JP2002247056A - Ip address acquiring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To acquire an IP address of a desired device without broadcasting to the unspecified number of devices on a network. SOLUTION: This IP address acquiring device 100 acquires the IP address of a device 170 connected via the network, and is provided with a device driver communication part 2 to perform communication with a device driver 102 by a request from an application requesting part 1 to make an acquisition request of the IP address, a port information acquiring part 3 to acquire port information from received data, an IP address acquiring part 4 to acquire the IP address from the port information, a communication part 5 to perform communication with the device driver communication part 2, a command analyzing part 6 to analyze received command data, a port information data base 8 to hold the port information and a port information acquiring part 7 to acquire the port information from the port information data base 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for acquiring an IP address of a device connected to a network, and more particularly to a technique which is effective when applied to the acquisition of an IP address from a device driver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A computer (PC)
When accessing a device such as a printer connected to the network from the online computer,
In order to identify the device, an IP address, which is information unique to the device, is indispensable.

Conventionally, a device receives a broadcast packet broadcast from a PC, and the device returns an IP address to a broadcast source, whereby the PC obtains the IP address of the device.

[0004]

In such a conventional technique, an unnecessary packet must be transmitted to an unspecified number of devices on a network in order to obtain an IP address by broadcasting from a PC to a network. No.

[0005] Further, when broadcasting is performed from the PC to the network, the broadcast packet must be monitored for a predetermined time, so that the processing speed is reduced.

[0006] Therefore, the present invention provides an IP which can obtain an IP address of a desired device without broadcasting to an unspecified number of devices on a network.
An object of the present invention is to provide an address acquisition device.

[0007]

In order to solve this problem, an IP address obtaining apparatus according to the present invention is connected to a network with an application and a device driver, and is connected to a network. An application requesting unit for requesting acquisition of an IP address, a device driver communication unit for receiving a request from the application requesting unit and communicating with a device driver, and a device driver communication. A communication unit having a device information acquisition unit for acquiring device information from received data of the unit, and an IP address acquisition unit for acquiring an IP address from the device information, wherein the device driver communicates with the device driver communication unit And the received command data The configuration includes a command analysis unit that performs analysis, a device information database that holds device information set when a device driver is installed, and a device information acquisition unit that acquires device information from the database of the device information database. .

[0008] This makes it possible to obtain the IP address of a desired device without broadcasting to an unspecified number of devices on the network.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is an IP address acquisition apparatus which is connected to a network with an application and a device driver and acquires an IP address of a device also connected to the network. The application includes: an application requesting unit that issues an IP address acquisition request; a device driver communication unit that receives a request from the application requesting unit and communicates with a device driver; and device information that is received from the device driver communication unit. A device information obtaining unit that obtains an IP address from the device information, and a communication unit that performs communication with a device driver communication unit. A command analysis unit that performs analysis, and a device IP address acquisition device having a device information database holding device information set at the time of installation of a driver, and a device information acquisition unit for acquiring device information from the database of the device information database. This has the effect that the IP address of the desired device can be obtained without broadcasting to the device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an IP address acquiring apparatus for acquiring an IP address from character string information included in device information, and an unspecified number of devices on a network. It is possible to obtain the IP address of a desired device without broadcasting to another device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an IP address which is connected to a network with an application and a device driver, and acquires an IP address of a device locally connected to a server computer connected to the network. An acquisition device, wherein the application is configured to transmit an application request unit that requests acquisition of an IP address, a device driver communication unit that receives a request from the application request unit to communicate with a device driver, and data received from the device driver communication unit. A device information acquisition unit for acquiring device information, an IP address acquisition unit for acquiring an IP address from the device information, a server name acquisition unit for acquiring a name of a server computer, and a server name acquired by the server name acquisition unit. Device IP address via A device driver that communicates with a device driver communication unit, a command analysis unit that analyzes received command data, and a device driver An IP address acquisition device having a device information database that holds set device information and a device information acquisition unit that acquires device information from the database of the device information database, and broadcasts to an unspecified number of devices on a network. It is possible to obtain the IP address of a desired device without any need.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In these drawings, the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one form of connection of an IP address acquisition device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the connection of the IP address acquisition device according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an IP address acquisition process of a device connected to a network. It is a flowchart which shows the IP address acquisition processing of the connected device.

