JP4772598B2 - Communication device and communication method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication device and a communication method for communicating with other communication devices via a network.

In recent years, televisions, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) recorders, PCs (Pers
A so-called home network is becoming widespread, in which electronic devices and information devices (such as a computer) are connected via a network and communication between these devices is possible. In the home network, for example, video content data stored in the HDD recorder can be received via the network and viewed on a television or the like in another room.

As a technique suitable for such a home network configuration, for example, UPnP (Univ
ersal Plug and Play) is known. UPnP is a technology that enables a device connected to a network to receive a service provided by each connected device without performing complicated operations. XML (Extensible Mark) can be used between connected devices.
Exchange definition files conforming to up Language) and interconnect between devices.

A known technique of a system having a client device and a server device when there are a plurality of server devices is described in Patent Document 1, for example.
JP 2002-007333 A

However, depending on the settings of the client device or the server device, the client device may not normally use the server device. There are two main reasons why the client device cannot use the server device: a case where there is a problem with the setting on the client device side, and a case where there is a problem with the setting on the server device side. For example, the setting on the client device side includes firewall settings, and the server device side includes address filtering settings. However, at this time, it is difficult for the user to grasp whether there is a problem on the client device side to view or on the server device side.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a communication device that allows a user to easily grasp a solution when there is a problem in server-side settings.

In order to achieve the above object, the communication apparatus of the present invention includes a device presence notification receiving unit that receives a device presence notification transmitted from another communication device to a device on the network without specifying a partner, and a device presence If to the other communication device that transmitted the notification, can be acquired and detailed instrument information acquiring means for sending a request for detailed instrument information, detailed device information from the other communication apparatus by the detailed instrument information acquiring means the display means for displaying information acquired by the detailed instrument information, information acquired by the device presence notification if it can not get more device information, as the information relating to the other communication device to the display device The device presence notification receiving unit and the detailed information acquiring unit communicate with the other communication device in a second communication method using a first communication method, and the display unit includes the first communication method. If in the communication system essential information to the second communication method is information not essential is not included in the detailed instrument information received from the other communication device, to display to that effect on the display device Features.
The communication method of the present invention includes a step of receiving a device presence notification transmitted by another communication device by a device presence notification receiving unit, and a detailed device information request to the other communication device that has transmitted the device presence notification. Means for transmitting a request for acquiring detailed device information, and if the display control unit can acquire detailed device information from the other communication device, the detailed device information is acquired from the information acquired by the detailed device information. If not, the information acquired by the device presence notification is displayed on the display device as information relating to the other communication device. In the receiving step, the device presence notification receiving means includes: The detailed information requesting unit uses the first communication method in the step of communicating with the other communication device in the second communication method using the first communication method and transmitting. In the step of communicating with the other communication device by the second communication method and performing the display output, the display control means is information related to the first communication method and information necessary for the second communication method. Is not included in the detailed device information received from the other communication device, the fact is displayed on the display device.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when there exists a problem in the setting by the side of a server, the communication apparatus which a user can grasp | ascertain a solution easily can be provided.

  The communication device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system in which a client device 1 according to a first embodiment of a communication apparatus of the present invention is used. The communication system 1 includes a client device 10 that views content data and server devices 30A, 30B, 30C, and 30D that store content data.
It consists of. The client device 10 and the server devices 30A to 30D are respectively T
CP (Transmission Control Protocol) / IP (Int
Internet Protocol) is connected to a network 20 through which communication is performed.

The client device 10 and the server devices 30A to 30D are devices compatible with UPnP. In UPnP, devices, services, and control points are defined as basic network configurations. A device is a device that supports UPnP, and a service is a minimum unit that represents a function provided by the device. Each device has at least one service. The control point controls and uses services that the device has. A single device can have a plurality of device functions, and a device in which a control point and a device are integrated can be considered.

Here, in the communication system 1, the client device 10 constitutes a control point, and the server devices 30A to 30D own and provide content data.
It is assumed that the device has a service as a media server defined in (1).

Here, when the user intends to view the content data stored in any of the server devices 30A to 30D using the client device 10 such as a digital television, the client device 10 has its own. A server list screen on the network 20 is displayed on the display unit (which may be output to an external display device), and the user has a function of selecting an arbitrary server device. As will be described later, at this time, the client device 10 also displays server devices that cannot be used by address filtering or the like in the device list.

Next, the configuration of the client device 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a client device 10. FIG. The client device 10 includes a control unit 11,
The storage unit 12, the communication unit 13, the display control unit 14, the display unit 15, and the operation unit 16 are configured. The control unit 11, the storage unit 12, the communication unit 13, the display control unit 14, and the operation unit 16 are connected to each other via a bus.

