Apparatus and method for device control

The present invention relates to controlling devices across a network, particularly, to a method of processing an action based on universal plug and play (UPnP) technology, a method of controlling a device, a controlled device controlled using the method, and a control point.

In general, a home network is constructed using an Internet protocol (IP). In the home network, various devices used at home such as different types of personal computers (PCs), intelligent products, wireless devices, and the like are connected in a common virtual computing environment called middleware in order to be controlled.

The middleware allows various digital devices to connect to each other in a peer-to-peer manner and communicate with each other. Examples of the middleware include home audio/video interoperability (HAVi), universal plug and play (UPnP), Java intelligent network infra-structures (Jini), and home wide web (HWW). After a plug and play (PnP) function is added to a current operating system (OS), installing and setting PC peripheral devices becomes easier. UPnP is a technology for expanding a function to the entire network on the basis of Internet standard technologies such as transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), and extensible markup language (XML) so as to enable network devices such as various domestic appliances, network printers, and Internet gateways to perform networking, and more particularly, home networking.

A UPnP network includes a controlled device which is connected to an IP-based home network and a control point for controlling the controlled device. The UPnP network allows the control point and the controlled device to communicate with each other through operations as presented below by using a UPnP protocol stack structure including Internet protocols such as TCP/IP and HTTP and technologies such as XML and simple object access protocol (SOAP).

The first step is an addressing operation wherein the control point and the controlled device have their IP addresses allocated. When the controlled device participates in the network, the controlled device receives its IP address by using a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), or if no DHCP server is available in the network, the controlled device uses its IP address by using an auto IP function.

The second step is a discovery operation wherein the control point searches for the controlled device or the controlled device advertises its location. The discovery operation is performed by using a simple service discovery protocol (SSDP). When the controlled device is added to the network, the controlled device transmits an SSDP alive message to the network by using an IP multicast function. The control point receives the alive message and then knows the existence of the controlled device. On the other hand, when the control point newly joins the network, the control point transmits an SSDP multicast-search (M-search) message to the network, and the controlled devices which check the M-search message transmit M-search response messages including their information to the control point.

The third step is a description operation wherein the control point checks the description of the controlled devices. The control point checks the response message, and as needed, the control point can request detailed information from the controlled devices. The controlled device which receives the request transmits its detailed information as an XML document.

The fourth step is a control operation wherein the control point controls functions of the controlled devices to operate the controlled devices. When the control point wants to control a predetermined controlled device, the control point transmits a desired service to the predetermined controlled device on the basis of the detailed information on the predetermined controlled device by using SOAP. SOAP is an XML-based protocol to allow applications to exchange information via HTTP.

The fifth step is an event operation wherein the control point receives an event change in the controlled device. When the control point wants to receive an event message from the controlled device, the control point transmits a subscribing request for a corresponding event to the controlled device. When the subscription succeeds, the controlled device transmits the event message to the control point using a general event notification architecture (GENA).

The sixth step is a presentation operation wherein the control point presents a status of the controlled device using HTML.

<figref idref="f0001">FIG. 1</figref> is a conceptual view for describing a conventional UPnP control method. Referring to <figref idref="f0001">FIG. 1</figref>, when a control point CP 11 transmits an action request to a controlled device CD 12, the controlled device 12 executes an action and transmits a result of executing the action to the control point 11 as a response. Specifically, the controlled device 12 executes the requested action and transmits a normal processing result or an error message to the control point 11.

<figref idref="f0001">FIG. 2</figref> is a conceptual view for explaining a problem occurring with the conventional UPnP control method.

Referring to <figref idref="f0001">FIG. 2</figref>, when a control point CP 21 is unplugged from a network while a controlled device CD 22 that receives an action request from the control point 21 is executing the action (referred to as action invocation), the action is terminated in a state where the controlled device 22 cannot transmit a normal processing result or an error message to the control point 21.

This does not matter in a normal condition. However, in a case where a specific container is copied in a content directory service (CDS), for example, a specific service file is copied in the controlled device, or content synchronization associated with service information between two or more controlled devices is performed, it takes much time for the controlled device to execute the action. In this case, a user has to periodically check operations of the controlled device or has to enable the control point to be connected to the network until the operations of the controlled device are finished. For example, a UPnP action such as an operation of searching for channel information on a television (TV) and storing the channel information requires much time, so that a time to provide a result of the UPnP action needs to be controlled.

A method of processing an action provides a result of executing an action at an arbitrary time after a controlled device executes the action.

