JP2017107445A - Information processing device, connected device identification method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a connected communication device and a process that corresponds to it to be uniquely connected, irrespective of the identification name of a communication device recognized by an information processing device.SOLUTION: An allocation table 50 is provided that associates communication devices DT1-DTm with processes 11-1m. When a connection notification of the communication device DT1-DTm is received, the IP address and MAC address thereof are acquired from gateway GW1-GWm, a corresponding process is specified from the allocation table 50 using the vendor ID and product ID of the communication device DT1-DTm notified of connection and the obtained IP address and MAC address of the gateway GW1-GWm as keys, and a virtual device file is created. The process 11-1m identifies the connected communication device DT1-DTm by the virtual device file.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus used as the server in a system for communicating by connecting a communication device to an information processing apparatus such as a server via a network, a connection device identification method executed by the information processing apparatus, and Regarding the program.

  In recent years, with the progress of virtualization technology, I / O virtualization technology for virtualizing peripheral devices connected to devices has become widespread. As an example of the I / O virtualization technology, there is a USB / IP system that is a technology (OSS) for virtually connecting a USB device connected to a device to another device on a network using TCP / IP ( For example, see Non-Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 2.)

  As a method for identifying the USB device connected to the device, there is a udev function (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 3).

“USB / IP PROJECT”, sourceforge.net, [Online], Internet <URL: http://usbip.sourceforge.net/> “Kernel / git / next / linux-next.git”, Linux Next Group, [Online], Internet <URL: http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/next/linux-next. git / tree / drivers / usb / usbip / usbip_protocol.txt> “Writing udev rules”, [Online], Internet <URL: http://www.reactivated.net/writing_udev_rules.html>

  Assume that a USB device is connected to a server process using the techniques described in Non-Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 2. In this case, the server uses a technique described in Non-Patent Document 3 to generate a device file for communicating with the requesting USB device with reference to a predetermined naming rule. However, the file name of the USB device changes depending on the identification order of the USB device. For this reason, the server cannot determine which USB device is mapped to the device file, and as a result, the device file cannot be associated with the process.

  This invention has been made paying attention to the above circumstances, and regardless of the identification name of the communication device recognized by the information processing apparatus, it is possible to uniquely connect the connected communication device and the corresponding process, Thus, an information processing apparatus, a connected device identification method, and a program that can process data transmitted from a communication device by a corresponding process is provided.

  In order to solve the above problems, a first aspect of the present invention is an information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a plurality of communication devices via a network, a connected device identification method, and a program thereof, A storage unit that stores allocation information for associating a communication device with a plurality of processes provided in association with each other to process data transmitted from the communication device, and the communication device is connected Acquiring information for identifying the communication device, identifying a corresponding process from allocation information stored in the storage unit based on the acquired information, and identifying the connected communication device. Create a virtual device file to connect to the process. Then, based on the created virtual device file, a communication link is established between the process and the connected corresponding communication device.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the allocation information includes a vendor identification information and product identification information set in the communication device with respect to identification information of a process corresponding to the communication device, and a device held by the communication device. Associate authentication information. Then, when creating the virtual device file, the vendor identification information and product identification information of the connected communication device and the device authentication information of the connected communication device are acquired, respectively, Based on the allocation information stored in the storage unit, a process corresponding to the communication device is specified, and a virtual device file for connecting the connected communication device and the specified process is created. It is a thing.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the plurality of communication devices are connected to the network via a network connection device, the allocation information is assigned to the process identification information corresponding to the communication device. The vendor identification information and product identification information set in the device are associated with the address information of the network connection apparatus to which the communication device is connected. Then, when creating the virtual device file, the vendor identification information and product identification information of the connected communication device and the address information of the network connection device to which the communication device is connected are acquired, and the acquired Based on each information, a process corresponding to the communication device is identified from the allocation information stored in the storage unit, and a virtual device file for connecting the connected communication device and the identified process is obtained. It is something to be created.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when the plurality of communication devices are connected to the network via a network connection device, the allocation information is set to the communication identification information of a process corresponding to the communication device. It is assumed that the vendor identification information and product identification information set in the device are associated with authentication information of the network connection apparatus to which the communication device is connected. When creating the virtual device file, the vendor identification information and product identification information of the connected communication device and the authentication information of the network connection device to which the communication device is connected are acquired, and the acquired A virtual device for identifying a process corresponding to the communication device from allocation information stored in the storage unit based on each information, and connecting the corresponding communication device connected and the identified process A file is created.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a communication device is connected, the information for identifying the connected communication device is acquired and the allocation information is referred to, thereby allowing the connected communication device to A corresponding process is specified, and a virtual device file for connecting the connected communication device and the specified process is created. Based on the virtual device file, a communication link is established between the connected communication device and the corresponding process. For this reason, even if the device file name created when a communication device is connected changes depending on the identification order of the communication device, etc., communication is possible by reliably connecting the connected communication device and the corresponding process. Can be.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, based on the vendor identification information and product identification information of the connected communication device and the device authentication information of the communication device, the corresponding process is identified from the allocation information, and the virtual A device file is created. For this reason, even when a plurality of communication devices are connected to a network connection device such as a gateway, for example, it is possible to reliably connect the plurality of communication devices and corresponding processes.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the allocation information is handled based on the vendor identification information and product identification information of the connected communication device and the address information of the network connection apparatus to which the communication device is connected. A process is identified and a virtual device file is created.

