KR101782884B1 - System and method for detecting bottleneck - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a content information providing apparatus and method for supporting content sharing among individual user terminals using a remote access function of a DLNA. More particularly, the present invention relates to a content information providing apparatus and method, It is possible to prevent unnecessary contents from being uploaded for sharing contents and to prevent the contents from being uploaded to the server Management cost can be lowered, and a cloud-based real-time content sharing service can be provided.

Description

[0001] Apparatus and method for providing content information for content sharing [

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for providing content information for content sharing, and more particularly, to a content information providing apparatus and method for providing content stored in DLNA-based home server connected to a home gateway To a content information providing apparatus and a method for sharing contents so that the content information can be shared.

The Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) standard is based on a distributed and open networking architecture that allows each home appliance in the home network to be managed without peer-to-peer networking instead of being centrally managed. The UPnP device models the service as an action and status variable, and the UPnP control point can automatically discovery the UPnP device and use the service.

According to the UPnP standard, especially the UPnP AV architecture established for sharing media content between home UPnP devices, a home terminal includes a media server that plays a role of a source for storing and supplying media content, A media renderer, and a control point for controlling a media stream between a media server and a media renderer and providing a user interface (UI). Accordingly, the user can play the content stored in the media server on the home network to the media renderer through manipulation of the user interface of the control point. For example, by using a WI-FI portable terminal as a control point, a moving picture stored in a PC, which is a media server, can be transferred to a set top box as a media renderer and viewed via a TV.

The UPnP device search according to the UPnP standard occurs in a distributed and open networking manner using IP multicast in a home network. However, since it can not guarantee that the IP multicast service is normally performed in the Internet range, as a result, the control of the UPnP device using the information obtained through the UPnP device discovery is not possible through the Internet. That is, if the home network is physically separated from the home network, it can not be connected to the home network through the Internet. However, since the home network is remote from the home network, the UPnP device constituting the home network can not be controlled.

In order to solve such a problem, a UPnP RA (Remote Access) architecture has been proposed in order to allow anyone who can physically operate as if it exists in the same network even if the UPnP device or the control point device is physically separated from the home network . The UPnP RA architecture defines an RAS (Remote Access Server) device existing in a home network and a RAC (Remote Access Client) device existing in a remote network.

The UPnP RA architecture allows a remote access client (RAC) located at home to receive services of UPnP devices located in the house through a connection to a remote access server (RAS) located in the home.

DLNA is a communication standard that enables users to easily share contents stored in the home using UPnP-based protocols without having to set them separately. In recent years, a remote access function is provided to support remote access through the UPnP RA architecture It has been added and expanded.

In recent years, contents (UCC, User-Created Contents) generated by individual users have received a lot of attention. However, in order to provide contents created by such individual users to other users, .

Due to the increase in bandwidth of wired and wireless communication due to the development of IT technology and the penetration rate of IT devices capable of creating, storing, and providing contents such as smart phones and tablet PCs as well as desktop PCs is increasing rapidly, Without the process, there is a need for a technology that can directly provide content created by an individual user to another user in an IT device of each individual user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a content information providing apparatus and method for supporting content sharing among individual user terminals using an extended remote access function of a DLNA.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be described hereinafter and will be understood by the embodiments of the present invention. Further, objects and advantages of the present invention can be realized by the means and the combination shown in the appended claims.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content information providing apparatus for content sharing, the apparatus comprising: a home gateway connected to a home network through a network, the home gateway receiving information of the home content servers connected to the home gateway, And a presence information providing unit for generating and providing presence information including whether or not the current contents servers are currently activated; And providing the information of the content that can be provided by the currently-active in-house content server to the user terminal based on the presence information provided from the remote connection management unit and transmitting information of the in-home gateway corresponding to the content selected from the user terminal, And a content management unit for providing the selected content to the user terminal through the home gateway.

More preferably, the in-house content servers may be provided in a user terminal connected to the home network.

