JPH11341040A - Service providing method and communication equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication equipment capable of providing service through networks having respective different protocols. SOLUTION: The communication equipment 103 connected to 1st and 2nd networks 104, 102 and capable of providing service from a server 105 on the 1st network 104 to a terminal equipment 101 on the 2nd network 102 collects server attribute information including service to be provided by the server 105 from the server 105, stores the collected information in a storage means, provides the attribute information stored in the storage means to an optional terminal equipment 101 on the 2nd network 102 in accordance with a protocol depending upon the 2nd network 102, and requests the service selected based on the provided attribute information to the server 105 to provide the service to the service requesting source terminal equipment 101 on the 2nd network 102.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a directory service and remote control of devices in a home network environment, for example.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as typified by the term "multimedia", digitalization of electronic devices is rapidly progressing. This trend starts first in the office environment.
Specifically, first, as hardware, introduction of personal computers, digitization of OA equipment, and networking of them are in progress. In addition, as software, the core business by the host (or being light-sized and being transferred to a personal computer, etc.), word processing,
Software such as spreadsheets, or WWW (World
We do not know where Internet applications such as d Wide Web) will continue to evolve.

[0003] This movement is also seen at home. That is, even at home, digitalization of AV equipment (DVD,
Digital VTR, digital video camera, etc.), digitization of broadcasting, or OCN (Open Computing)
The digitization has been steadily progressing in the form of Internet access and the like such as er Network).

[0004] Similar to the office environment, these waves are expected to move toward networking in the future. That is, it is said that technologies in various fields such as information, communication, and broadcasting are bundled by digitization, and mutual access is started by networking.

There are various candidates for the network technology for this purpose. For example, Ethernet has an overwhelming track record in office environments and is likely to be the leading candidate for personal computer networks at home. ATM is also a promising candidate. This is because the general trend is for the infrastructure construction side (telephone companies, CATV, etc.) to pay attention to ATM features such as high-speed, real-time, and broadband, and to build infrastructure using this technology. It is.

In addition to these candidates, recent IEEE13
94 network technologies (bus technologies) are attracting attention. It has a number of remarkable features such as high speed, real time (QOS guarantee), plug and play, etc., and especially from the AV industry, as a leading candidate for a connection method between digital AV devices, a great deal of attention from the industry Are gathering. As a result, the computer industry, such as personal computers, began to draw attention to this technology.

[0007] Initially, with the spread of digital devices for home use, interconnection of those devices will be realized by these various network technologies according to the user's preferences and demands. In this way, a digital network template is gradually born in the home.

[0008] As the next stage, there is a demand for connecting these digital networks to each other.
For example, an AV connected to a home 1394 network
This is a case where a device and a public network are interconnected to perform a cooperative operation such as video on demand.

[0009]

However, to realize this, there are the following problems. For example, IEEE
Devices connected to E1394 include 1394 compatible devices,
There are various devices such as Internet-compatible devices, and their use protocols do not always match. In particular, 139 such as AV equipment
4 compatible devices are IEEE1394AV / C, IEC61
Many support only the so-called IEEE 1394 protocol group such as 883. From these devices, it is sometimes desired to access services and contents on an interconnected network, for example, the Internet. However, in order to access them, it is necessary to access using the Internet protocol group.
Since 1394-compatible devices generally do not have the ability to interpret or process Internet protocols,
After all, services and contents on the Internet cannot be accessed from a 1394-compatible device.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a service providing method capable of providing and using a service via networks of different protocols. Another object of the present invention is to provide a communication device capable of providing services via networks of different protocols.

[0011]

Means for Solving the Problems (1) Claim 2: A communication device according to the present invention is a communication device connected to a first network (for example, the Internet) and a second network (IEEE1394 bus). A first storage unit (IEEE1212 register, service display table) for storing attribute information of the server including a service provided by the server collected from a server on the first network; Presenting means for presenting the stored attribute information to an arbitrary terminal device on the second network according to a protocol dependent on the second network (IEEE1212 register, service display table), and an attribute presented by the presenting means Providing the service selected based on the information on the first network providing the service; Service providing means for requesting the server to provide the service to a terminal device requesting the service on the second network.

