JP3529636B2 - Communication control method and communication control device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for communicating between portable information communication devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case of communicating between terminal devices using conventional networks such as the Internet, which is rapidly expanding at present, it is necessary to know in advance an identifier such as an address for identifying a communicating party. was there. An IP address or host name on the Internet corresponds to this. Conversely, if the user does not know the IP address or host name of the other party, communication cannot be performed.
Further, even if they knew them in advance, it was not possible to know whether or not the other party could communicate at present until they tried to connect.

On the other hand, Microsoft provided by Windows 95 (trademark of Microsoft Corporation)
With the network browsing feature, the user simply clicks on the icon without any preparation.
It is possible to know the terminal device connected to the soft network, and by selecting a partner with whom to communicate, it is possible to start communication with the partner. Micr
The reference function of the soft network is realized by one of the networks serving as a reference server, a terminal device connected to the network notifying the reference server of its existence at startup, and inquiring of the server about the existence of another terminal device. There is.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]
Although the reference function of the ft network is basically available within the same segment, there is a problem that the reference function cannot be used with a terminal device connected to a remote distant segment. In order to be able to start communication without knowing the identifier for identifying the terminal device in advance, including the remote terminal device, it is possible to connect to a remote network by dialing up or to use WINS (Windows Internet).
t Naming Service). If the former knows the telephone number of the dial-up destination, it can know the existence of a plurality of terminal devices connected to the destination network. In the latter case, if the IP address of the WINS server is known, it is possible to know the existence of a plurality of terminal devices known by the WINS server.

However, in both cases, basically, the existence or disappearance of the terminal device is only notified when the (operating system) such as Windows 95 is started or ended, so that it occurs in the mobile terminal device connected wirelessly. Acknowledgment becomes less sensitive to the movement of the OS while it is running.
Specifically, even if the terminal device that appears with the OS running cannot be recognized, or if the OS does not remain running,
It can take tens of minutes to recognize that you are gone. Further, it is only possible to detect the duplication of the identifier for distinguishing the terminal device from the other (that different terminal devices have the same identifier), so it is necessary to always restart the OS when connecting to the remote. It was inconvenient.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a communication control device capable of smoothly communicating with a terminal device connected to a remote segment and a terminal device moving between a plurality of segments.

More specifically, the information of the terminal device of its own segment is collected, the information of the remote segment and that of the terminal device are exchanged, and the obtained terminal information of the remote segment is notified to the terminal device of its own segment. As a result, other terminal devices in the segment can finely know the information of the terminal device including the remote segment without having to re-start the OS, and it is also possible that the OS has a duplicate identifier. It is possible to know without restarting.

[0008]

(1) A communication control method according to the present invention is a communication for performing control for communication between terminal devices connected to each of a first network and a plurality of second networks. A control method, comprising: terminal identification information including address information of the terminal device notified from a terminal device connected to the first network; and the second network via a communication path set as necessary. The terminal identification information including the address information of the terminal device connected to the second network received from the storage means, and the terminal identification information notified from the terminal device connected to the first network is stored in the second unit. The network identification information received from the second network is notified to each terminal device connected to the first network, and The communication is performed between the terminal devices connected to each of the first network and the plurality of second networks based on the terminal identification information stored in the column.

According to the present invention, communication can be smoothly performed between a terminal device connected to a remote segment (network) and a terminal device moving between a plurality of segments (network).

For example, the communication control device of the present invention (for example,
In the communication system using the communication control device connected to the first network, even the terminal devices connected to the distant segment (second network) are connected to each other by the communication control device of the present invention. If it is a segment, the existence of the terminal device can be recognized without knowing the address of the terminal device in advance. In addition, the disappearance of the terminal device can be known in detail.

(2) The communication control device of the present invention is connected to the first network, and performs communication between the terminal devices connected to the first network and each of the plurality of second networks. A communication control device for controlling, the first receiving means for receiving terminal identification information including address information of a terminal device connected to the first network from the first network, and set as necessary. Second receiving means for receiving terminal identification information including address information of a terminal device connected to the second network from the second network via the communication path, and the first and second receiving means. Storage means for storing the terminal identification information received in step 1, transmission means for transmitting the terminal identification information received in the first receiving means to the second network, and second receiving means. Second transmission means for transmitting the received terminal identification information to each terminal device connected to the first network, and the first network based on the terminal identification information stored in the storage means. Multiple second
Communication is performed between terminal devices connected to each of the networks.

According to the present invention, communication can be smoothly performed between a terminal device connected to a remote segment (network) and a terminal device moving between a plurality of segments (network).

For example, in a communication system using the communication control device of the present invention, even a terminal device connected to a distant segment (second network) is a segment connected to each other by the communication control device of the present invention. If so, the existence of the terminal device can be recognized without knowing the address of the terminal device in advance. In addition, the disappearance of the terminal device can be known in detail.

(3) In addition, a packet to be transmitted from the terminal device connected to the first network to the terminal device connected to the second network is transmitted to the terminal device connected to the second network. It further comprises a generation unit that generates the second address information for giving, and a third transmission unit that transmits the address information generated by the generation unit to each terminal device connected to the first network. Then, the storage means stores the second address information generated by the generation means in association with the terminal identification information, and based on the terminal identification information and the second address information stored in the storage means. The communication is performed between the terminal devices connected to the first network and the plurality of second networks, respectively.

According to the invention, the remote segment (second
Unicast at the data link level to the terminal device of the network).

(4) Further, when the communication path established with the second network is disconnected, the terminal identification information of the terminal device connected to the second network, the communication path of which is disconnected, is provided as the terminal identification information. By deleting from the storage means, it becomes possible to quickly know that the remote terminal device disappears when the connection between the distant segments (the second network) is cut off, and the other party (the communication path is disconnected) that cannot be transmitted. Second
Useless traffic to the communication control device connected to the network.

(5) Further, only when there is a terminal device connected to the first network, it is necessary to transmit / receive the terminal identification information by setting a communication path with the second network. The segments that are not present can be separated to reduce the traffic between the segments.

(6) Further, since the terminal identification information received by the first and second receiving means includes information about multicast, the terminal device connected to a distant segment (second network) Even in the configured multicast group, it is possible to obtain the group ID and the information of the terminal devices participating in the group.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of the entire communication system using the communication control device 1 according to the present embodiment.
The third segment (network) is connected by a backbone network 50 such as the Internet or an intranet.

Each of the first to third segments may be configured using a LAN (local area network) such as Ethernet. In this case, the communication control device 1 and the self-notification communication device in the same segment are connected by a wired Ethernet interface (for example, LAN P
C card).

A self-notification type communication device (hereinafter simply referred to as a terminal) is a device having a function of notifying its own terminal identification information to another device (here, the communication control device 1) in the same segment. That is. As a method of notifying its own terminal identification information, for example, it is possible to periodically broadcast its own terminal identification information in the segment,
Alternatively, the notification may be made according to a notification request from a specific terminal, and the present invention is not particularly limited.

Each of the first to third segments includes communication control devices 1a to 1c according to the present invention (for the sake of explanation, these are collectively referred to as the communication control device 1 unless it is necessary to distinguish them). Yes) is connected.

The first segment is connected to the backbone network 50 by the router 2 and includes the communication control device 1a (terminal identifier "AX"), the terminal 11 (terminal identifier "A1"),
The wireless bridges 3 are connected to each other, for example, by Ethernet so that they can communicate with each other. The terminals 12 (terminal identifier “A2”) and 13 (terminal identifier “A3”) are wireless LA
It has an N interface and is connected so as to be able to communicate with the wireless bridge 3.

