JP7105829B2 - Management device, communication system, management method and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a management apparatus, a communication system, a management method, and a program for managing managed information of a user device such as a home appliance that does not require communication with the outside via a communication network for the device's original function. .

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been known a smart home appliance in which a home appliance is equipped with a communication unit that enables communication over the Internet (IP network) so that the home appliance can communicate over the Internet. For example, in Patent Document 1, a washing machine, which is a home appliance, is connected to the Internet via a wireless LAN access point installed at home, and data is transmitted from the washing machine to a server (management device) via the Internet. A communication system is disclosed. In this communication system, diagnostic data (managed information) such as motor operating rate data, power data, temperature data, etc. of the washing machine is transmitted to a server (management device) and managed by the server.

JP 2014-50711 A

In conventional smart home appliances, the user who uses the home appliance himself or herself performs initial setting work for the home appliance in order to connect to the Internet so that the home appliance, such as a washing machine, and the management device can communicate with each other via the Internet. It is necessary to perform initial setting work for communication relay devices such as wireless LAN access points.

A management device according to an aspect of the present invention is a management device that manages managed information of a user device that does not require communication with the outside via a communication network for the device's original function, and Device communication for communicating with a mobile communication unit of the user device equipped with a mobile communication unit that executes automatic connection processing to a mobile communication network based on terminal identification information in mobile communication, via the mobile communication network. and a processing unit that executes processing using the managed information of the user device received by the device communication unit.
In the management device, the device communication unit may communicate with the mobile communication unit of the user device by low power consumption wide area communication via the mobile communication network.
Further, in the management apparatus, the low power consumption wide area communication may be non-IP communication that performs communication without using IP (Internet Protocol).
Further, in the management device, the non-IP communication may be communication conforming to NIDD (Non-IP Data Delivery).
Further, in the management device, the information to be managed includes at least one of identification information of the user device, device manufacturing information, device status information, failure type information, and location information obtainable by the cellular mobile communication. may contain.
Further, in the management device, the device communication unit may transmit control information of the user device to the user device.
Further, the management device may include an external communication unit capable of communicating with an external information storage device, and the processing unit communicates with other managed information related to the user device based on the managed information of the user device. A process of acquiring information from the information storage device by the external communication unit may be executed.
Further, in the management device, the other managed information may include user information of the user device.
Further, the management device may include an external communication unit capable of communicating with an external information destination device, and the processing unit transmits the managed information to the information destination device by the external communication unit. processing may be performed.

Further, in a communication system according to another aspect of the present invention, a communication unit is installed in a user device that does not require communication with the outside via a communication network for the original function of the device, and communication between the user device and the management device is performed. wherein the communication unit of the user device executes automatic connection processing to the mobile communication network based on the assigned terminal identification information in the cellular mobile communication, and the mobile communication A mobile communication unit communicable with the management device via a network, wherein the management device is the management device described above.

In addition, a user device according to still another aspect of the present invention is equipped with a communication unit that does not require communication with the outside via a communication network for the original function of the device, and can communicate with the management device. wherein the communication unit executes automatic connection processing to a mobile communication network based on the assigned terminal identification information in cellular mobile communication, and the management device via the mobile communication network a mobile communication unit capable of communicating with a mobile communication unit that transmits managed information of the user equipment to the management device.

A management method according to still another aspect of the present invention enables communication between a communication unit installed in a user device that does not require communication with the outside via a communication network for the original function of the device and a management device. and managing managed information of the user equipment by the management device, wherein the communication unit performs automatic connection processing to a mobile communication network based on assigned terminal identification information in cellular mobile communication. a mobile communication unit capable of communicating with the management device via the mobile communication network, wherein the management device communicates with the mobile communication unit of the user device via the mobile communication network; receiving managed information of the user device from the user device; and performing a process using the managed information of the user device by the management device.

Further, a program according to still another aspect of the present invention is a program that causes a computer of a management device that manages information to be managed by a user device that does not require communication with the outside via a communication network for the original function of the device to function. between the mobile communication unit of the user device equipped with a mobile communication unit that executes automatic connection processing to the mobile communication network based on the assigned terminal identification information in cellular mobile communication, and the mobile communication unit The computer functions as a device communication unit that communicates via a communication network, and a processing unit that executes processing using the managed information of the user device received by the device communication unit.

According to the present invention, communication can be established between a user device used by a user and a management device, and managed information of the device can be managed by the management device without requiring initial setting work by the user.

1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a communication system according to an embodiment; FIG. Explanatory drawing which shows the more detailed structure of the same communication system. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing for registering managed information related to home electric appliances in the management DB of the management server in the same communication system; FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing for transmitting control information from the management server to the home appliance in the same communication system;

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
Information management targets in this embodiment are user devices that do not require communication with the outside via a communication network for their original functions. Examples of user equipment include household appliances (home appliances) such as washing machines, refrigerators, microwave ovens, rice cookers, air conditioners, lighting fixtures, and clocks; store equipment such as cash registers and product storage; office equipment such as calculators and shredders; Equipment, vehicle-mounted equipment mounted on a moving body such as an automobile, and the like can be mentioned. The mobile object may be a mobile object that moves on the ground such as an automobile, a mobile object that moves in the air such as a drone, or a mobile object such as a ship that moves on water such as the sea. good. In addition, the mobile body may be a vehicle such as a vehicle with four or more wheels, a tricycle, a two-wheeled vehicle (motorcycle, bicycle), a truck, a bus, a private car, a business vehicle, and the like.

In this embodiment, home electric appliances placed in homes are taken as examples of user devices, and a management device communicates with a mobile communication unit installed in the electric home appliances via a mobile communication network to obtain managed information of the electric home appliances. A communication system to be managed will be described. The communication system of the present embodiment is a platform that collects and manages managed information of a plurality of home appliances via a cellular mobile communication network (for example, home appliances and cellular IoT communication modules (for example, NIDD communication modules) It is possible to build a “home appliance IoT cooperation platform”) in cooperation with.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a communication system according to this embodiment.
The communication system of the present embodiment mainly includes one or more home appliances 10A and 10B (hereinafter also referred to as "home appliances 10" unless otherwise distinguished) and a management server 100. FIG. A mobile communication unit for communicating with the management server 100 via the mobile communication network 1 is installed in the home appliance 10 of the present embodiment. The home appliance 10 transmits managed information stored in the home appliance 10 to the management server 100 or receives control information from the management server 100 via the mobile communication network 1 by the mobile communication unit. It can be used for controlling the home appliance 10 .

