1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for changing an input type in an input system using UPnP.
2. Description of the Related Art
Users of a Personal Computer (PC), a laptop computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), etc. use various types of input devices to control those computing or mobile devices. The input devices include a general input device such as a keyboard or a mouse, an input device such as a joystick or a game pad used for video games, and an input device such as a stylus for a professional designer. There are numerous types of input devices for various purposes.
To receive input data transmitted by various input devices, a host device should be equipped with various drivers, which can receive and interpret the input data. Namely, when an input device is connected to a host device, the host device uses input data by interpreting the input data through a driver. Since the host device does not know which input device is to be connected to it, it must include all types of device drivers or a user must install a driver suitable for the connected input device.
To solve such a problem, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard has been used, which is designed to be used even if a new type of an input device is connected. The USB standard divides existing input devices into classes according to types of the input devices. Each class driver manages a specific class device. In particular, a class such as a Human Interface Device (HID) transmits a report descriptor, which defines a data format to be transmitted by an input device.
The USB input device is advantageous in that various input devices can be controlled using a single port and a class driver. However, it is restricted to a wired connection. To overcome such a limitation, the Bluetooth® Special Interface Group (SIG) and USB standard group have developed standard techniques such as Bluetooth® HID profile and Wireless USB, thereby providing a method which can wirelessly connecting an HID to a host device. However, such techniques simply extend the conventional wired function to a wireless environment and include neither considerations of a wireless or network environment nor any new functions.
Recently, mobile devices such as cellular phones and PDAs can process information more quickly compared to conventional devices and operate in an environment which can easily access a network. Based on this trend, the UPnP telephony Working Committee (WC) has defined a service that may use one device as an input device of another device by using a network.