JP4434062B2 - Automatic access method to Web server installed device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic access method to a network device connected to a network such as a LAN.

  In recent years, it has been considered to construct a local area network (LAN) in a home and use home appliances such as a refrigerator and an air conditioner connected to the LAN as a network device. If the home appliance is connected to the LAN, the user can access the home appliance from a remote environment such as outside the home and control it.

  Home appliances connected to the LAN are assigned IP addresses that can be uniquely identified within the LAN. However, when a user identifies and selects a home appliance via the LAN, the name given according to the function of the home appliance, etc., rather than using an IP address that is not a series of numbers and has no special meaning Is easier to understand and more convenient.

  Currently, when information terminals such as computers and servers communicate with each other via a network, a domain name created so that a user can easily identify a communication partner is used as a name for identifying and selecting a communication partner. Widely used. For this reason, even when remote access to home appliances from a remote environment outside the home is performed, a dynamic DNS (Domain Name System) server is placed on the system, and the domain name associated with the IP address of the home appliance is registered in this server However, it is conceivable to make the domain name public on the Internet. As a system using a dynamic DNS server, a technology such as Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-169077 is disclosed.

JP2003-169077

  In such a configuration, when a client terminal in a remote environment provides a service for remotely accessing a home appliance connected to the LAN, the service provider sets a pair of IP address and domain name like a dynamic DNS server from the user side. A DNS server that can be easily registered must be installed, which is expensive. Also, the user himself / herself has to manually check the IP address of the home appliance and register the domain name associated with the address in the dynamic DNS server, which is complicated to manage and operate.

  In addition, even if the user does not use the service that registers the correspondence between the IP address of the home appliance and the domain name in the dynamic DNS server, in order to select the home appliance of the connection partner by the domain name on the application to be used, The user must check the IP address of the home appliance by himself and manually register the domain name associated with the IP address in the configuration file (hosts file) in the client terminal accessed from the remote environment. It takes time and effort. Furthermore, when the IP address of the home appliance is changed, the user himself / herself has to manually change the contents in the setting file, which is also complicated to manage and operate.

  The file exchange function of the peer-to-peer file sharing system is used to realize address resolution for network devices such as home appliances connected to the LAN. Specifically, an information communication terminal connected to a home LAN belonging to a peer-to-peer file sharing system acquires the address of a network device connected to the same network segment. Then, the information communication terminal creates a file in which the acquired address is associated with the name assigned to the network device, and publishes this file on the file sharing system. A terminal used by a user outside the home refers to the contents of the file created by the information communication terminal connected to the home LAN using the function of the file sharing system. Thereby, the terminal used by the user outside the home can know the name and address of the network device in the home.

  Without installing and operating a DNS server, a user terminal outside the home can perform address resolution of a network device connected to the home LAN. Also, by enabling the user to automatically set the work that had to be done manually, the remote access service can be realized more easily and with a simpler configuration than the conventional network system.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of a configuration of a peer-to-peer file sharing system to which an automatic access method to home appliances connected to a LAN according to the present embodiment is applied. This system consists of a file sharing management server 1 that manages directory information, file information, and user information, a file sharing client A2 that belongs to the file sharing system and is installed in the home, and a remote environment that also belongs to the file sharing system such as outside the home. 10 is constituted by a file sharing client B3 used by the user. Here, the file sharing client A2 is a computer terminal that the user generally uses at home, and the file sharing client B3 is via a network such as a mobile phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), or a laptop computer that the user has. An information communication terminal capable of communicating with other devices can be considered.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the file sharing management server 1 and the file sharing clients A2 and B3 belong to different network segments, and are connected to each other by the IP network 8 via routers 5-7. The file sharing management server 1 may belong to the same network segment as the file sharing client A2. In this case, the file sharing management server 1 and the file sharing client A2 communicate directly without going through a router.

  A home server 9 such as a home LAN is connected to a web server-equipped device 4 such as a home appliance as a network device. In this embodiment, the network device has a Web server function for receiving an HTTP request and executing processing based on the request and transmitting an HTTP response. For this reason, the file sharing client A2 or B3 executes a Web browsing function and performs file transfer with the Web server-equipped device 4 using HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). In this embodiment, the file sharing clients A2 and B3 have a function of using a peer-to-peer file sharing system for communication between the file sharing clients and between the file sharing client and the file sharing management server.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the file sharing client A2. The file sharing client A2 includes a communication control unit 20, a file storage unit 21, a file sharing system communication processing unit 22, an address acquisition unit 23, a name assignment unit 24, a file generation unit 25, a device type acquisition unit 26, and a file attribute information registration unit. 27. A file sharing GUI unit 28 is provided.

  Communication control unit 20 includes physical layer electrical processing, Ethernet (Ethernet is a registered trademark) frame termination, data link layer processing such as creation, IP packet termination, network layer processing such as creation, TCP or UDP session termination Data transmission / reception is performed between the file sharing client A2 and the home network 9 by hierarchically performing protocol processing such as transport layer processing such as generation. The file storage unit 21 stores files created by the file sharing client A2 and files acquired from other file sharing clients. The file sharing system communication processing unit 22 controls various requests and responses exchanged with other file sharing clients and file sharing management servers necessary for using the functions of the file sharing system.

