KR100577359B1 - Image transmitting method and system using PANPersonal Area Network profile - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided are a method and a system for transmitting image data using a personal area network profile. An image data transmission method and system using a personal area network profile allows an image supply device existing on a personal area network to transmit and output image data to a plurality of image output devices.

Bluetooth, personal area network, piconet, network access point, group ad hoc network, fan user

Description

Image transmitting method and system using PAN (Personal Area Network) profile}

1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional image data transmission process using RFCOMM of Bluetooth.

2 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration using a network access point or a group ad hoc network service to which the present invention is applied.

3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image output apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart of an image data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

200: network access point or group ad hoc network device

210: fan user device

The present invention relates to a method and a system for transmitting image data using a personal area network profile. More particularly, the image supply device of a personal area network transmits and outputs image data to a plurality of image output devices simultaneously. The present invention relates to a method and a system for transmitting image data using an increased personal area network profile.

A Personal Area Network (PAN) is a profile that provides data exchange between one or more Bluetooth devices, also called a piconet, and up to 8 Bluetooth devices can be connected to one piconet. It consists of 1 master and 1-7 slaves.

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless communication standard created in February 1998 by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) consisting of Ericsson, Nokia, IBM, Toshiba and Intel.

Bluetooth has all of the OSI 7 layers. The protocols used include Bluetooth Core Protocol, Cable Replacement Protocol, and Adopted Protocol. Core protocols include Baseband, Link Manager Protocol (LMP), Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol (L2CAP), and Service Discovery Protocol (SDP). Baseband is used to physically connect a wireless transceiver with a Bluetooth device. In addition, the baseband uses a frequency hopping spread spectrum scheme in which packet state data is time-divided, and serves to synchronize a hopping frequency and a clock between Bluetooth devices. The link manager protocol performs processing related to link establishment and management in the baseband, and based on these factors, it transmits and receives packets wirelessly with the remote device, establishes and manages the actual link, and communicates baseband decisions to other devices. It informs the result. The logical link control and adaptation protocol is a kind of linking with the physical link of the baseband to provide a virtual channel, or logical channel, for multiplexing / demultiplexing between the baseband and the upper layers of the logical link control and adaptation protocol. Link layer. The service discovery protocol is a protocol for exchanging information on a feature of a service between connected Bluetooth devices. The service retrieval protocol has a server-client structure, and the server device has a list of possible services and details of each service as a database. Clients can request this server to get information about the service.

Cable switching protocols include RFCOMM (Radio Frequency Communication), which emulates an RS-232 9-pin serial port.

Application protocols include PPP, TCP / UDP / IP, and Object Exchange (OBEX). PPP is a point-to-point defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). As a point protocol, it establishes one-to-one connection between Bluetooth devices in RFCOMM and is used for data transmission and reception. TCP / UDP / IP is also a protocol defined by the IETF that allows Bluetooth devices to access the Internet. Object exchange is a protocol defined for exchanging objects (data) between wireless devices by an infrared communication standard (IrDA: Infrared Data Association (IrDA)) and corresponds to a session layer (5 of OSI 7 layers).

Conventional wireless data transmission and printing methods include a basic imaging profile (BIP) and a basic printing profile (BPP) of Bluetooth. Here, the basic image profile is a file transfer profile that can exchange image data between Bluetooth devices. It is composed of six functions for image transfer and prints digital photos in Image Push and Advanced Image Printing related to the direct printing function. The image is output by supporting the Digital Print Order Format (DPOF). Here, since Advanced Image Printing provides information on output parameters, it is possible to set output of several images or several outputs of one image, but Image Push does not support this. Basic printing profile is a profile that provides protocol and process for file printing between Bluetooth devices. XHTML-print is provided by default. It is suitable for printing of documents in general web format, but not for Direct Photo Printing. Since the basic image profile and the basic printing profile operate on the RFCOMM emulated with the serial port, the basic image profile and the basic printing profile are limited to the one-to-one structure between the image supply device and the output device.

