KR20060035176A - System and method for controlling network using different protocol - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a heterogeneous network control system and method, and more particularly, to control a network of another standard in an IP standard-based network when an environment in which a network of different standards exist simultaneously in a home is constructed. The present invention for this purpose, including the control point 111, media server 112 and media player 113, IP network 110 supporting UPnP-based home networking, refrigerators, microwave ovens, washing machines, air conditioners, etc. The LnCP device 200, including the LnCP device 200, supports LnCP-based home networking, and the IP-based control point 111 may control the LnCP device 200. An LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 for modeling as an embedded device in the UPnP basic device and converting data transmitted between the LnCP device 200 and the UPnP control point 111 into data of a corresponding standard (UPnP, LnCP). Characterized in that comprises a configuration.

Description

Heterogeneous network control system and method {SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING NETWORK USING DIFFERENT PROTOCOL}

1 is a block diagram of a home network system in an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a signal flow diagram for LnCP device service in an embodiment of the invention.

3 is an exemplary diagram of an XML document for device information in an embodiment of the present invention.

4 illustrates an XML document for a device service in the embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a block diagram of a home network control system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

6 is an operational flowchart of the specification transmission step in FIG.

7 is an operational flowchart of a new specification transmission step after address release in FIG.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

110: UPnP network 111: control point (CP)

120: LnCP network 121-127,200: LnCP device

130: LnCP-UPnP Bridge Device

The present invention relates to home networking technology, and more particularly, to heterogeneous network control systems and methods.

UPnP ^RM Device Architecture 1.0 is based on a distributed and open networking architecture that uses IP technology to enable each consumer appliance in the home network to be peerless to peer networking instead of centrally managed.

The UPnP network consists of a control point (CP) that controls the device and a device that provides a service.

In the UPnP network, the user can find (discovery, description), control (control) and receive events through the interface provided by the control point (CP).

The UPnP device describes its service description in the form of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) at the time of operation, and provides the user with an interface according to the device by UPnP control point (CP) interpreting the device after discovery.

On the other hand, home appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, and the like, lamps, gas alarms, stands, boilers, etc. generally employs a relatively low-performance microcomputer of 8Bit or less.

In the network consisting of these products, small data transmissions such as remote control and operation monitoring are the main communication targets, so unlike a network consisting of PCs or multimedia products, A protocol is needed to communicate using resources.

LG Electronics has developed LnCP (Living Network Control Protocol) as a protocol for providing Internet services to home appliances installed in homes.

The Living Network Control Protocol (LnCP) defines the method of connecting signal lines, defining control / event messages, and the order of signal flow for communication between products in a home network employing a relatively low-cost microcomputer. It is a communication standard to provide.

In general, LnCP-based networks support power line-based communication for home white goods.

In addition, Home Network Control Protocol (HnCP) has been proposed as a home network technical standard. The HNCP standard defines the command system and communication protocols for peripherals for consumer electronics with power line communication.

However, in the related art, when a plurality of devices are connected to one network, one communication standard must be supported for data transmission and reception between each other.

If a device controlled according to a communication standard different from an existing device is connected to a network, there is a problem in that a home network system cannot be integrated into a single network because data transmission and reception through the network are not possible.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a heterogeneous network control system and method for controlling a network of another standard in an IP standard based network when an environment in which different standards exist simultaneously in a home is constructed to improve a conventional problem. The purpose is to provide.

The present invention provides a device of a first communication standard for transmitting and receiving data according to a first communication standard with a home network, and a second communication standard for transmitting and receiving data according to a second communication standard with a home network in order to achieve the above object. In a home network system including a device, the control point (CP) and the control point (CP) mounted on the device of the first or second communication standard to control the device of the first and second communication standard, Assuming that it is mounted on a device of the first communication standard, model itself as a basic device of the first communication standard and create a second document of the second communication standard as an embedded device in the basic device as an XML document. Provide the control point and mutually recognize data transmitted between the control point and the device of the second communication standard. It comprises a bridge device means for converting into data of a specified standard.