In this embodiment, the managed information received from the home appliances 10A and 10B via the mobile communication network 1 and managed by the management server 100 is not particularly limited as long as it is information stored in the home appliances 10A and 10B. . Specific examples of information to be managed include identification information of home appliances 10A and 10B (identification information such as serial numbers and product numbers unique to individual products), device manufacturing information (product type, manufacturing date, model number, lot number, etc.). ), device status information (operating status (operating or resting, etc.), power status (power ON or power OFF), presence or absence of abnormality, etc.), failure type information (failure type, failure cause location, failure degree, etc.) , location information (such as base station identification information for identifying the base station of the mobile communication network 1 to which the mobile communication unit is connected) that can be acquired by mobile communication.

In addition, the management server 100 of this communication system receives other information to be managed regarding the home electric appliances 10A and 10B from an external information storage device via the IP network 2, and sends information to an external information providing destination device. , 10B can be provided. The information storage device is not particularly limited as long as it is an external device that stores information on home electric appliances 10A and 10B and can communicate with management server 100 . Further, the information provision destination device requests managed information (including the other managed information acquired from the information storage device) of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B managed by the management server 100, and the management server 100 There is no particular limitation as long as it is an external device that can communicate with.

In this embodiment, as an example of the information storage device, the customer management server 200 of the product distributor who sells the home electric appliance 10A is taken as an example. In this example, the other information to be managed includes, for example, user information owned by the product seller regarding the user who purchased the home appliance 10A. The user information includes, for example, personal information such as the name, address, contact information, and purchase history of the user who purchased the home appliance 10A, attribute information such as age and gender of the user, and other information related to the user. Of course, other than such user information, other information related to the home appliance 10A can also be used as other managed information.

In this embodiment, as an example of the information provision destination device, a customer service terminal (CS terminal) 300, which is a terminal device such as a personal computer or a tablet terminal used by a maintenance company who performs maintenance of the home appliance 10A, is taken as an example. . In this example, the information to be managed provided to the CS terminal 300 includes, for example, device manufacturing information, device status information, failure type information, location obtainable by mobile communication, and information on the home appliance 10A for which a repair request has been made by the user. information, user information, and the like. For example, the maintenance company who received the repair request can determine whether the cause of the failure is known based on the device manufacturing information, or not due to a user's operation error (forgetting to turn on the power, etc.) rather than a failure based on the device status information. identify the cause of the failure before going to the site based on the failure type information and prepare necessary replacement parts, etc., select and dispatch the nearest repair worker based on the location information Also, based on the user information, it is possible to check the user's attribute information such as age and gender.

Further, in this embodiment, as an example of the information provision destination device, the manufacturer terminal 400, which is a terminal device such as a personal computer or a tablet terminal used by the manufacturer (manufacturer) who manufactured the home electric appliances 10A and 10B, is taken as an example. In this example, the information to be managed provided to the manufacturer terminal 400 includes, for example, device manufacturing information, device status information, failure type information, location information, user information, and the like regarding the home electric appliances 10A and 10B manufactured by the manufacturer. is mentioned. For example, the manufacturer analyzes the manufacturing factory and the manufacturing period with many failures based on the equipment manufacturing information, grasps the actual product operating rate based on the equipment status information, and determines the occurrence of failures based on the failure type information. You can analyze the cause, understand the regional distribution of products based on location information, and check user attribute information such as age and gender based on user information.

Further, in this embodiment, as an example of the information provision destination device, the trader server 500 of a second-hand trader who has purchased the home electric appliances 10A and 10B from the user or an intermediary trader such as interpersonal trade is taken as an example. In this example, the information to be managed provided to the trader server 500 includes, for example, identification information and user information about the electrical appliances 10A and 10B to be traded by the second-hand trader or broker. For example, the trader determines whether or not the product is genuine based on the identification information, or confirms the warranty period and warranty details of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B by confirming the purchase date and purchase store based on the user information. can do.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a more detailed configuration of the communication system of this embodiment.
The mobile communication network 1 that constitutes the communication system of the present embodiment mainly includes one or more base stations 20 that wirelessly communicate with home appliances 10A and 10B, an MME (Mobility Management Entity) 40, and an SCEF (Service Capability Exposure Function) 50. The management server 100 includes an SCS (Service Capability Server) 120 for communicating with the SCEF 50 .

Facilities within the mobile communication network 1 such as the base station 20, the MME 40, and the SCEF 50 may be managed and operated by the mobile communication carrier of the mobile communication network 1, for example. In FIG. 2, management server 100 is shown as equipment within mobile communication network 1, but may be equipment outside mobile communication network 1. FIG. Also, in FIG. 2, only two home appliances 10 are shown for convenience of illustration, but the number of home appliances 10 may be three or more.

Each home appliance 10 of this embodiment has at least a mobile communication unit 12 and a control unit 13, and has a display unit 11, an operation unit 14, and an operation unit 15 according to the functions of the home appliance 10. FIG. For example, if the home appliance 10 is a washing machine, the display unit 11 includes a display panel and the like, and the operation unit 14 includes a control processor such as a microcomputer, a motor for driving the washing tub, a water supply valve and a drain valve, and the like. The unit 15 includes operation buttons and the like. If the home appliance 10 is a vacuum cleaner, the display unit 11 is provided with a display lamp, etc., the operation unit 14 is provided with a control processor, a suction motor, etc., and the operation unit 15 is provided with operation buttons and the like. If the home appliance 10 is a refrigerator, for example, it does not have the display unit 11, but has a control processor, a compressor, etc. as the operation unit 14, and operation buttons, etc. as the operation unit 15. FIG.

Although the display unit 11 differs depending on the type of the home appliance 10, for example, it may be a display unit that lights and blinks like a lamp, or a display unit that displays an image like a liquid crystal display. good. Further, depending on the type of home appliance 10, the display unit 11 may not be provided.

