HNTF/Home Network TF Discussions/HomeNetworkUA MediaController
Use Case: Home Network Enabled User-Agent
Submitter(s): Samsung Electronics (Russell Berkoff)
Description:
- Enable a User-Agent to control other media oriented Home Network Devices (3-box model)
- See: Home Network Browser System Diagram
Need/justification:
- Existing Home Network interfaces do not (by scope/tradition) standardize user interface control. However, the combination of HTML markup and Javascript allow both access to Home Network devices functions and access to very capable user interface resources.
Scenarios
- The use-case scenarios are divided into the following sets:
- The User-Agent commands other media oriented home network devices. For example:
- Determine the playback capabilities of a Home Network Media Rendering device.
For example: supported content formats, # of streams, supported resolution(s) - Direct a Home Network Media Rendering device to play compatible content stored on a Home Network Media Server.
- Direct a Home Network Media Rendering device to play live content from a Home Network Media Server capable of streaming content.
- Control Home Network Media Renderer attributes: Brightness, Contrast, Volume, etc.
- Control Home Network Media Renderer multiplex stream selection: Closed Captioning, Language, Subtitling, Camera Angles.
- Determine the playback capabilities of a Home Network Media Rendering device.
- The User-Agent commands other media oriented home network devices. For example:
- Why were you not able to use only existing standards to accomplish this?
- HTML User-Agents do not provided the abstractions necessary for Javascript to issue discover and issue commands to home network devices.
- Basic access methods to home network devices need to be standardized so that developers can implement pages to control Home Network devices using Javascript/HTML.
- What might you suggest could be standardized?
- Provide generic access methods to enable a User-Agent to discover and command home network devices.
- Provide extensions to HTML5 <video>, <audio> elements to allow HTML5 to comply with Home Network Media Transport Requirements (mainly transport protocol specific headers). Also, provide backward-compatible extensions to previous HTML versions to support similar functionality (presumably as browser-plugins).
- Provide access and privacy controls for untrusted pages accessing home network devices.
- Allow pages to control future Home Network device classes where the comand sets are not currently known.
- Allow pages to discover functional differences (optional functionality) that may be implemented in some but not all Home Network ecosystem devices.
Steps:
- The User-Agent commands other media oriented home network devices. For example:
- Direct a Home Network Media Rendering device to play content stored from a Home Network Media Server.
- Direct a Home Network Media Rendering device to play live content from a Home Network Media Server capable of streaming content.
- Control Home Network Media Renderer attributes: Brightness, Contrast, Volume, etc.
- Control Home Network Media Renderer multiplex stream selection: Closed Captioning, Language, Subtitling, Camera Angles.
- Direct a Home Network Media Rendering device to play content stored from a Home Network Media Server.
Dependencies:
- This use-case provides the basic framework for generic access to home network devices. It is "agnostic" towards the underlying functionality of the devices being controlled.