In FIG. 1, the IP address acquisition device is:
It comprises a host computer 100 connected to a device 170 such as a printer via a network. In the present invention, the device 170 is not limited to a printer, but includes various electronic devices that require an IP address, such as a scanner, a telephone, and a facsimile.

The host computer 100 includes an application 101 and a device driver 102 connected to each other.

Here, the application 101 has an IP
Application requesting unit 1 for making an address acquisition request
A device driver communication unit 2 that receives a request from the application request unit 1 to communicate with the device driver 102; and a port information acquisition unit (device information) that acquires port (device) information from data received by the device driver communication unit 2. (Acquisition unit) 3, an IP address acquisition unit 4 for acquiring an IP address from port information, a server name acquisition unit 46 for acquiring the name of the server PC 160 (FIG. 2) from a port information acquisition unit 7, which will be described later, and a server name acquisition. The IP address of the server PC 160 is obtained from the server name obtained by the unit 46, and the IP address of the device 170 is obtained from this IP address.
And an IP address converter 47 for acquiring an address.

The device driver 102 includes a communication unit 5 for transmitting and receiving commands and data to and from the device driver communication unit 2, a command analysis unit 6 for analyzing received command data, and an installation of the device driver 102. A port information database (device information database) 8 that holds port information such as an IP address and a server name set at the time, and a port information acquisition unit (device information acquisition unit) 7 that acquires port information from the database of the port information database 8. And

Next, in FIG. 2, the host computer 100, which is the IP address acquisition device shown in FIG. 1, is arranged on the network as the client PC 18.
A server PC (server computer) 160 and a device 170 are connected to this network.

Here, the server PC 160 is a network interface unit 9 for bridging with a network.
A command receiving unit 10 for receiving a command from the client PC 18, a command conversion unit 11 for converting the received command from a network packet to a local packet, and a device 170 based on the command converted by the command conversion unit 11. And a gateway device 19 having a device communication unit 12 for performing the communication of.

The device 170 is connected to the server PC 16
0, a communication unit 13 that communicates with the device communication unit 12, a command interpretation unit 14 that analyzes a command received from the server PC 160, a database 16 that holds a set IP address, and obtains an IP address from the database 16. It has an IP address acquisition unit 15 and a network interface unit 17 that bridges the transmission and reception of data with network devices.

The server PC 160 and the device 170
Are connected by a cable 20. Here, the connection form is, for example, IEEE1284, IEEE1394, U
Wired connection by cable 20 such as SB, IrD
Any of wireless connection by A or the like may be used.

Next, the process of acquiring an IP address when the device 170 is a printer in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the device driver 102 of the printer 170 connected on the network is installed in the host computer 100 (step 2).
1). Thus, the installation is performed by setting the network IP address, the information of the shared printer, and the port to be used, and these are stored as port information (step 22).

Next, the application 101 issues a port information acquisition request command to the device driver 102 (step 23).

The request command is interpreted by the device driver 102, and it is determined whether the request command is a port information request command (step 24). If the received command is not a port information request command in step 24, another command is processed (step 25).

On the other hand, if the command is a port information request command in step 24, the port information database 8
More port information is obtained (step 26). next,
It is determined whether the port used in the port information includes a character string of the IP address (step 27). As an example of the determination of the IP address, when a number is found first, a number follows within three or less, followed by a period, and thereafter, when the number is continued two or more times, the IP address is determined. When it is determined in step 27 that the IP address is the IP address, a character string of the IP address is obtained (step 28).

This makes it possible to acquire an IP address without transmitting unnecessary packets to an unspecified large number by broadcasting on a network.

