KR20020059168A - External Interface Selecting Apparatus of Gateway System Having Multiple Interfaces - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A device for selecting an external interface unit of a multi interface gateway system is provided to make a connection to various kinds of communication circuits possible through an external interface unit without an additional communication device by setting an external interface unit same as an interface of a corresponding communication circuit selectively according to a connected communication circuit. CONSTITUTION: A mode setting unit(40) is provided for generating a selection signal for selecting a corresponding interface module set by a user according to a communication circuit being connected to an external interface unit. An interface module selection control unit(28) generates an interface selection signal for judging a mode selected by a selection signal of the mode setting unit(40), outputting mode information set in a control unit(11), and connecting one out of a plurality of interface modules according to the selected mode to a corresponding local bus. A bus connection unit(27) responds to the interface module selection control unit(28) and connects one out of a plurality of interface modules to the control unit(11) through one local bus. When a power is turned on, the control unit(11) initializes many different interface units and loads a program for operating an interface module connected to the bus connection unit(27) according to the selection signal by the interface module selection control unit(28).

Description

External Interface Selecting Apparatus of Gateway System Having Multiple Interfaces}

The present invention relates to a device for selecting an external interface of a gateway system having a multi-interface. In particular, according to a communication line to be connected, an external interface unit is selectively set to be identical to an interface of a corresponding communication line. An apparatus for selecting an external interface unit of a gateway system having a multi-interface having no communication device and easily connecting to various communication lines through an external interface unit.

In recent years, SOHO (Small Office Home Office), a new type of work that is used to run a business of its own by using a computer communication network such as the Internet at home, has become commonplace. The device is being researched / developed.

Of course, similar networks are gradually being heated up so that general homes can control various home appliances placed on the home using the Internet, and various network solutions are being released.

As such, the Internet is an indispensable part of business and family life, and according to this trend, various Internet services have been commercialized, and various communication devices for performing such Internet services, such as modems, xDSL modems, Cable modems and leased line equipment are on display.

However, in the related art, a communication device having a single purpose interface unit is introduced and used according to the type of communication line arranged in a user's office environment and a building, etc. In this case, if the user moves and moves a building, the building will be moved in. Must be installed in accordance with the communication environment, i.e. xDSL, cable or leased line in the building. In this case, the communication line is different from the communication line of the building before moving. There was a problem in that an expensive communication device must be purchased separately.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, the object of which is to provide a separate communication device according to various communication lines by selectively setting the external interface unit to be the same as the interface of the communication line according to the communication line to be connected. The present invention provides a device for selecting an external interface of a gateway system having a multi-interface that can be easily connected to various communication lines through an external interface.

1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a gateway system having multiple interfaces;

2 is a schematic block diagram showing an external interface unit selection device of a gateway system according to the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation state of an external interface unit selection device for selectively setting an external interface unit according to a communication line connected to the external interface unit of the present invention.

* Description of Codes for Main Parts in Drawings *

11: control unit 12: display unit

13: memory section 21: Ethernet interface section

22: home PNA interface unit 23: IEEE1394 interface unit

24: VoIP interface unit 25: external interface unit

25a: dedicated line interface module 25b: xDSL interface module

25c: cable interface module 26: general purpose asynchronous transmission and reception interface

27: bus connection 28: interface module selection control unit

31, 32a, 36: computer 32b, 34: electronic telephone

33: camcorder 35: communication line

40: mode setting section 40a: first switch

40b: second switch

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a plurality of different internal / external interface units and bus connection controllers, interconnecting a plurality of internal / external interface units, and according to the type of communication lines that are introduced from the outside. In an external interface unit selection apparatus of a gateway system having an external interface unit having a plurality of interface modules that can be selectively connected, selecting a corresponding interface module set by a user according to a communication line connected to the external interface unit. A mode setting unit for generating a selection signal for the control unit; and determining a selected mode according to the selection signal of the mode setting unit and outputting mode information set to the control unit, and converting one of a plurality of interface modules to a corresponding local bus according to the selected mode. Interface line to connect And the interface module selection controller for generating a signal, in response to the selection control interface module is configured to one of a plurality of interface modules by a bus connection connected to the controller via the local bus; The control unit initializes a plurality of different interface units at the same time the power is turned on, and loads a program for driving the interface module connected by the bus connection unit by the interface module selection control unit according to the selection signal. An external interface selector is provided.

