KR20040055450A - Method and apparatus for replaying content based to universal plug and play - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method and an apparatus for reproducing UPnP(Universal Plug and Play) based contents are provided to buffer and thereafter reproduce a certain portion of contents received from a media server to a media renderer, thereby preventing the cut of the reproduced contents. CONSTITUTION: An AV device(220) provides contents. An AV device(230) buffers the contents and reproduces. The AV device(230) determines buffering amount and a control point(210) provides the buffering amount to the AV device(230). The control point(210) is comprised of a table(211) in which a data format, a transfer protocol and buffering amount of contents are set. The control point(210) calls a media renderer(MR) and when a user selects the media renderer mounted to the AV device(230), obtains protocol and data format applying the corresponding media renderer. The control point(210) matches protocol and data format between AV devices(220,230).

Description

JPN-based content playback method and device {METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REPLAYING CONTENT BASED TO UNIVERSAL PLUG AND PLAY}

The present invention relates to home networking, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for playing UPnP-based content.

Recently, as the computing power is applied to small and diverse devices, inexpensive and universal networking media technologies are emerging or commercialized.

In addition, various devices such as refrigerators, TVs, washing machines, PCs, and audio devices used in homes are connected with networking and given the computing power, so that people can enjoy a higher quality of life as their usage and setting methods become easier. It became possible.

For this purpose, the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) function has been proposed.

Since the Plug and Play (PnP) feature has been added to the current operating system, installing and configuring PC peripherals has become much easier, but UPnP has built this complete functionality based on Internet standard technologies such as TCP / IP, HTTP and XML. It extends to networks, enabling network devices such as home appliances, network printers, and Internet gates to be networking, especially home networking.

The UPnP architecture consists of a device, a service, and a control point (CP).

In this case, the device includes a service and various accessory devices. For example, a VCR device includes a tape move service, a tuner service, and a time service. A service refers to the smallest control unit on the network and models the service itself through state variables.

A control point (CP) refers to a controller having a function of detecting and controlling other devices.

Currently, the UPnP AV device 1.0 specification includes a control point (CP), a media server, and a media renderer.

Here, the CP may be a TV, the media server may be a UPnP device having a storage disk such as a PC or a VCR, and the media renderer may be a device such as a notebook PC or an audio player.

To illustrate a typical playback scenario in the current UPnP AV device 1.0 specification, the user can select and target the content of a media server using the control point's user interface (UI). If a media renderer is selected, the selected content is delivered directly to the target media renderer using an out-of-band transfer protocol.

In this case, the media server provides at least one transfer protocol and data formats for each content item, and further converts the format of a given content item to another format. You can also convert it to (format) and pass it. The content type that can be received by the media renderer depends on the transfer protocol and data format supported by the media renderer. In addition, the control point controls the operations of the media server and the media renderer according to a user's command.

1, the user selects the content of the AV device 1 120 using the user interface of the control point 110 and selects the AV device 2 130 as the target device. Then, the corresponding content is transmitted from the AV device 1 120 to the AV device 2 130, and the AV device 2 130 plays the corresponding content.

In this case, the control point 110 activates an AVTransport action such as content flow (for example, Stop, Pause, FF, REW, Skip, Scan), and renders various renderings such as Brightness, Contrast, Volume, and Balance that the renderer device has. rendering) is used to control properties.

However, looking at the current UPnP device architecture 1.0 specification and the UPnP AV architecture 1.0 specification, the media server and media renderer transfer content directly using an out-of-band transport protocol, but the media server (MS; Media Sever) and media renderer (MR) Media Renderer) cannot control each other through UPnP actions.

In addition, with the current UPnP Device Architecture 1.0 and UPnP AV Architecture 1.0 specifications, the control point (CP) also determines the media server and the media renderer, so that the control point no longer needs to participate until the content delivery is completed.

In other words, in the current UPnP Device Architecture 1.0 and UPnP AV Architecture 1.0 specifications, the media server and the media renderer cannot send any action to each other, and the control point also sends a QoS (Quality) to the content that the media server will send and receive. It does not play any role in ensuring the quality of service.

Therefore, the current UPnP Device Architecture 1.0 and UPnP AV Architecture 1.0 specifications do not have a criterion for how much data should be buffered in order to play the data in the media renderer. I am not considering the solution.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a criterion for how much data should be buffered in advance according to a transmission protocol and data format used for transmission and reception of content in each device in order to improve the conventional problem. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for playing UPnP-based content, which is designed to perform a stable playback operation.

That is, an object of the present invention is not to unconditionally play content received from a media server, but to prevent a break of the played content by buffering and playing a portion of the content in the media renderer.

1 is a signal flow diagram showing a playback process of a conventional UPnP AV device.

2 is a signal flowchart showing a reproduction process of a content reproducing apparatus for an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is an exemplary diagram of a table mounted to the control point in FIG.

4 is an operation flowchart showing a content playback process in an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is an exemplary view of defining a state variable function in FIG. 4; FIG.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram in which independent variables are defined in FIG. 5; FIG.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram illustrating error codes for independent variables in FIG. 5; FIG.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

210: control point 220,230: AV device

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for reproducing a content of a UPnP AV device specification including a control point (CP), a media server (MS), and a media renderer (MR). Selecting a media renderer to play content, determining a transport protocol and data format to be used for the content transfer, determining a buffering amount from the media renderer, and notifying the media renderer of the buffering amount determined and playing back Controlling the operation.

