Patent Application
20070220114
The present invention relates generally to Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to advanced searching features for audio/video in a UPnP environment.
This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
UPnP is one of the technical cornerstones of the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), a group which is working towards a wired and wireless interoperable network of Personal Computers (PC), Consumer Electronics (CE) and mobile devices in the home, enabling a seamless environment for sharing and growing new digital media and content services. UPnP technology defines an architecture for pervasive peer-to-peer network connectivity of intelligent appliances, wireless devices, and personal computers of all types. UPnP technology is designed to bring easy-to-use, flexible, standards-based connectivity to ad-hoc or unmanaged networks whether in the home, in a small business, public locations, or systems connected to the Internet. UPnP technology provides a distributed, open networking architecture that leverages TCP/IP and web technologies to enable seamless proximity networking, in addition to providing control and data transfer among networked devices.
The UPnP Device Architecture (UDA) is designed to support zero-configuration, “invisible” networking and automatic discovery for a breadth of device categories from a wide range of vendors. With UDA, a device can dynamically join a network, obtain an IP address, convey its capabilities, and learn about the presence and capabilities of other devices.
Current UPnP devices use a media server content directory service (CDS) to search for audio and/or video content located on a media server. However, the search features of the media server CDS are relatively limited in nature. Additionally, using the media server CDS can be very tedious for a user when searching for content such as the user's favorite music, particularly if there are several UPnP audio/video servers in the network at issue.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an improved system for searching for audio/video content in UPnP networks.
The present invention comprises a system and method for extending the search capabilities of the UPnP audio/video content directory service. According to the present invention, a user (control point) is capable of querying/searching for “favorite” lists of media from the specific media server at issue. This can be particularly useful in situations where a user is visiting a “foreign” UPnP network or media server. For example, a user may visit a friend's home. In another embodiment, a person could visit a music shop where it is possible to buy and/or download music through a proximity network. In both of these situations, the user can quickly and easily browse the favorite lists included in the respective media server, receiving rapid access to more popular or preferred audio/video items through a proximity network. The present invention could also be taken advantage of by virtually any type of handheld device with UPnP functionality.
These and other advantages and features of the invention, together with the organization and manner of operation thereof, will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like elements have like numerals throughout the several drawings described below.
The present invention comprises a system and method for extending the search capabilities of the UPnP audio/video content directory service.
The primary functionality of invention includes the ability of a UPnP AV media server CDS 130 to collect the favorite lists of the music, video, images, etc. played from that particular CDS. Additionally, the functionality includes the ability of the UPnP AV control point 100 to make searches to UPnP AV media servers 120 based on various types of favorite lists. These favorite lists may comprise, for example, “most played titles” or “most played artists” as a search criterion. The user/UPnP AV control point 100 can define the number of entries to be returned in the favorite list. For example, the user may specifically ask for the fifteen most played titles on a server or servers. Other search criteria and parameters may also be used. Furthermore, the functionality of the present invention includes the ability of the UPnP AV media server CDS 130 to reply with the required “favorite list” as queried by a UPnP AV control point 100.
In one embodiment of the present invention, two new features are added to the media server CDS 130. The first feature comprises the ability to collect various favorite lists. This is accomplished through the ability of the CDS 130 to collect media usage information. The second feature involves supporting queries/searches related to the favorite lists.
According to the present invention, favorite lists can be based upon a wide variety of criteria. These criteria include, but are not limited to, (1) counting how many times each music track, video clip, television episode or series, etc. has been played/watched (i.e., favorite tracks); (2) counting how many times tracks/clips in each music/video genre have been played (i.e., favorite genres); (3) counting how many times tracks from each compact disc (CD) or album have been played (i.e., favorite CDs); (4) counting how many times each artist's tracks have been played (i.e., favorite artists); (5) counting how many times tracks from each decade or other musical era have been played (i.e., favorite decades); (6) counting how many times movie clips that contain the same actor have been watched (i.e., favorite actors); and (7) counting how many times movie clips that are produced in a specific year have been watched (i.e., favorite years). As mentioned above, favorite lists based upon other criteria may also be used relating to date, location, individual, group, style, or other categories.
According to the present invention, the media server CDS 130 supports a UPnP advanced search functionality that returns the requested favorite list. The functionality can also be implemented into the existing search action of CDS 130 as new search criteria (i.e., a new type of search property definitions). Some of the above-defined search criteria, such as genre, are already supported by the existing UPnP CDS 130 search action definition. Such criteria could therefore be used without modification to the current specifications.
In an alternative implementation of the present invention that does not require any changes to the current CDS 130 specification, the media servers 120 create a specific favorites container and sub-containers based upon the above-identified search criteria or other criteria. In this implementation, the CDS 130 would be required to automatically maintain the containers.
A process showing an alternative embodiment of the invention is depicted in
Communication devices of the present invention may communicate using various transmission technologies including, but not limited to, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), e-mail, Instant Messaging Service (IMS), Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11, etc. A communication device may communicate using various media including, but not limited to, radio, infrared, laser, cable connection, and the like.
The present invention is described in the general context of method steps, which may be implemented in one embodiment by a program product including computer-executable instructions, such as program code, executed by computers in networked environments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executable instructions, associated data structures, and program modules represent examples of program code for executing steps of the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executable instructions or associated data structures represents examples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions described in such steps.
Software and web implementations of the present invention could be accomplished with standard programming techniques with rule based logic and other logic to accomplish the various database searching steps, correlation steps, comparison steps and decision steps. It should also be noted that the words “component” and “module,” as used herein and in the claims, is intended to encompass implementations using one or more lines of software code, and/or hardware implementations, and/or equipment for receiving manual inputs.
The foregoing description of embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise form disclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the present invention. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the present invention and its practical application to enable one skilled in the art to utilize the present invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