  Further, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, from the allocation information based on the vendor identification information and product identification information of the connected communication device and the authentication information of the network connection apparatus to which the communication device is connected. A corresponding process is identified and a virtual device file is created.

  Therefore, according to the third and fourth aspects, when communication devices are connected one-to-one with a network connection device such as a gateway, the address information or authentication information is sent from the network connection device instead of the communication device. It becomes possible to create a virtual device file by acquiring.

  That is, according to each aspect of the present invention, it is possible to uniquely connect a connected communication device and a corresponding process regardless of the identification name of the communication device recognized by the information processing apparatus. It is possible to provide an information processing apparatus, a connected device identification method, and a program that can process data transmitted from the device by a corresponding process.

The figure which shows the whole structure of the communication system containing the information processing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows the function structure of the information processing apparatus in the communication system shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the allocation information memorize | stored in the allocation table provided in the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. The figure used for operation | movement description of the information processing apparatus shown in FIG. The sequence diagram which shows the flow of the information in the communication system shown in FIG.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[One Embodiment]
(Constitution)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a communication system including an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The communication system according to an embodiment, for example, connects a plurality of communication devices DT1 to DTm, each of which is connected or built in sensors distributed in a service area, to gateways GW1 to GWm that function as network connection devices on a one-to-one basis. Then, these gateways GW1 to GWm are further connected to a server SV functioning as an information processing apparatus via an IP (Internet Protocol) network (not shown), thereby transmitting sensor data from each communication device DT1 to DTm to the server SV. It is what I did.

  Each of the communication devices DT1 to DTm includes, for example, a sensor device including an antenna and an IC chip, a mobile phone or a smartphone including the sensor device, and a wearable terminal, and includes a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface as a communication interface.

  The gateways GW1 to GWm have a USB / IP (Universal Serial Bus / Internet Protocol) interface as a communication interface. This USB / IP interface extends the IO ports of the communication devices DT1 to DTm, which are USB devices, on the IP network.

The server SV is composed of a cloud computer, for example, and is configured as follows. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration.
That is, the server SV includes a plurality of processes 11 to 1m. These processes 11 to 1k are associated with the communication devices DT1 to DTm on a one-to-one basis, receive sensor data transmitted from the corresponding communication devices DT1 to DTm, and perform predetermined processing.

  The server SV includes a device link control unit 20, a device driver 30, an I / O port 40, and an allocation table 50. The I / O port 40 uses a USB / IP interface and transmits / receives control data and sensor data to / from the communication devices DT1 to DTm or the gateways GW1 to GWm via the IP network. The device driver 30 creates a device file according to existing rules when the communication devices DT1 to DTm are connected to the I / O port 40.

  The processes 11 to 1m, the device link control unit 20, and the device driver 30 provided in the server SV are realized by causing the processor of the server SV to execute a program stored in a program memory (not shown).

  The allocation table 50 stores allocation information for associating the communication devices DT1 to DTm with the processes 11 to 1m provided in association with the communication devices DT1 to DTm.

FIG. 3 shows an example of this allocation information. As shown in the figure, the allocation information includes, for the process name, the path of the device file read by the process, the USB vendor ID and USB product ID of the communication devices DT1 to DTm corresponding to the process, and the communication devices DT1 to DTm. Are associated with the IP addresses and MAC addresses of the gateways GW1 to GWm.
For example, the allocation information is separately created by a service provider at an administrator terminal, and stored in the allocation table 50 of the server SV from the administrator terminal.