In addition, the present invention is a device of the first communication standard that is equipped with a control point (CP) for transmitting and receiving data in accordance with the first communication standard and a home network to achieve the above object and the device in the home network, and the home A bridge that converts data transmitted between a device of a second communication standard that transmits and receives data in accordance with a network and a second communication standard, and between the control point CP and the device of the second communication standard into data of a mutually recognizable standard. In a control method of a home network system including device means, the bridge device means models itself as a basic device of the first communication standard and a device of the second communication standard as an embedded device in the basic device. Writing to an XML document, and the bridge device means Receiving a state of operation of a device and updating a corresponding state variable in the XML document, receiving, by the control point, the XML document from the bridge device, and obtaining device information of a second communication standard; Converting, by the bridge device means, a control action for a device of a second communication standard transmitted from a control point according to a second communication standard, and transmitting the converted control action to a device of the second communication standard; And updating the corresponding state variable based on the action response sent from the communication standard device and responding to the control point.

In the above, the first communication standard may be UPnP-based communication standard, and the second communication standard may be LnCP or HnCP-based communication standard.

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

Detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

In the present invention, an IP-based UPnP control point (CP) controls an LnCP device in an environment where both an IP network and an LnCP network exist in a home.

Particularly, in the embodiment of the present invention, the LnCP device is stably controlled even in an environment in which the LnCP device in the LnCP network is frequently added / deleted to the network (in the case of Plug In / Out) or power on / off. An operation to perform will be described.

1 is a block diagram of a home network system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, which includes a control point 111, a media server 112, and a media player 113 to support UPnP-based home networking. LnCP network 120 that supports LnCP-based home networking, including IP network 110, LnCP devices 121 to 127 such as refrigerators, microwaves, washing machines, air conditioners, and IP-based control points 111 The LnCP devices 121 to 127 are modeled as embedded devices in the UPnP basic device, and the LnCP devices 121 to 127 and the UPnP control point 111 are controlled to control the LnCP devices 121 to 127. It comprises a LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 for converting the data transmitted between the data to the standard (UPnP, LnCP) data.

As shown in the signal flow diagram of FIG. 2, the bridge device 130 initializes according to the LnCP device and service contents specified in the XML document transmitted from the LnCP device at operation (S201), and the addition / removal of the LnCP device. Checking whether an event is received (S202), updating the state variable “DeviceExit” by receiving the event (S203), and transmitting the state variable update event to the UPnP control point 111 (S204). And receiving the UPnP action for power-on of the control point 111 and performing the corresponding action in the added LnCP device (S205, S206), and when the response according to the action is received, the state variable "PowerEnabled". And updating the state variable update event to the control point 111 (S207 to S209), and checking whether a power on / off event is transmitted from the LnCP device. In step S210, and when the event is transmitted in the step S210, it is configured to perform steps S211 and S212 of updating the corresponding state variable and transmitting the state variable update event to the control point 111.

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

In the present invention, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 is a LnCP device (121 ~ 113) equipped with a UPnP device (112, 113) and a low specification microcomputer so that the UPnP control point 111 can control the LnCP devices (121 ~ 127) It is located at the boundary of 127 to provide a bridge service.

The LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 notifies the UPnP control point 111 by modeling the device type it serves as a UPnP basic device.

This applies the UPnP basic device defined by the UPnP Forum so that the service model can recognize non-standardized devices as UPnP devices.

For example, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 is XML information that specifies itself as the UPnP basic device type, that is, the XML that is specified as "urn: schemas-upnp-org: device: Basic: 1" (311) of FIG. The information is loaded and notified to the UPnP control point 111.

In addition, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 models each LnCP device 121 to 127 present in the LnCP network 120 as an embedded device in the UPnP basic device.

That is, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 informs the UPnP control point 111 by specifying each LnCP device 121 to 127 present in the LnCP network as an embedded device of the UPnP basic device in an XML document.

