Method for updating contents of a DMS in a DLNA system

A method for updating contents of a Digital Media Player (DMP) in communication with a Digital Media Server (DMS) in a network having IP connectivity and including a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server and client, comprising the steps of:

• a) performing an update process through a periodic update event in the DMP that receives all content information of the DMS in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format through a modified browse action in which a state variable is defined relative to the DMS and receiving content information of the DMS when the DMP needs information and in which the state variable obtains a smaller amount of data than by a non-modified browse action;
• b) sending a request for information by the DMP about a list of items possessed by the DMS to the DMS, upon determining that information loss has occurred in the update process;
• c) receiving by the DMP from the DMS the requested information about the list of items and comparing by the DMP the received information about the list of items with information about pre-stored items at the DMP to obtain a comparison result, the list of items including information about item tree layers and layer-by-layer IDs in the form of the state variable with a maintained state variable at the DMP for the given DMS to obtain the comparison result;
• d) requesting by the DMP from the DMS contents of a different list and obtaining information about contents associated with received information indicated to be different from the DMS in XML format, when a difference occurs as a comparison result of step c).

An apparatus for updating contents of a Digital Media Player (DMP) in communication with a Digital Media Server (DMS) in a network having IP connectivity and including a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server and client, comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable recording medium;
• a state variable stored on said medium used to store a content tree list, including information about item tree layers and layer-by-layer IDs, of the DMS in which the state variable is defined relative to the DMS and receiving content information of the DMS when the DMP needs information and in which the state variable stored on said medium obtains a smaller amount of data via a modified browse action than by a non-modified browse action;
• and
• a computer executable program stored on said medium to periodically update the DMS whenever the program performs a comparison of the state variable stored in said medium with a state variable describing the contents of the DMS, detects a difference between the state variable stored in said medium and the state variable describing the contents of the DMS and requests information corresponding to the difference of the comparison results to the DMS in the form of the state variable stored on said medium with a maintained state variable at the DMP for the given DMS to obtain the comparison results.