JP5201674B2 - Transmission priority setting device, transmission priority setting method, and transmission priority setting program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to transmission priority represented by, for example, QoS (Quality of Service), and more particularly to a transmission priority setting method.

  Setting a QoS in a communication apparatus having a network I / F having a QoS function such as a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) such as IEEE 802.11e / 11n or a PLC (Power Line Communication) It has been performed conventionally.

  Here, “setting QoS” means that specific traffic is transmitted with priority over other traffic. Alternatively, specific traffic is transmitted while satisfying specified transmission conditions. The former is called priority control type QoS (Prioritized QoS), and the latter is called parameter guaranteed type QoS (Parameterized QoS).

  The priority control type QoS has, for example, four to eight priority levels. Traffic with a high priority is transmitted with priority over traffic with a low priority. In general, a video stream, VoIP, other important control signals, and the like are designated as the traffic to be transmitted with priority.

  The transmission conditions of the parameter guaranteed QoS can include bandwidth, delay, jitter, transmission error rate, and the like.

  There are several ways to set the QoS. Any setting method can be classified according to the following viewpoints. That is, (1) who, (2) what traffic is targeted, and (3) what QoS (transmission condition) is specified.

(1) Who:
First, there is a problem of who is the subject who sets QoS. There are at least three possible answers: “end user”, “application that transmits / receives traffic”, and “communication device”. That is, the “end user” may directly set the QoS, or the “application that transmits and receives traffic” may set the QoS. As a method of setting QoS by an application, a method in which an application embeds transmission priority information in a TOS (Type Of Service) field of a packet and the like, or a method in which an application sets QoS for a communication apparatus prior to transmission. and so on. Alternatively, a communication device such as a router or a bridge may set QoS statically or dynamically.

(2) For what kind of traffic:
Next, there is a problem of how to designate the traffic that is the target of QoS setting. It is considered that there are at least three responses: “a method based on transmission priority information embedded in a packet”, “a method based on flow identification information”, and “a method based on a physical port”.

  The “method based on transmission priority information embedded in a packet” is specifically defined by VLAN User Priority defined by IEEE 802.1Q, TOS defined by IPv4, or IPv6. This is a method of setting the transmission priority with Traffic Class.

  The transmission priority information is mapped to an access category supported by a wireless LAN, PLC, or the like. The access category is a category in which transmission quality is differentiated for each type of classified transmission data. At least four types of access categories are supported in wireless LAN (IEEE802.11e / EDCA), PLC (HomePlugAV), and the like. The access categories are “background”, “best effort”, “video”, and “voice” in order from the lowest transmission priority. That is, the highest priority is given to “voice”.

  The access categories of “Background”, “Best Effort”, “Video” and “Voice” are “AC_BK”, “AC_BE”, “AC_VI”, “AC_VI” and “AC_VI”, respectively, in the wireless LAN (IEEE802.11e / EDCA). AC_VO ". Further, in PLC (HomePlugAV), they correspond to “CAP0”, “CAP1”, “CAP2”, and “CAP3”, respectively.

  FIG. 20 shows an example of priority mapping. FIG. 20 is an example in which transmission priority information (3 bits) such as VLAN User Priority is mapped to four types of access categories. For example, transmission priority information 0 is assigned to best effort, and transmission priority information 7 is assigned to voice. As described above, the wireless LAN, the PLC, and the like interpret transmission priority information according to priority mapping and perform priority control.

  The “method based on flow identification information” is a method for setting transmission priority with information for identifying traffic included in the header of a packet. FIG. 21 shows an example of flow identification information. The flow identification information includes “Ethernet (destination address | source address)”, “VLAN (user transmission priority | ID)”, “IPv4 (TOS | protocol | source address | destination address)”, “IPv6”. (Traffic class | flow label | source address | destination address) "," TCP (source port number | destination port number) "," UDP (source port number | destination port number) ", etc. is there. By specifying one or more pieces of flow identification information from among these pieces of flow identification information, traffic for which transmission priority is set is specified.

  The “method based on a physical port” is a method for setting a transmission priority for a physical port of a communication device such as a router or a bridge. FIG. 22 shows an example of setting the transmission priority for each physical port. In this method, the priority setting for each physical port of the communication apparatus is selected from “low”, “normal”, “priority”, and “highest priority”. For example, when the transmission priority of the wired port (# 1) is set to “priority”, data received at the wired port (# 1) is processed with priority over data received at the other wired ports.

(3) What QoS is specified:
Next, there is a problem of what QoS is specified. In the priority control type QoS, 4 to 8 priority levels are designated. In the parameter guaranteed QoS, the bandwidth, delay, jitter, transmission error rate, etc. are specified. FIG. 23 shows an example of specifying QoS. When priority control type QoS is selected, QoS can be set in four stages. Alternatively, a parameter guarantee type can be selected.

As a method for setting QoS by a user, the following methods exist as conventional techniques.
FIG. 24 shows an example of a method for setting QoS for a certain wireless LAN device (bridge type) (see Non-Patent Document 1). The setting screen in FIG. 24 is a screen used when changing the setting of the wireless LAN device from a PC (Personal Computer). This setting screen is displayed on the monitor of the PC by checking the IP address of the wireless LAN device and connecting to the WEB server built in the wireless LAN device from the WEB browser of the PC.

  As shown in the setting screen of FIG. 24, the user performs “no control”, “performs layer 2 level priority control”, “performs layer 3 level priority control”, and “transmission priority for each port”. Select the setting from the four "Set."

  When “perform layer 2 level priority control” or “perform layer 3 level priority control” is selected, priority mapping as shown in FIG. 20 is further designated.

  “Layer 2 level priority control” refers to VLAN User Priority defined in IEEE 802.1Q. The priority control at the layer 3 level is TOS defined by IPv4. In either case, priority control is performed on traffic flowing in the wireless LAN in accordance with transmission priority information included in the packet header. That is, the priority control at the layer 2 or layer 3 level is executed on the assumption that the transmission priority information is included in the packet header. In this case, the subject that sets QoS is “an application that transmits and receives traffic”.

  Alternatively, when “Set transmission priority for each port” is selected, a priority setting item is designated for each physical port as shown in FIG. At this time, the user selects a transmission priority set for the physical port from “highest priority”, “priority”, “normal”, and “low”. Thereby, the transmission priority of the physical port that received the traffic is applied to the traffic flowing through the wireless LAN device. As a result, it is possible to make a difference in processing inside the wireless LAN device. In this case, the subject that sets QoS is the “wireless LAN device (communication device)”.

  FIG. 25 shows an example of a QoS setting method in a certain PLC adapter (see Non-Patent Document 2). The setting screen in FIG. 25 is a screen used when changing the setting of the PLC adapter from the PC. The application activated on the PC executes the following processing in order to display this setting screen.

  First, one PLC adapter connected to the LAN is detected, and information on the PLC adapter is acquired. The PLC adapter detected here is referred to as a “local PLC adapter”. Next, the PC acquires information of other PLC adapters existing on the PLC network through the local PLC adapter. Here, the PLC adapter from which information is acquired is referred to as a “remote PLC adapter”. Further, the PC acquires the MAC address of the device connected to each PLC adapter.

  Based on the acquired information, the PC displays the names and MAC addresses of all the PLC adapters existing on the PLC network, and the MAC addresses of all the devices connected to each PLC adapter on the setting screen. .

  From this setting screen, the user designates a PLC adapter connected to a device for which data transmission is to be prioritized (check mark is entered). Alternatively, the user individually designates a device for which priority is given to data transmission from the setting screen. When the “priority setting” button is pressed in this state, data for a device to be prioritized is preferentially transmitted on the PLC network.

  For example, when a network compatible TV or a PLC adapter connected to the network compatible TV is specified on the setting screen, data for the network compatible TV is transmitted with priority over other traffic. As a result, the user can comfortably view the broadband broadcast on the network compatible TV.

Further, the following are related arts related to the present invention.
In Patent Document 1, in the IEEE 1394 network environment, the control device determines whether or not a connectable device exists in the same network, and when only one connectable device candidate exists, It describes that a connection is automatically established with the device.

  According to Patent Document 1, conventionally, the control device searches for all connectable devices on the network, displays the results on the panel, and allows the user to select a desired device. . On the other hand, the technique described in Patent Document 1 aims to automate the establishment of a connection and reduce the time and effort of a user operation when there is only one connectable device candidate. .

  In the technique described in Patent Document 1, an IEEE1394 PCR (Plug Control Register) is used to determine whether or not a device can be connected. By using PCR, the number of input plugs and output plugs unique to each device and their states can be known. Thereby, the input plug of one apparatus and the output plug of the other apparatus can be connected, and 1 connection (one direction) can be extended.

  FIG. 26 shows an example of displaying a network map by a certain operating system (see Non-Patent Document 3).

  The network map function is a function for automatically searching for devices in the LAN and drawing a configuration diagram. The network map displays network connection relationships. In order to realize automatic network search, three search protocols of Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD), Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), and Web Services on Devices (WSD) are used.

  LLTD is a layer 2 protocol that searches for devices on the network by transmitting MAC frames. UPnP and WSD are layer 3 protocols that search for devices on the network by transmitting IP packets. In particular, UPnP is a standard protocol used in home appliances and printers. If a device corresponding to these protocols is in the LAN, device information and the like are acquired from the device by automatic search. The operating system creates a network map based on the acquired device information and the like.

