JP2006211698A - Ip address setting apparatus, ip address setting method, and network system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable even an inexpensive device to perform setting, to perform setting using an ordinary protocol, to suppress a great load to be applied to a network, and to set an IP address or the like of a device on the opposite side of a router. <P>SOLUTION: The present invention comprises: an IP address setting apparatus including a request packet transmitting means for transmitting a request packet requesting information inherent to each node by multicast, an application determining means for specifying a node to set address information based on the result of a response to the request packet and determining the application of the address information; and a setting packet transmitting means for transmitting a setting packet containing the determined address information and the node inherent information to a transmission destination by multicast; and a node receiving the request packet, and comprising a response means for transmitting a response packet by multicast, and an IP address setting means for setting address information as its own address information when the inherent information in the received setting packet is its own information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an IP address setting device and an IP address setting method for setting address information such as an IP address of a network device in a network environment.

  Conventionally, there are the following methods for setting address information such as an IP address of a device such as a network printer connected to a network environment.

That is,
(1) The address information is set by operating the input button of the device while looking at a display device such as a liquid crystal panel attached to the network device.
(2) An IP address is set by a communication protocol other than TCP / IP using a host computer connected to the network.
(3) A network that uses a host computer connected to the network to send a command for notifying the network device of the MAC address by broadcast, confirming the MAC address of the responding network device, and setting the IP address, etc. A command for selecting a device and setting the IP address or the like of the device is transmitted by broadcast, and based on this command, the network device (Printer A) sets address information such as an IP address (see FIG. 5).

  In order to adopt the method shown in (1) above, the network device must be provided with a display device, and an inexpensive network device is not provided with a display device, so an IP address or the like cannot be set. Cases arise.

  In the method shown in (2) above, since a communication protocol other than TCP / IP is used, this method cannot be used when the host computer or the network environment does not support the communication protocol.

  In the method shown in the above (3), since it is necessary to perform communication by broadcasting, a load is applied to the network. Furthermore, since routers installed in a network environment generally do not pass broadcast packets, it is often impossible to set IP addresses of network devices connected to the other side of the router.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an IP address or the like can be set even in an inexpensive network device that is not provided with a display device, and is set using a communication protocol that is normally supported in a network environment. Providing an IP address setting device, an IP address setting method, and a network system that can suppress a heavy load on the network and can set address information such as an IP address of a network device on the other side of the router The purpose is to do.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the node according to claim 1 (for example, a network device including a network printer) requests a specific multicast address to request unique information (for example, a MAC address) of each node in the network. Request packet transmission means for transmitting a packet by multicast, and a node to set address information such as an IP address based on a response result to the transmission of the request packet, and a TCP / IP such as a predetermined IP address / gateway address A destination packet that includes address determination information in the TCP / IP protocol, such as an IP address and a gateway address determined by the address determination means, and unique information of the node. A request packet that is connected to an IP address setting device that includes a router, and that is connected to an IP address setting device including a router and that participates in the predetermined multicast address. A node that has received the packet, and MAC (Media Access Control), response means for transmitting a response packet including its own unique information to the predetermined multicast address by multicast via the MAC, and received setting When the unique information in the packet is its own unique information, the address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as the IP address / gateway address in the setting packet is changed to the address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as the own IP address / gateway address. Address information and And IP address setting means for setting.

  The network system according to claim 2, wherein a request packet transmitting means for transmitting a request packet for requesting unique information of each node of the network to a predetermined multicast address by multicast, and a response result to the transmission of the request packet An assignment determination means for specifying a node on which address information such as an IP address should be set based on the IP address and address information such as an IP address in a TCP / IP protocol such as a predetermined IP address and gateway address, and the assignment determination means A setting packet transmitting means for transmitting a setting packet including address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as the IP address / gateway address determined by the above and unique information of the node to the destination by multicast. A node in a TCP / IP network environment connected to the address setting device and the IP address setting device and provided with a router, and a node participating in the predetermined multicast address and receiving the request packet; MAC (Media Access Control), a response means for transmitting a response packet including its own unique information to the predetermined multicast address by multicast via the MAC, and the unique information in the received setting packet IP address setting for setting the address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as the IP address and gateway address in the setting packet as the address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as its own IP address and gateway address Means A node.

  An IP address setting method according to claim 3, wherein the IP address setting device transmits a request packet requesting specific information of each node of the network to a predetermined multicast address by multicast, and a TCP including a router. / IP network environment node that participates in the predetermined multicast address and receives the request packet, the response packet including its own unique information is sent to the MAC for the predetermined multicast address. (Media Access Control) transmitting by multicast, and in the IP address setting device, a node to which address information such as an IP address should be set is specified based on a result of the response packet, and a predetermined IP address gateway Address A setting packet including address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as the determined IP address / gateway address and unique information of the relevant node to the destination The IP address setting device transmitting by multicast, and in the network printer, when the unique information in the received setting packet is its own unique information, the IP address / gateway address in the setting packet, etc. And setting address information in the TCP / IP protocol as address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as its own IP address and gateway address.

