JP2002118602A - Communication control method for dial-up router - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce meaningless dialing up for appropriate accounting of telephone charges, concerning the communication control method for a dial-up router which connects its own system to a telephone circuit every time when a communication to an external network is requested. SOLUTION: When a start-up software corresponds to a registered software (steps S1 and S2), a value of a dial-up waiting counter 33 is added with plus one (steps S4 and S5). If the counter value of the dial-up waiting counter 33 is not zero, a router is set to be ready for dial-up communication (step 6), and when an IP packet is inputted, the router starts dialing up for connection. If the counter value is zero, the router interrupts dial-up connection and terminates the communication.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of connecting to a telephone line every time a communication request with an external network is generated,
The present invention relates to a communication control method of a dial-up router that performs a packet transfer relay process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art To construct a communication network, a router having a communication processing function based on, for example, TCP / IP (a type of communication protocol) is essential. The router performs a relay process when transferring an IP packet (data) from one network to another network. An IP packet sent from a host (for example, a personal computer) in a certain LAN (local area network) is input to a predetermined LAN port in the router. An IP packet is roughly composed of an IP header and IP data. The IP header stores a destination IP address together with various information, and the IP data stores data. The router reads the destination IP address stored in the IP header of the input IP packet, finds an output port corresponding to the destination IP address with reference to a routing table provided in the router, and finds the output port corresponding to the destination IP address. Send an IP packet.

In recent years, routers have been used in homes and small offices with the spread of LANs.
In such a small LAN environment, LAN ports and I
An ISDN having an SDN port and connecting to an external communication network such as the Internet using an ISDN line
A router (dial-up router) is used.

In a routing table of a dial-up router used in a small-scale network, if a destination is an in-house LAN, the destination is a LAN port, and all other destinations are ISDs.
In many cases, an IP packet is set to be transmitted to the N port. As a result, the destination of the IP packet is
Dial up (make a call) everything except AN
An IP packet is output to the SDN port, and a router of an ISP (Internet service provider) on the Internet is requested to transfer the packet.

[0005]

On the LAN, control IP packets are periodically transmitted from software other than the application software, or IP packets are periodically transmitted from the memory-resident application software.
Packets are sent out. Since these IP packets have destinations other than the corporate LAN, the dial-up router dials up
Connect to SP. These ISDN line connections are:
It is meaningless if the network user does not intend, and this meaningless dial-up increases the connection fee and telephone charge to the provider.

For example, in the case of Windows 95/98 (a trademark of Microsoft Corporation) which is a typical OS (operating system) of a PC, in order to realize a network sharing service, "NetBIOS (software interface for network control) over"
TCP / IP protocol (hereinafter abbreviated as NBT) "
Thus, an IP packet addressed to the DNS server is periodically transmitted. A home or small office usually does not have a DNS server on an in-house LAN. For this reason, the dial-up router responds to the NBT DNS request through the ISDN port to the ISP on the Internet.
Is connected to an ISDN telephone line in order to send a DNS request IP packet to a DNS server installed in the Internet.

[0007] As described above, in the current OS and application software, a situation occurs in which an IP packet is transmitted by being connected to an ISDN line even though the network user does not intend. In order to prevent this situation, it is conceivable to perform dial-up manually, but in this case, the convenience of the dial-up router as a relay device that automatically transfers IP packets is lost.

[0008] In addition, using the IP filtering function provided in the dial-up router, the DBT by NBT is used.
Filter a predetermined port so that NS requests do not flow to the ISDN line side, or perform Wind
By changing the setting of ows 95/98, it is possible to prevent the above situation from occurring.

However, these settings require specialized knowledge of TCP / IP and the like, and cannot be easily set by anyone. For this reason, in homes and small offices where there is no dedicated network administrator, it is impossible to stop meaningless dial-up from a dial-up router, and connection charges and telephone charges to providers are unduly increased. There is a problem.

An object of the present invention is to provide a communication control method of a dial-up router in which a meaningless dial-up is reduced and a connection charge or a telephone charge is appropriately charged.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to provide a communication control method for a dial-up router which connects to a telephone line every time a communication request with an external network is generated and performs a relay process of IP packet transfer. The communication control method for a dial-up router is characterized in that a dial-up connection is not performed during a period in which all of the application software that generates the communication request is not running.

[0012] In the communication control method for a dial-up router according to the present invention, desired application software is selected from the application software, and at least one of the desired application software is selected.
It is characterized in that dial-up connection is made only during the period when one is running.

[0013] In the communication control method for a dial-up router according to the present invention, the selected desired application software includes a web browser or electronic mail transmission / reception software.

In the communication control method for a dial-up router according to the present invention, the number of activated software programs started simultaneously is counted, and if the number of activated software is 0, dial-up connection is not performed. Features.

