KR100789377B1 - Apparatus and method for providing new services in home network - Google Patents

Abstract

A new service supply device in a home network environment and a method therefor are provided to receive a service package and profile information on a new service generated from an SP(Service Provider) or a remote home server through a download site, and to download/register the received package and information in a home server, thereby offering various types of home network services regardless of a type of the home server. A control management unit(24) comprises as follows. A profile manager(246) verifies new service profile information, and stores the verified information in a DB. A user manager(242) updates service right information on each user for a newly registered service in the DB based on determined service right policies of each user. A resource manager(243) manages sharing information of home server resources used for reproducing the registered new service, and allocates the resources. A service manager(245) determines the service right policies based on user profile information of the profile information of the new service, provides the determined policies to the user manager(242), and demands the resources necessary for reproducing the new service to perform registration processing for the new service.

Description

Apparatus and method for providing new service in home network environment {Apparatus and method for providing new services in home network}

1 is an exemplary configuration diagram of a dynamic service providing system in a home network environment to which the present invention is applied;

2 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus for providing a new service in a home network environment according to the present invention;

3A to 3C are diagrams illustrating an embodiment of service profile information used in the present invention;

4A and 4B are flowcharts of an embodiment of a method for providing a new service in a home network environment according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawing

20: home server 21: service components

22: legacy component 23: service monitoring unit

24: manager component 241: GUI management unit

242: user management unit 243: resource management unit

244: distribution management unit 245: service management unit

246: Profile Manager

The present invention relates to a new service providing apparatus and method thereof in a home network environment, and more particularly, to a service provider (SP) or a home server (Remote Home Server) outside the home in a home network environment. Provides various types of home network services to users regardless of the type of home server by receiving profile information (service registration information, etc.) and service packages for new services through a download site and downloading and registering them on a home server. The present invention relates to a novel service providing apparatus in a home network environment and a method thereof.

Since the home server or setup box provided in the conventional home network environment could provide the user with only the service provided by the provider providing the home server, the service provider SP provides the user through the home server or the setup box. The services that could be made were limited.

Accordingly, when a user is provided with a service through a home terminal such as a home server, the user may upgrade a home server or apply a new service to receive a new service generated from a service provider SP. Since a new home server has to be purchased, there is a problem that causes a waste of resources.

In addition, the service provider (SP) entrusts service provision to a provider providing a user terminal such as a home server in a home network environment, in order to provide various types of services to a home network or a home server, in which case the user There is a problem in that it can not provide a service mainly.

Therefore, the service provider SP is urgently required to provide a service that the user wants and a new service that the service provider SP can provide to the user regardless of the type of home server on the home network. .

The present invention has been proposed to solve the above problems and to meet the above requirements, and includes profile information (service registration) for a new service generated from a service provider (SP) or another home server outside the home in a home network environment. New information in the home network environment to provide various types of home network services to users regardless of the type of home server by receiving information and service packages through the download site and downloading and registering them in the home server. An object thereof is to provide a service providing device and a method thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention can be understood by the following description, and will be more clearly understood by the embodiments of the present invention. It will also be appreciated that the objects and advantages of the present invention may be realized by the means and combinations thereof indicated in the claims.

The present invention for achieving the above object, An apparatus for providing a new service in a home network environment including a service component and a legacy component, the apparatus comprising: service monitoring means for downloading profile information and a service package of a detected new service; And control management means for registering the profile information and the service package of the new service and controlling the service component, the legacy component, and the service monitoring means, wherein the control management means verifies the new service profile information. Profile management means for storing in a database; User management means for updating user-specific service authority information for the newly registered service to the database based on the determined service authority policy for each user; Resource management means for managing sharing information of home server resources used to reproduce the registered new service and allocating resources; And determine a service authority policy for each user based on the user profile information of the profile information of the new service and provide the user authority to the user management means, and request the resource management means for resources necessary for reproducing the registered new service, and request the new service. Service management means for performing a registration process for the.

On the other hand, the present invention, A method of providing a new service of a home server in a home network environment, the method comprising: creating and registering profile information and a service package for a new service generated by a user in a form capable of general purpose processing; Notifying information about the registered new service to a service provider or another home server outside the home, and distributing profile information and a service package of the new service on request; Downloading profile information and a service package of the new service registered in the service provider or another home server outside the home under the control of a user when registration of a new service is detected in the service provider or another home server outside the home; Verifying validity and redundancy of the downloaded profile information of the new service and storing the profile information of the new service in a database; Determining a service permission policy for each user based on user profile information of the stored new service profile information; Updating user-specific service authority information for the new service registered on the basis of the determined service authority policy for each user in the database; Allocating resources necessary for reproducing the registered new service; And when the registration process for the new service is completed, requesting the user for new processing and updating the list for the new service.