According to the present invention, the first storage means (I) stores attribute information of the server including the service provided by the server collected from the server on the first network.
EEE1212 register, service display table) (for example, of the collected server attribute information, a predetermined type necessary for the terminal device on the second network to recognize the presence of the server) Is written in an IEEE1212 register, and the attribute information on the service provided by the server is written in a service display table.) The attribute information stored in the first storage means is stored in an arbitrary location on the second network. By presenting to the terminal device according to the protocol depending on the second network, the terminal device on the second network can recognize the server on the first network and the service provided by the server.

For example, when the terminal device on the second network reads the stored contents of the IEEE1212 register, the terminal device on the second network is connected to the server on the first network as if it exists on the second network. You can recognize it as if you were.

Also, by presenting the contents of the service display table in response to a request from a terminal device on the second network, the terminal device on the second network can be connected to the first device.
Service on the second network can be recognized as if it exists on the second network.

Therefore, a server connected to the first network can be remotely operated (for example, a request to provide a service and use of the service) from a terminal device on the second network.

(2) Claim 3: In the communication device according to the present invention, the service providing means may be a terminal device on the second network which depends on the second network.
394 protocol group), a request for providing a service selected based on the attribute information presented by the presenting means is received, and the attribute information of the server providing the service stored in the first storage means (for example, service display) The request is transmitted to a server on the first network based on an Internet protocol group applied to the server stored in the table).

According to the present invention, as the first storage means,
For example, a request from a terminal device on the second network is received by referring to a table storing attribute information on services, such as a service display table, and the request is sent to the server on the first network. Can be transmitted using a receivable protocol.

That is, the communication device of the present invention functions as a so-called proxy server, and remotely controls a server connected to the first network from a terminal device on the second network (for example, providing a service). Request and use of the service).

(3) Claim 4: In the communication device according to the present invention, the service provided from the server on the first network and the content related to the provision of the service are transmitted to the terminal device on the second network. A second storage unit (gateway processing table) for storing a correspondence relationship with a conversion process required for transmission (for example, a conversion process of an encoding method), wherein the service providing unit is configured to provide the service; When receiving content related to the provision of the service from a server on the first network according to a protocol that depends on the first network, a conversion process derived from the correspondence stored in the second storage unit is performed on the content. And transmitting the service request to the terminal device in accordance with the protocol dependent on the second network. It is characterized by.

According to the present invention, as the second storage means,
An encoding method of the content related to the provision of the requested service transmitted from the server on the first network by referring to a table storing attribute information on the data packet to be received, such as a gateway processing table, for example. Etc. can be converted to be compatible with the terminal device of the service request source on the second network. Therefore, even when the terminal device on the second network cannot receive the user data transmitted from the server on the first network as it is, the format conversion by the communication device of the present invention is possible. By performing the conversion of the coding method and the encoding method, the terminal device on the second network can be made receivable.

That is, the communication device of the present invention functions as a so-called proxy server, and remotely controls a server connected to the first network from a terminal device on the second network (for example, providing a service). Request and
Use of the service).

(4) Claim 5: The communication device of the present invention is
Furthermore, by providing a third storage means (access server index table) in which access information necessary for accessing a server on the first network is stored in advance, a server on the first network can be accessed. The access destination and the access method when collecting the attribute information of the server including the service provided by the server can be easily determined.

(5) Claim 6: More preferably, the presenting means is provided in the collected attribute information of the server.
The terminal device on the second network can be used (that is, for example, when a content encoding method for providing a service is applied to a terminal device connected to the second network using the service). If the communication apparatus of the present invention has a conversion processing function that is the same as the encoding method used or that is to be performed so as to be compatible with the terminal device), only the attribute information on the service is presented. Thus, the use of the service presented by the presentation means can be guaranteed to the terminal device on the second network.

(6) A service providing method according to the present invention is a service providing method for providing a service from a server on a first network to a terminal device on a second network. The attribute information of the server including the service provided by the server is collected and stored in the storage unit, and the attribute information stored in the storage unit is transferred to an arbitrary terminal device on the second network to the second network. And presents the selected service based on the presented attribute information to a server on the first network that provides the service, and provides the service on the second network. The service is provided to a terminal device that has requested the service.

