JP2008067414A - Method for setting address in intercommunication system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a construction work and enable an efficient setting of an IP address while suppressing the congestion of a network. <P>SOLUTION: When a system is started up, controllers of all house information boards A1 and A2 each read a set value (room number) from a dip switch of an operating unit, and store the set value as numeric value information into a storage unit, and further, set the product of the numerical value information and a constant value (e.g., 10 [ms]) as a standby time. After the standby time has passed since the startup of a terminal, the terminal transmits an allocation request to an address allocation device G. Therefore, even when all terminals are simultaneously started up, the timing of transmission of the allocation request from each terminal can be delayed by the standby time. Therefore, a large number of terminals do not simultaneously transmit their allocation requests to the address allocation device G, so that the congestion of the network is suppressed, and hence the IP address can be efficiently set. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an address setting method for setting an IP address for each terminal in a local communication system in which video and audio multimedia data is transmitted between the terminals through an IP network composed of a plurality of terminals installed on the premises. It is about.

  In recent years, in apartment houses such as condominiums, it is composed of lobby intercoms and surveillance cameras installed at common entrances, housing information panels installed at each dwelling unit, etc. A private communication system (housing information board system) is provided for transmitting multimedia data such as call voice between the two. As a protocol for such multimedia communication, so-called VoIP (Voiceover IP), ITU-T recommendation H.264 is used. SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) standardized by H.323 or IETF is used.

  Here, H. A conventional private communication system using H.323 will be briefly described. This on-site communication system includes at least a plurality of terminals and gatekeeper devices each having a unique IP address. The gatekeeper device uses a certain area on the IP network (for example, a local area LAN) as a management area, and identifies each terminal in addition to the IP address and IP address of each terminal for all terminals existing in the management area. An address conversion function for storing an identification code for performing the conversion and converting the identification code into an IP address, an admission / rejection control function for determining whether a call establishment request from any terminal to another terminal is possible, and each terminal for communication A band control function for adjusting a band to be used is provided. Here, as the identification code, unique information assigned to each terminal (for example, the room number of the dwelling unit where the house information panel is installed) is used, and includes an IP address and an identification code corresponding to each terminal. Address translation information is registered in a database included in the gatekeeper device. Note that the gatekeeper device realizes the above functions by mounting a dedicated program on a general-purpose computer, and the detailed configuration is well known in the art, and illustration and description thereof are omitted.

  When communicating between terminals, the calling terminal prepares connection with the gatekeeper device in order to acquire the IP address of the other terminal and to confirm whether sufficient bandwidth can be secured. Exchange messages. The gatekeeper device converts the identification code of the partner terminal designated by the calling terminal by the address conversion function into the IP address of the partner terminal with reference to the database, and communicates between both terminals by the bandwidth control function. It is confirmed whether or not a sufficient bandwidth can be secured. If a sufficient bandwidth can be secured, the fact and the IP address of the partner terminal are notified to the calling terminal.

  The calling terminal transmits a call establishment request message to the IP address of the partner terminal acquired from the gatekeeper device. The admission permission control function of the gatekeeper device determines whether or not the call establishment request message is accepted, and when the call establishment is permitted, the call control message is exchanged between the calling terminal and the partner terminal to establish the call. The

  When a call is established, a negotiation TCP / IP connection is created between the two terminals. Negotiation messages are exchanged using this connection, and are necessary for communications such as audio and video encoding and transfer systems. Decide what is important. When the negotiation is completed, transmission of audio and video multimedia data (packet transmission) is started between both terminals.

  In such a private communication system, the IP address of each terminal is set by dip switches DS1 to DS4 provided in the individual terminals as shown in FIG. 8, or the terminals (for example, homes) as shown in FIG. At the time of starting up or resetting the information panel A), it is assigned in response to a request from each terminal by an address assigning device G composed of a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server.

  However, in the former address setting method, it is necessary to set the IP address by operating the DIP switch of each terminal. Therefore, in the latter address setting method, a large number of terminals simultaneously assign addresses to the address assignment device. When a request is transmitted, there is a possibility that the network becomes congested and communication becomes impossible.

