KR20060003679A - Control system and method for home network - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a home network control system and method, and more particularly, to simplify communication of a packet by improving a packet structure by simplifying a packet structure for LnCP. The present invention for this purpose is connected to the inside of the home network LnCP-based devices (141 ~ 143) that performs control commands outside the home network, and monitors the IP address assigned to the devices (141 ~ 143) and the device ( 141 ~ 143) When the log request packet is received for authentication for control, it extracts the identification name (ID) and password (PW) and authenticates whether it matches the preset identification name (ID) and password (PW). The LnCP server 130 responds with a log response packet and transmits a request packet including a device control command of any of the devices 141 to 143 to the corresponding device, and then responds with the status information according to the response packet. ), A gateway 120 connecting the LnCP server 130 and an external network of a home network, and log request packets and requests for controlling the devices 141 to 143. Sending a packet to the LnCP server 130, and receives status information accordingly to be characterized in that it comprises a client 110 for display on the screen.

Description

Home network control system and method {CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HOME NETWORK}

1 is a block diagram of a home network control system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

2 is an exemplary diagram of a packet structure for login / out in an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is an exemplary diagram of a packet structure for device control in an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is an exemplary diagram of a notification packet structure in an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

110: client 120: gateway

130: LnCP server 141 ~ 143: LnCP device

The present invention relates to home appliance control, and more particularly, to a home network control system and method.

Recently, the construction of a home automation system that enables remote control via the Internet by connecting a plurality of home appliances installed in a home through a network is spreading.

Currently, home appliances have a microchip equipped with a serial communication function to communicate with a microcomputer or a device.

However, microchips embedded in home appliances have various resources that can be used for communication according to the performance of the device.

For example, in the case of a personal computer (PC) or a multimedia device such as TV or audio, a high-performance hardware specification is adopted to realize various functions, and thus a specification for a large amount of data and high-speed communication is required.

On the other hand, functions such as refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, lights, or boilers are very simple compared to those of PCs or multimedia devices, and generally adopt low-function microchips of 8 bits or less.

In the case of a home appliance employing such a low-function microchip, a standard capable of communicating with minimum resources is required for remote control or operation status monitoring.

LG Electronics has developed Living Network Control Protocol (LnCP) to provide Internet services to home appliances installed in homes.

LnCP-based home network is equipped with a home network server that can coordinate various home appliances in the home, and connects various electric appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, and microwave ovens without any equipment or complicated construction. Power Line Communication (PLC) is used to connect various home appliances in one network.

Conventional LnCP generates, processes, and manages all messages through a single flow. In other words, the conventional LnCP does not implement a layer or a handler for each function, and thus processes a sequence from the header of the packet to the tail in one routine.

However, the conventional packet structure for the LnCP has a disadvantage in that the user cannot efficiently respond when the user randomly generates an input through the UI or cannot guarantee the response of the slave device. .

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a home network control system and method invented to improve communication efficiency by simplifying a packet operation process by simplifying a packet structure for LnCP in order to improve a conventional problem.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plurality of devices, which are LnCP-based home appliances that are connected inside a home network and also perform control commands outside the home network, and log request packets for authentication for controlling the plurality of devices. The client transmits the request packet for controlling the plurality of devices, receives the status information according to the transmitted packet and displays it on the screen when the authentication is successful, and the IP addresses assigned to the plurality of devices. Monitor the log request packet for the control of the plurality of devices from the client and verify that the client is a legitimate client, and respond with the log response packet to the result of the verification, and select any one of the plurality of devices from the client identified as the legitimate client. Device control When a request packet is received, the LnCP server which interprets the request packet and transmits the response packet to the corresponding device and responds to the client with a response packet including state information according to the request, and a gateway connecting the LnCP server and an external network of a home network Characterized in that comprises a configuration.