The mobile communication unit 12 is a communication unit for mobile communication, also called a mobile station, and functions as communication means for communicating via the mobile communication network 1. It performs high frequency signal processing for wireless communication with the base station 20 of the communication network. This mobile communication unit 12 is configured as, for example, a communication module. The home electric appliances 10A and 10B can be connected to the mobile communication network 1 side by performing wireless communication with the base station 20 by a predetermined wireless communication method by the mobile communication unit 12, and can be connected to the mobile communication network 1 with low consumption. Communication can be performed by, for example, the NIDD (Non-IP Data Delivery) communication method belonging to the LPWA (Low Power, Wide Area) communication technology, which is a power wide area communication technology.

The mobile communication unit 12 uses Cat. M and Cat. Other communication methods belonging to the LPWA communication technology such as NB may be adopted. In addition, Cat. M is 3GPP Cat. M, Cat. It is a wireless communication system conforming to the M1, LTE-M or eMTC specifications, the frequency bandwidth is limited to, for example, 1.4 MHz, and supports a coverage extension of approximately 15 dB and a maximum communication speed (throughput) of 1 Mbps (uplink). ing. Also, Cat. NB is 3GPP Cat. It is a wireless communication method that conforms to the specifications of NB or NB-IoT, and the frequency bandwidth is limited to a narrow band of, for example, 200 kHz, and supports a coverage extension of about 23 dB and a maximum communication speed (throughput) of 63 kbps (uplink). there is

The mobile communication unit 12 may have a function of performing communication using IP (Internet Protocol) via the mobile communication network 1 like a normal mobile station. However, in this case, it is necessary to mount a processing module for IP communication, which increases the parts cost and manufacturing cost of the mobile communication unit 12 . Since the mobile communication unit 12 of the present embodiment is installed in a large number of home electric appliances 10 on the market, the mobile communication unit 12 of the present embodiment is necessary and sufficient for communication of the NIDD communication system belonging to the LPWA communication technology described above. In terms of cost, it is preferable to have only the functions necessary for this communication and exclude other functions such as IP communication that are not necessary for this communication.

As a result, in the present embodiment, communication between the home appliance 10 and the management server 100 is limited to communication using the NIDD communication method, so the amount of data that can be exchanged at one time is small, and the frequency of information exchange is low. is small. Therefore, the managed information transmitted from the home appliance 10 to the management server 100 has a small amount of data, such as the above-described home appliance identification information, device manufacturing information, device status information, failure type information, and location information. Information is selected. Similarly, for the control information transmitted from the management server 100 to the home appliance 10, control information within a controllable range with a small amount of data is selected, such as a reset control signal and firmware update data.

In addition, the position information of home appliances can be obtained by using the "Monitoring Event API" standardized in the NIDD communication method, without installing a positioning device such as a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) device in the home appliances. It is possible to grasp the position of Since this API can transmit information such as base station information (ECGI, etc.) and active states managed by the mobile communication network side to the management server 100 side, it is possible to obtain information such as the survival status and connection area of the communication modules of home appliances in advance. can be grasped, and the management server 100 side can grasp the state in more detail.

In addition, with the NIDD communication method, it is possible to change the data transmission destination from the management server 100 without modifying the communication module installed in the home appliance. The configuration facilitates maintenance on the side.

The control unit 13 controls operations of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B. The control unit 13 includes, for example, an MPU (micro processing unit), a RAM, a ROM, etc., although it differs depending on the type of the home appliance 10 and the like. By executing a program such as predetermined firmware, the control unit 13, for example, transmits information to be managed from the mobile communication unit 12 to the management server 100 via the mobile communication network 1, or transmits information from the management server 100 to the mobile communication network. The display unit 11, the operation unit 14, and the like are controlled based on the control information received by the mobile communication unit 12 via the mobile communication unit 1.

The operation unit 14 is a portion that operates the home electric appliances 10A and 10B, and particularly includes an operation portion that allows the control unit 13 to detect failures and abnormalities. The operation unit 14 includes not only a drive portion that physically drives, but also a circuit portion such as a control processor such as a microcomputer. It should be noted that, depending on the type of home appliance 10, etc., it is conceivable that the operating unit 14 is not included.

The operation unit 15 receives operations by a user or the like, and may be a touch panel incorporated in the display unit 11, or may be various operation keys, operation switches, operation buttons, and the like. It should be noted that, depending on the type of home appliance 10, etc., it is conceivable that the operation unit 15 is not included.

In addition, the base station 20 constitutes a radio access network (RAN), and is also called eNodeB, gNodeB, etc., or is called a macro cell base station, small cell base station, etc. depending on the size of the cell it forms. do. The base station 20 includes, for example, a radio unit (RRH) that transmits and receives radio signals and a baseband unit (BBU) that performs digital baseband signal processing. For example, the RRH converts the digital baseband signal received from the BBU into an RF signal, power-amplifies it to a predetermined signal level, and transmits it to the home appliances 10A and 10B. Also, the RRH converts the RF signal received from the mobile communication unit 12 of the home appliance 10A, 10B into a digital baseband signal and transmits the digital baseband signal to the BBU.

A core network included in the mobile communication network 1 is also called an EPC (Evolved Packet Core) in LTE/LTE-Advanced, for example, and is connected to a base station 20 via a predetermined communication interface. The core network also has various nodes such as MME 40 and SCEF 50 . The core network may have other nodes such as PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function).

The MME 40 is a node that accommodates the base station 20 and performs radio communication network control, mobility control, handover control, user authentication control, and the like. Based on the user registration information, the MME 40 transfers data transmitted via the base station 20 to the SCEF 50 that performs NIDD data transfer, which will be described later. It transfers information such as data and reception requests to the base station 20 . The MME 40 also has a function of collecting and storing information such as communication log information and communication control parameters for each of the home appliances 10A and 10B and the base station 20 .

The SCEF 50 is a node with interfaces for providing some of the 3GPP communication services to third party application providers. The SCEF 50 performs transfer processing for data transmission/reception between the home electric appliances 10A and 10B by the later-described NIDD. The SCEF 50 may create communication usage data (for example, CDR) for accounting for data transmission/reception with the home electric appliances 10A and 10B by NIDD.

In addition, in the present embodiment, information such as notification of data communication timing of regular communication in which the home appliances 10A and 10B perform data communication at predetermined data communication timings is sent from the home appliances 10A and 10B to the SCEF 50 via the control channel, for example. be done.

In order to reduce power consumption, the mobile communication units 12 of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B may suspend power supply to some circuits and put them into a sleep state when waiting for an incoming call. The mobile communication unit 12 of the home appliance 10A, 10B receives a reception request to be described later when waiting for an incoming call, supplies power to the entire circuit using the reception as a trigger, starts a predetermined application, and receives data to be received ( Control information from the management server 100, etc.) may be received, and control may be performed to return to the sleep state when data reception is completed.

