Exploring the Universal Plug and Play Architecture
Custom Connections
© designalldone, Fotolia
Universal Plug and Play provides an easy framework for seamless integration of network devices. Learn how to build your own UPnP solution using the open source BRisa framework.
The arrival of consumer electronic devices such as PDAs, cell phones, and Internet tablets has placed new emphasis on techniques for connecting and sharing information [1]. The Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) standard [2] is a good candidate to provide pervasive services for a new generation of electronic devices.
The original concept of Plug and Play focused on dynamically attaching devices directly to a computer. A device driver controlled by the operating system detected the peripheral and made it available to the user via system calls. The new Universal Plug and Play standard offers a radically different approach: Devices operate on a network and are detected with the use of network protocols. The system calls used in the previous plug and play architecture are replaced by remote method invocation with the use of SOAP web services.
A UPnP network is a collection of interconnected computers, network appliances, and wireless devices that use UPnP to discover, advertise, and access network services. The goal is to provide an easy-to-use framework for creating tools to support the communication of network-based devices. UPnP achieves this goal by defining and publishing UPnP device control protocols built on open, Internet-based communication standards [3]. As you might expect, UPnP supports connections for devices such as cell phones or MP3 players, but UPnP also offers benefits for connecting to conventional peripherals such as printers, as well as wireless household electronic gadgets for controlling appliances, lights, doors, and curtains.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.