Patent Application
20070241926
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to controlling devices in a home network, and more specifically, to a method of utilizing an infrared transmitter on a control point and an infrared sensor a selected network device to establish a connection between the control point and the selected network device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When more and more devices exist in the house, it is reasonable to attempt to connect all the devices. In this way, the user can easily use one controller to operate the devices. In the home network, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP™) technology is employed to link the devices. It is an open networking architecture that employs TCP/IP and other Internet technologies, such as UDP, HTTP, SSDP, SOAP, GENA, and XML, to enable a device to dynamically join a network, obtain an IP address, convey its capabilities, and learning about the presence and capabilities of other devices with zero configuration needed. Devices can subsequently communicate with each other directly, thereby further enabling peer to peer networking.
Within UPnP™, a control point is a controller capable of discovering and controlling other devices. Discovery is the first step in UPnP™ networking. When a device is added to the network, the UPnP™ discovery protocol allows that device to advertise its services to control points on the network by multicasting a number of discovery messages. While a device is removed from the network, it should, if possible, multicast a number of messages revoking its earlier announcements, effectively declaring that its services will no longer be available.
In the home network, each active device is represented by a unique name. As the number of devices increase, it is not always easy to assign the devices names that are easy to remember. The name used on the network may not make sense to the users, especially when multiple devices of the same type exist on the network. The lack of a clear naming convention may lead users to become confused when they need to control devices on the network. Therefore, users may be forced to use trial and error to find the selected device they wish to control using the control point. This method is inconvenient since it may take several tries to locate the selected device.
It is therefore an objective of the claimed invention to provide a method of controlling network devices in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.
According to an embodiment of the claimed invention, a method of controlling a plurality of network devices in a network with a control point is presented. The method includes registering the plurality of network devices with the control point through the network, providing each of the plurality of network devices with an infrared (IR) sensor, pointing an IR transmitter of the control point at a selected network device, activating the IR transmitter of the control point to emit an IR beam at the IR sensor of the selected network device, establishing a control link between the control point and the selected network device through the network in response to the IR sensor of the selected network device receiving the IR beam from the control point, and issuing a control signal from the control point to the selected network device through the network using the established control link so that the selected network device performs a specified action corresponding to the control signal.
According to another embodiment of the claimed invention, a home network system used in a network includes a plurality of network devices each comprising an infrared (IR) sensor, the network devices being connected to the network. The home network system also includes a control point for controlling the plurality of network devices, the plurality of network devices being registered with the control point through the network. The control point includes an IR transmitter for emitting an IR beam at an IR sensor of a selected network device from the plurality of network devices and a control interface for issuing a control signal to the selected network device through the network after a control link between the control point and the selected network device has been established through the network in response to the IR sensor of the selected network device receiving the IR beam from the control point. In response to receiving the control signal from the control point, the selected network device performs a specified action corresponding to the control signal.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art by allowing the user to point the control point at a device he wishes to control so that the user can quickly and easily use the control point to indicate which device has been selected.
Please refer to
The present invention is useful for aiding a user in selecting one device out of many in the home network when it is difficult to ascertain what devices correspond to names given to them on the home network. The devices 40, 60, 80 each include an IR sensor 42, 62, 82 for sensing the IR beam 28 emitted from the IR transmitter 26 of the control point 20. In addition, the devices 40, 60, 80 contain light emitting diodes (LEDs) 44, 64, 84 and speakers 46, 66, 86 for alerting a user that the corresponding IR sensor 42, 62, 82 has received the IR beam 28 from the IR transmitter 26. Other forms of indicators can also be used besides speakers and LEDs, so long as the selected device is able to alert the user to the fact that the device has been selected.
The control point 20 initially searches all the devices 40, 60, 80 that are active on the network. After discovery, the control point 20 may get information about what functions and services each device 40, 60, 80 can perform. Consider the scenario: several devices 40, 60, 80 are around the user, and the user wants to control device 60. Although each of the devices 40, 60, 80 has a corresponding name shown on the user interface 22 of the control point 20, such name doesn't make sense to the user.
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When one of the devices 40, 60, 80 is removed from the home network, it not only uses UPnP™ technology to inform the control point 20, but it can also use the corresponding LED 44, 64, 84 or speaker 46, 66, 86 to inform the user. At the same time, the user interface 22 of the control point 20 will no longer list the removed device.
In summary, the present invention provides a way to easily use the control point of a home network to select a network device. An IR transmitter is pointed at an IR sensor on the selected device to establish a control link between the control point and the selected device. Thereafter, the control point can issue commands to the selected device through the home network as usual.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