The above objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, whereby those skilled in the art may easily implement the technical idea of the present invention. There will be. In addition, in describing the present invention, when it is determined that the detailed description of the known technology related to the present invention may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Collecting service profile information (service registration information, etc.) and service packages provided from the service provider SP in the home server and the service provider SP in the home network environment according to the present invention through the following drawings The configuration and operation of the present invention will be described through a process of registering / deleting / modifying a new service on a home server based on a process and information provided from a service provider (SP).

1 is an exemplary configuration diagram of a dynamic service providing system in a home network environment to which the present invention is applied.

As shown in FIG. 1, the dynamic service providing system in a home network environment to which the present invention is applied includes a profile of a new service provided by a service provider (SP) 10 or another home server outside the home through the home network. Downloading information (service registration information, etc.) and service packages, or registering a new service generated by a user, and the profile information (service registration information, etc.) and service package of the registered new service, the service provider (SP) 10 In-house home server 20 (hereinafter, referred to as 'home server 20') for providing to other home servers outside the home, and individual services including new services through the home server 20 or remote home It includes a service provider (SP) 10 for providing to the server (other home server outside the home).

Here, the home server 20 is a service from the service provider (SP) 10 or another home server outside the home to register a new service provided by the service provider (SP) 10 or other home server outside the home Profile information (service registration information, etc.) is downloaded, and a new service package is downloaded from a file mirror system using FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

At this time, the home server 20 may upload the profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the corresponding service by the service provider (SP) 10.

On the other hand, when a user directly registers a new service created in the home server 20, the home server 20 is a service provider (SP) 10 or home so that other home servers other than the home can play the new service. Other home servers provide profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the corresponding service, and provide a service package through FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

2 is a configuration diagram of an apparatus for providing a new service in a home network environment according to the present invention.

The apparatus for providing a new service according to the present invention can be implemented as a home server 20 on a home network, but is not limited thereto.

The new service providing apparatus to be described in FIG. 2 illustrates a software function module mounted in the home server 20.

As shown in FIG. 2, the new service providing apparatus (home server) 20 according to the present invention may include a service component for storing various types of services for each service group operating on a Java virtual machine (JVM). 21, a legacy component 22 for managing a service component written in a language such as C or C ++, a service provider 10 or a remote home server. A service monitoring unit 23 for detecting a new service generated by another home server outside the home, and managing a new service to be provided to a user, a services component 21, and a legacy component A component 22 and a manager component 24 for controlling the service monitoring unit 23.

Here, the manager component 24 may manage and control information related to providing a new service using a plurality of databases.

Hereinafter, the functions of the components of the new service providing apparatus (home server) 20 in the home network environment according to the present invention will be described in detail.

The service component 21 stores services operating on a Java virtual machine for each service group. That is, when the service component 21 registers a new service based on profile information (service registration information, etc.) for the new service, what kind of service is the new service and whether there is a similar service list, Alternatively, when registering a new service, it checks how it relates to an existing service and subdivids and groups various types of service groups provided by the home server 20 according to types of new services to process new services. .

The legacy component 22 manages a service component 21 written in a language such as C or C ++ that is not implemented in the Java language.

In addition, the service monitoring unit 23 detects whether a new service is generated in the service provider (SP) 10 or another home server outside the home.

In this case, the service monitoring unit 23 may detect (monitor) a new service in various ways. For example, a target to be periodically received from a user by using a polling method such as periodically sending / receiving a message with a service provider (SP) 10 that provides a service on the Internet and another home server outside the home. Monitor in real time whether the service provider (SP) 10 and other home servers outside the home create a new service, or the specific web server by the service provider 10 or another home server outside the home. (Web Server) is provided with information about a new service periodically updated through a web service (Web Service) to detect whether the service provider (SP) 10 or another home server other than the home creates a new service ( Monitoring).

In addition, the service monitoring unit 23 displays notification information on the detected new service on a Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the home server 20 so that the user can control the new service.

In addition, the service monitoring unit 23 downloads the detected profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the new service from the service provider (SP) 10 through a web service, or from another home server outside the home. Download directly, download the new service package from the file mirror system using FTP (File Transfer Protocol), and manage the profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the downloaded new service and the package of the new service. It registers in the component (Manager Component) 24.