For example, the XML information of an LnCP device specified as an embedded device of a UPnP basic device is shown in "urn: schemas-upnp-org: device: WasherDrumDevice: 1" (312) and "urn: schemas-upnp-org: device" of FIG. : LightDevice: 1 "(313). This shows that "Drum Washer" and "Light" are being serviced as embedded devices in UPnP Basic devices.

In addition, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 specifies its existence as a UPnP basic device and the type of devices 121 to 127 present in the LnCP network 120 in the embedded device information therein, as shown in FIG. In addition, the service information is written in XML as illustrated in FIG. 4 and notified to the UPnP control point 111 in the UPnP description step.

In FIG. 4, reference numerals 411 and 412 denote service state information indicating power on and state variables.

However, when the type of device existing in the LnCP network 120 is a small household appliance, the situation where the plug-in / out is frequently caused by the user occurs frequently. In this case, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 is an XML-type device. If configuration information is dynamically configured and the system is restarted, the user cannot expect stable bridge service at the restart time.

In order to improve this, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 should provide an efficient structure that can stably operate even in a dynamic environment in which devices 121 to 127 in the LnCP network 120 are frequently plugged in and out.

The operation of the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 for this purpose will be described with reference to the signal flow diagram of FIG.

First, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 configures and initially drives an embedded device for each device type (S201). As shown in FIG. 4, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 sets a state variable called 'DeviceExist' in the service specification of each device. It is to dynamically reflect whether the device exists in the LnCP network 120.

Thereafter, when the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 receives the LnCP event indicating that the LnCP device is added to the network, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 sets and updates the state variable 'DeviceExist' to 'yes' (S202 and S203).

At this time, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 transmits a status information update event to the UPnP control point 111 (S204).

Accordingly, the UPnP control point 111 may determine whether to provide the user with the interface of the embedded device by querying the state variable 'DeviceExist' for each embedded device.

For example, when the user sets the power-on for the LnCP device 200, the UPnP control point 111 transmits a UPnP 'power on' action for the LnCP device 200 to the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130.

In this case, when the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 receives a UPnP action for a specific embedded device from the UPnP control point 111, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 converts the LnCP control message and transmits the LnCP device 200 to the corresponding LnCP device 200 in the LnCP network 120. Perform the bridge function (S205, S206).

For example, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 converts the UPnP power on action received from the UPnP control point 111 into an LnCP power on action and transmits it to the LnCP device 200.

When the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 receives a response to the control message from the LnCP device 121, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 updates the corresponding state variable, converts it into a UPnP response message for the UPnP action, and transmits it to the UPnP control point 111. (S207-S209)

Since the power-on for the LnCP device 200 is assumed above, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 updates the state variable "PowerEnabled" with respect to the LnCP action response of the LnCP device 200 and generates a corresponding UPnP action response. Transmit to UPnP Control Point (111).

If the state of the device 200 in the LnCP network 120 is changed by a self-control operation such as a remote controller, the device 200 transmits a corresponding state change event to the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 (S210).

At this time, when the power-on state is assumed in the above, if the power-off state is changed, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 receives the LnCP event from the LnCP device 200 and updates the state variable "PowerEnabled" (S211).

Accordingly, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 transmits an event to the UPnP control point 111 indicating that the LnCP device 200 is powered off to update the state variable (“PowerEnabled”).

Accordingly, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 performs the above operation to control the UPnP control of the information of the LnCP device 200 existing in the LnCP network 120 and the operation state of the LnCP device 200 according to the UPnP action. The point 111 provides the UPnP control point 111 to control the LnCP device 200.

Meanwhile, when the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 130 is implemented to perform the above operation, an operation for controlling the LnCP device through the Internet will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.

In the following description, only LnCP device control will be described.

