Patent Publication Number: US-2003234811-A1

Title: Home network system for driving a remote user interface and method thereof

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates to a home network system, and more particularly, to a home network system which drives a remote user interface that transmits and/or controls user interface (hereinafter referred to as “UI”) information and a driving method thereof. The present application is based on Korean Patent Application No. 2002-35413 filed on Jun. 24, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0004]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art home network system.  
       [0005] The home network system of FIG. 1 connects clients, for example, a PDA  120 , a printer  130 , a camcorder  140 , a digital still camera (DSC)  150 , and a MP3 player  160 , with a home server  110 .  
       [0006] Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic device  120 , for example, a PDA or a notebook PC, which has an internally installed operating system (OS) and enough resources, is connected to the home server  110  and exchanges events with the home server  110 .  
       [0007] However, since the camcorder  140 , the DSC  150 , and the MP3 player  160  do not have an OS and operate as simple firmware, and the printer  130  has an internally installed OS but does not have surplus resources, it is difficult to connect and operate these devices with the home server  110 . More particularly, it is almost impossible to connect and operate the electronic devices, which operate as firmware, with the home server  110  unless the specifications of the electronic devices are upgraded.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008] To solve the above problems, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a home network system which drives a remote user interface that transmits and/or controls user interface (UI) information corresponding to respective home electronic devices having a variety of output apparatuses and an operating method thereof.  
       [0009] To solve the above problems, it is another objective of the present invention to provide a home server apparatus and client apparatuses that drive UI information corresponding to respective home electronic devices having a variety of output apparatuses.  
       [0010] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a home network system comprising at least one or more clients; and a home server which has user interface data corresponding to the respective clients and if a client is connected or a predetermined event occurs, transmits the user interface data to the corresponding client, wherein the client displays the user interface data transmitted by the home server.  
       [0011] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a home server operating method for driving a remote user interface in a home network system having at least one or more clients and a home server, the method comprising (a) storing user interface data corresponding to the client connected to the network; and (b) if a predetermined event related to the client occurs, transmitting the user interface data of the step (a) to the client.  
       [0012] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a client operating method for driving a remote user interface in a home network system having at least one or more clients and a home server, the method comprising (a) informing the home server of a network connection; (b) if an event occurs, transmitting the event to the home server; and (c) if user interface data transmitted by the home server in response to the event transmitted in the step (b) are received, displaying the data on an output apparatus.  
       [0013] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a home server apparatus for driving a remote user interface in a home network system, the home server apparatus comprising a storage unit which stores respective user interface data corresponding to at least one or more clients; and a control unit which stores user interface data corresponding to clients connected to the network, and, if an event related to the client occurs, transmits the corresponding user interface data stored in the storage unit to the client.  
       [0014] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a client apparatus for driving a remote user interface in a home network system comprising a storage unit which stores user interface data; and a processor unit which, if the home server is connected, transmits the user interface data stored in the storage unit to the home server, and, if an event occurs, receives user interface data from the server and displays the data on an output apparatus. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0015] The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:  
     [0016]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art home network system;  
     [0017]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a home network system according to the present invention;  
     [0018]FIG. 3 is a diagram of the structure of a preferred embodiment of a client shown in FIG. 2;  
     [0019]FIG. 4 is a diagram of the structure of a preferred embodiment of a home server shown in FIG. 2;  
     [0020]FIG. 5 is a flowchart of steps performed by a preferred embodiment of the present invention when a connection is established between a home server and a client; and  
     [0021]FIG. 6 is a flowchart of steps performed by a preferred embodiment of the present invention when an event occurs between a home server and a client. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     [0022] Referring to the schematic diagram of a home network system according to the present invention of FIG. 2, clients  220  are connected to a home server  210  through a wire or wireless home network.  
     [0023] The clients  220  include a PDA  222 , a multifunction printer  224 , a camcorder  226 , a DSC  228 , and an MP3 player  229 , and the various client devices can display UI information provided by the home server  210  on respective monitors.  
