

receiving the UPnP device announcement at the control point on the at least one other peer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the updating the local data store comprises converting the UPnP device announcement to a record format compatible with the local store of the peer-to-peer networking infrastructure.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the propagating the update to the data store to local data stores comprises flooding the update to all members of the peer-to-peer network group in a scalable fashion.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the propagating the update to the data store to local data stores comprises flooding the update to all members of the peer-to-peer network group thereby resulting in an increased reach of device discovery announcements.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving the UPnP device announcement at the control point further comprises:

obtaining the record from the local store;

recognizing the record as a UPnP device announcement and converting the record to a UPnP device announcement; and

passing the UPnP device announcement to the control point.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the network is a local area network.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the network is a wide area network.

8. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for disseminating a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) device announcement from a UPnP enabled device to a control point on a UPnP network, the method comprising:

receiving, at a UPnP device discovery proxy, the UPnP device announcement;

updating a local data store for a peer-to-peer networking infrastructure with a record corresponding to the UPnP device announcement;

propagating the update to the data store to local data stores residing on at least one other peer in a peer-to-peer network group; and

receiving the UPnP device announcement at the control point on the at least one other peer.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the updating the local data store comprises computer-executable instructions for converting the UPnP device announcement to a record format compatible with the local store of the peer-to-peer networking infrastructure.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the propagating the update to the data store to local data stores comprises computer-executable instructions for flooding the update to all members of the peer-to-peer network group in a scalable fashion.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the propagating the update to the data store to local data stores comprises computer-executable instructions for flooding the update to all members of the peer-to-peer network group thereby resulting in an increased reach of device discovery announcements.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the receiving the UPnP device announcement at the control point further comprises computer-executable instructions for:

obtaining the record from the local store;

recognizing the record as a UPnP device announcement and converting the record to a UPnP device announcement; and

passing the UPnP device announcement to the control point.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the network is a local area network.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the network is a wide area network.

15. A system configured to disseminate a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) device announcement from a UPnP enabled device to a control point on a UPnP network, comprising, a network communications module, wherein the network communications module:

receives, at a UPnP device discovery proxy, the UPnP device announcement;

updates a local data store for a peer-to-peer networking infrastructure with a record corresponding to the UPnP device announcement;

propagates the update to the data store to local data stores residing on at least one other peer in a peer-to-peer network group; and

receives the UPnP device announcement at the control point on the at least one other peer.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the network communications module updates the local data store by converting the UPnP device announcement to a record format compatible with the local store of the peer-to-peer networking infrastructure.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein the network communications module propagates the update to the data store to local data stores by flooding the update to all members of the peer-to-peer network group in a scalable fashion.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the network communications module propagates the update to the data store to local data stores by flooding the update to all members of the peer-to-peer network group thereby resulting in an increased reach of device discovery announcements.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein the network communications module receives the UPnP device announcement at the control point by:

obtaining the record from the local store;

recognizing the record as a UPnP device announcement and converting the record to a UPnP device announcement; and

passing the UPnP device announcement to the control point.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the network is a local area network.