In addition, the manager component 24 manages and controls a GUI manager 241 for managing and controlling menu information of an integrated graphical user interface (GUI) having a user interface function, and manages and manages information of a user who receives a service. A user manager 242 for controlling, a resource manager 243 for managing sharing information of home server resources used for reproducing the new service, and profile information (service registration information, etc.) for the new service generated by the user; And a service package in a predetermined form, and a distribution management unit for distributing the registered service profile information (service registration information, etc.) and the service package to the service provider (SP) 10 or another home server outside the home. 244 and the service monitoring unit 23 provide the profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the new service and the service package. Analyze the profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the new service received from the service management unit 245 and the service monitoring unit 23 to receive the registered service based on the registration, and update the analyzed information in the database. It includes a profile manager 246 for.

Here, the GUI manager 241 collects the name and category information of the new service registered from the service manager 245, and rights information on the service of the user who is currently provided with the service from the user manager 242 (user service rights information). ) To manage and control the menu information of the graphical user interface (GUI) to activate the service menu according to the authority.

In addition, the user manager 242 defines a service right for each user based on a service right policy for each user determined by the service manager 245 regarding which user can provide a newly registered service, and defines a user. Stores individual service authority in database. In addition, the user manager 242 grants the user access control rights of the step-by-step home server 20 according to the user-specific permission information stored in the database, and provides the step-by-step home server access control right information and the graphical user interface (GUI). Based on the code information related to the access control of the user entered through the verification of the user authority for using the home server, to control the service to provide to the user.

When the resource manager 243 needs resources of the home server 20 at the time of playing a new service, the resource manager 243 uses the resource information for the resource mode from profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the new service registered in the service manager 245. Extract the specification to obtain the information of the home server resources needed to reproduce the new service. In addition, the resource manager 243 inquires the information of the home server resource required for reproducing the acquired new service, confirms the existence and use of the corresponding home server resource, and manages whether or not the corresponding home server resource is shared.

In addition, the distribution manager 244 creates profile information (service registration information, etc.) and a service package for a new service generated by the user in a form capable of general-purpose processing such as Extensible Markup Language (XML) format, Bundle this into a registerable form and register it with yourself. In addition, the distribution manager 244 notifies the service provider (SP) 10 or another home server outside the home of the information that registered the new service generated by the user, and the profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the new service. ) Is distributed to the service provider (SP) 10 or other home server outside the home through HTTP-based Web service, and the new service package is distributed through FTP. It is distributed to a provider (SP) 10 or another home server outside the home, and provides various types of home network services to the user as well as service sharing between the homes.

In addition, the service manager 245 registers profile information (service registration information, etc.) and a service package of the new service from the service monitoring unit 23, and reviews the redundancy of the new service and the existing service based on the received service information. Create a service management database (not shown) for management. In addition, the service manager 245 extracts service category information from the profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the new service registered by the service monitoring unit 23, and provides the user of the new service profile information to provide a service for each user. Determine user rights policy based on profile information.

The profile manager 246 receives the profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the new service from the service monitoring unit 23 and analyzes it (validates the validity of the service profile and validates the detailed fields and values of the service profile). Verify and check the redundancy by querying profile information of existing services), and update the analyzed information in a database that can be recognized by the user manager 242, the resource manager 243, and the service manager 245.

At this time, the profile manager 246 registers a service control logic package to the service component 21 or the legacy component 22 to control the actual service when the new service is reproduced.

3A to 3C are diagrams illustrating an embodiment of service profile information used in the present invention.

The service profile information (service registration information, etc.) used in the present invention includes service environment information for smooth service provision. Such service profile information may be written in XML and provided in the form of a web service based on Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

As shown in FIG. 3A, 'SvcName' indicating 'the name of the service to be displayed on the GUI as a service name to be newly registered as a new service' is provided in a 'String' type.

In addition, 'SvcMenuCatalog' indicating 'the detailed group in the service component 21 in which the service package is to be installed' is provided in a 'Number' type.

In addition, 'SvcUserAuthentication' representing 'user-specific service provisioning authority' is provided in a 'Number' type.

In addition, 'SvcDualMode', which indicates whether or not a service to be newly registered is available, is provided in a Boolean type.

In addition, 'SvcUIPriority', which indicates 'priority of a user interface (UI) when supporting multiple services', is provided in a 'Number' type.

In addition, 'SvcGuiMode' indicating 'a code for multiple service modes (single, dual, dual or more)' is provided as a 'Number' type.

In addition, 'ResourceMode' representing 'specification of necessary resources when other resources are required for providing a service' is provided in a 'String' type.

In addition, 'SvcDescription' representing 'information on a service summary for providing brief service information to a user when receiving a service' is provided in a 'String' type.

In addition, 'ISPCode' indicating 'ISP provider code name for providing a service' provides information that indicates 'String' type and 'ISP provider code name for providing a service'.