More preferably, the remote access management unit receives the changed information every time a network address of the in-home gateway and the information of the in-house contents servers currently operating are changed from the in-house gateway, and stores the presence information in real time To the content management unit.

More preferably, the content management unit includes a content database that stores metadata information of contents that can be provided by each of the in-house content servers.

More preferably, the metadata information may include identification information of the in-house content server storing the content, identification information of the in-home gateway connected to the in-house content server, and identification information of the content.

More preferably, the user terminal can receive the content selected from the home gateway through the DLNA remote access function based on the identification information of the home gateway corresponding to the selected content and the identification information of the selected content.

More preferably, the content management unit may provide location information of contents determined based on the network address of the home gateway corresponding to the contents that can be provided by the currently-activated home server.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing content information for content sharing, the method comprising the steps of: receiving, from an in-home gateway connected through a network, information on in-house content servers connected to a home gateway; A presence information generation step of generating presence information including whether or not the home gateway and the home contents servers are currently activated based on the information received from the home gateway; Providing information on contents that can be provided by a currently-active in-house content server to a user terminal based on presence information; Receiving from the user terminal a request for content selected from available content; And providing information of the home gateway corresponding to the requested content to the user terminal so that the user terminal can receive the requested content through the home gateway.

More preferably. The home server information receiving step may include receiving, from the home gateway connected to the session, the changed information each time a network address of the home gateway and information of the currently operating home server are changed.

More preferably, the presence information generating step may include generating presence information in real time based on information received from the home gateway.

According to the present invention, when a content of a home user in a home network is shared from a terminal of a home user outside the home network using the remote access function of the DLNA, the content itself to be shared is not uploaded to a separate server, It is possible to prevent unnecessary contents uploading and reduce the server management cost by sharing only the metadata information of each user terminal and to access the contents stored in each user terminal and to provide a cloud based real time content sharing service do.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and, together with the description of the invention given below, serve to further the understanding of the technical idea of the invention, And should not be construed as limiting.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a content sharing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing content information in a content information providing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating a process of uploading content by a user terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating a process of reproducing contents in a user terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The following merely illustrates the principles of the invention. Thus, those skilled in the art will be able to devise various apparatuses which, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the invention and are included in the concept and scope of the invention. Furthermore, all of the conditional terms and embodiments listed herein are, in principle, intended only for the purpose of enabling understanding of the concepts of the present invention, and are not intended to be limiting in any way to the specifically listed embodiments and conditions . It is also to be understood that the detailed description, as well as the principles, aspects and embodiments of the invention, as well as specific embodiments thereof, are intended to cover structural and functional equivalents thereof. It is also to be understood that such equivalents include all elements contemplated to perform the same function irrespective of currently known equivalents as well as equivalents to be developed in the future.

Accordingly, the functions of the various elements shown in the drawings, including the functional blocks shown in the figures or similar concepts, may be provided by use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing software in connection with appropriate software. When provided by a processor, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, a single shared processor, or a plurality of individual processors, some of which may be shared. Also, the use of terms such as processor, control, or similar concepts should not be construed as exclusive reference to hardware capable of executing software, but may include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, (ROM), random access memory (RAM), and non-volatile memory. Other hardware may also be included.

The above objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of related arts will be omitted or briefly explained when it is determined that the gist of the present invention may be unnecessarily obscured.

On the other hand, when an element is referred to as "including " an element, it does not exclude other elements unless specifically stated to the contrary.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a content sharing system 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the contents sharing system 100 according to the present embodiment may include a home gateway 110, home contents servers 120, and a contents information providing apparatus 130.

In the present embodiment, the residential content servers 120 are UPnP devices connected to a home network in the home, and include a DNLA-based user terminal capable of creating, storing, and providing contents such as a smartphone, a notebook, a desktop PC, It can be installed and implemented in the form of a server module.