Conventionally, however, the network map function has been used exclusively for diagnosing the connection status of devices operating on the network.
Japanese Patent No. 4082237 "WAPS-HP-AM54G54 User's Manual 3rd Edition" (p77-81), [online], January 29, 2008, Buffalo, Inc. [Search October 4, 2008] (http: // buffalo. jp / download / manual / w / wapshpam54g54.html) “Sharp PLC Utility Manual” (pp. 19-26), [online], Sharp Corporation, [October 4, 2008 search] (http://www.sharp.co.jp/support/plc/) Hiroyuki Nemoto, Eitaro Saito, “IT PRO 1st Network will change dramatically with the arrival of Vista”, [online], March 19, 2007, Nikkei NETWORK, [October 4, 2008 search] ( http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/COLUMN/20070314/264953/)

  According to the prior art described in Non-Patent Document 1, the user cannot grasp how many devices exist on the network. It is difficult for the user to set the optimum QoS without knowing how many devices are present on the network. For example, it is not easy for a user to make a setting for giving priority to traffic flowing between a router and a network compatible TV.

  According to the prior art described in Non-Patent Document 2, the user can grasp the local PLC adapter connected on the LAN and the presence of the remote PLC adapter existing on the PLC network. Furthermore, the user can also grasp the presence of devices connected to each PLC adapter. Therefore, the user can almost grasp how many devices are present on the network.

  However, the information that the user can obtain is limited to the MAC address. For this reason, the user must select a desired device to be prioritized after determining what device it is from the MAC address information. Although it is possible to check the MAC address of an arbitrary device, it is difficult to immediately determine the device from the MAC address.

  According to the prior art described in Patent Document 1, the control device searches for all connectable devices on the network and displays the results on the panel. Therefore, the user can grasp how many devices are present on the network. Further, according to the conventional technique described in Patent Document 1, when there is only one connectable device candidate, a connection is automatically established.

  However, when there are two or more connectable device candidates, the user needs to select a desired device as usual.

  In addition, since the technique described in Patent Document 1 uses a method specific to the IEEE 1394 system to determine whether or not a device can be connected, LAN (Ethernet (registered trademark), wireless LAN, PLC, etc.) There is a problem that it cannot be applied to devices connected to the. Devices connected to the LAN have no concept of input plugs and output plugs, and can communicate with all other devices. Further, when there are three or more devices on the LAN, it is difficult for the user to determine which device should be associated with which device with the technique described in Patent Document 1.

  According to the prior art described in Non-Patent Document 3, the user can visually grasp what devices exist on the network. However, the “network map function” is used for diagnosing the connection state of an operating device, and the transmission priority of the device cannot be set from this screen.

  The present invention has been created based on the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism that can reduce the labor of a user when setting transmission priorities.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a transmission priority setting device according to the present invention uses a first search protocol to obtain first processing means for acquiring the physical addresses of a plurality of communication devices connected to a network. And second processing means for acquiring each IP address of each of the plurality of communication devices and device specifying information for specifying each device using a second search protocol, the physical address and the IP address Correspondence data creation means for creating correspondence data in which the device identification information is associated with each communication device, and physical addresses and IPs of the plurality of communication devices acquired using the first and second search protocols based on at least one of the address and the device identification information, determining means for determining the communication device should set the transmission priority, Den by said discrimination means A transmission priority that sets a transmission priority for traffic whose transmission source or destination is the physical address of the communication device included in the associated data, for communication devices for which priority has been determined to be set Setting means .

Preferably, the transmission priority setting device, as a target communication devices that are different effect-size should set the transmission priority, transmission priority physical address of the communication device with respect to traffic as a source or destination Automatic setting means for automatically setting is further included.

According to another aspect of the invention, the transmission priority setting unit, before SL based on the association data, a network map including at least one of said physical address and said IP address and the device identification information a network map creation means for creating, from said one of the communication devices included in the network map, and a reception unit for accepting a selection operation for selecting a communication device for setting a transmission priority, wherein the transmission priority setting means It is to set the transmission priority based on the selection operation the receiving unit has received.

Preferably, the second processing means acquires the device specifying information using a plurality of types of search protocols as the second search protocol.

According to another aspect of the invention, the transmission priority setting method according to the present invention, by using a computer connected to a network with communication devices multiple, the transmission priority setting method for setting a transmission priority A computer acquiring a physical address of each of a plurality of communication devices connected to the network using a first search protocol; and each of the plurality of communication devices using a second search protocol. The computer obtains the device identification information for identifying the IP address and each device, and the computer creates association data in which the physical address, the IP address, and the device identification information are associated with each communication device a step of, the physical address of the plurality of communication devices obtained using the first and second search protocol Based on at least one of the P address and device identification information, the steps of the computer to determine a communication device to set the transmission priority, the discriminated communication devices that should set the transmission priority as a target And a computer setting a transmission priority for traffic whose source or destination is the physical address of the communication device included in the association data .

According to another aspect of the invention, the transmission priority setting method, prior SL based on the association data, computer network map including at least one of said physical address and said IP address and said identification information The computer accepts a selection operation for selecting a communication device for setting a transmission priority from the communication devices included in the network map, and the computer based on the received selection operation. Setting a transmission priority.

  According to the present invention, since a communication device for which a transmission priority is to be set is determined from among a plurality of communication devices connected to the network, it is possible to reduce the user's labor when setting the transmission priority.

  Alternatively, according to the present invention, a network map including detailed information on communication devices connected to the network is displayed, and the transmission priority for each device can be set from the display screen. The user's labor when doing so can be reduced.

  Alternatively, according to the present invention, since the transmission priority is automatically set for the communication device for which it is determined that the transmission priority should be set, the user's when setting the transmission priority is further increased. Can reduce labor.

  Alternatively, according to the present invention, when a communication device that is determined to set a transmission priority is displayed, and when an operation for setting a transmission priority is received for the communication device, transmission priority is received. Since the degree is set, the user's labor when setting the transmission priority can be reduced.

  Alternatively, according to the present invention, the specific information of the communication device is acquired using a plurality of types of search protocols as the second search protocol. Therefore, after obtaining more detailed information about the communication device, the transmission priority is set. Can be set.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts, and the names and functions thereof are the same, and thus detailed description thereof will not be repeated.

  Hereinafter, examples in which the present invention is realized by an application installed in a PC (Personal Computer) will be described as “Embodiment 1” to “Embodiment 3.” Furthermore, an example in which the present invention is realized by the WEB server function of the communication apparatus will be described as “Embodiment 4”.

[Embodiment 1]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a home network according to the present embodiment.

  A home network 200 constituting a LAN is connected to an IP (Internet Protocol) network 201. As an access line to the Internet, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), optical fiber, CATV line, ISDN, and the like are conceivable. However, in this embodiment, the form of the access line does not matter. However, it is necessary to provide the home network 200 with a modem corresponding to the access line.

  A router 202, NAS (Network Attached Storage) 203, communication device A 204, communication device B 205, communication device C 206, printer 207, recorder 208, television 209, PC 210, setting PC 211, and the like are connected to the home network 200.

  The communication device A 204, the communication device B 205, and the communication device C 206 are assumed to be PLC adapters conforming to the HomePlug AV standard, for example. However, the communication device is not limited to this, and for example, a bridge-type wireless LAN device or a modem (for coaxial cable / for telephone line) compliant with the HomePNA standard can be applied.

  The NAS 203 and the communication device A 204 are connected to the router 202 via Ethernet (registered trademark). The printer 207, the recorder 208, the television 209, and the PC 210 are connected to the communication device B 205 via Ethernet (registered trademark).

  The setting PC 211 is connected to the communication device C206 via Ethernet (registered trademark). Communication device A 204, communication device B 205, and communication device C 206 are connected by a transmission medium. Examples of transmission media include wireless LAN, PLC, coaxial cable (Coax), telephone line, and the like.

  The purpose of using the communication device A 204, the communication device B 205, and the communication device C 206 is that the room in which the router 202 is installed and the room in which the user uses the Internet are separated from the room in which the router 200 is installed. The data is transmitted to the room using the optimal transmission medium.

  The user operates the setting PC 211 to start an application program for setting the transmission priority (QoS). Then, a predetermined screen is displayed on the monitor of the setting PC 211. In addition to the function of displaying a QoS setting screen including a network map, this application program also has a function of performing communication settings of the communication device C206, for example. When the user selects the QoS setting function on the screen displayed on the setting PC 211, a device connected to the home network 200 (hereinafter also simply referred to as “LAN”) is automatically searched. For example, FIG. A QoS setting screen as shown is displayed.

  The QoS setting screen includes a network map including connection relations between devices connected to the LAN and information for identifying each device. The information for identifying each device is, for example, a type, a vendor name, a model number, an IP address, a host name, and a MAC address. Further, the QoS setting screen includes a “priority setting (two-way)” button 310 and a “priority setting (one-way)” button 320 for the user to set QoS.

  In FIG. 3, “SHARP”, “vendorB”, “vendorC”, and “vendorD” are vendor names. “HN-VA10 / 40 Series”, “RT57i”, “RD-E301”, “RX-5”, “PC-MR60HS” are friendly names. “MX-450F” is the system name. "Remote PLC adapter", "Local PLC adapter", "PC (PC being set)", "Internet Gateway Device", "Printer", "Media Server", and "Media Renderer" are device types. “59: 3e: 02” is a part of the MAC address. “192.168.11.3” is the IP address of the device. “Ebook” is the host name of the device.

