MXPA99003215A - Method and apparatus to optimize the compartment of resources for audio / video / data processing devices in a domest network environment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to the environment of a home network of the present invention is the transmission of digital video (DVB), wherein the services can be shared with respect to the Master / Slave protocol by a plurality of audio processing devices / video / data (51, 52, 53, 54) which are for example, structuring units can share the services with respect to the Master / Slave protocol. They can have access to the services offered to the STU Maestro in the same transport stream. The principles of sharing the resource are based on the Master / Slave protocol. The first STU that connects to the DVB receiver becomes the master of that DVB receiver. As soon as there is a DVB receiver available, an STU will have access to all the accessible services of that receiver. In case there are no more, receivers, the STU. You can have access to all the services that use the other STUs at that moment, more specifically to all the services offered in the transponder that includes the services that are currently used by the other STUs. Thus, the method for optimizing the resource consists of assigning each STU-connected to the home network, one of the available reception means, by granting each STU the status of Master STU, in assigning, to each newly connected STU, one of the reception means that provide the required resource and grant the status of STU Slave, when there are no reception means available, and share the resource between the Master STUs and the Slave STUs in the domestic network to provide access to the resource required by the STUs Slave. In contrast, a device for sharing resources comprises control means (10O, 200) dedicated to each STU to display the resource available for the corresponding STU, wherein the control means contain an indication of the Slave condition for the resource that can be provided for the corresponding STU and a special indication for the resource that is currently used by the STU

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS TO OPTIMIZE THE COMPARTMENT OF RESOURCES FOR PROCESSING DEVICES AUDIO / VIDEO / DATA IN A DOMESTIC NETWORK ENVIRONMENT DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a home network and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for optimizing the resource sharing of audio, video and audio processing devices. data in the environment of a home network. This home network may comprise a plurality of units for structuring data system units, audio and video devices, and more particularly digital video processing devices. The environment from which the present invention is derived is digital video transmission (DVB), of which a detailed specification is given in the Standards. For example, one could refer to the European Telecommunication Standars Institute (ETSI), which is related to the Digital Video Transmission published in EN 300 468-vl.3.1 (1997-09). Any other digital video transmission specification can be used. In order to have an example of implementing the home network, reference is made to US Pat. No. 5,172,109, which describes "a method for registering a unit in a home network, of which at least a part is constituted. from an open channel ». In this patent, a domestic automation network comprises open channels, in which several units are connected to the network. These units are, for example, home appliances, audio equipment, video, etc. This particular environment can also be used with the present invention. However, in the present case, only domestic devices that relate to multimedia equipment that combines video, audio and / or data transmissions will be considered. This equipment uses more specifically the specifications of digital video transmission (DVB), its protocols and standards. According to these requirements, when a DVB receiver tunes to a DVB service, it physically tunes to a given transponder, which transports many DVB services into a Multiple Program Transport Stream (MTPS). The one of smu? t associated iplexor extracts, through its digital filters, the different sections related to the expected services. Then, the DVB receiver constructs, from these different sections, an Individual Stream of Program Transport (SPTS) and transmits it to the home network. Therefore, the problem is to determine the number of DVB receivers, also called reception means, according to the number of units of processing, commonly called Unit Structuring Units (STUs), which are connected in the home network. One possible solution would be to use as many source devices as there are visual devices. The source devices and the visual devices are, for example, the DVB receivers and the STUs respectively, as previously mentioned. In a particular implementation, the STUs are, for example, televisions with MPEG2 decoding capabilities or any other electrical devices that use video, audio or data transmissions. In the prior art, domestic networks often have a basic configuration in which each DVR receiver corresponds to each structuring unit (STU). The reason for this basic configuration is that, in case an STU needs to see a service other than "tuned" by a DVB receiver, an additional DVB receiver is required. This configuration implies that there is no shared DVB receiver among the STUs. Therefore, it must be recognized that this type of configuration is very expensive and customers are certainly not willing to spend so much to place this home network configuration. Consequently, it would be preferable to share the source devices, or the so-called DVB receivers, among all the STUs that connect to the home network to optimize the sharing of these resources. Throughout the following description, a video processing unit / audio / data unit may be represented by an STU. The main object of the invention is to reduce the number of reception means, avoiding the implementation in a digital home network as many reception means (or source devices) as video processing units / audio / data exist, such as Maximum Joint Units. It is also an object of the invention to optimize the resource sharing of the receiving means among one of a plurality of video processing units / audio / data, such as the structuring units. It is another object of the invention to assign a priority to a specific processing unit in the home network. It is another object of the invention to control and track the services tuned by a specific processing unit. According to the present invention, the services can be shared by a plurality of video / audio / data processing units connected to the home network with respect to a Master / Slave protocol. A processing unit such as an STU may have access, with the g, constraints, to services offered to the main processing unit (or Master) or STU in the same transport stream. The principle of the resource sharer is based on the Master / Slave protocol, according to which the master processing unit is given priority over the slave processing unit. The first processing unit or STU that is connected to a receiving unit or to a DVB receiver becomes the Master of said DVB receiver.

