JP2003288296A - Data setting system for gateway device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data setting system for a gateway device enabling a service engineer or a user to perform the setting and the setting change of data. <P>SOLUTION: This system comprises a data setting PC provided within a local network, a maintenance server provided on the Internet side, and a gateway device for performing the mutual information transfer between the local network and the Internet, the gateway device has a WEB server having a cgi program integrated thereto, and a means permitting the specification of the local IP address of the gateway device concerned only from the data setting PC of the local network but not from data setting PC of other local networks. The write-in of set data and the installation of an update program are performed by the operation on the WEB page of a maintenance management server that the data setting PC accessed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gateway device for connecting a local network and the Internet, and more particularly to data setting and program update of the gateway device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the use of dial-up routers and broadband routers for connecting to the Internet has been increasing. These router functions can be realized not only by router-specific machines but also by PC-servers and appliance servers for home / small offices. Here, the devices that connect the local network and the Internet as described above are collectively referred to as a "gateway device". These gateway devices are
Functional specifications and setting items are added, and software updates and correction modules are frequently released. In these gateway devices, it is common to set the functions directly using a WEB browser or an original setting program. However, setting requires specialized knowledge, and it is difficult for the user to perform setting. Therefore, the settings are often done by a service engineer.

In the prior art, when setting parameters, for example, according to the configuration and procedure shown in FIG. 9, the following steps are performed. The user directly makes a http (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) from the setting PC (Personal Computer) 1 to the gateway device 2.
ol) Access and write the setting value. The user installs the setting program of the gateway device 2 on the setting PC (Personal Computer) 1 and performs the setting. In either procedure, the settings are made by the gateway device 2 and
The setting is performed by communication between the PCs 1.

When the program is updated, the user sets it according to the configuration and procedure shown in FIG.
Data is always downloaded once to a PC (Personal Computer) 1, and the data is uploaded to the gateway device 2 before installation.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the invention] (1) Development until shipment
Issues related to the period This type of device is shipped only after the software related to the function, the user interface of the setting page and the manual part have been created. When the conventional method is used, it takes time from the completion of the software until the user interface is created, the manual is checked, and the product is shipped. (2) Issues in setting / maintenance after shipment In order to modify the user interface and manual incorporated in the device, it is necessary to update and install the firmware in each device. (3) User can call the support engineer to set
All parameters on the assignment setting page for receiving instruction must be given by telephone. (4) Support engineer performs remote maintenance
Problems in the case of remote access At present, the maximum bit rate is to connect at the ISDN transmission rate (64 to 128) kbps. When updating a program by remote maintenance, useless transfer time is wasted because large size data is transferred.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and provide a data setting system for a gateway device which enables a service engineer or a user to set data efficiently and easily. To do.

[0007]

In order to solve this problem, in the data setting system of the gateway device according to the present invention, the data setting PC is arranged in the local network, and the maintenance server is arranged on the Internet side. In a system in which a gateway device is arranged for mutual information transmission between the local network and the Internet, the data setting PC is a WEB.
The gateway device has a built-in browser, and the gateway device includes a WEB server in which a cgi program for reading and writing setting data and installing an update program is installed, and the data setting P on the local network.
And a means for allowing only C to specify the local IP address of the gateway device and not allowing the data setting PC of another local network to specify the local IP address of the gateway device. The management server is a WEB server that is always connected to the Internet, has a storage area for setting parameters for setting pages and custom settings of the gateway device, and has a P for data setting.
By the operation on the WEB page of the maintenance server accessed from C, the cgi of the gateway device is operated.
The program is executed to read and write the setting data and install the update program.

The means for allowing the IP address of the gateway device to be specified only from the data setting PC of the local network is configured so that the local IP address has a fixed value common to all gateway devices. You can The means for allowing the IP address of the gateway device to be specified only from the data setting PC of the local network is:
A common host name may be given to all gateway devices, and a description may be made in the hosts file of the data setting PC to associate the host name with the IP address of the gateway device.

Further, the means that does not allow the IP address of the gateway device to be specified from the data setting PC of the other local network or the other network uses a port accessible only from the local network. The cgi program can be configured to be executable.