  The address acquisition unit 23 inquires of a communication terminal belonging to the home network 9 about the address, analyzes a response message from the communication terminal, and acquires the address of the terminal. The name assigning unit 24 assigns a name associated with the address acquired from the terminal. In this embodiment, a domain name is used as the name, but the name is not limited to this. The file generation unit 25 generates a file containing information on a set of the address acquired by the address acquisition unit 23 and the name assigned by the name assigning unit 24. In the home network 9, when an identification code that uniquely represents a device type such as a camera, a refrigerator, a lighting, or a cooling device is set for each household electric appliance in the home network 9, the identification code for the household electric appliance is set. To determine the device type. The device type acquisition unit 26 is not essential, but using this function facilitates automatic assignment of a domain name.

  The file attribute information registration unit 27 performs a process of creating a registration request message for registering the file attribute information created by the file generation unit 25 in the file sharing server 1. By registering file attribute information in the file sharing server 1, files held by terminals belonging to the file sharing system can be managed. Here, the file attribute information is the file ID uniquely assigned to each file in the file sharing system, the user ID uniquely given to the terminal that created the file, and the directory to which the file belongs on the file sharing system This is information such as a directory ID that uniquely determines. The file sharing GUI unit 28 is a user interface for using the file sharing system, accepts a command from the user, and displays a result of executing the command to the file sharing system to the user.

  The processing of the peer-to-peer file sharing system will be described. This processing is started by a command issued through the GUI operation unit 281 of the file sharing GUI unit 28 by a user operation. The issued command is transmitted to the file sharing management server 1 or another file sharing client through the file sharing system communication processing unit 22, and is executed under a predetermined sequence. The result is displayed on the GUI display unit 282 of the file sharing GUI unit 28. When registering file attribute information to the file share management server 1, downloading files from other clients, and uploading files to other clients, access the file storage unit 21 of each client, and store and retrieve files. It is executed at the same time.

  Although the processing unit is described for each function of the file sharing client A2 in FIG. 2, the actual device configuration includes a CPU and a memory storing a program corresponding to each processing unit, and the CPU sequentially reads the program from the memory. The above-described functions may be executed, and this configuration is common when an ordinary PC (Personal Computer) terminal is used as the file sharing client A2. Alternatively, at least a part of each processing unit may be implemented by hardware as necessary for speeding up the processing.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the file sharing client B3. The file sharing client B3 includes a communication control unit 20, a file sharing system communication processing unit 22, a file sharing GUI unit 28, an address / name registration unit 30, a storage unit 31, a web browsing cooperation unit 32, and a web browsing unit 33.

  The address / name registration unit 30 inquires the file sharing server 1 for file attribute information, and as a result of the inquiry, the file / storage unit 21 of the file sharing client A2 obtains a file containing the information of the address / name pair as content. , To obtain the correspondence between the address and name of the home appliance. Then, the corresponding relationship is registered in the hosts file of the storage unit 31 in order to access the home appliance.

  The web browsing cooperation unit 32 executes a process of starting the web browsing unit 33 when the user clicks the name of the home appliance displayed on the file sharing GUI unit 28. The web browsing unit 33 is a user interface for processing data transmitted / received to / from home appliances, in particular, a web server-equipped device using the HTTP protocol, accepts a command from the user, and also includes a web server-equipped device. The execution result of the instruction for is displayed to the user.

  Similarly, the file sharing client B3 may include a memory storing a program corresponding to the CPU and each processing unit as a device configuration, and the CPU sequentially reads the program from the memory and executes the above functions. Alternatively, each function may be implemented by hardware as necessary.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of the file sharing management server 1. The file sharing management server 1 can be used without changing the file sharing management server used in the existing peer-to-peer file sharing system. The file sharing management server 1 includes a communication control unit 20, a file sharing system communication processing unit 22, an attribute information extraction unit 40, and an attribute information storage unit 41. The file attribute information extraction unit 40 extracts file attribute information included in the message from the file sharing client A2 received by the file sharing system communication processing unit 22, and stores it in the file attribute information storage unit 41. The attribute information storage unit 41 includes a file table 411, a directory table 412, and a user table 413, which are tables for managing file ID, directory ID, and user ID, which are file attribute information, and their related information. The file information registered on the file sharing system is centrally managed.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the configuration of the Web server device 4. This is an example when the Web server-equipped device 4 is a network camera. The web server device 4 includes a communication control unit 20, a web camera unit 50, and a lens 51. The web camera unit 50 provides a function for enabling the video imaged by the lens 51 to be referred to using the web browsing unit 33 of the file sharing client B3 through the network, and includes a video processing unit 53 and an HTTP processing unit 54. . That is, the video processing unit 53 processes the video imaged by the lens 51 into data that can be transmitted / received using the HTTP protocol, and delivers the video data to the HTTP processing unit. The HTTP processing unit 54 receives an HTTP request for requesting video data from the file sharing client B3 via the communication control unit 20. Then, the HTTP processing unit 54 processes the HTTP request and returns an HTTP response including the requested video data.

  Next, a mechanism for sharing files among file sharing clients by the peer-to-peer file sharing system used in this embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of the file table 411 in the file sharing management server 1. The file table 411 includes a file ID field 4111 for storing a file ID that is a value for uniquely identifying a file registered on the peer-to-peer file sharing system, and for uniquely identifying the user who registered the file. User ID field 4112 for storing the user ID which is the value of the user, and when the file is copied and held by a plurality of users, the user list field 4113 for storing the user IDs of those users, and information on access restrictions on the file And exists to store information about files on the peer-to-peer file sharing system.

