JP2004153643A - Networking unit and networking device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a networking unit which performs data communication, utilizing a host name simply by being connected with a network without performing a work regarding setting of the host name, and also to provide a networking device in which the unit is built in. <P>SOLUTION: A user can start the data communication, utilizing the host name set by utilizing a MAC address of the network unit simply by being connected with the network 7 by writing the host name in a second storage device 3 at a manufacturing state. The host name is also optionally rewritten and initialized to the contents stored in a first storage device 2 by an initialization button 6 by the user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a technology relating to a network unit and a network device incorporating the same.
[0002]
[Prior art]
To transmit and receive moving image data captured by the camera server and data stored by the data recorder using network devices such as a camera server and a data recorder over a network, the source and destination of the data must be clarified. There is a need.
[0003]
Therefore, a unique IP address is assigned to each network device such as a camera server and a data recorder on the network, and this IP address is used for identifying each network. However, since an IP address is composed of a 32-bit bit string and is represented by a sequence of four decimal numbers divided into 8-bit units, it is difficult for a user to store the IP address, which is difficult to handle.
[0004]
Thus, a method of setting a host name close to a natural language in association with the IP address so as to make it easier for the user to handle than the IP address, and using this host name to identify each network device on the network Has been taken.
[0005]
In addition to a method in which the host name is manually set in each device by a user, there is a method in which an ID corresponding to the host name is automatically generated and managed using a dedicated system (see Patent Document 1).
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-12-355303
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Conventionally, since a host name is not set in a network device in a factory shipping state, it is necessary to manually set a host name at a stage where a user uses the host name in order to use the host name. This setting is a time-consuming operation performed by connecting the network device alone or to the computer device via the network and operating the computer device by the user. Furthermore, since the host name is used to identify each device, when using multiple devices, it is necessary to set different unique host names for all devices, and the user must perform the work for that purpose. It required a great deal of time and effort.
[0008]
In the method of automatically generating and managing an ID corresponding to a host name using the dedicated system described above, the user does not need to manually set the ID, but dedicated software or a server is required on the network. In addition to the need for introduction, the relationship between the set ID and each device could not be predicted, and in order to know this, it was necessary to read the correspondence table from the system and check it.
[0009]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable a user to use a unique host name unique to each network device simply by connecting to a network without performing a work related to setting of a host name, and furthermore, a correspondence table, It is an object of the present invention to provide a network unit capable of easily managing a host name without using a network unit and a network device incorporating the same.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problem, an invention according to claim 1 is a network unit built in a network device, connected to a network and performing communication using a predetermined communication protocol, wherein the name identifies the network device. A rewritable second storage device that stores the same name as the first storage device as an initial value, the network and the second storage device. A data communication unit that is connected to a storage device, uses the name read from the second storage device as a host name of the network device, and transmits and receives data of the network device on the network; A storage control unit connected to a second storage device and the data communication unit for controlling storage contents of the second storage device, and the storage control Respect, the stored contents of said second storage device, the first of the name read from the storage device and is characterized in that it comprises an initialization means for rewriting, the.
[0011]
The invention according to claim 2 is the network unit according to claim 1, wherein the name stored in the first storage device is unique using a hardware address of the network unit. It is characterized by the following.
[0012]
The invention according to claim 3 is the network unit according to claim 1, wherein, when the data communication unit receives a command signal via the network, the storage control unit responds to the command signal, and the storage control unit responds to the command signal. Wherein the storage contents stored in the storage device are rewritten.
[0013]
The invention according to claim 4 is the network unit according to claim 1, wherein the initialization means is an initialization button connected to the storage control unit and inputting a control signal to the storage control unit. It is characterized by the following.
[0014]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network device including the network unit according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.
[0015]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a network unit 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the network unit 1 includes a first storage device 2 storing a host name set by a manufacturer, and a second storage device 3 storing a host name used on a network 7. A data communication unit 4 that is connected to the network 7 and the second storage device 3 and uses the storage content read from the second storage device 3 as a host name to transmit and receive data on the network using a predetermined protocol; A storage control unit 5 connected to the first and second storage devices 2 and 3 and the data communication unit 4 for controlling the storage contents of the second storage device 3, and a storage control unit 5 connected to the storage control unit 5 and An initialization button 6 (initialization means) for inputting a control signal.
[0016]
The network unit 1 is a functional component that is built in a network device 9 such as a camera server or a data recorder, and that transmits and receives data using the network 7. Specifically, a data format that can be transmitted and received on the network between the network 7 and the data processing unit 8 and a moving image data captured by the camera server and a data format that is written to or read from the data recorder are converted. Function as a network interface.
