Device control with topology map in a digital network
AssigneesSony Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc.
InventorRyuichi Iwamura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A topology map for a digital system is generated and displayed on a display device to indicate the various components which make up the system. The various components are indicated using icons each of which represent a respective one of the components. A user specifies a source device and a receive device by manipulating the corresponding icons so as to cause a data transfer between the source device and the receive device. The data transfer may include the transfer of video data, audio data, or both. In a preferred embodiment, the digital network corresponds to the IEEE 1394 Serial Bus Standard.
Claims15
In a digital system comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of point-to-point links each of the nodes having an associated local host, a method of controlling the digital system comprising the steps of:
- generating a network topology map for the plurality of nodes based on port status information regarding the nodes, the network topology map comprising node identification information, the network topology map being stored in a memory;
- associating with the node identification information, corresponding local host identification information in a data structure in the memory;
- displaying a connection map using the network topology map and the local host identification information by mixing signals representing the connection map with signals representing video information for display on a television, the connection map indicating the plurality of local hosts comprising the digital system using graphical representations of the local hosts;
- and
- controlling the operation of a first of the plurality of local hosts by manipulating a corresponding one of the graphical representations.
A method of controlling a plurality audio/video components of an audio/video system comprising the steps of:
- displaying on a first of the audio/video components a connection map derived from a network topology map constructed according to port status infornation regarding the audio/video components by mixing signals representing the connection map with signals representing video information for display on a television, the connection map indicating an interconnection of each of the plurality of aadiolvideo components, the connection map comprising a plurality of graphical representations, each of the graphical representations corresponding to a respective one of the audio/video components;
- manipulating a graphical representation corresponding to a selected one of the audio/video components so as to control the operation of the selected audio/video component.
In a digital network including a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of point-to-point links, at least one of the nodes having a corresponding local host, the local host comprising:
- a central processing unit (CPU) configured to generate a network topology map for the digital network in response to a first signal, the network topology map being based on port status information regarding the nodes and representing the interconnection of the plurality of nodes of the digital network;
- a memory coupled to the CPU, the memory configured to store the network topology map as a data structure;
- and
- means for cornbining video signals received from a video source and representing video data for display on a television with topology signals corresponding to the network topology map received from the memory to produce a mixed signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.