     [0024] The home server  210  has different types of UI information corresponding to respective hardware and software resources of clients  220 . If the clients  220  are connected or predetermined events occur, the home server  210  transmits UI information to a corresponding client  220 . For example, the home server  210  transmits graphical user interface (GUI) information, text UI information, small-sized GUI information, and text UI/voice UI information to the PDA  222  and camcorder  228 , multifunction printer  224 , the DSC  228 , and the MP3 player  229 , respectively.  
     [0025]FIG. 3 is a diagram of the structure of a preferred embodiment of the client  220  shown in FIG. 2.  
     [0026] Referring to FIG. 3, firmware or real time operating systems (RTOS)  342 , UI data  344  and event/function data  346  according to the types of devices are stored in a ROM  340 . At this time, the UI data  344  are the data optimized by capabilities of the display unit, for example, the type of the display, resolution, color depth, etc. The event data are the data which are generated in the device by error occurrence, button push, media insertion, etc. Function data includes the functions the device has and the functions which should be performed when an event occurs, for example, functions defined according to different push buttons and functions that should be performed when a medium is inserted.  
     [0027] A program for driving a processor  310  and the RTOS is stored in a RAM  330 .  
     [0028] A communications module  320  transmits data to and receives data from the home server  210  through the home network.  
     [0029] When the device is connected to the home server  210 , the processor  310  reads data stored in the ROM  340 , transmits the data to the home network through the communications module  320 , and displays on the monitor the UI data and event/function data that are provided by the home server  210  through the home network.  
     [0030]FIG. 4 is a diagram of the structure of a preferred embodiment of the home server  210  shown in FIG. 2.  
     [0031] Referring to FIG. 4, a basic input/output system (BIOS) is stored in a ROM  420 .  
     [0032] A RAM  440  stores a UI/event table which is generated based on devices&#39; names. For example, this device UI/event table stores UI data  1  and event/function data  1  that relate to a first device, UI data  2  and event/function data  2  that relate to a second device, and UI data  3  and event/function data  3  that relate to a third device.  
     [0033] A communications module  430  receives data from and transmits data to the client  220  through the home network.  
     [0034] A HDD  460  has a proxy area for storing the UI/event table of devices connected to the home server  210 . Preferably, the HDD  460  stores an OS so that the OS is loaded when the system is being booted. In another preferred embodiment, the OS may be stored in the ROM  420 . The proxy area stores a device UI/event table which contains the UI, events, and function data that are transmitted by the client  220 .  
     [0035] An integrated drive electronics (IDE) control unit  450  converts data that are input through a system bus, into commands complying with an IDE interface and stores the commands in the HDD  460 .  
     [0036] A bridge  470  connects a host bus or a local bus with a system bus, which can be buses that comply with different standards.  
     [0037] A CPU  410  stores the UI and event/function data that are provided by the client  220 , in the RAM  440  and at the same time stores the data, as back-up data, in the proxy area  462  of the HDD  460  through the IDE control unit  450 . If the identical client  220  is connected, the CPU does not receive the corresponding data from the client  220  and loads the back-up data in the proxy area  462  of the HDD  460  to the RAM  440 . Also, if the client  220  is connected or a predetermined event occurs, the CPU  410  transmits the corresponding UI stored in the RAM  440  to the client  220  through the communications module  420 .  
     [0038]FIG. 5 is a flowchart of steps performed by a preferred embodiment of the present invention when a connection is established between the home server  210  and the client  220 .  
     [0039] First, if the home server  210  and the client  220  are connected in steps  511  and  512 , the client  220  transmits the device name in step  514 .  
     [0040] Then, the home server  210  receives the device name in step  516 .  
     [0041] The home server  210  retrieves the proxy area of the HDD and determines whether or not the device name is in the proxy area in step  518 .  