  Hereinafter, a method in which the setting PC 211 creates the network map shown in FIG. 3 and displays the QoS setting screen will be described. In order for the setting PC 211 to create a network map and display a QoS setting screen, it is necessary for an application program operating on the setting PC 211 to execute a predetermined process.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the setting PC 211. The setting PC 211 mainly includes a CPU 2110 that executes a program, a mouse 2116 and a keyboard 2117 that receive an instruction input by a user of the setting PC 211, data generated by execution of the program by the CPU 2110, or a mouse 2116 or a keyboard 2117. RAM 2111 for temporarily storing input data, hard disk 2112 for storing data in a nonvolatile manner, optical disk drive 2113, monitor 2114 for displaying a QoS setting screen, etc., and communication I / F (Interface) 2115. The RAM 2111 or the hard disk 2112 constitutes a storage unit for the setting PC 211.

  A CD-ROM 2118 is attached to the optical disk drive 2113. The CD-ROM 2118 stores application programs related to QoS settings.

  CPU 2110 installs an application program stored in CD-ROM 2118 in a predetermined area of hard disk 2112. The installed application program is read by the CPU 2110 and stored in the RAM 2111 in the form of an executable program. CPU 2110 executes the application program. As a result, the setting PC 211 performs various processes related to the QoS setting described below.

  As a recording medium for storing application programs, in addition to CD-ROM, FD (Flexible Disk), magnetic tape, cassette tape, optical disc (MO (Magnetic Optical Disc) / MD (Mini Disc) / DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), IC (Integrated Circuit) card (including memory card), optical card, mask ROM, EPROM (Electronically Programmable Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electronically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), flash ROM, and other semiconductors It may be a medium that carries a fixed program such as a memory.

  In addition, the application program stored in the CD-ROM 2118 may be provided as a program product that can be downloaded through the Internet or the like.

  Further, the program here includes not only a program directly executable by the CPU but also a program in a source program format, a compressed program, an encrypted program, and the like.

  The setting PC 211 creates and displays the network map shown in FIG. 3 by executing first to third processing procedures described below according to an application program (hereinafter simply referred to as an application).

  First, in the first processing procedure, a device that exists on the LAN is searched using the first search protocol, and the physical address of each device is acquired.

  Next, in the second processing procedure, a device existing on the LAN is searched using the second search protocol, and the IP address and device information of each device are acquired.

  Finally, in the third processing procedure, data in which the physical address acquired in the first processing procedure is associated with the IP address acquired in the second processing procedure and various pieces of device information is created. Further, in the third processing procedure, a network map is created and displayed based on the association data.

  In the following description, the setting PC 211 will be described as an example of an apparatus for setting QoS. However, the apparatus is not limited to the setting PC 211 and may be a setting-dedicated apparatus that stores the application in advance.

(1) First Processing Procedure The first processing procedure will be described in detail. In the first processing procedure, for example, a protocol (network topology search protocol) unique to the HomePlugAV standard is used as the first search protocol. The setting PC 211 transmits an MME (Management Message) packet according to the first search protocol to the communication device connected to the LAN, and waits for a response. The MME packet is layer 2 level packet data for obtaining information from the communication device or changing the setting of the communication device.

  FIG. 4 shows an MME in the HomePlugAV standard as a format example of the MME packet.

  Referring to FIG. 4, “ODA” is a transmission destination (destination) MAC address. “OSA” is a source MAC address. “VLAN Tag” is a VLAN tag defined by IEEE 802.1Q. This tag is optional, and here, the VLAN tag is not used.

  “MTYPE” is an Ethernet (registered trademark) type. Here, the value (0xe188) assigned to the HomePlug alliance is used. “MMV” is the version of MME. Here, 0x00 or 0x01 is used.

  “MMTYPE” is a type of MME. If this value changes, the type of MME packet changes. “MMENTRY” is payload data of the MME (this content varies depending on the type of MME).

  The “MME format” is equivalent to a normal Ethernet (registered trademark) format. In particular, the communication device interprets the received packet as an MME packet when the Ethernet type is a special value (for example, 0xe188 in the HomePlugAV standard).

  Next, the first processing procedure will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a first processing procedure executed by the setting PC 211 in which an application for QoS setting is installed.

  First, the setting PC 211 acquires a NIC (Network Interface Card) list of the setting PC 211 itself, and stores the MAC address of the NIC in the NIC_MAC (S101). Here, NIC_MAC is a storage area for 6 octets defined in the storage unit of the setting PC 211. In general, since there are a plurality of NICs, a MAC address corresponding to each NIC is stored in NIC_MAC.

  Next, the setting PC 211 executes a process for specifying the “local communication device” using the acquired NIC list. Here, the “local communication device” means a communication device connected to the setting PC 211 via Ethernet (registered trademark) among communication devices connected to the LAN. For example, in FIG. 1, the communication device C206 corresponds to a “local communication device”.

  The setting PC 211 selects one NIC from the acquired list of NICs in order to specify “local communication device” (S102).

  Next, the setting PC 211 transmits a “device software version request MME packet (MMTYPE = 0xA000)” based on the selected NIC (S103). At this time, the transmission destination MAC address (ODA) is “address defined by the HomePlugAV standard”, and the transmission source MAC address (OSA) is the MAC address NIC_MAC of the selected NIC. The transmission destination MAC address may be a “broadcast address”.

  Next, the setting PC 211 waits for reception of “device software version response MME (MMTYPE = 0xA001)” (S104). If the response MME is not received even after a predetermined period (for example, several seconds), the setting PC 211 determines that there is no local communication device corresponding to the selected NIC, and returns to S102. Then, S103 is executed again after selecting another NIC.

  When the response MME is received in S104, the setting PC 211 determines that there is a local communication device. In this case, the MAC address of the local communication device is acquired by referring to the transmission source MAC address of the response MME (S105). The setting PC 211 stores the acquired MAC address of the local communication device in LOCAL_MAC. Here, LOCAL_MAC is a storage area of 6 octets defined in the storage unit (RAM 2111 or hard disk 2112) of the setting PC 211.

  When a local communication device is found, the setting PC 211 searches for a remote communication device. Here, the “remote communication device” means a communication device connected to the setting PC 211 via a “local communication device” and a transmission medium. For example, in FIG. 1, the communication device A 204 and the communication device B 205 correspond to “remote communication devices”.

  In order to search for “remote communication device”, the setting PC 211 transmits a network information request MME (MMTYPE = 0xA038) to the local communication device (S106). At this time, the destination MAC address is LOCAL_MAC and the source MAC address is NIC_MAC.

  Next, the setting PC 211 receives “network information response MME (MMTYPE = 0xA039)” that is a response MME to the network information request MME. As a result, it is determined that there is a “remote communication device”, and the number of remote communication devices and the respective MAC addresses are acquired from the payload of the response MME (S107). The acquired number of remote communication devices is stored in “K”. The acquired MAC address is stored in REMOTE_MAC [0 ... K-1].

  Here, K and REMOTE_MAC are storage areas defined in the storage unit of the setting PC 211. The size of K is 1 octet. Further, in the HomePlugAV standard, since one network supports up to 254 communication devices, the size of REMOTE_MAC is “6 octets × 254”.

  Next, the setting PC 211 transmits a bridge information request MME (MMTYPE = 0x6020) to the local communication device and each remote communication device (S108).

  In this case, the bridge information request MME for the local communication device has a transmission destination MAC address of LOCAL_MAC and a transmission source MAC address of NIC_MAC. On the other hand, the bridge information request MME for each remote communication device has a destination MAC address of REMOTE_MAC [k], k = 0... K−1, and a source MAC address of NIC_MAC.

  Next, the bridge information response MME (MMTYPE = 0x6021) is received, and the number of devices bridged to each communication device and the MAC address of each device are acquired from the payload data of the bridge information response MME (S109).

  Specifically, the number of devices bridged by the local communication device is stored in LL, and the MAC addresses of these devices are stored in LOCAL_BRIDGED_MAC [0 ... LL-1]. LL and LOCAL_BRIDGED_MAC are storage areas defined in the storage unit of the setting PC 211. The size of LL is 1 octet. The size of LOCAL_BRIDGED_MAC is “6 octets × 64”.

  Further, the number of devices bridged by each remote communication device is stored in L [k], and the MAC addresses of these devices are set to REMOTE_BRIDGED_MAC [k] [0 ... L [k] -1], k = Stores 0 ... K-1. L and REMOTE_BRIDGED_MAC are storage areas defined in the storage unit of the setting PC 211. The size of L is “1 octet × 254”. On the other hand, the size of REMOTE_BRIDGED_MAC is “6 octets × 254 × 64”. This is because each communication device supports up to 64 bridges in the HomePlugAV standard.

  In S109, the first processing procedure is completed by acquiring the MAC addresses of the local communication device and the devices connected (bridged) to the respective remote communication devices.

  By executing the first processing procedure described so far, the MAC addresses of the devices connected to the local communication device and the devices connected to the respective remote communication devices can be acquired.

  By executing the first processing procedure described above, data for creating a setting screen as shown in FIG. 25 is obtained, and the setting screen can be displayed as necessary.