As shown in FIG. 3B, 'SvcMenuCatalog' (see FIG. 3A) that designates a location where a service package of a service profile used in the present invention is stored (see FIG. 3A) is an external home server other than the home that directly registers a new service generated by a user. It provides a service code value set by the service provider (SP) 10, that is, a predetermined 'Service Catalog Code' value, and the home server 20 registers a new service with reference to the 'Service Catalog Code' value.

Such 'SvcMenuCatalog' sets 'MultiMediaSvc' related to the multimedia service to '0'.

In addition, 'SvcMenuCatalog' sets 'BroadcatingSvc' related to a broadcast service to '1'.

Also, 'SvcMenuCatalog' sets 'GameSvc' related to the game to '2'.

In addition, 'SvcMenuCatalog' sets 'ApplianceSvc' related to the home appliance control service to '3'.

Also, 'SvcMenuCatalog' sets 'ShareMediaSvc' related to the media sharing service to '4'.

Also, 'SvcMenuCatalog' sets 'IndividualSvc' related to the single mode service to '5'.

In addition, 'SvcMenuCatalog' sets 'ManagementSvc' related to the home server management function to '6'.

As shown in FIG. 3C, 'SvcUserAuthentication' (see FIG. 3A) that provides user-specific service provisioning authority information of a service profile used in the present invention is a service provider (SP) 10 or a new service created from a user. Provides a user authorization code value, that is, a 'User Authentication Code' value set from another home server other than the home where the user has registered directly. At this time, the 'User Authentication Code' manages whether to provide a new service to provide service authorization information for each user for providing a new service.

This 'SvcUserAuthentication' sets 'All_User' representing 'All available service users' to '0'.

In addition, 'SvcUserAuthentication' sets 'Child_User' representing 'Children dedicated service user' to '1'.

In addition, 'SvcUserAuthentication' sets '15_User' representing 'Service User Under 15' to '2'.

In addition, 'SvcUserAuthentication' sets '18_User' indicating 'Service User Under 18' to '3'.

4A and 4B are flowcharts illustrating an example of a method for providing a new service in a home network environment according to the present invention, in which a home server 20 on a home network is connected to a service provider (SP) 10 or an outside of a home. The process of receiving a new service provided by another home server and registering it with its home server 20 provides a new service to a user.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the service monitoring unit 23 detects a new service provided by the service provider (SP) 10 or another home server outside the home (401).

Thereafter, the service monitoring unit 23 outputs notification information on the detected new service to the graphical user interface (GUI) (402).

Subsequently, the graphical user interface (GUI) receives an input of whether to receive a new service from the user, and transmits information on whether to provide a new service to the service monitoring unit 23 (403).

In this case, the user may enter the 'SvcDescription' (see FIG. 3A) field of the notification information for the new service output through the graphical user interface (GUI) (information on the service summary for providing brief service information to the user upon receiving the service). Determine whether to receive a new service based on.

Thereafter, the service monitoring unit 23 receives permission for providing a new service from a graphical user interface (GUI), and then, from the service provider (SP) 10 or another home server outside the home through a web service. The profile information (service registration information, etc.) for the new service provided is downloaded, and the corresponding service package is downloaded from the file mirror system using FTP (404).

When the download of the profile information (service registration information, etc.) and the service package of the new service is completed, the service monitoring unit 23 transfers the downloaded profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the manager service (Manager Component) ( It passes to the profile manager 246 (24) (405).

Then, the profile manager 246 analyzes the profile information (service registration information, etc.) of the new service received from the service monitoring unit 23, stores it in the database, and when the storage is completed, returns to the service monitoring unit 23 'Ack'. 'Send a signal (406).

Thereafter, the service monitoring unit 23 transmits the new service registration control right to the service manager 245 of the manager component 24 (407).

Then, the service manager 245 performs the registration procedure for the new service registration control right, and transmits an 'Ack' signal to the service monitoring unit 23 (408), registered by the service monitoring unit 23 In operation 409, a service authorization policy for each user is determined based on the user profile information of the profile information of the new service, and the message is registered to the user manager 242.

Thereafter, the user manager 242 updates user-specific service authority information of the newly registered service in the database and transmits an 'Ack' signal to the service manager 245 (410).

When the home server resource is to be used to reproduce the new service, the service manager 245 requests the resource manager 243 to process the resource usage required for the reproduction of the new service (411).

Then, the resource manager 243 checks whether a specific hardware / software resource of the home server 20 necessary for reproducing the new service exists, and if the resource exists, verifies whether the resource can be used when reproducing the new service. In operation 412, the corresponding resource is allocated and the 'Ack' signal is transmitted to the service manager 245.

