JP2006050113A - Device identification processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device identification processing method for transferring data such as version upgrade or the like from a higher-order device to a lower-order device that avoids increase in traffic of a network and relieves a load imposed on the higher-order device. <P>SOLUTION: The method includes steps that an in-house device A1 as a lower-order device receiving transfer of data designated by a supervisory control device 1 as a higher-order device collects MAC addresses from all lower-order devices 5 connected to a network 4 by an ARP command, identifies lower-order devices manufactured by the same vender (in-house devices A2 to A5) on the basis of higher-order bytes of the MAC addresses, and transfers data from the supervisory control device 1 as the higher-order device to the lower-order devices manufactured by the same vender (in-house devices A2 to A5) via the network 4 in the order of (2) to (5) illustrated in Figure. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a device identification processing method for identifying devices of a predetermined condition, such as those manufactured by the same vendor, among a plurality of devices connected to a network and performing processing such as firmware version upgrade.

  There is known a system in which various devices such as a transmission device are connected to a network and a monitoring control device monitors whether or not the device is in a normal operation state. In addition, when setting various data to a device connected by a network such as a LAN (local area network), etc., it is performed using the relationship between the client and the server. If the higher-level device side such as a plurality of subordinate transmission devices has a client function, or (b) the higher-level device side such as a monitoring control device does not have a server function, In the case of (a), the higher-level device issues a command for each lower-level device, and using the command as a trigger, the lower-level device obtains data and the like from the higher-level device. Performs setting (update) processing. In case of (b), the data is transferred from the higher-level device to each lower-level device, and after the transfer is completed, a command is issued from the higher-level device to each lower-level device. Each lower device performs a setting such as data (update) processing.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a monitoring control device 61 as a host device and a plurality of lower devices 65 are connected via a router 63 and a network 64 such as a LAN (local area network), etc. Reference numeral 61 denotes a system for managing various conditions of the subordinate device 65 by the database 62. The plurality of subordinate devices 65 are often made by a plurality of vendors, and are shown as in-house devices A1 to A5 as shown in the figure. This means that the company's own product and the other company's device B and the other company's device C are included. These subordinate devices 65 generally include different points in firmware and the like even if the basic configuration is the same. In addition, even lower-level devices manufactured by the same vendor may include lower-level devices with different device types.

  In such a system, in the case of the relationship between the server and the client as in the above-described (a), the supervisory control device 61 of the host device refers to the database 62 and is a device manufactured in-house in the lower device 65. (A1 to A5) are identified, a command is individually transmitted to the device manufactured in-house, and the device manufactured in-house that receives this command corresponds to the command content such as setting data in the monitoring control device 61 of the host device. Data is requested, data corresponding to this request is received, and processing such as setting and version upgrade is performed. Such processing is generally performed all at once, as indicated by solid arrows. Also, in the case of the relationship between the server and the client as in the above (b), after sending data from the supervisory control device 61 of the host device to the device manufactured by the company, the command is sent to the device that has received this command. Setting processing and the like. Processing such as data download and firmware version upgrade is performed all at once as described above in consideration of efficiency.

In a system for managing a virtual network such as a virtual LAN (local area network), a table is constructed by associating the MAC (media access control) address, port number and virtual network identifier of the node. A management method for transferring data with reference to this table is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP-A-9-130421

  For the above-mentioned monitoring control device 61 of the host device, data is collected from a plurality of in-house manufactured subordinate devices 65 all at once, or from the monitoring control device 61 to a plurality of in-house manufactured subordinate devices 65 at the same time. When data is transmitted, there is a problem that traffic between the monitoring control device 61 and the router 63 increases, and monitoring control between the monitoring control device 61 and each lower device 65 cannot be performed in real time. . Therefore, it is conceivable to carry out the processing performed all at once, but the processing time of the monitoring control device 61 for that purpose becomes longer, the bandwidth between the monitoring control device 61 and the router 63 and the bandwidth of the network 64. There is a problem that affects monitoring and control.

  An object of the present invention is to identify a device manufactured in-house, transfer data between the devices manufactured in-house, and effectively use a network and a host device.

  The device identification processing method of the present invention has a plurality of lower-level devices compatible with a plurality of vendors connected to a higher-level device via a network, and data for version upgrade from the higher-level device to a lower-level device of a predetermined vendor In the device identification processing method for transferring data, the lower device to which the data is transferred designated by the upper device collects MAC addresses from all lower devices connected to the network by the ARP command. This includes a step of identifying a lower-level device made by the same vendor and transferring the data from the higher-level device sequentially from the lower-level device to another lower-level device made by the same vendor via the network.