According to the present invention, a storage means (IEEE) for storing attribute information of a server including services provided by the server collected from the server on the first network.
1212 register, service display table) (for example, among the collected attribute information of the server, a predetermined type required for the terminal device on the second network to recognize the presence of the server) Is written in an IEEE1212 register, and the attribute information on the service provided by the server is written in a service display table.) The attribute information stored in the storage means is sent to an arbitrary terminal device on the second network. By presenting according to the protocol dependent on the second network, the terminal device on the second network can
Server on the network and the service provided by the server can be recognized.

For example, when the terminal device on the second network reads the stored contents of the IEEE1212 register, the terminal device on the second network is connected to the server on the first network as if it exists on the second network. You can recognize it as if you were.

Also, by presenting the contents of the service display table in response to a request from the terminal device on the second network, the terminal device on the second network can
Service on the second network can be recognized as if it exists on the second network.

Therefore, the server connected to the first network can be remotely operated (for example, a request to provide a service and use of the service) from a terminal device on the second network.

[0029]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a network according to an embodiment of the present invention. A home network (IEEE 1394 bus) 102 of a certain home
Are connected to the Internet 104, which is a public network, via the connection device 103.

An AV viewing apparatus (terminal apparatus) 101 is connected to the IEEE 1394 bus 102. A video server 105 is connected to the Internet 104. Of course, various terminal devices may be connected to the IEEE 1394 bus 102 and the Internet 104.

In FIG. 1, a connection device 103 and a video server 105 are Internet nodes, that is, nodes having IP addresses and capable of performing IP communication. On the other hand, the AV viewing apparatus 101 does not have an IP communication function. The AV viewing device is IEEE1394 compatible A
V (Audio / Video) node, IEEE
1394AV / C protocol, which is a 1394 protocol group, IEC61883, HAVI (Home Audio
io Visual Interoperabilit
y: a protocol function such as software standard for AV equipment on IEEE1394). The connection device 103
For the IEEE 1394 bus 102,
In addition to the P communication function, it has a function of communicating with these IEEE 1394 protocol groups.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the internal configuration of the connection device 103. As shown in FIG.
Is the IEEE 1394 bus 102 and the Internet 10
In order to connect to the IEEE 1394, the interface with IEEE 1394, ie, the IEEE that controls the interfaces of the physical layer, link layer, and transaction layer of IEEE 1394
E1394 interface unit 201, IEEE1212
An IEEE 1212 register 202 conforming to the IEEE standard, an Internet interface unit 208 for controlling a physical interface with the Internet, and an Internet processing unit 207 for transmitting and receiving packets (IP packets) and routing processing on the Internet.
An E1394 service / device recognition unit 203, format conversion unit 204, service display table 209, access server index table 210, gateway processing table 211, and control unit 205 are provided.

IEEE 1394 interface unit 201
Further include, for example, the IEC61883 (standard for transfer of contents and commands in audio / video (AV) contents data transfer) protocol, AV / C
It controls a group of IEEE 1394 protocols such as protocols and HAVI.

IEEE 1394 service / device recognition unit 2
03 is for recognizing the attribute of each device connected to the IEEE 1394 bus 102.
When the IEEE 1394 interface unit 201
IEEE of each terminal device connected to the 394 bus 102
The attribute information of the terminal device written in advance in the E1212 register (for example, the vendor and serial number of the terminal device, the device name, the product name, the attribute of the service provided by the device (for example, if the AV viewing device, After reading information of a predetermined type necessary for recognizing the functions of the terminal device such as a possible content encoding method, icons, control software, etc.), the information is registered for each device. Is provided.

Access server index table 21
0 indicates an audio / video (A) to a terminal device (for example, the AV viewing device 101) connected to the IEEE 1394 bus 102 and capable of viewing audio and video, for example.
V) Attribute information of the server on the Internet 104 that provides the content (for example, the vendor and serial number of the server, device name, services provided by the server (for example, distribution of audio / video content),
Attributes of the service (eg, content title,
In order to collect the content encoding method and the like, protocols, icons, control software, and the like applied to the server, address information of the server is registered in advance.