A method also provides control of a controlled device wherein a result of executing an action is received at an arbitrary time after the controlled device executes the action.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a controlled device which provides a result of executing an action at an arbitrary time after the controlled device executes the action.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a control point which receives a result of executing an action at an arbitrary time after a controlled device executes the action.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of processing an action including: executing an action requested by a control point for controlling a controlled device through a network; when a network connection between the controlled device and the control point is terminated, storing a result of executing the action as a pending result of the action; and when the network connection between the controlled device and the control point is resumed, transmitting the stored pending result of the action to the control point.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program for causing a computer to execute a method of processing an action including: executing an action requested by a control point for controlling a controlled device through a network; when a network connection between the controlled device and the control point is terminated, storing a result of executing the action as a pending result of the action; and when the network connection between the controlled device and the control point is resumed, transmitting the stored pending result of the action to the control point.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a controlled device, including: requesting the controlled device to execute an action by a control point for controlling the controlled device through a network; transmitting a message for discovering the controlled device existing in the network; and extracting a result of executing the action from a response message responding to the message received from the controlled device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program for causing a computer to execute a method of controlling a controlled device, including: requesting the controlled device to execute an action by a control point for controlling the controlled device through a network; transmitting a message for discovering the controlled device existing in the network; and extracting a result of executing the action from a response message responding to the message received from the controlled device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a UPnP-based controlled device including: one or more applications which execute actions requested by a control point; a pending result manager which checks a state of a connection between the control point and a network, and stores a result of executing the action as a pending result of the action when the connection between the control point and the network is terminated; and an M-search response generator which adds the pending result of the action to a response message responding to an M-search message when the M-search message is received from the control point after the connection between the control point and the network is resumed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a UPnP-based control point for controlling a controlled device, including: one or more applications which request one or more controlled devices to execute actions, receives results of executing the actions from the controlled devices, multicasts an M-search message, and receives response messages responding to the M-search message from the controlled devices; and an M-search response manager which extracts the result of executing the actions from the response messages.

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li><figref idref="f0001">FIG. 1</figref> is a conceptual view for explaining a conventional UPnP control method;</li><li><figref idref="f0001">FIG. 2</figref> is a conceptual view for explaining a problem of the conventional UPnP control method;</li><li><figref idref="f0002">FIG. 3</figref> is a conceptual view showing a structure of a UPnP-based control point according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;</li><li><figref idref="f0002">FIG. 4</figref> is a conceptual view showing a structure of a UPnP-based controlled device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;</li><li><figref idref="f0003">FIG. 5</figref> is a conceptual view showing a pending result table according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;</li><li><figref idref="f0003">FIG. 6</figref> is a conceptual view for explaining a UPnP-based action processing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;</li><li><figref idref="f0004">FIG. 7</figref> is a view showing a control message transmitted from a UPnP-based control point according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;</li><li><figref idref="f0004">FIG. 8</figref> is a view showing a control response message transmitted from a UPnP-based controlled device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;</li><li><figref idref="f0005">FIG. 9</figref> is a view showing a multicast-search (M-search) message transmitted from a UPnP-based control point according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;</li><li><figref idref="f0005">FIG. 10</figref> is a view showing an M-search response message transmitted from a UPnP-based controlled device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;</li><li><figref idref="f0006">FIG. 11</figref> is a flowchart for explaining a UPnP-based action processing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and</li><li><figref idref="f0007">FIG. 12</figref> is a flowchart for explaining a UPnP-based controlled device control method according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.</li></ul>

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements, and thus repeated descriptions will be omitted. <figref idref="f0002">FIG. 3</figref> is a conceptual view showing a structure of a UPnP-based control point according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to <figref idref="f0002">FIG. 3</figref>, the UPnP-based control point (CP) is a device for controlling services of a controlled device supporting UPnP in a UPnP manner and includes one or more CP applications 31, a unique identifier manager 32, a multicast-search (M-search) response manager 33, a legacy CP stack 34, and a lower stack 35. A conventional CP includes a CP application, a legacy CP stack, and a lower stack. The CP according to the current exemplary embodiment of the present invention further includes the unique identifier manager 32 and the M-search response manager 33 in addition to the conventional construction.

The unique identifier manager 32 generates a unique identifier (ID) of the CP. The controlled device can identify the CP by using the unique ID. When the unique ID manager 32 transmits to the controlled device a control message for requesting the controlled device to execute an action, the unique ID manager 32 adds the unique ID of the CP to the control message. Accordingly, the controlled device can identify the CP, and when the controlled device cannot transmit a result of executing the action to the CP, the controlled device stores the result of the executing the action to correspond the unique ID and the result to each other. In addition, when the unique ID manager 32 multicasts an M-search message, the unique ID manager 32 adds the unique ID of the CP to the M-search message. Accordingly, the controlled device can identify the CP and transmit the result of executing the previous action to the CP corresponding to the received unique ID. The unique ID manager 32 may add the generated unique ID to the M-search message or a header of the control message in XML form.

