Patent Application
20060168320
An embodiment of the invention relates to computer networks in general, and more specifically to a network topology discovery service.
In computer operations, multiple network devices, such as UPnP™ (Universal Plug and Play—UPnP Implementers Corp.) devices, may operate in a system, with the system possibly including multiple networks. In such a system, a group of two or more devices may or may not share any network connection, depending on the particular network topology.,
In a computer network, a control point may discover and desire to interact with multiple network devices. The operation of the control point may require that the network devices operate in a peer-to-peer manner and thus share a network path. For this reason, the control point may wish to determine whether a shared network path for the discovered network devices exists.
However, in a conventional operation a control point does not generally have a means for determining whether network devices are peers. A control point generally is only able to infer that certain network devices are peers if the network devices are discovered on the same network interface. If the devices are discovered on different network interfaces, the control point does not have knowledge regarding any network paths between the devices. In a conventional operation, a definitive determination of network peer status isn't available.
The invention may be best understood by referring to the following description and accompanying drawings that are used to illustrate embodiments of the invention. In the drawings:
A method and apparatus are described for network topology discovery.
In one embodiment of the invention, a controller may determine if a first device or element is a peer to a second device or element, even if the devices are on different network interfaces. In one embodiment, a controller may invoke an action on a first device to inquire whether the first device shares a network path with a second device, the first device returning a response to the controller.
In one embodiment of the invention, a first device receiving an inquiry from a controller makes a determination whether the first device shares a network path with a second device. In one embodiment, a device monitors a network to determine what other devices share network paths with the device. In one embodiment, a first device maintains variables or a map of network topology containing information regarding other devices with which the device shares network paths.
In one embodiment of the invention, a controller discovers multiple devices and determines that the devices do not share a network path. The controller utilizes virtualized representations of the devices to bridge the devices.
In one embodiment of the invention, a controller is a UPnP control point. The control point may discover one or more UPnP devices. In one embodiment of the invention, one or more of the devices contains a network topology service (which may be referred to herein as NTS) to allow discovery of network relationships. In one embodiment of the invention, a method and apparatus are provided to allow a UPnP device to determine if the device shares the same network with another UPnP device.
A UPnP control point may want to interact with two UPnP devices, with a requirement that the devices interact with each other in a peer-to-peer fashion. For example, a control point discovers two UPnP devices, with each device being located on a different network interface. At this point, the control point initially knows that the two UPnP devices were discovered on separate network cards, but does not know if the two UPnP devices have a network path between them. In one embodiment of the invention, a service that may be referred to as a UPnP network topology service (NTS) provides means to enable control points to understand the network topology of UPnP devices. UPnP devices that utilize the service enable control points to gather information regarding the network topology.
Universal plug-and-play (UPnP) is a set of computer network protocols that are promulgated by the UPnP Forum. (See Basic: 1.0, Device Definition Version 1.0 For UPnP Version 1.0, Feb. 12, 2002, and definitions for specific types of UPnP devices). UPnP is intended to enable devices to connect seamlessly and to simplify the implementation of networks. UPnP enables data communication between any two devices under the command of any control device on the network. A UPnP device may be regarded as a container of services, with a UPnP service being a unit of control in an UPnP network. A UPnP device may also include nested devices. A UPnP control point is a controller that is capable of discovering and controlling other UPnP devices.
In operation, when a device is added to a network, the UPnP discovery protocol allows that device to advertise its services to control points on the network. When a control point is added to a network, the UPnP discovery protocol allows the control point to search for devices of interest on the network. In such operations a discovery message is exchanged containing certain information regarding the device or its services. The UPnP discovery protocol is based on the simple service discovery protocol (SSDP), which defines discovery of network services on a network. SSDP defines methods for a control point to locate services on a network and for devices to announce their availability on the network.
Upon discovering a UPnP device, a control point may, among other proceses, retreive the device description and obtain a list of associated services for the device and invoke actions to control a service. Further, a control point may subscribe to a service's event source, the event service sending an event to the control point whenever the state of the service changes. After the control point has retrieved a description of a device, the control point may send actions to a service of the device. To accomplish this, the control point sends control message to the control URL for the service, as provided in the device description. Control messages are generally expressed in XML (extensible mark-up language) using the simple object access protocol (SOAP) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). (For example, SOAP Version 1.2 recommendation, Jun. 24, 2003) In response to the control message, the service may returns a action-specific value. In one embodiment, the services of a device include a service for discovery of network topology.