  For example, when a user with a user ID of 1000 registers a file with a file ID of 10010 and a user with user IDs of 1001 and 1002 holds a copy of the file, the file table 411 is as shown in FIG. If only the users with user IDs 1001 to 1005 are allowed to copy this file, it is possible to restrict access by setting a numerical value from 1001 to 1005 in the ACL field 4114. In other words, by using this ACL field, it is possible to identify users who can use the Web server device. Here, the file table 411 simply stores information about the file, and the file entity is not held in the file sharing management server 1 but is held in the file sharing client.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the directory table 412. The directory ID field 4121 stores an ID value for uniquely identifying the directory to which the file belongs in the file sharing system. The type field 4122 stores information indicating the type of the directory. The directory type will be described later. The user ID field 4123 holds the user ID of the user who created the directory. The parent field 4124 and the child field 4125 hold the directory IDs of the parent directory and child directory of the directory, respectively. The file list field 4126 holds file ID values of files belonging to the directory. The ACL field 4127 holds access restriction information for the directory. With this table information, a virtual directory is provided to users who use the peer-to-peer file sharing system.

  For example, a directory with a directory ID of 20010 is created by a user with a user ID of 1000. The upper (parent) / lower (child) directory IDs are 20011, 20012, and the file with the file ID 10010 is in that directory. If included, the table values are as shown in FIG. If only users with user IDs 1001 to 1005 are allowed to access this directory, set the ACL field 4127 to a value from 1001 to 1005 to access the directory as well as file access restrictions. It is possible to restrict access.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of the configuration of the user table 413 in the file sharing management server 1. The user table 413 has a user ID field 4131 for storing a user ID of a user registered on the peer-to-peer file sharing system, an IP address field 4132 for storing an IP address of a terminal used by the user, Exists to store information about users using peer-to-peer file sharing systems. For example, when the IP address of the terminal assigned the value 1000 as the user ID is “2001: 240: 403: 28 :: xxxx”, the contents of the user table are as shown in FIG. The correspondence between the user ID and the IP address is updated each time the file sharing client logs into the peer-to-peer file sharing system.

  FIG. 9 shows an example of the screen configuration of a folder displayed on the GUI display unit 282 in the file sharing GUI unit 28 of the file sharing client. The display screen 90 includes a directory display unit 91 and a file display unit 92, and visually displays the contents of the file table 411 and the directory table 412 held by the file sharing management server 1. For example, when the directory stored in the directory table 412 as shown in FIG. 7, that is, the directory with the directory ID 20010 is displayed on the screen, the directory display unit 91 displays the directory with the ID 20011 as the parent directory of the directory with the ID 20010 in the child directory. The ID20012 directory is displayed visually. Further, the file display unit 92 visually displays the ID10010 file virtually stored in the ID20010 directory. As described above, the user operating the file sharing client can refer to the contents based on the directory table 412 of the file sharing management server 1 on the GUI display unit 282 by selecting an arbitrary directory to be displayed.

  FIG. 10 shows another example of the screen configuration. In this example, in the directory table 412, the value “2” representing “bulletin board folder” is stored in the type field 4122. Here, the bulletin board folder refers to a folder whose file display format on the GUI display unit 282 is a bulletin board format. In the case of a bulletin board folder, when the directory is referred to, the file display unit 92 displays the file as a bulletin board, that is, as a board displaying the contents of the file as shown in FIG. 10, and the user refers to these file contents. I can do it. Here, although the numerical value corresponding to the bulletin board folder in the type field 4122 is “2”, the corresponding numerical value may be an arbitrary numerical value.

  FIG. 11 illustrates all information that can be stored in a packet transmitted and received between the file sharing management server 1 and the file sharing client A2. This packet has an IP header part 1101, a TCP header part 1102, an HTTP header part 1103, and a data part 1111. The data portion 1111 may further include a message type field 1104, a directory ID field 1105, a file ID field 1106, a user ID field 1107, an IP address field 1108, a user list field 1109, and a file body 1110. As a general rule, the communication control unit 20 processes the IP header unit 1101 and the TCP header unit 1102, and the file sharing system communication processing unit 22 processes the HTTP header unit 1103 and the data unit 1111. Information stored in the packet may be appropriately created.

  The file sharing client transmits a file registration request message for requesting registration of file attribute information to the file sharing server so that the file held by the file sharing client can be referred to from another file sharing client in the bulletin board folder.

  The file registration request message includes information of message type 1104, directory ID 1105, and user ID 1107 in the data portion 1111 among the information shown in FIG. The file sharing system communication processing unit 22 processes the data unit 1111 according to the content of the message type 1104, and in the case of a file registration request message, the file table 411 is used by using the attribute information of the file extracted from the message by the attribute information extraction unit 40. And the contents of the directory table 412 are updated.

  The file sharing client B3 refers to the file held by the other file sharing client A2 through the bulletin board folder by transmitting a reference request message to the file sharing management server 1. In the reference request message, the data part 1111 of the information shown in FIG. 11 includes a message type 1104, a directory ID 1105, and a user ID 1107. For example, when a user with a user ID of 1001 refers to a directory with a directory ID 20010, the directory ID 1105 includes a value of 20010, and the user ID 1107 includes a value of 1001 that is the ID of the user who performs the reference. Upon receiving this message, the file sharing management server 1 searches the file table 411, the directory table 412, and the user table 413, generates a reference response message, and returns it to the file sharing client B3.