  In order to identify each communication device, a human friendly name may be used. The human friendly name can be obtained by sending a human friendly name request MME (MMTYPE = 0x6040) to a local or remote communication device. Further, the obtained human friendly name may be reflected on the network map and displayed.

  The first search protocol may be a layer 2 level search protocol such as LLTD. The setting PC 211 transmits the Discovery frame by broadcasting. The LLTD compatible device on the LAN returns a Hello frame in response to the search frame. The setting PC 211 returns a response frame for the Hello frame. Thereafter, the setting PC 211 performs transmission / reception with the LLTD-compatible device on the LAN to create a network map.

(2) Second Processing Procedure Next, the second processing procedure will be described. In the second processing procedure, a device connected to the LAN is searched to obtain device information. In the present embodiment, four protocols, UPnP, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), DNS (Domain Name System), and NetBIOS, will be described as examples of search protocols used in the second processing procedure. These protocols used in the second processing procedure are layer 3 level packets.

(2-1) Second processing procedure (when UPnP is used)
First, a second processing procedure using UPnP as a search protocol will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a second processing procedure executed by the setting PC 211 in which the QoS setting application is installed.

  First, a list of NICs (Network Interface Cards) of the setting PC 211 itself is acquired, and the IP address of the NIC is stored in NIC_IP (S201). Here, NIC_IP is a storage area for 4 octets defined in the storage unit of the setting PC 211. In general, since there are a plurality of NICs, an IP address corresponding to each NIC is stored in NIC_IP.

  Next, in order to search for a UPnP-compatible device connected to the LAN, one NIC is selected from the acquired list of NICs (S202). Next, an SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol) discovery packet is transmitted based on the selected NIC (S203).

  At this time, the destination IP address is “239.255.255.250”, which is one of the IP multicast addresses, and the source IP address is the IP address NIC_IP of the selected NIC. The UDP destination port is set to 1900.

  Thereby, the SSDP discovery packet is transmitted by multicast and reaches a plurality of devices on the LAN. Upon receiving the SSDP discovery packet, the UPnP compatible device among the plurality of devices on the LAN returns an SSDP discovery response packet to the transmission source of the SSDP discovery packet. At this time, the SSDP discovery response packet is transmitted from the UPnP-compatible device by unicast.

  FIG. 7 shows examples of SSDP discovery packets and SSDP discovery response packets. After transmitting the SSDP discovery packet, the setting PC 211 waits for reception of the SSDP discovery response packet (S204). If the SSDP discovery response packet is not received even after a predetermined period (for example, several seconds), the setting PC 211 determines that there is no UPnP compatible device corresponding to the selected NIC, and returns to S202. Then, S203 is executed again after selecting another NIC.

  When receiving the SSDP discovery response packet, the setting PC 211 determines that there is a UPnP-compatible device. In this case, the setting PC 211 acquires the IP address of the UPnP compatible device by referring to the transmission source IP address of the SSDP discovery response packet. Further, location information (URL-Uniform Resource Locator) included in the payload of the SSDP discovery response packet is acquired. The setting PC 211 stores the acquired IP address and location information in a predetermined storage area defined in the storage unit of the setting PC 211 (S205).

  If there are a plurality of UPnP compatible devices, an SSDP discovery response packet is returned from each of the plurality of UPnP compatible devices (S204). In this way, when a plurality of SSDP discovery response packets are received, the setting PC 211 executes the process of S205 for each SSDP discovery response packet. As a result, the predetermined storage area of the setting PC 211 stores an IP address and location information for each of a plurality of UPnP compatible devices.

  The acquired location information indicates the acquisition source of the device information of the corresponding UPnP compatible device. The location information includes information such as “LOCATION: http://192.168.11.6:20081/description.xml\r\n”, for example.

  Next, the setting PC 211 establishes a TCP connection to the location indicated by the location information (URL) stored in the storage area, and transmits a device information acquisition packet (S206). The device information acquisition packet is an HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) GET message. The connection destination IP address and port number of the TCP connection are described in the location information (URL).

  Next, the setting PC 211 receives a device information acquisition response packet (S207). FIG. 8 shows an example of a device information acquisition packet and a device information acquisition response packet. The device information acquisition response packet is an HTTP packet similar to the device information acquisition packet. As shown in FIG. 9, the device information acquisition response packet includes <device Type>, <friendly Name>, <manufacturer>, <manufacturer URL>, <model Description>, <model Name>, <model Number>, <UDN >, <Icon List>, <icon>... Include device information described in XML format.

  After S207, the setting PC 211 acquires device information of the UPnP-compatible device from the received device information acquisition response packet (S208).

  If the storage area of the setting PC 211 stores the IP addresses and location information of a plurality of UPnP-compatible devices, by executing S206 to S208 for each UPnP-compatible device, all of the plurality of UPnP-compatible devices are processed. Get device information.

  In S208, the setting PC 211 ends the second processing procedure by acquiring the IP address and device information (information such as device type, friendly name, vendor name, etc.) of various devices (UPnP compatible devices).

  The device information obtained in S208 includes the device type (device Type tag) of the device, the friendly name of the device (friendly Name tag), the vendor name of the device (manufacturer tag), and the like. In some cases, an “icon (icon tag)” of a device can be acquired as device information. In many cases, the friendly name of the device is the model number of the device. When these device information is taken into the network map and displayed, it is easy for the user who sets the QoS to identify each device.

  According to the UPnP standard, the device types shown in Table 1 are defined as one of the device information. By referring to the device type, the device type can be grasped.

  As described above, by executing the second processing procedure described above, the IP addresses and device information of various UPnP compatible devices connected to the LAN can be acquired.

(2-2) Second processing procedure (when SNMP is used)
Next, a second processing procedure using SNMP will be described. The procedure described below is executed by the setting PC 211 in which an application for QoS setting is installed, as in the case of using UPnP.

  First, the configuration PC 211 transmits a GET-REQUEST packet and waits for a response by the SNMP GET-RESPONSE packet in order to search for an SNMP-compatible device connected to the LAN.

  10 and 11 show examples of the SNMP GET-REQUEST packet and the SNMP GET-RESPONSE packet. As shown in the figure, in the SNMP GET-REQUEST packet, the transmission destination IP address is broadcast of the same segment, the transmission source IP address is the IP address of the setting PC, and the UDP destination port is 161.

  For example, if the IP address of the setting PC is “192.168.11.7” and the subnet mask is “255.255.255.0/24”, the destination IP address is set to “192.168.11.255” (all host address parts are 1). Thereby, the SNMP-compatible device can receive the broadcast of the same segment.

  In the GET-REQUEST packet, for example, a management information base (MIB) system-SysName is requested.

  When the SNMP-compatible device connected to the LAN receives the GET-REQUEST packet, it returns a unicast GET-RESPONSE packet to the setting PC 211. When a plurality of SNMP-compatible devices are connected to the LAN, a GET-RESPONSE packet is returned from each device.

  The setting PC 211 acquires device management information and the device IP address from the received GET-RESPONSE packet. For example, when system-SysName is requested in the GET-REQUEST packet, the system name of the device can be acquired from the GET-RESPONSE packet. The IP address of the device is acquired from the transmission source IP address of the GET-RESPONSE packet.

  The setting PC 211 stores the acquired device management information (for example, the system name) in a predetermined storage area together with the IP address of the device. The setting PC 211 loads the acquired device management information into the network map in accordance with the processing procedure of the application and displays it on the screen. Thereby, the user can set the QoS after grasping the device information in detail. “MX-450F” shown in FIG. 3 is an example of a system name obtained by the second processing procedure using SNMP.

(2-3) Second processing procedure (when DNS protocol is used)
Next, a second processing procedure using the DNS protocol will be described. The DNS protocol is used to obtain the host name of a device based on the device's IP address.

  The setting PC 211 executes the following processing in accordance with the installed QoS setting application.

  First, the setting PC 211 searches for an IP address of a device existing on the LAN. For this purpose, the setting PC 211 executes “ARP table update processing” for updating an ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) table to the latest data. The ARP table is a table in which an IP address and a MAC address of a device are associated with each other. When communicating with the counterpart device, the operating system of the setting PC 211 dynamically acquires the MAC address of the counterpart device and stores it in the ARP table in association with the IP address of the device. The ARP table can be acquired, for example, by executing an ARP command.

  FIG. 12 shows an example of the ARP table referred to by executing the ARP command. In FIG. 12, the IP address is shown in the left column, and the MAC address is shown in the center column. Note that “dynamic” shown in FIG. 12 means cache data that is automatically deleted from the table when the information is not reused for a certain period. It is assumed that the setting PC 211 searches for an IP address of a device existing on the LAN using an ARP table. Therefore, it is desirable to register as many devices as possible on the LAN in the ARP table.

The “ARP table update process” is executed according to the following procedure.
First, the setting PC 211 selects one from the NIC list of the setting PC 211 itself in order to update the ARP table. Then, the IP address, subnet mask, and MAC address of the selected NIC are acquired. The IP address and subnet mask can be obtained by using the GetIpAddrTable function. The MAC address can be acquired by using the GetAdaptersAddresses function.

  Next, the setting PC 211 (application) attempts to transmit an arbitrary IP packet using all IP addresses on the subnet as transmission destination IP addresses. Transmission of the IP packet can be realized by using a sendto function. Before an IP packet is actually transmitted, the following processing is performed by the operating system (TCP / IP protocol stack) of the setting PC 211.