The service display table 209 includes, among attribute information of the server collected from a server on the Internet 104 accessed with reference to the access server index table 210, attribute information on a service provided by the server (for example, In the case of a service for distributing audio / video content, it is connected to the IEEE 1394 bus 102 and the title of the content, the encoding method of the content, the protocol applied in the server, the address of the server, and the like. When the encoding scheme of the content related to the service of the terminal device (for example, the AV viewing apparatus 101) is different from the encoding scheme of the content related to the service of the apparatus on the Internet 104, the conversion method and the like are registered.

The format conversion unit 204 converts the content encoding method, for example, MPEG2, MPEG4, DV
The mutual conversion process of each format is performed.

The gateway processing table 211 indicates that among the packets received from the Internet 104,
The attribute information of a packet to be transmitted to the E1394 bus 102 is registered. For example, the Internet 104
When content is distributed from the video server 105 or the like to a terminal device (for example, the AV viewing device 101) connected to the IEEE 1394 bus 102 via the connection device 103, a packet of the content input from the Internet 104 side Identifier to identify (for example,
Destination IP address and destination port number, source IP address and source port number), IEEE 1394 bus 102
Information related to protocol conversion, etc. required for output to the side (correspondence between input protocol and output protocol, etc.)
Etc. are registered.

The control unit 205 controls the entire operation of the connection device 103.
Transmission and reception of packets to and from the 1394 bus 102 and control of reading and writing of the tables 209, 210, and 211 are performed.

Now, on the network having the configuration shown in FIG. 1, a video signal is sent from the AV viewing apparatus 101 having no IP processing function to the video server 105 connected to the Internet via the connection apparatus 103. The following describes an example of a case where transmission of content is requested and the video content is distributed. That is, the service provided by the video server 105 is distribution of video content, and the service provided by the AV viewing apparatus 101 is the use (reproduction / display) of video content as an example.

FIG. 3 shows an example in which the connection
A until the AV viewing apparatus 101 on the E1394 bus 102 recognizes the content provided by the video server 105 on the Internet 104 and has the video server 105 distribute the selected content from the content.
V-viewing device 101, connection device 103, video server 10
5 shows a sequence between five.

First, with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, a description will be given of how the AV viewing apparatus 101 recognizes contents provided from the video server 105 via the connection apparatus 103. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the connection device 103.

Step S1) The connection device 103 first obtains the attribute information of the terminal device connected to the IEEE 1394 bus 102 by using the IEEE 1394 bus 1
The IEEE 1212 register of each terminal device connected to the terminal 02 is read. This operation is started by the control unit 205 of the connection device 103 and the IEEE1394 interface unit 2
01 is a predetermined area (hereinafter simply referred to as an IEEE1212 register) of a register (hereinafter simply referred to as an IEEE1212 register) of each terminal device connected to the IEEE1394 bus 102, which is predetermined as an attribute information writing area. The location of the area is determined in advance by IEEE1.
394 is registered in the service / device recognizing unit 203, and the IEEE 1394 is referred to by referring to the registered information.
The interface unit 201 is an IEEE 1394 bus 102
To access the IEEE1212 register of each terminal device connected to the terminal device.

As shown in FIG. 10, for example, as shown in FIG. 10, the IEEE 1212 register provided in each terminal device connected to the IEEE 1394 bus 102 stores the vendor, serial number, device name, product name, and service attributes. For example, in the case of the AV viewing apparatus 101, attribute information of a predetermined type of the apparatus such as an encoding method of viewable contents, icons, control software, and the like is stored. Through this operation, the connection device 103
The AV viewing apparatus 101 is connected to the EE1394 bus 1102, and can recognize that this is a DV-only playback apparatus having, for example, a digital video (DV) decoder (step S21 in FIG. 4). The IEEE 1394 service / device recognition unit 203 performs this recognition.

When the connection device 103 recognizes that the AV viewing device 101 exists on the IEEE 1394 bus 102 (step S22 in FIG. 4), the connection device 103 is described in the access server index table 210 based on the table. The creation of the server service display table 209 is started.

Access server index table 21
“0” is a table for pooling information about which server on the Internet 104 to access for collecting content information.

Access server index table 21
An example of 0 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, in the access server index table 210, for each server to be accessed (to collect attribute information), a protocol applied to the server, an address, and an attribute of a service obtainable from the server are provided. (For example, a service type such as audio content provision or video content provision, and the encoding method of audio / video content) are registered. In the present embodiment, any audio may be coded by audio, but video is MPEG2, MPEG
4. Limited to those encoded by any of DV encoding methods.