In one embodiment of the invention, a service includes a IsPeerIP( ) action that instructs a UPnP device to detect if a network path exists to a specified IP address. The return value is a Boolean value indicating if a path exists.
In one embodiment of the invention, a service includes a IsPeerUDN( ) action that instructs a UPnP device to send an M-SEARCH request and determine whether a specific UPnP device's unique device name (UDN) is found. When a device is attached to a UPnP network, it may issue an M-SEARCH command to find other devices connected to the network. A device that receives a M-SEARCH command passes a NOTIFY directive back to announce their availability. In one embodiment, a return value for the IsPeerUDN( ) action is a Boolean value indicating whether the device received a response from the desired device.
In one embodiment of the invention, a service includes a PeerIPs state variable for a device, the state variable listing the known IP addresses that are peers to the device. In one embodiment, if a first UPnP device receives an action containing the IP address of a second UPnP device, the first UPnP device searches the PeerIPs state variable to determine whether the second UPnP device is included as a peer. In one embodiment of the invention, a service includes a PeerUDNs state variable for a device, the state variable listing the known UDNs that are peers to the device. In one embodiment, if a first UPnP device receives an action containing the UDN of a second UPnP device, the first UPnP device searches the PeerUDNs state variable to determine whether the second UPnP device is included as a peer.
In another embodiment of the invention, a first UPnP device actively monitors the UPnP network or networks that are interfaced with the device. In one embodiment, the monitoring activity includes examining the simple service discovery protocol multicast channel for device advertisements.
In another embodiment of the invention, UPnP devices are enabled to communicate topology information to each other in a peer-to-peer manner, allowing the devices to assign identifiers to their UPnP networks. In one embodiment of the invention, each of a number of UPnP devices includes a UPnP control point that is designed to interface with the network topology service of other devices. In an embodiment of the invention, an action is defined for network assignment, which may be designated as AssignNetworkID( ). The input arguments to this action are the desired network identifier and the time that the invoking device has been on the UPnP network. In response to this action, a target device will check the specified time for the invoking device against the target device's own time or age. If the relevant target device is younger (has been attached to a network for a shorter time period) than the invoking device, the target device will use the assigned network identifier. If the target device is older than the invoking device, then the target device returns a different network identifier (that either it created or was assigned by a different peer), thereby effectively instructing the invoking device to change its network ID assignment.
In one embodiment of the invention, UPnP devices and UPnP control points may build and maintain network topology maps. In a system, UPnP devices and control points may infer information from network communications, such as source IP addresses for received SOAP actions, IP address information from SSDP traffic, or information obtained by promiscuously sniffing the IP network. Using such information, the devices may build more complete representations of network topologies. Under one embodiment, once IP addresses are discovered, the validity of each IP address are monitored continuously, thereby providing real-time information regarding the network topology.
Under an embodiment of the invention, a service can be applied along with logic for bridging network endpoints that do not have a network route. In one example, a UPnP control point with multiple network interfaces discovers two UPnP devices on separate networks, for example a device A on a first network and a device B on a second network. In this example, at least one of the devices implements a network topology system, such as device A implementing the network topology service and device B lacking such service. In this example, the control point utilizes device A's network topology service and determines that a route does not exist between Device A and Device B. Upon discovering this topology information, the control point may bridge the devices by creating a virtualized representation of each UPnP device on the other device's UPnP network, such that Device A has a route to Device B′ and Device B has a route to Device A′. Further, the bridging of non-routable UPnP endpoints can be accomplished at various network layers, such as the bridging the IP network layer instead of bridging the UPnP network layer.
In one possible example, an embodiment of the invention may include a network topology service for a UPnP-AV device. UPnP AV is built on top of UPnP and is intended to connect and control audio-visual devices. In this example, a UPnP control point may instructs a media rendering device to play a specific URI (uniform resource identifier) source, but the URI source has an IP address without a network path to the rendering device. In such example, the control point may use the NTS to determine that the path does not exist and then to establish the necessary bridge to allow the media device to play the source.