[0017]
The first storage device 2 is a non-volatile storage device, and keeps the storage contents written by the manufacturer in the manufacturing stage. The content to be written is a name that uniquely indicates the network device 9 incorporating the network unit 1, and this name has a format that can be used as a host name on the network.
[0018]
The second storage device 3 is a rewritable storage device, and the same contents as those of the first storage device 2 are written as initial values by a manufacturer in a manufacturing stage. The content stored in the second storage device 3 is directly used as a host name on the network of the network device 9 incorporating the network unit 1. This stored content can be rewritten by the user to any content.
[0019]
The data communication unit 4 performs data communication using a predetermined protocol such as TCP / IP or NetBEUI on a network. The host name for identifying the network device 9 incorporating the network unit 1 on the network uses the storage content read from the second storage device 3 as described above, and is added to the header portion of data to be transmitted and received. have. Further, when a command signal related to a host name change is received from the user via the network 7, the command signal is transmitted to the storage control unit 5. The data transmitted and received by the data communication unit 4 is data received from the data processing unit 8 in the network device 9 incorporating the network unit 1, and when the network device 9 is a camera server, a moving image captured by a camera. It is image data, and if it is a data recorder, it is data that is written to or read from the data recorder.
[0020]
When recognizing that the user has transmitted the command signal for changing the host name from the network 7 via the data communication unit 4, the storage control unit 5 specifies the storage content of the second storage device 3 by the user. It has a function to rewrite it with an arbitrary host name. When a control signal related to host name initialization is input from the initialization button 6, the storage contents of the second storage device 3 are rewritten with the contents read from the first storage device 2, that is, the state in the manufacturing stage. Has the function to initialize to
[0021]
The initialization button 6 transmits a control signal for instructing the storage control unit 5 to initialize a host name used on the network when the user depresses the button.
[0022]
The functions of the data communication unit 4 and the storage control unit 5 are realized by dedicated hardware including a memory, a CPU, and the like, and dedicated software that operates in the CPU.
[0023]
Next, an operation related to data communication using the host name of the network device 9 incorporating the network unit 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0024]
｝ Using the default host name｝
Data communication using the network 7 is performed in a manner that information for identifying and specifying a transmission destination of data or a transmission source of received data is included in data to be transmitted and received. Usually, an IP address uniquely assigned to each network device 9 on the network is used as this information. However, it is difficult to store an IP address, which is a sequence of numbers, and it is difficult for a user to handle. Therefore, in practice, a host name close to a natural language using alphanumeric characters is often used in association with the IP address. . This host name can be arbitrarily set by the user for each network device.
[0025]
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, two camera servers 10A and 10B and a data recorder 11 incorporating the present network units 1A to 1C (indicating all network units as network unit 1) are connected to a network. It is assumed that the IP addresses are connected and IP addresses 192.169.123.2, 192.169.123.2, and 192.169.123.3 are assigned to them. If the user uses these IP addresses in order to use the computer device 12 to handle the data of each of the network devices 10A, 10B and 11, the operation becomes very complicated. However, if host names that are easy to handle by the user, such as camera01 and camera02, are set in the camera servers 10A and 10B, and dvr01 is set in the data recorder 11 in advance, the user can easily operate as compared with the case using an IP address. Can specify the destination of the data. Also, the correspondence between the host name and each network device is easier to understand and handle than the correspondence between the IP address and each network device.
[0026]
For this reason, when using a network device, a host name is often used, but in order to use this host name with a conventional network device, first connect the network device to a network, and a user needs to connect each network device. It was necessary to input and set the host name from the computer device.
[0027]
However, an appropriate host name is written in the network unit 1 as an initial value in the second storage device 3 at the manufacturing stage. As a result, after purchasing the network devices 10A, 10B and 11 incorporating the network unit 1, the user simply connects them to the network 7 and uses the host name without performing any operation related to the host name setting. Data communication can be performed.
[0028]
｛Unique host name｝
As described above, since host names are used to identify each network device on the network, all host names must be unique on the network. Conventionally, the user has taken this into account and assigned an appropriate host name to each network device, and performed the work of setting.
[0029]
Therefore, in the network device 9 having the network interface 1 built therein, a unique host name on the network is stored in the second storage device 3 in advance so that these operations need not be performed.
[0030]
A MAC address which is a hardware address of the network interface 1 is used as a host name assigned to each network device 9. The MAC address is represented by a 12-digit hexadecimal number. The upper six digits are a vendor identifier assigned to the manufacturer that manufactures the network interface 1, and the lower six digits are optional for the network interface 1 manufactured by each manufacturer. Is the node number assigned to The MAC address of each network interface 1 is set to be the only value in the world in order to identify each network interface 1 on a global scale.