5 is a block diagram of a home network control system using the Internet for an embodiment of the present invention, as shown therein, an LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 for providing a LnCP device control service through the Internet, and a home network. An access server (UServer: UPnP Server) 530 that stores specification information of the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 in the network and provides the corresponding specification information when a user accesses and authenticates on the web, and address information in the specification information. LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 to change the domain name (domain name) and to connect to the access server 530, the authentication information is transmitted and stored and then disconnected from the access server 530 and authenticated The LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 connects the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 to the connection server 530 at the request of the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510. When connected from the remote device 540 using the domain name-based presentation URL of the identified device, and comprises a home gateway 520 to connect to the corresponding device in the home network.

The LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 may control a device using a device control protocol (DCP) function 513 for notifying a bridge device to a UPnP device based on the UPnP device architecture 1.0 standard 514 and a domain name. Dynamic domain name service client function 512, and discovery extension function 511 for providing device description information to an external access server 530.

The operation of the system of the embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

In FIG. 5, the remote device 540 may be configured as a portable terminal such as a desktop PC, a notebook PC, a PDA, and a mobile communication terminal. In the embodiment of the present invention, a laptop PC will be described.

First, while the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 is present in the home network, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 advertises its existence in the discovery phase of the UPnP device architecture 1.0 to perform a discovery interworking function with the access server 530.

At this time, when the URL-based address information in the description information is private address information due to the use of NAT, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 obtains public address information from the NAT module of the home gateway 520 to display the public address information in the specification information. Replace address information with public address information. That is, when the URL-based address information in the specification information is an IP address, especially when the private address information is due to the use of NAT, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 receives public address information (public address) from the NAT module of the home gateway 520. Port number) and change the IP address and port number in the specification information into a domain name for the corresponding device and an authorized port number assigned from the home gateway 520, respectively. Here, the domain name may be provided as a user-friendly name by configuring the device model and an identifier for identifying the home network.

Thereafter, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 establishes a connection to the access server 530 to authenticate based on the authentication information, and then transmits its specification information to the access server 530.

Thereafter, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 transmits the specification information to the access server 530 and releases the connection with the access server 530.

Accordingly, the access server 530 classifies and manages device specification information transmitted from the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 based on HomeNetBind table information using the user authentication information as a search key. Here, the homenet bind table includes user authentication information to the server, device authentication information to the server, and device specification information. The homenet bind table is managed using an insert, delete, and retrieve function.

Thereafter, the user accesses the access server 530 using the notebook PC 540 and performs user authentication. At this time, the user authentication information (username) used when accessing the access server 530 is used as a search key of the homenet bind table in the access server 530 so that the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 authenticates with the access server 530. It is used to retrieve the device specification information along with the authentication information transmitted when passing through the step.

Subsequently, if the user authentication succeeds, the user checks the presentation URL based on the domain name in the specification information and connects to the corresponding LnCP device in the home network through the corresponding domain name of the device to be controlled currently.

In other words, in the embodiment of the present invention, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 has a client function of dynamic domain name service to generate a domain name in advance, and the access server 530 is the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510. In order to handle the client functions of the dynamic domain name service, the DNS server function and domain name generation interface are provided directly. However, depending on the implementation, the DNS server function and domain name generation interface provided by the external service may be used.

That is, in the embodiment of the present invention, the networking process between the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 and the access server 530 is operated in three stages of description, home network connection, and remote control. The detailed description of each step is as follows.

The description step is a step in which the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 informs the access server 530 of the device specification information. It is confirmed whether or not the UPnP device uses a private address and according to a result of the confirmation. It performs the same operation as the operation flowchart of 6.

When the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 uses a private address, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 obtains a public address from the NAT module of the home gateway 520 and converts the address information (IP address, port number) in the specification information. It converts the domain name assigned to the device and converts the port number into the authorized port number obtained from the home gateway 520. At this time, if the home gateway 520 is an UPnP IGD (Internet Gateway Device), the public address is given using the AddPortMapping action. If the home gateway 520 is a general gateway other than the UPnP IGD, the public gateway is given a public address using telnet communication.

The home network connection (HomeNetworkBind) step is the specification of the device corresponding to the home network to which the user belongs based on the HomeNetBind table information that uses the user authentication information as the search key from the specification information provided by the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 It is a step of dividing and discovering information. This means that a user remotely located outside the home network accesses the access server 530 using the notebook PC 540 and succeeds in user authentication, thereby inquiring device specification information in the home network classified based on user identification. Means that.