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In another example, the control point 205 can see device 2215 because both are on network A 230, and the control point 205 can see device 3220 because both are on network C 240. In an embodiment of the invention, if the control point 205 invokes a network topology service action on device 3220 and provides the IP address of device 2215, then device 3220 will inform the control point 205 that it cannot see device 2215 using a path on network A 230, the network used by the control point 205 to see device 2215. However, if the control point invokes a network topology service action on device 3220 and provides the UDN of device 2215, then device 3 will inform the control point 205 that it can see device 2215 on network B. In various embodiments of the invention, device 3220 may verify the existence of the connection with device 2215 by varying means. In another embodiment of the invention, device 3220 includes the network topology service control point 225. The inclusion of control point 225 allows device 3220, as a network entity, to detect the presence of device 2215, as another network device. In this instance, device 3220 may inform the control point 205 that a network path exists between device 2215 and device 3220 without requiring the control point 205 to provide the UDN of device 2215.
The manner in which a UPnP device determines whether a network path exists will vary according to the particular embodiment of the invention. In one embodiment, a UPnP device sends an M-SEARCH action 335 on the network. If the relevant device receives the M-SEARCH action 335, the device will return a NOTIFY response 340 to indicate that the device has received the action 335. In one embodiment a UPnP device actively monitors 345 a network 320. Monitoring may include monitoring for advertisements 350 that may be sent by the relevant device. In one embodiment, a device may include a network topology map, such as the network topology map 355 of UPnP device 1310. In one embodiment, a device may include one or more state variables regarding network topology, such as PeerIPs state variable 360 to hold the IP addresses of known peers of UPnP device 2315 and PeerUDNs state variable 365 to hold the UDNs of known peers of UPnP device 2315. The network topology map and state variables of a device may be used to maintain data regarding any of any other devices that share network paths with the device. For example, the network topology map 355 of UPnP device 1310 may contain data indicating whether a network path exists between UPnP device 1310 and UPnP device 2315. In an embodiment, UPnP device 1310 maintains the network map 355 by monitoring any network connections for the device. In another embodiment, UPnP devices exchange data to develop and maintain data regarding network paths. In such embodiment, each device may include a control point, such as control point 370 of UPnP device 1310 and control point 375 of UPnP device 2315.
The UPnP device may also contain a control point 620. Under an embodiment of the invention, the control point 620 may be utilized in conjunction with the network topology service 610. Further, the UPnP device 605 may include one or more nested devices, such as nested device 625. In one embodiment, the nested device 625 may also include a network topology service 630. The UPnP device 605 may include a memory 635, with the memory possibly including network topology data. The UPnP device includes one or more network interfaces 640 to connect the device with a network, a network interface being used to communicate with a control point or another UPnP device.
In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form.
The present invention may include various processes. The processes of the present invention may be performed by hardware components or may be embodied in machine-executable instructions, which may be used to cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processor or logic circuits programmed with the instructions to perform the processes. Alternatively, the processes may be performed by a combination of hardware and software.
Portions of the present invention may be provided as a computer program product, which may include a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which may be used to program a computer (or other electronic devices) to perform a process according to the present invention. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs (compact disk read-only memory), and magneto-optical disks, ROMs (read-only memory), RAMs (random access memory), EPROMs (erasable programmable read-only memory), EEPROMs (electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory), magnet or optical cards, flash memory, or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. Moreover, the present invention may also be downloaded as a computer program product, wherein the program may be transferred from a remote computer to a requesting computer by way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave or other propagation medium via a communication link (e.g., a modem or network connection).
Many of the methods are described in their most basic form, but processes can be added to or deleted from any of the methods and information can be added or subtracted from any of the described messages without departing from the basic scope of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many further modifications and adaptations can be made. The particular embodiments are not provided to limit the invention but to illustrate it. The scope of the present invention is not to be determined by the specific examples provided above but only by the claims below.
It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature may be included in the practice of the invention. Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the foregoing description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims are hereby expressly incorporated into this description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention.