Further, in the present embodiment, communication status information indicating the communication status with the home appliances 10A, 10B is transferred from the home appliances 10A, 10B and the base station 20 to the SCEF 50 via the MME 40 . The communication status information includes, for example, information such as communication log information and communication control parameters of the home appliances 10A and 10B and the base station 20, setting information of data communication timing set in the mobile communication units 12 of the home appliances 10A and 10B, and the like. is.

A communication system constituting the communication system of this embodiment supports NIDD (Non-IP Data Delivery). NIDD is a function defined in the 3GPP standards (see, for example, TS23.401 V15.4.0 (2018-06), TS23.682 V15.5.0 (2018-06)), and uses IP. Since it is a non-IP communication that communicates without communication, the mobile communication unit 12 installed in various devices such as the home appliances 10A and 10B can transfer data without operating the IP stack or obtaining an IP address. is. By using this NIDD, attacks from an IP network using IP can be reduced and secure data transfer becomes possible, and the amount of transmission data for transferring the same amount of information in the mobile communication network 1 can be reduced.

In order to reduce the data processing load in the mobile communication network 1 , an MEC (Mobile Edge Computing) server that performs part of the data processing in the mobile communication network 1 may be provided inside or near the base station 20 . The MEC server may have, for example, a function of managing data transmission timings to the home electric appliances 10A and 10B located in the cell of the base station 20 corresponding to that server.

Also, the communication system of the present embodiment supports extended coverage (CE) of category M1 (eMTC) and category NB1 (NB-IoT) so that the home appliances 10A and 10B can communicate in the IoT communication mode.

The IoT communication mode is a communication mode for performing IoT communication with the base station 20, for example, a communication mode conforming to the LTE-Advanced Pro eMTC or NB-IoT standard (see Non-Patent Document 1), or , is a communication mode of Massive Machine-Type Communications (5G mMTC: Massive Machine-Type Communications) proposed for 5th generation mobile communications.

The broadband communication mode is a communication mode in which broadband communication is performed with the base station 20 in a broadband communication area narrower than the IoT communication area in which communication is possible in the IoT communication mode. ), a communication mode conforming to the LTE, LTE-Advanced or LTE-Advanced Pro standards, or a communication mode of a new radio access technology (5G (New Radio)) proposed for the fifth generation mobile communication. .

When using NIDD in next-generation mobile communication such as the fifth generation, for example, instead of the above-mentioned SCEF 50, NEF (Network Exposure Function) is used instead of the above-mentioned SCEF 50, and the above-mentioned SCS 120 and customer management server 200 or the like may be configured to use AF (Application Function) instead of AS (Application Server). replaces the AS (Application Server) such as the SCS 120 and the customer management server 200 described above.

The communication system including the home appliances 10A and 10B of the present embodiment may support both the broadband communication mode and the IoT communication mode, or may support only the IoT communication mode. may

Further, in the communication system of the present embodiment, data transmission from the management server 100 to the mobile communication units 12 of the home appliances 10A and 10B is push communication (the mobile communication units 12 receive the data without transmitting a data acquisition request). communication method). According to such push communication, control information can be transmitted to the home electric appliances 10A and 10B at a time desired by the management server 100 side.

However, in order to reduce power consumption, the mobile communication units 12 of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B are in a communication disabled state at communication disabled timings that are not predetermined data communication timings. Therefore, even if data is transmitted (push communication) to the mobile communication units 12 of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B at the communication disabled timing, the data will not be delivered.

Regarding this point, in this embodiment, since the data communication timing is managed by the SCEF 50 or the like, there is data transmission (push communication) from the management server 100 to the mobile communication unit 12 of the home appliance 10A, 10B at the communication disabled timing. If so, the SCEF 50 temporarily holds the data. Then, at a predetermined data communication timing, the SCEF 50 transmits the data to the mobile communication units 12 of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B.

Also, even at the predetermined data communication timing, the mobile communication units 12 of the home appliances 10A and 10B cannot communicate with the base station 20, such as when the power of the home appliances 10A and 10B is turned off. If there is, the data will not be delivered. In such a case, in this embodiment, the MME 40 monitors the communication status between the mobile communication units 12 of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B and the base station 20, so if there is data transmission to the mobile communication units 12, , the MME 40 notifies the SCEF 50 that communication with the mobile communication unit 12 is not possible. As a result, the SCEF 50 temporarily holds the data, and when receiving a notification from the MME 40 that communication with the mobile communication unit 12 is possible, the SCEF 50 transfers the data to the home appliance via the MME 40 . It is transmitted to the mobile communication units 12 of 10A and 10B.

Next, the configuration of the management server 100 of this embodiment will be described.
The management server 100 functions as a management device that receives managed information transmitted from the mobile communication units 12 of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B belonging to the communication system via the mobile communication network 1, and manages and processes the information. have The management server 100 includes a control unit 110, an SCS 120, a management database (DB) 130, and an I/F 140 for IP, as shown in FIG.

The control unit 110 executes various controls and data processing for performing the functions of the management server 100 . Specifically, the control unit 110 acquires, for example, managed information transmitted from the mobile communication units 12 of the home appliances 10A and 10B by the NIDD communication method via the SCS 120, and acquires the acquired managed information (product identification information, device manufacturing information, device state information, failure type information, location information, etc.) are stored in the management DB 130 and managed.

In addition, the control unit 110 provides the customer management server 200 of the product retailer with other managed information (user information, etc.) related to the home appliances 10A, 10B based on the managed information from the home appliances 10A, 10B. is transmitted from the I/F 140 for IP. Then, when other managed information transmitted from the customer management server 200 is received by the I/F 140 for IP as a response to this acquisition request, the other managed information (user information, etc.) is transferred to the home electric appliances 10A, 10B. Then, the management information is stored in the management DB 130 and managed in association with the information to be managed.

Further, when the IP I/F 140 receives an acquisition request for managed information transmitted from the CS terminal 300 of the maintenance company, the control unit 110 receives the managed information related to the acquisition request (product identification information, equipment manufacturing information, equipment status information, failure type information, location information, user information, etc.) is read from the management DB 130 and transmitted to the CS terminal 300 via the I/F 140 for IP.

