350 results about "Universal Plug and Play" patented technology

A universal plug and play (UPnP) device makes itself known through a set of processes—discovery, description, control, eventing, and presentation. Following discovery of a UPnP device, an entity can learn more about the device and its capabilities by retrieving the device's description. The description includes vendor-specific manufacturer information like the model name and number, serial number, manufacturer name, URLs to vendor-specific Web sites, etc. The description also includes a list of any embedded devices or services, as well as URLs for control, eventing, and presentation. The description is written by a vendor, and is usually based on a device template produced by a UPnP forum working committee. The template is derived from a template language that is used to define elements to describe the device and any services supported by the device. The template language is written using an XML-based syntax that organizes and structures the elements.

A system and method provide for the intuitive establishment of a security association between devices. To join a network of devices, a user device sends user parameters for the user device to an administrator device using an out-of-band communication protocol. The administrator device sends the user parameters to an access point device using a Universal Plug and Play Simple Object Access Protocol (UPnP SOAP) Set action. The access point device saves the user parameters in a local database. The administrator device retrieves access point parameters from the access point device using the UPnP SOAP Get action. The administrator device sends the access point parameters to the user device using the out-of-band communication protocol. The user device connects to the access point device using the access point parameters to configure a secure connection. Preferably, a location limited channel is used by the user device to communicate with the administrator device.

Provided are an apparatus and method for enabling Power Line Control (PLC) devices to work like Universal Plug And Play (UPnP) devices by allowing the PLC devices to participate in a UPnP network. A bridging apparatus for enabling the UPnP device to control the PLC device includes a unit for generating a device description XML document for each device type using information on the PLC devices and transmitting the same document to a UPnP control point; a unit for, upon receipt of a control command from the control point, converting the control command into a control command conforming to a PLC protocol and transmitting the converted control command to a PLC device, and for, upon receipt of an information packet conforming to the PLC protocol from the PLC device, converting the packet to an event message conforming to a UPnP protocol and transmitting the event message to the control point.

The system and method of information or presentation projection allows a user to present information to single or multiple screens without need of additional cables. Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is used to advertise, find, and control the display devices. A reverse Terminal Service (TS) session is used to connect the display to the user's machine. Attendance at and receipt of the presentation is addressed from both a presenter side and from an attendee side through a subscription model. This subscription model is facilitated and security of the presentation is addressed through the use meeting invitations. These invitations are generated by the presenter, and may be requested by the attendees.

A method and apparatus are provided for enabling a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) device to be automatically provisioned to access services without the need for manual interaction. In accordance with the invention, when a UPnP device needs to be provisioned, it automatically obtains pre-provisioning information from a provisioning device on the home network, and uses the pre-provisioning information to interact with the provisioning device to cause the UPnP device to be provisioned. The provisioning enables the UPnP device to access services, including digital rights management (DRM) services, over a network.

The present invention relates to a device and method for seamlessly internetworking local area networks utilizing the Universal Plug and Play protocol with wide area networks utilizing the Internet Multimedia Subsystem architecture. The network communication device includes a universal plug and play (UPnP) interface and an Internet Protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) interface. Circuitry is communicatively coupled to the UPnP interface and the IMS interface, wherein the circuitry associates an UPnP session key with an associated electronic equipment for allowing communication between the one or more associated devices and the associated electronic equipment.

A method architecture for extending universal plug and play (UPnP) beyond a local area network is presented. This method includes a mobile device proxying agents. The mobile device proxying agents translate messages between UPnP and session initiation protocol (SIP) formats and sessions.

The invention relates to the technical field of home networks. A home network based on the present UPnP standard (Universal Plug and Play) allows data to be interchanged between network subscriber stations. A UPnP standard may have one or more control point devices. To allow profile information such as user profile or network profile to be interchanged, the invention proposes providing a control point device firstly with an expanded device ascertainment service which can be used to find the other control point devices in the network and also with one or more additionally implemented profile services which allow the other control point devices in the network to be notified about change to profile information on a control point device.

A proxy-bridge for connecting Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) compliant devices with Bluetooth (BT) compliant devices, and includes SSDP support for discovery of available UPnP compliant devices and services; a Bluetooth SDP client for discovery of available Bluetooth devices and available Bluetooth services and a Bluetooth SDP server for communicating with Bluetooth SDP clients in the available Bluetooth devices. The proxy-bridge has a converter for converting the discovered Bluetooth devices and services into associated UPnP device and service information, and the discovered UPnP compliant devices and services into associated Bluetooth device, service, and/or profile information. A device and service announcer advertises device availability at regular intervals. A UPnP adapter represents the Bluetooth devices towards the UPnP devices and a Bluetooth adapter represents the UPnP compliant devices towards the Bluetooth compliant devices.

A method of constructing a unique domain for preventing content from being illegally used by an unauthorized third person in a public key-based architecture and applying the constructed domain to a home network using universal plug and play (UPnP). The method of the present invention includes selecting one of controlled devices that are operable as a master device and determining the selected device as the master device; performing device authentication in such a manner that other controlled devices receive a secret information block from the determined master device and create certificates; and determining slave devices by selecting one or more devices among the authenticated controlled devices.

A multimedia service apparatus and method for multimedia service providers outside home to UPnP devices inside home using a home gateway and a service gateway platform is provided. In the multimedia service apparatus and method, the home gateway and the service gateway platform such as an open service gateway initiative (OSGi) service platform are used inside a home so that the multimedia service providers outside home can provide a multimedia content on a home network to a universal plug and play (UPnP) audio/video (AV) MediaRenderer following a UPnP AV structure based on UPnP, to reproduce or store the multimedia content in a UPnP AV MediaServer. The multimedia service apparatus includes: a UPnP AV (audio/video) device connected to a home network by the multimedia service provider of an external network; and a gateway device providing a multimedia service to the UPnP AV device using the service gateway platform.

