KR100633197B1 - Method and apparatus for hiding ojbects stored in a device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for making a particular object (content and / or item) in a device such as a media server connected to a home network such as a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) network invisible. Content directory service (CDS) application in the server that stores media files, etc. does not provide information about hidden objects when browsing the object structure, and searches hidden objects when a search request is made. If included, the request verifies whether the request was made from a party authorized party and provides information about the structure containing the hidden object if the party is authorized by the party authorized party.

Home Network, Server, Object, Hidden, Search, UPnP, Hidden, CDS, Search

Description

Method and apparatus for hiding ojbects stored in a device}

1 briefly illustrates a configuration of a UPnP AV network.

2 illustrates an object structure of a media server connected to a UPnP AV network.

3 illustrates a process for selectively hiding an object according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 illustrates the process at the time of failure of user confirmation of the right authority in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

1a, 20: Media Server 1b: Media Renderer

1c, 10: Control Pointer (CP)

20a: Content Directory Service (CDS)

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for making a particular object stored in a device such as a media server connected to a home network such as a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) network invisible.

The UPnP network consists of a control point (CP) that controls the device and devices that provide services, and the CP (Control Point) discovers various devices through the interface provided (discovery, description) and control (control). And receive and process the event.

As shown in FIG. 1, an AV device connected to a UPnP network generally includes a media server 1a for providing media data and a media renderer 1b for playing the media. The media server 1a and the media renderer 1b are controlled by the CP 1c, and the media streaming 3 of the media files stored in the media server 1a is based on various known transmission protocols. It is done by

The media server 1a can view information about media files that it has through a content directory service (CDS). The information about the media file includes information such as the name, format, size, presentation time, URL, and type of the media file.

The CDS displays the objects possessed by the media server 1a in a tree structure as shown in FIG. 2 through the CP 1c. An object may have a container that may have information about another object. ) And items that are information of media files.

In the tree structure provided by the content directory service, the top-level object, that is, the root object 2a, is always represented by "0" (string) and has other child objects, that is, containers and / or items as containers. Of course, a regular container can also have other containers or items as children. And every object in a CDS is uniquely identified by its ID, which is a specific string.

In the exemplary UPnP AV network of FIG. 1, in order for the CP 1c to obtain information of a specific media file of FIG. 2, for example, Item4, firstly, a direct descendant of a predefined object ID "0" that it knows about To browse the information of the object, call the Browse action with "0" and "DirectChildren" as input variables (S1), receive the XML-based result (S2), and get the object ID of Container1 from the result, and get the object. You can call the Browse action again to get the immediate descendants of. In the same way, you can get information about Item4, which is a descendant of Container4, by calling the Browse action. Of course, during this process, the user's object selection through the CP 1c is involved.

However, it is common for the media server 1a connected to a home network such as UPnP to be shared among several users. Accordingly, since different users can store and use desired media data in the server 1a, the browsing process as described above in the case of a specific user who has the authority to manage the media server 1a as well as a specific condition In the search process, which is given by, the container containing the kind of files you want may not be visible to other general users.

Therefore, when browsing the CDS of another device such as a media server through the CP in the UPnP network, there is a need for a method of hiding a specific object so that only a user with proper authority can retrieve it.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a scheme in which when browsing a structure of objects stored in a device, a specific object is not displayed by browsing but only by an authenticated search request.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a way for a user to hide a particular object and also to display the hidden object again.

The method of making a part of the object structure invisible according to the present invention, when a search request for the object structure includes a hidden object in the search category, checks whether the request is made from a rightful person, According to the verification result, information on the structure including hidden objects is provided.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, a hidden object is an object whose 'hidden' property is set in its property information.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, when a hidden setting action including an object ID as an input variable is received, a 'hidden' property is set in the property information of the object having the object ID.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the requester of the search is not identified as a party authority, the information on the hidden object is excluded and information on the object structure that satisfies the condition of the search request is provided.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, when an unhide action including at least one hidden object as an input variable is received, the hidden property is deleted from the property information of the object.

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

3 illustrates an embodiment of hiding an object according to the present invention. 3 shows a CP 10 and a media server 20 in which the CDS 20a is implemented. The storage means (not shown) in the media server 20 stores a plurality of media files, and the CDS 20a manages the directory structure of the media files and information about the files.

Both the CP and the CDS may be implemented together in the same device or applications separately from each other as an application running in the device. For example, the CDS may be implemented in a PC storing media files, and the control application CP may be implemented in a device such as a PDA.

In the example of FIG. 3, a user having management authority first requests to hide objects, that is, a container and / or an item, to be hidden through the CP 10, and the CP 10 requests ID of each selected object. Are provided to the CDS 20a as an argument of the hidden set action SetHiddenObjectIDs () (S31), and the CDS 20a is specified by an object ID included in a variable of the action. Add hidden property to property information of each object.

Subsequently, when a browsing action of a syntax having a form such as Browse (ObjectID, BrowseFlag, Filter, ..) is requested from the CP 10, the CDS 20a may determine the object and / or its immediate descendants. Information is provided in response to a browsing action to be displayed to the user through the CP 10.

However, when responding to a browsing action requested from the user, the response message includes information of objects corresponding to the information according to the information of a filter designated as an input variable of the action, and 'hidden' is specified in the characteristic information. In the case of an object, it is not included in the response information. In other words, in the case of general browsing action, objects that were previously set as hidden by the authorized user are not displayed. To see a hidden object, the search action must include 'hidden' in its SearchCriteria. This will be described in detail.