  The reference response message includes a message type 1104, a file ID field 1106, a user ID field 1107, an IP address field 1108, and a user list field 1109 in the data portion 1111 of the information shown in FIG. For example, in the case of a reference response to the directory with the directory ID 20010 in FIG. 7, the file ID value 10010 is stored in the file ID field 1106. The user ID field 1107 stores the user ID value 1000 of the user who owns the file with this file ID. The IP address 1108 stores the IP address of the terminal used by the user with the user ID 1000. The user list 1109 includes user IDs of users who can access this file ID.

  Next, if the user with the user ID 1001 decides to acquire the file with the file ID 10010 from the contents of the received reference response message, the file is downloaded to the other file sharing client A2 that holds the file with the file ID 10010. Send a request message. The file download request message includes a message type 1104, a file ID 1106, and a user ID 1107 in the data portion 1111 of the information shown in FIG. In this case, the file ID 1106 includes the ID value 10010 of the file to be downloaded, and the user ID 1107 includes the ID value 1001 of the user who requests download.

  The file sharing client A2 that has received the file download request message extracts the requested file and returns a file download response message. The file download response message includes a message type 1104, a user ID 1107, and a file 1110 in the data portion 1111. In this case, the user ID 1107 of the file download response message includes the file transmission source user ID value 1000, and the file 1110 includes the file entity of the file ID value 10010.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a series of processing sequences of the automatic access method to the Web server-equipped device according to the present embodiment. A series of processes of the automatic access method is roughly divided into three parts.

  In the first part, the file sharing client A2 uses the file sharing client A2 to discover the IP address of the Web server-equipped device 4, assigns a domain name as the name to the discovered device, and a device file containing information on the combination of the IP address and domain name Create Then, the file sharing client A2 registers the device file information in the file sharing server 1 as a file belonging to the bulletin board folder.

  In the second part, the file sharing client B3 in the remote environment refers to the bulletin board folder displayed on the GUI display unit 282 of the file sharing GUI unit 28, thereby acquiring the device file held by the file sharing client A2. Then, the file sharing client B3 writes the set of the IP address and domain name of the server-equipped device 4 described in the device file to the hosts file. This hosts file is a file used by various applications as a file for storing the correspondence between the IP address and host name of another communication device on the file sharing client B3.

  And in the third part, when the user specifies the domain name of the Web server equipped device 4 on the file sharing GUI part 28 of the file sharing client B3, the web browsing cooperation part 32 automatically starts the web browsing part 33. The Web server device 4 is accessed using the contents written in the hosts file. Details of the flow of each function will be described later, but here, messages transmitted and received between the devices will be described for a series of operations combining the three functions.

  First, the file sharing client A2 receives a device automatic discovery command 1201 from the user A61 via the file sharing GUI unit 28. Then, the file sharing client A2 transmits a message asking for an address to the Web server device 4 in the home network 9. In this embodiment, a Neighbor Solicitation Message (NDP) 1202 of NDP (Neighbor Discovery Protocol) is used for address inquiry. Receiving this inquiry, the Web server-equipped device 4 returns a neighbor advertisement message 1203 (Neighbor Advertisement Message) storing the MAC address of the Web server-equipped device 4.

  The file sharing client A2 that has received the neighbor notification message 1203 generates the IP address of the Web server-equipped device 4 from the obtained MAC address, assigns a domain name corresponding to this IP address, and sets the IP address and domain name pair. Create and maintain a device file as content. In order to be able to refer to the device file from other file sharing clients, it is necessary to register the attribute information of the device file in the file sharing management server 1, so the file sharing client A2 registers the file in the file sharing server 1. A request message 1206 is transmitted. Here, a directory for registering device files may be determined in advance.

  A device type request message 1204 for inquiring the device type may be transmitted from the file sharing client A2 to the Web server mounted device 4 between the neighborhood request message and the table update request. In response to this, the Web server-equipped device 4 returns a device type response message 1205 including information such as a code number for uniquely identifying the type of its own device to the file sharing client A2. When the file sharing client A2 knows the device type of the Web server mounted device 4, it becomes possible to automatically assign an easy-to-understand name corresponding to the device type. Since the name can be given without making an inquiry about the device type, the inquiry about the device type is not an essential process.

  The file sharing management server 1 that has received the file registration request message 1206 updates the file table 411 and the directory table 412 in the attribute information storage unit 41, and transmits a file registration response message 1207 to the file sharing client A2. The operation so far completes registration of the device file in which the pair of the IP address and the domain name of the device 4 with the Web server is written in the bulletin board folder on the peer-to-peer file sharing system. That is, the attribute information of the device file is described in the file table 411 and the directory table 412. The user can refer to the device file in a bulletin board format using the file sharing GUI unit 28 of the file sharing client A2.

  Next, a case where the user B62 refers to the bulletin board using the file sharing GUI unit 28 of the file sharing client B3 from a remote environment will be described. The file sharing client B3 transmits a bulletin board folder reference request message 1209 to the file sharing management server 1. At this time, the directory ID 1105 of the reference request message 1209 may store the ID of the directory assuming that the directory in which the device file exists is recognized by the user B62. Receiving this message, the file sharing management server 1 refers to the file table 411, directory table 412, and user table 413 of the attribute information storage unit 41, and sends a reference response message 1210 for conveying the contents of the bulletin board folder to the file sharing client B3. Send to.

