Patent ID: 8069488
Filing Date: 2011-11-29
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of a control point, among a plurality of control points, exclusively controlling a controlled device in a home network based on a universal plug and play (UPnP) standard, comprising: (a) determining, with reference to information included in a message transmitted from the controlled device to the control point through a discovery procedure of the UPnP standard, whether the controlled device is exclusively under control of another control point of the plurality of control points, the information indicating whether the controlled device is exclusively controlled by another control point of the plurality of control points; (b) if the controlled device is determined to be exclusively controlled, re-determining whether the controlled device is exclusively controlled by another control point of the plurality of control points after an exclusive control time period of the another control point; (c) transmitting an exclusive control reserve message for requesting an exclusive control authority to control the controlled device only if the controlled device is determined not to be exclusively controlled, wherein the exclusive control reserve message includes information about whether or not control points of the plurality of control points other than the one control point are permitted to discover the controlled device; (d) receiving, in response to the exclusive control reserve message, a response message including an identifier for authenticating the exclusive control authority; and (e) controlling the controlled device by using a control message containing the identifier included in the response message.