If 'hidden' (hidden) is specified in SearchCriteria which is a variable of the search condition among the input variables of the search action ("Search (ContainerID, SearchCriteria, ..)") requested from the CP 10 (S32), the CDS 20a checks the current object structure according to the action and then checks whether the user has the right authority to view the hidden object before providing the information matching the search condition (SearchCriteria). To this end, a message for querying the authentication password of the current user is transmitted to the CP 10 (S33), and the elapsed time is measured from there.

When a password input by a user is received according to the query (S34), when the received password is compared with a password of a person who has a pre-stored management authority and matches, the response information according to the previously requested search action is provided (S34). That is, information on the objects whose 'hidden' property is set in the characteristic information is transmitted in the response message. In this case, only the information of the objects having the hidden characteristics may be provided, but information about the objects searched according to the search condition and the filter condition specified in the input variable of the search action may be provided together.

The password of the person having the management authority is set in the media server 20 through the CP at the first connection of the media server 20 to the home network or through another security server or the like.

If the received password does not match a previously stored password or as shown in FIG. 4, when the measured elapsed time exceeds a preset time limit, SearchCriteria = 'hidden of the requested search action. Respond to the search action, excluding the input variable condition of '. That is, the information on the objects for which the characteristic information is designated as hidden is excluded and the CP 10 provides a result that satisfies a search condition based on the requested object, for example, a container (S45).

If there is a response to the password request after the timeout expires (S46), the CDS 20a ignores the response password and does not take any action.

According to the method described in detail above, a user having administrative rights can hide an object, that is, a container and / or an item, that he / she wants, so that it can not be displayed during general browsing and searching of other users.

Objects set to the hidden state can be made hidden again. To do this, a user with administrative authority first browses through the CP 10 the objects of the 'hidden' property according to the method described above, and then requests the unhiding by designating one or more of the displayed hidden objects. . Then, the CP 10 requests the CDS 20a for the object unhidden action, for example, "DestroyHiddenObjectIDs ()" (S36), and the CDS 20a is included in the input variable of the action. The hidden property included in the property information of the object having the object ID is deleted.

When the release action is received after searching for hidden objects by a user with a right authority, it may be again checked whether the action is generated by a user with right authority. That is, when receiving the release action (S36), the CDS (20a) performs the operation of the encryption request (S33) and password reception (S34) described above again to perform the operation of removing the hidden characteristics at the matching password It may be. Of course, if there is a password mismatch or no response to the password request within the timeout period, the previously unhidden action will be ignored.

According to the present invention described in detail above, the objects stored in the device can be hidden by the user of the device, thereby ensuring the privacy of the user more faithfully.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the above-described exemplary preferred embodiments, but may be embodied in various ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. If you have it, you can easily understand it. If the implementation by such improvement, change, replacement or addition falls within the scope of the appended claims, the technical idea should also be regarded as belonging to the present invention.

Claims (15)

In the method for providing information about the object structure stored in the server to other applications, Receiving a search request for the object structure; If the request includes a hidden object in the search category, checking whether the request is made from a rightful person; And And providing, to the other application, information on an object structure including a hidden object according to the verification result. The method of claim 1, And wherein the hidden object is an object whose 'hidden' property is set in the property information. The method of claim 2, And receiving a hidden setting action including an object ID as an input variable, adding a 'hidden' property to the property information of the object having the object ID. The method of claim 1, In the third step, if it is not confirmed as a party authority, the method excludes information about a hidden object and provides information on an object structure according to the request to the other application. The method of claim 4, wherein The above case, which is not confirmed as a right holder, is characterized in that the password received by the password request is inconsistent with a previously stored password or the preset timeout period after the password request is exceeded. The method of claim 1, And if an unhide action including at least one hidden object as an input variable is received, deleting the 'hidden' property from the property information of the object. The method of claim 6, The deleting may include checking whether the unhiding action is generated by a request of a party authority, and performing the operation of deleting the 'hidden' characteristic according to the checking result. In the device for storing / managing the object inquired from the control application, Storage means for storing an object structure; And When the search request for the object structure received from the control application includes a hidden object in the search category, it is checked whether the request is made from a rightful person, and an object including the hidden object according to the check result. And a service application for providing information on the structure to the control application. The method of claim 8, And the hidden object is an object whose 'hidden' property is set in the property information. The method of claim 9, And the service application adds a 'hidden' characteristic to characteristic information of an object having the object ID when a hiding setting action including an object ID as an input variable is received from the control application. The method of claim 8, If the service application is not identified as a party authority, the apparatus excludes the information on the hidden object and provides the control application with information on the object structure according to the request. The method of claim 11, In the case of not being identified as the rightful authority, the device characterized in that the password received by the password request is inconsistent with the previously stored password or the preset timeout after the password request. The method of claim 8, And the service application deletes the 'hidden' characteristic from the characteristic information of the object when an unhiding action including at least one hidden object as an input variable is received from the control application. The method of claim 13, The service application, after confirming whether or not the release action is generated by the request of the party's authority before the deletion operation, and performs the operation of deleting the 'hidden' characteristics according to the confirmation result Device. The method of claim 8, And the control application and the service application are each executed in different devices networked with each other.

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