The device link control unit 20 includes a virtual device file creation unit 21 as a control function necessary for realizing the present embodiment. The virtual device file creation unit 21 has the following processing functions.
(1) When receiving a connection notification from the device driver 30, processing to acquire the IP address and MAC address as device additional information from the gateways GW1 to GWm to which the communication devices DT1 to DTm are connected.
(2) The allocation table 50 is accessed using the vendor ID and product ID of the communication devices DT1 to DTm and the IP address and MAC address of the gateways GW1 to GWm acquired as the device additional information as keys. Identify the corresponding process from Then, a process of creating a virtual device file for connecting the communication devices DT1 to DTm and the identified corresponding process.

(Operation)
Next, the operation of the server SV configured as described above will be described.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the processing contents of the server SV, and FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing the data flow of the entire communication system.

(1) Registration of allocation information Prior to the operation of the system, the service provider processes all communication devices DT1 to DTm used in the system and processes 11 to 11 for processing sensor data transmitted from the communication devices DT1 to DTm. Allocation information for associating with 1m is created. Then, the created allocation information is transmitted from the administrator terminal to the server SV via the network and stored in the allocation table 50.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the allocation information includes a device file path read by the process, a USB vendor ID and a USB product ID of the communication devices DT1 to DTm corresponding to the process, and the communication device. Assume that the IP addresses and MAC addresses of gateways GW1 to GWm to which DT1 to DTm are connected are associated.

(2) Identification of connected device during system operation In the standby state, the processes 11 to 1m periodically monitor the presence / absence of a device file to be connected in step S11.
In this state, it is assumed that the communication devices DT1 to DTm are connected to the gateways GW1 to GWm on a one-to-one basis in step S12. The connection at this time is made by inserting the USB terminals of the communication devices DT1 to DTm into the USB terminals of the gateways GW1 to GWm. Then, in the server SV, the connection of the communication devices DT1 to DTm is recognized by the IO port 40 through the gateways GW1 to GWm in step S13, and when the connection is recognized, the connection from the IO port 40 to the device driver 30 is performed in step S14. A notification is sent.

  Upon receiving the connection notification, in step S15, the device driver 30 generates device files in the order of identification of the communication devices DT1 to DTm based on the naming rules for the existing device descriptor information. The existing technology for creating the device file is described in detail in Non-Patent Document 3 as udev rules. When the creation of the device file is completed, a connection notification is sent from the device driver 30 to the device link control unit 20 in step S16.

  Upon receiving the connection notification, the device link control unit 20 first transmits an address acquisition request to each of the gateways GW1 to GWm in step S17 under the control of the virtual device file creation unit 21, and in step S18, the gateway GW1 to GW1. Get the IP address and MAC address of the gateway from GWm.

  Next, in step S19, the allocation table 50 is accessed using the USB vendor ID and USB product ID of the communication devices DT1 to DTm notified of the connection and the acquired IP address and MAC address of the gateway as keys. From the table 50, the process name associated with the connected communication devices DT1 to DTm and the path of the device file read by the process are read. In step S20, a virtual device file is created. For example, a symbolic link to an actual device file is created with a file name managed by the processes 11 to 1m.

  In this state, when a device file monitoring request is output from the processes 11 to 1m in step S21, the device link control unit 20 transmits the information described in the virtual device file from the requesting process 11 to 1m in step S22. Return to. The processes 11 to 1m identify a communication device to be communicated with based on the information of the returned virtual device file.

  Thereafter, communication links are established between the communication devices DT1 to DTm and the processes 11 to 1m corresponding thereto. The sensor data transmitted from the communication devices DT1 to DTm is transferred from the gateways GW1 to GWm to the server SV via the IP network in step S23, and received and processed by the corresponding processes 11 to 1m in the server SV. .

(effect)
As described above in detail, in one embodiment, an allocation table 50 that stores allocation information for associating the communication devices DT1 to DTm with the processes 11 to 1m provided in association with the communication devices DT1 to DTm is provided. ing. And when the connection notification of the communication devices DT1 to DTm is received, the IP address and the MAC address are acquired from the gateways GW1 to GWm to which the communication devices DT1 to DTm are connected, and the communication device notified of the connection The corresponding process is specified from the allocation table 50 using the vendor ID and product ID of DT1 to DTm and the IP address and MAC address of the acquired gateways GW1 to GWm as keys, and the communication devices DT1 to DTm and the specified process A virtual device file is created to connect the. The processes 11 to 1m identify the connection destination communication devices DT1 to DTm from the virtual device file, and then use the communication link established between the communication devices DT1 to DTm to transmit the sensor data from the communication devices DT1 to DTm. Is received and processed.