In this case, the external interface unit includes a dedicated line interface module, an xDSL interface module, and a cable interface module, and sets one of the plurality of interface modes by the mode setting unit according to the type of communication line connected to the external interface unit. The bus connection unit connects one of the plurality of interface modules and a control unit to another server connected to the Internet through a device connected to an internal interface unit.

Therefore, in the present invention, a plurality of external interface modules are arranged and can be easily selectively connected to a communication line to be connected according to the mode setting of the switch unit without a separate communication device, thereby reducing costs and improving productability and productability. You can.

(Example)

1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a gateway system having multiple interfaces, FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an external interface unit selection apparatus of a gateway system according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an external interface unit of the present invention. Flow charts showing an operation state of the external interface unit selection device for selectively setting the external interface unit in accordance with the communication line connected to each other are shown.

First, a gateway system having a multi-interface as shown in FIG. 1 will be described as follows.

An interface unit to which various devices having various interfaces are connected, for example, the Ethernet interface unit 21, the home PNA interface unit 22, the IEEE1394 interface unit 23, the VoIP interface unit 24, and the UART interface unit 26 The external interface 25 connected to the communication line is connected to the control unit 11 by a local bus or a PCI bus in order to connect to the internal interface and the external network.

In addition, a memory unit 13 for storing data for devices connected to the plurality of interface units 21-26 and for buffering data transmitted when data is shared between the plurality of devices is provided through the processor bus. 11).

In this case, the controller 11 controls each other between the devices 31 connected to the different interface units 21-26, and transmits data input / output between the devices 31-36 in a packet manner. Share it.

Examples of a device connected to the different interface units 21-26 include, for example, a computer 31 connected to the Ethernet interface unit 21, a computer 32a connected to a home PNA interface unit 22, and The electronic telephone 32b, the camcorder 33 connected to the IEEE1394 interface 23, the electronic phone 34 connected to the VoIP interface 24, the computer 36 connected to the UART interface 26, and the And a communication line 35 connected to the external interface 25.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the external interface unit 25 is connected to each other when one of the communication lines 35, for example, the xDSL modem communication line, the cable modem communication line, and the dedicated communication line, which are input from the outside, is connected. The dedicated line interface module 25a, the cable interface module 25b, and the xDSL interface module 25a are respectively embedded so as to selectively connect to the communication line having the interface unit.

In addition, a bus connection unit 27 is disposed to be interconnected between the external interface unit 25 and the control unit 11, and the bus connection unit 27 is connected to the external interface when any one of communication lines having different interfaces is connected. The controller 11 is connected to any one of the interface modules 25a-25c of the unit 25.

In this case, the user may arbitrarily select one of the plurality of modules 25a-25c of the external interface unit 25 according to a communication line connected to the external interface unit 25 to set the interface mode corresponding thereto. The mode setting unit 40 including the first and second switches 40a and 40b is disposed, and the mode setting unit 40 is set as shown in Table 1 by the first and second switches 40a and 40b. The selection signal consisting of bits is transmitted to the interface module selection control unit 28.

First switch Second switch Dedicated line 0 0 xDSL 0 One cable One 0 error One One

The interface module selection control unit 28 receives the selection signal from the mode setting unit 40 and connects the interface module corresponding to the communication line to which the bus connection unit 27 is to be connected with the control unit 11 via a bus. .