Access server index table 21
The contents of 0 may be registered in advance at the time of supply or installation by a provider or vendor (for example, a telephone company or a CATV company) which sells and supplies the connection device 103, or may be registered by the user. There may be. Further, the information may be downloaded through a network or a broadcast network, or may be registered at any time in the form of an IC card or the like.

Step S2) Referring to the access server index table 210, a server (for example, server address "video") on the Internet 104 is referred to.
o. xyz. co. jp ”), the connection device 103 that has learned that the video content can be distributed accesses the video server 105 and converts the attribute information of the video server 105 into, for example, RTSP (Realtime).
Transport Streaming Proto
col) or the like.

For access to the video server 105, the control unit 205 referring to the access server index table 210 generates / interprets an Internet command such as RTSP.
This is performed via the Internet interface unit 208.

Among the attribute information collected from the video server 105, the attribute information on the service is registered in the service display table 209, and for example, a service display table as shown in FIG. 7 is created (step S2 in FIG. 4).
3). Further, among the attribute information collected from the video server 105, the attribute information of a predetermined type is IEEE1
Write to 212 register.

Here, with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6, the procedure of processing for creating the service display table 209 will be described. Preferably, the connection device 103 accesses the video server 105 whose service attribute matches the service attribute (encoding method or the like) of the AV viewing device 101 from the access server index table 210, and transmits a protocol such as RTSP from the video server 105. To collect the attribute information of the service (in this case, since the service provides content, the title of the content, the encoding method of the content, the broadcast time, etc.). This procedure is continued as long as there is content in the video server 105 (steps S31 to S33). Of course, the number of contents is limited beforehand, or until the search based on the condition specified in advance (for example, information filtering registered with the user's preference such as the name of the leading actor or the genre of the content as a parameter) ends. It may be performed.

The service attributes to be collected do not need to match the service attributes of the AV viewing device. That is,
For example, the encoding system of the content that can be provided from the server may be different from the encoding system of the content that can be viewed on the AV viewing device. However, in this case, there is no point in distributing the content to the AV viewing apparatus 101 as it is unless the encoding system is converted.
Since the viewing device 101 cannot decode the data, the attribute conversion function between the service attribute (encoding method, etc.) sent from the video server 105 and the service attribute of the AV viewing device 101 is provided in the connection device 103. (Step S34 to step S3).
5).

For example, video content distributed from the video server 105 is distributed by MPEG4,
If the viewing device 101 has only a DV codec, the connection device 103 needs a function of converting MPEG4 to DV. The existence of such an attribute conversion function is checked.

Here, if there is no such attribute conversion function in the connection device 103, it is meaningless to distribute the content to the AV viewing device 101. Therefore, for the AV viewing device 101, the connection device 103
Does not register the service that provides the content in the service display table 209, and eventually the service is not displayed on the AV viewing apparatus 101 side (step S36).

The service display table 209 is based on the IEEE
A plurality of terminal devices may be created for each terminal device connected to the 1394 bus 102. In other words, of the collected attribute information of the server, only the attribute information on the service that can be provided to the terminal device may be registered.

On the other hand, if the attribute conversion function is supported by the connection device 103, the attribute conversion is registered in the service display table 209 as shown in FIG. 7 (step S37). Attribute information (for example, a protocol and an address applied to the server, such as a content title and an encoding method, etc.) are registered in the service display table 209 (step S38).

The attribute conversion function is a format conversion unit 204
It is in. That is, in the format conversion unit 204, M
It has a function to perform mutual conversion between the respective formats of PEG2, MPEG4, and DV. For example, a conversion function from MPEG4 to DV can be supported here.

In step S34, if the collected service attribute matches the service attribute supported by the AV device 101, it is not necessary to perform format conversion, and the process directly proceeds to step S38 to display the service. Registration in the table 209 may be performed.

The above processing is completed for the content titles included in the distributed service attribute, or until a predetermined number of titles have been searched, or a search specified in advance (for example, the name of the leading actor or the like). (Information filtering or the like registered with the user's preference such as the genre of the content as a parameter) (step S39).