On the other hand, conventionally, a method has been proposed in which terminal-specific information such as an identification code is transmitted to the address allocation device, and the address allocation device sets the IP address of each terminal using this specific information ( Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-156846 (page 3-4, FIG. 1)

  However, although the method described in Patent Document 1 can simplify the construction work as compared with the method of setting the IP address to each terminal by operating the DIP switch, However, there is no improvement in that the address allocation requests of many terminals are concentrated and the network becomes congested.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an address setting method in a local communication system that can simplify construction work and can efficiently set an IP address while suppressing network congestion. It is in.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an IP communication system for each terminal in a local communication system in which video and audio multimedia data is packet-transmitted between the terminals through an IP network composed of a plurality of terminals installed on the campus. An address setting method for setting an address, comprising a local communication system having an address assignment device for assigning an IP address in response to an assignment request from a terminal connected to the IP network, and is uniquely set for each terminal A waiting time for each terminal is set from numerical information, and an allocation request is transmitted to the address allocation device after the waiting time has elapsed since the terminal was started.

  According to the present invention, it is only necessary to set unique numerical information for each terminal, and the construction work can be simplified as compared with the conventional example in which both numerical information and an IP address are set. Even when it is activated, the timing for transmitting the allocation request from each terminal can be shifted, so that the IP address can be set efficiently while suppressing network congestion.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a home information board system will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to a home information board system, and a local communication system that packet-transmits multimedia data using an IP network. The technical idea of the present invention is generally applicable.

(Reference example)
Before describing embodiments of the present invention, reference examples related to the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the on-site communication system (housing information board system) of this reference example includes a housing information board A installed in each dwelling unit of the apartment house, and a lobby interphone B installed at the common entrance of the apartment house, Similarly, a surveillance camera C that is installed at the common entrance and images a visitor, and a gatekeeper D are provided as terminals, and these terminals are cascaded via a concentrator (hub E or switching hub F) via a transmission line composed of a twisted pair cable. It is configured as a connected star LAN (for example, 10Base-T or 100Base-TX). However, it is also possible to use a bus type LAN such as HomePNA.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the housing information panel A has a CPU as a main component, a control unit 1 that performs packet / unpacketization of multimedia data and overall control, and its own room number that is unique numerical information. In addition to the IP address, the storage unit 2 that stores the IP address of the gatekeeper device D, various video data (described later), and the like for the user to input the room number of the call destination and other information Operation unit 3, network interface unit 4 for connecting to a network (LAN) and performing packet transmission, video input unit 5 having a TV camera or the like for inputting a video of a speaker, a liquid crystal display, etc. A video output unit 6 that has various display devices and displays various videos and characters, and an analog video signal input from the video input unit 5 is converted into a digital video signal. The digital video signal is converted into an analog video signal and output to the video output unit 6, the audio input unit 8 for capturing the analog audio signal through the microphone, and the analog audio signal is output through the speaker. An audio output unit 9 that converts an analog audio signal input from the audio input unit 8 into a digital audio signal, converts the digital audio signal into an analog audio signal, and outputs the analog audio signal to the audio output unit 9 10. The lobby intercom B has substantially the same configuration as the housing information board A, and the surveillance camera C is almost the same as the housing information board A except for the voice input unit 8, the voice output unit 9, and the voice processing unit 10. It has a configuration.

  On the other hand, the gatekeeper device D is realized by mounting a dedicated program on a general-purpose computer. As shown in FIG. 4, the gatekeeper device D is composed of a CPU and includes a control unit 11 having an address conversion function, an admission / rejection control function, and a bandwidth control function. A storage unit 12 that stores its own IP address and various video data (described later) and has a database that associates numerical information (room numbers) of all terminals with IP addresses, and an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse An operation unit 13, a network interface unit 14 for connecting to a network (LAN) and performing packet transmission, a video output unit 15 having a display device such as a liquid crystal display and displaying various videos and characters, A digital video signal given from the control unit 11 is converted into an analog video signal and video And a video processing unit 16 for outputting the force unit 15.

  Here, the procedure for performing communication between terminals such as the housing information panel A and the lobby intercom B has been described in the prior art, and is omitted, and the address setting method that is the gist of the present invention, that is, setting an IP address for each terminal A setting method is described.