The one or more CP applications 31 may request one or more controlled devices to execute actions, receive results of executing the actions from the controlled devices, multicast an M-search message, and receive M-search response messages from the controlled devices. The one or more CP applications 31 may transmit control messages including the unique ID of the CP and the action requests to the one or more controlled devices and multicast the M-search message including the unique ID of the CP. As described above, the one or more CP applications 31 may transmit messages including the unique ID of the CP, so that the controlled devices can identify the CP.

The M-search response manager 33 extracts the result of executing the previous action when the M-search response message received from the controlled device includes the result of executing the previous action. In addition, the M-search response manager 33 provides the extracted result of executing the action to the one or more CP applications 31. The M-search response manager 33 may extract the result of executing the action expressed in XML form added to the M-search response message.

The legacy CP stack 34 includes HTTP used to transceive a document between a web server and an Internet browser of a user through the Internet, SSDP used to recognize devices in the network, a hypertext transport protocol multicast (HTTPMU) including a GENA used in the step of eventing, a hypertext transport protocol unicast (HTTPU) including the SSDP, and the like.

The lower stack 35 includes IP used to transmit data from a computer to another computer through the Internet, a transmission control protocol (TCP) for performing arrangement or error correction in order of arrival of packets, and a user datagram protocol (UDP) used to one-sidedly transmit packets.

<figref idref="f0002">FIG. 4</figref> is a conceptual view showing a structure of a UPnP-based controlled device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to <figref idref="f0002">FIG. 4</figref>, the UPnP-based controlled device (CD) is a device which is controlled by a CP in an UPnP manner and provides services. The UPnP-based CD includes one or more CD applications 41, a pending result manager 42, an M-search response generator 43, a legacy CD stack 44, and a lower stack 45.

A conventional controlled device includes a CD application, a legacy CD stack, and a lower stack. However, the CD according to the current exemplary embodiment of the present invention further includes the pending result manager 42 and the M-search response manager 43 in addition to the conventional construction.

The one or more CD applications 41 execute actions requested by the CP. The one or more CD applications 41 receive control messages including an unique ID of the CP and the action requests from the CP and execute the request actions. After executing the actions, the one or more CD applications 41 transmit control response messages including a normal processing result that shows a result of executing the action or an error message to the CP. The unique ID may be added to a header of the control message in the XML form.

The pending result manager 42 checks a connection state between the CP and the network. According to the result of the checking, when the connection between the CP and the network is terminated and the control response message including the result of executing the action is not transmitted to the CP, the result of executing the action is stored as a pending result corresponding to the unique ID of the CP. The pending result manager 42 may store the pending result in a pending result table so as to correspond the pending result to the unique ID. The pending result table is described later.

When an M-search message including the unique ID which exists in the pending result table is input, the M-search response manager 43 retrieves a pending result corresponding to the unique ID from the pending result table and adds the retrieved pending result to the M-search response message. The unique ID may be added to a header of the M-search message in the XML form.

The legacy CD stack 44 includes the HTTP used to transceive a document between a web server and an Internet browser of a user through the Internet, the SSDP used to recognize devices in the network, the HTTPMU including the GENA used in the event step, the HTTPU including the SSDP, and the like.

The lower stack 45 includes an IP used to transmit data from a computer to another computer through the Internet, the TCP for performing arrangement or error correction in order of arrival of packets, and the UDP used to one-sidedly transmit packets.

<figref idref="f0003">FIG. 5</figref> is a conceptual view showing the pending result table according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to <figref idref="f0003">FIG. 5</figref>, the pending result table is generated by a pending result manager included in a CD and stores one or more pending results for every unique ID of a CP in the XML form. The one or more pending results may be stored and managed in various forms such as a comma separated value (CSV), a database management system (DBMS), or a file system.

The pending result table shown in <figref idref="f0003">FIG. 5</figref> shows only a unique ID of a single CP. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the pending result table may include a plurality of CPs and one or more pending results corresponding to each of the CPs according to the exemplary embodiments.