  Using the IP address 1108 included in the received message, the file sharing client B3 transmits a file download request message 1211 to the client that should request the desired device file, that is, the file sharing client A2. The file sharing client A2 returns a file download response message 1212 to the file sharing client B3 in order to transmit the requested file. The file 1110 of the file download response message 1212 includes the requested device file.

  The file sharing client B3 stores the device file downloaded from the file sharing client A2 in its own storage unit 31, and simultaneously writes the set of the IP address and domain name of the Web server device 4 described in the device file to the hosts file. . Further, a table update request message 1213 is transmitted to the file sharing server 1 to reflect the fact that the file entity is also held by the file sharing client B3 in the entire peer-to-peer file sharing system. Receiving it, the file sharing management server 1 updates the file table 411 and transmits a table update response message 1214 to the file sharing client B3. Up to this point, the set of the IP address and domain name of the Web server-equipped device 4 is described in the hosts file of the file sharing client B3.

  Finally, when the user B62 uses the file sharing GUI unit 28 of the file sharing client B3 and clicks the domain name of the Web server-equipped device 4 displayed on the bulletin board, the Web browsing cooperation unit 32 starts the Web browsing unit 33 Then, the HTTP request 1216 is transmitted to the Web server device 4 using the contents written in the hosts file. In response to this, the Web server-equipped device 4 returns an HTTP response 1217. Here, for example, when the Web server-equipped device 4 is a network camera, the video displayed by the Web server-equipped device 4 can be referred to on the Web browsing unit 33 of the client B3.

  Figure 13 automatically discovers the IP address of the device 4 with Web server, automatically assigns a domain name as the name to the discovered device, and creates a file of the IP address and domain name pair on the peer-to-peer file sharing system. It is a figure for demonstrating in detail the flow registered automatically in the bulletin board folder. When the user A61 selects automatic device discovery using the GUI operation unit 281 in the file sharing GUI unit 28 of the file sharing client A2 (step 1301), the address acquisition unit 23 uses the NDP ( A Neighbor Discovery Protocol 120 Neighbor Solicitation Message 1202 is created (step 1302). Instead of explicitly selecting automatic device discovery by the user, the file sharing client A2 may periodically send a neighbor request message to the network 9 to automatically perform device discovery. Alternatively, the neighbor request message may be transmitted when the file sharing client A2 detects that the Web server-equipped device 4 is newly connected to the network 9. The address acquisition unit 23 delivers the created neighborhood request message 1202 to the communication control unit 20, and the communication control unit 20 transmits the neighborhood request message 1202 to the home network 9 (step 1303).

  Here, it is assumed that the MAC address of the Web server device 4 is “00: 80: f0: 34: 33: 70”. In this case, the Web server-equipped device 4 that has received the neighbor request message 1202 inserts its own data link layer address, that is, the MAC address “00: 80: f0: 34: 33: 70” into the neighbor notification message 1203, Reply to file sharing client A2. The address acquisition unit 23 of the file sharing client A2 analyzes the neighbor advertisement message 1203 received via the communication control unit 20, and inserts the MAC address “00: 80: f0: 34: 33: 70”. "Is extracted (step 1304).

  Assuming that the network prefix of the home network 9 is “2001: 240: 403: 28 :: / 64”, the address acquisition unit 23 of the file sharing client A2 performs this network prefix “2001: 240: 403: 28 :: / 64 ”and the MAC address“ 00: 80: f0: 34: 33: 70 ”of the Web server device 4 are combined, and the IP address of the Web server device 4 is“ 2001: 240: 403: 28: 280: f0ff: fe34: 3370 ”is derived (step 1305). In the case of IPv6 network, there is usually a total 128-bit IP address with “280: f0ff: fe34: 3370”, which is the IEEE EUI-64 address generated from the MAC address in this way, in the lower 64 bits and the network prefix in the upper 64 bits. Set to device. Here, the IEEE EUI-64 address is generated by inserting “fffe” between the third and fourth bytes of the MAC address and inverting the upper 7 bits.

  In this embodiment, an NDP neighbor solicitation message is used to derive an IP address from the obtained MAC address. However, a message that can directly inquire about the IP address of the Web server device 4 can be used. If so, such a message may be used. In this case, the file sharing client A2 can use the address obtained from the Web server-equipped device 4 without being processed. In the case of an IPv6 network, the IPv6 address of the Web server-equipped device may be derived using a MAC address notified from the Web server-equipped device 4 or other address information by a method other than the above.

  The name assigning unit 24 assigns an arbitrary domain name corresponding to the address of the Web server-equipped device 4, for example, “v6camera.userA.ΔΔΔ.jp” (step 1306). An arbitrary domain name may be assigned according to a predetermined naming rule set in advance, or may be assigned a domain name that can recognize a user having a device and a terminal that performs automatic discovery operation. .

