Network device for a home entertainment network
AssigneeSony Europe Limited
InventorArmin Mank
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A network device for a network including a network controller adapted to provide Ethernet communication capability and CEC (consumer electronics control) communication capability, and a database generator unit adapted to generate a device database containing information about the network devices being member of the home entertainment network and/or an operation history database containing information about network device operations tasked by a user of a network device of the network. A method for controlling and re-routing audio, video and data streams in a network, includes: generating a device database containing information about the network devices being member of the network and/or an operation history database containing information about network device operations tasked by a user of a network device.
Claims32
A network device for a communication network comprising:
- circuitry to:
- provide Ethernet network communication capability and consumer electronics control (CEC) communication capability;
- generate a device database including information about which of a plurality of network devices, including the network device, are members of a home entertainment network and an operation history database containing information about network device operations tasked by a user of one of the plurality of network devices, each of the plurality of network devices being connected to the communication network,
- wherein at least one of the device database and the operation history database includes first information indicating an operation of a specified network device of the plurality of network devices, second information indicating a network address of said specified network device, and third information indicating a time and date of the operation, and
- the network address comprises an address according to the HDMI specification and a sub-network identifier identifying a sub-network within the network to which the at least one of the plurality of network devices belongs.
A method for controlling and re-routing audio, video and data streams in a network, comprising:
- providing an Ethernet network communication capability and consumer electronics control (CEC) communication capability in the network;
- and
- generating, by processing circuitry of a network device, a device database containing information about which of a plurality of network devices, including the network device, are members of the network and an operation history database containing information data records about network device operations tasked by a user of one of the plurality of network devices, each of the plurality of network devices being connected to the network,
- wherein at least one of the device database and the operation history database includes first information indicating an operation of a specified network device of the plurality of network devices, second information indicating a network address of said specified network device, and third information indicating a time and date of the operation and fourth information indicating a network address of another network device of the plurality of network devices involved in the operation,
- the network comprises at least two HDMI sub-networks and the network address is built-up by an address according to the HDMI specification and a sub-network identifier identifying which of the at least two HDMI sub-networks a network device associated with the corresponding one of the network device operations belongs to.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.