The second segment is the communication control device 1b.
(Terminal identifier "BX") is connected to the backbone network 50 so that the communication control device 1b, the terminal 21 (terminal identifier "B1"), and the terminal 22 (terminal identifier "B2") can communicate with each other via Ethernet, for example. It is connected to the.

The third segment is connected to the backbone network 50 by the router 4, and the router 4 and the wireless bridge 5 are connected so that they can communicate with each other, for example, by Ethernet. Communication control device 1c (terminal identifier "C
X ”), terminals 31 (terminal identifier“ C1 ”) and 32 (terminal identifier“ C2 ”) have wireless LAN interfaces and are connected to the wireless bridge 5 so that they can communicate with each other.

The communication control device 1a connected to the first segment, the communication control device 1b connected to the second segment, and the communication control device 1c connected to the third segment are the backbone network. 5, multiple routers 2,
4 and the like so that they can communicate with each other. Specifically, the communication control devices 1a to 1c are, for example,
Connect with TCP / IP. It is possible for TCP / IP to use Ethernet for the data link, and the local network IF unit 101 and the remote network IF unit 105 of the communication control device 1 may be the same network card. In this case, the local network IF
The packet passed to the unit 101 and the packet passed to the remote network IF unit 105 can be identified by each IF unit independently performing binding with the network card.

Although the communication control devices 1a to 1c are connected to each other via the Internet or the intranet via a plurality of routers, the communication control devices 1a to 1c are not limited to this case. It is also possible to make a dial-up connection using a public wireless network. When using a public wireless network, there is an advantage that the place of use is less restricted than a connection via the Internet.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
2 shows an exemplary configuration of the communication control device 1 according to the embodiment.

In FIG. 2, the communication control device 1 includes a local network IF unit 101 and a terminal identification information receiving unit 1.
02, the terminal identification information storage unit 103, and the communication path setting unit 1
04, a remote network IF unit 105, a terminal identification information exchange unit 106, and a terminal identification information transmission unit 107.

The local network IF section 101 is a segment (local segment) to which its own device is connected.
It is responsible for the interface for receiving packets from and sending packets to terminals in the local segment. Among packets received from terminals in the local segment, a packet including a terminal identifier for identifying each terminal and address information of the terminal (the terminal identifier and the address information of the terminal are collectively referred to as terminal identification information) (hereinafter referred to as "terminal identification information"). Such a packet is called a terminal identification information packet to distinguish it from other packets) and is passed to the terminal identification information receiving unit 102. Also, the terminal identification information packet passed from the terminal identification information transmitting unit 107 is transmitted to the terminals in the local segment.

The terminal identification information receiving unit 102 extracts the terminal identification information such as the terminal identifier and the address information from the terminal identification information packet passed from the local network IF unit 101, and stores the extracted terminal identification information. Hand it over to section 103. Further, it notifies the terminal identification information exchange unit 106 that the terminal identification information has been received. Further, when the terminal identification information received last time is the same as the terminal identification information received this time, it is preferable not to notify the terminal identification information exchanging unit 106, in which case the traffic between the communication control devices 1 can be reduced.

The terminal identification information storage unit 103 stores the terminal identifier, address information, etc. passed from the terminal identification information receiving unit 102 in association with each terminal.

The communication path setting unit 104 communicates with a communication control device (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a remote device) 1 connected to a segment (remote segment) different from the local segment to which the own device is connected. The remote network IF unit 105 is instructed to set the communication path.
The setting of the communication path is not particularly limited, but may be performed by an instruction from the user or at the time of starting, for example. Alternatively, both of them may be used.

The remote network IF section 105 is for actually setting the communication path with the remote device instructed by the communication path setting section 104. After setting the communication path, the remote network IF section 105 receives packets from the remote apparatus and / or the remote apparatus. It controls the interface for sending packets to. The terminal identification information of the terminal connected to the same segment as the remote device in the received packet is passed to the terminal identification information exchange unit 106. In addition, the terminal identification information exchange unit 10
The packet passed from 6 is transmitted to the remote device.

The local network IF unit 10
1. The remote network IF unit 105 is the same PC
It may be configured on a card (here, a LAN card), and the terminal identifier and address information are set (written) in the PC card.

When the terminal identification information exchange section 106 is notified by the terminal identification information reception section 102 that the terminal identification information is received, the terminal identification information exchange section 106 of the terminal connected to the local segment stored in the terminal identification information storage section 103 is notified. The terminal identification information is acquired, a terminal identification information packet is generated, and the packet is passed to the remote network IF unit 105 so as to be transmitted to the remote device whose communication path is currently set. Also, the terminal identifier and address information are extracted from the terminal identification information packet of the terminal connected to the remote segment, which is passed from the remote network IF section 105, and the extracted terminal identification information is passed to the terminal identification information storage section 103.

Therefore, the terminal identification information storage unit 103 stores not only the terminal identification information of the terminal connected to the local segment delivered from the terminal identification information receiving unit 102 but also the terminal identification information of the terminal connected to the remote segment. deep.

Further, the terminal identification information exchange section 106 notifies the terminal identification information transmission section 107 that the terminal identification information has been received from the remote segment.

When the terminal identification information exchange section 106 is notified that the terminal identification information packet is received from the remote segment, the terminal identification information transmission section 107 connects from the terminal identification information storage section 103 to the same segment as the remote device. The terminal identification information of the existing terminal is acquired, a terminal identification information packet is generated and passed to the local network IF unit 101.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart schematically showing the processing when the terminal identification information packet is received from the local segment. First, when the local network IF unit 101 receives the terminal identification information packet (step S1), the terminal identification information receiving unit 102 extracts the terminal identification information including the terminal identifier and the address information of the terminal from the packet. The extracted terminal identification information is stored in the terminal identification information storage unit 103 (step S2). Then, from the remote network IF unit 105 to the remote device,
The stored terminal identification information is transmitted (step S
3).

FIG. 4 is a flow chart schematically showing the processing when the terminal identification information packet is received from the remote device. First, the remote network IF unit 105
Receives the terminal identification information packet (step S1
1), terminal identification information including a terminal identifier and address information of the terminal is extracted from the packet. The extracted terminal identification information is stored in the terminal identification information storage unit 103 (step S12). Then, the local network IF unit 10
The stored terminal identification information is notified from 1 to the terminal in the local segment (step S13).

Next, taking the communication control device 1a of the first segment in the network configuration of FIG. 1 as an example, its specific processing operation will be described with reference to FIGS. The communication control devices 1b and 1c are also referred to as the communication control device 1a.
Is the same as.

First, the communication control device 1a sets a communication path with the communication control device 1b of the second segment and a communication path with the communication control device 1c of the third segment.
For example, when setting a communication path by making a TCP / IP connection, it is necessary to know the IP address of the other party. As a method of knowing the IP addresses of the communication control apparatuses 1b and 1c of the connection partner, a method in which the user writes them in a file or the like of the communication control apparatus 1a in advance can be considered. Also, DN
If S (Domain Name System) is available, the host name can be set instead of the IP address itself, and the burden on the user is reduced.

Next, the communication control unit 1a is connected to the terminals 11-1.
The terminal identification information notified by 3 is received (as a terminal identification information packet) (step S1). Terminal 11-
When the terminal identification information packet transmitted for the first time from 13 is received, the terminal identification information receiving unit 102 of the communication control device 1a.
Extracts terminal identification information including a terminal identifier and address information of the terminal from the packet, and registers the extracted terminal identification information in the terminal identification information storage unit 103 as shown in FIG. 5 (step S2). .