  Here, a device identification code for determining the type of each device is determined in advance, and the file sharing client A2 sends a device type request message 1204 for inquiring the device type to the Web-equipped device 4 as described above. You may make it do. For example, a value “1” is set as a device identification code for a web camera, a value “2” is set for a temperature sensor, and a value “3” is set for a lighting device, and the device identification code set for each device is set. Is stored in each home appliance in advance, in response to a device type inquiry from the file sharing client A2, the web-mounted device 4 includes a response message including a device type code “1” indicating the type of the Web camera. Reply. The content of the device identification code is not limited to the exemplified numerical value, but may be any information (bit string) that can uniquely identify the device type. Upon receiving this response message, the file sharing client A2 recognizes that the device type of the Web-equipped device 4 is “Web camera”. As a result, the file sharing client A2 automatically uses a domain name such as “v6camera.userA. △△△ .jp” as described above so that it can be recognized as a camera as the domain name of the Web-equipped device 4. Can be granted. The inquiry message for the device type may be transmitted by being included in the message for inquiring the address, or may be transmitted separately from the message for inquiring the address. When a message for inquiring about the device type is included in the message for inquiring about the address, information on the type of device may be included in the reply message for the address inquiry.

  In the embodiment in which the file sharing client A2 inquires the device type to the Web-equipped device 4 in this way, the file sharing client A2 creates a device type inquiry message and identifies the device type from the response message to the device type acquisition unit. 26. The Web-equipped device 4 has a storage unit for storing the device type, and returns a message including the device type code of the device to the device type inquiry message.

  The file generation unit 25 writes a set of IP address “2001: 240: 403: 28: 280: f0ff: fe34: 3370” and domain name “v6camera.userA. △△△ .jp” as a device file. And stored in the file storage unit 21 (step 1307). FIG. 16 shows the contents of the created device file. In the device file 1601, the IP address “2001: 240: 403: 28: 280: f0ff: fe34: 3370” corresponds to the domain name “v6camera.userA. △△△ .jp” assigned to the Web server device 4 It is attached and described. In addition, a character string “user A automatic discovery device” may be described in the device file 1601 to indicate that the device is automatically discovered in the network of the user A61.

  In order to allow other file sharing clients B3 to refer to the device file as a bulletin board on the peer-to-peer file sharing system, the file sharing system communication processing unit 22 of the file sharing client A2 The file registration request message 1206 created in step 1206 is transmitted to the file sharing management server 1 via the communication control unit 20 (steps 1308 and 1309). The user ID of this user is 1000, and the directory ID of the directory in which the device file is registered is 20010. In this case, the value 20010 is stored in the directory ID 1105 and the value 1000 is stored in the user ID 1107 of the file registration request message 1206.

  The file sharing management server 1 updates the file table 411 and the directory table 412 in accordance with this request. If the contents of these tables before the update are the same as those in FIGS. 6 and 7, the contents of the table after the update are as shown in FIGS. FIG. 17 shows the contents of the updated file table 411. In the file table 411, a file 10011 newly registered by the user ID 1000 is added to the line. At this time, the file sharing management server 1 assigns a file ID 10011 to the file 10011. FIG. 18 shows the contents of the updated directory table 412. A file ID 10011 is newly added to the file list 4126 of the directory 20010.

  The file sharing management server 1 generates and transmits a file registration response message 1207 after updating these tables. This message has a file ID 1106 in the data portion 1111 and stores a value 10011. The file sharing client A2 receives this message (step 1310), and associates the file ID 10011 included in the received message with the device file stored in the file storage unit 21.

  Then, the GUI display unit 282 of the file sharing client A2 displays the newly registered file, that is, the IP address “2001: 240: 403: 28: 280: f0ff: fe34: 3370” of the Web server device 4 and the domain name “ Displays a device file with a set of “v6camera.userA. △△△ .jp” in bulletin board format.

  With the operations so far, registration of the file in which the pair of the IP address and the domain name of the Web server-equipped device 4 is written in the bulletin board folder of the peer-to-peer file sharing system is completed. The user holding the file entity can refer to the file in the bulletin board format using the file sharing GUI unit 28 (step 1311).

  The upper part of FIG. 19 is a screen view displayed by the GUI display unit 282 of the file sharing client A2 before the device file is registered and the lower part after registration. When the display of the directory 20010 is selected on the GUI operation unit 281, the contents of the existing file are only displayed before the file registration, and the contents of the device file are not displayed in the bulletin board format. However, after registering the file, the contents of the device file are displayed in a bulletin board format. Here, the registered date and the registered user may be additionally displayed on the bulletin board.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining in detail the flow of acquiring the device file registered in the bulletin board folder by file download between the clients and automatically writing the contents of the file to the hosts file in the local environment of the downloading client. FIG. When the user B62 selects the directory 20010 using the GUI operation unit 281 of the file sharing client B3 to refer to the bulletin board folder in which the device file is registered, the file sharing system communication processing unit 22 displays the communication control unit 22. Then, a reference request message 1209 is transmitted to the file sharing management server 1 via (step 1402). In this case, assuming that the user ID of the user B62 is 1001, the directory ID 1105 of the reference request message 1209 stores the ID value 20010 of the directory to be referred to, and the user ID 1107 stores the ID value 1001 of the user who performs the reference.

  The file sharing management server 1 searches the file table 411, the directory table 412, and the user table 413 according to the content of this message. In other words, the file sharing system communication processing unit 22 refers to the entry whose directory ID value is 20010 in the directory table 412 and determines the file ID values 10010 and 10011 of the files stored in the directory from the file list of the entry. get. Then, the file sharing system communication processing unit 22 refers to the entries with the file ID values 10010 and 10011 in the file table 411, and acquires the user ID values 1000, 1001, and 1002 of the owner of the file. Further, the file sharing system communication processing unit 22 refers to entries whose user ID values are 1000, 1001, and 1002 in the user table 413, and acquires the IP address of the terminal used by each user. At this time, the user ID 1000 is “2001: 240: 403: 28: xxxx”.

