KR100642894B1 - Structure of Objects stored in a media server and method and apparatus for improving accessibility of the structure - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an object structure of a media server connected to a UPnP AV network. The media server according to the present invention records an object structure including at least one media data file and at least one container including the file. And at least a part of the object structure is browsed by an action call of another application, and the identifier (ID) of the container includes a string indicating the type of media data in the file. .

Home Network, Media, Server, Object, Structure, Container, ID, UPnP

Description

Structure of Objects stored in a media server and method and apparatus for improving accessibility of the structure}

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 an example of an action performed in a UPnP AV network according to the present invention;

4A and 4B illustrate object structures managed in a media server according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively.

5 illustrates type information of an object according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6A and 6B illustrate another example of an object structure managed by a media server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6C illustrates an example of a screen in which a container is replaced with an icon on a control point (CP) for the example of the object structure of FIGS. 6A and 6B.

7 illustrates another example of an object structure managed by a media server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8A and 8B illustrate syntax of an action message for registering and querying an arbitrary object as a shortcut according to the present invention, respectively.

9 illustrates an object structure in which an arbitrary container is converted to a shortcut object according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates another syntax of an action message for registering an object as a shortcut, according to the present invention; FIG.

11 illustrates an object structure in which an arbitrary container is converted to a direct descendant container of a shortcut object according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

1a, 200: media server 1b, 110: media renderer

1c, 100: control pointer (CP)

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for enabling a user to easily recognize and access a container of a media server connected to a home network, for example, a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) network.

The UPnP network consists of a control point (CP) that controls the device and devices that provide services, and the CP discovers various devices (discovery, description), control (control) and events ( eventing).

As shown in FIG. 1, an AV device connected to a UPnP network 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. Media streaming 10 from the media server 1a is based on a variety of known transport protocols.

The media server 1a can view information about media files that it has through a content directory service (CDS). The information on 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 UPnP AV, which is currently being standardized, the top-level object, that is, the root object 2a, is always represented as "0" (string) in the tree structure provided by the content directory service, and as other containers, namely, Have a container and / or items. Of course, a regular container can also have other containers or items as children. And every object in a CDS is uniquely identified by a particular string.

Since only the structure of FIG. 2 and the identifier 0 of the root object are defined, in the exemplary UPnP AV network of FIG. 1, in order for the CP 1c to obtain the information of the media file of Item4 of FIG. In order to browse the information of the direct descendants of the predefined object ID "0", the Browse action is called with "0" and "DirectChildren" as input variables (S1). The CP 1c receives an XML-based result for the action call (S2), obtains an object ID of Container1 from the result, and makes a Browse action call again to obtain direct descendants of the object. You can get information about Item4 through the Browse action call. Of course, during this process, the user's object selection through the CP 1c is involved.

However, if the Item4 is a media file frequently used by the user, each time the CP 1c is activated or whenever the controlling device is changed, the selection of the object of the top-down method, that is, the container, is continued. Should be. This is very inconvenient for the user.

In addition, the CP 1c preferably expresses the object in a form that can be easily recognized by the user, such as a graphic or an icon, to facilitate the user interface. However, since there is no way to define the type or attribute of the object, the CP 1c has no choice but to express the character string information received from the media server 1a as it is.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for managing a user so that a user can easily access specific objects specified by the user.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method for allowing an application such as CP to identify the type or attribute of each object.

In one embodiment according to the present invention that allows a user to easily access an object, the object structure of the CDS has one object tree structure and shortcut objects separated from the tree structure.

In addition, an embodiment according to the present invention provides an action for registering and inquiring a shortcut object.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, which makes it possible to identify the type of each object, an identifier of a media object, in particular a container, that is, an object ID, is defined and used as a string that can identify the type.

In another embodiment according to the present invention for identifying the type of each object, the identifier of the media object, in particular, the container is used as an arbitrary string, but defines and uses type information for identifying the type.

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

3 illustrates an UPnP AV network to which the present invention is applied, and includes a media server 200, a CP 100, and a media renderer 110. The CP 100 and the media renderer 110 may coexist in one physical device such as a PC as a logical element such as an application. In addition, the CDS in the media server 200 uses an identifier for identifying a predetermined type for each container as the object ID or includes it in the type information.