As shown in FIG. 5, the terminal identification information storage unit 1
In 03, the address information of the terminal, the segment to which the terminal is connected, and the management terminal connected to the segment, that is, the identifier of the communication control device are registered in correspondence with the terminal identifier. . From the terminal identification information notified from each of the terminals 11 to 13 of the first segment, the terminal identification information storage unit 103 stores “A” as the address information for the terminal 11 having the terminal identifier “A1”.
Address 11 ”, a“ first segment ”as a connection segment, and a terminal identifier“ AX ”of the communication control device 1a as a management terminal identifier are written. Similarly, for the terminal 12 having the terminal identifier “A2”, the address information “Address12”, the connection segment “first segment”, and the management terminal identifier “AX” are written. For the terminal 13 of “A3”, the address information “Address
s13 ”, the connection segment is the“ first segment ”, and the management terminal identifier is the terminal identifier“ AX ”of the communication control device 1a.

The contents registered in the terminal identification information storage unit 103 are sent from the communication control device 1a to the communication control devices 1b and 1c (step S3), and in the communication control devices 1b and 1c,
It is registered in the terminal identification information storage unit 103 according to the procedure as shown in FIG. 4 (step S12).

In the present embodiment and other embodiments described later, the terminal identifier and the address information are separate, but one terminal can serve as both the terminal identifier and the address information. For example, when Ethernet or wireless LAN is used for the data link, the address information of the LAN card, that is, the MAC address can be uniquely identified from the MAC addresses of all other LAN cards. Therefore,
If the MAC address is used as the terminal identifier, the MAC
The address can serve as both the terminal identifier and the address information.

The communication control device 1b of the second segment also
Similarly to the above (steps S1 to S3), the terminal identification information of the terminals 21 and 22 is transmitted to the communication control devices 1a and 1c, and the communication control devices 1a and 1c follow the procedure as shown in FIG. It is registered in the identification information storage unit 103 (step S12).

The communication control device 1c of the third segment is also
In the same manner as above (steps S1 to S3), the terminal identification information of the communication devices 31 and 32 is set to the communication control devices 1a and 1 respectively.
b, and the communication control devices 1a and 1b register it in the terminal identification information storage unit 103 according to the procedure shown in FIG. 4 (step S12).

As described above, the communication control devices 1a, 1b, 1c
As shown in FIG. 6, the contents of the terminal identification information storage unit 103 are registered with the terminal identification information of all the terminals notified from the communication control devices in the first to third segments.

Now, the communication control device 1a includes the terminals 21 and 22 from the communication control device 1b, and the terminal 3 from the communication control device 1c.
When the terminal identification information of 1, 32 is received, the information is first
To each terminal in the segment (step S1
3). As a result, the terminals 11, 1 in the first segment
2 and 13 are other segments (second and third segments)
It is possible to acquire the terminal identification information of the terminals (terminals 21, 22, 31, 32) inside the terminal.

In step S13, the communication control device 1
a is in the first segment in the terminals 21, 22, 31,
By periodically broadcasting the terminal identification information of 32, the terminals in the first segment can know in detail the appearance and disappearance of terminals in other segments. It should be noted that the method by which the communication control device notifies each terminal in the local segment of the terminal identification information of the terminal in the remote segment in step S13 is not limited to the above method.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
2 shows an exemplary configuration of the communication control device 1 according to the embodiment. In FIG. 7, the same parts as those in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals, and only different parts will be described. That is, the communication control device 1 shown in FIG.
8 is further provided.

The local network IF unit 101 controls an interface for receiving a packet from a local segment and transmitting a packet to a terminal in the local segment. Among the packets received from the terminals in the local segment, the packet (terminal identification information packet) including the terminal identifier for identifying each terminal and the address information (terminal identification information) of the terminal is sent to the terminal identification information receiving unit 102. hand over. Also, the terminal identification information packet passed from the terminal identification information transmitting unit 107 is transmitted to the terminals in the local segment. Further, a user data packet carrying user data is transferred to the packet transfer unit 108.
Hand over to.

The terminal identification information receiving unit 102 extracts the terminal identifier and address information from the terminal identification information packet passed from the local network IF unit 101, and passes the extracted information to the terminal identification information storage unit 103. Further, it notifies the terminal identification information exchange unit 106 that the terminal identification information has been received. If the terminal identification information received last time and the terminal identification information received this time are the same, the terminal identification information exchange unit 1
It is preferable not to notify 06. In this case, the traffic between the communication control devices 1 can be reduced.

The terminal identification information storage unit 103 stores the terminal identifier, address information, etc. passed from the terminal identification information receiving unit 102 and the terminal identification information exchanging unit 106 in association with each terminal.

The communication path setting unit 104 sets a communication path with the communication control device (hereinafter, also referred to as a remote device) 1 connected to a segment other than the local segment to which the own device is connected. To the remote network IF unit 105.

The remote network IF section 105 is for actually setting the communication path with the remote device instructed by the communication path setting section 104. After setting the communication path, the remote network IF section 105 receives packets from the remote apparatus and / or the remote apparatus. It controls the interface for sending packets to. Of the received packets, the terminal identification information packet of the terminal connected to the same segment as the remote device is passed to the terminal identification information exchange unit 106, and the user data packet is passed to the packet transfer unit 108. Also, the packet passed from the terminal identification information exchange unit 106 or the packet transfer unit 108 is transmitted to the remote device.

When the terminal identification information receiving section 102 notifies the terminal identification information exchange section 106 that the terminal identification information is received, the terminal identification information exchange section 106 of the terminal connected to the local segment stored in the terminal identification information storage section 103. The terminal identification information is acquired, a terminal identification information packet is generated, and the packet is passed to the remote network IF unit 105 so as to be transmitted to the remote device whose communication path is currently set. Also, the terminal identifier and address information are extracted from the terminal identification information packet of the terminal connected to the remote segment, which is passed from the remote network IF section 105, and the extracted terminal identification information is passed to the terminal identification information storage section 103. At this time, each terminal connected to the remote segment newly generates an address (hereinafter referred to as a local address, which is distinguishable from the address information given in advance to the terminal connected to each segment) that the device can receive. Then, the generated local address is also passed to the terminal identification information storage unit 103. Further, the terminal identification information exchange section 106 notifies the terminal identification information transmission section 107 that the terminal identification information has been received from the remote segment.

When the terminal identification information transmitting unit 107 is notified by the terminal identification information exchanging unit 106 of the reception of the terminal identification information packet from the remote segment, the terminal identification information storage unit 103 outputs the terminal of the terminal connected to the remote segment. The identification information is acquired, a terminal identification information packet is generated, and passed to the local network IF 101. In the terminal identification information packet generated at this time, the previously generated local address is placed instead of the original address information.

The packet transfer unit 108 transfers the packet of the user data packet delivered from the local network IF unit 101, which is addressed to the terminal connected to the remote segment, to the communication control device of the remote segment. The user data packet transferred from the remote segment transferred from the remote network IF unit 105 is transferred to the local network IF unit 101.
When the packet passed from the local network IF unit 101 is transferred, the received packet may include a local address. In that case, the original address information is replaced. The correspondence between the local address and the original address information can be obtained by referring to the terminal identification information storage unit 103. When the packet passed from the remote network IF unit 105 is passed to the local network IF unit 101, the address information in the packet is replaced with the local address.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart schematically showing the processing when the terminal identification information packet is received from the communication control device 1 of the remote segment. First, when the remote network IF unit 101 receives the terminal identification information packet (step S31), the terminal identification information exchange unit 106.
Extracts terminal identification information including a terminal identifier and address information of the terminal from the packet, and generates a local address (step S32). The terminal identification information and local address extracted from the packet are stored in the terminal identification information storage unit 1
03 (step S33). Then, the terminal connected to the local segment is notified of the terminal identification information including the local address instead of the original address information (step S34).