Next, the process of obtaining the IP address of the device 170 locally connected to the server PC 160 will be described with reference to FIGS.

If the IP address is not determined in step 27 in FIG. 3, it is determined whether or not the port information includes a server name (step 29).

If there is a server name in the port information (step 29), the server name is obtained (step 3).
0). Then, the server PC name obtained in step 30 is converted into an IP address, and the IP address of the server PC name is converted.
An address is obtained (step 32). If there is no server name in step 29, the port information is discarded (step 31).

When the IP address is obtained in this way, in FIG. 4, an IP address acquisition request command for device 170 is transmitted to server PC 160 based on the acquired IP address (step 33).

As a result, the server PC 160 side receives the IP
An address acquisition request command is received via the network (step 34). Then, after the reception, command conversion for performing local communication is performed from the network packet (step 35). Next, I
Send a P address acquisition request command (step 3
6). Note that this request command is a command capable of bidirectional communication.

Next, the device 170 determines whether the received command is an IP address acquisition request command (step 37). If it is not an IP address acquisition command, another command processing is performed (step 38).

On the other hand, if it is determined that there is an IP address, an IP address is obtained from the database 16 (step 39).

Next, since the server PC 160 is in the reception waiting state after transmitting the command, the server PC 160 transmits the IP address acquired in step 39 to the server PC 160 (step 40).

The server PC 160 converts the received data from a local packet to a network packet (step 41). Then, the converted data is transmitted to the client PC 18 according to the network procedure (step 42).

The client PC 18 receives the packet through the network interface and sends it to the IP address request source (step 43).

Thus, it is possible to obtain an IP address without broadcasting to an unspecified large number on a network.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an effective effect that an IP address of a desired device can be obtained without broadcasting to an unspecified number of devices on a network. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one form of connection of an IP address acquisition device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another form of connection of the IP address acquisition device according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an IP address acquisition process of a device connected to a network.

FIG. 4 shows a device I locally connected to the server PC.
Flow chart showing P address acquisition processing

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Application request part 2 Device driver communication part 3 Port information acquisition part (device information acquisition part) 4 IP address acquisition part 5 Communication part 6 Command analysis part 7 Port information acquisition part (device information acquisition part) 8 Port information database (device information) Database) 18 client PC (IP address acquisition device) 46 server name acquisition unit 47 IP address conversion unit 100 host computer (IP address acquisition device) 101 application 102 device driver 160 server PC (server computer) 170 device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An IP address acquisition device connected to a network, comprising an application and a device driver, for acquiring an IP address of a device also connected to the network, wherein the application is a request to acquire an IP address. An application request unit for performing communication with the device driver in response to a request from the application request unit; a device information acquisition unit for acquiring device information from data received by the device driver communication unit; An IP address acquisition unit that acquires an IP address from information, wherein the device driver communicates with the device driver communication unit; a command analysis unit that analyzes received command data; The device A device information database carrying device information set during installation of the driver, IP address, acquiring apparatus; and a device information acquisition unit that acquires device information from the database of the device information database. 2. The IP address acquisition device according to claim 1, wherein an IP address is acquired from character string information included in the device information. 3. An IP address acquisition device that is connected to a network with an application and a device driver and acquires an IP address of a device locally connected to a server computer connected to the network, wherein the application is An application request unit for requesting acquisition of an IP address; a device driver communication unit for receiving a request from the application request unit and communicating with the device driver; and a device for acquiring device information from data received by the device driver communication unit. An information acquisition unit, an IP address acquisition unit that acquires an IP address from device information, a server name acquisition unit that acquires a name of the server computer, and the device via the server name acquired by the server name acquisition unit. IP ad The device driver, a communication unit that communicates with the device driver communication unit, a command analysis unit that analyzes received command data, and the device driver. An IP address acquisition device, comprising: a device information database that holds device information set at the time of installation of the device; and a device information acquisition unit that acquires device information from the database of the device information database.