In the communication control method of the dial-up router according to the present invention, for example, a data folder for selecting and registering in advance application software for which dial-up connection is permitted may be provided. Then, each time the software in the data folder is activated or terminated, it may be determined whether or not there is application software that permits the dial-up connection. This determination may be made by counting the number of activated application software that permits the dial-up connection at the time of the determination, or when a plurality of registered application software is activated, the time when the registered application software is activated first and the time when the last. The point in time when the registered application software ends may be determined.

In this way, even if software other than the specific application software, such as a web browser and e-mail software, requests the dial-up router to connect to the external network without permission, the specific application software is activated. The dial-up router will not connect to the phone line unless it is
Unintentional charging can be prevented.

[0017]

1 to 3 show a communication control method of a dial-up router according to an embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIG. First, an outline of a network including a dial-up router according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows a communication network configuration centered on a dial-up router 1 according to the present embodiment for constructing a communication network based on the TCP / IP protocol.

The dial-up router 1 includes a LAN port 6 for constructing a LAN having a plurality of hosts (hosts 10 and 12 in this example), and a host 10 and a host 12 on the LAN via an ISDN line 14. And an ISDN port 7 connected to the ISP 16.

In the dial-up router 1, there are provided a flash memory 3 storing a dedicated OS for the router and various application software, and a control unit 2 for controlling various internal circuits based on the OS. . Also,
The routing table 4 is also stored in the flash memory 3.

The ISP 16 is located on the Internet 18 so that the host 10 or 12 can communicate with a plurality of hosts (the hosts 20 and 22 in this example) on the Internet 18 via the ISP 16. It has become.

The hosts 10 and 12 on the LAN are PCs having Windows 95/98 installed as an OS.
Although not shown, the hosts 10 and 12
It has a control unit (CPU) for controlling various devices, a main memory mainly composed of a semiconductor memory, and an auxiliary memory such as a hard disk memory (HDD). A LAN adapter 11 for configuring a network is built in, and each LAN adapter 11 is connected to one of the LAN ports 6 of the dial-up router 1 by wire or wirelessly. Further, a keyboard and a mouse are provided as information input means, and a CRT monitor and an LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor are provided as display devices.

In the HDDs (not shown) of the hosts 10 and 12, communication software 30 for implementing the communication control method of the dial-up router according to the present embodiment is stored together with various application software. In the HDD, a file in which identification information (for example, a file name or the like) of predetermined application software is registered is stored. The identification information registered in this file in advance is used by the communication software 30.

In the flash memory 3 on the dial-up router 1 side, communication software for realizing the communication control method of the dial-up router according to the present embodiment in cooperation with the communication software 30 on the hosts 10 and 12 side. 32 are stored. In the flash memory 3, there is provided a dial-up standby counter 33 for storing a count value based on the count value data transmitted by the control units of the hosts 10 and 12 based on the communication software 30. The communication software 32, based on the counter value of the dial-up standby counter 33, transmits the I / O to the ISP 16 with the external network, for example, the Internet 18.
The connection or disconnection of the SDN line 14 is determined.

Next, the procedure of the communication control method of the dial-up router 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts showing the procedure of the communication control method of the dial-up router 1 according to the present embodiment. 2 shows the operation procedure of the control unit (not shown) of the host 10 based on the communication software 30, and the left side shows the operation procedure of the control unit 2 of the dial-up router 1 based on the communication software 32.

The communication software 30 operates as memory-resident application software that starts up when the OS is started up when the power to the host 10 is turned on. Based on the communication software 30, the control unit of the host 10 monitors application software started after the OS is started, and when any application software is started (step S1), the pre-registration stored in a predetermined file is performed. Based on the software identification information, it is determined whether the activated software corresponds to pre-registered application software (step S2). If the activated software is different from the pre-registered software, no processing is performed (step S3), and the process returns to monitoring the next activated application software. In this example, the pre-registration software is a web browser and electronic mail transmission / reception software.

In step S2, when the control unit of the host 10 determines that the activated software corresponds to the pre-registered software, the control unit sends the counter value to the dial-up router 1 through the LAN adapter 11 of the host 10. Is transmitted by "1" (step S4).

When the control unit 2 of the dial-up router 1 receives the increment data from the host 10 based on the communication software 32, it adds "+1" to the value of the dial-up standby counter 33 (step S5). Next, the dial-up router 1 is set to a standby state in which dial-up communication is possible (step S6).

In this state, the IP address from the host 10 is
When the packet is transmitted, the control unit 2 of the dial-up router 1 refers to the value of the dial-up standby counter 33 and sets the counter value to 0 based on the communication software 32.
Make sure it is not. Here, since the increment data is received in step S4, the counter value is not 0. Therefore, the control unit 2 of the dial-up router 1 reads the destination IP address stored in the IP header of the IP packet, and refers to the routing table 4 in the flash memory 3 to read the destination IP address.
An output port corresponding to the address is found, and the IP packet is transmitted from the output port.