Further, when the control unit 110 receives a managed information acquisition request transmitted from the manufacturer terminal 400 of the manufacturer through the IP I/F 140, the control unit 110 receives the managed information related to the acquisition request (product identification information, device manufacturing information, equipment status information, failure type information, location information, user information, etc.) is read from the management DB 130 and transmitted to the manufacturer terminal 400 via the I/F 140 for IP.

Further, when the IP I/F 140 receives a managed information acquisition request transmitted from the trader server 500 of the second-hand dealer or the brokerage firm, the control unit 110 receives the managed information related to the acquisition request (product identification information). , device manufacturing information, device state information, failure type information, location information, user information, etc.) are read from the management DB 130 and transmitted to the trader server 500 via the I/F 140 for IP.

It should be noted that high security is desired for the managed information transmitted from the home appliances 10A and 10B and the control information transmitted to the home appliances 10A and 10B. Therefore, it is effective to use the NIDD communication method with high security. is. As described above, the NIDD communication method supported by the communication system of the present embodiment is a communication technology that does not use IP and does not require an IP address. Secure communication is possible. In addition, by using the NIDD communication method in this way, it is possible to ensure sufficient security without taking other security measures such as encrypted communication. Therefore, the amount of data to be transmitted for transferring the same amount of information can be reduced.

The SCS 120 is an interface for communicating with the SCEF 50 . The management server 100 and the SCEF 50 do not need to be connected by a non-IP communication method that does not use IP. security should be ensured.

The management DB 130 is a database in which various types of information used for data processing executed by the control unit 110 are registered. In the management DB 130, for example, managed information transmitted from the home electric appliances 10A and 10B and other managed information transmitted from the customer management server 200 of the product seller are stored in association with each other.

The I/F 140 for IP mainly communicates with external devices such as the customer management server 200 of the product distributor, the CS terminal 300 of the maintenance firm, the maker terminal 400 of the manufacturer, and the trader server 500 of the second-hand dealer and the brokerage firm. It is an interface for communication between These external devices 200, 300, 400, 500 and the management server 100 are connected by an IP communication method that communicates using IP, but it is desired to ensure sufficient security. Therefore, for example, authentication is performed so that only the external devices 200, 300, 400, and 500 whose communication is permitted by the client certificate can communicate with the management server 100, and encrypted communication is performed using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). Thus, sufficient security is ensured.

Next, in this communication system, a process of registering managed information related to the home electric appliances 10A and 10B in the management DB 130 of the management server 100 will be described.
FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing for registering managed information related to home electric appliances 10A and 10B in the management DB 130 of the management server 100 in the communication system of this embodiment.
In the present embodiment, the process of registering the managed information related to the home appliances 10A and 10B in the management DB 130 of the management server 100 is a device authentication step ( S100) and a DB registration step (S200) for registering related managed information in the management DB 130 of the management server 100. FIG.

In the device authentication step (S100), when the user purchases the home electric appliances 10A and 10B from the product dealer (step (1) in FIG. 1), installs the home electric appliances 10A and 10B in the user's home, and turns on the power. The mobile communication units 12 of the home appliances 10A and 10B notify the MME 40 via the base station 20 of IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) information, which is terminal identification information assigned in advance to itself (S101, S102). . The MME 40 performs an authentication process by making an inquiry to an authentication facility for confirming whether or not this IMSI has been authenticated (S103).

Here, before this authentication process, the management server 100 generates in advance a resource for communicating with the mobile communication units 12 of the home appliances 10A and 10B via the SCEF 50 in accordance with the NIDD communication method. do. At this time, the SCEF 50 issues an external-ID (hereinafter referred to as “E-ID”) authentication request to the authentication facility, and the authentication facility sends the IMSI related to the authentication process to the SCEF 50 as a response to this authentication request. return. As a result, the SCEF 50 establishes correspondence between the IMSI corresponding to the mobile communication unit 12 of the home appliance 10A, 10B to be authenticated in the device authentication step and the E-ID used for communication between the SCEF 50 and the management server 100. Executes the process of assigning and holds the corresponding correspondence.

By this pre-processing, the authentication equipment registers IMSIs in which IMSIs and E-IDs are associated with each other in the SCEF 50, that is, IMSIs that can be used as home electric appliances 10A and 10B of this communication system. Therefore, the MME 40, which has received the IMSI notification from the mobile communication unit 12 of the home appliance 10A, 10B, can authenticate whether or not this IMSI is the IMSI of the display device of this communication system by inquiring the authentication equipment. can.

MME40 will transmit the session production|generation request by a NIDD communication system to SCEF50, if the certification|authentication process of IMSI of the household appliances 10A and 10B is completed (S104). As a result, the SCEF 50 executes the process of associating the IMSI and the E-ID associated in advance with the management server 100 (S105). This enables the management server 100 to perform data communication via the SCEF 50 with the mobile communication units 12 of the home appliances 10A and 10B.

Thus, according to the present embodiment, the automatic connection processing between the mobile communication unit 12 of the home appliance 10A, 10B and the mobile communication network 1 is executed only by the user turning on the home appliance 10A, 10B. Thus, communication can be established between the management server 100 and the mobile communication units 12 of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B according to the NIDD communication method. In conventional home appliances such as smart home appliances, when communicating with a management device via a communication relay device such as a wireless LAN access point installed at home, communication between the home appliance and the management device is established. In addition, the user himself had to perform the setting work for home electric appliances and the setting work for home communication relay equipment. In contrast, in the present embodiment, communication can be established between the home electric appliances 10A and 10B and the management server 100 without bothering the user, thereby greatly improving user convenience.

In addition, when a home appliance such as a conventional smart home appliance communicates with a management device via a communication relay device such as a wireless LAN access point installed at home, setting work for the home appliance and setting work for the communication relay device are required. must be redone. According to this embodiment, the user is not forced to redo such work.

In addition, when a home appliance such as a conventional smart home appliance communicates with a management device via a communication relay device such as a wireless LAN access point installed in a home, the communication relay device must be installed in the home in the first place. , communication between the home appliances 10A and 10B and the management server 100 cannot be established. According to the present embodiment, communication between the home appliances 10A and 10B and the management server 100 can be established even without a communication relay device in the process of installing the home appliances.