  Also, device identification processing for having a plurality of lower-level devices compatible with a plurality of vendors connected to a higher-level device via a network, and transferring data for version upgrade from the higher-level device to a lower-level device of a predetermined vendor In the method, the lower device to which data is transferred by specifying the device type by the upper device collects the MAC addresses of all the lower devices connected to the network by an ARP command, and the upper bytes of the MAC address The vendor is identified by, the device types of a plurality of lower-level devices of the same vendor are identified by the lower-order byte of the MAC address, and the lower-level device of the specified device type is manufactured by the same vendor as the lower-level device to which the data is transferred. And transferring the data to a device.

  By specifying a lower-level device of a predetermined vendor from the higher-level device and transferring the data once, the lower-level device identifies the lower-level device of the same vendor and sequentially transfers the received data to the lower-level device of the same vendor. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the burden on the host device, for example, the monitoring control device, and to avoid an increase in network traffic.

  In the device identification processing method of the present invention, referring to FIG. 1, an in-house device A1 as a lower-level device designated by the supervisory control device 1 as a higher-level device and transferred data is connected to the network 4 by an ARP command. Collect MAC addresses from all the lower level devices 5 to identify lower level devices (own devices A2 to A5) made by the same vendor, and to the lower level devices made by the same vendor (own devices A2 to A5) via the network 4 Then, after transferring data from the supervisory control device 1 as the host device to the company device A1 of the lower device 5, the process of transferring the data to the company devices A2 to A5 in the order of (2) to (5) is included.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention, where 1 is a supervisory control device as a host device, 2 is a database, 3 is a router, 4 is a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network), and 5 is a transmission device And so on. The plurality of lower-level devices 5 connected to the network 4 includes a case where the company's devices A1 to A5 and the other company's devices B and C are included, and the monitoring control devices 1 to (1) to (6) as the higher-level devices. The procedure shows the case of transferring and setting data for version upgrade.

  The supervisory control device 1 holds information about the subordinate device 5 that performs supervisory control in the database 2 and has an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server function. The company devices A1 to A5 are FTP servers and FTP clients. First, the supervisory control device 1 of the host device refers to the database 2 and selects the company device A1 as the lower device 5 made by a predetermined vendor, and uses the FTP function. For example, data for version upgrade is transmitted (1) (In this case, the relationship between the monitoring control device 1 and the company device A1 may be an FTP server / client relationship, so any server can be used. good).

  The in-house device A1 receives the data from the supervisory control device 1, performs the upgrade process, and then, in the same network 4 (address 192.168.8.1), the in-house device A1 and the lower device 5 made by the same vendor as the own device A1. Check if is connected. For this purpose, the company device A1 transmits an ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) command. In this case, the ARP response packet with respect to the ARP inquiry packet includes a MAC address. Based on the MAC address, it is determined whether the device is an in-house device. This MAC address has, for example, a 1-bit I / G (Individual / Group), a 1-bit U / L (Universal / Local), a 22-bit vendor identification number, and a 24-bit device allocation number. Therefore, the upper 3 bytes of this MAC address can be used as a vendor code to determine whether it is made in-house or by another company. In addition, regarding the format of the MAC address, when the upper byte is a vendor code and the lower byte is an address compatible with the company's own device, it is possible to determine whether the device is made in-house or by another company by using the upper byte.

  FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the in-house device determination process, in which the network address is specified by the AND condition of the IP address of the own device (own device A1) and the subnet mask (A1). Then, an ARP inquiry packet is transmitted to the IP address incremented by 1 from the 0th specified network address, and the timer A is restarted (A2). Then, it is determined whether or not the IP address has been searched to the end (A3). When the IP address has been searched to the end, the processing is terminated. If the search is in progress, the timer A is set to indicate "timer A> Time". (A4), if so, the process proceeds to step (A2). If not, it is determined whether or not to wait for a response to the transmitted ARP inquiry packet ( A5) If there is no response, the process proceeds to step (A4). If there is a response, it is determined whether or not the vendor code of the upper 3 bytes of the MAC address of the ARP response packet indicates in-house product (A6). ), If not manufactured in-house, the process proceeds to step (A2); if in-house manufactured, it is registered in the database of the own apparatus (in-house apparatus A1), and the process proceeds to step (A2).