1 shows a conventional image data transmission process using RFCOMM of Bluetooth. As described above, RFCOMM is a transport layer that emulates an RS-232 9-pin serial port. In the image data transmission system using RFCOMM, when the image supply device 110 sends a job request message, the image output device 120 ) Has a one-to-one structure that responds by doing something about it.

In the case of image transmission and output using the basic image profile or the basic printing profile, after the configuration of the RFCOMM channel between the image supply apparatus 110 and the image output apparatus 120 is completed, the image supply apparatus 110 performs an image output apparatus ( Receive the function of 120). Subsequently, the image supply apparatus 110 sends an image output start message to the image output apparatus 120, and the image output apparatus 120 which receives the image output apparatus 120 makes an object exchange connection with the image supply apparatus 110. When the object exchange connection is completed, the image output device 120 transmits an image transmission request message several times, and the image supply device 110 starts transmitting image data.

Printing systems using other wireless networks include pager networks, such as Pagenet or Skytel, which are spread over 90% of the country. It is limited to a one-to-one architecture between devices, and furthermore has regional limits that can only be used in areas that support a pager network on which additional equipment or devices are installed.

An object of the present invention is to increase the efficiency of work by allowing the image supply apparatus of the personal area network to simultaneously transmit and output image data to a plurality of image output apparatuses.                         

Another object of the present invention is to enable communication between an image supply apparatus and an image output apparatus in a system provided by the present invention without the support of additional equipment or apparatus.

Still another object of the present invention is to allow an image supply device, which cannot produce and store image data, to relay image data of a slave having image data, transfer the image data to an image output device, and output the image data.

The objects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and other objects that are not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the above object, the image data transmission method using a personal area network profile according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of performing the initialization of the image supply device and the image output device in the personal area network, the image supply device is Retrieving an image output device, the image supply device receiving and storing the function of the retrieved image output device, selecting one or more image output devices when the retrieved image output device is plural, and the image supply device Transmitting image data to the retrieved one or more image output devices.

An image supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a device search unit for searching an image output device in a personal area network, a control request unit for requesting a predetermined operation from the image output device searched by the device search unit and receiving a response; A device storage unit for storing and storing detailed functions of the image output device, a state processor for receiving and processing image data transmission status messages from the image output device, and transmission / reception data and image data of the state processor, control requester, and device searcher It includes a data transmission and reception unit for relaying the wireless transmission and reception module.

An image output apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention processes an information management unit for retrieving and storing its own detailed functions, a control response unit for responding to a predetermined operation requested by the image supply apparatus, and image data received from the image supply apparatus. A data processing unit, a status retrieval unit for retrieving a reception state of the image data received from the image supply device, and notifying the state processing unit of the image supply device; And a data transceiver for relaying image data with a wireless transceiver module.

Specific details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be embodied in various different forms, and the present embodiments merely make the disclosure of the present invention complete and common knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention belongs. It is provided to fully inform the person having the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

Referring to the names to be mentioned in the present specification are as follows.

A network access point (NAP) is a device that provides a bridge, proxy, or router function between a network such as 10base-T, Group Special Mobile (GSM), and a Bluetooth network. Support. Each Bluetooth device connects to a network access point so that each device can share resources in the local area network, and can access remote resources through the network access point.

Similar to the network access point method, there is a group ad-hoc network (GN) as a method of configuring a network between Bluetooth devices supported by the personal area profile of Bluetooth. Whereas network access point methods require some device to act as an access point to form the network, a group ad hoc network is a collection of wireless devices that can share data with each other without additional hardware or infrastructure. As one group ad hoc network forms one piconet consisting of eight wireless devices.

Here, each Bluetooth device that uses a network access point or a group ad hoc network service is called a fan user (PANU). The fan user serves as a client in a network access point method and a group ad hoc network.

In network access point and group ad hoc network service, each Bluetooth device exchanges data using Bluetooth Network Encapsulation Protocol (BNEP). The Ethernet Bridge can be used to send Ethernet packets from one fan user to another fan user, and a network access point connected to an external network can also transmit Ethernet packets to an external network.