  First, the operating system checks whether or not the MAC address corresponding to the destination IP address is stored in the ARP table. If the MAC address is not stored, the ARP packet is broadcast. The ARP packet is a packet for inquiring the MAC address from the IP address. If a device having the designated IP address is connected to the LAN, a response packet to the ARP packet is returned from the device.

  The operating system stores the MAC address and IP address included in the returned ARP response packet as pair information in the ARP table. As a result, the ARP table is updated.

  When the operating system receives the ARP response packet, the operating system further transmits an IP packet. When the ARP response packet is not received, the IP packet is not transmitted.

  Here, “all IP addresses on the subnet” means, for example, that the IP address of the setting PC 211 is “192.168.0.10” and the subnet mask is “255.255.255.0”, “192.168.0.1” to “192.168” .0.254 ”.

  The setting PC 211 only has to wait until the ARP table is updated by the operating system after attempting to transmit the IP packet, and does not need to wait for reception of the IP packet. The waiting time is, for example, about 1 second.

  The IP packet is, for example, a PING request (ICMP ECHO REQUEST) packet. In the case of a PING request packet, a PING response (ICMP ECHO RESPONSE) packet may be returned from the transmission destination device. However, since the purpose is to update the ARP table here, the setting PC 211 receives the PING response packet. There is no need to wait. Further, not limited to PING, any packet may be used as long as the destination IP address can be designated.

  Further, instead of transmitting a PING address to all IP addresses on the subnet, the PING request packet may be transmitted by broadcast with the destination IP address set to 192.168.0.255. In this case, since a plurality of devices return a PING response packet, the operating system updates the ARP table based on this.

  As described above, the ARP table is updated to the latest state by the “ARP table update process” by the application and the operating system related to the QoS setting.

  Next, the setting PC 211 acquires the ARP table updated to the latest state using the GetIpNetTable function of the IP helper. In the ARP table, IP addresses of devices existing on the subnet are registered.

  Next, the setting PC 211 uses the gethostbyaddr function to acquire a host name corresponding to the IP address registered in the ARP table.

  At that time, the following processing is performed by the operating system (TCP / IP protocol stack) of the setting PC 211. The operating system of the setting PC 211 transmits a DNS inquiry packet to the DNS server. It is assumed that DNS information is set in advance in the setting PC 211. The DNS server responds to the DNS inquiry packet and returns a DNS response packet. The DNS response packet includes a host name corresponding to the designated IP address.

  The setting PC 211 stores the acquired host name of the device together with the IP address of the device in a predetermined storage area of the setting PC 211.

The above is the second processing procedure using the DNS protocol.
The setting PC 211 can also search for an IP address of a device existing on the LAN without using an ARP table. For example, the configuration PC 211 can query a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server and search for an IP address of a device existing on the LAN. (The router 202 in FIG. 1 has a DHCP server role.) Since the DHCP server sets the IP address of the device on the LAN, the DHCP server should hold the IP address assignment data.

  The setting PC 211 loads information acquired using the DNS protocol into a network map according to the processing procedure of the application and displays the information on the screen. Thereby, the user can set the QoS after grasping the device information in detail.

(2-4) Second processing procedure (when using NetBIOS protocol)
Next, a second processing procedure using the NetBIOS protocol will be described. Generally, since there is no DNS server in the home network, it is difficult to obtain a host name using the DNS protocol when the home network is targeted. In this case, a technique for acquiring a host name using the NetBIOS protocol is effective.

  The setting PC 211 executes the following processing in accordance with the installed QoS setting application.

  First, the setting PC 211 acquires an ARP table using the GetIpNetTable function of the IP helper. Next, the host name corresponding to the IP address registered in the ARP table is acquired using the NetBIOS protocol.

  However, the NetBIOS protocol does not have a dedicated function such as the gethostbyaddr function. Therefore, the setting PC 211 executes the command “nbtstat -a IP address” to acquire the host name. Alternatively, the setting PC 211 acquires a host name by transmitting a NetBIOS packet. When transmitting a NetBIOS packet, an IP address registered in the ARP table is designated as a transmission destination address, and a UDP (port 137) packet is transmitted. The packet format of this packet is similar to that of a DNS packet.

  The setting PC 211 stores the acquired host name of the device together with the IP address of the device in a predetermined storage area of the setting PC 211.

The above is the second processing procedure using the NetBIOS protocol.
The setting PC 211 loads information acquired using the NetBIOS protocol into the network map according to the processing procedure of the application and displays the information on the screen. Thereby, the user can set the QoS after grasping the device information in detail.

  As described above, the embodiment using each of the UPnP, SNMP, DNS, and NetBIOS protocols has been described as the second processing procedure. As the second processing procedure, device information may be acquired using any one protocol, or device information may be acquired by combining any two or more protocols.

  Alternatively, only one protocol is executed at first, another protocol is executed for a device for which information has not been obtained, and a protocol that is not yet used for a device for which information has not been obtained. You may employ | adopt the method of performing.

  Alternatively, a method may be adopted in which only one protocol is executed at first and all remaining protocols are executed for devices for which information has not been obtained.

  In these cases, the protocol used first or the protocol used second or third may be any of UPnP, SNMP, DNS, and NetBIOS protocols. For example, it is conceivable to employ UPnP first, then SNMP, and finally NetBIOS.

(3) Third Processing Procedure Next, the third processing procedure will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining a third processing procedure executed by the setting PC 211 in which the QoS setting application is installed.

  In the third processing procedure, an ARP table that stores the physical address acquired in the first processing procedure, the IP address acquired in the second processing procedure, and various pieces of device information inside the setting PC 211 is used. And associate.

  First, the setting PC 211 executes “ARP table update processing” (S301). The details of the “ARP table update process” are as already described when the second processing procedure (when the DNS protocol is used) is described. Therefore, the “ARP table update process” will not be repeated here. As the second processing procedure, when the “ARP table update processing” has already been executed, the ARP table has been updated to the latest data, and therefore the third processing procedure includes “ARP table update processing”. It is not necessary to execute again.

  However, as a second processing procedure, when a considerable time has elapsed since the execution of the “ARP table update process”, the cache data is lost and the ARP table needs to be updated. For this reason, “ARP table update processing” may be executed without fail as the third processing procedure.

  After the “ARP table update process”, the setting PC 211 acquires the ARP table using the GetIpNetTable function of the IP helper (S302).

  Next, the setting PC 211 selects one MAC address of the device obtained by executing the first processing procedure (S303). The MAC address selected here is the MAC address obtained in S109 of FIG. That is, the MAC address “LOCAL_BRIDGED_MAC [l], l = 0 ... LL-1” of the device connected to the local communication device and the MAC address “REMOTE_BRIDGED_MAC” of the device connected to each remote communication device [k] [l], k = 0 ... K-1, l = 0 ... L [k] -1) "is selected.

  Next, the setting PC 211 determines whether there is an IP address corresponding to the selected MAC address using the ARP table (S304). If there is no IP address corresponding to the selected MAC address, the only information obtained about the device corresponding to the selected MAC address is the MAC address, so only the MAC address is the information corresponding to the device. And return to S303. After that, "LOCAL_BRIDGED_MAC [l], l = 0 .. .LL-1" and "REMOTE_BRIDGED_MAC [k] [l], k = 0 ... K-1, l = 0 ... L [k] -1 ) ”Is selected, the MAC address not yet selected is selected, and the process of S304 is repeated.

  If there is an IP address corresponding to the designated MAC address in S304, the setting PC 211 links the designated MAC address and IP address and stores them in a predetermined storage area (S305).

  After S305, the setting PC 211 determines whether there is “information about the device” corresponding to the IP address (S306). Here, “information about the device” is device information (device type, friendly name, vendor name, etc.), system name, host name, and the like obtained in the second processing procedure.

  If there is no “information about the device”, the setting PC 211 stores only the MAC address and the IP address as information corresponding to the device, returns to S303, and selects the next MAC address.

  If there is “device-related information” corresponding to the IP address in S306, the setting PC 211 links the selected MAC address, the IP address, and “device-related information”, and stores the storage area information (MAC) stored in S305. The link information between the address and the IP address is updated and stored (S307).

  Next, the setting PC 211 determines whether or not all MAC addresses have been checked (S308). When all the MAC addresses have not been checked, the process returns to S303 again, selects an unselected MAC address, and executes S304 to S308.

  If it is determined in S308 that all the MAC addresses have been checked, a network map based on the data linked in S305 and S307 is created (S309). Next, the setting PC 211 displays the created network map on the monitor of the setting PC 211 together with other buttons 310, 320, etc. (S310), and ends the third processing procedure.

  As described above, according to the third processing procedure described above, it is possible to display information on each device and the device on the monitor screen as in the QoS setting screen shown in FIG.

  For example, when UPnP is used in the second processing procedure, device information such as “device type”, “friendly name”, “vendor name”, “icon (icon tag)” in addition to the MAC address and IP address. Can be reflected in the network map. Alternatively, when the SNMP protocol / DNS protocol is used in the second processing procedure, “device system name” / “device host name” can be reflected in the network map in addition to the MAC address and IP address. .

  For example, in the information “192.168.11.3, ebook” displayed corresponding to the device 203 in FIG. 3, the former is “device IP address” and the latter is “device host name”.