The remote control step is to directly control a device by accessing a corresponding UPnP device in a home network by using a presentation URL based on a domain name in a device specification that is remotely queried.

However, when a service provider provides a home network, the user releases an address in order to alleviate the IPv4 address shortage problem if the user does not use the network connection for a certain period of time.

If the public address used by the home gateway has been assigned a new public address after a certain idle period has been released, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 should inform the DNS server of the changed address. That is, when using the private address of the UPnP device in the home network, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 converts the domain name and the public port value, but if the address is changed to a new address after the address is released, the changed address is changed in the DNS server. The public address should be retransmitted. This will be described with reference to the operation flowchart of FIG. 7.

First, when the public address is released, if the home gateway 520 serving the home network is the UPnP IGD, the newly provided public address value is notified to the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 using the UPnP event.

At this time, when the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 receives the changed public address value from the home gateway 520 as an event, the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 transmits the changed public address value for the domain name registered in the DNS server.

In addition, in the above, when the LnCP-UPnP bridge device 510 is allocated a new public address after the connection with the access server 530 is released, only the process of changing the public address value for the domain name in the DNS server has been described. Even when the device specification information in the network is changed, the changed device specification information is transmitted after authentication by connecting to the access server 530.

As described in detail above, the present invention can be integrated into a single home network even if a network of various communication standards is built in a home, and thus, various types of home appliances and home automation devices can be integrated using one integrated remote control means. There is an effect that can be controlled in a single way.

In addition, the present invention can extend the IP-based bridge device for the network construction of various communication standards can achieve the effect of controlling the devices of various communication standards over the Internet in the future.

Claims (9)

A device of a first communication standard for transmitting and receiving data according to a first communication standard with a home network; In the home network system comprising a device of the second communication standard for transmitting and receiving data in accordance with a second communication standard with the home network, A control point (CP) mounted on the device of the first or second communication standard to control the device of the first and second communication standard; Assuming that the control point CP is mounted on the device of the first communication standard, the device information of the second communication standard is provided to the control point CP and between the control point and the device of the second communication standard. And a bridge device means for converting the transmitted data into data of a mutually recognizable standard. The device of claim 1, wherein the bridge device means Heterogeneous network control system characterized in that the modeling itself as a basic device of the first communication standard and the device of the second communication standard as an embedded device (embedded device) in the basic device to provide to the control point. The heterogeneous network control system according to claim 2, wherein the device modeling is included in a document written in XML. The heterogeneous network control system of claim 1, wherein the first communication standard is a UPnP-based communication standard. The heterogeneous network control system of claim 1, wherein the second communication standard is an LnCP or HnCP-based communication standard. A device of a first communication standard that transmits and receives data according to a first communication standard with a home network, and includes a control point (CP) for controlling a device in the home network, and transmits and receives data according to a second communication standard with the home network. And a bridge device means for converting data transmitted between the device of the second communication standard and the control point (CP) and the device of the second communication standard into data of a standard that can be mutually recognized. In The bridge device means modeling itself as a basic device of a first communication standard and a device of a second communication standard as an embedded device in the basic device; Receiving, by the bridge device means, an operation state of a device of a second communication standard and updating a corresponding state variable; The control point (CP) discovering the bridge device to obtain device information of a second communication standard; Converting, by the bridge device means, the control action for the device of the second communication standard transmitted from the control point according to the second communication standard and transmitting the device to the device of the second communication standard; And the bridge device means is configured to update a corresponding state variable based on an action response transmitted from a device of a second communication standard and respond to the control point. The method of claim 6, wherein the first communication standard is a UPnP-based communication standard. The method of claim 6, wherein the second communication standard is an LnCP or HnCP-based communication standard. The method of claim 6, And transmitting information between the control point and the bridge device means and between the bridge device means and the device of the second communication standard in XML.

Images