Moreover, conventionally, if the user does not perform the above-described setting work, communication between the home appliance and the management device is not established, and the management device cannot manage the managed information of the home appliance. In contrast, in the present embodiment, communication between the home appliances 10A and 10B and the management server 100 is established when the user turns on the home appliances 10A and 10B to use the home appliances 10A and 10B. It becomes possible to manage the managed information of substantially all home electric appliances 10A and 10B on the market by the management device. As a result, since it is possible to collect managed information related to more products, more useful various information can be collected from the CS terminal 300 of the maintenance company, the manufacturer terminal 400 of the manufacturer, the trader server 500 of the second-hand dealer and the brokerage firm, etc. can be provided to the device to which the information is provided.

Next, the DB registration step (S200) will be described.
The home appliances 10A and 10B transmit information to be managed from the mobile communication unit 12 to the management server 100 at predetermined data communication timings (S201 to S204). As a result, the managed information transmitted from the mobile communication unit 12 of the home appliance 10A, 10B is sent to the management server 100 via the base station 20, MME 40, and SCEF 50 by the NIDD communication method (step (2)). The management server 100 causes the control unit 110 to perform a process of registering the managed information received from the home electric appliances 10A and 10B in the management DB 130 (S205).

Here, in this embodiment, the managed information transmitted by the NIDD communication method is transmitted using a control channel used for transmitting and receiving control data, and the amount of data that can be transmitted in one transmission is small. Therefore, if the amount of data of the managed information is large, it takes time to transmit the managed information to the home electric appliances 10A and 10B, and power consumption also increases. Therefore, the managed information transmitted from the home appliance 10 to the management server 100 has a small amount of data, such as the above-described home appliance identification information, device manufacturing information, device status information, failure type information, and location information. Information is selected.

In addition, the control unit 110 controls the management server 100, based on the managed information (for example, product identification information) of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B registered in the management DB 130, to the customer management server 200 of the product seller. A process of transmitting an acquisition request for other managed information (user information, etc.) related to 10A and 10B from the IP I/F 140 is performed (S206). Then, when other managed information transmitted from the customer management server 200 is received by the IP I/F 140 as a response to this acquisition request (S207) (step (3) in FIG. 1), the other managed information (user information, etc.) is associated with the information to be managed from the home appliances 10A and 10B and registered in the management DB 130 (S208).

The product dealer's customer management server 200 has a database of user information and the like regarding home electric appliances sold by the product dealer. For example, if the product seller is an EC (Electronic Commerce) merchant, the user information can be obtained from the registered information of the user of the EC site, and if the product seller is a retailer, the point service etc. It can be obtained from the user's registration information for

According to the present embodiment, the management server 100 can acquire and manage other managed information (such as user information) that cannot be acquired from the home electric appliances 10A and 10B from the customer management server 200 of the product retailer. . As a result, more types of information to be managed can be collected, and various useful information can be collected from the CS terminal 300 of the maintenance company, the manufacturer terminal 400 of the manufacturer, the trader server 500 of the second-hand dealer and the brokerage firm, etc. It can be provided to the information providing destination device.

Next, a process of transmitting control information from the management server 100 to the home electric appliances 10A and 10B in this communication system will be described.
FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing for transmitting control information from management server 100 to home electric appliances 10A and 10B in the communication system of this embodiment.
In this embodiment, for example, control information such as firmware update data provided by a manufacturer is transmitted from the management server 100 to the home appliances 10A and 10B. In this case, the management server 100 causes the control unit 110 to perform processing for transmitting control information provided by the manufacturer to the home electric appliances 10A and 10B (S301). As a result, the control unit 110 of the management server 100 refers to the management DB 130 and transmits the control information from the SCS 120 to the SCEF 50 to the mobile communication units 12 of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B, which are destinations of the control information. (S302).

The SCEF 50 transmits the control information received from the management server 100 to the electric home appliances 10A and 10B at a predetermined data communication timing at which data communication with the mobile communication units 12 of the electric home appliances 10A and 10B is possible ( S303-S306). Thereby, the control information transmitted from the SCEF 50 is transmitted to the mobile communication units 12 of the home appliances 10A and 10B via the MME 40 and the base station 20 by the NIDD communication method (step (4) in FIG. 1).

When the control information is received by the mobile communication unit 12 of the home appliance 10A, 10B, the control unit 13 executes firmware update processing based on the update data included in the control information (S307). As a result, the firmware of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B is updated, and functions are improved and defects are rectified.

According to this embodiment, communication can be established between the home electric appliances 10A and 10B and the management server 100 without bothering the user. It becomes possible to send control information such as firmware update data to all the home electric appliances 10A and 10B. Moreover, since the model numbers and lot numbers of individual home appliances on the market can be grasped from the identification information and device manufacturing information of the home appliances 10A and 10B, update data suitable for each home appliance can be obtained. and other control information can be sent.

In addition, according to the present embodiment, based on the position information and user information of the home appliances 10A and 10B of the home appliances 10A and 10B, suitable for each region of the home appliances on the market and for each user attribute. Home appliance control such as new settings, setting changes, and setting deletions can be dynamically implemented.

In addition, according to the present embodiment, when a large number of home electric appliances are introduced collectively in an accommodation facility or the like, and the setting and maintenance of these electric home appliances are performed, the user of the accommodation facility or the like does not have to take time and effort. It is possible to perform collective setting work, setting change work, maintenance work, etc. for a large number of home appliances.

Although a communication method of LPWA communication technology other than the NIDD communication method may be used, it is used for communication of managed information and control information for which high security is desired. It is preferable to employ a communication method.

Next, the process of providing the maintenance company with the managed information managed by the management server 100 by this communication system will be described.
When the home electric appliance 10A purchased by the user breaks down, the user contacts the maintenance company and requests repair (step (5) in FIG. 1). The maintenance company that has received this repair request transmits a request for acquisition of managed information on the user's home electric appliance 10A from the CS terminal 300 to the management server 100 . Then, as a response to this acquisition request, managed information such as device manufacturing information, device state information, failure type information, location information obtainable by mobile communication, user information, etc. of the home appliance 10A transmitted from the management server 100 is sent. It is received by the CS terminal 300 (step (6) in FIG. 1).

The maintenance company can provide maintenance services including repair of the home appliance 10 based on the managed information received by the CS terminal 300 (step (7) in FIG. 1). For example, the maintenance company can check whether or not the cause of the failure of the home appliance 10A is known by comparing the device manufacturing information of the home appliance 10A with past failure history information of similar products. can. As a result, if the cause of the failure is known, the home appliance 10A can be quickly and appropriately repaired based on the past repair history information.