In addition, the present invention provides a method for controlling a home appliance based on LnCP in order to achieve the above object, the step of checking whether a log request (Log Request) packet is received at a user terminal inside or outside the home, and the log request packet is When received, extracting the identification name (ID) and the password (PW) and comparing with a predetermined identification name (ID), password (PW), and log response indicating whether the home appliance can be controlled according to the comparison result ( Response) transmitting the packet to the user terminal, checking whether a request packet for controlling any device is received from the user terminal inside or outside the home where the login is successful, and if the request packet is received, a destination device. Checking and transmitting the address of the request to the corresponding device, and the device executing the command of the request packet If the response is returned, the response packet is included in the response packet and transmitted to the user terminal, and the event is generated according to the state change of the device. When the event is issued, a notification packet including the state information is provided. And performing a step of transmitting to the user terminal to control the plurality of home appliances existing in the home network.

The log request packet includes a packet length of 1 byte, a receiver address (RA) indicating an address of a destination device to which the packet is to be sent in 2 bytes, and an address of a device sending a packet in 2 bytes. Sander dress (Sender address: SA), 1 byte packet type (PT), 1 byte command code (CC), 1 byte ID size, variable size ID (ID: IDentification), password size (PW size) of 1 byte, password (PW: PassWord) of variable size.

The log response packet includes packet length (size), destination device address (RA), packet transmission device address (SA), packet type (PT), command code (CC), 1 byte of ACK / NACK, and execution of CC. Characterized in that it comprises a variable size ARG (Argument) to input the argument for.

The request packet includes an ARG indicating a packet size, an address of a destination device (RA), an address of a packet transmission device (SA), a packet type (PT), a command code (CC), and a command code execution factor. It is characterized by the configuration.

The response packet includes packet size (Size), address of destination device (RA), address of packet transmission device (SA), packet type (PT), command code (CC), 1 byte of ACK / NACK, and command code (CC). It is characterized by including a variable size ARG (Argument) indicating the argument for execution.

The notification packet includes a packet size, an address of a destination device (RA), an address (SA) of a device transmitting a packet, a packet type (PT), a command code (CC), and an command execution factor (ARG). It is characterized by including the configuration.

The ARG is characterized by comprising a two-byte event code, four bytes of status value1, variable size status value2.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a home network system according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, an LnCP-based device 141 to 143 connected to an inside of a home network to perform a control command outside the home network, and To monitor the IP addresses assigned to the devices 141 to 143,

When a log request packet is received for authentication for control of the devices 141 to 143, the log request packet is analyzed and authenticated, and the control unit responds with a log response packet.

When the request packet including any device control command among the devices 141 to 143 is received, the LnCP server 130 transmits the request packet to the corresponding device and responds with the response information according to the response packet, and the LnCP server 130. ) And a gateway 120 connecting the external network of the home network, and a log request packet and a request packet for controlling the devices 141 to 143 to the LnCP server 130 and state information accordingly. It comprises a client 110 to receive and display on the screen.

The LnCP server 130 interprets a command for controlling an LnCP-based device and transfers the LnCP library to the corresponding device, and a physical interface (eg, PLC, RS-485) for communication with each device. , RF, ZigBee, etc.).

In addition, the LnCP server 130 assigns an IP address to the LnCP-based devices (141 to 143) connected to the home network and checks it in real time to provide the portal server (not shown). If the dynamic IP addresses of the plurality of devices 141 to 143 are changed, the LnCP server 130 detects this and transmits the same to the portal server (not shown).

Communication between the client and the gateway 130 uses a wireless LAN, Bluetooth, ZigBee, CDMA, and the like.

Referring to the operation and effect of the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in order to control the LnCP-based devices 141 to 143, an LnCP server 130 is installed in a home and a portable device such as a PDA or a phone is used inside or outside the home. To control.

In addition, the gateway 120 is installed for communication between the LnCP server 130 and the client 110 outside the home network.

Communication between a program for the server function of the gateway 120 and an application mounted on a PDA or a phone uses LnCP packets of the formats shown in FIGS. 2 to 4.

That is, the LnCP packet according to the embodiment of the present invention is a login / out request packet for authentication, a login / out response packet, a request packet for controlling the LnCP device, and a response thereto. Packet) and a notification packet for events that occur periodically or aperiodically from the LnCP device.

The request packet and the response packet for controlling the LnCP device follow an API for local control of the LnCP library.