<figref idref="f0003">FIG. 6</figref> is a conceptual view for describing a UPnP-based action processing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. <figref idref="f0004">FIG. 7</figref> is a view showing a control message transmitted from a UPnP-based CP according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. <figref idref="f0004">FIG. 8</figref> is a view showing a control response message transmitted from a UPnP-based CD according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. <figref idref="f0005">FIG. 9</figref> is a view showing an M-search message transmitted from a UPnP-based CP according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. <figref idref="f0005">FIG. 10</figref> is a view showing an M-search response message transmitted from a UPnP-based CD according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a UPnP-based action processing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to <figref idref="f0003 f0004 f0005">FIGS. 6 to 10</figref>.

The UPnP-based action processing method includes a CD 62 supporting UPnP and a CP 61 for controlling the CD 62 in the UPnP manner.

The CP 61 transmits a control message to the CD 62. A conventional control message includes only content of an action request, however, the control message according to the current exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a unique ID of the CP in addition to the action request. The unique ID of the CP is added to a header of the control message in the XML form, and the added unique ID is used when the CD 62 stores pending results.

<figref idref="f0004">FIG. 7</figref> shows an example of a control message for requesting channel search of a TV. The control message may be written in a SOAP-based XML form. The conventional control message includes only content of the channel search action of the TV requested to the CD, however, the control message according to the current exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes the unique ID of the CP in a header of the control message as PENDING-RESULT in addition to the content of the channel search action requested to the CD. As described above, the control message includes the unique ID in the header and further includes content for requesting control of the TV, and content for requesting channel search. As described above, the CP allocates the unique ID of the CP to the control message, so that the CD can identify the CP. In addition, when the CD stores the pending result in the pending result table, the pending result can be stored to correspond to the unique ID.

The CD 62 executes an action according to the control message received from the CP 61 (referred to as action invocation). When the action is terminated, the CD 62 checks a connection state between the CP and the network. Specifically, the CD 62 checks whether a control response message including a result of executing the action can be transmitted to the CP 61 requesting the action (referred to as checking the availability of requesting CP).

According to the result of checking, when the CP 61 is connected to the network, the CD 62 transmits the control response message including the result of executing the action to the CP 61 requesting the action.

<figref idref="f0004">FIG. 8</figref> shows an example of a control response message including a result of executing an action, which is transmitted from the CD which receives the control message for requesting channel search of the TV and performs the channel search for the CP, to the CP. The control response message transmitted from the UPnP-based CD includes the result of the action executed according to the control message received by the CD from the CP. The CD which is requested to execute the action of channel search of the TV from the CP executes the action of the channel search, stores the channel search response in the XML form, and transmits an M-search response message to the CP.

As described above, in a normal case, that is, in a case where the connection between the CP and the network is maintained, the CD transmits the control response message including the result of executing the action to the CP. According to the result of checking, when the CP 61 is unplugged from the network, the CD 62 stores the result of executing the action as a pending result (also referred to as a saved result). The CD 62 matches the pending result to a unique ID included in the control message received from the CP 61 and stores the pending result. The CD 62 stores the pending result in XML form and may construct a pending result table so that the pending result corresponds to the unique ID. The pending result table may match a single unique ID to one or more pending results. The one or more pending results may be stored in a form such as a CSV, a DBMS, or a file system.

When the CP 61 is re-plugged to the network, the CP 61 multicasts an M-search message including the unique ID of the CP 61. For example, the M-search message includes information used for the TV channel search and simultaneously includes the unique ID of the CP 61, so that the CP 61 can request the CD 62, which stores the result of executing the action that previously could not be transmitted to the CP 61, to transmit the stored result of executing the action.

<figref idref="f0005">FIG. 9</figref> shows an example of the M-search message which the UPnP-based CP multicasts in the step of discovering the CD for controlling the TV. The conventional UPnP-based CP multicasts the M-search message for searching the CP to be discovered in the discovery step. As shown in <figref idref="f0005">FIG. 9</figref>, for the TV control, tvcontrol is included to the M-search message to be multicast.

However, the CP according to the current exemplary embodiment of the present invention multicasts the M-search message including the control point identifier (CPID). Specifically, when the CP is re-plugged to the network after the CP is unplugged from the network while the CP cannot receive the result of executing the action from the CD in the control step, the CP multicasts the M-search message including CPID in the discovery step. The CP allocates the unique ID to a header of the M-search message so that the CD which executed the action can recognize the CP.

The CD 62 receives the multicast M-search message, checks the CPID included in the M-search message, and retrieves a pending result corresponding to the CPID from the pending result table. The CD 62 adds the pending result corresponding to the CPID to an M-search response message. The CD 62 transmits the M-search response message including the added pending result to the CP 61.