The control unit 11 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like, and executes a predetermined control program to control the overall operation of the client device 10. The control program executed by the control unit 11 allows the client device 10 to function as a control point and as a media renderer defined by UPnP AV. Moreover, the control part 11 can display the server list screen mentioned later which concerns on the server apparatus 30A thru | or 30D on the display part 15. FIG.

The storage unit 12 is, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a HDD (Har
d Disk Drive) and the like, and is a non-volatile storage medium. Server 3
Information described in the device presence notification received from 0A to 30D and information acquired as detailed device information are stored in the storage unit 12. Further, by storing the information in association with the UUID uniquely assigned to each device, it is possible to acquire detailed device information again even if it is deleted from the network 20 and reconnected. In addition, the service provided by the device can be recognized.

The communication unit 13 is a communication interface for communicating with the network 20 using TCP / IP, and a device presence notification (advertisement) transmitted from the server devices 30A to 30D.
The detailed device information (description response) is received by the communication unit 13. A request for acquiring detailed device information (description request) is also transmitted from the communication unit 13.

The display control unit 14 performs display control for displaying video based on content data received by the communication unit 13 on the display unit 15 under the control of the control unit 11 as a media renderer defined by UPnP AV. The display control unit 14 also displays the server list screens related to the server devices 30 </ b> A to 30 </ b> D on the network 20 on the display unit 15 under the control of the control unit 11.

The display unit 15 is, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or S
ED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter D
display) or the like, and displays an image based on a signal output from the display control unit 14. Note that the display unit 15 as a display device does not necessarily have to be built in, for example, the display control unit 1
4 may output a signal from the output terminal and output it to a display device which is an external device.

The operation unit 16 is, for example, a button or a remote control signal light receiving unit, and is an input interface for the user to input.
The client device 10 serving as a control point is set to SSDP (Simple Se
The network service provided by the server devices 30A to 30D, which are devices, is detected by the device (Discovery Protocol). A flow of processing at the time of device detection performed between the client device 10 which is a UPnP compatible device and the server devices 30A to 30D will be described with reference to FIG.

When the server devices 30A to 30D, which are devices, are added to the network, the device presence notification (advertisement) is specified to all devices on the network 20 on the same subnet in order to notify the presence of the device itself. Without being transmitted by broadcast or multicast (S301 in FIG. 3).

That is, the device presence notification (advertisement) is not transmitted to one specific device, but is transmitted to all devices on the network on the same subnet without specifying the other party. . Thus, for example, even if the server device 30A is set not to respond to the client device 10 that is the control point by MAC (Media Access Control) address filtering or the like, the client device 10 notifies the device presence from the server device 30A. (Advertisement) can be received.

The device presence notification is transmitted not only when the server devices 30A to 30D as devices are connected to the network but also from the client device 10 as a control point.
When the request is received, it is transmitted from all devices on the network 20 on the same subnet, that is, the server devices 30A to 30D. The M-SEARCH request is a command for requesting the control point to transmit a device presence notification to each device on the network.

FIG. 4 is an example of the device presence notification 40 transmitted from the server device 30 </ b> C to the client device 10.
Several lines will be described based on the example of FIG.
The line starting with LOCATION contains "http: 169.254.159.45: 3
1114 / avdevicesc. xml ". The URL is a URL when acquiring detailed device information (description) of the device. That is, the URL of the server device 30 can be known by referring to this portion.

In the line starting with CACHE-CONTROL, “max-age = 1800” is described. This is the number of seconds indicating the expiration date of the device related to the device presence notification 40. Even when a notification of deletion (bye-bye) from the network is not received from the server device 30C, if a new device presence notification is not issued from the server device for 1800 seconds (= 30 minutes) or longer, the client device as a control point 10 is a network 20
The server device 30 is interpreted as having been deleted.

The line starting with NT contains “uuid: 43d08c30-9927-11da-aea
e-0020a6509aba ". UUID (Universally
(Unique IDentifier) is a value uniquely assigned to each device. In UPnP, each device on the network is identified by a UUID. That is,
Even if the IP address changes, if the UUID is the same, the control point can recognize that it is the same device.

  In the line starting from SERVER, “Windows (registered trademark, the same applies hereinafter) XP / 01 UPnP1.0 Intel_SDK_for_UPnP_devices / 1.2” is described. In the line starting from SERVER, information such as the OS name and OS version is continuously written as a character string.