  Next, the file sharing management server 1 creates and transmits a file reference response message 1210. In this case, the file ID 1106 of the message has values of 10010 and 10011, the user ID 1107 has a value of 1000, the IP address 1108 has the IP address “2001: 240: 403: 28: xxxx” of the user ID 1000, and the user 1001 , 1002 and the user list 1109 store the values of 1001 and 1002, which are other owner user IDs of the files 10010 and 10011, respectively.

  The file sharing client B3 receives the file reference response message 1210 (step 1403), and uses the IP address 1108 included in the message to send a file download request message 1211 to the client that should request the device file, that is, the file sharing client A2. Transmit (step 1404). In this case, the file ID 1106 of the file download request message 1211 includes the file ID value 10011 of the device file to be downloaded, and the user ID 1107 includes the ID value 1001 of the user who requests the download.

  Based on the received file download request message 1211, the file sharing client A2 extracts a device file having the file ID value 10011 from the file storage unit 21 (step 1405). Then, the file sharing system communication processing unit 22 transmits a file download response message 1212 to the file sharing client B3 (step 1406). In this case, the file ID 1106 of the file download response message 1212 includes the ID value 10011 of the device file, the user ID 1107 includes the ID value 1000 of the user of the file transmission source, and the file 1110 includes the device file.

  The file sharing system communication processing unit 22 of the file sharing client B3 stores the device file received from the file sharing client A2 via the communication control unit 20 in the storage unit 31 (step 1407). At the same time, the address / name registration unit 30 receives the domain name “v6camera.userA.ΔΔΔ.jp” of the Web server-equipped device 4 and the corresponding IP address “2001: 240: 403: 28: 280” from the received device file. : F0ff: fe34: 3370 ”is extracted (step 1408), and the extracted information is written in the hosts file (step 1409).

  FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining the hosts file. In the hosts file, a set of IP address and domain name is described for each line, and the IP address and domain name are arranged in this order from the left. Leave at least one space between the IP address and the domain name. In the case of this embodiment, the IP address “2001: 240: 403: 28: 280: f0ff: fe34: 3370” of the Web server device 4 and the domain name “v6camera.userA. △△△ .jp” are described. .

  The file sharing system communication processing unit 22 of the file sharing client B3 updates the table via the communication control unit 20 in order to reflect that the device file itself is retained in the peer-to-peer file sharing system. A request message 1213 is transmitted to the file sharing management server 1 (step 1410). In this case, the file ID 1106 of the table update request message 1213 includes the ID value 10011 of the file whose contents are to be updated, and the user ID 1107 includes the ID value 1001 of the user who requests the update.

  The file sharing management server 1 receives this message and adds the value of the user ID 1001 to the user list of the entry whose file ID is 10011 in the file table 411. Then, the file sharing system communication processing unit 22 of the file sharing management server 1 returns a table update response message 1214.

  The file sharing system communication processing unit 22 of the file sharing client B3 receives the table update response message 1214 via the communication control unit 20 (step 1411). Then, the GUI display unit 282 of the file sharing client B3 displays the acquired device file information, that is, the IP address “2001: 240: 403: 28: 280: f0ff: fe34: 3370” and the domain name “v6camera” of the device 4 with the Web server. A bulletin board on which a set of “.userA.ΔΔΔ.jp” is described is displayed (step 1412). When the display of the directory 20010 is selected on the GUI operation unit 281, the device file is not displayed before the file acquisition, but the content of the device file is displayed in a bulletin board format after the acquisition.

  FIG. 15 shows the file sharing GUI unit 28 on the file sharing client B3 that acquired the device file. When the domain name of the device 4 with the Web server listed on the bulletin board is specified, the Web browsing linkage unit 32 of the file sharing client B3 FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining in detail a flow for automatically starting a web browsing unit 33 and accessing the web server-equipped device 4 using the correspondence between the domain name and the IP address written in the hosts file.

  When the user B62 clicks the domain name “v6camera.userA. △△△ .jp” of the Web server-equipped device 4 described on the bulletin board by the GUI operation unit 281 in the file sharing GUI unit 28 (step 1501), the file sharing client The B3 web browsing cooperation unit 32 activates the web browsing unit 33 (step 1502). Then, the Web browsing unit 33 refers to the hosts file, and an IP address corresponding to the domain name “v6camera.userA.ΔΔΔ.jp” of the Web server device 4, that is, “2001: 240: 403: 28: 280: f0ff” : Fe34: 3370 ”is acquired (step 1503).

  Using the acquired IP address, the Web browsing unit 33 transmits an HTTP request 1216 to the Web server device 4 (Step 1504), and the Web server device 4 returns an HTTP response 1217 in response thereto. When the Web server device 4 is a network camera, the user B62 can refer to the video displayed by the Web server device 4 included in the received HTTP response 1217 on the Web browsing unit 33 of the client B3.

In the above embodiment, the case where the file sharing management server 1 and the file sharing client A2 are different devices has been described. However, these devices may be configured as one device.
According to the present invention, on the peer-to-peer file sharing system as described above, it is possible to realize automatic access from a remote environment such as outside the home to a device equipped with a Web server in a home network such as a home. Remote access service can be used more easily.