  When “device information”, “device system name”, or “device host name” is displayed, either or both of the MAC address and the IP address may not be displayed on the network map. Good.

  Even if none of “device information”, “device system name”, and “device host name” can be acquired, the IP address and MAC address of each device are reflected in the network map. be able to.

  Alternatively, even when even an IP address cannot be obtained, the MAC address of each device can be reflected in the network map. Also, the vendor name of the device can be determined from the MAC address by the following procedure, and the vendor name can be reflected in the network map in addition to the MAC address.

  That is, the MAC address defines an upper 3 octet area called an OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier) to which a value unique to a vendor is assigned. If the correspondence table data between the vendor name and the OUI is stored in the setting PC 211 in advance, the setting PC 211 compares the acquired OUI of the MAC address with the correspondence table data, so that the vendor of the device corresponding to the MAC address. The name can be specified.

  For example, in FIG. 3, information “vendorC_59: 3e: 02” is associated with the device 203 displayed as “?”. This corresponds to the vendor name (vendorC) obtained from the OUI and the MAC address. Part (59: 3e: 02).

  As for the “icon” of the device, if the icon information can be acquired from the UPnP compatible device, it is reflected in the network map (some UPnP compatible devices have their own icon information). .

  When icon information of a UPnP compatible device cannot be acquired, for example, an icon corresponding to a device type (Internet Gateway Device, Media Server, Printer, etc.) is used. If the device type is unknown, use the default icon that can be applied to any device. The default icon is displayed as “?” In FIG. Alternatively, when the device type is unknown, only known information (MAC address or the like) may be displayed without displaying an icon.

  Further, the third processing procedure may not include the process of displaying the network map in S309. In this case, for example, when the setting PC 211 detects an operation for displaying the network map, the created network map may be displayed on the monitor.

  Next, the QoS setting procedure will be described. Referring to FIG. 3, a “priority setting (two-way)” button 310 and a “priority setting (one-way)” button 320 for setting QoS are displayed on the setting screen together with the network map. .

Hereinafter, the QoS setting method will be described separately for both directions and one-way.
《Priority setting (bidirectional)》
When the setting PC 211 detects a click on the “priority setting (bidirectional)” button 310 on the QoS setting screen shown in FIG. 3, the setting PC 211 displays a dialog box 311 shown in FIG. In the dialog box 311, list units 312 and 315 for selecting a device for which QoS is to be set are displayed separately for a data transmission source device and a data transmission destination device.

  Further, icons 314 and 317 corresponding to the device selected in the list portion and information related to the device are displayed below the list portions 312 and 315. The “information about the device” displayed here is the same as the “information about the device” shown in FIG. 3, for example. Further, between the icon 314 and the icon 317, an “arrow icon pointing in both directions” is displayed to indicate that the setting is bidirectional.

  Selection units 313 and 316 for selecting devices are further displayed on the right side of the list units 312 and 315. For example, when the setting PC 211 detects an operation of clicking the selection unit 313, the setting PC 211 expands the drop-down list 101 illustrated in FIG. 14B below the list unit 312.

  The drop-down list 101 displays a list of information on each device specified by the first to third processing procedures. For example, if the device is a UPnP compatible device, at least the vendor name and friendly name are displayed. Alternatively, when the IP address of the device is known, the IP address is displayed. If the system name / host name of the device can be obtained, the information is also displayed. If only the MAC address of the device is known, the MAC address is displayed. If the vendor name can be determined from the upper 3 octets of the MAC address, the vendor name may be displayed.

  When the setting PC 211 detects an operation of selecting a device from the drop-down list 101, the setting PC 211 closes the drop-down list 320 and updates the device displayed on the list unit 312 to the device corresponding to the selection. In conjunction with this, the icon 314 is updated.

  Similarly, for the list unit 315, a drop-down list is displayed by detecting the operation of the selection unit 316. As a result, the user can select the “sink (transmission destination)” device. However, combinations in which the source device and the sink device are the same are prohibited.

  When the setting PC 211 detects a click operation of the OK button 318 in a state where the “source (transmission source)” and “sink (transmission destination)” devices are selected, the setting PC 211 establishes a connection between the selected source device and sink device. QoS is set for bidirectional traffic. When the setting PC 211 detects a click operation of the cancel button 319, the setting PC 211 closes the dialog box 311 and displays the setting screen shown in FIG.

  In this embodiment, the “priority control type QoS (Prioritized QoS)” described in the section of the prior art is adopted as the QoS control. In particular, in the present embodiment, either “video” or “voice”, which is a higher transmission priority than the best effort, is designated as the QoS setting.

  In this embodiment, QoS is set by the “method based on flow identification information” described in the section of the prior art. In particular, in the present embodiment, “Ethernet (transmission destination address | transmission source address)” is designated as flow identification information.

  A rule for the communication apparatus related to data transmission to grasp the transmission priority from the flow identification information is referred to as “classify rule”. Each communication device gives priority to transmission data over other transmission data according to the transmission priority defined in the classifier rule if the flow identification information defined in the classifier rule is included in the transmission data. To transmit. The flow identification information is, for example, a MAC address. Alternatively, the flow identification information can be an IP address or a port number.

  The setting PC 211 applies the following classifier rules 1 and 2 to the communication device C206 and the like for the bidirectional traffic between the source device and the sink device selected in the dialog box 311 shown in FIG. To set.

Classifier rule 1: “source MAC address = source device MAC address”, “destination MAC address = sink device MAC address”, “action = CAP2”
Classifier rule 2: “source MAC address = sink device MAC address”, “destination MAC address = source device MAC address”, “action = CAP2”
“Action” is an access category of transmission data to which QoS is applied. In particular, “CAP2” is an access category supported by PLC (HomePlugAV) and corresponds to “video”.

  According to the classifier rules 1 and 2, bidirectional QoS between the source device and the sink device is set at the third of the four stages.

  In order to set a classifier rule for a predetermined communication device, the setting PC 211 may transmit an MME packet including the classifier rule to the communication device. The communication device that has received the MME packet including the classifier rule acquires the classifier rule from the received packet and stores it. Thereafter, the communication device preferentially controls the transmission data based on the stored classifier rule.

《Priority setting (one direction)》
When the setting PC 211 detects a click on the “priority setting (one direction)” button 320 on the QoS setting screen shown in FIG. 3, the setting PC 211 displays a dialog box 321 shown in FIG. The dialog box 321 indicates that the description is unidirectional, and that the arrow icon between the icon 324 and the icon 327 indicates a unidirectional direction. The layout is similar to that of the dialog box 311 corresponding to "

  When the setting PC 211 detects an operation of clicking the selection unit 323 or the selection unit 326, the setting PC 211 expands the drop-down list 102 illustrated in FIG. 15B below the list unit 322 or the list unit 325. The drop-down list 102 is the same as the drop-down list 320 in FIG.

  When the setting PC 211 detects a click operation of the OK button 328 in a state where the source device and the sink device are selected, the setting PC 211 sets a transmission priority for the one-way traffic from the selected source device to the sink device. . Specifically, the following classifier rule 3 is set for the communication device C206 and the like for unidirectional traffic from the selected source device to the sink device. Thereby, the transmission priority is set.

Classifier rule 3: “source MAC address = source device MAC address”, “destination MAC address = sink device MAC address”, “action = CAP2”
Further, in the case of priority setting (one-way), the user can select “not specified” in the drop-down list 102 for either the source device or the sink device.

  For example, when “not specified” is selected for the source device, the setting PC 211 sets a transmission priority for traffic from any device to the selected sink device. Specifically, the following classifier rule 4 is set for the communication device C206 and the like for unidirectional traffic from an arbitrary source device to the selected sink device.

Classifier rule 4: “source MAC address = * (arbitrary)”, “destination MAC address = MAC address of sink device”, “action = CAP2”
Conversely, when “not specified” is selected for the sink device, the setting PC 211 sets a transmission priority for the traffic from the selected source device to any device. Specifically, the following classifier rule 5 is set for the communication device C206 and the like for unidirectional traffic from the selected source device to an arbitrary sink device.

Classifier rule 5: “source MAC address = MAC address of source device”, “destination MAC address = * (arbitrary)”, “action = CAP2”
As described above, the user can set the transmission priority for each direction or both directions using the dialog box shown on the screen.

  As described above, the QoS setting screen shown in FIG. 3 includes the MAC address, IP address, device information, system name, host name, and the like for each of a plurality of devices connected to the LAN. A network map is displayed. As a result, the user can easily find a device for which transmission priority needs to be set while referring to a network map in which device information is displayed in detail.

  Further, on the setting screen shown in FIG. 3, buttons 310 and 320 for two-way and one-way for the user to set the transmission priority are displayed. For this reason, it is easy to set the transmission priority separately for both directions and one direction. In addition, in the dialog boxes 311 and 321 displayed by clicking the button 310 or the button 320, a list of devices connected to the LAN according to the operation of the selection units 313 and 316 or the selection units 323 and 326 is displayed. It is displayed together with various information of the device shown in FIG. For this reason, it is possible to easily select a device for which transmission priority needs to be set.