However, with the device presence notification 40 alone, the control point can be a UUID or URL.
Only information such as can be acquired. Therefore, the client device 10 requests the server device 30 to acquire detailed device information (device description) (HTTP GE).
T) is transmitted (S302 in FIG. 3). At this time, the URL to which the client device 10 transmits the acquisition request is the one described in the LOCATION line in the device presence notification 40 in FIG.

Details of device details (device description) are omitted here,
For example, manufacturer information such as a manufacturing serial number and manufacturer name, a list of services provided by the device, and the like are described. Only when the device detailed information response (description response) is received, the client device 1 can recognize what service the server device 30 provides (S303).

However, when the server device 30 is set so as not to return a response to the client device 10 by address filtering based on the MAC address or the like, the client device 10 provides details to the server device 30. Even if the device information acquisition request is transmitted (S302), the server device 30 does not return the device detailed information for the request. For this reason, the client device 10 can receive the device presence notification 40 of the server device 30 but cannot acquire detailed device information.

Here, address filtering is a function for setting permission or denial of connection of a specific device based on an address uniquely assigned to the device such as a MAC address, and is used for preventing unauthorized access. It is what is done. In a server device that performs address filtering, for example, if the MAC address is set as a registration permission system and the MAC address of the client device is not permitted, a response to the request is not returned to the device, or an error code Has been implemented such as returning. By performing address filtering, it becomes possible for the user to construct an environment in which content data is distributed only to permitted client devices, such as in the home.

The processing flow of the client device 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
4 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of the client device 10. It is assumed that the client device 10 is not yet connected to the network 20 at the start of this flowchart.

The client device 10 first determines whether or not it is connected to the network 20 (S
401). If it is not connected to the network 20 (No in S401), it waits for connection to the network 20.

When the client device 10 is connected to the network 20, the client device 10 that is a control point transmits an M-SEARCH request (S402). M-SEA
As described above, the RCH request is a command for requesting each device on the network 20 to transmit a device presence notification (advertisement).

After transmitting M-SEARCH, the client device 10 receives device presence notifications from the server devices 30A to 30D that are devices on the network 20 (S403). Further, one server device is selected from the server devices that have received the device presence notification (S404), and a detailed device information acquisition request (description request) is transmitted to the server device (S40).
5). At this time, if there is a response from the server device (Yes in S406), the acquired detailed device information (such as a list of services to be provided) and information in the device presence notification (for example, URL or SER)
VER information) is stored in the storage unit 12 (S407).

On the other hand, if there is no response from the server device to the detailed device information acquisition request (No in S406),
Since the detailed device information cannot be acquired, only the information in the device presence notification (for example, URL and SERVER information) is stored in the storage unit 12 (S408).

After storing the information related to the server device in S407 or S408, the control unit 11
Determine whether detailed device information acquisition requests have been sent to all devices that have received device presence notifications (
If there is a device that has not yet transmitted a detailed device information acquisition request (S409: N in S409)
o) The processing from S404 to S408 is repeated again for the device.

If a detailed device information acquisition request is transmitted to all server devices on the network 20 (S40).
9), the client device 10 waits for reception of a new device presence notification (S410).
. When a new device presence notification is received (that is, when a new server device is connected to the network 20, Yes in S 410), the process returns to S 404 and a detailed device information acquisition request is transmitted to the server device.

In this way, the server devices 30A to 3 which are devices existing on the network 20
After acquiring the device presence notification and the detailed device information from 0D, the control unit 11 displays the display unit 15 via the display control unit 14 on the display unit 15 as shown in FIG. The server list screen 50 can be displayed. Here, the server list screen 50 of the present embodiment is a server selection screen for allowing the user to select one server.

Hereinafter, a case where the server devices 30C and 30D have implemented address filtering processing and the client device 10 is not registered as a permitted client, that is, a case where detailed device information cannot be returned to the client device 10 will be considered. Further, the server device 30A,
30B is assumed that filtering processing is not implemented, or the client device 10 is registered as a permitted client, and detailed device information can be returned to the client device 10.

In the server list display screen 50 in the example of FIG. 6, “TOSHIBA Media” is displayed as item 1.
The icon 51 described as “Server” and “TOSHIBA Note” as item 2
The icon 52 described as “PC” and item 3 as “http: //169.254.1”
59.45: 31114 Windows XP / 01 UPnP / 1.0 ”, and item 4 is“ http://169.254.185.97:104 ”.
The icons 54 described as “80 Linux / 2.4.20-8 UPnP / 1.0” are arranged.