FIG. 9 is a flow chart schematically showing the processing when a user data packet is received from the local segment. First, when the local network IF unit 101 receives a user data packet (step S41), the destination of the packet is checked. If the destination is the terminal connected to the local segment, the packet is discarded and the process ends (step S45). When the destination is addressed to the remote segment, first, the terminal identification information storage unit 103 is searched to check whether there is a local address corresponding to the destination address information in the packet. If there is, the address information in the packet is checked. Is replaced with the local address (step S43). After replacement, the communication control device 1 of the remote segment to which the destination terminal is connected
The packet is transferred to (step S44).

FIG. 10 is a flow chart schematically showing the processing when a user data packet is received from the remote segment. First, the remote network IF
When the unit 105 receives the user data packet addressed to the terminal in the local segment (step S51), the terminal identification information exchanging unit 106 is stored in the terminal identification information storage unit 103 in association with the address information in the packet. Check if there is a local address. If there is, the address information in the packet is replaced with the local address (step S52). Then, the packet is transmitted to the destination terminal (step S53).

Next, taking the communication control device 1a of the first segment in the network configuration of FIG. 1 as an example, a specific processing operation thereof will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 8 to 10.

First, the communication control device 1a sets a communication path with the communication control device 1b of the second segment and a communication path with the communication control device 1c of the third segment.

Next, the communication control device 1a receives the terminal identification information (as a terminal identification information packet) notified by the terminals 11, 12, and 13 in the local segment (step S1). When the terminal identification information packet transmitted from the terminals 11 to 13 for the first time is received, the communication control device 1
The terminal identification information receiving unit 102 of a extracts the terminal identification information including the terminal identifier and the address information of the terminal from the packet, and shows the extracted terminal identification information in the terminal identification information storage unit 103 in FIG. Is registered (step S2).

As shown in FIG. 11, in the terminal identification information storage unit 103, the address information of the terminal and the segment to which the terminal is connected are associated with the terminal identifier.
Management terminal connected to the segment, that is,
The communication control device identifier is registered. From the terminal identification information notified from each of the terminals 11 to 13 of the first segment, the terminal identification information storage unit 103 stores “A” as the address information for the terminal 11 having the terminal identifier “A1”.
Address 11 ”, a“ first segment ”as a connection segment, and a terminal identifier“ AX ”of the communication control device 1a as a management terminal identifier are written. Similarly, for the terminal 12 having the terminal identifier “A2”, the address information “Address12”, the connection segment “first segment”, and the management terminal identifier “AX” are written. For the terminal 13 of “A3”, the address information “Address
s13 ”, the connection segment is the“ first segment ”, and the management terminal identifier is the terminal identifier“ AX ”of the communication control device 1a.

The contents registered in the terminal identification information storage unit 103 are sent from the communication control device 1a to the communication control devices 1b and 1c (step S3), and in the communication control devices 1b and 1c,
According to the procedure as shown in FIG. 8, the terminal identification information of the terminals in the first segment is registered in the terminal identification information storage unit 103.

On the other hand, the terminal identification information packets of the terminals 21, 22 are sent from the communication control device 1b to the communication control device 1a, and the terminal identification information packets of the terminals 31, 32 are sent from the communication control device 1c to the communication control device 1a. .

As shown in FIG. 8, when the communication control device 1a receives the terminal identification information packet from the communication control devices 1b and 1c, a local address is generated and registered in the terminal identification information storage unit 103 (step S31). -Step S33). As a result, the terminal identification information storage unit 103 of the communication control device 1a registers the terminal identification information of the terminals in the second and third segments as shown in FIG.
That is, in the terminal information storage unit 103 of the communication control device 1a of the first segment, for the terminals in the second and third segments, in addition to the address information originally present in the terminal,
Furthermore, the local address generated by the communication control device 1a is also registered in association.

Similarly, in the terminal information storage unit 103 of the communication control device 1b of the second segment, for the terminals in the first and third segments, in addition to the address information originally present in the terminal, Further, the local address generated by the communication control device 1b is also registered in association. Also,
In the terminal information storage unit 103 of the communication control device 1c of the third segment, for the terminals in the first and second segments, in addition to the address information originally existing in the terminal, the communication control device 1c is further provided. The generated local address is also associated and registered.

As the local address generated by the communication control devices 1a to 1c, for example, a MAC multicast address is conceivable when Ethernet or wireless LAN is used for the data link. By generating different multicast addresses for the terminals in each remote segment, the communication control device 1 receives the packet transmitted from each terminal in the local segment,
From the destination address of the received packet, it is possible to know which terminal in the remote segment is addressed. In this case, the local network IF unit 1 should receive the packet addressed to the multicast address generated as the local address.
It must be preset to 01.

The local address of the terminal connected to the remote segment generated by the communication control device 1 may be the MAC address of the communication control device 1 itself. However, in this case, all terminals connected to each remote segment have the same local address. That is, when a terminal in the local segment transmits a packet to a terminal in the remote segment, the local address is the same in all the terminals in the remote segment, so that the communication control device 1 causes the terminal in the remote segment of the data transmission destination. It is necessary to add information that can identify the

The communication control device 1a notifies the terminal connected to the first segment of the terminal identification information including the generated local address for the terminals 21, 22, 31, 32 in the remote segment (step S34).

When the terminal 11 in the first segment transmits a user data packet to the terminal 21 (terminal identifier "B1") in the second segment, the terminal 11
The local address “Ne” of the terminal 21 is used as the destination address.
w Address 21 ”. "New
Since "Address 21" is an address that the communication control device 1a can receive, the communication control device 1a receives this packet (step S41). In the communication control device 1a, since the destination address is "New Address 21", it is known that the destination address is the terminal 21 by checking the content of the terminal identification information storage unit 103 (step S42), and the local address "New" in the packet. A
The original address "Address2"
1 ”and then transfers the packet to the communication control device 1b of the second segment including the terminal 21 (step S4).
3 to step S44).

As described above, when the local address of the communication control device 1a itself is used as the local address when transmitting a packet to the terminal of the remote segment, which remote segment is specified by the destination information added separately. To determine which terminal of the

On the contrary, when a packet addressed to the terminal 11 from the terminal 21 is transferred from the communication control device 1b to the communication control device 1a (step S51), the communication control device 1
In a, if the address information “Address 21” of the transmission source terminal 21 is present in the packet, it is replaced with the local address “New Address 21” and the packet is transmitted to the terminal 11 (steps S52 to S53).

As described above, packet transfer using unicast at the data link level becomes possible between remote segments.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 13 shows a configuration example of a communication control device 1 according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 13, the same parts as those in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals, and only different parts will be described. That is, the communication control device 1 shown in FIG.
09 and a terminal disappearance notification unit 110 are further provided.