  Taking the housing information panel A as an example, DIP switches DS1 and DS2 for setting room numbers, which are numerical information unique to each housing information panel A, are provided in the operation unit 3 as an identification code (FIG. 5 (a )reference). These dip switches DS1 and DS2 are manually set at the time of construction. For example, in the housing information panel A installed in the 101st room, as shown in FIG. The switch DS1 is set to “00000001”, and the dip switch DS2 for the lower 8 bits is similarly set to “00000001”.

  The control unit 1 of the housing information board A reads the set value from the DIP switches DS1 and DS2 of the operation unit 3 at the time of start-up or reset, and stores it in the storage unit 2 as an identification code (numerical information). Is converted to its own IP address. Specifically, a private address is used for the IP address used in the local network, and the upper 16 bits are generally fixed to the value “192.168 ..” for the private address. A 32-bit IP address can be set by applying unique numerical information to the lower 16 bits (see FIG. 5C). For example, the IP address of the housing information board A installed in the 101st room is “192.168.1.1”.

  In this way, by converting the unique numerical information uniquely set for each terminal into a unique IP address at each terminal and setting it, only the unique numerical information needs to be set for each terminal. The construction work can be simplified compared to the case where both numerical information and IP address are set as in the conventional example described in FIG. In addition, in this reference example, since the address assignment device G is not necessary, the IP address can be set efficiently while suppressing network congestion.

  By the way, when the IP address is set as described above, the terminal transmits its own IP address and numerical information to the gatekeeper device D, and the control unit 11 of the gatekeeper device D stores all the terminals in the database of the storage unit 12. The IP address and numerical information are registered in association with each other. However, the same numerical information may be erroneously set in a plurality of terminals due to a setting mistake at the time of construction. In this reference example, when registering an IP address or the like from the terminal to the gatekeeper D, In addition, it is determined by the gatekeeper device D whether or not at least one of the IP address and the numerical information is duplicated between a plurality of terminals, and the determination result is notified.

  With reference to FIG. 6, the determination and notification procedures will be specifically described. For example, if the same room number (101) is set incorrectly in the two housing information panels A1 and A2, the IP address is also set to the same value “192.168.1.1”. become. First, when the house information board A1 transmits its own numerical information “101” and IP address “192.168.1.1” to the gatekeeper device D, the numerical information and IP address received by the control unit 11 of the gatekeeper device D are obtained. It is determined whether or not the numerical information and the IP address already registered in the database of the storage unit 12 overlap. Then, if there is nothing in the database that overlaps the numerical information and IP address of the housing information board A1, the control unit 11 registers the numerical information and IP address in the database and returns the determination result to the housing information board A1.

  Next, when the house information board A2 transmits its own numerical information “101” and IP address “192.168.1.1” to the gatekeeper device D, the numerical information and IP address received by the control unit 11 of the gatekeeper device D. In this case, since “101” and “192.168.1.1” are already registered as the numerical information and IP address of the housing information board A1, the determination result of duplication is obtained. Will be. When the determination result with duplication is obtained in this way, the control unit 11 of the gatekeeper device D, for example, numerical information (room number) and IP that overlap with the warning message “There is an address duplication terminal.” The address is displayed on the video output unit 15 by the video processing unit 16 based on the character information read from the storage unit 12 and the discrimination result is transmitted to the overlapping IP address. Then, the two housing information panels A1 and A2 to which the same IP address is set both receive the discrimination result from the gatekeeper device D, and the discrimination result received by the control unit 1 of both the housing information panels A1 and A2. For example, the character information stored in the storage unit 2 is read out from the numerical information (room number) and IP address that overlap with the warning message “address is duplicated” and the video output unit 7 outputs the video information. 6 to display.

  In this way, when each terminal registers its own IP address and numerical information in the gatekeeper device D, the gatekeeper device D determines whether at least one of the IP address or numerical information is duplicated among a plurality of terminals. By discriminating and notifying the discrimination result, it is possible to detect and correct early occurrence of duplication of IP addresses and numerical information among a plurality of terminals. Further, the determination result is notified from the gatekeeper device D to a plurality of terminals determined to have at least one of IP address or numerical information overlapping, and the determination is made by the plurality of terminals receiving the determination result. Since the result is notified, duplication of the IP address and numerical information can be reported to the worker or the like through the terminal.