A method is provided for allowing Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) technology to be used over the Internet or other wide area communications networks. In one illustrative example, a first UPnP-enabled device is to provide a UPnP service such as streaming media to various users over the Internet. The first UPnP-enabled device provides an on-line identity provider such as Windows Live or the like with user IDs of those users who are authorized to access the first UPnP-enabled device from a remote location. When a user wishes to receive the UPnP service from the first UPnP-enabled device, the user logs in to the on-line identity provider using his user ID and receives from the on-line provider an IP address associated with the first UPnP-enabled device. The user's media player or other application constructs a URL from the IP address and contacts the UPnP-enabled device at that URL. The UPnP-enabled device provides the user with a list of media libraries that are available on it. Finally, the user's media player can invoke the desired UPnP service using content or other information available from the media libraries.

A user control point tool allows generic discovery, control, and display of Universal Plug and Play devices from a common user interface. This generic UCP tool provides a common user experience for all UPnP devices, regardless of their individual manufacturers. The generic UCP tool allows discovery of UPnP devices by type, by unique device name, or asynchronously. The user may select one of the discovered devices, view its properties, and select one of the services provided for that device to control. Additional information from a service description document may be viewed, and a user may query the value of the state variables and invoke an action for a service for the selected UPnP device. The results of the action are displayed on the tool's UI, as is the eventing information for the UPnP device. Status information for operation of the generic UCP tool itself is also provided.

A device of a plug-and-play type, which can be integrated in a home network having at least one audio-video Media-Server device or else at least one audio-video Media-Renderer device. The device can be activated for selectively configuring parameters and devices for setting up audio-video calls for connection between the home network and a packet network, such as the Internet. Preferentially, the device is based upon UPnP (Universal Plug-and-Play) technology and uses either a signaling protocol on IP packet network, such as the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and ITU-T H.323, or else mobile communications systems, such as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The device is able to redirect audio-video streams in the context of a plurality of devices capable of reproducing them and/or to selectively acquire said audio-video streams from a plurality of devices capable of supplying them.

A method and apparatus for reporting the operation state of digital rights management are provided. In a home network formed with control devices and a control point, the apparatus for reporting the operation state of digital rights management of the control device to the control point includes: a digital rights management (DRM) module which performs digital rights management; a state variable generation unit which receives DRM operation state information indicating the state of a DRM process currently operating, from the DRM module, and based on the received DRM state information, generates DRM state variables; and a universal plug and play (uPnP) module which by using a uPnP protocol, transmits the generated state variables to the control point.

Disclosed is a device and method for seamlessly internetworking local area networks utilizing the Universal Plug and Play protocol with wide area networks utilizing the Internet Multimedia Subsystem architecture. The present invention utilizes a dynamic virtual control point to represent an IMS device on the UPnP network, which allows communication between the IMS device and one or more devices located on the UPnP network. In one embodiment, the method for communication includes receiving a request for information from an associated electronic equipment communicatively coupled to a wide area network for access to one or more associated devices and/or services communicatively coupled on a local area network; authenticating the request for information on the local area network; and establishing a virtual control point between the associated electronic equipment and the one or more associated devices.

A method and system for remote access to UPnP devices is provided, which allows remote access to UPnP devices in a private network, and utilizes message forwarding at the UPnP layer. Existing UPnP control points can remotely access UPnP devices in a private network without modification to UPnP standards.

A personal media player (PMP) uses a digital media processing system—comprising a video rendering subsystem, a music rendering subsystem, and a picture rendering subsystem—to produce moving-video (video), audio (music), still-graphics (picture), and other output rendered from media files ported to the PMP from another source. The PMP further comprises a user interface system, a display unit system, a power source system, and a data port system utilizing Universal Plug and Play functionality, all of which are coupled directly or indirectly to the digital media processing system. The physical components constituting the aforementioned systems and subsystems are then encased in a portable housing unit suitable for hand-held use and ready portability.

The invention discloses a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) configuration file update device. A microprocessor/microcontroller imports an FPGA configuration file from an external memory through a universal plug and play interface, and transmits the FPGA configuration file to an FPGA chip; the FPGA chip converts the FPGA configuration file into a data format capable of being identified by a nonvolatile memory, transmits the converted FPGA configuration file to the nonvolatile memory for storage, and updates the FPGA configuration file; and after a digital system is electrified again, the FPGA chip automatically reads the updated configuration file stored in the nonvolatile memory to realize automatic loading and normal operation. In the device, only when the FPGA configuration file needs to be updated, a new FPGA configuration file is written into the nonvolatile memory so as to realize the requirement of online configuration; and meanwhile, the microprocessor/microcontroller provides the interface for the external memory and reads the FPGA configuration file into the personal memory, and then the FPGA configuration file is written into the nonvolatile memory so as to realize the update of the FPGA configuration file and avoid the limitation of a special downloading line.

An information processing apparatus is used in a network including an information apparatus compatible with the universal-plug-and-play (UPnP) discovery and control method and an information apparatus compatible with the Web based discovery and control method and includes a browser support unit for converting the Web based discovery and control method to the UPnP discovery and control method and a server support unit for converting the UPnP discovery and control method to the Web based discovery and control method. The information apparatus compatible with the UPnP discovery and control method and the information apparatus compatible with the Web based discovery and control method can acquire device information from each other and control the device by each other.