The home gateway 110 is connected to the home server 120 through the home network to authenticate a user of the user terminal including the home server 120, And relays the content stored in the in-house content servers 120 when there is a request for transmission of contents stored in the in-house content servers 120 from the outside.

As a method of monitoring the information of the intra-house content servers connected to the home network at the home gateway 110, a DLNA standard SSDP message can be used.

In the present embodiment, the home gateway 110 may include a function of a Remote Access Agent (RAA) of the UPnP RA architecture.

The content information providing apparatus 130 is connected to the home gateway 110 via the Internet or other IP network and transmits information of currently available contents among contents stored in the home server 120 connected to the home gateway 110, And provides information to the user terminal 140 that can receive the content selected by the user terminal 140 from the currently available contents. The remote access management unit 131 and the content management unit 130 provide the user terminal 140 with information, (132), and the like.

The remote connection management unit 131 receives the information of the in-house content servers 120 currently connected to the home network of the in-home gateway from the in-home gateway 110 and determines whether or not the in-house gateway and the in- And provides the content management unit 132 with the presence information.

For example, the remote access management unit 131 receives change information from the home gateway 110 whenever the network address of the home gateway 110 and the information of the currently operating in-house content servers are changed, It is possible to generate the presence information in real time on a basis.

The remote access management unit 131 in this embodiment may include a function of a Remote Access Server (RAS) of the UPnP RA architecture.

Based on the presence information provided from the remote connection management unit 131, the content management unit 132 selects the content that can be provided from the currently active in-home content server, and provides the selected user terminal 140 with information on the provided content.

The contents management unit 132 stores the metadata information of contents that can be provided by each of the in-house contents servers 131 in advance in order to provide the information of the contents, that is, the metadata information of the contents to the user terminal (Not shown).

Here, the metadata information includes a place where the content is stored so that the user can download the specific content selected by the user, information identifying the content, for example, identification information of the in-house content server storing the content, Identification information of the home gateway, identification information of the content, and the like.

The content management unit 132 provides the user of the user terminal 140 with information on the in-home gateway corresponding to the selected content, from among the selectable contents.

By providing the information of the home gateway corresponding to the content selected by the user, the user terminal can receive the selected content through the home gateway.

In the present embodiment, the user terminal uses the DLNA specification (ID or address) based on the identification information (ID or address) of the home gateway corresponding to the content selected from the information provided through the content management unit 132, It is assumed that the content selected from the home gateway is provided by using the remote access function of the home gateway. However, this is only one embodiment. In the present invention, It does not limit the process.

The content information providing apparatus 130 shown in FIG. 1 includes only one remote connection management unit 131, but is for the sake of convenience of description. The content information providing apparatus 130 may include two or more remote connection management units 131 have.

In addition, the contents information providing apparatus 130 according to the present embodiment may further include a GIS module 133.

The GIS module 133 generates location information of contents in accordance with a result of mapping the network address of the home gateway and pre-stored GIS data in providing the user terminal with the information of the contents that can be provided by the currently- , And can provide it to the user terminal. In addition, location information of such contents may be displayed and provided in the form of an electronic map.

In addition, the contents information providing apparatus 130 according to the present embodiment is provided with a web interface (not shown) to which a user can directly access, and receives a user's selection through a web interface rather than a separate user terminal, However, the present invention is not limited thereto.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing content information in a content information providing apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The content information providing method according to the present embodiment can be performed in the content information providing apparatus 130 shown in FIG. Therefore, in the following, the same items as those in the description of the contents information providing apparatus 130 shown in Fig. 1 are referred to.

Referring to FIG. 2, the home gateway receives information of the home contents servers connected to the home network of the home gateway (S201).

In step S201, presence information including whether the home gateway and the home contents servers are currently activated is generated based on the information received from the home gateway (S202).

In step S201, the home gateway receives the changed information every time the network address of the home gateway and some of the in-house contents servers currently being operated are changed. The presence information is generated in real time based on the information received in step S201 .

