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UPnP Tutorial – Universal Plug and Play Technology

Posted on November 12th, 2008

UPnP – Universal Plug and Play – is a technology intended for smart homes, small offices and other
types of local area networks. It was originally created by Microsoft Corporation in 1999. UPnP is now
under the control of the UPNP forum (http://www.upnp.org), an independent organization with over 770
members. The technical inspiration behind UPnP was to provide a distributed computing framework
based on web technologies for small networks, especially home networks.

The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) is a consortium of over 240 consumer electronics companies whose goal is to develop the standards needed for interoperable networked products for Digital Homes.
DLNA specifications are based primarily on UPnP.

UPnP specifications can be divided into: Architecture and Profiles. The UPnP Device Architecture (UDA)
is the core upon which the device and service specifications are built. The UDA defines two types of
hosts: control points (which are clients) and devices. Devices may include “services”. Devices may be
embedded within other devices.

The architecture has six main features:

1. Addressing – IPv4 and IPv6 auto-configuration protocols
2. Discovery – SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol)
3. Description – XML, data types, device and service descriptions
4. Control – SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
5. Events – GENA (General Event Notification Architecture)
6. Presentation – HTML and vendor extensions

UPnP technology has very strong roots in standard Web technologies. It is based on IP, HTTP, Web
browsing, XML and SOAP. The UPnP discovery protocol, SSDP, reuses HTTP headers. GENA is a
“publish and subscribe” protocol based on HTTP. Though UPnP data types are derived from XML
Schema data types, UPnP descriptions were not originally based on WSDL. This specification did not
exist when UPnP was created. However, efforts are underway to encourage eventual convergence.

UPnP device and service profiles must conform to the mandatory behavior of a UPNP device or service.
However, UPnP Device and Service profiles are not limited to the technology specified in the UDA. Other
protocols, codecs, etc. may be specified as optional or vendor extensions.

Reference: http://www.w3.org/2006/02/reynolds-paper.pdf

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UPNP Technology – UPNP Forum – Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)

Posted on November 12th, 2008

UPNP Technology

  • IPv4 autoconfig
  • XML based device and service descriptions
  • SOAP – Simple Object Application Protocol
  • SSDP – Simple Service Discovery Protocol
  • GENA – General Event Notification Architecture
  • Presentation Service – Web based User Interface to devices and services
  • Device and Service Profiles include:
  • Internet Gateway Device and WLAN Access Points
  • Printers and Scanners, Media Servers and Players
  • Lighting and Home Heating
  • QOS, Security and Remote User Interface

UPNP Forum

  • The UPnP™ Forum was formed by Microsoft in June 1999.
  • Current membership exceeds 730 companies and individuals across multiple industries including consumer electronics, home and enterprise computing, computing services,
  • home automation, home security, appliances, printing, photography and computer networking.
  • The Forum provides an open process for companies to collaborate in the design of
  • device and service specifications and protocol standards for the UPnP™ initiative.
  • The principal goals of UPNP technology are to enable devices to connect seamlessly and
  • to simplify the implementation of networks in home and corporate environments.

Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)

  • The 200+ members of the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) share a vision of a
  • wired and wireless interoperable network of Personal Computers (PC), Consumer
  • Electronics (CE) and mobile devices in the home enabling a seamless environment for
  • sharing and growing new digital media and content services.
  • DLNA is focused on delivering an interoperability framework of design guidelines based
  • on open industry standards to complete the cross­industry digital convergence.
  • Initial emphasis has been on Digital Media Servers and Players
  • Technology
  • Network media: CAT5 Ethernet and 802.11a/b/g WLAN
  • Protocols heavily based on IP and UPNP Forum standards
  • Media Product specifications based on UPNP Media Profile
  • Supported Media Formats are both standard and proprietary
  • DRM strategies are under consideration

Reference: http://www.w3.org/2006/02/slides/reynolds.pdf

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