Note that the service display table creation process shown in FIG. 6 may have different criteria depending on the device to which the content is provided (for example, there are two or more AV viewing devices, and the encoding supported by these devices). If the method is different). In such a case, a service display table as shown in FIG. 7 may be created for each AV viewing device having different performance.

The service display table creation processing shown in FIG. 6 may be performed after receiving a service display request (step S5 in FIG. 3) from the AV viewing apparatus 101 described later.

Step S3) The Internet 1
The connection device 103, which has collected the attribute information of the video server 105 on the server 04, creates the service display table 209 based on the collected attribute information as described above. Is stored in an IEEE 1212 register 202, for example, as shown in FIG.
Write as shown at 0. That is, assuming that the user is the video server 105, the advertisement is sent to the AV viewing apparatus 101 on the IEEE 1394 bus 102. For the AV viewing device 101, the connection device 103 serves as a proxy server for the video server 105. That is, the AV viewing device 1
01, the connection device 103 is the video server 105
Looks like. This is because the AV viewing device 101 is an IEEE13
This is because only the 94 protocol group can be recognized, so that it is not possible to control the content provided by the Internet protocol group as it is or to have it delivered. However, in practice, the connection device 103 merely claims to be a video server in place of the video server 105, and when a video distribution request is actually received, as described later, the connection device 103 A request for video distribution is sent to 105 again.

When there are a plurality of accessed servers, each server is provided in the format as shown in FIG.
The attribute information may be written in a predetermined area of the 1212 register 202.

Now, in order to cause the AV viewing apparatus 101 to recognize that the connection apparatus 103 itself is the video server 105, the connection apparatus 103 is connected to the IEEE13.
It advertises its attributes (video server) to the IEEE 1212 register 202 on the 94 bus 102 as if it were the video server 105 (step S24 in FIG. 4).

Step S4) As a result, when the AV viewing apparatus 101 reads a predetermined area of the IEEE 1212 register 202 of the connection apparatus 103, the connection apparatus 103 is transmitted from the AV viewing apparatus 101 to the video server 105.
(Also a video server running on the IEEE 1394 protocol).

Steps S5 to S7) The AV viewing apparatus 101, which has recognized that the connection apparatus 103 is a video server, checks the contents of the "video server" in accordance with the IEEE 1394 standard.
A request for displaying a list of services may be sent to the connection device 103 using a protocol group (for example, IEEE1394AV / C) (step S25 in FIG. 4). In such a case, A in the service display table 209 of FIG.
The content of the portion corresponding to the V-viewing device 101 is
The content is distributed to the AV viewing apparatus 101 using the 94 protocol group. That is, advertisement information (for example, including a title of a content, a distribution time, and the like) related to content provided by the connection device 103 to a device (specifically, the AV viewing device 101) connected to the IEEE 1394 bus 102.
Then, the whole or a part of the contents of the service display table 209 is distributed to the AV viewing apparatus 101 (step S26 in FIG. 4). The protocol for distributing the contents of the service display table 209 is IEEE1394.
A protocol for content distribution or file attribute distribution prepared in the AV / C protocol may be used.

In the AV viewing apparatus 101, the distributed advertisement information is displayed on, for example, a GUI display screen.
The user may be able to select the content of a desired title via the I display screen.

The above is a description up to the point where the AV viewing apparatus 101 recognizes the content of the video server 105.
Next, referring to FIG. 3 and FIG.
The processing operation when distributing the content of the title selected by the user from will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the distribution processing operation of the connection device 103.

Step S 8) The user of the AV viewing apparatus 101 determines from the advertisement information distributed from the connection apparatus 103
Select the content of the title you want to see and request distribution of that content. Here, it is assumed that the title selected by the user is “α”. Around this time, the AV viewing apparatus 101 may secure a synchronization channel on the IEEE 1394 bus 102 used for content distribution of the title α, or notify the connection apparatus 103 of the channel number. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, the identifier of the secured channel (channel number #x), the conversion process to be performed in the connection device 103, and the like are shown in FIG.
It is registered in the gateway processing table 211.