  According to the present invention, even an inexpensive network device that is not provided with a display device can set an IP address and the like, can be set using a communication protocol that is normally supported in a network environment, and has a heavy load on the network. And address information such as the IP address of the network device on the other side of the router can be set.

  In addition, a node to which address information such as an address should be set can be selected from nodes in the network environment (network devices including a network printer).

  Hereinafter, an IP address setting device and an IP address setting method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  The IP address setting device according to the present embodiment has the following configuration.

That is, (1) means for transmitting a packet arranged on a host computer and requesting a MAC address to be returned with a specific multicast address as a transmission destination address (2) on a network device (for example, a network printer) Means for receiving packets addressed to a specific multicast address (3) When a reply request for a MAC address is received on a network device, a multicast address including the MAC address of the network device is transmitted to the destination. Means (4) Means for displaying a list of returned MAC addresses arranged on the host computer (5) Address information such as an IP address for one of the displayed MAC addresses arranged on the host computer Means of designation The address information includes an IP address, a subnet mask, a default gateway, and the like.
(6) Means for transmitting a packet for requesting a setting, which is arranged on the host computer and includes a MAC address and address information such as an IP address, to the multicast address. (7) Arranged on the network device and the MAC address. When a packet containing address information such as an IP address is received and the MAC address in this packet matches the MAC address of the network device, the address information such as the IP address in the packet is set as its own address information. According to the IP address setting device and the IP address setting method of the present embodiment, since packets for setting address information such as IP addresses are transmitted by multicast, the packets are transmitted by broadcast. Compared to the case The load can be reduced. Since the address information is set for the network device by multicast transmission, it is possible to set the address information of the network device connected beyond the router.

  Hereinafter, an IP address setting device and an IP address setting method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1A illustrates a part of the hardware configuration of the network printer. 1 is a CPU for controlling printing, 2 is a readable / writable RAM, 3 is a read-only ROM, 4 is a MAC mounted on a NIC mounted on or mounted on a device, and 5 Is a physical layer composed of a physical signal sublayer and a connection interface, and 6 is a transceiver connected to the connection interface. The transceiver 6 is connected to the network via a network cable.

  Here, the MAC 4 is composed of a read-only memory (ROM), in which a MAC address (6 bytes) used as an address of a frame header transmitted to the network is written. The MAC address consists of a manufacturer code, a serial number, etc., and is unique to the NIC.

  FIG. 1B shows an example of a network configuration in which the present IP address setting device and IP address setting method are used. A group G1 from nodes n1 to n6 of the network and a group G2 from node n7 are connected via a router 7. This router 7 is a multicast router. Thereby, address information such as IP addresses of other groups beyond the router 7 can be set from the host computer which is one of the nodes. If it is not a multicast router, it cannot be set beyond the router, but it can be set within the same group.

  When an address such as an IP address of a network printer is to be set, as shown in FIG. 2A, the host computer returns a MAC address by multicast to a predetermined multicast address (239.255.22.23). Send the requested packet.

  The network printers (Printer A and Printer B) that have received this packet send back a packet containing its own MAC address to the multicast address, as shown in FIG. 2 (b). In the example of FIG. 2, the MAC address of Printer A is 00-80-77-31-00-04, and the MAC address of Printer B is 00-80-77-31-00-08.

  The host computer that has received this reply sets address information such as a predetermined IP address for a network printer that needs to set address information such as an IP address, as shown in FIG. A packet including the MAC address of the printer and the address information is transmitted to the multicast address by multicast. In the example of FIG. 2, address information is set only for Printer A. As the address information, the IP address is 133.151.12.34, the subnet mask is 255.255.0.0, and the default gateway 133.1151.1.1. Since the address information is not set in Printer B, the packet is not transmitted.

  Upon receiving this packet, Printer A sets address information such as an IP address in the packet as its own address information, as shown in FIG.

  The details of the above process will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. The flowchart of FIG. 3 relates to the processing process of the host computer, and the flowchart of FIG. 4 relates to the processing process of the printer.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the router notifies the router that the host computer is participating in a predetermined multicast address (239.255.22.23) using the IGMP protocol (S1). This predetermined multicast address is a multicast address set and stored in the built-in ROM when the network printer is manufactured. For flexible operation, the host computer may be determined separately by the host computer or may be individually input by the user.

  Next, a packet requesting a MAC address is transmitted by multicast (S2), and a response is waited (S3). A list of printer names and MAC addresses of the responding network printers is displayed on the screen of a display device such as a CRT (S4). The user selects a network printer for setting address information such as an IP address from the displayed list and inputs the address information. Therefore, these input wait states are entered (S5), and it is determined whether there is an input (S6).

  When the address information is input, a packet including the address information is transmitted (S7). It waits for a certain time (vs. 2 seconds) (S8). It is determined whether a packet (OK packet) indicating that address information such as an IP address has been set is received (S9). If an OK packet is received (S9, YES), the address information such as the IP address is normal. Is displayed on the screen of a display device such as a CRT (S10), and the process ends. If an OK packet is not received (S9, NO), an error display is displayed on the screen of a display device such as a CRT, and the process ends.