And provides information on contents that can be provided by the currently-active in-house content server based on the presence information generated in step S202 (S203).

Then, a request for the content selected by the user is received from the available contents (S204).

In step S205, information of the home gateway corresponding to the requested content is provided (S205), thereby allowing the user to receive the requested content through the home gateway through the user terminal or the web interface.

3 is a diagram illustrating a process of uploading content by a user terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The home gateway 310, the remote access management server 320 and the content management server 330 according to the present embodiment are connected to the home gateway 110, the remote access management unit 131 and the content management unit 132 shown in FIG. 1 Respectively. Hereinafter, the same matters as those in the description of the content sharing system 100 shown in Fig. 1 will be referred to.

First, the home gateway 310 of the home network accesses the remote access management server 320 via the Internet, and performs a login process of receiving user authentication through the user ID and password of the home gateway 310 (S301).

The home gateway that has completed the user authentication in step S301 recognizes the DLNA compatible content server in the home currently connected through the home network and transmits the information and the network address of the home gateway itself to the remote access management server 320 S302).

In step S303, the remote access management server 320 transmits the presence information of the home gateway and the lower-level DLNA compatible content servers based on the information received in step S302.

The user in the house currently accessing the home network through the personal terminal 340 can receive the metadata information of the content he / she wants to share, that is, the identification information (ID (User ID) of the in-house gateway connected to the in-house content server, identification information (local URI) of the content, and the like in the content management server 330 (S304).

At this time, the user in the house can use the CDS Browsing function of the DLNA standard in searching contents that he / she wants to share.

In addition, the user in the house can directly input a description of the basic content, a search keyword, a tag, and the like by using the metadata information of the content through the personal terminal 340.

4 is a diagram illustrating a process of reproducing contents in a user terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The home gateway 410, the remote access management server 420 and the content management server 430 according to the present embodiment are connected to the home gateway 110, the remote access management unit 131 and the content management unit 132 shown in FIG. 1 Respectively. Hereinafter, the same matters as those in the description of the content sharing system 100 shown in Fig. 1 will be referred to.

First, the home gateway 410 of the home network accesses the remote access management server 420 via the Internet, and performs a login process of receiving user authentication through the user ID and password of the home gateway 410 (S401).

The home gateway 410 that has completed the user authentication in step S401 recognizes the DLNA compliant content server in the house currently connected through the home network and transmits the information and the network address of the home gateway itself to the remote access management server 420 (S402).

At this time, the home gateway 410 can recognize the DLNA compliant content server of the currently connected home using the SSDP message of the DLNA standard. Also, it is preferable that the home gateway 410 maintains a communication session with the remote access management server 320 through the network unless the remote access function of the DLNA standard is turned off or the entire operation of the home gateway 410 is stopped .

In step S403, the remote access management server 320 generates presence information of the home gateway and the lower-level DLNA compatible content servers based on the information received in step S302, and transmits the generated presence information to the content management server 330. [

When the external user outside the home network attempts to search for or search for the content on the content management server 430 through the personal terminal (S404), the content management server 430 determines, based on the presence information received through step S403, (Step S405). In step S405, the DLNA-compliant content server in the home of the content providing house and the DLNA compatible content server in the lower house are selected and only the content stored in the DLNA compatible content server that can provide the current content among the contents previously registered by the user in the house is displayed.

The out-of-home user selects a specific content among the contents displayed in the step S405 through the personal terminal 440 and requests the content management server 430 for the specific content (S406).

In step S406, the content management server 430 stores metadata information of the content selected by the external user, for example, the user ID of the home gateway corresponding to the content, the ID of the home DLNA compatible content server in which the content is stored, Information such as URI is transmitted (S407).

The personal terminal 440 of the out-of-home user requests the network connection address of the home gateway corresponding to the content to the remote access management server 420 using the user ID information of the home gateway from the metadata information of the contents received in step S407 (408), and is provided (S409).