At this point, in the AV viewing apparatus 101, the content to be distributed is to be distributed by the connection device 103, and the encoding method of the content to be distributed is D.
We expect it to be in V format. However, actually, it is assumed that this content is stored in the video server 105, and that the encoding method is MPEG4. That is, the connection device 103 is a proxy server for video distribution for the AV viewing device 101, and the AV viewing device 101 does not recognize this. Also, the distribution request of the content of the title α is IE
It is assumed that the process is performed using the EE1394 protocol group (step S41 in FIG. 8).

Upon receiving the program distribution request from the AV viewing apparatus 101, the connection apparatus 103 refers to the service display table 209 in FIG.
5 (address "video.xyz.co.jp"), and the encoding method of the distributed content is MPE.
Since the content is G4, it recognizes that the content needs to be subjected to protocol conversion from MPEG4 to DV at the time of distribution to the AV viewing apparatus 101 (step S4 in FIG. 8).
2). Therefore, here, MPEG4 /
The DV conversion function, that is, the MPEG4 / DV conversion function of the format conversion unit 204 is activated.

Step S9) Next, the connection device 103
To the video server 105 on the Internet 104 side
The distribution request of the content of the title α requested by the user is transmitted (step S43 in FIG. 8). As the protocol at this time, for example, RTSP of IETF may be used.

By performing the above processing, the contents from the video server 105 as shown in FIG.
The gateway processing table for distribution to the viewing device 101 is completed (step S44 in FIG. 8).

In the gateway processing table of FIG. 9, attribute information (for example, input protocol,
Input identifier, conversion process, output protocol, output identifier)
Is registered. That is, “Internet” is used as the input protocol, and the destination IP address and the destination port number (TCP or U
DP), a transmission source IP address, and a transmission source port number. The encoding method of the content distributed from the video server 105 is MPEG4.
Since the attribute of the AV viewing apparatus 101 is DV, the conversion processing to be performed on the distributed content is "M
Conversion from PEG4 to DV ". “IEEE 1394 protocol” is used as an output protocol of a packet output from the connection device 103 to the AV viewing device 101.
01, the identifier of the channel previously reserved between # 01 and (#x)
Are registered as output identifiers.

Step S10) Upon receiving the content distribution request, the video server 105 sends the designated title α
Of content. The video server 105
From the connection device 103 in the form of MPEG4 over IP.
The content is distributed (step S4 in FIG. 8).
5).

Step S11) Receiving this, the connection device 103 refers to the gateway processing table 211 and finds out, based on the input identifier (the combination of the IP address and the port number), the content of the title α previously requested for distribution in step S9. Then, the format conversion unit 204 converts the received data into the DV format. In the format conversion unit 204, the I
Extract MPEG4 stream from P packet,
After performing PEG4 decoding, re-encoding is performed by DV (step S46 in FIG. 8).

Step S12) Finally, the connection device 10
3 is transmitted through the previously reserved synchronization channel #x or the like.
The content called the title α is distributed to the AV viewing apparatus 101 by a DV format video transfer method defined by the EE1394 protocol group, for example, a transfer method according to IEC61883 (step S47 in FIG. 8).

Here, the AV viewing apparatus 101 does not recognize that the content called the title α has been distributed from the video server 105, but recognizes that the content has been distributed in the DV format directly from the connection apparatus 103. ing.

If the distribution from the video server 105 is a fee, when the advertisement information of the content is presented to the AV viewing apparatus 101 in step S7, it is notified that the distribution of the content is a fee. It is desirable to notify (user of) 101 in advance.

In the present embodiment, the notification of the service attribute from or to another terminal on IEEE 1394 has been described as being carried out through the IEEE 1212 register. The following method is conceivable.

In the above description, the connection device 103 connects to the Internet and the IEEE 1394 bus, and provides services provided by the server on the Internet to the IEEE 1394 bus.
Although provided to the terminal device on the bus, the network connected by the connection device 103 is not limited to this case.

For example, in the network configuration of FIG. 1, the Internet 104 is connected to the first network 10
4. When the IEEE 1394 bus 102 is generalized to the second network 102, the connection device 103 provides the service of the server on the first network 104 to the terminal device on the second network 102.

FIG. 11 shows a general configuration example of the connection device 103. The connection device 103 is roughly divided into an interface unit of a first network (a first network IF).
Unit) 301, a second network interface unit (second network IF unit) 301, a format conversion unit 204, a service display table 209, a gateway processing table 211, and a control unit 205.