The login / out request packet has a packet size represented by one byte as shown in FIG. 2 (a), and a two-byte receiver address indicating an address of a destination device to which the packet is to be sent. ), A two-byte sender address (SA) indicating the address of the device sending the packet, a one-byte packet type (PT), a one-byte command code (CC), and a one-byte identification name size ( ID size), variable size identification name (ID: IDentification), password size (PW size) of 1 byte, variable size password (PW: PassWord).

The login / out response packet and the response packet according to device control are respectively shown in FIGS. 2 (b) and 3 (b), and the packet size and address of the destination device (RA). ), The address (SA) of the packet transmission device, the packet type (PT), the command code (CC), ACK / NACK of 1 byte, and a variable size ARG (Argument) indicating a factor for executing the command code (CC). To configure.

The request packet for the device control and the notification packet according to the event are respectively shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 4 (a), the packet size and the address of the destination device. (RA), an address SA of the packet transmission device, a packet type PT, a command code CC, and an ARG indicating a factor for executing the command code.

As shown in Fig. 4 (b), the ARG of the notification packet includes a 2-byte event code, a 4-byte status value1, and a variable size status value2.

The receiver address RA is for early determination of whether the receiver will receive or ignore the packet.

The packet type (PT) is a field value specified when transmitting a packet, and is used to distinguish a corresponding packet type among a request packet, a response packet, and a notification packet.

The response packet is further divided into a successful response and a failed response. The reason why the response packet is classified into two types is to retransmit the packet when the failed response is made by only looking at the packet type (PT) field in the packet header even if the message content is not known.

Accordingly, in the embodiment of the present invention, a packet transmission and reception process between the client 110 and the LnCP server 130 in the home will be described below. Here, the client 110 will be described on the assumption that it is a personal digital assistant (PDA).

The user on the client side goes through a login process to access the LnCP server 130.

First, the user transmits the login request packet of FIG. 1 (a) to the LnCP server 130 through the gateway 120 using the PDA.

At this time, the LnCP server 130 extracts the ID and PW from the login request packet and compares the ID and PW with the ID and PW set by the administrator or the user.

Accordingly, if the comparison result is matched, the LnCP server 130 transmits an "ACK" to the login response packet of FIG. 2 (b) to the PDA to indicate that authentication is successful.

If the authentication fails because the comparison result does not match, the LnCP server 130 transmits the login response packet of FIG. 2 (b) including "NACK" to the PDA.

If the login is successful in the above process, the communication line is connected between the PDA of the client 100 and the LnCP server 130.

Subsequently, the user who has successfully logged in uses the PDA to place a request for status information or a specific function of the LnCP-based devices 141 to 143 existing in the home network in the request packet of FIG. And transmits to 130 and waits for a response packet to it.

At this time, the LnCP server 130 interprets the request packet and transmits the status information to the PDA of the response packet of FIG. 3 (b) when the status information of the LnCP-based devices 141 to 143 is requested.

Accordingly, the PDA interprets the response packet and displays the states of the devices 141 to 143 on the screen, and the user who confirms the same identifies the devices that need control of a specific function.

When the LnCP server 130 interprets the request packet and checks a command to control a specific function of any of the devices 141 to 143, the LnCP server 130 transmits the control command to the corresponding device and outputs the execution result of the control command. Will receive.

At this time, the LnCP server 130 transmits the status information of the device corresponding to the control command in the response packet of Figure 3 (b) to the PDA.

Therefore, the PDA displays the status information of the device on the screen so that the user can check the control result of the device.

Thereafter, when the user wants to log out, the user transmits a logout request packet of the structure of FIG. 1 (a) to the LnCP server 130 by using a PDA.

Accordingly, the LnCP server 130 extracts an ID and a PW from the logout request packet, compares the ID and the PW with a predetermined ID, and compares them with the preset ID and the PW, and includes "ACK" or "NACK" according to the comparison result. Send the logout response packet of the structure to the PDA.

Meanwhile, the devices 141 to 143 existing in the home network generate an event when a state change occurs.