  As shown in FIG. 4, each network device (network printer in this embodiment) notifies the router that it is participating in a predetermined multicast address (239.255.22.23) by the IGMP protocol (S12). The system waits for a packet to be transmitted from the host computer (S13).

  If a packet is received, it is determined whether or not the packet is a packet for instructing a request to send back a MAC address by multicast (S14). If it is the packet, a packet including its own MAC address and printer name is determined. Transmit (S15).

  If it is not the packet, it is determined whether it is a packet for instructing setting of address information by multicast (S16). If it is the packet, it is determined whether the MAC address in the packet is the same as its own MAC address (S17). If they are the same, address information such as an IP address is set (S18), and a packet (OK packet) indicating that the setting of the address information such as the IP address is completed is transmitted (S20). If they are not identical, the packet is ignored. If the packet is not a command for setting address information by multicast in S16 (S16, NO), other processing is performed (S19).

  Since the router used in the network configuration shown in FIG. 1B is a multicast router, setting beyond the router can be performed by using the IGMP protocol. Since the host computer and the network printer have notified the router that they are participating in the specific multicast address using the IGMP protocol, the host computer and the network printer can communicate with each other by using this multicast address. Because it is possible.

  Note that if the router is not a multicast router, settings beyond the router cannot be made, but even in this case, communication between the host computers and network printers in the same group is not possible without using the IGMP protocol. it can.

It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions used for the IP address setting apparatus and IP address setting method of the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the process of the IP address setting apparatus of an Example of this invention, and an IP address setting method. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the IP address setting apparatus of an Example of this invention, and an IP address setting method. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the IP address setting apparatus of an Example of this invention, and an IP address setting method. It is a figure which shows the conventional IP address setting method.

Explanation of symbols

4 MAC
7 Routers n1 to n6 Nodes belonging to the first group G1 n7 to n12 Nodes belonging to the second group G2

Claims (3)

Request packet transmitting means for transmitting a request packet for requesting specific information of each node of the network to a predetermined multicast address by multicast;
An assignment determining means for identifying a node to which address information such as an IP address should be set based on a response result to the transmission of the request packet and assigning and determining address information in a TCP / IP protocol such as a predetermined IP address / gateway address; ,
Setting packet transmission means for transmitting a setting packet including address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as the IP address / gateway address determined by the grant determination means and unique information of the node to the transmission destination by multicast;
A node in a TCP / IP network environment provided with a router and connected to an IP address setting device, and a node participating in the predetermined multicast address and receiving the request packet,
MAC (Media Access Control)
Response means for transmitting a response packet including its own unique information to the predetermined multicast address by multicast via the MAC;
When the unique information in the received setting packet is its own unique information, the address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as the IP address / gateway address in the setting packet is changed to the TCP / IP such as the own IP address / gateway address. IP address setting means for setting as address information in the IP protocol;
A node characterized by comprising: Request packet transmitting means for transmitting a request packet for requesting specific information of each node of the network to a predetermined multicast address by multicast;
Based on the response result to the transmission of the request packet, a node to which address information such as an IP address should be set is specified, and address information such as an IP address in the TCP / IP protocol such as a predetermined IP address / gateway address is assigned and determined. Grant determination means;
Setting packet transmission means for transmitting a setting packet including address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as the IP address / gateway address determined by the grant determination means and unique information of the node to the transmission destination by multicast;
An IP address setting device comprising:
A node connected to the IP address setting device and provided with a router in a TCP / IP network environment, and a node participating in the predetermined multicast address and receiving the request packet;
MAC (Media Access Control)
Response means for transmitting a response packet including its own unique information to the predetermined multicast address by multicast via the MAC;
When the unique information in the received setting packet is its own unique information, the address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as the IP address / gateway address in the setting packet is changed to the TCP / IP such as the own IP address / gateway address. IP address setting means for setting as address information in the IP protocol;
A node comprising:
A network system comprising: A step in which the IP address setting device transmits a request packet for requesting unique information of each node of the network to a predetermined multicast address by multicast;
A response packet including its own unique information at the node that is a node of a TCP / IP network environment including a router and participates in the predetermined multicast address and receives the request packet. A step of transmitting by multicast via the MAC (Media Access Control),
In the IP address setting device, a node to which address information such as an IP address should be set is specified based on a result of the response packet, and address information in a TCP / IP protocol such as a predetermined IP address / gateway address is assigned and determined. Process,
A step in which the IP address setting device transmits a setting packet including address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as the determined IP address / gateway address and unique information of the node to the transmission destination by multicast;
In the network printer, when the unique information in the received setting packet is its own unique information, the address information in the TCP / IP protocol such as the IP address / gateway address in the setting packet is changed to its own IP address / Setting as address information in a TCP / IP protocol such as a gateway address;
An IP address setting method comprising:

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