  Therefore, even when the device file name created when the communication device is connected changes depending on the identification order of the communication device, the connected communication device and the corresponding process are surely based on the virtual device file. Connect and enable communication.

[Other Embodiments]
In the embodiment, as the allocation information, for each process, the USB vendor ID and USB product ID of the communication devices DT1 to DTm corresponding to the process and the IP of the gateways GW1 to GWm to which the communication devices DT1 to DTm are connected. The case where an address and a MAC address are combined has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the allocation information can be configured by the following combinations.
(1) A combination of the USB vendor ID and USB product ID of the communication devices DT1 to DTm and the authentication information of the gateways GW1 to GWm to which the communication devices DT1 to DTm are connected.
(2) A combination of the USB vendor ID and USB product ID of the communication devices DT1 to DTm and device authentication information obtained by accessing the authentication function of the communication devices DT1 to DTm.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the allocation table 50 is provided in the server SV and the allocation information is stored in advance in the allocation table 50 has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and an allocation table storing allocation information may be provided in another server or terminal, and the allocation information may be read from the other server or terminal via the network when necessary.

  In the embodiment, the case where a USB device is used as a communication device has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a device adopting a standard other than USB may be used as the communication device.

  In addition, the type and location of the information processing apparatus, its configuration, the control procedure and control content, the type and configuration of the network connection apparatus, the type of data transmitted by the communication device, and the like can be variously within the scope of the present invention. It can be implemented with modifications.

  In short, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

  SV ... server, DT1 to DTm ... communication device, GW1 to GWm ... gateway, NW ... network, 11-1m ... process, 20 ... device link control unit, 21 ... virtual device file creation unit, 30 ... device driver, 40 ... I / O port, 50 ... allocation table.

Claims (6)

An information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a plurality of communication devices via a network,
A plurality of processes provided in association with the plurality of communication devices in order to process the data transmitted from the plurality of communication devices, respectively;
A storage unit for storing allocation information for associating the plurality of communication devices and the plurality of processes corresponding thereto;
When the plurality of communication devices are connected, information for identifying the communication device is acquired, and the communication device is supported from the allocation information stored in the storage unit based on the acquired information Means for identifying a process to be created and creating a virtual device file for connecting the connected communication device and the identified process;
An information processing apparatus comprising: means for establishing a communication link between the process and the connected corresponding communication device based on the created virtual device file. The allocation information associates vendor identification information and product identification information set in the communication device with device identification information held by the communication device with respect to identification information of a process corresponding to the communication device,
The means for creating the virtual device file respectively acquires vendor identification information and product identification information of the connected communication device, and device authentication information of the connected communication device, and based on the acquired information. In addition, a process corresponding to the communication device is specified from the allocation information stored in the storage unit, and a virtual device file for connecting the connected communication device and the specified process is created. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. When the plurality of communication devices are connected to the network via a network connection device,
Associating vendor identification information and product identification information set in the communication device with address information of the network connection apparatus to which the communication device is connected, to the identification information of the process corresponding to the communication device;
The means for creating the virtual device file respectively acquires the vendor identification information and product identification information of the connected communication device, and the address information of the network connection device to which the communication device is connected, and the acquired information Based on the information, a process corresponding to the communication device is identified from the allocation information stored in the storage unit, and a virtual device file for connecting the connected communication device and the identified process is created. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. When the plurality of communication devices are connected to the network via a network connection device,
Associating the vendor identification information and product identification information set in the communication device with the identification information of the process corresponding to the communication device and the authentication information of the network connection apparatus to which the communication device is connected;
The means for creating the virtual device file respectively acquires vendor identification information and product identification information of the connected communication device, and authentication information of the network connection apparatus to which the communication device is connected, and the acquired information Based on the information, a process corresponding to the communication device is identified from the allocation information stored in the storage unit, and a virtual device file for connecting the connected communication device and the identified process is created. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. A connection device identification method executed by an information processing apparatus that processes data transmitted from a plurality of communication devices via a network by a plurality of processes provided in association with the respective communication devices,
Storing allocation information for associating the plurality of communication devices and the plurality of processes corresponding to the plurality of communication devices in a storage unit;
When the plurality of communication devices are connected, information for identifying the communication device is acquired, and the communication device is supported from the allocation information stored in the storage unit based on the acquired information Identifying a process to create, and creating a virtual device file for connecting the connected communication device and the specified process;
A connection device identification method comprising: establishing a communication link between the connected communication device and a process corresponding to the connected communication device based on the created virtual device file.   The program which makes the processor with which the said information processing apparatus performs the process by each means with which the information processing apparatus in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4 is provided.