The first network IF unit 301 has an existing configuration and functions necessary for communication on the first network 104. This corresponds to the Internet processing unit 207 and the Internet interface unit 208 in the above embodiment.

[0086] The second network IF unit 302 has an existing configuration and functions necessary for communication on the second network. IEEE 139 in the above embodiment
4 interface unit 210, IEEE1212 register 202, and IEEE1394 service device recognition unit 203.

A characteristic part of the second network IF unit 302 according to the present invention is that attribute information of a server (service providing apparatus) on the first network 104 collected by the first network IF unit 301 is included in the attribute information. A service provided from a server on the first network 104 is presented to the second network 102 (like a so-called proxy server) based on the service display table 209 created on the basis of the service display table 209. As means for this, in the above embodiment, the IEEE1212 register 2201 and the IEEE1
This means that the 394 service device recognition unit 203 is used.

In the service display table 209, the attribute information of the server including the service provided by the server collected from the server on the first network 104 is registered. In the gateway processing table 211, the service provided from the server on the first network 104 (for example, an identifier of a packet including the content related to the provision of the service) and the content related to the provision of the service are stored in the second. And a correspondence relationship with a conversion process required for transmission to a terminal device on the network 102 of the user.
The format conversion unit 204 executes a conversion process registered in the gateway processing table 211.

[0089]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to easily provide and use services through networks of different protocols.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an internal configuration of a connection device.

FIG. 3 shows that an AV viewing device on an IEEE 1394 bus recognizes contents provided by a video server on the Internet via a connection device and has the video server distribute selected contents from the contents. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing a processing procedure between the AV viewing device, the connection device, and the video server.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing operation of the connection device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an access server index table.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a service display table creation processing operation in the connection device;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a service display table.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a content distribution processing operation in the connection device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a gateway processing table.

FIG. 10 shows I written to an IEEE1212 register
The figure which showed an example of the attribute information of an IEEE1394 terminal device and a server.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a general configuration example of a connection device.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: AV connecting device, 102: IEEE 1394 bus, 103: connecting device, 104: Internet, 10
5. Video server

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04L 29/10 H04L 13/00 309Z H04N 7/173 // G06F 13/38 350

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method in which a server on a first network is connected to a second
A service providing method for providing a service to a terminal device on a network, wherein attribute information of the server including a service provided by the server is collected from a server on the first network and stored in a storage unit; Presenting the attribute information stored by the means to any terminal device on the second network according to a protocol dependent on the second network, and providing the service selected based on the presented attribute information to the service. Requesting a server on a first network that provides the service, and providing the service to a terminal device requesting the service on the second network. 2. A communication device connected to a first network and a second network, for providing a service from a server on the first network to a terminal device on the second network, A first storage unit that stores attribute information of the server including a service provided by the server collected from the server on the first network; and stores the attribute information stored in the first storage unit in the second storage unit. Presenting means for presenting to an arbitrary terminal device on a network according to a protocol dependent on the second network; and providing a service selected based on the attribute information presented by the presenting means. Requesting a server on the second network to provide the service to a terminal device requesting the service on the second network. A communication device comprising: a communication providing unit. 3. The service providing means transmits a service providing request selected from terminal devices on the second network based on attribute information presented by the presenting means in accordance with a protocol dependent on the second network. When receiving the request, the request is stored in the first storage unit based on the attribute information of the server that provides the service.
3. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein the communication device transmits the data to a server on the network. 4. Correspondence relationship between a service provided from a server on the first network and a conversion process required for transmitting content related to the provision of the service to a terminal device on the second network. And a second storage unit that stores the content related to the provision of the service from a server on the first network that provides the service according to a protocol that depends on the first network. Upon receipt, the content is subjected to a conversion process derived from the correspondence stored in the second storage means, and is transmitted to the service requesting terminal device according to a protocol dependent on the second network. 3. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein 5. The communication apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising third storage means for storing access information necessary for accessing a server on said first network in advance. 6. The server according to claim 2, wherein the presenting unit presents only attribute information relating to a service that can be used by a terminal device on the second network among the collected attribute information of the server. Communication device.