The resource sharer complies with the following two principles: • Whenever there is an available means of reception, the processing unit will have access to all the services accessible to said means of reception; • In the event that no more means of reception are available, a processing unit can have access to all the services seen at that moment by the other processing units and, more specifically, to all the services offered in the transponder that comprise the services seen at that time by the other processing units. Thus, according to the present invention, a method for optimizing the resource sharer among structuring units in a home network comprises at least one transmitter for video / audio / data signals, a plurality of means for receive the signals that comprise the following steps: (a) assign to each processing unit that connects to the home network, one of the pluralities of reception means that provide the required resource that is available, by granting a degree of unity of Master processing to each processing unit; (b) assign to each processing unit newly connected to one of said pluralities of reception means that provides the required resource that is available, by granting a grade of Slave Processing Units, when non-receiving means providing the service are available. required; and (c) share resources between master STUs and slave STUs in the home network, as well as provide access to the resources required for slave STUs. On the contrary, the method according to the present invention can be implemented in an apparatus comprising means for assigning, to each structuring unit connected to the home network, one of the pluralities of reception means that provide the required resource that is available, by granting each Processing Unit the layer of Processing Unit Teacher; means for assigning, to each newly connected processing unit, one such plurality of receiving means that provides the required resource and to grant the condition of Slave Processing Unit, when the receiving means providing the required resource are not available; and means to share the resource between the Master Processing Units and the Slave Processing Units in the home network, as well as to provide access to the resource required by the Slave processing units. Furthermore, in a particular implementation, the apparatus comprises dedicated control means for each processing unit to display the available resource to the corresponding processing unit, wherein the control means contain: an indication of the slave condition for the resource which can be provided to the corresponding processing unit; and - a special indication for the resource currently used by the corresponding processing unit.

Figure 1 illustrates the example of a usual home network configuration, wherein a plurality of structuring units are connected to a DVB receiver. Figure 2 illustrates an example of the structure of the digital transmission and the distribution of the service. Figures 3A, 3B and 3C illustrate a block diagram of the Master / Slave configuration according to the present invention when a structuring unit requires a service. Figure 4 illustrates a block diagram of the Master / Slave configuration according to the present invention when a Master STU allows a receiver. Figure 5 illustrates an example of the configuration of the home network comprising two STUs and two Inputs. Figure 6 shows the contents of an offline list of STU, where the latter is the first to connect to a receiver in the home network. Figures 7A and 7B illustrate the contents of the offline lists of the STUs, when a second STU is "connected to the transponder of the receiver that is currently used.

