KR20040029637A - Apparatus and Method for processing graphic by device type in Home network controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A device and a method for graphically processing each device type on a home network controller are provided to easily understand the type of home network devices by unifying graphic objects of the home network devices connecting to the home network controller according to each type. CONSTITUTION: A network interface module(300) receives a device characteristic data stream transmitted from the home network devices. A network stream processor(310) reads a device type descriptor by parsing the device characteristic data stream. A graphic library(320) unifies the device type descriptors by each type and stores it as the graphic object. A device type recognition manager(330) records the device type descriptor to a preset table after classifying into each type and manages a position through a pointer by searching the position storing the graphic object corresponding to the type of the recorded device type descriptor from the graphic library. A graphic processor(340) processes the graphic object indicated by pointer information of the device type recognition manager.

Description

Apparatus and Method for processing graphic by device type in Home network controller}

The present invention relates to a device and a method for processing a graphics device by device type in a home network controller which enables a user to more easily recognize types of home network devices by unifying graphic objects of home network devices connected to a home network controller. It is about.

Recently, with the development of information technology, various home network devices such as mobile phones, digital television receivers, PDAs, and game consoles are connected to one network. As the network environment spreads into the home, home network technology is in the spotlight.

This home network technology refers to an environment that connects home network devices in a home to a single topology, allowing them to share each other's digital data and to use broadband communication. It means wired and wireless network equipment itself, and broadly encompasses not only the equipment but also middleware or services for integration / control / operation between home network devices.

In general, such a home network is shown in FIG. 1, where home network devices and specific controllers controlling them are connected to a single topology, and in some cases, these home network devices are connected to a home gateway through an Internet service. It is connected with ISP (Internet service provider) to receive various Internet services.

The operation process performed in such a home network will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 2A as follows.

First, home network devices and controllers are assigned an IP (Internet Protocol) address from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, and the home network device uses UUID (Universally Unique IDentifier) data and its own IP address. When multicasting a URL indicating the data location where the device information is stored to the home controller, the home controller recognizes each network device through the UUID and requests to retrieve the data indicated by the URL.

In response to the request, the home network device transmits a description file including various device detailed information and service information to the control device, and the control device transmits the home network devices connected to itself through the transmitted description files. The control file can be operated, and the description file is basically provided in an Extensible Markup Language (xml) specification.

As shown in FIG. 2B, a home network control device such as a DTV, which has undergone such a series of operations, can display devices connected to a network on a screen through corresponding graphic objects.

However, as shown in FIG. 2B, the same type of device repeatedly displays the graphic objects of the same shape unnecessarily. For example, a plurality of air conditioners, which are home network devices, are DTVs that are home network controllers. When connected to and displayed on the screen through the corresponding icon, the icon of the corresponding shape that displays the air conditioner is repeatedly displayed unnecessarily. It is necessary to be able to recognize it.

Accordingly, the present invention has been developed in accordance with the above-mentioned needs, and in the home network controller which enables the user to more easily recognize the type of home network devices by unifying the graphic objects of the home network devices connected to the home network controller by type. An object of the present invention is to provide a graphics processing apparatus and a method for each device type.

1 is a diagram showing a general home network configuration,

2A is a view for explaining an operation process between devices in a general home network;

FIG. 2B is a diagram showing corresponding graphic objects of a typical home network device on a screen of a home network controller;

3 is a diagram illustrating a graphics processing apparatus for each device type in a home network controller of the present invention;

Figure 4a is a view showing a network stream processing unit applied to the present invention as an example,

4B is a diagram illustrating an example of a device type manager applied to the present invention;

5A illustrates an example of a device type recognition table applied to the device type manager of FIG. 4B.

5B is a diagram for explaining a pointer storage module applied to the device type manager of FIG. 4B.

FIG. 6 is a diagram in which corresponding graphic objects of home network devices are displayed on a screen of a home network controller according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a graphic processing method for each device type in a home network controller according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

300: network interface 310: network stream processing unit

320: Graphic Library 330: Device Type Recognition Manager

340: graphics processing unit

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, the present invention parses a network interface 300 that receives a device characteristic data stream transmitted from a home network device, and a characteristic data stream of a device received by the network interface 300. A network stream processor 310 for reading a device type recognizer, a graphic library 320 for unifying the device type identifier read by the network stream processor 310 for each type and storing the device type recognizer as a corresponding graphic object, and the network stream processor The device type recognizer read at 310 is classified into types and recorded in a preset table, and the graphic library 320 manages a location where a graphic object corresponding to the type of the recorded device type recognizer is stored and managed by a pointer. Device type recognition manager 330 and pointer information of the device type recognition manager. It made the graphical object to the graphics processor 340 for image processing.