Also, the maintenance company can determine whether or not there is a user's operation error (such as forgetting to turn on the power) rather than a malfunction by checking the device status information of the home appliance 10A, for example.

In addition, the maintenance company can identify the symptoms of the failure of the home appliance 10A, the location of the failure, the failure part, and the like, based on the failure type information of the home appliance 10A, for example. Thus, necessary replacement parts, necessary tools, etc. can be prepared in advance before going to the place of the home appliance 10A, and the repair of the home appliance 10A can be completed in one visit.

Further, conventionally, there is a case where the user himself/herself visually confirms the failure of the home appliance 10A, confirms the failure code, and contacts the maintenance company. In this case, the information communicated by the user is often inaccurate, making it difficult for the maintenance company to accurately grasp the state of the home appliance 10A. According to the present embodiment, the equipment state information and failure type information of the home appliance 10A provided from the management server 100 allow the maintenance company to check the state of the home appliance 10A without the intervention of the user. It becomes possible for the maintenance company to accurately grasp the exact state of 10A. In addition, since the user's trouble is reduced, the user's convenience is improved.

Further, by associating the user information with the equipment status information and the failure type information, if such information is provided to, for example, product distributors, the product distributors will be more effective in introducing new products to users. A sales approach becomes possible.

Also, the maintenance company can specify the installation location of the home appliance 10A, for example, based on the location information of the home appliance 10A. As a result, it becomes possible to select a repair worker close to the installation location and dispatch it to repair the home appliance 10A.

In this embodiment, when the home appliance 10A breaks down, the user requests the maintenance company to repair it. By checking the information, it is possible to grasp the failure or abnormality of the user's electrical appliance without contact from the user. Therefore, maintenance services such as repair of home electric appliances can be provided even if the user himself/herself does not contact the maintenance company regarding failure or repair of the home electric appliance.

Next, the process of providing the manufacturer with the managed information managed by the management server 100 by this communication system will be described.
The manufacturer of the home electric appliances 10A and 10B transmits a request for obtaining managed information on the home electric appliance 10 manufactured by the manufacturer from the manufacturer terminal 400 to the management server 100 . As a response to this acquisition request, the manufacturer terminal 400 receives managed information such as device manufacturing information, device status information, failure type information, location information, and user information regarding the home appliance 10 transmitted from the management server 100. (Step (6) in FIG. 1).

Based on the managed information received by the manufacturer terminal 400, the manufacturer can perform information analysis and statistics on the products manufactured by the manufacturer (step (8) in FIG. 1). For example, based on the device manufacturing information of the home electric appliance 10, the manufacturer analyzes failures in lot units, identifies manufacturing plants and manufacturing periods with many failures, and uses them to improve the manufacturing process. can be done. The manufacturer can also grasp the actual product operation rate in the market, for example, based on the device status information of the home electric appliance 10 . In addition, the manufacturer can, for example, analyze the cause of the failure of the home appliance 10 based on the failure type information of the home appliance 10, and use it to improve the product. In addition, the manufacturer can grasp the regional distribution of the product based on the location information of the home appliance 10, for example, and use it to improve the sales promotion method. In addition, the manufacturer can analyze attribute information such as the age and gender of the user of the product based on the user information of the home appliance 10, and use the information to improve the sales promotion method.

Next, a description will be given of a process of providing managed information managed by the management server 100 by this communication system to a second-hand dealer or a sales agent.
A second-hand dealer who has purchased the home appliances 10A and 10B and a sales broker who mediates the sale of the home appliances 10A and 10B obtains managed information on the home appliances 10A and 10B to be traded from the trader server 500. Send the request to the management server 100 . As a response to this acquisition request, the trader server 500 receives managed information such as identification information and user information about the home appliance 10 transmitted from the management server 100 (step (6) in FIG. 1).

Second-hand dealers and brokers can confirm information about home electric appliances 10A and 10B, which are transaction targets, based on the managed information received by dealer server 500 (step (9) in FIG. 1). For example, based on the identification information of the home appliances 10A and 10B provided by the management server 100, the trader can confirm whether the home appliances 10A and 10B to be traded are genuine products. Further, the trader can also confirm the purchase time and the store of purchase of the home appliances 10A and 10B based on the user information of the home appliances 10A and 10B provided by the management server 100, for example. As a result, it is possible to determine whether or not the home appliances 10A and 10B to be traded have been obtained through a legitimate route, and to check the warranty period and warranty details of the home appliances 10A and 10B. .

The present invention is not limited to the application examples illustrated in the present embodiment, and the mobile communication unit is installed in the user equipment such as the home appliance 10, and the mobile communication unit communicates with the management server by low power consumption wide area communication via the mobile communication network. 100 or the like, it can be applied to a wide variety of applications as long as it utilizes information to be managed that is transmitted to the management device.

In particular, according to the present invention, it is possible to manage information to be managed, such as the installation location, installation status, operation status, and trouble/failure status of a user device, while maintaining high security without requiring the user to take time and effort. Therefore, it is possible to provide more advanced services (for example, advanced "Home Appliance as Service" for home electric appliances) to users and related companies (information providers).

As another example of use, for example, when a user device is stolen, it is possible to apply it to confirm the location of the stolen user device based on the location information of the user device.

In addition, as another example of use, for example, when the user moves, it is used to identify the new area based on the location information of the user device and automatically change the settings of the user device to adapt to the area. (For example, applications for changing the settings of air conditioners, refrigerators, etc. according to climates such as cold regions or tropical regions, or automatically changing power settings corresponding to regions) are conceivable.

It should be noted that the process steps and components of user equipment, management devices, and communication systems described herein may be implemented by various means. For example, these processes and components may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof.