  As described above, the company device A1 in FIG. 1 can recognize the company devices A2 to A5 among the plurality of lower devices 5 connected to the network 4 by receiving the APR response packet. Then, for example, according to the ascending order of the IP address, first, the data received from the monitoring control device 1 is transferred to the company device A2 (2). The company device A2 receives the data and performs version upgrade processing. Similarly, data is sequentially transferred from the company device A1 to the company devices A3 to A5 (3) to (6). The in-house device A1 ends the upgrade work by data transfer to the last in-house device A5.

  FIG. 3 shows the data transfer process by the functional block in the case of transferring data from the company device A1 to the company device A2 via the network for the company devices A1 and A2 in FIG. LAN corresponding to the network 4 in FIG. 1, 11 and 21 are processors (CPU), 12 and 22 are memories, 13 and 23 are data, 14 and 24 are application sections, 15 and 25 are network sections, and 16 and 26 are data sections. Link units, 17 and 27 are LAN communication units, 18 and 28 are internal buses, and 19 is a transfer setting unit. That is, the company devices A1 and A2 are connected to the same network.

  The processors 11 and 21 control each unit, the data 13 and 23 indicate the state stored in the buffer memory, and the memories 12 and 22 correspond to the correspondence between the MAC address and the IP address, that is, ICMP (Internet). This shows a case where a database corresponding to the company MAC address and IP address collected by the Control Message Protocol command is configured. Further, the transfer setting unit 19 transmits the data to all of the company devices in the same network and the company device determination processing function according to the flowchart shown in FIG. It has a function of performing processing by setting whether to transmit data to devices of the same type.

  The network units 15 and 25 have a function of extracting or adding IP addresses, and the data link units 16 and 26 have a function of extracting or adding MAC addresses. The LAN communication units 17 and 27 have a function of transmitting and receiving data and the like via the LAN 10.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the in-house device A1 receives data from the supervisory control device 1 as a higher-level device and performs processing such as upgrading, or in advance, connects to the same network according to the flowchart shown in FIG. The in-house manufactured device is searched, and for example, its IP address is stored in the memory 12. When the transfer setting unit 19 is set to transmit data to all of its own devices in the same network, for example, as in the case shown in FIG. . That is, the in-house device A1 transfers the data 13 received from the monitoring control device 1 to the in-house device A2 along the route of the dotted arrow. The in-house device A2 upgrades the received data 23.

  As described above, the supervisory control device 1 as a higher-level device only needs to perform processing for designating one in-house device A1 among a plurality of lower-level devices and transmitting data via the network 4. The received in-house device A1 searches for and recognizes in-house devices A2 to A5 from among a plurality of other lower-level devices 5 connected to the same network 4, and sequentially transfers the data from the monitoring control device 1 to other in-house devices. Since the data is transferred, the processing load on the supervisory control device 1 is reduced, the supervisory control of a plurality of lower-level devices can be performed efficiently, and the traffic between the supervisory control device 1 and the router 3 and the network 4 is reduced. Can be reduced. Instead of sequentially transferring data according to the ascending order of the IP addresses of the company devices, the data can be transferred in the order of IP addresses according to the descending order.

  FIG. 4 shows the same parts as those in FIG. 1 with the same reference numerals, and the data transfer order is shown by (1) to (5). 1 receives the data designated by 1 (1), its own device A1 performs the upgrade process, and identifies its own devices A2 to A5 among the plurality of lower devices 5 connected to the same network 4 by the ARP command Then, after transferring the contents of the created database to the other in-house devices A2 to A5, for example, the data from the monitoring control device 1 is transferred to the next in-house device A2 according to the order of the IP addresses (2) The in-house device A2 also upgrades based on the received data, and transfers the received data to the next in-house device A3 according to the IP address order (3). Similarly, version upgrade processing using sequentially received data and data transfer (4), (5) to the next company apparatus can be performed. In this case, the in-house devices A1 to A5 manufactured by the same vendor perform data reception and data transmission once, respectively, so that the in-house devices A1 to A5 perform data setting processing and version upgrade processing from the monitoring device 1. It can be carried out.

  FIG. 5 shows the same parts as those in FIG. 1 with the same reference numerals, and shows the data transfer order by (1) to (5). (1), the company device A1 performs version upgrade processing, and identifies other company devices A2 to A5 connected to the same network 4 by the ARP command. After transferring the contents to the other in-house devices A2 to A5, for example, the data from the monitoring control device 1 is transferred to the next in-house device A2 according to the order of the IP address (2), and the next in-house device A3 The data is transferred to (3). The in-house device A2 performs the upgrade process based on the data from the in-house device A1, transfers the data to the next in-house device A4, and further transfers it to the next in-house device A5 (5). In other words, the company device that has received the data can sequentially transfer the data to each of the other two company devices. In this case, each company device A1 to A5 transfers each received data to two company devices, even in a system with many connected devices, compared to the case shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. Data transfer processing as a whole version upgrade can be completed in a short time.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of Embodiment 2 of the present invention, where the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same parts, and 6 indicates the database of the company apparatus A1. Even in-house devices A1 to A5 among a plurality of lower devices 5 connected to the same network 4, devices of different types may be included. For example, when the lower level device 5 is a transmission device, there is a system in which different types of devices for long distance and short distance are mixedly connected to the network 4. In such a system, for example, the version may be upgraded only for a long-distance apparatus in the company's own apparatus. That is, there is a case where the version upgrade of the company device is performed corresponding to the device type. Therefore, the lower byte of the MAC address is assigned in advance so that the device manufactured by the company can be identified by the upper byte of the MAC address and the device type manufactured by the company can be identified. For example, “00:10:00 to 00: 1F: FF” is assigned to the long-distance device by the lower 3 bytes of the MAC address, and “00:20:00 to 00:00” is assigned to the short-distance device. 2F: FF "number can be assigned.

  For example, if the device types of the in-house devices A1 to A4 and the in-house device A5 made by the same vendor in the lower device 5 in FIG. 6 are different, the network address is set to “192.168.1”, and the in-house devices A2 to A2 are used. When the IP address of A5 is “192.168.1.2”, “192.168.1.10”, “192.168.1.11”, “192.168.1.123”, the database 6 In response to the IP address, the MAC addresses “00: A0: CA: 00: 00: 01”, “00: A0: CA: 0: 10: 02”, “00: A0: CA: 00: 00: 03 "," 00: A0: CA: 0: 20: 01 "are stored. The device is identified by the upper 3 bytes of the MAC address, and the device type can be identified by the lower 2 bytes of the lower 3 bytes.

  Accordingly, if the MAC address of the company apparatus A1 is “00: A0: CA: 00: 00: 10: 00”, it is possible to identify that the same apparatus type as the company apparatus A1 is the company apparatuses A2 to A4. . Therefore, by designating a predetermined vendor's own device A1 and its device type from the supervisory control device 1 of the host device, as described above, the own device A1 uses its own device A2 to A5 and its device by the ARP command. Since the type can be identified, the company device A1 can transfer the upgrade data to the company devices A2 to A4 excluding the company device A5 as indicated by the dotted arrows. The data transfer order in this case can be implemented as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 or FIG.

It is explanatory drawing of Example 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart of an in-house device determination process. It is explanatory drawing of a data transfer process. It is explanatory drawing of a data transfer order. It is explanatory drawing of a data transfer order. It is explanatory drawing of Example 2 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

1 Monitoring and Control Device 2 Database 3 Router 4 Network 5 Subordinate Device

Claims (2)

A device identification processing method for transferring a version upgrade data from a higher-level device to a lower-level device of a predetermined vendor, having a plurality of lower-level devices compatible with a plurality of vendors connected to the higher-level device via a network In
The lower-level device designated by the higher-level device and having the data transferred collects MAC addresses from all the lower-level devices connected to the network by the ARP command to identify the lower-level device made by the same vendor, and the same vendor A device identification processing method comprising the step of sequentially transferring the data to a subordinate device manufactured by the manufacturer. A device identification processing method for transferring a version upgrade data from a higher-level device to a lower-level device of a predetermined vendor, having a plurality of lower-level devices compatible with a plurality of vendors connected to the higher-level device via a network In
The lower-level device to which data has been transferred with the device type specified by the upper-level device collects the MAC addresses of all the lower-level devices connected to the network by the ARP command, and identifies the vendor by the higher-order byte of the MAC address. The device type of a plurality of lower-level devices of the same vendor is identified by the lower-order byte of the MAC address, and the data is made to the lower-level device of the same vendor as the lower-level device to which the data is transferred and the specified device type. A device identification processing method comprising a transfer process.

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