  In the invention according to the present embodiment, the communication device A 204, the communication device B 205, and the communication device C 206 are not essential. For example, communication devices such as the setting PC 211, the printer 207, the recorder 208, the television 209, and the PC 210 may be directly connected to the router 202. In this case, the setting PC 211 uses a layer 2 level search protocol such as LLTD as the first processing procedure. In addition, the setting PC 211 sets transmission priorities for the router 202 and communication devices. However, since the transmission priority setting method differs for each router and communication device, each method needs to be set.

[Embodiment 2]
The difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment is that the setting PC 211 automatically selects a combination of devices effective when the transmission priority is set and displays it in a dialog box. In the first embodiment, as described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15, the user selects a device for setting a transmission priority from all devices connected to the LAN. In the second embodiment, the setting PC 211 automatically selects a combination of devices recommended for setting the transmission priority and presents it to the user to assist the user in setting the transmission priority.

  In other respects, the second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment, and the first to third processing procedures are also executed in the same manner as the first embodiment. The second embodiment will be described below with reference to the flowchart of the fourth processing procedure shown in FIG.

  The fourth processing procedure shown in FIG. 16A is a processing procedure for setting a transmission priority according to a user's selection after presenting a recommended combination pattern to the user. Similar to the first to third processing procedures, the fourth processing procedure is executed by the setting PC 211 in which the QoS setting application is installed according to the application.

  First, the setting PC 211 refers to the network map (S401). The network map referred to here is already created and stored in the setting PC 211 in the third processing procedure (S309).

  Next, a recommended combination pattern is searched from the network map (S402). For example, the setting PC 211 searches for combinations of devices and devices that are effective when QoS is set, from the types of devices (device types) included in the network map.

  The recommended combination pattern is searched as follows. For example, since a media server or the like is related to content distribution such as music and video, it is desirable to guarantee the data transmission quality more than other devices. Therefore, when a Media Server exists as a device connected to the LAN and a Media Renderer exists, a combination of these devices is determined as a recommended combination pattern candidate. This is because it is assumed that AV data and its control data whose transmission priority should be increased are exchanged between them.

  Alternatively, when an Internet Gateway Device and a Media Renderer exist as devices connected to the LAN, a combination of these devices is set as a recommended combination pattern candidate. This is because it is assumed that streaming data on the Internet and its control data that should have a high transmission priority are exchanged between them.

  Alternatively, when an Internet Gateway Device and an IP phone are present as devices connected to the LAN, a combination of these devices is set as a recommended combination pattern candidate. This is because it is assumed that voice data that should have a higher transmission priority is exchanged between them.

  These are only examples when the recommended combination pattern is selected, and what kind of device combination is recommended depends on the implementation. In the future, if the range of devices targeted by the UPnP standard or the like is expanded, it is necessary to change the search method for the recommended combination pattern accordingly.

  Alternatively, the setting PC 211 may search for a recommended combination pattern using information on the device as follows. In other words, if a specific character string is included in the “system name / host name” acquired as information about the device, it is determined as a device candidate for which priority setting is recommended. The specific character string is, for example, a specific vendor name or a specific product name.

  Alternatively, the setting PC 211 searches for a combination of a device and a device that is effective when QoS is set from the MAC address of the device. For example, the vendor name is calculated from the OUI (upper 3 octets) of the MAC address, and the device with a specific vendor name is set as a device candidate for which priority setting is recommended. In this case, OUI data indicating the relationship between the OUI and the vendor name is stored in the storage area of the setting PC 211 in advance. The setting PC 211 can search for a recommended device by referring to the OUI data.

  Further, the setting PC 211 identifies the type of product from the lower 3 octets of the MAC address, and determines whether or not to make a candidate for a device for which priority setting is recommended. In this case, vendor product type data indicating the relationship between the lower 3 octets of the MAC address and the vendor product type is stored in the storage area of the setting PC 211 in advance. The setting PC 211 can search for a recommended device by referring to the vendor product type data.

  Alternatively, the setting PC 211 searches for combinations of devices that are effective when QoS is set from the IP addresses of the devices. For example, if the value of the lower 1 octet of the IP address is 1, it is identified as a router (Internet Gateway Device). If the value of the lower 1 octet of the IP address is 2, it is identified as a media server. If the value of the lower 1 octet of the IP address is 3, it is identified as a media renderer. This technique is useful in an environment where the type of device can be specified from the IP address. This depends on the IP address allocation policy by the communication equipment vendor. Therefore, if the setting PC 211 can confirm the IP address allocation policy, it can search for a recommended device from the IP address of the device.

  If one or more recommended combination patterns exist, the setting PC 211 stores the recommended combination patterns in the storage area (S403). Next, when there are a plurality of recommended combination patterns, the priority order to be proposed as a priority setting candidate is determined (S404).

  The priority order is determined according to an access category supported in, for example, a wireless LAN or a PLC. For example, it is assumed that the access categories are “Background”, “Best Effort”, “Video”, and “Voice” in order from the lowest transmission priority.

  In this case, when a combination of devices belonging to “audio” and a combination of devices belonging to “video” are found as the recommended combination pattern, the setting PC 211 may propose the former before the latter.

  If there is only one recommended combination pattern, the process of S404 is not executed.

  Next, the setting PC 211 displays the recommended combination pattern stored in the storage area on the screen in a dialog box for automatic priority setting at a predetermined timing (S405), and assists the user in setting QoS.

  FIG. 17A shows a dialog box 331 for automatic priority setting. This dialog box 331 is displayed instead of the “priority setting (bidirectional)” button 310 and the “priority setting (one direction)” button 320 when displaying the QoS setting screen shown in FIG. Alternatively, instead of the “priority setting (bidirectional)” button 310 and the “priority setting (one-way)” button 320, an “automatic priority setting” button is displayed, and when a click operation of the button is detected, FIG. A dialog box 331 shown in FIG. 17A may be displayed.

  Referring to FIG. 17A, in the dialog box 331, a recommended combination pattern whose priority is determined to be first is first displayed as a priority setting candidate. For example, in FIG. 17A, a combination of “Internet Gateway Device” and “Media Renderer” is displayed as a priority setting candidate. In addition, the friendly names of the respective devices are displayed in the list sections 332 and 335 in the same manner as in FIG. 14A, and the corresponding device icons 334 and 337 are displayed in the lower portions as in FIG. 14A. Is displayed.

  When the setting PC 211 detects a click operation of the “next candidate” button 340, the setting PC 211 updates the display of the dialog box 331 to the recommended combination pattern whose priority is determined to be the second place. Thereby, for example, a combination of devices as shown in FIG. 17B is displayed.

  When the setting PC 211 detects the click operation of the selection units 333 and 336, the setting PC 211 drops the list shown in FIG. 14B below the list units 332 and 335 corresponding to the selection units 333 and 336 where the click operation is detected. A down list 320 is displayed. Accordingly, the user selects a device with a combination other than the recommended combination pattern in the same procedure as the case of “priority setting (bidirectional)” described with reference to FIGS. 14A and 14B. Transmission priority can be set.

  As described above, a recommended combination pattern that is effective when QoS is set is displayed in the dialog box, so that the user can easily set a desired QoS.

  For example, if there is a router and a network-compatible TV on the network, a dialog box or the like is displayed to select the two devices and prompt the user to set QoS. According to this display, if priority control is performed between the router and the network compatible TV, the user can watch the video data on the Internet on the network compatible TV without being affected by other traffic as much as possible. it can.

  In addition, when there are a plurality of recommended combination patterns, recommended combination patterns are displayed as setting candidates in order from the one determined to have a high setting effect, so the user can easily find a combination of devices having a higher setting effect. Can do.

  The recommended combination pattern is not searched using the network map data created in the third processing procedure, but is referred to the data linked in the third processing procedure (stored in S305 and S307). A recommended combination pattern may be searched. In this case, it is not essential to create a network map in the second embodiment.

  That is, in the second embodiment, the recommended combination pattern may be simply displayed on the screen without creating the network map and, therefore, without displaying the network map on the screen. For example, the dialog box 331 shown in FIG. 17A is displayed on the priority setting screen, and the network map and the “automatic priority setting” button shown in FIG. 3 are not displayed. Good.

  The setting PC 211 may display one recommended combination pattern determined to have the highest setting effect in the dialog box 331 and not display the “next candidate” button 340. Alternatively, the selection units 333 and 336 may not be displayed in the dialog box 331, and the user may select only the recommended combination pattern.

  Alternatively, in FIG. 17, the case of “automatic priority setting” for “bidirectional” has been described, but instead, the setting PC 211 may perform “automatic priority setting” for “one-way”. Good. Alternatively, the setting PC 211 searches for a recommended combination pattern for each “bidirectional” and “one-way”, displays the search result for each “bidirectional” and “one-way” in the dialog box 331, and is selected by the user. You may be able to do it.

  Alternatively, the setting PC 211 simply displays the recommended combination patterns on the screen without using the dialog box 331 when displaying the recommended combination patterns, and when a click operation on any of the patterns is detected, The setting process may be executed for the recommended combination pattern.

[Embodiment 3]
The third embodiment is a modification of the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the recommended combination pattern is presented to the user as a selection candidate, and finally QoS is set according to the user's judgment. In the third embodiment, when the setting PC 211 finds a recommended combination pattern, QoS is automatically set for the first candidate (without waiting for the user's selection operation).

  FIG. 16B is a flowchart for explaining a fourth processing procedure 2 according to the third embodiment. In order to realize the third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 16B, S401 to S403 are executed in the same manner as the fourth processing procedure described as the second embodiment (see FIG. 16A). After that, the recommended combination pattern with the highest priority is identified (S411). Subsequently, QoS is automatically set for the specified recommended combination pattern (S412).

