Transparent Software Bridge for SIP and UPnP Interoperability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solutions for bridging Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) technologies are limited, as they require specific capabilities in devices and do not support bidirectional internetworking, making them incompatible with legacy devices and not extensible to all networks.
Innovation Solution
A software bridge that operates transparently, using overloading of RFC 3261 SIP features and common applications, enables legacy SIP and UPnP devices to communicate directly or through an intermediary, allowing bidirectional internetworking without requiring additional protocol features or changes to the SIP specification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If existing bridging solutions are used, then SIP devices with extensions can access UPnP services, but legacy SIP devices without extensions cannot communicate with UPnP devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a gateway device that acts as an intermediary between SIP and UPnP networks. The gateway translates SIP messages into UPnP device control messages and vice versa, enabling legacy SIP devices to communicate with UPnP devices without requiring protocol extensions on the end devices. The gateway performs protocol conversion, message mapping, and capability translation to bridge the two different protocol ecosystems.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway is designed to handle multiple protocol translations and communication scenarios simultaneously. It can translate between SIP and UPnP protocols, support various SIP message types (INVITE, BYE, REGISTER), and interface with different UPnP device types (media players, renderers, servers). This multi-functional design allows a single gateway to serve diverse interoperability needs without requiring device-specific modifications.
2Adaptability or versatility
If existing bridging solutions are used, then one-way access from SIP to UPnP is enabled, but bidirectional internetworking is not supported
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway performs bidirectional protocol translation, converting SIP messages to UPnP control messages for SIP-initiated communications, and translating UPnP event notifications and control messages back to SIP messages for UPnP-initiated communications. This bidirectional translation capability enables full duplex interoperability between the two protocol domains without requiring complexity in the end devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements reverse translation capability where UPnP device control messages and event notifications are translated back into SIP messages, allowing UPnP devices to initiate and participate in communications with SIP devices. This inversion of the traditional one-way translation approach enables bidirectional interoperability, with the gateway handling the complexity of translating both directions of communication.
3Reliability
If protocol extensions are required for bridging, then interoperability is achieved, but extensibility to all legacy devices is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway assumes the burden of protocol translation and capability matching, allowing legacy SIP and UPnP devices to communicate without any modifications. The gateway maintains translation tables and capability mappings to reliably translate between SIP and UPnP protocols, ensuring interoperability while preserving the legacy status of end devices. This approach achieves both reliability and extensibility by centralizing the translation function.
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments of the invention generally provide a method and apparatus for bridging session initiation protocol and universal plug and play devices. One embodiment of the invention specifies a method that enables legacy session initiation protocol (204) and universal plug and play devices (202) to communicate with each other (i.e., to access devices), where the term "legacy" is defined to mean IETF RFC 3261-compliant for session initiation protocol devices, and DLNA 1.0-compliant for universal plug and play devices. The method enables inter-working between the session initiation protocol and universal plug and play devices without requiring changes to the legacy devices. One embodiment of the invention is a transparent software bridge (206) that enables these features.