More specifically, the data setting system of the gateway device according to the present invention has the following components. (1) Setting PC This is a general PC with a built-in WEB browser. (2) Gateway device This is a target of setting and constitutes a main part of the system of the present invention together with a maintenance management server described later. a) WEB server The WEB server uses the http protocol specified in RFC2616 and the html (hyper Tex specified in RFC1866 and RFC2070).
t Markup Language) A document is stored and has a function of transferring in response to a transfer request from a browser which is a client. In addition, CGI (Common Gateway Interfa
(ce) is a mechanism that executes a program on the WEB server side and displays the processed result on the browser, which is general. The WEB server of this gateway device incorporates the CGI program that executes the reading / writing of setting parameters / installation of the update program. b) Local gateway only from terminals on the local network
The following methods are generally available as methods for identifying the local IP address of the. Set up a DNS server on the local network. This DNS
The (Domain Name System) server is a server that resolves the only host name on the Internet into an IP address, and the details are specified in RFC1034 RFC1035. The local IP address is a fixed value common to all gateway devices. The local IP address is RFC191
Only available on the local network specified in 8
The P address is an IP address that should be given to the local network side of the gateway device. A common host name is given to all gateway devices, and a description is made in the hosts file of the setting PC so that the host name corresponds to the IP address of the gateway device. This host
The s file is h in the network using TCP / IP.
It is a file that records the correspondence between the ost name and its IP address, and in devices that implement TCP / IP, this host is used in most cases.
You can refer to the s file for name resolution. This hosts file is a UNIX (registered trademark) type O
In S, it is placed in / etc / hosts and is a win made by Microsoft.
on dows 95/98 to c: \ windows \ hosts, on windows NT
It is located in c: \ winnt \ system32 \ drivers \ etc \ hosts. c) Cannot access the gateway device from outside
Using only accessible ports from the means local network to capacity, and can execute cgi program. (3) Maintenance management server A web server that is always connected to the Internet and has a setting page for gateway devices. It also has a space to set parameters for custom settings.

[0011]

Function The present invention includes the above-mentioned devices: (1) setting PC1-1,1-
2,1-3, (2) gateway devices 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, and
(3) By installing the maintenance management server 3 as shown in FIG. 1, a setting WEB of the maintenance management server 3 connected to the Internet from the inside of the gateway device 2-1, 2-2, 2-3
By making settings on the page, the gateway devices 2-1, 2-2,
It is possible to easily set 2-3. PC1
Maintenance management server 3 accessed from -1,1-2 or 1-3
The cgi program inside the gateway devices 2-1, 2-2, 2-3 is executed by the operation on the WEB page of (hereinafter server A). At this time, the program of the gateway device 2-1 is operated by the user of the PC1-1, the program of the gateway device 2-2 is operated by the user of the PC1-2, and the gateway device is operated by the user of the PC1-3. 2-3 programs are executed respectively. This mechanism enables any user to set the gateway device of the user by any of the following methods. On the maintenance management server settings page, use the host name that is resolved as the local IP address of the gateway device according to the method in b) or
Link to the cgi program of the gateway device. On the maintenance management server setting page, a link is established from the server A to the cgi program of the gateway device by using the fixed IP address of the gateway device determined by the method of b) above.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
The agreement conditions will be described. Determine a host name that can resolve the gateway device's local IP address from the local network. Here, it is “abc”. Determine which ports are accessible only from your local network. Here, it is set to "port 60000". The port here is the logical one of software, RFC7
Indicates the TCP port of the TCP protocol defined by 93. Install the setting execution cgi in the WEB server of the gateway device. Here, it is set.cgi. Update to the WEB server of the gateway device c
Include gi. Here, it is "update.cgi". Incorporate a local DNS server into the gateway device, and make settings that resolve as “abc” → “gateway local IP address”. Link to the setting execution cgi of the gateway device on the setting page of the maintenance management server. That is, " http: // abc:
60000 / set.cgi ”. Link to the gateway device update execution cgi on the update page of the maintenance management server. "
http: // abc: 60000 / update.cgi ”. By performing the above, settings / updates can be executed from the web page of the maintenance management server from a PC connected to the local network.

FIG. 2 shows an operation flow showing an embodiment of the parameter setting method 1. Maintenance management server 3
The setting items displayed on the setting page of " http: // abc: 6
It is a link to " 0000 / set.cgi ".

FIG. 3 shows an operation flow showing an embodiment of the parameter setting method 2. The setting PC 1 reads the “individual parameters” prepared in advance in the maintenance management server 3, thereby omitting the procedure for editing the setting items. The setting items displayed on the setting page of the maintenance management server 3 are
It is a link to " http: // abc: 60000 / set.cgi ".