Figures 8A and 8B illustrate the content of both offline lists of the STUs, when different t ransponders are currently used. Figures 9A and 9B illustrate the content of both offline lists of the STUs, when both STUs are connected to the same transponder of a receiver. Figure 10 illustrates the contents of an offline list of an STU, of the STU currently connected, when the other STU is disconnected from the home network. The present invention will be described in the environment of a digital video transmission system, be it a satellite, a terrestrial or cable system. It will be appreciated that its use is not limited to this ambient. Furthermore, it should be remembered that in the present description, the Structuring Unit is considered to be, for example, a television or any other communication device that receives digital information from the network and that is capable of retrieving it in display means. A DVB receiver contains its own tuner to receive signals by means of terrestrial, cable or satellite transmitters, as well as to demote the current of signals to transmit them in the network to a selected structuring unit. Any other device can replace this equipment as long as it performs the functions described in the following paragraphs. Figure 1 illustrates an example of the configuration of a home network, wherein the plurality of the structuring units are connected to a plurality of DVB receivers. In this particular case, the common link (1) of the home network is connected to different devices, such as televisions (2,3,5) representing the structuring units and a DVB receiver (4) representing an Input. Said common link (1) of the home network is bidirectional and transports data, audio and video signals to be transmitted to the corresponding apparatuses under the control of a network administrator which can be any device of the home network. A digital network, as recommended in the IEEE 1394 standards, allows MPEG2 streams to be transported between home devices. In this class of digital network, there are mainly two types of devices: source devices and visual devices. 1. The source devices receive transmitted signals and generate MPEG2 partial currents and emit them in the home network. The two main categories are DVB receivers and Digital Storage: • DVB receivers, also called Residential Entries in the Digital Home Network (DHN) terminology, receive the signals emitted by satellites, terrestrial or cable transmitters; those of partially current currents select the expected services and re-transmit the services in a stream on the IEEE 1394 common link, • Digital Storage operates as a local transmitter, since it handles back the MPEG services that conform to the DVB memorized, such an event can be handled independently of the real time of transmission, for example thanks to a DVB handling. 2. the visual devices receive the partial current mentioned above. Likewise, visual devices can be divided into two categories: structuring units and digital storage. • Structuring Units (STU) are MPEG2 units that receive the partial current that is transported in the home network, decode it and finally display the total video on an associated television. The STU can be part of the television or a separate box, • The Digital Storage operates as a recorder, as it memorizes the services received from the IEEE 1394 network. One possible solution would be to implement as many source devices as there are visual devices. As mentioned, this costly solution may not adapt to the client's environment. In this way, it is necessary to share the source devices. The next section describes a way to optimize the sharer. Figure 2 illustrates an example of the structure of digital transmission and service distribution. It shows the organization of the different parties that are involved in the transmission and reception of the signals from a satellite transmitter (20), a cable transmitter (60) and a terrestrial transmitter (80) to domestic components, for example, audio / video / data devices. The meaning of the terminology shown in Figure 2 is used throughout the entire description. The satellite, cable or terrestrial transmitters respectively transmit signals to a plurality of DVB receivers. The signals received from the satellite (20) are transmitted by multiple systems on a plurality of transponders TI (31), T2 (32), T3 (33) and TT (34). Afterwards, each transponder transmits the corresponding services. For example, the transponder T2 (32) transmits the Service Sl (41), the Service S2 (42), the Service S3 (43) and the Service S4 (44) to the subscribers of all the domestic networks that can be connected to the transponder T2. At the level of the components, it is necessary to consider that the home networks comprise a plurality of DVB receivers, such as Videol (51), Video2 (52), Video3 (53), and "also a data processing device ( 54) All these components receive video / audio signals and data from the corresponding services, in this case from Service S2 (42), whereas cable and terrestrial transmitters (60,80), respectively, transmit different signals that are received and transmitted by multiplexing system in the corresponding channels (Cl, C2, C3) and ~ (C4, C5, C6) Each channel contains a plurality of services like each ransponder, for example, channel C2 (62), Like the channels Cl (61) and C3 (63), which is dedicated to cable transmission, it contains the S5 Service (6 6), the S6 Service (67) and the S7 Service (68). services that are provided by satellite and by the issuers by cable or by any other issuer, can join in a transport stream. For example, the bouquet shown in Figure 2 provides Services S2 (42), S3 (43), S4 (44) of transponder T2 (32) of the satellite transmitter (20) and Service S5 (6 6) of channel C2 of the cable transmitter (60). In this way, a subscriber of this Bouquet can see any of the services it provides through this bouquet. And the terminology of the transponder can be replaced by the terms "transport stream" or "corsage". The terrestrial transmission system is similar to the cable system. The terrestrial transmitter (80) transmits different channels, for example, the channels C4 (81), C5 (82) and C6 (83). Each channel includes a plurality of services. For example, channel C5 (82) transmits Services S8 (86), S9 (87) and S10 (88). It should be remembered that the present description can be implemented in another environment, where the bouquet assembles any other type of services, such as radio or any other kind of information services generated also by terrestrial, satellite or cable transmitters. The principle is that the bouquet assembles a plurality of services that are provided to the subscriber. Therefore, a corsage is made up of the combination of any of the previously mentioned services. When a DVB receiver, also called Input "tuning1 a DVB service, physically tuning in to a given transponder.The current of this transponder carries many DVB services.It is a Multiple Stream of Program Transport (MTPS) .The demultiplexer removes, through its digital filters, the different sections related to the expected service, then the Input builds an Individual Program Transport Stream (SPTS) and transmits it to the home network.