Here, it is assumed that the icons 51 and 52 are icons corresponding to the server devices 30A and 30B, which are server devices that have acquired detailed device information, respectively (information such as manufacturer name and model name is It is information described as detailed device information). On the other hand, the icons 53 and 54 are server devices 30C that are server devices for which detailed device information could not be acquired.
, 30D respectively.

If the detailed device information cannot be acquired, the server device cannot be used, and the server device name for display (called friendlyName, etc.) cannot be acquired. Devices that cannot be displayed are not normally displayed as server list devices. However, in this embodiment, information about these server devices is also
Icons 53 and 54 are displayed on the server list screen 50.

Further, in order to allow the user to specify which server the icons 53 and 54 correspond to, at least a URL that is LOCATION information, which is information acquired by the device presence notification 40, and SERVER information (OS information, etc.) 53 and 54. These clues allow the user to recognize which server device has the problem.

If the detailed device information cannot be acquired from the server device that has received the device presence notification, the server device is connected to at least the network 20, but there is a problem with the settings such as address filtering on the server device side. One-to-one communication is considered restricted. Therefore, in order to allow the server devices 30C and 30D to be used normally, the user reviews the access restriction settings on the server device side and performs authorized client registration so that the icon 53 and the icon 54 are displayed on the right side of the “access restriction settings on the server side”. Please review! "Error message 55 is displayed.

If there is a server device that has previously acquired detailed device information and cannot currently acquire detailed device information (hereinafter referred to as server device 30B), the example of FIG. As shown in the icon 52, the device name is displayed based on the detailed device information acquired and stored in the storage unit 12 in the past, and the device icon 51 that can be normally used is displayed.
May be displayed separately (indicated by hatching in the example of FIG. 7). Whether or not the device has acquired the detailed device information before can be determined by the UUID described in the device presence notification.

Displaying information related to detailed device information can make it easier for the user to identify which server device is displayed than displaying information that is not familiar to general users such as URLs.

As another embodiment, for example, in the device presence notification transmitted by the server device 30, identification information that can uniquely identify the device if the user views the information in the device presence notification transmitted in the server device 30 is included in the device presence notification transmitted by the server device. You may make it describe. Examples of this identification information include, for example, server device name information (friendlyName) that was previously included only in detailed device information,
A character string freely set by a user through a character input interface can be considered. FIG. 8 is an example of a device presence notification that is transmitted by the server device 30 and describes information on the server device set by the user in the device.

In the example of FIG. 8, “DVD Recorder (
Living Room) ”. Since this implementation is vendor-dependent, the description method is not limited to this. For example, “Windows XP / 01 UPnP
1.0 Intel_SDK_for_UPnP_devices / 1.2 (DVD R
economy (Living Room)) ".

FIG. 9 illustrates a server list screen 50 displayed by the client device 10 when the server device 30 is a device that transmits a device presence notification as illustrated in FIG. 8 and the client device 10 cannot acquire detailed device information. It is an example. In the example of FIG. 9, “DVD Recorder (Living Room) described in the device presence notification 40 is displayed in the icon 53.
) ”. In this way, if the character string set by the user can be displayed even on a device that cannot acquire detailed device information, the user can easily grasp which device access restriction should be reviewed.

Subsequently, another embodiment will be described.
Windows (registered trademark) compatible devices and DLNA (Digital Living)
For devices that comply with the Network Alliance guidelines, UPnP (first
In addition to this, information indicating whether or not it complies with the standard or guideline may be included. As a client device application mounting method, if UPnP detailed device information can be acquired, it can be regarded as an available server device, or used only when it shows that it complies with certain guidelines using UPnP. It can also be regarded as a possible server. In any case, simply conforming to UPnP does not guarantee that functions according to the standards and guidelines using UPnP can be provided.

Here, a device that complies with a certain guideline (second communication method) includes, for example, <abc: X_abc> in the detailed device information. The server device 30A conforms to UPnP but does not conform to the guideline, while the server device 30B conforms to the guideline using UPnP. The server device 30C and the server device 30D are devices that cannot return detailed device information due to settings such as address filtering.

The application of the client device 10 includes <abc: X_abc> in the detailed device information.
In the case of displaying only a list of devices that include a server server as an available server device, the server device 30
The detailed device information cannot be acquired from C and 30D. Furthermore, since the server device 30A is not compliant with the guideline, only the icon 52 related to the server device 30B is displayed in the list display.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, for the server device 30A that does not comply with the guideline, the error message 5 “(warning) may cause a problem!”
6 together with the server list screen 50, the user can easily grasp the situation.