The communication path setting unit 104 sets a communication path with the communication control device (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a remote device) 1 connected to a segment other than the local segment to which the own device is connected. To the remote network IF unit 105. When the remote network IF section 105 notifies that the setting of the communication path is completed, it notifies the communication path monitoring section 109 to that effect. Information on the communication path that has been set is retained. Also, an instruction regarding the setting of the communication path is received from the user. Specific examples of the instruction include the start of communication path setting together with the address information of the communication control device in the remote segment, or the disconnection of the communication path currently being set. Further, the communication path monitoring unit 109 may instruct the disconnection of the communication path.
When the disconnection of the communication path is instructed, the remote network IF unit 105 is instructed to disconnect the communication path. In this case, or when the disconnection of the communication path is notified from the remote network IF unit 105, the held information of the disconnected communication path is discarded.

The remote network IF section 105 is a section for actually setting the communication path with the communication control device 1 in the remote segment instructed by the communication path setting section 104. When the setting is completed, that effect is set in the communication path. Notify the unit 104. The communication path is set by the communication path setting unit 104 of the own device.
It may be set by a request from the communication control device 1 of the remote segment in addition to the instruction from the. Even in that case, when the setting is completed, the fact is notified to the communication path setting unit 104. After setting the communication path, it receives packets from remote segments and sends packets to remote segments. The terminal identification information of the terminal in the remote segment in the received packet is the terminal identification information exchange unit 1.
Pass to 06. Also, the packet passed from the terminal identification information exchange unit 106 is transmitted to the remote segment. Also,
When the communication path setting unit 104 instructs to disconnect the communication path, the communication path is disconnected and the disconnection result is notified to the communication path monitoring unit 109. The disconnection of the communication path may be disconnected not only by an instruction from the communication path setting unit 104 of the own device but also by a request from the communication control device of the remote segment. In that case, the disconnection is performed by the communication path setting unit 104 and the communication path. Notify the monitoring unit 109.

The communication channel monitoring unit 109 is the communication channel setting unit 104.
The state of the communication channel notified of the completion of the setting is monitored and the disconnection of the communication channel is detected. When the disconnection of the communication path is detected, the fact is notified to the terminal disappearance notifying unit 110. The detection of the disconnection of the communication path may be notified from the remote network IF unit 105. This may occur when the user of the communication control device of the self device or the remote segment requests disconnection of the communication path. The disconnection of the communication path is caused not only by the request from the user but also by disconnection of the network, for example. As a method for detecting disconnection in such a case, for example, a method for periodically exchanging a packet for monitoring the state of the communication path (communication path status monitoring packet) with the communication control device of the remote segment Can be considered. When the communication path state monitoring packet from the communication control device of the remote segment cannot be received for a predetermined time, it is considered that the communication path is disconnected, and the communication path setting unit 104 is instructed to disconnect the communication path and the terminal The disappearance notifying unit 110 is notified of that fact.

The terminal disappearance notifying unit 110 is the communication path monitoring unit 1.
When the communication channel disconnection is notified from 09, the disappearance of the terminal managed by the communication control device 1 of the remote segment connected by the disconnected communication channel is notified to the terminal of the local segment to which the own device is connected. To inform. When the disconnection of the communication path is notified, the terminal identification information storage unit 103 examines the terminal in the remote segment connected through the disconnected communication path, generates a packet notifying the disappearance of the terminal, and transmits the packet locally. Network IF unit 10
Pass to 1. Then, the entry of the terminal that has notified the disappearance is deleted from the terminal identification information storage unit 103.

In FIG. 14, when the communication channel monitoring unit 109 checks the state of the communication channel and the disconnection of the communication channel is confirmed, the terminal disappearance notifying unit 110 causes the terminal identification information storage unit 103.
3 is a flowchart schematically showing a process of deleting the terminal identification information of the incommunicable terminal from the local segment. First, the communication path monitoring unit 109 checks the communication path (step S61).

The communication path is checked, for example, by checking whether or not it is possible to send / receive a packet to / from the communication control device 1 in the remote segment, as described above. For example, in the case of periodically transmitting and receiving a communication path state monitoring packet to and from the communication control device 1 of the remote segment, the difference between the time when the packet was most recently received and the current time is checked. When the communication path status monitoring packet has not been received for a predetermined time or more, it can be determined that the communication path with the communication control device 1 of the remote segment is in a disconnected state. If the communication path is available, the process ends.

When the communication path is in the disconnected state, that is, when the communication path monitoring unit 109 detects the disconnection of the communication path (step S62), the terminal disappearance notifying unit 110 notifies the terminal in the local segment of the disconnection destination. In order to notify the disappearance of the terminal in the remote segment, a packet for notifying the disappearance of the terminal is generated, and the packet is passed to the local network IF unit 101 (step S63). Then, the terminal identification information storage unit 1 stores the entry of the terminal notified of the disappearance.
It deletes from 03 (step S64).

Next, taking the communication control device 1a of the first segment in the network configuration of FIG. 1 as an example, its specific processing operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 14.

The process until the terminal of each segment recognizes the terminal of another segment is the same as that shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and the description thereof is omitted.

Communication controller 1a and communication controller 1b, 1
After the communication path is set up with the communication control device c, the communication control device 1a monitors the communication path with the communication control devices 1b and 1c (step S61 in FIG. 14).

For example, if the communication control device 1a detects disconnection of the communication path with the communication control device 1b (step S
62), the communication control device 1a notifies the disappearance of the terminals 21 and 22 in the second segment to the terminals 11, 12, and 13 in the local segment (step S63).
As a result, the terminal in the local segment can quickly know the communication status of the terminals existing in other segments.

(Fourth Embodiment) The configuration of the communication control device 1 according to the fourth embodiment is similar to that of the communication control device 1 according to the third embodiment (see FIG. 13).

In the fourth embodiment, whether the terminal in the local segment exists before the communication path setting unit 104 described in the third embodiment sets the communication path with the remote segment. Check. If it exists, the communication path is set thereafter as in the third embodiment. If it does not exist, the communication path is not set with the remote segment, and the setting of the communication path is started when a new terminal appears in the local segment.

Further, the remote network IF unit 105
When a communication path setting request is received from the communication control device 1 of a remote segment, checks whether or not a terminal exists in the local segment before answering the request. If it exists, the communication path setting request is accepted, and then the third
The communication path is set as in the above embodiment. If it does not exist, the request for setting the communication path is rejected. After the refusal, when the terminal appears in the local segment, the own apparatus may request the communication control device 1 of the remote segment, which has refused the connection, to set the communication path.

As described above, the communication control device 1 of each segment does not set up a communication path with another communication control device 1 in which a terminal to be managed does not exist in the local segment, which is wasteful. Use of communication resources can be avoided.

(Fifth Embodiment) FIG. 15 shows the fifth embodiment of the present invention.
2 shows an exemplary configuration of the communication control device 1 according to the embodiment. In FIG. 15, the same parts as those in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals, and only different parts will be described. That is, in the communication control device 1 shown in FIG. 15, the terminal identification information receiving unit 102, the terminal identification information transmitting unit 107, the terminal identification information exchanging unit 106, and the terminal identification information storage unit 103 in FIG. 111, a segment information transmission unit 114, a segment information exchange unit 113, and a segment information storage unit 112.

The local network IF section 101 controls an interface for receiving a packet from a local segment and transmitting a packet to a terminal in the local segment. Among the packets received from the terminals in the local segment, the multicast packet including the terminal identification information packet, the identifier (ID) of the multicast group, the information of the terminals participating in the multicast group, and the like is passed to the segment information receiving unit 111.