[0031]
Therefore, the host name corresponding to this MAC address on a one-to-one basis is unique on the network 7. Furthermore, when giving a host name, a name or abbreviation indicating the feature of the network device 9 is used, so that even if the host name is uniquely assigned by the manufacturer, the feature such as the appearance and the function of the network device is used. The user predicts the correspondence between the host name and the network device 9 and sets the host name to be recognizable.
[0032]
Specifically, for example, the MAC addresses of the camera servers 10A and 10B incorporate the network units 1 of aa-bb-cc-15-11-FA and aa-bb-cc-15-11-FB, respectively. In this case, the host names of the camera servers 10A and 10B are CAM1511FA and CAM1511FB, respectively, using the last six digits of the MAC address. With this method, a unique host name is used for the camera server manufactured by the manufacturer. Therefore, after purchasing the camera servers 10A and 10B, the user can use the host names of the camera servers 10A and 10B only by connecting to the network without performing the work of setting or changing the host name. it can. Further, by looking at the host names CAM1511FA and CAM1511FB on the network, the host names are used to predict the host names of the camera servers 10A and 10B, and the MAC address is used to predict which host name belongs to the camera server 10A. Can be recognized. Also, if the MAC address of each network device is displayed on the housing of the network device, which is easy for the user to identify at the manufacturing stage, the user can easily recognize the MAC address of the network device and obtain the host name. Can be predicted.
[0033]
Thus, even when a plurality of the same network devices are installed, the user can use the host name without connecting the host device at all by simply connecting each network device to the network 7. Can be. Also, regarding the correspondence between each network device and each host name, it is possible to easily predict the assigned host name from the MAC address of each network device.
[0034]
｛Host name and security｝
However, a host name that can be easily predicted from the MAC address may be used by a person other than the user, which may cause a security problem. In such a case, the assignment method of the host name is changed.
[0035]
For example, a method of extracting a larger number of digits from the MAC address, rearranging these numbers according to a predetermined rule, and using them, or performing a predetermined basic logical operation such as a logical sum or a logical product on the extracted numbers Although a unique host name that has a one-to-one correspondence with the MAC address, such as the method used above, a method that cannot easily recognize the correspondence with the MAC address is used.
[0036]
Even when the host name is determined by using the encryption method, the host name can be determined at the manufacturing stage. Therefore, the serial number or MAC address of each network device and the set host name are set. A card, a sticker, or the like stating the above can be created and bundled with each network device. Thus, the user can recognize the correspondence between each network device and the host name from these descriptions. In addition, the correspondence table between the host name and the network device can be easily created using the enclosed card or sticker.
[0037]
In this way, the manufacturer sets a unique host name using the MAC address for each network device at the manufacturing stage, and writes this in the second storage device 3, so that the user can use the same product. Even if a plurality of printers are purchased, the host names can be used only by connecting to the network without setting or changing the host name of each network device. Furthermore, by allowing the user to recognize the correspondence between the host name on the network and each network device, the user performs extra work to recognize the correspondence between each host name and the network device. Eliminates the need.
[0038]
｛Change of host name｝
As described above, in the present network unit 1, a unique host name using a MAC address is written in the second storage device 3 by the manufacturer at the manufacturing stage, and the user incorporates the present network unit 1. After purchasing the network devices 10A, 10B and 11 that have been completed, data communication using the host name can be performed simply by connecting to the network 7. However, the user can change the host name of each of the network devices 10A, 10B and 11 to a desired host name.
[0039]
The user operates the computer device 12 which is also connected to the network 7 while the network devices 10A, 10B and 11 are connected to the network 7, and remotely operates the network devices 10A, 10B via the network 7. And 11 can be changed.
[0040]
When the data communication unit 4 of each network unit 1 built in each of the network devices 10A, 10B and 11 receives the command for changing the host name from the computer device 12 operated by the user via the network 7, it stores the command. The information is transmitted to the control unit 5. Upon receiving this, the storage control unit 5 rewrites the storage content of the second storage device 3 with a new host name specified by the user. As described above, the data communication unit 4 and the storage control unit 5 can change the storage content of the second storage device 3, which is the host name used for data transmission and reception, to an arbitrary content desired by the user. It is.
[0041]
As a result, the user can allocate and use a desired arbitrary host name to the network device without using the host name initially set by the manufacturer.