4A and 4B illustrate a structure of objects stored in a storage means of the media server 200, for example, a hard disk. According to the present invention, an ID of a container is uniquely defined for type identification. It is used. "PHOTO" for a container containing picture data, "MUSIC" for a music container, "MOVIE" for a container containing video data such as movies, and the user's playback location and history information "BOOKMARK" is specified for the bookmark container. The ID of such a container is used exclusively, and since the defined IDs are already shared by the CP 100 according to the present invention, the file included in the container by checking the ID of the object received through the browsing action. You can immediately recognize their type.

4B shows an example in which a bookmark container is registered as a shortcut as a separate root container according to the present invention.

5 is an embodiment in which the ID of a container is freely defined and used, and uniquely defines type information for identifying the type. In the type information of FIG. 5, "Container_Playlist_Type" is for a container including a list of media data to be played by a user, "Container_EPG_Type" is for a container containing broadcast program information, and "Container_Tuner_Type" is for broadcast channel information. "Container_Thumbnail_Type" is for a container containing small picture pictures set or designated by a user for easy recognition of media data, and "Container_Removable_Type" is detachably connected to the media server 200. It is about a container that contains information about the media in which it resides. In addition, type identifiers of various containers may be appropriately defined according to item information included in the container.

In the state where the container type is defined according to the embodiment of FIG. 4A, 4B, or 5, when the CP 100 requests a browsing action and receives the result, the CP 100 stores a proper value instead of a string for each object. The graphic or icon can be displayed. For example, when the media server 200 has an object structure of CDS as shown in FIGS. 6A or 6B, the CP 100 browses to the media server 200 for the immediate descendants of the root container 0. When the action is requested and the result is received (S10), the types of four containers which are child objects of the root container can be known from the object ID or the type information of the object.

Therefore, instead of displaying the received direct descendant container as a character string, the CP 100 reads a graphic small screen, for example, an icon for each type, which is stored by the CP 100, and displays the screen. 6C is an example of a browsing screen output by such a process. When the user selects an icon, the CP 100 requests the media server 200 for a browsing action on an object associated with the icon, receives the result, and displays media files and / or sub-containers on the screen. .

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a shortcut management method according to the present invention will be described.

When the object structure as shown in FIG. 7 is configured in the media server 200, when the user selects the “My Moive” container through the CP 100 and designates it as a shortcut, the CP 100 registers a shortcut. The action is called to the media server 200 (S20 of FIG. 3). The selection of the user is made by a known method via a common input means, for example a mouse or a remote control.

The syntax of the shortcut registration action message called at this time is shown in FIG. 8A. The shortcut registration action name is "RegisterShortcutObject", 'ObjectID' is the identifier of the object to register as a shortcut, 'ObjectType' is the type of the object, and 'IsRootObject' is for the structure to register the object as a shortcut. . The object type uses an identifier defined as shown in FIG. 5, which is received from the media server 200 by browsing, but a changed type may be inserted into the object type by a user's modification request. In addition, 'IsRootObject' is determined based on information input from the user as an argument that specifies whether or not to separate and manage from a tree form having "0" as the root container. If this value is "ON", it specifies to be separated from the existing tree structure to be the same level as the root container. If it is "OFF", it specifies to keep the current structure.

As described above, when the action of "RegisterShortcutObject" is called with "My Movie" as IsRootObject = "ON", the CDS of the media server 200 changes the object structure as shown in FIG. To this end, the parent information of the "My Movie" object is reset to "-1" so as to be no longer a child of the "MOVIE" object. If the structure is changed as shown in FIG. 9, the root object "0" cannot be accessed from the "My Movie" container. When accessing a shortcut object made by another root such as root object 0 as shown in FIG. 9, a browser action having an identifier of the object, that is, "My Movie" as an input variable, should be called to the CDS. . When the shortcut is formed as a separate route, as shown in FIG. 9, containers having different properties can be separated and can be hidden because they are not visible through browsing starting from a normal "0" root object. If a user invokes a shortcut registration action for another container, for example, "My Music" with IsRootObject = "ON", another root container will be created independently as in "My Moive".

If the action of "RegisterShortcutObject" is called with IsRootObject = "OFF", the media server 200 does not change the existing tree structure, and the information about the called object, that is, "My Moive", is changed to memory. Save as a shortcut item in the storage. Objects registered as shortcuts by setting IsRootObject = "OFF" can be confirmed by invoking a shortcut inquiry action (S21 in FIG. 3).

