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US 10,897,489 B2Granted
Managing content casting
AssigneeMcom Media Comunications Dmcc
InventorsEleftherios Simotas, Konstantinos Sakellariou, Ioannis Aglamisis, Peter Politopoulos
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Abstract
Techniques are provided to manage the casting of content from user devices to media playback devices. The proposed approach employs intermediate network components that intercept and manipulate session and configuration protocol traffic according to network rules. Enforcement of such rules ensures user devices only discover and cast content to allowed media playback devices. The proposed techniques support casting to local and remote public and private media playback devices and also regulate media playback device reconfiguration.
Claims17
A method of managing content casting sessions between a source device and at least one media playback device, comprising:
- connecting the source device to a first network;
- connecting the at least one media playback device to a second network;
- relaying multicast service discovery messages from the source device to the at least one media playback device using address and port mapping to imitate the origin of the discovery messages as being inside the second network;
- receiving multicast service advertisement messages from the at least one media playback device, in response to receiving at the at least one media playback device the multicast service discovery messages relayed by the source device;
- converting the multicast service advertisement messages from the at least one media playback device to one of unicast L3, unicast L2, and multicast service advertisement packets by changing message content and using address and port mapping to imitate the origin of the advertisement messages as being inside the first;
- network, each of the multicast service discovery messages and the multicast service advertisement messages being implemented with the multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) protocol using at least one of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6);
- modifying server (SRV) and A records in the converted multicast service advertisement messages;
- sending the modified multicast service advertisement messages to the source device;
- pairing the source device with the at least one media playback device;
- and
- controlling the opening of a content casting session between the paired devices using virtual Internet Protocols (IPs) and communication ports and performing Network Address Translation (NAT) to force the transport of session packets between the source device and the media playback device via a local proxy server configured to manage the permissions of allowing or not the content casting sessions according to rules supplied by a control server.
8 more elements
A proxy server configured to manage content casting sessions between a source device and at least one media playback device, the proxy server comprising:
- a memory for storing computer readable code;
- and
- a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to:
- connect with the source device via a first network;
- connect with the at least one media playback device via a second network;
- relay multicast service discovery messages from the source device to the at least one media playback device using address and port mapping to imitate the origin of the discovery messages as being inside the second network;
- receive multicast service advertisement messages from the at least one media playback device in response to receiving at the at least one media playback device the multicast service discovery messages relayed by the source device;
- convert the multicast service advertisement messages from the at least one media playback device to one of unicast L3, unicast L2, and multicast service advertisement packets by changing message content and using address and port mapping to imitate the origin of the advertisement messages as being inside the first network, each of the multicast service discovery messages and the multicast service advertisement messages being implemented with the multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) protocol using at least one of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6);
- modify server (SRV) and A records in the converted multicast service advertisement messages;
- send the modified multicast service advertisement messages to the source device;
- pair the source with the at least one media playback device;
- and
- control the opening of a media content casting session between the paired devices using virtual Internet Protocols (IPs) and communication ports and performing Network Address Translation (NAT) to force the transport of session packets between the source device and the media playback device via a local proxy server configured to manage the permissions of allowing or not the content casting sessions according to rules supplied by a control server.
10 more elements
A non-transitory computer readable medium for managing content casting sessions between a source device and at least one media playback device, the non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions to:
- connect a proxy server component with the source device via a first network;
- connect the proxy server component with the at least one media playback device via a second network;
- relay multicast service discovery messages from the source device to the at least one media playback device using address and port mapping to imitate the origin of the discovery messages as being inside the second network;
- receive multicast service advertisement messages from the at least one media playback device in response to receiving at the at least one media playback device the multicast service discovery messages relayed by the source device;
- convert the multicast service advertisement messages from the at least one media playback device to one of unicast L3, unicast L2, and multicast service advertisement packets by changing message content and using address and port mapping to imitate the origin of the advertisement messages as being inside the first network, each of the multicast service discovery messages and the multicast service advertisement messages being implemented with the multicast Domain Name System (mDNS) protocol using at least one of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6);
- modify server (SRV) and A records in the converted multicast service advertisement messages;
- send the modified multicast service advertisement messages to the source device;
- pair the source device with the at least one media playback device;
- and
- control the opening of a content casting session between the paired devices using virtual Internet Protocols (IPs) and communication ports and performing Network Address Translation (NAT) to force the transport of session packets between the source device and the media playback device via a local proxy server configured to manage the permissions of allowing or not the content casting sessions according to rules supplied by a control server.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.