[0042]
｛Initialization of host name｝
The network unit 1 is provided with an initialization button 6. When the user presses this button, the host name is always assigned to the host name assigned by the manufacturer at the manufacturing stage stored in the first storage device 2. Can be initialized.
[0043]
When the user presses the initialization button 6, a control signal is transmitted from the initialization button 6 to the storage control unit 5. When receiving the control signal, the storage control unit 5 reads the host name stored in the first storage device 2 and writes the host name in the second storage device 3. As described above, the host names of the network devices 10A, 10B, and 11 can be easily initialized to the host names assigned by the manufacturer only by pressing the initialization button.
[0044]
As a result, when an abnormality such as a power failure occurs during the operation related to the host name change and the storage content of the second storage device 3 becomes unintended by the user, the user forgets the host name set in the past. Even if the user wants to initialize, or if he wants to initialize the host name by changing the network environment or the user, the user can easily initialize the host name just by pressing the initialization button 6. is there.
[0045]
The initialization of the host name can be performed by remote control from the computer device 12 via the network 7 in addition to the operation using the initialization button 6. If a plurality of network devices are installed, or if the network devices are installed far away from the computer device 12 operated by the user, a host name initialization command is sent from the computer device 12 to each of the network devices 10A, 10B and 11. Is transmitted by the data communication unit 4 of the network unit 1 to the storage control unit 5, whereby the same effect as when the initialization button 6 is pressed can be obtained.
[0046]
Accordingly, the user can easily operate the computer device even when the network device is installed in a remote place where the initialization button 6 cannot be pressed or when a plurality of network devices are used. It is possible to initialize the host name.
[0047]
｛Modified example｝
In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present network unit is incorporated in the camera server and the data recorder has been described. However, the network device using the present network unit is not limited to these, and may be another network device. Is also good. Further, as long as it is used by being connected to a network, it may be used by being built in an electric appliance such as a refrigerator or a microwave oven that functions as a network home appliance, or a board or a PC card compatible with a PCI bus slot. It may be in a form used in a computer device as a network interface.
[0048]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the network unit is built in the network device, is connected to the network, and performs communication using a predetermined communication protocol, and stores a name for identifying the network device. A nonvolatile first storage device, a rewritable second storage device storing the same name as the first storage device as an initial value, and a first storage device connected to the network and the second storage device. A data communication unit that transmits and receives data of the network device over the network using the name read from the second storage device as a host name of the network device; and the first and second storage devices. And a storage control unit connected to the data communication unit and controlling the storage content of the second storage device; And the initialization means for rewriting the storage contents of the second storage device to the name read from the first storage device, so that the user can purchase the network device incorporating the network unit, By simply connecting to the network, it is possible to use the host name.
[0049]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the name stored in the first storage device is unique using the hardware address of the network unit, the user incorporates the network unit. Even when a plurality of network devices are used, it is possible to use the host name only by connecting to the network without performing the operation for changing the host name.
[0050]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the data communication unit receives the command signal via the network, the storage control unit rewrites the storage content stored in the second storage device according to the command signal. Can easily change the host name by remote control.
[0051]
According to the invention as set forth in claim 4, the initialization means is an initialization button connected to the storage control unit and for inputting a control signal to the storage control unit. , It is possible to easily initialize the host name.
[0052]
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, a host name can be easily used in various types of network devices such as a camera server and a data recorder as long as the network device has a built-in network unit.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network unit according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of a network according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 1 network unit 2 first storage device 3 second storage device 4 data communication unit 5 storage control unit 6 initialization button 7 network 8 data processing unit 9 network device 10A, 10B camera server 11 data recorder 12 computer device

Claims (5)

A network unit built in the network device and connected to the network to perform communication using a predetermined communication protocol,
A nonvolatile first storage device storing a name for identifying the network device;
A rewritable second storage device storing the same name as the first storage device as an initial value;
Data communication connected to the network and the second storage device, using the name read from the second storage device as a host name of the network device, and transmitting and receiving data of the network device on the network; Department and
A storage control unit that is connected to the first and second storage devices and the data communication unit and controls storage contents of the second storage device;
Initialization means for causing the storage control unit to rewrite the storage content of the second storage device with the name read from the first storage device;
A network unit comprising: The network unit according to claim 1, wherein
The network unit, wherein the name stored in the first storage device is uniquely determined by using a hardware address of the network unit. The network unit according to claim 1, wherein
When the data communication unit receives a command signal via the network, the storage control unit rewrites the stored content stored in the second storage device according to the command signal. The network unit according to claim 1, wherein
The network unit, wherein the initialization unit is an initialization button connected to the storage control unit and inputting a control signal to the storage control unit. A network device incorporating the network unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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