In the prior art, the simplest way is to assign a -receptor to a given STU. In case another STU needs to see a different service than the one tuned by the receiver, it is necessary to use another DVB receiver. This method requires a "one-to-one relationship" between sources of receivers and viewers of the structuring units. In case all the receivers are being used, an additional STU can only access the services of the receivers that are currently using the connected STUs. You can not access services that are not being used at the moment, even if they are in the same transponder corresponding to the services required by the viewers. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is desired to increase the service offer despite the limited number of DVB receivers. For this purpose, an STU must also have access, with some limitations, to services belonging to the same transport stream as those of the main viewer or the Master structuring unit. The basic principles are: • Since there is a receiver available, an STU will have access to all services accessible to this DVB receiver. In case there are no available receivers, then an STU can have access to all the services that are currently using the other STUs and, more specifically, to all the services that are offered in the transponder that includes the services in that at the moment they are using other STUs. The rules of the sharer according to the principles mentioned above, are illustrated in this implementation example. However, it can be extended in any other Digital Home Network of this type that complies with the principles mentioned above and with the following rules. The distribution of the resources of the source devices, which may be a DVB receiver or a Digital Store in the home network, must comply with the following five rules: • Rule 1: if a viewer of a source device is the Master, the Master remains until you release control of the source device. Another viewer can share this source device, but as STU Slave. Rule 2: A STU Slave can interact with the connected source device, since it does not interfere with the operations of the Master STU. The priority is given to the Master STU, so that it can interact with its source device even if it interferes with the operations of the connected Slave STUs. Rule 3: In case the network administrator is the master of a source device, it will maintain its condition until it releases the source device. An STU can share the source device, but as a slave STU. An STU may require the network administrator to release the control. Rule 4: The network administrator can not have slave status for the connected source device. If it needs to have access to the source device that uses the STU Maestro, it asks the STU Maestro to release the control; if the latter agrees, then the roles are changed.

In addition, the network administrator cancels the pending operation. • Rule 5: Once the Master STU releases control of the source device, the pending Slave STU automatically becomes the new master of this source device. Figures 3A, 3B and 3C illustrate an algorithm of the Master / Slave configuration according to the present invention, when a maximum unit of assembly requires a service of the domes t ica network. More particularly, Figure 3A shows the steps executed by a program that is internal to the STU when a viewer of the STU requires a service on its screen in step (300). In step (310), the program tests whether the STU is connected to the Input that can provide the required service. In case the answer is yes, the program jumps to the step (320). Otherwise, it is necessary to look for an Available Entry in the home network, in step (312). If an Available Entry is detected, the STU connects to it and becomes the Master of this Entry in step (314). In case that at that moment the STU is Master of another Input, it will release the control of this last Input. Otherwise, the program will look for a Input that can provide the required service, in step (316). The service will be on a transponder that provides the service that currently uses a connected master STU. If necessary, the STU becomes a slave STU of the detected Input that provides the required service. In the following, if the STU is the Master of another Input, it will have to release the control of that Input, in step (319). In this case, the service required for the STU is provided, but the latter can not control the connected Input, since it has a Slave condition. Ends the program. Otherwise, it is considered that the request failed in step (318) and the program ends. Figure 3B is summarized in step (320), which is the result of the service requested by the STU already in the Gateway to which it is connected. Thus, it is necessary to detect if the STU is the Master of the Input, in step (321). If that is not the case, the program jumps to the step (330). Otherwise, it is necessary to determine whether the transponder must be loaded to provide the service required in step 322. If you do not have to load the transponder, the STU is still the Entrance Master, in step (323), and the program ends. Otherwise, the program must determine in step (324) if there is STUs slaves connected to such Input. If none Slave STU is connected to this Input, the program is linked to step 323. Otherwise, in step 325, it is necessary to transfer the slave STUs connected to such Input with the same provider and on the same transponder. Then, in step (326), the program makes a revision to detect if there is another entry in the home network that provides the services used by the slave STUs.