In the device type graphic processing apparatus of the present invention, the network interface 300 first receives device characteristic data streams transmitted from a plurality of home network devices connected by a home network cable such as an optical cable or a coaxial cable.

In this case, the received device characteristic data stream is, for example, an advertisement data stream of home network devices in a network using a UPNP based on a private IP, or a response data stream transmitted by a request of a home network control device. For example, information on device characteristics includes a device model name, a serial number of the device model, a manufacturer name, and a state variable provided by the device. The device type identifier used in the invention is carried in the data stream as a friendly name in UPNP.

Next, upon receiving the device characteristic data stream from the network interface 300, the network stream processor 310 parses the device characteristic data stream received from the network interface 300 to recognize the device type carried in the device characteristic data stream. Read the ruler.

Then, the device type recognition manager 330 receives the device type recognizer read by the network stream processor 310 and records the device type recognizer in a table set so that the device type recognizer is recorded for each type.

Then, the storage location of the graphic object corresponding to the corresponding type of the recorded device type recognizer is searched in the graphic library 320, designated as a specific pointer, and the designated pointer information is not shown as an index array. In this case, the graphic library 320 is a database in which a device type identifier is unified by type and stored as a graphic object. In particular, in the present invention, the device type identifier is a higher node. It is preferable to format the graphic object corresponding to to a graphic tree structure having lower nodes linked to upper nodes.

On the other hand, after the device type recognition manager 330 designates and stores the storage location of the graphic object corresponding to the type for each of the plurality of device type recognizers recorded in the table, the graphic processing unit 340 returns the pointer information. The indicated storage location is searched in the graphic library, the graphic object of the type is read out according to a preset sequence, and the image is processed to be displayed through a display unit (not shown).

Next, FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating an example of the network stream processing unit 310. As shown in FIG. 4A, a device characteristic data stream received by the network interface 300 is parsed by each device characteristic data unit. A resist signal is stored by storing a preprocessor 311, a buffer 312 storing the characteristic data parsed by the device characteristic data unit in the preprocessor 311, and the device characteristic data parsed by the preprocessor in the buffer. A device type recognizer reading unit 314 for reading device type identifiers by searching for device characteristic data stored in the buffer 312 according to a buffer manager 313 for outputting and a register signal output from the buffer manager 313 )

In the network stream processing unit 310, the preprocessor 311 parses the device characteristic data stream received from the network interface 300 in device characteristic data units, and the device characteristic data is previously tokenized (/). In the present invention, it is preferable to insert a null string (0) after the token to parse the home network device. For example, in a private IP-based UPnP, a device type identifier (0) is used. Parsing in the same manner as /, / 0 device type identifier (Friendly name) / is preferable.

On the other hand, after parsing the device characteristic data by the preprocessor 311, the buffer manager 313 temporarily stores the device characteristic data parsed by the preprocessor 311 in the buffer 312 and registers a corresponding resist. Outputs a signal to the device type recognizer reader 313, and the device type recognizer reader 314 searches for device characteristic data stored in the buffer 312 according to a register signal output from the buffer manager 313. The device type recognizer is read and output to the device type recognition manager 330.

Next, FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating an example of the device type recognition manager 330. As shown in FIG. 4, the device type recognition manager 330 is a device type in which a device type recognizer is set to be recorded for each type. A table management module 332 for recording and updating a recognition table 331, a device type identifier read by the network stream processing unit 330 into the device type recognition table 333, and a table management module 332. A pointer indicating module 333 for searching and specifying a storage position of a graphic object corresponding to a corresponding type of a device type recognizer recorded in the device type recognition table 331 as a pointer under control; A pointer storage module 334 stores pointer information indicated by the pointer indicating module 333.

In the device type recognition manager 330, the table management module 332 first reads the device type identifiers read by the network stream processing unit 330 and records the device type identifiers in the device type recognition table 331 for each type. The write signal corresponding thereto is output to the pointer indicating module 333.

Then, the pointer indicating module 333 selects a graphic object storage location corresponding to the corresponding type of the device type recognizers recorded in the device type recognition table 331 according to the recording signal output from the table management module 332. The graphics library 320 searches for each of the pointers and designates them as pointers, and temporarily stores the pointer information in the pointer storage module 334. The graphic processor corresponds to the type of device type recognizers through the stored pointer information. Since only the graphic object can be displayed on the display screen, the graphic object can be prevented from being repeatedly displayed on the display screen for each device type recognizer.

FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating the device type recognition table of FIG. 4B.

As shown in the figure, the device type recognition table may be configured such that, for example, a specific upper node is set as a device type, and a device type identifier belonging to each device type is set as a lower node so that the network corresponds to the corresponding address corresponding to the lower node. The device type identifiers parsed and transmitted through Sequentially are recorded in order. At this time, a specific upper node and lower node are linked to a linked list.