An example of a peer-to-peer file sharing system using an automatic access method to home appliances connected to a LAN Configuration example of file sharing client A2 Configuration example of file sharing client B3 Configuration example of file share management server 1 Configuration example of Web server device 4 Configuration example of file table 411 Configuration example of directory table 412 Configuration example of user table 413 Configuration example of screen displayed on GUI display unit 282 Another configuration example of the screen displayed on the GUI display unit 282 Configuration example of packet format A series of operation sequence diagrams of the automatic access method to Web server devices Automatically discovers the IP address of the device 4 with Web server, automatically assigns a domain name to the discovered device, creates a file of the IP address and domain name pair, and automatically registers them in the bulletin board folder on the peer-to-peer file sharing system Detailed explanatory diagram of the flow Detailed explanatory diagram of the flow to acquire the file registered in the bulletin board folder by file download between clients, and automatically write the contents of the file to the hosts file in the local environment of the downloading client When the domain name of the Web server device 4 is specified, the Web browsing link unit 32 of the file sharing client B3 automatically starts the Web browsing unit 33 and uses the contents of the hosts file to access the Web server device 4 Detailed illustration Configuration example of device file Configuration example of file table 411 after content update Configuration example of directory table 412 after content update Screens displayed by GUI display unit 282 before and after file 10011 is registered Illustration of hosts file

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 File share management server 2, 3 File share client 4 Web server mounted apparatus 5-7 Router 8 IP network 9 Home network 10 Remote environment 20 Communication control part 21 File storage part 22 File share system communication process part 23 Address acquisition part 24 Name Giving unit 25 File generation unit 26 Device type acquisition unit 27 File attribute information registration unit 28 File sharing GUI unit 30 Address / name registration unit 31 Storage unit 32 Web browsing cooperation unit 33 Web browsing unit 40 Attribute information extraction unit 50 Web camera unit 51 Lens 53 Video processing unit 54 HTTP processing unit 61, 62 User 90 Display screen 91 Directory display unit 92 File display unit 281 GUI operation unit 282 GUI display unit 411 File table 412 Directory table 413 User tables 1101 to 1111 Packet configuration information 1201 to 1217 signal 1301-1505 processing step 1601 device file 2000 hosts file 1000 to 1002 user ID
10010 to 10011 File ID
2001-200112 Directory ID

Claims (13)

In the terminal device of the file sharing system for sharing the file between any terminal devices by registering the attribute information of the file held by the terminal device in the management device and acquiring the attribute information from the management device,
An inquiry is made to an information device connected to the network to which the device belongs, and an address acquisition unit for acquiring the address of the information device;
A name assigning unit for assigning a name for identifying the information device to the information device;
A file generation unit that generates a device file containing information associating the address and name of the information device;
A storage unit for storing the device file;
A terminal device, comprising: an attribute information registration unit that creates a registration request message for registering the attribute information of the device file in the management device. The terminal device according to claim 1,
The attribute information includes a file ID for identifying a file and a user ID for identifying a user who is an owner of the file. The terminal device according to claim 1,
The terminal device characterized in that the name is a domain name of the information device. The terminal device according to claim 3,
Inquiring to the information device what type of device the information device is, and having a device type acquisition unit for specifying the type of the information device,
The name assigning unit assigns a domain name according to the specified device type. The terminal device according to claim 1,
The terminal apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the address acquisition unit acquires the address of the information device by adding a bit string to the upper bits of the address received from the information device. The terminal device according to claim 5,
An address received by the address acquisition unit from the information device is a MAC address of the information device, and the bit string to be added is a network address of a network to which the information device belongs. The terminal device according to claim 6,
The terminal apparatus characterized in that the address acquisition unit makes an inquiry to the information device using a Neighbor Solicitation Message of NDP (Neighbor Discovery Protocol). A network in which attribute information of a file held by the first terminal device is registered in the management device, and the second terminal device acquires the file from the first terminal device by acquiring the attribute information from the management device In the system,
The first terminal device is:
An address acquisition unit for acquiring an address of an information device existing in the network to which the device belongs;
A name assigning unit for assigning a name corresponding to the acquired address;
A file generation unit that generates a file containing the correspondence between the address and the name;
A file storage unit holding the generated file;
An attribute information registration unit that creates a registration request message for requesting the management device to register the attribute information of the file;
The management device
An attribute information extraction unit for extracting attribute information included in the registration request message;
A network system comprising: an attribute information storage unit that stores the extracted attribute information. The network system according to claim 8, wherein
The network system, wherein the attribute information includes a file ID for identifying a file and a user ID for identifying a user who is an owner of the file. The network system according to claim 8, wherein
The network system according to claim 1, wherein the address acquisition unit creates a message for inquiring an address of the information device. The network system according to claim 10, wherein
The network wherein the address acquisition unit acquires the address of the information device by adding a bit string to the upper bits of the address of the information device included in the message returned from the information device in response to the message system. The network system according to claim 11, wherein
The network system characterized in that the address of the information device included in the returned message is a MAC address, and the bit string to be added is a network address of a network to which the information device belongs. The network system according to claim 12, wherein
The network system, wherein the address inquiry message is a Neighbor Solicitation Message of NDP (Neighbor Discovery Protocol).

Images