STUs are copied to the Input detected in step (327). Thus, the programs jump to the step (323), where they end. Otherwise, the STUs are simply disconnected in step (328) and the program jumps to step (323). Figure 3C is summarized in step (330), which is the result that the service that requested the STU is already in the Gateway to which it is connected, but unfortunately it is not the Entrance Master. Therefore, the program has to determine whether the Entry is available with the appropriate transponder in step (332). If the Entry with the appropriate transponder is not available, the request is considered to have failed, in step (334). Otherwise, the service is provided to the STU, but it is or remains the slave of the Entry or becomes it, in step (336). Figure 4 illustrates a block diagram of the Master / Slave configuration according to the present invention, when a Master STU releases an Input. In case that happens, it is necessary to detect if a slave STU is connected to the Input, in step (402). If no Slave STU is detected, no further action is necessary. The Input is disconnected and the program ends in step (404). Otherwise, in step (406), the slave STU that is in the first place in the waiting list becomes the Master STU of the loose input. To better illustrate said configuration Mae s t ro / It is stored in a Digital home network according to the present invention, an example of the preferred embodiment is shown in Figure 5.

Another STU can also be added to this network without requesting major modifications to the following description. Consider a Digital Home Network consisting of two STUs, the STU1 (500) and the STU2 (510), and two Entries, the Entradal (502) and the Input2 (512). Both STUs are respectively connected to the Inputs by means of connections (501) and (511), and the Inputs are connected to each other through the common link (521). With reference to Figure 6, the Entradal offers four services: • Serviciol (601) and Service2 (602) in the TI Transponder (610). • Service3 (603) and Service4 (604) in the Transponder T2 (620). • Service5 (605) and Service (606) in the Transponder T3 (630). • Service7 (607) and Service (608) in the Transponder T4 (640). Each STU has a list without connection, which can be recovered on a screen that shows the services to which it has access, such as STU Maestro or STU Slave, according to the principles and rules previously mentioned. In the preferred embodiment, the STU1 (500) and the STU2 (510) respectively have their corresponding connectionless lists (100) and (200). In this particular example, the services are provided by a satellite transmitter, but in the case of services provided by cable transmitters or terrestrial transmitters, they can easily be replaced without substantial corrections. The principles are the same. Figure 6 shows the case in which the STUl (500) wishes to receive the Serviciol (601) provided by the IT Transponder of 'La Entradal (502), whether the STU (510) remains idle or does not receive any service that is provided in the present home network. As the STUl is the first one that connects to the Entradal, it becomes the Master of the Entradal. Therefore, as STU Maestro, you can connect to any service provided by the Entradal. Conversely, since no STU is connected to Input2, neither as a slave STU nor as a master STU, the services provided by Input2 can be seen by the STUl, or by any other STU. Therefore, the offline list of the STUl (10Q) shows all the services that the Entradal (502) and the Input2 (512) can provide. In an alternative preferred embodiment, the offline list of the STUl represents the Serviciol with a particular signal, to indicate that the STUl is using the Serviciol. In the list shown in Figure 6, the Serviciol has a special indication as a password. Figures 7A and 7B show the condition of the offline lists of the STUl and STU2, when a subsequent event occurs, where the STU2 (510) wishes to receive the Service2 that provides the transponder T2 (620) of the Entradal (502) . The offline list of the STU1 (100) remains the same as that of Figure 6. Because the STU1 already uses a service of the Entradal, the STU2 can be connected to the Entradal only as STU Slave. Because Service3 and Service4 are not provided on the same transponder that the STUl Maestro (500) currently uses, STU2 can not access. Therefore, Service3 and Service4 are not displayed in the offline list of the STU2. However, services 5 through 8 can be accessed by any STU, since Input2 (512) is still not being used by any STU. Thus, the offline list of the STU2 (200) contains only Serviciol (711), Service2 (712), Service5 (713), Service6 (714), Service7 (715) and Service (716). It should also be noted that the Serviciol (711) and Service2 (712) of the offline list of the STU2 have dubious antecedents, because these services can be accessed by the STU, but as a slave STU. Even if the STU2 uses the Serviciol and the Service2, it can be disconnected in case the STU1 is connected from a service of the transponder1 to select a service provided in another transponder of the Entradal, for example, Service 3 and 4 of the transponder T2 . The next event that can be considered is shown in Figures 8A and 8B, where the STU2 (510) wishes to receive the Service7. In that case, the STU2 becomes the Master of the Input2 (512). Does not change your list without connection (200). However, in a preferred embodiment, the offline list would have dubious background for Serviciol (8110 and Service2 (812) and with a special indication for Service7 (815) as a password.