(Embodiment)
In this embodiment, when the IP address of each terminal is set by the address allocation device G composed of a DHCP server, the waiting time for each terminal is set from unique numerical information that is uniquely set for each terminal. It is characterized in that an allocation request is transmitted to the address allocation device G after the waiting time has elapsed since startup. However, since the configuration other than the address assignment device G is the same as that of the reference example, illustration and description thereof are omitted.

  The address allocation device G is realized by installing a dedicated software for the DHCP server in a general-purpose computer. As shown in FIG. 7, the address allocation device G is composed of a CPU and performs a control unit 21 for address allocation processing and overall control. A storage unit 22 for storing an IP address and an IP address assigned to each terminal; an operation unit 23 having an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse; a network interface unit 24 for connecting to a network (LAN) and performing packet transmission; It has.

  Next, an address setting method in this embodiment will be described. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, two house information panels A1 and A2 whose room numbers are set to “101” and “201” will be described as an example. First, when the system is activated, the control units 1 of all the housing information panels A1 and A2 read setting values (room numbers) from the dip switches DS1 and DS2 of the operation unit 3 and store them in the storage unit 2 as numerical information. The product of this numerical information and a constant value (for example, 10 [ms]) is set as the waiting time. For example, 101 × 10 = 1010 [ms] and 201 × 10 = 2010 [ms] are set as the waiting time in the two housing information panels A1 and A2, respectively.

  Therefore, the control unit 1 of one housing information panel A1 transmits an IP address allocation request to the address allocation device G after its own waiting time (1010 [ms]) has elapsed from the time of activation. Then, the control unit 21 of the address allocation device G that has received the allocation request selects an appropriate IP address that has not yet been allocated from among the IP addresses stored in the storage unit 22 and returns it to the housing information board A1. Then, the control unit 1 of the house information board A1 stores the IP address returned from the address assignment device G in the storage unit 2 as its own IP address, and the setting of the IP address is completed. Similarly, the control unit 1 of the other house information panel A2 also sends an IP address assignment request to the address assignment device G after its own waiting time (2010 [ms]) has elapsed from the time of activation. The returned IP address is stored in the storage unit 2 as its own IP address, and the setting of the IP address is completed.

  In this way, the waiting time for each terminal is set from the unique numerical information that is uniquely set for each terminal, and after the waiting time has elapsed since the terminal started, the terminal sends an allocation request to the address allocation device G Therefore, even when all the terminals are activated at the same time, the timing for transmitting the allocation request from each terminal can be shifted by the waiting time. Therefore, an allocation request is not simultaneously transmitted from a large number of terminals to the address allocation device G, and an IP address can be set efficiently while suppressing network congestion.

It is explanatory drawing explaining the address setting method of embodiment. It is a system block diagram which shows an example of the local area communication system of a reference example. It is a block diagram which shows each terminal of the housing information board in the same as the above, a lobby intercom, and a surveillance camera. It is a block diagram which shows the gatekeeper apparatus same as the above. It is explanatory drawing explaining the address setting method of a reference example. It is explanatory drawing explaining the discrimination method of the address duplication in the same as the above. It is a block diagram which shows the address allocation apparatus in embodiment. It is explanatory drawing explaining the conventional address setting method. It is explanatory drawing explaining the other conventional address setting method.

Explanation of symbols

A, A1, A2 Housing information board G Address allocation device

Claims (1)

  An address setting method for setting an IP address for each terminal in a local communication system that transmits video and audio multimedia data between the terminals through an IP network composed of a plurality of terminals installed on the premises, An in-house communication system is provided with an address assignment device that assigns an IP address in response to an assignment request from a terminal connected to the IP network, and a waiting time for each terminal is set from unique numerical information that is uniquely set for each terminal. An address setting method in a local communication system, wherein an allocation request is transmitted to an address allocation device after the waiting time has elapsed since the terminal was started.

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