Digital Living Network Alliance

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is written like an advertisement. Please help rewrite this article from a neutral point of view. For blatant advertising that would require a fundamental rewrite to become encyclopedic, use {{db-spam}} to mark for speedy deletion. (November 2008)

Digital Living Network Alliance
Founded	2003
Headquarters	3855 SW 153rd Drive, Beaverton, Oregon USA
Area served	Worldwide
Members	253
Website	www.dlna.org

DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is a standard used by manufacturers of consumer electronics to allow entertainment devices within the home to share their content with each other across a home network without a complicated configuration process.

[edit] Introduction

The Digital Living Network Alliance is an international, cross-industry collaboration of consumer electronics, computing industry and mobile device companies. Members of DLNA develop a concept of wired and wireless interoperable networks where digital content such as photos, music, and videos can be shared through consumer electronics (CE), personal computers (PCs), and mobile devices in and beyond the home. The organization delivers an interoperability framework and design guidelines that the framework definitions are accompanied by a certification and logo program to communicate the conformance and interoperability of compliant products to consumers.

DLNA was founded in 2003 and published its first set of Interoperability Guidelines in June 2004. The latest version of the DLNA Interoperability Guidelines, version 1.5, was published in March 2006 and then expanded in October 2006. The current guidelines expand the capabilities of the DLNA-defined network to include more device classes and functional capabilities—including printers, mobile devices, controllers, uploaders and downloaders. They also include specifications for Digital Rights Management (DRM) [1] and protected content with WM-DRM and DTCP-DTLA ^[1].

[edit] Certification

The certification and logo program to validate DLNA-compliant products was launched in September 2005, certified products are allowed to use the DLNA CERTIFIED logo.

There are currently four DLNA accredited Independent Certification Vendor testing laboratories covering the major geographic regions (U.S., Japan, Europe and Taiwan) which conduct the conformance and interoperability test suites for the certification. As a part of the program, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) certification is required for products that can be tested for UIC certification. Similarly, for products that support an IEEE 802.11 wireless interface, Wi-Fi certification is required before testing with the DLNA.

As of September 2008 more than 3000 DLNA CERTIFIED products from 36 manufacturers are registered, out of which about 900 are publicly listed on the DLNA website.

As of May 26, 2009 more than 5000 DLNA CERTIFIED products, which the DLNA efforts have certified "2,000 products within the last six months". ^[2]

In addition to the DLNA Certification and Logo Program, the organization hosts technical conferences (plugfests or group test periods) on a quarterly basis to provide its members with opportunities to test products with other companies’ products and prototypes in advance of their formal certification.

[edit] Members

As of 2008 the DLNA organization comprises more than 200 Contributor Members and 26 Promoter Members:

Access, AMD, Acer, AwoX, Broadcom, Cisco, Comcast, DigiOn, HP, Huawei, IBM, Intel, Kenwood, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Macrovision, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, NXP, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba.

[edit] Types of Devices

There are different profiles for DLNA Certified devices, and these can be certified for one or more device profiles.

[edit] Digital Media Server

With this profile, a device which has local storage of content (such as video files) which it makes available for client devices to use. If those devices cannot render a particular format, the server may be able to transcode (convert) the file before sending for streaming to the client device.

[edit] Digital Media Player

With this profile, a device can render (show) content which it requests (or is pushed) from the server. An example of these devices include: Nokia's N95 phone, Samsung and Sony's high-end LCD and LED TVs, Sony's PlayStation 3, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and PCs running Microsoft's Windows 7.

[edit] Digital Media Renderer

These devices are able to receive pushed content from the Digital Media Controller and render onto a monitor or television, or a built-in screen on the device itself.

[edit] Digital Media Controller

With this profile, a device can instruct other devices to do something, such as telling a server to play a video onto a particular television or a photo-frame to send a photo to a printer^[3]

[edit] Digital Media Printer

This device can receive a pushed media item (only images) from a Printer Controller and print them to paper.

[edit] Design Guidelines

The DLNA Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines, expanded in October 2006, consists of three volumes covering Architecture & Protocols, Media Format Profiles and Link Protection. It provides vendors with the information needed to build interoperable networked platforms and devices for the digital home. The digital home vision integrates the Internet, home, mobile, and broadcast networks through a seamless, interoperable network, which will provide a unique opportunity for manufacturers and consumers alike.^{[citation needed]}

The DLNA Design Guidelines are free to members of the organization and can be purchased by non-members for $500 USD.

[edit] See also

• Devices Profile for Web Services
• Wi-Fi Alliance
• Universal Plug and Play#UPnP AV standards
• Digital Rights Management

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Digital Living Network Alliance
• www.last100.com, What is DLNA What DLNA hopes to be and why it is slow to catch on.