As regards the offline list of the STUl, the Services and the Service are not displayed, as the STUl can not access these services. Even Service5 and Serviced are not provided on the same transponder that currently uses the Master STU2 (510). However, the STUl can access Service7 (805) and Service8 (806), but only as a slave STU. It should also be noted that Service7 (805) and Serviced (806) would have a dubious background, since the STU currently uses Serviciol, a special indication is shown as a password. Consider Figures 9A and 9B in which the STUl wishes to use a service that is provided in the same transponder that is currently using another STU in another Input. According to this particular example, the latter are the STU2 and the Input2, and the required service is, for example, the Service7. In the following, both STUs can have access to "all the services of the Entradal (512)." Thus, the Serviciol (901), the Service2 (902), the Service3 (903) and the Service4 (904), are shown in The STUl (100) connectionless list These four services are also provided in the offline list of the STU2 (200) However, with regard to the services provided by the Input2, the STUl can only access the Servício7 (905) and Serviciod (906), which are displayed in the offline list of the STUl; while STU2 can additionally access Service5 (915) and Service (916). Therefore, the offline list of the STU2 shows all the services of both Inputs. In a preferred embodiment, Service7 and Serviced that are represented in the offline list of the STU have dubious backgrounds, to indicate that the STUl can access both services only as a slave STU. Since the STUl uses the Service7, the latter has a special indication, which is, for example, a password. Conversely, in the offline list of the STU2, Service7 also has the indication of the password. And finally, Figure 10 shows the case when the STU2 (510) is disconnected from the home network. Thus, the STUI (500) is the only unit in the network and becomes the Master of Entry2 (512).

Now, the offline list of the STUl (100) contains all the services provided by the available Entries in the home network. He Serviciol, Service2, Service3, Service4, Service5, Service, Service7 and Service are represented in the list. The STUl can be connected to any of them as a master STU.

Therefore, it should be noted that there are no doubtful antecedents for the services provided. However, the password that is used to show which service the STU uses at that time is indicated in Service7 (107). It should be noted that, if the STU is disconnected from the home network, the same result is obtained. The offline list of the STU2 would be identical to the offline list of the STU1 and the STU2 would have exactly the same opportunities in the home network. In addition, it must be remembered that the different cases described previously can be considered in a different chronological order. For example, the case of Figures 8A and 8B may occur before the case of Figures 7A and 7B. The implementation of offline lists allows an STU to control and track the services. The implementation of offline lists allows an STU to control and track the services tuned by a specific STU, by displaying the offline list of the latter. This capability can be allowed to a predetermined STU, which may be, for example, the STU dedicated to the parents or to any other person responsible for the home network. Additionally, it must be recognized that the present invention can be implemented in the computer of a network.