In step S410, the home gateway receiving the request in step S410 receives the content from the lower-level DLNA compatible content server storing the selected content, The content registered by the in-house user can be shared in the personal terminal 440 of the out-of-home user by forwarding to the user's personal terminal 440 (S411).

In this embodiment, the home DLNA compatible content server is assumed to be installed and operated in the form of a module on the home terminal of the home user connected to the home network of the home gateway, and the remote terminal It is assumed that the DLNA client module that can use the function is installed and operated. At this time, the DLNA client module may include the function of the device class of the DMP (Digital Media Player) of the DLNA standard.

According to the present invention, when a content of a home user in a home network is shared from a terminal of a home user outside the home network using the remote access function of the DLNA, the content itself to be shared is not uploaded to a separate server, It is possible to prevent unnecessary contents uploading and reduce the server management cost by sharing only the metadata information of each user terminal and to access the contents stored in each user terminal and to provide a cloud based real time content sharing service do.

The content sharing method according to the present invention can also be implemented as computer-readable codes on a computer-readable recording medium. A computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording apparatuses in which data that can be read by a computer apparatus is stored. Examples of the computer-readable recording medium include a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like, and may be implemented in the form of a carrier wave (for example, transmission over the Internet) . In addition, the computer-readable recording medium may be distributed over network-connected computer devices so that computer readable codes can be stored and executed in a distributed manner. In addition, functional programs, codes, and code segments for implementing the present invention can be easily inferred by programmers of the technical field to which the present invention belongs.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation, You will understand. Accordingly, the true scope of protection of the present invention should be determined only by the appended claims.

Claims (10)

Receiving information on home-based content servers connected to the home gateway through a home network from a home gateway connected through a network, and receiving presence information including whether or not the home gateway and the home-content servers are currently activated based on the received information A remote access management server for generating and providing; And
Providing information on contents that can be provided from the currently-active in-house content server to the user terminal based on the presence information provided from the remote access management server, and providing the user of the user terminal with information And a content management server for providing information of a gateway to the user terminal and allowing the user terminal to receive the selected content through the home gateway,
Wherein the user terminal downloads the selected content stored in the residential content server through the home gateway. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the residential content servers are provided in a user terminal connected to a home network. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the remote access management server receives the changed information every time a network address of the home gateway and information of the currently operating premises content servers are changed from the home gateway and stores the presence information on the basis of the received information And providing the content information to the content management server in real time. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the content management server includes a content database for storing metadata information of contents that can be provided by each of the in-house content servers. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the metadata information includes identification information of an in-house content server storing the content, identification information of an in-home gateway connected to the in-house content server, and identification information of the content. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the user terminal receives the selected content from the home gateway through the DLNA remote access function based on the identification information of the home gateway corresponding to the selected content and the identification information of the selected content. Information providing device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the content management server provides location information of contents determined based on a network address of a home gateway corresponding to contents that can be provided by a currently-activated home server, to the user terminal Device. An in-home server information receiving step of receiving information on in-house content servers connected to the home gateway from an in-house gateway connected through a network;
A presence information generating step of generating presence information including whether the home gateway and the home server are currently activated based on the information received from the home gateway;
Providing the user terminal with information on contents that can be provided by the currently-active in-house content server based on the presence information;
Receiving from the user terminal a request for a content selected by the user of the user terminal from among the available contents; And
Providing the user terminal with information of the home gateway corresponding to the requested content to enable the user terminal to receive the requested content through the home gateway,
Wherein the user terminal downloads the selected content stored in the residential content server through the home gateway. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the home server information receiving step includes receiving the changed information whenever the network address of the home gateway and the information of the currently operating in-house content servers are changed from the home gateway to the home gateway. / RTI > 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the presence information generating step includes generating the presence information in real time based on information received from the home gateway.

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