Method and Apparatus for Supporting Multicast of Av Data in a Network

• US 20070280145A1
• Filed: 04/08/2005
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Ahn, Sung, Min, Ku
• Granted Patent: US 8,873,446 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 supporting multicast of video and/or audio content in a network, comprising the steps of:

(a) determining based on protocol information of an object whether or not multicasting of the object containing media content is supported; and

(b) if it is determined that the object is multicast-support, assigning a multicast address to the object to which an IP address has not been allocated.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the protocol information of the multicast-support object is specified as one of the protocols:

“

rtp-udp-multicast”

, “

internal-multicast”

, and “

rtsp-rtp-udp-multicast”

.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step (b) is conducted at a media server that stores the object.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step (b) is conducted at a control point that can control, through the network, a media server that stores the object.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein if the object is requested for playback, the assigned multicast address is sent to all devices that are associated with the streaming of the object.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the multicast address assigned in the step (b) is chosen from a pool of multicast addresses that have been prepared.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the step (b) is conducted only when the object is included in a result of browsing action.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the assigned multicast address includes a port number.

9. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a step of, if playback of an object being streamed is further requested from another device, checking based on protocol information of the object whether multicasting of the object is supported, and determining whether to join said another device to a multicast group based on the checked result.

10. A networked apparatus for providing video and/or audio content in multicasting manner through a network, comprising:

a media server that stores objects containing media contents; and

a control point, running on a device on the network, that allows an object in the media server to be streamed in multicast manner to a media renderer,

wherein either the media server or the control point assigns a multicast address to the object whose protocol information is indicative of multicast-support and to which an IP address has not been allocated.

11. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein the protocol information is specified as one of the three protocols:

“

rtp-udp-multicast”

, “

internal-multicast”

, and “

rtsp-rtp-udp-multicast”

.

12. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein the assigned multicast address is chosen from a pool of multicast addresses that have been determined as available addresses prior to the assignment.

13. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein the assigned multicast address includes a port number.

14. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein the multicast address is assigned to at least one object that is included a result of browsing action.

15. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 14, wherein if an object included in the browsing result is selected and requested for playback, the multicast address assigned to the object is sent to all devices that are associated with the streaming of the object.

16. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein the control application sends URI information of the selected object to the media server.

17. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein the control application sends URI information of the selected object to the media renderer.

18. The networked apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein if playback of an object being streamed is requested from another media renderer, the control point checks based on protocol information of the object whether multicasting of the object is supported, and determines whether to join said another media renderer to a multicast group based on the checked result.