METHOD FOR MANAGING LOGICAL ADDRESS AND DEVICE THEREOF

• US 20080270636A1
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Hong, Jin-woo, Bae, Dae-gyu, Kim, Dong-young
• Granted Patent: US 8,156,256 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/9
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/12 Use of DVI or HDMI protocol in interfaces along the display data pipeline
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/006 Details of the interface to the display terminal specific for a display terminal using a CRT G09G1/167; using a flat panel G09G3/2096; circuits for interfacing with colour displays G09G5/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/365 Application layer names, e.g. buddy names, unstructured names chosen by a user or home appliance name
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5038 for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5046 Resolving address allocation conflicts; Testing of addresses testing when self-assigning an address H04L61/5092
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5092 by self-assignment, e.g. picking addresses at random and testing if they are already in use
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43632 involving a wired protocol, e.g. IEEE 1394 high-speed IEEE 1394 serial bus H04L12/40052
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811

Abstract

An address management method and a device thereof are provided. The address management method includes determining by a device whether all logical addresses corresponding to a type of the device are currently being used by external devices; setting by the device a non-use logical address as a logical address of the device, if it is determined that one of the logical addresses is currently not in use; and setting by the device a predetermined logical address as a logical address of the device, if it is determined that all the logical addresses are currently being used. Therefore, logical addresses may be allocated to a device even if all logical addresses corresponding the type of the device are currently being used.

Claims

1. An address management method comprising:

determining, by a device, whether logical addresses corresponding to a type of the device are currently being used by external devices;

setting, by the device, a non-use logical address as a logical address of the device, if it is determined that one of the logical addresses is currently not in use; and

setting, by the device, a predetermined logical address as a logical address of the device, if it is determined that all the logical addresses are currently being used.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the external devices are connected according to the High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) specification.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logical addresses comply with a logical address specification predefined according to the High Definition Multimedia Interface Consumer Electronics Control specification.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a reserved address among the logical addresses defined in the High Definition Multimedia Interface Consumer Electronics Control specification is used as the predetermined logical address.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:

transmitting polling messages from the device to the external devices, at the logical addresses corresponding to its device type; and

determining that the corresponding logical addresses are currently being used, if an acknowledge packet is received from one of the external devices as a response to the polling messages.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a data packet comprising a physical address field and a device type field, after the logical addresses are acquired; and

extracting data of the device type field from the data packet and interpreting the extracted data.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising transmitting the logical addresses from the device,

wherein the extracting and interpreting the data is performed only if the logical address is not the predetermined address.

8. A device comprising:

an interface through which the device is connected to an external device; and

a controller which determines whether all logical addresses corresponding to a type of the device are currently being used by external devices, sets a non-use logical address as a logical address of the device if it is determined that one of the logical addresses is currently not in use, and sets a predetermined logical address as a logical address of the device if it is determined that all the logical addresses are currently being used.

9. The device as claimed in claim 8, wherein a reserved address among the logical addresses defined in the High Definition Multimedia Interface Consumer Electronics Control specification is used as the predetermined logical address.

10. A display device comprising:

an interface which receives a data packet comprising a device type field from an external device; and

a controller which extracts data of the device type field and interprets the extracted data if a predetermined address is used as a logical address of the external device.

11. The display device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the logical address complies with a logical address specification predefined according to the High Definition Multimedia Interface Consumer Electronics Control specification.

12. The display device as claimed in claim 10, wherein a reserved address among the logical addresses defined in the High Definition Multimedia Interface Consumer Electronics Control specification is used as the predetermined logical address.