The segment information receiving unit 111 extracts terminal identification information such as terminal identifier and address information from the terminal identification information packet passed from the local network IF unit 101, and the extracted terminal identification information is stored in the segment information storage unit 112. Hand over to. Also, it notifies the segment information exchange unit 113 that the terminal identification information has been received. Also, multicast information such as a multicast group ID and terminal identification information of multicast group participating terminals is extracted from the multicast information packet passed from the local network IF section 101, and the extracted multicast information is passed to the segment information storage section 112. Also,
The segment information exchange unit 113 is notified that the multicast information has been received. When the terminal identification information and the multicast information are received, if the previously received information and the currently received information are the same, it is possible not to notify, and in that case, the traffic between the communication control devices can be reduced.

The segment information storage unit 112 stores the terminal identifier, address information, multicast information, etc. passed from the segment information receiving unit 111 in association with each terminal.

The communication path setting unit 104 is connected to the segment other than the local segment to which the own device is connected, that is, the communication control device 1 connected to the remote segment.
The remote network IF unit 105 is instructed to set a communication path with (hereinafter, referred to as a remote device). The start of setting the communication path is not particularly limited. For example, it may be performed according to an instruction from the user or may be performed at the time of activation. Alternatively, both of them may be used.

The remote network IF section 105 actually sets the communication path with the communication control apparatus 1 of the remote segment instructed by the communication path setting section 104. After the communication path is set, the communication control apparatus 1 of the remote segment is set. From the communication control device 1 of the remote segment. Among the received packets, the terminal identification information and the multicast information of the terminals in the remote segment are passed to the segment information exchange section 113. Also, the packet passed from the segment information exchange unit 113 is transmitted to the communication control device 1 of the remote segment.

When the segment information receiving unit 111 notifies the segment information receiving unit 111 that the terminal identification information has been received, the segment information exchanging unit 113 acquires the terminal identification information of the terminal in the local segment stored in the segment information storage unit 112. ,
In order to generate a terminal identification information packet and transmit it to the communication control device 1 of the remote segment where the communication path is currently set, the generated terminal identification information packet is passed to the remote network IF section 105. When the reception of the multicast information is notified from the segment information receiving unit 111, the multicast information of the local segment stored in the segment information storage unit 112 is acquired, the multicast information packet is generated, and the current communication path is set. It is passed to the remote network IF section 105 to be transmitted to the communication control device 1 of the remote segment. In addition, the terminal identification information such as the terminal identifier and the address information is extracted from the terminal identification information packet of the terminal in the remote segment passed from the remote network IF section 105, and the extracted terminal identification information is stored in the segment information storage section 112.
Hand over to. Furthermore, from the multicast information packet of the terminal connected to the remote segment passed from the remote network IF unit 105, the multicast group ID
And multicast information such as terminal identification information of the multicast groove participating terminals, and passes the extracted multicast information to the segment information storage unit 112.

Therefore, the segment information storage unit 112 is not limited to the terminal identification information of the terminal connected to the local segment delivered from the terminal identification information receiving unit 111,
It also stores terminal identification information and multicast information of terminals connected to the remote segment. Also, the segment information exchange unit 113 notifies the segment information transmission unit 114 that the terminal identification information and the multicast information have been received from the remote segment.

When the segment information exchange unit 113 is notified by the segment information exchange unit 113 of the reception of the terminal identification information packet or the multicast information packet from the remote segment, the segment information storage unit 112 connects to the remote segment. The terminal identification information and the multicast information of the terminal are acquired, the terminal identification information packet and the multicast information packet are generated, and passed to the local network IF unit 101.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart schematically showing the processing when a multicast information packet is received from the local segment. First, when the local network IIF unit 101 receives a multicast information packet (step S71), the segment information receiving unit 1
Reference numeral 11 extracts multicast information such as the multicast group ID and the terminal identification information of the multicast group participating terminals from the received packet. The extracted multicast information is stored in the segment information storage unit 112 (step S72). Then, the multicast information stored in the segment information storage unit 112 is transmitted to the remote segment (step S73).

FIG. 17 is a flow chart schematically showing the processing when a multicast information packet is received from a remote segment. First, when the remote network IF unit 105 receives the multicast information packet (step S81), the segment information exchange unit 11
3 extracts the multicast information such as the multicast group ID and the terminal identification information of the multicast group participating terminals from the multicast information packet.
The extracted multicast information is stored in the segment information storage unit 1
12 (step S82). Then, the multicast information stored in the segment information storage unit 112 is transmitted to the terminals in the local segment (step S8).
3).

Next, taking the communication control devices 1a and 1b in the network configuration of FIG. 1 as an example, the specific processing operation thereof will be described with reference to FIGS.

Here, the terminals 21 and 2 of the second segment
2 form a multicast group, and each transmits multicast information. The communication control device 1b of the second segment receives the multicast information transmitted from the terminals 21 and 22, and the communication control device 1a,
Send multicast information to 1c.

The communication control device 1a receives the multicast information packet from the communication control device 1b (step S81 in FIG. 17), registers the multicast information extracted from the packet in the segment information storage unit 112 (step S82). ), And notifies the registered multicast information to the terminals in the first segment (step S83). The notification method may be a method of periodically repeating the broadcast in the local segment, a method of adding the notification to the terminal identification information, or the like, but is not particularly limited.

FIG. 1 shows the contents of the segment information storage unit 112 of the communication control device 1a after the multicast information is registered.
8 shows. As shown in FIG. 18, the segment information storage unit 112 stores the address information of the terminal, the multicast GID, the multicast participating terminal identifier, the segment to which the terminal is connected, and the segment in association with the terminal identifier. The management terminal connected to the, that is, the identifier of the communication control device is registered.

The multicast GID is an identifier of the multicast group in which the terminal participates. In the multicast participating terminal identifiers, all the identifiers of the terminals participating in each multicast group are shown. In FIG. 18, one multicast group (multicast GID “M25”) has the terminal 2 with the terminal identifier “B1”.
1 and the terminal 22 having the terminal identifier "B2" are participating, but when the terminals 21 and 22 are simultaneously participating in a plurality of multicast groups, the multicast GID and the multicast participating terminal identifier are It will be registered for all groups.

As described above, for example, the terminals 11, 12, and 13 in the first segment can obtain information (eg, multicast GID, multicast participating terminal identifier) about the multicast group formed in the remote segment. It will be possible.

(Sixth Embodiment) FIG. 19 shows a configuration example of a communication control device 1 according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 19, the same parts as those in FIG. 7 are designated by the same reference numerals, and only different parts will be described. That is, the communication control device 1 shown in FIG. 19 further includes the segment management terminal information generation unit 115.

The local network IF section 101 controls an interface for receiving a packet from a local segment and transmitting a packet to the local segment. Among the packets received from the terminals in the local segment, the terminal identification information packet including the terminal identification information is passed to the terminal identification information receiving unit 102. Also, the terminal identification information packet passed from the terminal identification information transmitting unit 107 is transmitted to the terminals in the local segment. Further, the user data packet carrying the user data is passed to the packet transfer unit 108.

The terminal identification information receiving unit 102 extracts the terminal identification information such as the terminal identifier and the address information from the terminal identification information packet passed from the local network IF unit 101, and the extracted terminal identification information is stored in the terminal identification information storage unit 103. Hand over to. Further, it notifies the terminal identification information exchange unit 106 that the terminal identification information has been received. If the terminal identification information received last time and the terminal identification information received this time are the same, it is possible not to notify, and in that case, the traffic between the communication control devices 1 can be reduced.