Claims (10)

1. A method for sharing a resource of a plurality of means for receiving video / audio / data signals transmitted by at least one transmitter from a plurality of video, audio and / or data processing devices in a home network comprising the following steps: (a) assigning to each processing device connected to such home network, one such plurality of receiving means, providing the required resource available, by granting each processing device the status of Master processing device; (b) assigning to each newly-connected processing device, one such plurality of receiving means, providing the required resource by granting the slave processing device condition, when there are no available receiving means that provide the required resource; and (c) sharing the resource between the Master processing devices and the Slave processing devices of said home network, to provide access to the resource required for such Slave processing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said resource contains a plurality of services that provides one of the pluralities of digital transport streams of at least one emitter.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2 further comprising the following steps: * granting the condition of Master processing device until it releases its control; and releasing the control of the receiving means: in response to the request of the administrator of a network, to become a Slave processing device and to allow said network administrator to become a Master processing device of said receiving means; when no additional services of said means of reception are requested.

4. The method according to the rei indications 2 or 3, wherein step (a) further comprises the steps of: requiring a service of such home network; - responding to said request for a processing device, by determining whether said processing device is already connected to the receiving means in order to determine its condition; - if such a processing device has a Slave condition, to determine if said service can be recovered from the transport current that is currently received by the corresponding Master processing device, in order to discard such a required service or to maintain the condition of the processing device; Slave without change; if such processing device has Master condition, determine if such transport current needs to be changed to maintain the Master condition of such processing apparatus and to recover the required service; and if such a processing device is not yet connected to the receiving means. find available reception means to assign them to the processing devices; or find reception means that can share the transport stream of such required service, to assign Slave status to such processing device, or otherwise discard the service request.

5. The method according to any of the previous claims comprising the step of assigning to each processing device the corresponding control means to graphically display the available resource.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of designating in the control means a Slave condition indication for the resource that can be provided for the corresponding processing device.

7. The method according to any of claims 5 or 6, further comprising the step of designating in said control means a special indication of the resource currently used by the corresponding processing device.

8. An apparatus for sharing a resource of a plurality of means for receiving video / audio / data signals transmitted by at least one transmitter among a plurality of video, audio and / or data processing devices in a home network; such apparatuses are characterized in that they also comprise: means for assigning, to each processing device connected to the home network, one of the pluralities of the reception means that provide the required resource available, by granting to each processing device the condition of the device Master processing; means for assigning, to each newly connected processing device, one of the pluralities of reception means provided by the resource required in granting the Slave processing device condition, when reception means providing the required resource are not available; and means for sharing the resource between the Master processing devices and the Slave processing devices of the home network, to provide access to such a recourse required for the Slave processing devices.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising control means for each processing device for graphically displaying the available resource for such a corresponding processing device, wherein said control means contain: a Slave condition indication for the resource that can be provide the corresponding processing device; and / or a special indication for the resource that the corresponding processing device uses at that time.

10. The apparatus according to any of claims 8 or 9 to be implemented in a digital network computer. SUMMARY The environment of a home network of the present invention is digital video transmission (DVB), wherein services can be shared with respect to the Master / Slave protocol by a plurality of audio / video / data processing devices (51, 52, 53, 54), which are, for example, Structuring Units can share the services with respect to the Master / Slave protocol. They can have access to the services offered to the STU Maestro in the same transport stream. The principles of sharing the resource are based on the Master / Slave protocol. The first STU that connects to the DVB receiver becomes the Master of that DVB receiver. As soon as a DVB receiver is available, an STU will have access to all accessible services of that receiver. In case there are no more receivers, the STU can have access to all the services that use the other STUs at that moment and more specifically to all the services offered in the transponder that includes the services that use the other STUs at that moment. STUs. Thus, the method for optimizing the resource consists of assigning to each STU connected to the home network, one of the available reception means, by granting each STU the status of Master STU; in assigning, to each newly connected STU, one of the means of reception that provides the required resource and granting the status of STU Slave, when no reception means are available; and share the resource between the Master STUs and the Slave STUs in the home network to provide access to the resource required by the Slave STUs. In contrast, a device for sharing resources comprises control means (100, 200) dedicated to each STU to display the resource available for the corresponding STU, wherein the control means contain an indication of Slave condition for the resource that can be provided -for the corresponding STU and a special indication- for the resource that the corresponding STU uses at that moment.