FIG. 4 shows an example of a display screen of a WEB browser showing a concrete example of "parameter download". The operation in this case is performed as follows. First, access the maintenance server with the setting PC. Then click the link on the settings page. At this time, in method 1, the parameters are downloaded from the gateway device. In method 2, parameters are downloaded from the maintenance management server.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a screen displayed on the WEB browser as a result of clicking “PPP communication setting” in FIG. 4. In method 1, parameters are edited, and in method 2, the setting button is left unchanged. By clicking, the setting cgi program is executed inside the gateway device 2.

FIG. 6 shows an operation flow showing an embodiment for updating the program. The update button displayed on the update page of the maintenance server 3 is a link to " http: // abc: 60000 / update.cgi ".

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a WEB browser showing an operation example of requesting a file transfer from the gateway device and executing an installation by an operation from the setting PC. The operation in this case is as follows. Access the maintenance management server 3 with the WEB browser of the setting PC 1. By clicking the install button, a file transfer request from the gateway device and installation execution are performed.

FIG. 8 shows a screen display example of the WEB browser of the setting PC 1 when the file download and the installation execution are completed.

[0020]

As described in detail above, the data setting system for a gateway device according to the present invention can solve the above-mentioned problems as follows. Issues related to development period up to shipment Manufacturing is started after the embedded software is completed, and a user interface is provided on the maintenance management server side before shipment.
It is possible to create a manual. Problems in setting / maintenance after shipping By modifying the user interface and manual on the maintenance management server side, it is possible to modify all devices at once. User calls the support engineer by phone to set up
Issues when receiving a parameter setting page for users in advance,
By notifying the URL, it is possible to prevent setting mistakes due to inadequate communication or typo. When a support engineer performs remote maintenance
Even if the size of the update file is large, data transfer is completed from the maintenance management server to the gateway device only once.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flow diagram for explaining an example of parameter setting in the system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation flow chart for explaining another embodiment of parameter setting in the system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a screen display example of a WEB browser showing a specific execution example of parameter setting in the system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a screen display example of a WEB browser as a result of clicking a setting item of parameter setting in the system of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an operation flow chart showing an embodiment when a program is updated in the system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows an operation example of requesting a file from a gateway device and executing installation in the system of the present invention
It is a figure which shows the example of a screen display of a WEB browser.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a screen display example of a WEB browser when file download and installation execution are completed in the system of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another operation flow when setting parameters in the conventional system.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an operation flow when a program is updated in the conventional system.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,1-1,1-2,1-3 Setting PC 2,2-1,2-2,2-3 Gateway device 3 Maintenance server

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A data setting PC is arranged in a local network, a maintenance server is arranged on the Internet side, and a gateway device is arranged for mutual information transmission between the local network and the Internet. In the above system, the data setting PC includes a WEB browser, and the gateway device includes a WEB server in which a cgi program for reading / writing setting data and installing an update program is installed, and the data in the local network. Allowing only the setting PC to specify the local IP address of the gateway device, and allowing the data setting PC on another local network or another network to specify the local IP address of the gateway device. The maintenance management server is a WEB server that is always connected to the Internet, and includes a storage area for setting a setting page of the gateway device and a parameter for custom setting, A gateway configured to execute the cgi program of the gateway device by the operation on the WEB page of the maintenance server accessed from the setting PC to read / write the setting data and install the update program. Device data setting system. 2. The means for permitting the IP address of the gateway device to be specified only from the data setting PC of the local network is configured to set up a DNS server in the local network. The data setting system of the gateway device according to claim 1. 3. The means for allowing the IP address of the gateway device to be specified only from the data setting PC of the local network is configured to set the local IP address to a fixed value common to all gateway devices. The data setting system for a gateway device according to claim 1, wherein the data setting system is provided. 4. The means for permitting the IP address of the gateway device to be specified only from the data setting PC of the local network gives a common host name to all gateway devices, and the data setting PC
2. The data setting system for a gateway device according to claim 1, wherein the hosts file is configured to describe the host name and the IP address of the gateway device. 5. The means that does not allow the data setting PC of the other local network or the other network to specify the IP address of the gateway device uses a port accessible only from the local network. The data setting system for a gateway device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the data setting system is configured to be able to execute a cgi program.