In step S8, if the destination of the IP packet is in the same LAN, the control unit 2 does not perform any operation other than outputting the IP packet to a predetermined LAN port based on the communication software 32, and waits for dial-up communication. The state is maintained (step S10). If the destination of the IP packet is an external network, dial-up communication is started by connecting a telephone line to the ISP 16 on the Internet 18 via the ISDN line 14 (step S).
9).

The control unit 2 based on the communication software 32
Monitors whether or not there has been communication within the set time of the no-communication monitoring timer preset by the dial-up router 1,
If there is communication, the dial-up connection is continued (step S12). If there is no communication within the set time, the dial-up connection is disconnected, and the process returns to step S6 to set the dial-up router 1 to a standby state in which dial-up communication is possible.

Next, a communication control method of the dial-up router 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 3 is the host 1 based on the communication software 30.
0 shows the operation procedure of the control unit, and the left side shows the operation procedure of the control unit 2 of the dial-up router 1 based on the communication software 32.

The communication software 30 monitors the application software which has been activated on the host 10 but has been terminated by playing a predetermined role. When the activated application software terminates (step S).
13) It is determined whether the completed software corresponds to application software registered in advance (step S14). If the terminated software is different from the pre-registered software, no processing is performed (step S15), and the process returns to monitoring of the application software to be terminated next.

In step S14, if the control unit of the host 10 determines that the finished software corresponds to the pre-registered software, the dial-up router 1 via the LAN adapter 11 of the host 10 waits for dial-up. The decrement data for decrementing the counter value of the counter 33 by "1" is transmitted (step S1).
6).

Upon receiving the decrement data from the host 10 based on the communication software 32, the control unit 2 of the dial-up router 1 adds "-1" to the value of the dial-up standby counter 33 (step S17). Next, it is determined whether or not the value of the dial-up standby counter 33 is "0" (step S18). If the value of the dial-up standby counter 33 is not "0", the control unit 2 maintains the current state without performing any special processing operation based on the communication software 32 (step S19).

If the value of the dial-up standby counter 33 is "0", it is determined whether or not the dial-up communication is currently in progress (step S20). It ends (step S22). If the dial-up communication is being performed, the ISDN line for the dial-up communication is disconnected after the completion of the dial-up communication (step S21), and the standby for the dial-up communication is ended (step S22).

By doing so, as described above, the NBT
For example, a control IP packet having a destination other than the in-house LAN is sent periodically, or a memory resident application software periodically sends an IP to an ISDN port.
Even if a packet is transmitted, the dial-up router 1 does not make a dial-up connection, so it is possible to reduce unnecessary dial-ups and reduce the connection fee to the provider and the telephone fee.

According to the present embodiment, even if an existing OS and various kinds of application software are used, a manual dial-up connection or an IP filtering function that requires specialized knowledge is not used, and a network user can be used. It is possible to prevent a situation in which an unintended IP packet is transmitted through the ISDN line. Therefore, meaningless dial-up from a dial-up router can easily be stopped in a home or small office where there is no dedicated network administrator, and connection fees and telephone charges to the provider will be unduly increased. Can be prevented.

While the pre-registered application software is running, the NBT
For example, a control IP packet having a destination other than the in-house LAN is sent periodically, or a memory resident application software periodically sends an I / O packet to the ISDN port 7.
A situation in which transmission of a P packet occurs may occur. However, in this case, the network user must use the ISDN
This is not a big problem because it is a period during which line connection is permitted. However, in order to avoid any waste of billing, ISD using pre-registration application software
When it is no longer necessary to connect N lines, it is desirable to terminate those software immediately.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, unnecessary dial-ups can be reduced and connection charges and telephone charges can be made appropriate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a communication network configuration centering on a dial-up router according to an embodiment for constructing a communication network based on a TCP / IP protocol according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a communication control method of the dial-up router according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a communication control method of the dial-up router according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dial-up router 2 Control part 3 Flash memory 4 Routing table 6 LAN port 7 ISDN port 10, 12, 20, 22 Host 14 ISDN line 16 ISP 18 Internet

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A communication control method for a dial-up router, which connects to a telephone line every time a communication request with an external network is generated and performs a relay process of IP packet transfer, comprising: application software for generating the communication request A communication control method for a dial-up router, wherein a dial-up connection is not performed during a period in which all the wear is not activated. 2. The communication control method for a dial-up router according to claim 1, wherein a desired application software is selected from the application software, and a period during which at least one of the desired application software is activated. A communication control method for a dial-up router, wherein only a dial-up connection is made. 3. The communication control method for a dial-up router according to claim 2, wherein the selected desired application software includes a web browser or electronic mail transmission / reception software. Up router communication control method. 4. The communication control method for a dial-up router according to claim 1, wherein the number of activated software is simultaneously counted, and the number of activated software is 0. A communication control method for a dial-up router, wherein a dial-up connection is not performed.