FIG. 5B is a diagram for explaining an aspect of the pointer storage unit of FIG. 4B. As shown therein, the pointer information indicates a storage location of a corresponding graphic object matching a device type recorded in a device type matching table. In this case, for example, the storage location of a graphic object whose device type is DVD is connected by a pointer, and the storage location indicated by this pointer information becomes X1 in the graphic library.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a graphic object processed according to the present invention, and as shown in FIG. 7, it can be seen that a plurality of device type recognizers display one graphic object unitized by type in a setting display area. Types of home network devices connected to the DTV are video, DVD, audio, pc, and gateway, and device type identifiers such as LG DVD and Samsung DVD are represented by a characteristic graphic object called DVD.

Next, another graphic type processing method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 7.

First, the device type graphic processing method of the present invention receives a device characteristic data stream transmitted from a home network device connected by a network cable, and parses the received device characteristic data stream by inserting a null string, for example, in the unit of device characteristic data. Next, the device type recognizer is read (S700).

Thereafter, the read device type recognizer is recorded in a table set to record the corresponding device type recognizer of the home network device by type (S710).

Subsequently, the storage location of the graphic object corresponding to the corresponding type of the device type recognizer recorded in the table is searched in, for example, a graphic library in which the graphic object is stored (S720), and then designated as a specific pointer. The information is stored in a buffer (not shown) as an index array (S730).

In this case, the graphic library is a database in which a device type recognizer is unified for each type and stored as a graphic object. In particular, in the present invention, the device type recognizer is a parent node, and the graphic object corresponding to the corresponding device type recognizer is higher. It is preferable to format the graphic tree structure with sub nodes linked with the nodes.

Meanwhile, after storing the designated pointer information by designating a storage location of the corresponding graphic object corresponding to the device type recognizer as a pointer, the pointer information is indicated according to the request for displaying the graphic object for the device type recognizer of the user (S740). By searching the storage location in the graphic library, and reading the graphic object of the corresponding type according to a preset sequence, and then processing the image and displaying it through a display unit (not shown) (S750), the graphic objects of multiple device type recognizers are displayed. It is possible to display only a graphic object in which the device type recognizers are unified by type without having to display them all on the screen.

As described in detail above, the present invention provides a graphic processing apparatus and a method for each type of device in a home network controller, by which the user can easily type the graphical objects of the home network devices connected to the home network controller by type. It has the effect of recognizing it.

Although the invention has been described in detail only with respect to the specific examples described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations are possible within the spirit of the invention, and such modifications and variations belong to the appended claims.

Claims (4)

A network interface for receiving a device characteristic data stream transmitted from a home network device; A network stream processing unit for parsing the characteristic data stream of the device received by the network interface to read the device type recognizer; A graphic library for unifying the device type identifier read by the network stream processor by type and storing the device type identifier as a corresponding graphic object; A device type for classifying device type identifiers read by the network stream processor by type and recording them in a preset table, and searching for a location where a graphic object corresponding to the type of the recorded device type identifier is stored in the graphic library and managing the device type with a pointer. Recognition manager; And a graphic processing unit configured to read a graphic object indicated by pointer information of the device type recognition manager from the graphic library and process an image. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network stream processor comprises: a network stream processor; A preprocessor for parsing the device characteristic data stream received by the network interface into each device characteristic data unit; A buffer manager for storing device characteristic data parsed by the preprocessor in a buffer and outputting a resist signal corresponding thereto; And a device type identifier reader unit for searching for device type identifiers by searching for device characteristic data stored in the buffer according to a resist signal output from the buffer manager. 3. The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the device type recognition manager; A device type recognition table configured to record the device type identifier by type; A table management module for recording and updating a device type recognizer read by the network stream processor in the device type recognition table; A pointer indicating module configured to search for and store a graphic object corresponding to a corresponding type of a device type recognizer recorded in the device type recognition table in the graphic library under the control of the table management module and designate a pointer; And a pointer storage module for storing pointer information indicated by the pointer indicating module and outputting a pointer signal corresponding to the pointer information module to the graphic processing unit. A first step of parsing a device characteristic data stream transmitted from a home network device to read a device type identifier; A second step of recording the device type recognizer read out in the first step into a table preset in such a manner that the home network device type recognizers are classified according to the type; A third step of searching for a graphic object storage location corresponding to the type of the device type recognizer recorded in the second step in the preset graphic library; A fourth step of indicating and storing a storage location of the graphical object searched in the third step with a pointer; And a fifth step of reading and displaying the corresponding graphic object at the storage location indicated by the pointer information according to the request for displaying the graphic object to the user's device type recognizer using the pointer information stored in the fourth step. Graphic processing method by device type on the device.