The Bluetooth network encapsulation protocol is a protocol for encapsulating data transmitted between Bluetooth devices in a format such as IEEE802.3 / Ethernet encapsulation. The data encapsulated by the Bluetooth network encapsulation protocol has a data structure in the form of IEEE802.3 / Ethernet packets, so that it can be transmitted using the TCP / IP protocol, and is a network access point and group ad hoc network service, i.e., a private area. When configuring a network using a profile, packets are sent and received using the Bluetooth network encapsulation protocol.

The protocol for exchanging objects in network access points and group ad hoc network services is located directly above TCP / IP, the transport layer, to enable communication between Bluetooth devices in the form of conversations with the server's responsive paradigm for client requests. TCP / IP provides a reliable connection-oriented service for the object exchange protocol. Bluetooth devices that provide object exchange protocols over TCP / IP can operate as either clients or servers. When operated as a server, the TCP port number is assigned to 650. If you try to specify a different number, the number exceeds 1023. Should be used. In addition, the server registers its information in a service discovery database, and a client attempting to connect to the server can retrieve it and establish a reliable connection with the server. When running as a client, the port number can be any number except 0-1023.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 illustrates a network configuration using a network access point or a group ad hoc network service among network configurations between Bluetooth devices using a personal area profile. Personal area network profiles provide a way for two or more Bluetooth devices to connect to a local or remote network or to configure an ad hoc network through a network access point. In a network configuration between Bluetooth devices using a personal area profile, each device initializes to one of a network access point method, a group ad hoc network method, and a fan user method to serve as a master or a slave. In a network configuration using a network access point or a group ad hoc network service, a fan user 210 initialized as a slave searches for a Bluetooth device 200 performing a role of a master by initializing a network access point method or a group ad hoc network method. And a network access point method or a group ad hoc network method to initialize the Bluetooth device 200 serving as a master to search for a fan user 210 serving as a slave. In order for the apparatus to configure a system for transmitting image data to a plurality of image output apparatuses, the embodiment of the present invention described below follows the latter method.

The Bluetooth device 200 serving as a master registers the existence of a service provided by itself in its service search database, and the fan user 210 serving as a slave searches its own service record. Register in the database. In order for the Bluetooth device 200 serving as the master to configure the ad hoc network with the fan user 210, the fan user 210 must disclose its fan user service record in advance. The Bluetooth device 200 serving as a master sends an inquiry to the peripheral devices and uses a search by the service discovery protocol to search for a wireless device in the vicinity providing the fan user service. If there is no Bluetooth connection with the other device in the selected device, the Bluetooth device 200 serving as a master makes a new connection with the fan user 210. Once the connection is established, the Bluetooth device 200 serving as a master creates a logical link control and adaptation protocol channel for the Bluetooth network encapsulation protocol, initializes the Bluetooth network encapsulation protocol connection, and the fan user 210 is connected to the master. New network packet type filtering is configured in accordance with the encapsulation protocol of the Bluetooth device 200 performing the role. By the above procedure, packet data in Ethernet format begins to be transmitted to each other, and the Bluetooth device 200 serving as a master plays a role of transferring Ethernet packets between connected fan users 210.

3 shows the structure of the image supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image supply device includes a state processor 310, a control requester 320, a device searcher 330, a device storage 340, a data transceiver 350, and a wireless transceiver module 370. The device search unit 330 establishes a TCP / IP and object exchange connection for exchanging related information with a neighboring wireless device, and sends a related information request message Config_Req to the neighboring wireless device to search for a device supporting image output. Sends the retrieved image output back to the supporting device, Capability_Req, to receive a detailed function supported by each image output device, stores it in the device storage unit 340, and then sends TCP / IP and an object for exchanging related information. Terminate the switched connection. The control requesting unit 320 is an ImageConnection_Req that is a TCP / IP and object exchange connection request message for transmitting image data to the image output device, a StatusConnection_Req that is a TCP / IP and object exchange connection request message for transmitting status messages, and an image data transmission confirmation message. Send a control message such as StartSendImage_Req to establish a TCP / IP and object exchange connection related to image data transmission with the image output device. TCP / IP and object exchange connections for control message exchange are performed after the image output device is selected by the user. The state processor 310 receives a transmission status message related to data transmission from the image output apparatus, and causes the data transmission to be stopped or retransmitted when an error message is received. The data transmission / reception unit 350 relays transmission / reception data and image data 360 of the state processing unit 310, the control requesting unit 320, and the device search unit 330 with the wireless transmission / reception module. The wireless transmit / receive module 370 uses a Bluetooth module in a preferred embodiment of the present invention as a part in which a physical wireless network with the image supply device is defined. However, the wireless transmit / receive module 370 may be variously implemented in other wireless network methods such as infrared communication. It should be construed as being included in the technical scope of the present invention, without being limited thereto.