Thereafter, the service manager 245 transmits a new process request message to the graphical user interface (GUI) along with information that the service is newly registered to the GUI manager 241 of the manager component 24 (413). .

Then, the GUI manager 241 collects the name and category information of the new service registered in the service manager 245 and transmits an 'Ack' signal to the service manager 245 (414).

The GUI manager 241 updates the list of new services according to the information on the current home server user registered in the user manager 242 and outputs the list of the new services to the graphical user interface (GUI) (415).

Through the above process, the home server 20 may play a new service provided from the service provider (SP) 10 or another home server outside the home.

The home server 20 directly registers a new service generated by the home server user, and registers the profile information (service registration information, etc.) and the service package of the registered new service on behalf of another home server or a new service registration. It may be provided to the service provider (SP) 10, which will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 4B.

As shown in FIG. 4B, the distribution management unit 244 of the Manager Component 24 registers a service newly created by the home server user and registers the new service with information indicating that the new service is registered. When updating to a web server through a web service based on a web service, and receiving a detection signal for a new service transmitted from another home server or a service provider (SP) 10 outside the home (416) In step 417, the signal 'Ack' is transmitted to another home server or service provider (SP) 10 outside the home.

At this time, the distribution management unit 244 when receiving a request for profile information (service registration information, etc.) and a service package for a new service registered directly from another home server or service provider (SP) 10 outside the home, Send profile information (service registration information, etc.) for a new service requested through an HTTP-based web service to a service provider (SP) 10 or another home server outside the home, and package a new service. To the service provider (SP) 10 or another home server outside the home through the FTP.

As described above, the method of the present invention may be implemented as a program and stored in a recording medium (CD-ROM, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, etc.) in a computer-readable form. Since this process can be easily implemented by those skilled in the art will not be described in more detail.

The present invention described above is capable of various substitutions, modifications, and changes without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention for those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. It is not limited by the drawings.

 In the present invention as described above, the home server receives the profile information (service registration information, etc.) and the service package of the new service generated from the service provider (SP) or another home server outside the home through the download site. By downloading and registering in, it is possible to provide new services to users without upgrading or replacing the home server, thereby reducing the waste of resources.

In addition, the present invention has the effect that it is possible to easily provide a new service to the user by registering the profile information of the same new service to the various home server through the operation, such as adding, deleting, modifying.

Claims (10)

delete A new service providing apparatus in a home network environment including a service component and a legacy component, Service monitoring means for downloading profile information and service package of the detected new service; And A control management means for registering the profile information and the service package of the new service and controlling the service component, the legacy component and the service monitoring means, The control management means, Profile management means for verifying the new service profile information and storing it in a database; User management means for updating user-specific service authority information for the newly registered service to the database based on the determined service authority policy for each user; Resource management means for managing sharing information of home server resources used to reproduce the registered new service and allocating resources; And The service authority policy for each user is determined based on the user profile information of the profile information of the new service, provided to the user management means, and the resource management means is requested to the resource management means for resources necessary to reproduce the registered new service. Service control means for performing registration processing New service providing device in a home network environment comprising a. The method of claim 2, The control management means, Create and register profile information and service package for the new service created by the user in a form that can be processed universally, and notify the service provider or other home server other than the home that the new service is registered, and request Distribution control means for distributing new service profile information and service packages New service providing apparatus in a home network environment further comprising. delete delete The method of claim 2 or 3, Profile information of the new service, It includes the service code value set for the location where the service package is stored and the service authority for each user.It is written in XML (Extensible Markup Language) and provided in the form of HTTP-based web service. New service providing device in a home network environment, characterized in that the. delete delete In the new service providing method of the home server in a home network environment, Creating and registering profile information and a service package for a new service generated by a user in a form capable of general purpose processing; Notifying information about the registered new service to a service provider or another home server outside the home, and distributing profile information and a service package of the new service on request; Downloading profile information and a service package of the new service registered in the service provider or another home server outside the home under the control of a user when registration of a new service is detected in the service provider or another home server outside the home; Verifying validity and redundancy of the downloaded profile information of the new service and storing the profile information of the new service in a database; Determining a service permission policy for each user based on user profile information of the stored new service profile information; Updating user-specific service authority information for the new service registered on the basis of the determined service authority policy for each user in the database; Allocating resources necessary for reproducing the registered new service; And When the registration processing for the new service is completed, requesting the user to process new and updating the list for the new service. New service providing method of a home server comprising a. The method of claim 9, Profile information of the new service, Contains the service code value set for the service package and the service authority for each user, and is written in XML (Extensible Markup Language) and is based on HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). The new service providing method of the home server, characterized in that provided in the form.

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