At this time, the control unit 11 initializes the corresponding interface module according to the selection signal transmitted from the interface module selection control unit 28, and loads a program for driving the selected interface module. It is possible to connect to other servers connected to the Internet network through a plurality of devices connected to the interface unit 25.

The operation of the external interface selection device according to the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail as follows.

First, when the power is turned on as shown in FIG. 3, the controller 11 initializes a plurality of interface units 21-24 and 26 connected to the controller 11 by a local bus and a PCI bus. (S10).

Subsequently, the user corresponds to a communication line selected from any one selected from xDSL, cable, and dedicated line to be connected to the external interface unit 25 through the first and second switches 40a and 40b of the interface module control selector 40. The interface mode is set (S20).

In this case, for example, when the communication line to be connected is a dedicated communication line, the user sets the mode to 0 for the first switch 40a of the mode setting unit 40 and 0 for the second switch, respectively (S31). In addition, even when the external interface unit 25 is connected to the xDSL communication line or cable communication line, the mode setting unit 40 is set to the respective modes as shown in Table 1 (S32 and S33).

The selection signal of the mode selection unit 40 is transmitted to the interface module selection control unit 28. Accordingly, the interface module selection control unit 28 transmits a selection signal to the bus connection unit 27 to transmit the selection signal to the bus connection unit 27. The interface module corresponding to the communication line to be connected through the controller 11 is connected (S40).

At the same time, the interface module selection control unit 28 transmits the selection signal to the control unit 11, and accordingly compares with the setting mode previously stored in the memory unit 13 corresponding to the selection signal. Initialize (S50).

Thereafter, the controller 11 loads a program stored in the memory unit to drive the selected corresponding interface module (S60).

Meanwhile, when an error occurs in the external interface unit 25 or the communication line, the first and second switches 40a and 40b are in an error state (S34), and the display unit connected to the control unit 11 ( After the error message is output through 12) (S70), the process ends.

Accordingly, devices connected to the plurality of different interface units 21-26 can be connected to other servers connected to the Internet through an external interface unit.

Therefore, it is possible to accommodate various communication lines through one gateway system without separately purchasing a communication device having the same interface as the changed communication line with respect to the communication line changed by moving or moving a place.

In the present invention described above, a plurality of external interface modules are disposed, and the communication lines to be connected can be easily and selectively connected to a communication line to be connected according to the mode setting of the switch unit, thereby reducing costs, and thus merchandising and productability. There is an advantage that can be improved.

In the above, the present invention has been illustrated and described with reference to specific preferred embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the present invention is not limited to the spirit of the present invention. Various changes and modifications will be possible by those who have the same.

Claims (2)

A plurality of interface modules having a plurality of different internal / external interface units and bus connection controllers, interconnecting a plurality of internal / external interface units, and which can be selectively connected according to the type of communication line coming from the outside. An external interface unit selection apparatus of a gateway system having an external interface unit having: A mode setting unit for generating a selection signal for selecting a corresponding interface module set by a user according to a communication line connected to the external interface unit; An interface module for determining a selected mode according to a selection signal of the mode setting unit, outputting mode information set to the controller, and generating an interface selection signal for connecting one of a plurality of interface modules with a corresponding local bus according to the selected mode; With a selection control unit, A bus connection unit configured to connect one of the plurality of interface modules to the control unit via a local bus in response to the interface module selection control unit; The control unit initializes a plurality of different interface units at the same time the power is turned on, and loads a program for driving the interface module connected by the bus connection unit by the interface module selection control unit according to the selection signal. External interface selector. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the external interface unit comprises a dedicated line interface module, an xDSL interface module, and a cable interface module, wherein the external interface unit is configured by the mode setting unit according to a type of a communication line connected to the external interface unit. One of the plurality of interface modules and a control unit are connected to each other by the bus connection unit according to a set value, and the multi interface is connected to another server connected to the Internet through a device connected to an internal interface unit. External interface selector of a gateway system.