If an event occurs due to a state change, the state change is informed to all devices using a notification packet. An event is important because when a user monitors a device's status, the device will not change its status when the device's status changes, rather than requesting a status value each time it wants to know the status of the device. It is more efficient to advertise. In particular, in the event of a device failure or error, it must be notified as soon as it occurs, so it is necessary to notify the status change immediately when an event occurs.

This process is explained as follows.

Among the LnCP devices 141 to 143 existing in the home network, a device in which a state change has occurred transmits a notification packet having a structure as shown in FIG. 4 (a) (b) to the LnCP server 130.

At this time, the LnCP server 130 interprets the notification packet, checks the event occurrence contents, and transmits the notification packet including the corresponding contents to the PDA 100 when it is determined that the contents should be reported to the user.

Accordingly, the PDA 100 interprets the received notification packet, confirms the event contents, and displays the confirmed event contents on the screen to notify the user.

In addition, the present invention is configured to perform the role of the gateway 120 and the LnCP server 130 by setting any device installed in the home network as a master (master) and equipped with a gateway function and a server function. can do.

At this time, the device acting as the master is configured to transmit an LCCP packet for control of another device acting as a slave using a communication medium such as PLC, RS-485, RF, ZigBee.

As described in detail above, the present invention simplifies the packet operation process by simplifying the packet for controlling the LnCP device existing in the home network, thereby improving communication efficiency.

Claims (7)

A plurality of devices, which are LnCP-based home appliances connected inside the home network and performing control commands outside the home network, A client that transmits a log request packet for authentication for the control of the plurality of devices and transmits a request packet for control of the plurality of devices and receives and displays status information according to the transmitted packet when authentication is successful. (client), It monitors the IP addresses assigned to the plurality of devices and analyzes the log request packet for controlling the plurality of devices from the client to confirm whether the client is a legitimate client, and responds with the log response packet to confirm the result of the verification as the legitimate client. An LnCP server that interprets the request packet for controlling any device among the plurality of devices from the client, transmits the request packet to the corresponding device, and responds to the client with a response packet including status information; And a gateway (Gateway) connecting the LnCP server and an external network of the home network. The method of claim 1, wherein the log request packet is 1 byte packet length (Size), receiver address (RA) indicating the address of the destination device to send the packet in 2 bytes, and sander address (2ender) indicating the address of the device sending the packet in 2 bytes. address: SA), 1 byte packet type (PT), 1 byte command code (CC), 1 byte ID name, variable size ID (ID: IDentification) And a password size (PW size) of 1 byte, and a password of variable size (PW: PassWord). The method of claim 1, wherein the log response packet and the response packet is Enter the packet length (size), address of destination device (RA), address of packet transmission device (SA), packet type (PT), command code (CC), 1 byte of ACK / NACK, and factors for executing CC Home network control system, characterized in that each configuration including a variable size ARG (Argument). The method of claim 1, wherein the request packet and the notification packet is The command execution factor (ARG) indicating the packet size (Size), the address of the destination device (RA), the address of the packet transmission device (SA), the packet type (PT), the command code (CC), and the command code execution factor. Home network control system, characterized in that each configuration. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the instruction execution factor (ARG) of the notification packet is And a 2-byte event code, a 4-byte status value1, and a variable size status value2. In the LnCP-based home appliance control method, Checking whether a log request packet is received at a user terminal inside or outside the home; When the log request packet is received, extracting an identification name (ID) and a password (PW) and comparing the identification name (ID) and the password (PW) with each other; Transmitting a log response packet indicating whether the home appliance can be controlled according to the comparison result to the user terminal; Checking whether a request packet for controlling an arbitrary device is received at a user terminal inside or outside a home where the login is successful; Receiving the request packet, checking the address of a destination device and transmitting the address to the corresponding device; When the device that executes the command of the request packet responds to the execution result, the device is configured to control the plurality of home appliances existing in the home network by including the response packet and transmitting the response packet to the user terminal. Home network control method. The method of claim 6, further comprising: checking whether an event occurs according to a state change of the device; And when the event is issued, transmitting a notification packet including the state information to the user terminal so that the user terminal controls a plurality of home appliances existing in the home network.

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