For hardware implementation, in order to realize the above steps and components in entities (for example, various wireless communication devices, various base station devices such as eNodeB and gNode, mobile communication units, hard disk drives, or optical disk drives) The processing unit or other means used may be one or more of an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), a digital signal processor (DSPD), a programmable logic device (PLD), a field programmable - Gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, electronic devices, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, computers, or combinations thereof may be implemented in

Also, for firmware and/or software implementations, each part used to implement the components may be a program (e.g., code such as procedures, functions, modules, instructions, etc.) that performs the functions described herein. ) may be implemented. In general, any computer/processor readable medium tangibly embodying firmware and/or software code means, such as a processing unit, used to implement the steps and components described herein. may be used to implement For example, firmware and/or software code may be stored in memory and executed by a computer or processor, such as in a controller or storage device. The memory may be implemented within the computer or processor, or external to the processor. The firmware and/or software code may also be, for example, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), programmable read only memory (PROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM). ), flash memory, floppy disk, compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD), magnetic or optical data storage devices, etc. good. The code may be executed by one or more computers or processors and may cause the computers or processors to perform certain aspects of the functionality described herein.

Also, the medium may be a non-temporary recording medium. Also, the code of the program may be readable and executable by a computer, processor, or other device or apparatus machine, and its format is not limited to a particular format. For example, the program code may be source code, object code or binary code, or may be a mixture of two or more of these codes.

Moreover, the description of the embodiments disclosed herein is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present disclosure. Various modifications to this disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein are applicable to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. This disclosure, therefore, is not to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

1: Mobile communication network 2: IP network 10: Home appliance 11: Display unit 12: Mobile communication unit 13: Control unit 14: Operation unit 15: Operation unit 20: Base station 30: S/PGW
40: MME
50: SCEF
100: Management server 110: Control unit 120: SCS
130: Management DB
140: I/F for IP
200: customer management server 300: CS terminal 400: manufacturer terminal 500: trader server

Claims (6)

A management device that manages managed information of a user device that does not require communication with the outside via a communication network for the original function of the device,
between the mobile communication unit of the user device equipped with a mobile communication unit that executes automatic connection processing to the mobile communication network based on the assigned terminal identification information in cellular mobile communication, and the mobile communication unit of the user device; a device communication unit that communicates via
a processing unit that executes processing using the managed information of the user device received by the device communication unit;
an external communication unit capable of communicating with an external information storage device that stores other managed information including user information of the user device;
The device communication unit conforms to NIDD (Non-IP Data Delivery) with the user device via the mobile communication network after automatic connection processing of the user device is completed by turning on the power of the user device. A resource for communicating in a communication method is generated, authentication processing of the user device is performed based on the terminal identification information of the user device, and the terminal identification information of the user device and the user used in the NIDD communication method After the device is associated with the external identification information and the session of the NIDD communication method is established with the user device, the session of the NIDD communication method allows the user device to transmit data from the user device via a control channel. receives managed information including identification information, manufacturing information, and location information of the user device;
the external communication unit acquires the other managed information from the information storage device based on the manufacturing information of the user device;
The processing unit receives managed information including identification information, manufacturing information, and location information of the user device received from the user device by the device communication unit, and the other information received from the information storage device by the external communication unit. execute a process of registering managed information in association with each other;
A management device characterized by : The management device according to claim 1,
having an external communication unit capable of communicating with an external information provision destination device;
The management device, wherein the processing unit executes a process of transmitting the information to be managed to the information providing destination device by the external communication unit. In the management device according to claim 1 or 2,
the managed information received from the user device does not include location information of the user device;
The location information of the user device registered in association with the other information to be managed is location information of the user device ascertained using an API standardized by the communication method of the NIDD. management device. A communication system in which a communication unit is installed in a user device that does not require communication with the outside via a communication network for the original function of the device, and the user device and a management device are communicably connected,
The communication unit of the user device performs automatic connection processing to a mobile communication network based on the assigned terminal identification information in cellular mobile communication, and performs NIDD (Non-IP Data Delivery) via the mobile communication network. a mobile communication unit capable of communicating with the management device by communication conforming to
A communication system, wherein the management device is the management device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 . Communication is performed between a communication unit installed in a user device that does not require communication via a communication network with the outside for the original function of the device and a management device, and managed information of the user device is transmitted to the management device. A management method for managing,
The communication unit performs automatic connection processing to a mobile communication network based on assigned terminal identification information for cellular mobile communication, and is capable of communicating with the management device via the mobile communication network. ,
the management device communicating with the mobile communication unit of the user device via a mobile communication network;
the management device receiving the managed information of the user device from the user device;
the managing device communicating with an external information storage device that stores other managed information including user information of the user device;
After the automatic connection processing of the user device is completed by turning on the power of the user device, the management device communicates with the user device in compliance with NIDD (Non-IP Data Delivery) via the mobile communication network. A resource for communicating with the method is generated, authentication processing of the user device is performed based on the terminal identification information of the user device, and the terminal identification information of the user device and the user device used in the NIDD communication method. is associated with the external identification information, and after the session of the NIDD communication method is established with the user device, the session of the NIDD communication method is performed from the user device via the control channel , receiving managed information including identification information, manufacturing information and location information of the user device;
the management device acquiring the other managed information from the information storage device based on the manufacturing information of the user device;
The management device registers managed information including identification information, manufacturing information and location information of the user device received from the user device and the other managed information received from the information storage device in association with each other. A management method, comprising: A program that causes a computer of a management device to function that manages information to be managed by a user device that does not require communication with the outside via a communication network for the original function of the device,
Between the mobile communication unit of the user device equipped with a mobile communication unit that executes automatic connection processing to the mobile communication network based on the assigned terminal identification information in cellular mobile communication, and the mobile communication unit of the user device a device communication unit that communicates via
a processing unit that executes processing using the managed information of the user device received by the device communication unit ;
causing the computer to function as an external communication unit capable of communicating with an external information storage device that stores other managed information including user information of the user device ,
The device communication unit complies with NIDD (Non-IP Data Delivery) with the user device via the mobile communication network after automatic connection processing of the user device is completed by turning on the power of the user device. A resource for communicating in a communication method is generated, authentication processing of the user device is performed based on the terminal identification information of the user device, and the terminal identification information of the user device and the user used in the NIDD communication method After the device is associated with the external identification information and the session of the NIDD communication method is established with the user device, the session of the NIDD communication method allows the user device to transmit data from the user device via a control channel. receives managed information including identification information, manufacturing information, and location information of the user device;
the external communication unit acquires the other managed information from the information storage device based on the manufacturing information of the user device;
The processing unit receives managed information including identification information, manufacturing information, and location information of the user device received from the user device by the device communication unit, and the other information received from the information storage device by the external communication unit. A program characterized by executing a process of registering information to be managed in association with each other .

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