The terminal identification information storage unit 103 stores the terminal identification information such as the terminal identifier and address information passed from the terminal identification information receiving unit 102 in association with each terminal. In addition, the terminal identification information passed from the segment management terminal information generation unit 115 (here, the terminal identification information of the communication control device (segment management terminal) 1 generated by the segment management terminal information generation unit 115 is particularly distinguished and segment management terminal (Also called information).

The communication path setting unit 104 sets a communication path with the communication control device (hereinafter, also referred to as a remote device) 1 connected to a segment other than the local segment to which the own device is connected. To the remote network IF unit 105. The start of setting the communication path is not particularly limited. For example, it may be performed according to an instruction from the user or may be performed at the time of activation. Alternatively, both of them may be used.

The remote network IF section 105 is a section for actually setting a communication path with the remote device instructed by the communication path setting section 104. After the communication path is set, the remote network IF section 105 receives packets from the remote apparatus and It sends packets to the device. Among the received packets, the terminal identification information of the terminal connected to the same segment as the remote device is passed to the terminal identification information exchange section 106, and the user data packet is passed to the packet transfer section 108. Also, the packet passed from the terminal identification information exchange unit 106 or the packet transfer unit 108 is transmitted to the remote device.

When the terminal identification information receiving section 102 notifies the terminal identification information receiving section 102 that the terminal identification information is received, the terminal identification information exchanging section 106 is the terminal of the terminal connected to the local segment stored in the terminal identification information storage section 103. The identification information is acquired, a terminal identification information packet is generated, and the packet is passed to the remote network IF unit 105 to be transmitted to the remote device whose communication path is currently set. Further, the terminal identifier and address information are extracted from the terminal identification information packet of the terminal connected to the same segment as the remote device, which is passed from the remote network IF section 105, and the extracted information is passed to the terminal identification information storage section 103. Therefore, the terminal identification information storage unit 1
03 stores not only the terminal identification information of the terminal connected to the local segment delivered from the terminal identification information receiving unit 102, but also the terminal identification information of the terminal connected to the same segment (remote segment) as the remote device.

The terminal identification information exchange section 106 notifies the terminal identification information transmission section 107 that the terminal identification information has been received from the remote device.

When the terminal identification information transmitting section 107 is notified by the terminal identification information exchanging section 106 of the reception of the terminal identification information packet from the remote device, the terminal identification information storage section 10 will be described.
The terminal identification information of the terminal connected to the same segment as the remote device is acquired from 3, the terminal identification information packet is generated, and the packet is passed to the local network IF unit 101.

Further, the terminal identification information transmission section 107 acquires the segment management terminal information stored in the terminal identification information storage section 103, generates a segment management terminal information packet, and passes it to the local network IF section 101. The generation of the segment management terminal information packet may be periodically repeated or may be generated when a request is made, and is not particularly limited.

The packet transfer unit 108 transfers a packet addressed to another terminal, which is transferred from the local network IF unit 101, to the remote network IF unit 105 for transferring to a remote device, or a remote network IF unit.
The user data packet transferred from the remote device, which is transferred from the unit 105, to the local network IF unit 101.
Or hand it over to.

The segment management terminal information generator 115
A terminal identifier, address information, etc. of its own device are generated and passed to the terminal identification storage unit 103 as segment management terminal information.

FIG. 20 shows a configuration example of the terminal according to the sixth embodiment.

The user information processing unit 201 is an information processing unit that executes a so-called application.

The network IF section 202 is adapted to transmit the packet passed from the packet generation section 204 to the network, receive the packet from the network, and pass the received packet to the packet analysis section 203. Specifically, it controls the I / O interface with the LAN card. More specifically, a frame, which is a transmission / reception unit (meaningful in the LAN card) at the data link level, including the passed packet as data is configured. Then, a destination at the data link level instructed from the packet generation unit 204, that is, address information is added, and the frame is passed to the LAN card. Conversely, when a frame is received from the LAN card, the packet is extracted from the frame and the extracted packet is passed to the packet analysis unit 203.

The packet analysis unit 203 uses the network I
This is a part for analyzing the content of the packet passed from the F section 202. As the types of packets to be passed, a terminal identification information packet, a segment management terminal information packet, a user data packet, etc. can be considered.

From the terminal identification information packet, the terminal identifier, the address information of the terminal, and information indicating whether the terminal is connected to the local segment or the remote segment (collectively, these are referred to as terminal identification information Call) and passes the extracted terminal identification information to the terminal identification information storage unit 205.

From the segment management terminal information packet,
The terminal identification information and the address information of the segment management terminal (that is, the communication control device) are extracted, and the extracted information is used as segment management terminal information to identify the terminal identification information storage unit 2
Hand it over to 05.

User data is extracted from the user data packet and passed to the user information processing section 201.

The packet generation unit 204 packetizes the data to be transmitted to another terminal, and the network IF unit 202
It is designed to be handed over to. The data passed from the user information processing unit 201 is passed to the network IF unit 202 as a user data packet, and the terminal identification information of its own device is passed to the network IF unit 202 as a terminal identification information packet. Packet network IF
When passing it to the unit 202, the address information of the destination is designated. In the case of unicast, whether the destination terminal is connected to the local segment or the remote segment is checked based on the information registered in the terminal identification information storage unit 205. When the terminal is connected to the local segment, the network IF unit 202 is instructed to transmit the address information of the terminal. When connected to the remote segment, the address information of the segment management terminal is acquired from the terminal identification information storage unit 205, and the transmission to the acquired address is transmitted to the network IF unit 202.
Instruct to.

The terminal identification information storage unit 205 stores the terminal identifier and address information passed from the packet analysis unit 203, whether or not the connection segment of the terminal is local, and the like in association with each terminal. Further, the terminal identifier of the segment management terminal and its address information passed from the packet analysis unit 203 are also stored. Further, it also stores the terminal identification information of its own device passed from the own terminal identification information generation unit 206 and the segment management terminal information passed from the packet analysis unit 203.

The self-terminal identification information generating section 206 generates the terminal identifier and address information of the terminal and passes it to the terminal identification information storage section 205.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart schematically showing the processing when the terminal having the configuration shown in FIG. 20 transmits a user data packet. The packet generation unit 204 generates a user data packet including user data to be transmitted (step S91). Next, by referring to the terminal identification information storage unit 205, it is checked whether the segment to which the destination terminal of the user data is connected is the same local segment as its own device or a remote segment different from its own device (step S92). . When the destination terminal is connected to the local segment, the network IF unit 202 specifies the address information of the destination terminal itself and transmits it to the LAN card (step S93). When the destination terminal is connected to the remote segment, the address information of the segment management terminal (communication control device 1) of the local segment is designated and transmitted to the LAN card (step S94).

Next, the processing operation of the entire communication system will be described more specifically by taking the network configuration of FIG. 1 as an example.

The process until the communication control device 1a recognizes the terminal of each segment is the same as that shown in FIGS.

First, the communication control device 1a sends information for notifying that the type of its own device is the segment management terminal as a segment management terminal information packet in the first segment. Further, the communication control device 1a indicates that the terminal 21 is a terminal connected to the remote segment when the terminal identification information of the terminal 21 existing in the second segment is sent to the first segment as a terminal identification information packet. Also add and shed. As described above, the segment management terminal information packet of the communication control device 1a and the terminal identification information packet of the terminal of the first to third segments transmitted from the communication control devices 1a to 1c are present in the first segment. FIG. 22 shows the contents of the terminal identification information storage unit 205 of the terminal 11, for example.

As shown in FIG. 22, in the terminal identification information storage unit 205 of the terminal 11, the type of the terminal, that is, the information type, the address information, and the segment to which the terminal is connected are associated with the terminal identifier. Indicates that the local segment or remote segment indicates (connection segment)
And are registered.