     [0042] Next, if the received device name is in the proxy area, the home server  210  reads the UI and event/function data related to the device in the proxy area of the HDD in step  522 . At this time, if the received device name provided by the client  220  is not in the proxy area, the home server  210  transmits the result information (yes or no) to the client  220  in step  524 .  
     [0043] Then, the client  220  analyzes the retrieval result provided by the home server  210  in step  526 . If it is determined that the device name transmitted by the client  220  is not in the proxy area of the home server  210 , the client  220  transmits device description data, that is, event data, function list data, UI data, etc., to the home server  210  in step  528 .  
     [0044] Next, if the home server  210  receives the device description data from the client  220  in step  532 , the home server  210  updates the device UI/event table stored in the RAM and the proxy area in step  534 .  
     [0045] If the home server  210  reads the device data from the proxy area or updates the device UI/event table, the home server  210  transmits the initialization command/data to the client  220  in step  536 .  
     [0046] Then, the client  220  displays an initial screen according to the initialization command/data provided by the home server  210  in steps  538  and  542 .  
     [0047]FIG. 6 is a flowchart of steps performed by a preferred embodiment of the present invention when a UI is driven between the home server  210  and the client  220 .  
     [0048] First, the client  220  determines whether or not an event occurs in step  612 .  
     [0049] If an event occurs, the client  220  transmits device name/event data to the home server  210  in step  614  and enters into a wait mode.  
     [0050] If the home server  210  receives the device name/event data, the home server  210  retrieves the device UI/event table in step  618 .  
     [0051] Then, the home server  210  determines whether or not the UI/event data on the corresponding device are stored in step  622 .  
     [0052] If the UI/event data on the corresponding device are not stored, the home server  210  requests the client  220  to send device description data in step  624 . Here, after the client  220  checks the request for the device description data in step  626 , the client  220  transmits the device description data in step  628 . If the home server  210  receives the device description data, the home server  210  updates the UI/event table in step  634 .  
     [0053] Next, if the UI/event data on the corresponding device are stored, or if the UI/event table is updated, the home server  210  determines whether or not the type of the event is a UI transmission in step  636 . Here, if it is determined that the type of the event is a UI transmission, the home server  210  reads the UI data and transmits the UI data to the client in step  642 . If the type of the event is not a UI transmission, the home server  210  performs another function in step  638 . At this time, the UI data to be transmitted to the client  220  may have any format of a graph, text, voice/sound, LED array, and visual fluorescent display (VFD).  
     [0054] Then, if the client  220  receives the UI data from the home server  210  in step  644 , the client  220  displays the UI on the screen in step  646 .  
     [0055] Optimum embodiments have been explained above and are shown. However, the present invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments described above, and it is apparent that variations and modifications by those skilled in the art can be implemented within the spirit and scope of the present invention defined in the appended claims.  
     [0056] The present invention may be embodied in a code, which can be read by a computer, on a computer readable recording medium. The computer readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording apparatuses on which computer readable data are stored. The computer readable recording media includes storage media such as magnetic storage media (e.g., ROM&#39;s, floppy disks, hard disks, etc.), optically readable media (e.g., CD-ROMs, DVDs, etc.) and carrier waves (e.g., transmissions over the Internet). Also, the computer readable recording media can be scattered on computer systems connected through a network and can store and execute a computer readable code in a distributed mode.  
     [0057] According to the present invention as described above, a home network environment can be established with less cost and the user can easily manipulate home devices, by applying the remote user interface driving method by which UI information corresponding to respective home devices having a variety of output apparatuses, including a color display, a black/white display, a 7 digit light emitting diode (LED), and vacuum fluorescent display (VFD), is transmitted and controlled. Also, since the user controls the device while watching the UI displayed on the client, the user feels that he/she operates the UI regardless of the home server. That is, the user can operate the UI with the client as a master.  
     [0058] Since the UI data is a focus of the present invention, the UI data can be easily converted according to a user request or a trend.