The figure which shows the structure of the communication system in which the communication apparatus which concerns on Example 1 of this invention is used. The figure which shows the structure of the communication apparatus which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. The figure which shows the flow of a process when the communication apparatus which concerns on Example 1 of this invention detects a server apparatus. The figure which shows the example of the apparatus presence notification which the communication apparatus which concerns on Example 1 of this invention receives. The figure which shows the flow of a process of the communication apparatus which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. The figure which shows the example of the server list screen which the communication apparatus which concerns on Example 1 of this invention displays. The figure which shows the example of the server list screen which the communication apparatus which concerns on Example 1 of this invention displays. The figure which shows the example of the apparatus presence notification which the communication apparatus which concerns on Example 1 of this invention receives. The figure which shows the example of the server list screen which the communication apparatus which concerns on Example 1 of this invention displays. The figure which shows the example of the server list screen which the communication apparatus which concerns on Example 1 of this invention displays.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Communication system 10 ... Client apparatus 11 ... Control part 12 ... Memory | storage part 13 ... Communication part 14 ... Display control part 15 ... Display part 16 ... Operation part 20 ... Network 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D ... Server equipment 40 ... Equipment presence notification 41 ... SERVER information 50 ... Server list screen 51, 52, 53, 54 ... Icons 55, 56 ···Error message

Claims (7)

A device presence notification receiving means for receiving a device presence notification transmitted by another communication device without specifying a partner to a device on the network;
Detailed device information acquisition means for transmitting an acquisition request for detailed device information to the other communication device that has transmitted the device presence notification;
Acquires information acquired by the detailed instrument information when to get detailed device information from the other communication apparatus by the detailed instrument information acquiring section, the device presence notification if it can not get more device information Display means for displaying the information as information on the other communication device on the display device ,
The device presence notification receiving unit and the detailed information acquisition unit communicate with the other communication device in a second communication method using a first communication method,
When the detailed device information received from the other communication device does not include information that is not essential in the first communication method and is essential in the second communication method, the display means informs that effect. A communication device characterized by displaying on the display device. Said display means, said if it can not obtain detailed device information by detailed instrument information acquiring unit, wherein, characterized in that displays that it is necessary to change settings of the other communication device to the display device Item 1. A communication device according to item 1. The device presence notification receiving unit and the detailed information acquiring unit communicate with the other communication device by UPnP,
If the detailed device information acquisition unit fails to acquire detailed device information from the other communication device, the display unit displays a URL included in the device presence notification received from the other communication device. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication device is displayed. A device presence notification receiving means for receiving a device presence notification transmitted by another communication device;
Detailed device information requesting means for transmitting an acquisition request for detailed device information to the other communication device that has transmitted the device presence notification;
If the detailed device information can be acquired from the other communication device, the information acquired by the detailed device information is acquired.If the detailed device information cannot be acquired, the information acquired by the device presence notification is displayed on the display device. Display control means for displaying and outputting as information relating to other communication devices,
The device presence notification receiving unit and the detailed information requesting unit communicate with the other communication device in a second communication method using a first communication method,
The display control means, when the information related to the first communication method and the information necessary for the second communication method is not included in the detailed device information received from the other communication device, the display device to display communication equipment <br/> you and outputs.   If the detailed device information cannot be acquired by the detailed device information requesting unit, the display control unit displays on the display device that the setting of the other communication device needs to be changed.
The communication device according to claim 4.   The device presence notification receiving unit and the detailed information requesting unit communicate with the other communication device by UPnP,
  The display control unit displays the URL included in the device presence notification received from the other communication device when the detailed device information acquisition by the detailed device information request unit fails from the other communication device. Display output on equipment
The communication device according to claim 4.   A device presence notification receiving unit receiving a device presence notification transmitted by another communication device; and
  The detailed device information requesting unit transmits a detailed device information acquisition request to the other communication device that has transmitted the device presence notification; and
  If the display control unit can acquire detailed device information from the other communication device, the information acquired from the detailed device information is obtained. If the detailed device information cannot be acquired, the information acquired from the device presence notification is displayed. And display and output as information relating to the other communication device on the display device,
  In the receiving step, the device presence notification receiving means communicates with the other communication device in a second communication method using the first communication method,
  In the transmitting step, the detailed information requesting unit communicates with the other communication device in the second communication method using the first communication method,
  In the display output step, the display control means includes information related to the first communication method, and information necessary for the second communication method is included in the detailed device information received from the other communication device. If there is not, display the fact on the display device.
A communication method characterized by the above.

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