Consider, for example, a case where the terminal 11 existing in the first segment transmits a packet to the terminal 21 existing in the second segment. The terminal 11 generates a packet clearly indicating that it is addressed to the terminal 21. Next, the terminal 21
Is connected to the remote segment, the generated packet is transmitted to the communication control device 1a. Specifically, when the first segment is Ethernet, the packet generated in the data area of the Ethernet frame has the address information of the communication control device 1a in the destination address of the Ethernet frame.

The communication control device 1a receiving this Ethernet frame extracts the packet from the data area of the Ethernet frame, and since the destination of the extracted packet is the terminal 21, the packet is transferred to the communication control device 1b.

Finally, the packet is transferred from the communication control device 1b to the terminal 21, and the unicast from the terminal 11 to the terminal 21 becomes possible.

[0144]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Communication can be smoothly performed between a terminal device connected to a remote segment and a terminal device moving between a plurality of segments.

For example, in a communication system using the communication control device of the present invention, even if the terminal devices are connected to distant segments, if the segments are connected to each other by the communication control device of the present invention, The existence of the terminal device can be recognized without knowing the address and the like. In addition, the disappearance of the terminal device can be known in detail.

Also, unicast at the data link level to the terminal device in the distant segment becomes possible. Further, when the connection between the communication control devices is broken, it is possible to quickly know that the remote terminal has disappeared, and it is possible to reduce unnecessary traffic to the other party who cannot transmit.

Furthermore, even in a multicast group composed of terminal devices connected to distant segments, it is possible to obtain the ID of the group and the information of the terminal devices participating in the group.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an entire communication system using a communication control device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a communication control device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of a communication control device when a terminal identification information packet is received from a local segment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of the communication control device when a terminal identification information packet is received from a remote device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a storage example of terminal identification information of a terminal of a local segment in a terminal identification information storage unit of the communication control device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a storage example of terminal identification information of terminals of a local segment and a remote segment in a terminal identification information storage unit of the communication control device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a communication control device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of the communication control device when a terminal identification information packet is received from a remote device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of the communication control device when receiving a user data packet from a local segment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of the communication control device when receiving a user data packet from a remote device.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a storage example of terminal identification information of a terminal of a local segment in a terminal identification information storage unit of the communication control device.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a storage example of terminal identification information of terminals of a local segment and a remote segment in a terminal identification information storage unit of the communication control device.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a communication control device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing communication path status check processing.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a communication control device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a processing operation of the communication control device when a multicast information bucket is received from a local segment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing the processing operation of the communication control device when a multicast information packet is received from a remote device.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a storage example of terminal identification information and multicast information of terminals in a local segment and a remote segment in a terminal identification information storage unit of the communication control device.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a communication control device according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a self-notification communication device (terminal) according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing a processing operation when the terminal of FIG. 20 transmits a user data packet.

22 is a diagram showing a storage example of terminal identification information in a terminal identification information storage unit of the terminal of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 ... Local network IF unit 102 ... Terminal identification information receiving unit 103 ... Terminal identification information storage unit 104 ... Communication path setting unit 105 ... Remote network IF unit 106 ... Terminal identification information exchange section 107 ... Terminal identification information transmitter 108 ... Packet transfer unit 109 ... Communication path monitoring unit 110 ... Terminal extinction notice 111 ... Segment information receiving unit 112 ... Segment information storage unit 113 ... Segment information exchange section 113 ... Segment information transmission unit 115 ... Segment management terminal information generation unit 201 ... User information processing unit 202 ... Network IF unit 203 ... Packet analysis unit 204 ... Packet generator 205 ... Terminal identification information storage unit 206 ... Own terminal identification information generation unit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04L 12/56

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A first communication control device connected to the first network for controlling communication between a plurality of terminals connected to each of a first network and a second network, and the first communication control device. A communication control device corresponding to the first communication control device of the second communication control devices connected to the second network, wherein terminal identification information is provided from each terminal connected to the first network. Between first receiving means for receiving, first storage means for storing each terminal identification information received by the first receiving means, and between the first communication control device and the second communication control device First transmission means for transmitting the terminal identification information stored in the first storage means to the second communication control device via the communication path set to, and the first transmission means via the communication path. 2 from the communication control device Second receiving means for receiving the first terminal identification information of the first terminal connected to the second network; and transmitting a packet from each terminal connected to the first network to the first terminal. , Second terminal identification information receivable by the first communication control device in the first network, first terminal identification information received by the second receiving means, and second Second storage means for storing the identifier of the communication control device in association with each other, and the second terminal identification information of the first terminal stored in the second storage means are connected to the first network. When a first packet addressed to the second terminal identification information is received from the second transmission means for transmitting to each terminal and the first network, the destination is stored in the first storage means. The second terminal identification information A third terminal which rewrites the corresponding first terminal identification information and transmits the first packet to the second communication control device.
And a transmission means, the communication control device comprising: 2. When a second packet whose destination is the terminal identification information of a terminal connected to the first network and whose source is the first terminal identification information is received, the transmission source is the first packet. It further comprises a fourth transmitting means for rewriting the second packet to the first network by rewriting to the second terminal identification information corresponding to the first terminal identification information stored in the second storage means. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein 3. When the communication path is disconnected, the second
Deleting the first terminal identification information and the second terminal identification information of the first terminal stored in the storage means of the first terminal to the respective terminals connected to the first network. Claim 1 characterized by notifying the disappearance.
The communication control device described. 4. The communication control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication path is set up with the second communication control apparatus only when there is a terminal connected to the first network. . 5. A multicast including an identifier of a multicast group including a plurality of terminals connected to the second network from the second communication control device via the communication path, and terminal identification information belonging to the multicast group. Third receiving means for receiving information; third storing means for storing the multicast information received by the third receiving means; and the multicast information stored in the third storing means for the first Fourth transmitting means for transmitting to each terminal connected to the network, a multicast group identifier including a plurality of terminals connected to the first network, and multicast information including terminal identification information belonging to the multicast group is received. A fourth receiving means for enabling the multi-media receiver to receive the fourth receiving means. And a fifth transmitting means for transmitting the multicast information stored in the fourth storing means to the second communication control device. The communication control device according to claim 1. 6. A first communication control device connected to the first network, which controls the communication between a plurality of terminals connected to each of the first network and the second network, and the first communication control device. A communication control method in the first communication control device among the second communication control devices connected to the second network, wherein the terminal identification information is received from each terminal connected to the first network. A first step; a second step of storing each terminal identification information received in the first step in a first storage means; a first communication control device and a second communication control device; A third step of transmitting the terminal identification information stored in the first storage means to the second communication control device via the communication path set between them; and the third step of transmitting the terminal identification information via the communication path. 2 communication control A fourth step of receiving first terminal identification information of the first terminal connected to the second network from the device, and a packet from each terminal connected to the first network to the first terminal. And second terminal identification information that can be received by the first communication control device in the first network, and first terminal identification information received by the second receiving means, A fifth step of storing the second communication control device in the second storage means in association with the identifier of the second communication control device; and the second terminal identification information of the first terminal stored in the second storage means. Is transmitted to each terminal connected to the first network, and when the first packet addressed to the second terminal identification information is received from the first network, the destination is Recorded in the first storage means A seventh step of rewriting the stored first terminal identification information corresponding to the stored second terminal identification information and transmitting the first packet to the second communication control device.
And a communication control method comprising: