JP2006339795A - WIRELESS LAN AUTHENTICATION SYSTEM COMPATIBLE WITH Wake On LAN - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wireless LAN authentication system capable of starting a POS terminal for the Wake On LAN processing in a wireless LAN-POS system employing the IEEE802.1X. <P>SOLUTION: On the occurrence of a shut-down request, a POS application issues an authentication processing request to a wireless LAN utility on a POS. The wireless LAN utility receiving the request executes authentication processing from a POS terminal and confirms communication after the authentication, and issues an authentication end notice to the POS application. Upon the receipt of the authentication end notice, the POS application allows the OS to start shut-down processing. Generation of the authentication from the POS terminal can reset an authentication validity count-down timer on a wireless LAN access point. The Wake On LAN processing can surely start the POS terminal by setting a time a little longer than the shut-down time of the POS terminal to the authentication validity. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless LAN authentication system using IEEE802.1X, and more particularly to a wireless LAN-POS system using Wake On LAN.

  In recent years, with the spread of wireless LAN, there is a wireless LAN-POS system that uses a POS terminal connected to a wireless LAN system in a store.

In addition, there is an encryption authentication method capable of authenticating by connecting a large number of subscriber stations to an access point in a wireless LAN system compliant with IEEE 802.11 (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-304824 A

  However, in a POS terminal used by connecting to a wireless LAN system using IEEE 802.1X authentication, a POS terminal that cannot be activated by the Wake On LAN technology occurs. This is because the IEEE 802.1X authentication expiration countdown timer is on the wireless LAN access point.

  In a wireless LAN system using IEEE802.1X, authentication occurs even when a POS terminal roams. For this reason, the remaining time of the authentication time limit timer on the wireless LAN access point is a random value for each POS terminal, and re-authentication occurs at random.

  FIG. 1 shows an authentication sequence of a wireless LAN-POS system using IEEE802.1X. The initial authentication and the authentication at the time of roaming are started from the POS terminal by the authentication start request S101, but the re-authentication is performed from the access point by the re-authentication request S102.

  The POS system shuts down the POS terminals all at once after the store closes. At the time of this shutdown, the remaining time of the authentication expiration timer on the wireless LAN access point becomes a random value for each POS terminal as described above. Yes. For this reason, there is a POS terminal that expires after the shutdown.

  FIG. 2 shows a sequence at the time of shutdown in the wireless LAN-POS system using IEEE802.1X. When the wireless LAN access point tries to re-authenticate the POS terminal by the re-authentication request S202, the POS terminal is in a shutdown state, and therefore re-authentication cannot be performed. As a result, the wireless LAN access point disconnects the POS terminal due to the expiration of the authentication, so that the POS terminal cannot receive any packets after that and can wake on the simultaneous Wake On LAN notification before the store opens. Disappear.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless LAN authentication system capable of reliably starting a POS terminal for Wake On LAN processing before opening a store in a wireless LAN-POS system using IEEE802.1X. .

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is characterized in that when a shutdown request occurs, an authentication processing request is issued from the POS application to the wireless LAN utility on the POS. Upon receiving this, the wireless LAN utility performs authentication processing from the POS terminal side and communication confirmation after authentication. Thereafter, the wireless LAN utility issues an authentication end notification to the POS application. Upon receiving this authentication end notification, the POS application starts a shutdown process for the OS (Operating System) and performs a shutdown.

  Further, the POS application and the wireless LAN utility each have a timeout value, and when the authentication is not successful after a predetermined time has elapsed, the OS is caused to start a shutdown process as an authentication timeout.

  By generating authentication from the POS terminal side, re-authentication can be performed independently of the authentication expiration countdown timer on the wireless LAN access point, and the authentication expiration countdown timer can be reset. For this reason, if the wireless LAN access point is set as an authentication deadline for a time slightly longer than the time when the POS terminal is shut down, the POS terminal can be reliably connected with Wake On LAN processing by using the present invention. It can be activated.

  Further, there may be a case where the above-mentioned authentication is not successful due to a trouble such as a failure of the backbone network, but at this time, it is not good to repeat the authentication process indefinitely. For this reason, the authentication processing from the POS terminal side is stopped by providing an authentication timeout value. Only in this case, the POS terminal cannot perform Wake On LAN processing.

  Further, in the present invention, the authentication from the POS terminal side at the time of shutdown is started from the POS application. This is because when the authentication is started by using the shutdown process by the OS as a trigger, the authentication processing module on the POS terminal side before the authentication is successful. Since (supplicant) may end, the reason is to end the authentication process before starting the shutdown process by the OS.

  According to the present invention, the authentication period countdown timer of the wireless LAN access point can be reset before the POS terminal is shut down without departing from the IEEE802.1X standard, and re-authentication during shutdown can be avoided. Therefore, even in a wireless LAN system using IEEE802.1X, it is possible to reliably wake up the POS terminal using the Wake On LAN technology. This can improve the reliability of Wake On LAN.

  Next, the best mode of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of a wireless LAN authentication system according to the present invention. The POS terminal 10 includes a POS application 11 that is an interface with a user, a wireless LAN utility 12 having a wireless LAN control function and an authentication function (supplicant), and the wireless LAN utility is connected to a wireless LAN via a wireless LAN driver 13. The card (hardware) 14 is controlled. The POS terminal 10 realizes each function described above by a control program stored in the memory. When the POS terminal is shut down, only the wireless LAN card 14 is activated, and the other upper modules are in the shutdown state, so roaming and authentication cannot be performed.

  The wireless LAN access point 20 has an authentication table 21. The POS terminal that requested the authentication is inquired to an authentication server, which will be described later. If the authentication is successful, the authenticated POS terminal and the remaining time until the authentication deadline of the terminal are registered in the authentication table, and the wireless LAN access point of the POS terminal is registered. Allow communication via. The authentication deadline registered in the authentication table is counted down every time. When the authentication deadline expires, a re-authentication request is issued from the wireless LAN access point to the POS terminal.

  The authentication server 30 has an account database 31 of the POS terminal, and searches this database in response to a request from the wireless LAN access point 20 to perform authentication.

  FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the POS terminal application program. The POS application monitors a shutdown request by a user operation or a shutdown command, and when there is a shutdown request (Yes in step S11), issues an authentication processing request to the wireless LAN utility (step S12). The authentication end notification from the wireless LAN utility is monitored, and if there is no authentication end notification (No in step S13), the timeout from the occurrence of the shutdown request is monitored (step S14). If there is an authentication end notification (Yes in step S13), the OS is caused to start a shutdown process (step S15).

  FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the wireless LAN utility program of the terminal. The wireless LAN utility monitors the authentication processing request from the POS application, and when there is an authentication processing request (Yes in step S21), the authentication is started from the POS terminal (step S22). The authentication success is monitored, and if the authentication is successful (Yes in step S23), a ping is issued to confirm communication (step S24). The result of the communication confirmation is monitored, and if the communication is successful (Yes in step S25), the end of the authentication process is notified to the POS application (step S26). If the authentication success cannot be confirmed (No in step S23), the authentication failure is monitored. If the authentication failure cannot be confirmed (No in step S27), the timeout from the authentication processing request is monitored (step S28). When the authentication failure is confirmed (Yes in step S27), the timeout from the authentication processing request is monitored (step S29).

  Next, a series of operations will be described with reference to the sequence diagrams shown in FIGS.

  When a shutdown request occurs, the POS application issues an authentication processing request to the wireless LAN utility through steps S11 and S12. When receiving the authentication processing request from the POS application, the wireless LAN utility starts authentication from the POS terminal through steps S21 and S22.

  When a series of authentication actions are successful, the access point resets the authentication expiration countdown timer in the authentication table, and issues authentication success and two types of encryption keys to the POS terminal. When the wireless LAN utility detects a successful authentication in step S23, the wireless LAN utility performs communication confirmation in step S24. Upon receiving a communication confirmation response, the wireless LAN utility issues an authentication end notification to the POS application through steps S25 and S26.

  Upon receiving the authentication end notification, the POS application starts OS shutdown processing via steps S13 and S15.

  With the above operation, the authentication time limit countdown timer in the access point authentication table can be initialized, and a time slightly longer than the time when the POS terminal is shut down is set in the wireless LAN access point as the authentication time limit. If this is the case, the POS terminal can be started up reliably by Wake On LAN processing.

  Next, the timeout process will be described with reference to the sequence diagrams shown in FIGS. When a shutdown request occurs, the POS application issues an authentication processing request to the wireless LAN utility through steps S11 and S12.

  When receiving the authentication processing request from the POS application, the wireless LAN utility starts authentication from the POS terminal through steps S21 and S22. If authentication is successful and communication is confirmed in step S24, if communication fails, the process proceeds to step S29 via step S25. In step S29, a time-out from the authentication process request is detected. If the time-out has not occurred, the process proceeds to S22 again to perform the authentication process again. If it is time-out, the process proceeds to step S26, and an authentication end notification is issued to the POS application. If the authentication started via steps S21 and S22 fails, the process proceeds to step S29 via steps S23 and S27.

  In step S29, a time-out from the authentication processing request is detected. If the time-out has not occurred, the process proceeds to step S22 again, and the authentication processing is performed again. If it is time-out, the process proceeds to step S26, and an authentication end notification is issued to the POS application. Furthermore, when the authentication started through steps S21 and S22 does not respond indefinitely, the process proceeds to steps S28 through steps S23 and S27. Even in step S28, a timeout from the authentication processing request is detected. If the timeout has not occurred, the process proceeds to S23 again and waits for an authentication response. If it is time-out, it moves to step S26 and issues an authentication end notification to the POS application.

  When the POS application receives the authentication end notification, the OS shutdown process is started through steps S13 and S15. In this case, Wake On cannot be performed, but authentication can be timed out and the process can proceed to shutdown processing.

  Further, the time-out process on the POS application side will be described with reference to the sequence diagrams shown in FIGS. When a shutdown request occurs, the POS application issues an authentication processing request to the wireless LAN utility through steps S11 and S12. The POS application monitors the response from the wireless LAN utility in steps S13 and S14. If there is no response from the wireless LAN utility for some reason, the OS is timed out in step S14, and the OS shutdown process is performed through step S15. To start.

It is an authentication sequence diagram of a wireless LAN-POS system using the conventional IEEE802.1X. It is a sequence diagram at the time of shutdown of the conventional wireless LAN-POS system. It is a schematic block diagram of the wireless LAN authentication system of this invention. It is a flowchart of a POS terminal application. It is a flowchart of the wireless LAN utility of a terminal. It is a sequence diagram at the time of a system normal end. It is a sequence diagram at the time of timeout by the wireless LAN utility of the terminal. It is a sequence diagram at the time of timeout by the POS terminal application.

Explanation of symbols

10 POS Terminal 11 POS Application 12 Wireless LAN Utility 13 Wireless LAN Driver 14 Wireless LAN Card 20 Wireless LAN Access Point 30 Authentication Server

Claims (9)

In a wireless LAN authentication system using IEEE802.1X,
A wireless LAN terminal having a Wake On LAN function from a wireless LAN;
A wireless LAN access point having an authentication table for registering an authentication deadline;
An authentication server having an account database of the wireless LAN terminal,
The wireless LAN terminal has means for receiving a shutdown request by application software and transmitting an authentication request from the terminal side to the wireless LAN access point side,
The wireless LAN access point has means for receiving the authentication request, performing an authentication process with the authentication server, and resetting an authentication expiration countdown timer in the authentication table. .   2. The wireless LAN access point according to claim 1, wherein the wireless LAN access point is configured such that an authentication expiration countdown timer in the authentication table is set to a longer time than a shutdown of a wireless LAN terminal to a Wake On LAN event. Authentication system.   3. The wireless LAN authentication system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless LAN terminal starts a shutdown process upon receiving an authentication process end notification from the wireless LAN access point.   The wireless LAN authentication system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless LAN terminal performs a timeout process and starts a shutdown process when there is no authentication completion notification from the wireless LAN access point.   The wireless LAN authentication system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless LAN terminal is a POS terminal. A wireless LAN terminal application program for a wireless LAN authentication system using IEEE802.1X,
A wireless LAN terminal, which issues a request for authentication to a wireless LAN terminal utility program at the time of shutdown and causes a computer to have a function of instructing an OS to perform shutdown processing with an authentication end notification from the wireless LAN terminal utility program Application program.   7. The wireless LAN terminal application program according to claim 6, wherein when the authentication end notification is not received from the wireless LAN terminal utility program, a time-out process is performed and a function of instructing the OS to perform a shutdown process is realized in the computer. A wireless LAN terminal utility program for a wireless LAN authentication system using IEEE 802.1X,
Upon receiving the authentication request from the wireless LAN terminal application program, the wireless LAN terminal side performs authentication from the wireless LAN terminal side to the wireless LAN access point side, and after confirming communication, the wireless LAN terminal application program notifies the wireless LAN terminal application program of the end of authentication. A wireless LAN utility program for causing a computer to execute a function to be issued.   9. The wireless LAN utility program according to claim 8, wherein when the authentication is not successful or the communication confirmation is not successful, a time-out process is performed, and a function of issuing an authentication end notification to the wireless LAN terminal application program is realized in the computer. .

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