Abstract: A method is provided in order to determine connection topology of a home network. The main idea of the present invention is to send out a topology determination message on each link of the network, wherein the topology determination message is constituted of two consecutive packets, first one being a broadcast packet with a predetermined payload that identifies it as a topology determination packet, and second one being a unicast packet with the same content and a non-existent destination MAC address. If a node receives both the broadcast and unicast packet from a sending node, the sending node is determined to be on the same physical link with said receiving node and the MAC address of the sending node is added into a local link nodes list of said receiving node, otherwise if said receiving node receives only the broadcast packet from the sending node, the send node is determined not to be on the same physical link with said receiving node.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of reproduction by a reproduction apparatus for reproducing audio documents forming part of a set of documents. The method comprises a prior step of partitioning of the documents of the set into groups of documents whose audio parameters exhibit a similitude, making it possible to determine at least one document representing each group by taking into account its audio parameters. Then, an identifier of a document representing the group is reproduced graphically and/or in a sound manner. In this way, the user can take note of the type of music involved and can select this group by virtue of the graphical identifier. He can activate a command making it possible to go from one group to another, he can also select a group and reproduce the documents of this group. The invention also relates to a reproduction apparatus furnished with a user interface allowing reproduction.

Abstract: The inventive method for reserving at least one node of a communication network like the Ethernet bus in the form of a predetermined fraction of the Ethernet bus bandwidth consists in circulating a token between the network nodes in such a way that they are enabled to successively transfer an Ethernet packet to a bus according to a given sequence which defines a chronological order for the token passage between nodes and in which a predetermined fraction of the bandwidth reserved for a network node corresponds in sequence to a certain number of passage occurrences of the token through the considered node. Said invention can be used for domestic communication networks like the Ethernet bus.

Abstract: The invention can be used to play back an audiovisual or audio document received in a first encoding format within a local area network. A first device plays back the document in the received format, then a user decides to play back the document on a device having a second encoding format. Playback is first stopped on the first device and the document is stored. The user starts playing back the document on the second device at the moment at which playback of it was stopped on the first device. Depending on the decoding means of the second device, the document is transcoded from the first encoding format to the second encoding format. The invention also relates to a management device for issuing storage and transcoding requests so that a document played back from a first device can be transferred to a second device regardless of the capabilities for playing back encoded documents on the first and second devices.

Abstract: Bridge device comprising at least two interfaces for interfacing respective clusters of network devices in a network wherein said bridge device comprises at least two interface portals for connecting clusters. The bridge device comprises for each portal a first software component (SDDM) for receiving from an internal client requests for device describing configuration memory data (SDD) of at least one network device, said first software component being adapted to retrieve device describing data from other devices through a function call of a similar software component in the other devices. The invention also concerns a device in a multi-clustered network, the device comprising a software component as above, as well as a device discovery method and a method for establishing a connection between devices.

Abstract: A method for managing a connection in a communication network comprising a bridge interfacing at least two device clusters. The connection is established between a first device and a second device respectively connected to different clusters. The method comprises the steps of, at the level of an application adapted to establish said connection: requesting reserving resources for the connection over the bridge; registering with a portal of said bridge for receiving notification of at least one event type related to the status of the resources allocated to the connection. The invention also concerns a device for carrying out the above method.

Abstract: The invention concerns methods for establishing a connection between a first and a second device in a network comprising a bridge device connecting a first sub-network to a second sub-network. According to a first embodiment, the method is characterized in that it comprises the steps, at the level of a device control module of the first device hosted by the bridge device, of: (a) receiving, from a stream manager, data permitting identification of a peer device control module of the second device; (b) determining whether the device control module and the peer device control module are of the legacy type and have a same device identifier; and (c) in the negative, deducing that the first and second devices are on different sub-networks; (d) in the affirmative, deducing that the first and second devices are on the second sub-network. According to a second embodiment, the stream manager provides the device control modules with more direct information.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method of control of a target device, by a client device, in a heterogeneous network containing at least one bus according to a first given protocol, and at least a second bus according to a second protocol. A gateway between the buses provides centralized means of control of devices that are connected to the buses and that are able to act as target devices. These centralized control means are used to control the target devices of each bus by using the control standard specific to the bus. These centralized control means are made accessible to the devices able to act as clients via a server on the gateway according to a standard communication protocol.

Abstract: Methods for connecting a HAVi cluster and an IP cluster using a bridge device. The first method is characterized in that comprises the steps of:—discovering an IP device on the IP cluster,—creating a HAVi device identifier (GUIDL) for the discovered device,—making the identifier available for reading by bridge aware HAVi software elements. The second method is characterized by the steps of:—discovering a HAVi device on the HAVi cluster,—creating an IP address for the discovered device,—making the IP address available for reading by bridge aware IP software elements. The invention also concerns a bridge device for implementing the methods.

Abstract: The invention concerns a 1. Method for interfacing communication between a first device on a first network and a second device on a second network, the networks being connected by an interface device, the method being carried out by the interface device and being characterized by the steps of: detecting a first message on the first network, said first message being generated by the first device, said first message being relevant for the second device; translating the first message into a format compatible with the second device; sending a second message to the second device on the second network, the second message informing the second device that the first message has been detected; upon reception of a request from the second device, transmitting the translated first message. The invention also concerns a device for implementing the method.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for managing a network comprising a bridge device, said bridge device comprising a first portal connected to a first HAVi cluster and a second portal connected to a second cluster.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for bridging a HAVi network and a UpnP network, in which both networks are connected to a bridge device representing software elements from one network on the other network, at the level of the bridge device. The method comprises the steps of: detecting UpnP devices connected to the UpnP network; creating a proxy HAVi device control module for each UpnP device for representing the UpnP devices on the HAVi network; registering the proxy HAVi device control modules, wherein the proxy HAVi device control modules are declared as being of the legacy device type.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for managing resources of a link in a communication network comprising busses interconnected by at least one link to form a network in which the at least one link is transparent for some protocol layers of nodes connected to the busses.