<figref idref="f0005">FIG. 10</figref> shows an example of the M-search response message including the retrieved result transmitted from the CD which receives the M-search message for TV control and a result of executing a previous action. The conventional UPnP-based CD receives the M-search message from the CP in the discovery step and transmits information only on the result to the CP in XML form. For example, when the CP multicasts the M-search message including the tvcontrol for TV control, the CD for the TV unicasts an M-search response message including a corresponding response to the CP.

However, the UPnP-based CD according to the current exemplary embodiment of the present invention stores the result of executing the action that is not transmitted in the control step as the pending result corresponding to the CPID, and when the CD receives the M-search message from the CP corresponding to the ID in a next discovery step, the CD adds the pending result including the result of executing the action that is not transmitted in the previous control step to the M-search response message to transmit the pending result to the CP. The M-search response message shown in <figref idref="f0005">FIG. 10</figref> includes &lt;PendingResult&gt; including the result of the TV channel search in XML form.

<figref idref="f0006">FIG. 11</figref> is a flowchart of a UPnP-based action processing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to <figref idref="f0006">FIG. 11</figref>, a UPnP-based CD receives a control message for requesting an action from a CP for controlling the CD in the UPnP manner (111). The control message includes the action request and a unique ID of the CP. The unique ID may be added to a header of the control message in XML form.

Next, the CD executes the requested action (112). According to a type of the CD and a type of the requested action, a time taken to execute the action may be different. When the time taken to execute the action is long, the connection between the CP and the network may be terminated.

The CD checks a connection state between the CP and the network (113). A pending result manager included in the CD may check the state of the connection between the CP and the network.

In operation 114, according to a result of checking, when the CP is connected to the network, the CD transmits the result of executing the action to the CP.

According to the result of checking, when the CP is not connected to the network, the CD stores the result of executing the action as a pending result (115). The pending result manager included in the CD stores the result of executing the action so that the result and the unique ID of the CP correspond to each other, and generates the pending result. The pending result manager may store the pending result corresponding to the unique ID in a pending result table in a form of a CSV, a DBMS, or a file system.

When the CP is reconnected to the network, the CD receives an M-search message from the CP (116). The CD receives the M-search message including the unique ID of the CP. The unique ID of the CP may be added to a header of the M-search message in XML form.

The CD transmits an M-search response message including the pending result to the CP (117). An M-search response message generator included in the CD may retrieve the pending result corresponding to the unique ID of the CP from the pending result table and add the pending result to the M-search response message.

<figref idref="f0007">FIG. 12</figref> is a flowchart of a UPnP-based controlled device control method according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to <figref idref="f0007">FIG. 12</figref>, a UPnP-based CP transmits a control message for requesting a CD which supports the UPnP to execute an action to the CD (121). The control message includes the action request and a unique ID of the CP. The unique ID may be added to a header of the control message in XML form.

A connection between the CP and the network is checked (122). A time taken to execute the action by the CD may be different according to a type of the requested action, and when the time taken to execute the action is long, the connection between the CP and the network may be terminated.

When the CP is connected to the network, the CP receives a result of executing the action from the CD (123).

When the CP is reconnected to the network after the connection between the CP and the network is terminated, the CP multicasts an M-search message (124). A unique ID manager included in the CP adds a unique ID of the CP in a header of an M-search message in the XML form.

The CP receives an M-search response message including the result of executing the action from the CD (125). The CP receives the M-search response message including a control response message corresponding to the unique ID included in the M-search message multicasted by the CP, from the CD.

The CP extracts the result of executing the action added to the received M-search response message (126). Specifically, an M-search response manager included in the CP extracts the control response message added to the M-search response message to provide applications included in CP.

As described above, by controlling the UPnP-based CD, although the connection between the CP and the network is terminated before the CP receives the result of executing the action from the CD, when the CP is reconnected to the network, the CP can receive the M-search response message including the result of executing the action from the CD in the M-search step.

As described above, according to the action processing method, the CD control method, the CD, and the CP according to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, although the CP is unplugged from the network in a state where the CP cannot receive the result of executing the action from the CD, the CP can receive the result of executing the action included in the M-search response message in the discovery step after the CP is reconnected to the network.

As described above, according to the action processing method, the CD control method, the CD, and the CP, the CP can receive the result of executing the action of the CD at an arbitrary time after an action executing time, so that the inconvenience of waiting for the result of executing the action requested to the CD by a CP user decreases.

The invention can also be embodied as computer readable codes on a computer readable recording medium. The computer readable recording medium is any data storage device that can store data which can be thereafter read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable recording medium include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, and optical data storage devices. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. In particular, while primarily described in relation to uPNP, it will be apparent to the skilled person that the invention is not limited to the use of this protocol.