Here, the image supply device includes not only a device for producing and storing image data such as a camera phone, a digital camera, a PC, but also a device for relaying such a device and an image output device. Therefore, the image data 360 may be stored in the memory of the external device as well as the memory inside the image supply device.

4 shows the structure of the image output apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. The image output device includes an information management unit 410, a data processing unit 420, a state search unit 430, a control response unit 440, a data transmission / reception unit 450, and a wireless transmission / reception module 460. Once the image output device participates as a slave of a network access point or a group ad hoc network service, the image output device stores the detailed functions supported by the information management unit 410, and stores the stored functions if the image supply device requests a supporting function. Will be sent. The data processing unit 420 processes image data received from an image supply device. If it is not a relay device, the data processing unit 420 performs a function of display, printing, and storage. If the relay device is a relay device, the data is transferred to an image processing device connected thereto. Relays and transmits. The state retrieving unit 430 retrieves the reception state of the image data transmitted from the image supply device, and transmits a status message to the state processing unit 310 of the image supply device when an error occurs. The control response unit 440 receives and responds to the message of the image supply device. When the control response unit 440 receives the information exchange message, the control response unit 440 responds to its own function stored in the information management unit 410. Establish TCP / IP and object-switched connections for The data transceiver 440 relays messages and image data of the information manager 410, the data processor 420, the state search unit 430, and the control response unit 440 with the wireless transceiver module. The wireless transmit / receive module 460 uses a Bluetooth module in a preferred embodiment of the present invention as a part in which a physical wireless network with the image supply device is defined, but this may be variously implemented in other wireless network methods such as infrared communication. It should be construed as being included in the technical scope of the present invention, without being limited thereto.

Here, the image output device includes not only a device for displaying or printing image data such as a camera phone, a digital camera, a monitor, a printer as a digital image, but also a device for relaying and transmitting image data to such a device.

5 shows a process in which an image supply apparatus communicates with an image output apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A wireless device constituting a personal area network may be initialized to one of a network access point method, a group ad hoc network method, and a fan user method. In order to construct a network in which an image supply device simultaneously transmits data to two or more image output devices, The image supply device should be initialized to one of a network access point method or a group ad hoc network method (S510) to perform a role of a master, and the image output device should be initialized to a fan user method (S560) to serve as a slave. The image supply device sends a query to a neighboring wireless device and searches for a device supporting image output by using a service search protocol (S512). If the selected device does not have a Bluetooth connection with another device, make a new connection. The image supply device and the image output device in which the network connection is established exchange parameters for respective related information. As related information, each name, ID, a manufacturing company, etc. is preferable. The image supply apparatus requests functions from the image output apparatuses, and when the image output apparatus responds to their functions (S562), it creates a list accordingly (S514). The function of the image output device preferably includes the following items for each device.

(i) Storage device: Available memory capacity

(ii) display device: resolution, image format

(iii) printing device: font, paper size, paper type, image format, whether multiple image printing is supported

(iiii) relay device: buffer size

The image supply device verifies the type of image data (S516). Here, the type of image data includes not only data about an image such as an image format, an image size, a resolution, but also data of all media that can be stored, displayed, and printed, such as font, paper size, and multiple printing.

After checking the type of the image data (S516), the image supply apparatus selects an image output apparatus that supports image data to be output from the list of stored image output apparatuses (S518). If there are multiple image output devices supporting image data to be output, multiple selection (S520) is possible, which is selected by a user, selection of a device which is reserved in advance, random selection using random number generation, algorithm It is also possible to select an output device that best matches the image data.