  As a user operation, only an application is started on the setting PC 211, and other operations are not required. Therefore, according to the third embodiment, the user can set a desired QoS with a minimum necessary operation.

  In the third embodiment, for example, after displaying a network map as shown in FIG. 3, the combination of devices automatically set with QoS is displayed in a manner different from other devices so that the user can recognize the combination. It is possible. For example, it is conceivable that the color of the icon of the device for which QoS is set is different from the color of the icon of another device.

  Alternatively, the combination of devices automatically set with QoS may be displayed in a window separate from the network map. Alternatively, instead of displaying a network map as shown in FIG. 3, a combination of devices automatically set with QoS may be displayed on the screen.

  It should be noted that the various examples and modifications exemplified when describing the second embodiment are all applied to the third embodiment, except for whether the setting is automatic setting or manual setting. However, the description of the embodiment and the modified example is not repeated here.

[Embodiment 4]
In the fourth embodiment, an example will be described in which various processes of the setting PC 211 described using the first to third embodiments are realized as part of the WEB server function of the communication apparatus. FIG. 18 shows an example of a home network in “Embodiment 4”. The home network shown in FIG. 18 is connected to a router 212 with a built-in communication device integrated with the router 202 and the communication device A 204 instead of the router 202 and the communication device A 204 in FIG. Other than that, there is no difference between FIG. 18 and FIG.

  FIG. 19 illustrates a setting mechanism according to the fourth embodiment. Reference numeral 401 denotes a setting screen displayed on the setting PC 211 when the Internet browsing software is started. Reference numeral 402 denotes a functional image of the communication device built-in router 212.

  The WEB server 403 of the communication device built-in router 212 has a function of displaying a QoS setting screen for setting a QoS by specifying a communication device from a plurality of communication devices connected to the network as one function. .

  The communication device built-in router 212 is provided with a WEB server function for setting itself, like a general router. This WEB server function can execute a program called CGI (Common Gateway Interface) 404. The CGI 404 performs predetermined processing on the WEB server 403 and creates a dynamic page according to the result. The setting of the communication device built-in router 212 itself can be rewritten by the CGI 404 program. As shown in the functional image 402 of FIG. 19, the WEB server 403 and the CGI 402 exchange data with standard input and standard output.

  The user activates the Internet browsing software installed in the setting PC 211 and connects to the WEB server of the communication device built-in router 212. Specifically, for example, if the IP address of the communication device built-in router 212 is “192.168.11.1”, the connection is made by “http://192.168.11.1”. Thereby, a setting screen 401 as shown in FIG. 19 is displayed.

  From the setting screen 401, the user clicks a target page, inputs a character into a text field, or performs a button operation. The WEB server function of the communication device built-in router 212 detects these user operations and executes CGI. As the CGI, a plurality of types of CGI 404 having different programs depending on applications are prepared.

  When the user performs an operation to open the QoS setting screen from the setting screen 401 (click “priority setting” on the screen 401), the corresponding CGI 404 is executed, and the procedure described in the “first embodiment” is executed. For example, a screen as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed.

  Henceforth, all Embodiment 1 is realizable by the WEB server function and CGI404 in the communication apparatus built-in router 212. FIG. Similarly, the second to fourth embodiments can be realized by the WEB server function and the CGI 404 in the communication device built-in router 212. Since these descriptions overlap with those of the first to fourth embodiments, the description thereof will not be repeated here.

  For the communication device built-in router 212, the local communication device corresponds to the communication device built in the communication device built-in router 212. Remote communication devices correspond to the communication device B205 and the communication device C206. The IP address on the LAN side of the communication device built-in router 212 is used as the transmission source IP address. Since the communication device built-in router 212 has an IP address, it is possible to search for UPnP-compatible devices.

  In each of the above embodiments, as an example of a “computer” connected to a network together with a plurality of communication devices (devices as terminal devices such as a television, a PC, a printer, a NAS, and a recorder) The built-in router 212 is illustrated.

  However, the concept of “computer” is not limited to a single PC, but also includes “a plurality of computers distributedly connected to a network”. That is, a plurality of computers distributedly connected to the network may perform processing by sharing a plurality of processing procedures of applications installed on the PC 211. In this case, the system may be configured so that the processing result of one of the plurality of computers is transmitted to another computer that needs it for the sharing process.

  In the present invention, priority is set higher for devices belonging to “video” and “voice”, which have higher priority than “best effort”, but not limited to this, priority is given to “best effort”. The priority may be set low for devices belonging to the “background” with a low degree. Here, a device belonging to “background” is a device that can be operated even if it is transmitted with a lower priority than a normal device. For example, a backup device.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

It is a figure which shows the example of a home network. It is a block diagram showing the hardware constitutions of setting PC. It is a figure which shows the screen for QoS setting. It is a figure which shows the example of a format of an MME packet. It is a flowchart for demonstrating a 1st process sequence. It is a flowchart for demonstrating a 2nd process sequence. It is a figure which shows the example of an SSDP discovery packet and an SSDP discovery response packet. It is a figure which shows the example of a device information acquisition packet and a device information acquisition response packet. It is a figure which shows the example of a device information acquisition response packet (XML format). It is a figure which shows the example of an SNMP GET-REQUEST packet. It is a figure which shows the example of an SNMP GET-RESPONSE packet. It is a figure which shows the example of an ARP table. It is a flowchart for demonstrating a 3rd process sequence. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of priority setting (bidirectional). It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of priority setting (one direction). It is a flowchart for demonstrating a 4th process sequence. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of automatic priority setting. It is a figure which shows the example (the 2) of a home network. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure which performs priority setting using a WEB server function. It is a figure which shows the example of the priority mapping of a prior art. It is a figure which shows the example of the flow identification information of a prior art. It is a figure which shows the example of a priority setting according to the physical port of a prior art. It is a figure which shows the example of designation | designated of QoS (transmission conditions) of a prior art. It is a figure which shows the example (wireless LAN apparatus) of the QoS setting method of a prior art. It is a figure which shows the example (PLC adapter) of the QoS setting method of a prior art. It is a figure which shows the example of the network map of a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

  202 router, 204-206 communication device, 211 setting PC, 311, 321, 331 dialog box, 212 router with built-in communication device.

Claims (9)

First processing means for obtaining physical addresses of a plurality of communication devices connected to the network using a first search protocol;
Using a second search protocol, second processing means for acquiring the IP address of each of the plurality of communication devices and device specifying information for specifying each device ;
Association data creating means for creating association data in which the physical address, the IP address, and the device identification information are associated with each communication device;
A communication device whose transmission priority is to be set based on at least one of the physical address, the IP address, and the device identification information of the plurality of communication devices acquired using the first and second search protocols. Discriminating means for discriminating ;
Targeting a communication device whose transmission priority is determined to be set by the determination means, a transmission priority is set for traffic whose source or destination is the physical address of the communication device included in the associated data. A transmission priority setting device , including transmission priority setting means for setting. As a target communication devices that are different effect-size should set the transmission priority, further automatic setting means for automatically setting the transmission priority for traffic the physical address of the communication device as the transmission source or transmission destination The transmission priority setting device according to claim 1, further comprising: Before SL based on the association data, a network map creation means for creating a network map that includes at least one of said physical address and said IP address and the device identification information,
From among the communication devices included in the network map, and a reception unit for accepting a selection operation for selecting a communication device for setting a transmission priority,
Said transmission priority setting unit, the reception unit to set the transmission priority based on the selection operation accepted, transmission priority setting device according to claim 1. It said second processing means uses a plurality of kinds of search protocol as the second search protocol, and acquires the device identification information, transmission priority setting device according to any one of claims 1-3. A transmission priority setting method for setting transmission priority using a computer connected to a network together with a plurality of communication devices,
Obtaining a physical address of each of a plurality of communication devices connected to the network using a first search protocol;
Using a second search protocol, a computer obtaining device specifying information for specifying each IP address and each device of the plurality of communication devices;
A computer creating correspondence data in which the physical address, the IP address, and the device identification information are associated with each communication device;
Communication in which a computer should set a transmission priority based on at least one of physical addresses, IP addresses, and device identification information of the plurality of communication devices acquired using the first and second search protocols A step of identifying the device ;
For a communication device for which it is determined that a transmission priority should be set, the computer sets a transmission priority for traffic whose source or destination is the physical address of the communication device included in the association data. A transmission priority setting method. As a target communication devices that are different effect-size should set the transmission priority, further the step of computer for traffic the physical address of the communication device as the transmission source or destination is automatically set the transmission priority The transmission priority setting method according to claim 5 , further comprising: Before SL based on association data, the method comprising the network map computer creates comprising at least one of said physical address and said IP address and the device identification information,
A step of accepting a selection operation for selecting a communication device for setting a transmission priority from among the communication devices included in the network map;
The transmission priority setting method according to claim 5 , further comprising a step in which a computer sets a transmission priority based on an accepted selection operation. In the step of acquiring the device identification information, by using a plurality of kinds of search protocol as the second search protocol, and acquires the device identification information, transmission priority setting method according to any one of claims 5-7 . To execute each step in the computer in the transmission priority setting method according to any one of claims 5-8, the transmission priority setting program.

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