At this time, the syntax of the response message for the shortcut inquiry action is shown in FIG. 8B. The shortcut inquiry action name is "GetShortcutObjectList", and the output variable 'ObjectIDList' obtained thereby is IDs of objects registered as shortcuts, and 'ObjectTypeList' is type information of the objects. Each object ID and type information are delivered separated by commas. The media server 200 refers to the information on the objects registered as shortcuts previously stored in the storage means to provide the output variable to the CP 100.

In the above embodiment, the object registered as a shortcut is made at a separate root level. However, the shortcut container, for example, a container whose ID is "SHORTCUT", is separated from the tree structure of the default root container "0". An object defined as a shortcut and separately defined may be registered as a child container of the shortcut container "SHORTCUT". This is done by determining whether the third input variable of the "RegisterShortcutObject" action is to be placed as a separate shortcut container rather than as a separate root object. That is, as shown in FIG. 10, the third input variable is used as the meaning of IsSeparatedObject and not IsRootObject.

IsSeparatedObject = "OFF" leaves the object specified as a shortcut in its current position in the existing tree structure, and "ON" registers it as a direct descendant of a separate shortcut root container ("SHORTCUT"). In this embodiment, even if a number of arbitrary containers are registered as shortcuts, as shown in FIG. 11, they are always registered as direct descendants of the shortcut container, so the action call for browsing the information of the immediate descendants of the shortcut container "SHORTCUT" is called. In other words, you can see all the objects registered as shortcuts by the command Browse ("SHORTCUT", "DirectChildren",).

According to the present invention described in detail above, the user can easily recognize specific objects by providing an improved UI such as a graphic small screen for the type of media data commonly used regardless of the manufacturer of the media server. In addition, the user's favorite objects can be quickly accessed through shortcuts, thereby increasing the convenience of the user's use of the media device.

Claims (20)

An apparatus connected to a network for providing media data, And a storage means in which an object structure containing at least one media data file and at least one container containing the file is recorded. At least a portion of the object structure is browsed by action invocation of another application, wherein the identifier of the container comprises a string indicating the type of media data in the file. The method of claim 1, And the root container of the object structure has a string 0 as its identifier. The method of claim 2, And said container is a direct descendant container of said root container. The method of claim 1, And the type of the media data is one selected from the group of types including music, video, photo, broadcast program, and broadcast channel. An apparatus connected to a network for providing media data, And a storage means in which an object structure containing at least one media data file and at least one container containing the file is recorded. At least a portion of the object structure is browsed by an action call of another application, and wherein the container has type information including a string indicating a type of media data in the file. The method of claim 5, And the root container of the object structure has a string 0 as its identifier. The method of claim 6, And said container is a direct descendant container of said root container. The method of claim 5, And the type of the media data is one selected from the group of types including music, video, photo, broadcast program, and broadcast channel. An apparatus for controlling a server storing an object structure including at least one media data file and at least one container including the file in a storage means. It is configured to include an application for browsing the object structure, When the application browses at least a part of the object structure by invoking a browsing action on the server, the application displays graphic information corresponding to the type of media data included in the container based on string information about the container. Device characterized in that. The method of claim 9, And string information about the container is a container identifier including a string that uniquely identifies the container. The method of claim 9, And string information about the container is type information including a string indicating a type of media data included in the container. The method of claim 9, And the root container of the object structure has a string 0 as its identifier. The method of claim 9, The type of media data is one selected from the group of types including music, video, photo, broadcast program, broadcast channel. The method of claim 9, The device is physically separate from the server and interconnected via a network. The method of claim 9, The apparatus further includes a media play application for receiving and presenting media data stored in the server via a network. A method of displaying at least a portion of an object structure including at least one media data file and at least one container containing the file, the method comprising: Invoking a browsing action on a server storing the object structure in a storage means; And displaying graphic information corresponding to the type of media data included in the container based on string information about each container received by the call. The method of claim 16, And the character string information for the container is a container identifier containing a character string that uniquely identifies the container. The method of claim 16, And the string information about the container is type information including a string indicating a type of media data included in the container. The method of claim 16, And the root container of the object structure has a string 0 as its identifier. The method of claim 16, And the type of the media data is one selected from the group of types including music, video, photo, broadcast program, and broadcast channel.

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