The image output apparatus which has transmitted its function to the image supply apparatus (S562) remains in a waiting state until there is an image output request message from the image supply apparatus (S564), and the image supply apparatus confirms an image data transmission confirmation message. If is transmitted (S522), the image data transmission request message is sent (S566). When an image data transfer acceptance message arrives from the image output apparatus, the image supply apparatus establishes TCP / IP and data exchange connection for data transmission with the image output apparatus. The image supply device determines whether it is a relay device (S524). If it is not a relay device, the image supply device starts to transmit its own data (S528), and if it is a relay device, it stores image data connected to itself. The device requests data supply (S526), relays the supplied data, and transmits (S528).

The image output apparatus starts to receive the image data (S568), and checks whether the transmitted image data is in error in the state retrieving unit 430 (S570), and if an error occurs, the state processing unit 310 of the image supply device. To be sent). The image output device receiving the image data determines whether the relay device is itself (S572), and if it is not the relay device, sends the data to the data processing unit 420 to perform operations such as display, printing, and storage (S572). S576) If it is a relay device, it relays and transmits the data to the image processing device (S574). At this time, the image supply device is continuously informed of the data transmission progress state from the image output device (S530), and upon receiving an error message from the image output device, retransmits the image data transmission confirmation message (S522) to initialize the image data transmission. The image data is transferred again. When the image output is completed, the image output apparatus sends a completion message to the image supply apparatus, and terminates the control message, the status message and the TCP / IP and the object exchange connection for image data transmission.

The transmission and response of the control message of FIG. 5 is performed at the application layer of the image supply apparatus and the image output apparatus, and is configured by a markup language such as Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). The contents may be carried in a header of an object exchange packet or a header part defined by a user.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may implement the present invention in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features thereof. I can understand that. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive.

According to the image data transmission method and system using the personal area network of the present invention as described above, there are one or more of the following effects.

First, the network configuration between the image supply device and the image output device is not limited to one-to-one, and the image supply device can simultaneously transmit and output image data to a plurality of image output devices, thereby increasing work efficiency. There is this.

Second, there is an advantage that communication can be made between devices equipped with the functions provided by the present invention without the support of additional equipment or devices.

Third, there is an advantage that the image supply device that cannot produce and store the image data can relay the image data of the slave and transmit the image data to the image output device for output.

Claims (5)

Performing initialization by an image supply apparatus and an image output apparatus in the personal area network; The image supply apparatus searching for the image output apparatus; The image supply device receiving and storing a function of the retrieved image output device; Selecting one or more image output devices when the searched image output devices are plural; And And transmitting, by the image supply device, image data to the selected one or more image output devices. The method of claim 1, Performing the initialization is Performing the role of a master by initializing the image supply apparatus using a group ad hoc network method or a network access point method; Initializing the image output apparatus by a personal area network user method and serving as a slave; And And performing a TCP / IP and object exchange connection for exchanging control messages between the image supply device and the image output device. The method of claim 1, The step of transmitting the image data Performing a TCP / IP and object exchange connection for transferring image data between the image supply device and the image output device; Performing a TCP / IP and object exchange connection for transmitting a status message between the image supply device and the image output device; And Terminating the TCP / IP and object exchange connection for transmitting the image data and the status message after the image data transmission is completed. A device searching unit for searching an image output device in the personal area network; A control request unit which requests and responds to a predetermined operation from the image output device searched by the device search unit; A device storage unit for storing and storing detailed functions of the image output device; A state processing unit which receives and processes an image data reception state from the image output device; And Image supply apparatus using a personal area network profile including a data transmission and reception unit for relaying transmission and reception data and image data of the state processing unit, control request unit, and device search unit with a wireless transmission and reception module. An information management unit for searching and storing its detailed functions; A control response unit responsive to a predetermined operation received from the image supply device; A data processor for processing image data received from the image supply device; A state retrieving unit for retrieving a reception state of image data received from the image supply device and notifying the state processing unit of the image supply device; And An image output device using a personal area network profile including a data transmission / reception unit for transmitting and receiving data and image data of the information management unit, the control response unit, the data processing unit, and the state retrieval unit to the wireless transmission / reception module.

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