The buffering amount determination may be based on a table including a preset data format, a transport protocol, and a buffering amount.

The buffering amount notification may include a minimum amount of data necessary for seamless playback of content.

In addition, the present invention in the system of the UPnP AV device specification including a control point (CP), a media server (MS) and a media renderer (MR) to achieve the above object, the media server (MS) for providing content And a media renderer (MR) that buffers and plays the content, and provides a user interface so that when the user selects content and selects a media renderer for playing the content, the media renderer determines an amount to buffer and determines the content. And a control point (CP) for controlling the playback operation after notifying the media renderer of the amount of buffering.

The control point CP comprises a table including a preset data format, a transmission protocol, and a buffering amount.

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

2 is a block diagram of a content reproducing apparatus for an embodiment of the present invention, as shown therein, an AV device 220 for providing content, an AV device 230 for buffering and reproducing the content, and a user. When the user selects content and selects the AV device 230 to play the content, the AV device 230 determines the amount to buffer and provides the determined amount of buffering to the AV device 230. It consists of a control point (210).

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the control point 210 includes a table 211 in which a data format, a transmission protocol, and a buffering amount of content are set.

Referring to the operation and effect of the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

First, the control point 210 calls the media server (MS) with the CDS :: Browse / Search () function to obtain a list of content provided by the AV device 220 and to provide a user interface for the user to select arbitrary content. Provide by using.

Subsequently, the control point 210 calls the media renderer (MR) with the CM :: GetProtocolInfo () function, and when the user selects the media renderer mounted on the AV device 230, the control point 210 selects the protocol and data format supported by the media renderer. Acquire.

The control point 210 then matches the protocol and data format between the AV devices 220 and 230. Here, the control point 210 obtains the amount of buffering matching the protocol and data format between the AV devices 220 and 230 through the table 211 to indicate how much data should be buffered in the media renderer MR. . If the table 211 does not determine the amount of buffering that matches the combination of the data format and the transmission protocol supported by the media server MS and the media renderer MR, the control point 210 returns to the default value specified by the seller. Determine the amount of buffering.

Thereafter, the control point 210 notifies the attempt to connect to the media server MS and the media renderer MR mounted on the AV device 220 or 230 using the CM :: PrepareForConnection () function, and the AVT :: SetAVTransportURI ( Connect between the AV devices 220 and 230 by using the.

Thereafter, the control point 210 uses the RCS :: SetInitBuffer () function to calculate the amount of buffering by the AV device 230 determined in the process of matching the protocol and data format between the AV devices 220 and 230. Notify AV device 230.

Here, the SetInitBuffer () function is an action for notifying how much data the control point 210 should buffer to the media renderer MR mounted in the AV device 230 according to the data format and transmission protocol information of the content. . This action is not defined in the current render control specification and must be added. To this end, InitBuffer is included as a state variable that can tell the amount of buffering.

The InitBuffer function is optional, and as shown in FIG. 5, the data type may be set to ui4 and the unit may be Kbyte. This setting tells the media renderer (MR) how much it can buffer from 1Kbyte to 2 ^ 32 = 429,496,729Kbyte.

In addition, an argument value included in the SetInitBuffer function includes an InstanceID value and an InitBufferAmount value as illustrated in FIG. The invocation of this action does not affect other states and includes an error code for the case where the InstanceID is wrong or the overflow exceeds the vendor-defined buffer value as illustrated in FIG. The error code should be determined by the seller.

Subsequently, the control point 210 notifies the media renderer MR mounted in the AV device 230 to the buffering amount, and then instructs content transmission to the media server MS mounted in the AV device 220.

Accordingly, the media renderer MR displays an progress bar on the screen as an example of an identifier indicating that the user is currently buffering until the amount of data to be buffered fills the buffer 231. This is because the screen is not displayed when the user presses the play key during buffering, so that another action may be transferred to the control point 210.

After the buffering is completed, the corresponding content is played.

As described in detail above, the present invention generates a phenomenon of disconnection while playing content by buffering and playing a part of the content provided by the media server in advance even when the out-of-band transmission protocol is not stable. It can reduce the frequency.

Claims (6)

In the content playback method of the UPnP AV device specification including a control point (CP), a media server (MS) and a media renderer (MR), Selecting content, Selecting a media renderer to play the selected content; Determining a transport protocol and a data format to be used for the content transmission and determining an amount of buffering from the media renderer therefrom; UPnP-based content playback method comprising the step of notifying the media renderer of the determined buffering amount and controlling the playback operation. The method of claim 1, wherein the buffering amount is UPnP-based content playback method characterized in that the transmission protocol and data format obtained when selecting the content and the media renderer is determined from the buffering amount according to the preset data format and the transmission protocol. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of buffering notification UPnP-based content playback method comprising the minimum amount of data required for seamless playback of the content. In a system of the UPnP AV device specification including a control point (CP), a media server (MS) and a media renderer (MR), A media server (MS) for providing content, A media renderer (MR) for buffering and playing the content; A control point for providing a user interface and selecting a content and selecting a media renderer for playing the content, the media renderer determines an amount to buffer, informs the media renderer of the determined amount of buffering, and then controls a playback operation. UPnP-based content playback device characterized in that consisting of (CP). The media renderer of claim 4 wherein the media renderer UPnP-based content playback device comprising a buffer to buffer the content. The method of claim 4, wherein the control point CP is UPnP-based content playback device comprising a table including a preset data format, a transport protocol, the amount of buffering.