KR101205689B1 - Apparatus and Method for Automatically Setting Router - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of setting up a router to enable inbound access through a set-top box device connected to a router through interworking with a remote server connected through a communication network, the method comprising: acquiring connectable router information; Transmitting to a remote server, receiving a router automatic configuration command for automatically setting the router to enable inbound access from the remote server, and setting a router using the received automatic configuration command. do.

Description

Apparatus and Method for Automatically Setting Router

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for setting up a router, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for automatically setting up a router for an inbound connection.

As the Internet technology has developed, it has become common to use at least two home computers in a home, or to use an embedded system-type device that needs to be connected to the Internet such as Internet Protocol (IP) -TV. Thus, two or more computers and set-top box products such as game consoles are connected to router equipment in the form of routers to provide Internet access.

This internet connection is used to connect to the Internet at home, such as surfing the web, to request an external web server first, and to access a set-top box or home computer such as a game machine in the home from outside the Internet. There is an inbound connection of the request type.

1 is a diagram illustrating a general outbound connection. This outbound connection can be connected to the Internet by setting up a service account and password on the router according to the Internet Service Provider (ISP) without complicated configuration of the router equipment.

2 illustrates a typical inbound connection. This inbound connection requires additional router configuration, such as port forwarding, for the following reasons. In general, in order to request an initial Internet access, the other party's IP address must be known. By the way, when using the router equipment at home, the router is assigned an externally authorized public IP address by the ISP modem, but the addresses assigned to the devices connected to the router such as a PC or set-top box are 192.168.xxx.xxx and Similarly, virtual addresses are assigned that are not accessible on the Internet. Therefore, it is necessary to set up address translation so that each PC and set-top box connected to the router can be accessed using the public IP address and port number assigned to the router.

Of course, although there is a protocol such as Universal Plug and Play (UPNP) that automatically performs port forwarding, in order to use UPNP, UPNP must be supported in both router devices and set-top boxes. Should be set to be active.

In general, the router device is configured by the user through a web browser as shown in FIG. 3. However, ordinary people who are not familiar with the network at home may configure the port forwarding setting or the UPNP setting of the router device. It is not easy to do.

In addition, in the case of companies developing and selling set-top boxes requiring inbound access, there are a lot of customer inquiries about the router setting, which requires a lot of time and manpower to process them.

In addition, since there is no standard network protocol for router device configuration, each router device must be handled and supported in a separate way to automate router configuration.

For many router devices in the market, software modules that support these individual configurations have been developed and sold. The set-top box firmware can be developed to support automatic configuration of router devices by additionally installing software modules having individual configuration functions for such widely used router devices.

However, given that dozens of new router devices are introduced to the market every year, it is not easy to modify and distribute the firmware to support these router devices every time, and customers can upgrade their set-top boxes with the firmware that is supported by their router devices. There is also a problem that it is not easy to induce.

In addition, set-top box developers face the burden of buying firmware on the market to buy all the routers on the market and support automatic configuration.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for automatically setting router equipment including wire / wireless routers widely used in homes.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for automatically setting up various router equipment.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus that enables a remote automatic configuration server to acquire information of a new router device and provide additional router support thereto.

The present invention provides a method of setting up a router to enable inbound access through a set-top box device connected to a router through interworking with a remote server connected through a communication network, the method comprising: acquiring connectable router information; Transmitting to a remote server, receiving a router autoconfiguration command for automatically setting the router to enable inbound access from the remote server, and setting a router using the received autoconfiguration command.

The present invention relates to a method for automatically setting a router to enable inbound access by interworking with a set-top box connected to a router, the method comprising: receiving router information from a set-top box, and generating a router automatic setting command using the router information; And forwarding the generated router auto-configuration command to the set top box.

The present invention relates to a set-top box device connected to a router and configured to set up a router to enable inbound access through interworking with a remote server connected through a communication network, the set-top box device comprising: a storage unit for storing router model information and the router model information; And a controller for acquiring connectable router information, transmitting the same to the remote server, and setting the router using a router automatic setting command for automatically setting the router to enable inbound access received from the remote server.

The present invention provides a remote server apparatus for automatically setting a router to enable inbound access by interworking with a set-top box connected to a router, the router automatic setting command using a database storing router model information and router information received from the set-top box. It generates, and the control unit for transmitting the router automatic configuration command to the set-top box.

The present invention has the advantage that it is not necessary to induce frequent firmware upgrades of various embedded systems including set-top boxes to cope with various router equipment.

In addition, there is an advantage that facilitates additional router support by collecting information of unsupported router equipment and passing it to the remote autoconfiguration server.

1 is a diagram illustrating a general Internet outbound connection.
2 is a diagram illustrating a general Internet inbound connection.
3 is a diagram illustrating a general router setting page by a web browser.
4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a router automatic configuration system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a set top box according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a remote server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
7 to 8 are flowcharts illustrating a method for automatically setting a router in a set-top box apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
9 to 11 are flowcharts illustrating a method for automatically setting a router in a remote server device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout.

In the following description of the present invention, when it is determined that detailed descriptions of related known functions or configurations may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the embodiments of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Prior to describing the present invention, terms used throughout the specification may be sufficiently modified according to the intention, customs, etc. of the user or operator, and the definition of the terms should be made based on the contents throughout the specification of the present invention. will be.

The present invention proposes an apparatus and method for automatically configuring a router to enable automatic configuration of router equipment such as port forwarding or UPNP setting in a set-top box device and a router server to provide an inbound access service. do.

4 is a schematic diagram of a router automatic configuration system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the automatic router configuration system includes one or more set-top boxes 410 connected to the Internet 440 by a router 420 and a modem 430 to automatically set up the router 420 to enable inbound access. It has a form connected with the remote server 450 supporting the.

The set-top box 410 is embedded in a display device (eg, VTR, TV, DVD player, satellite receiver, etc.) or externally connected to receive digital broadcast or multimedia data, and displays a channel that meets the needs of the user. A terminal device displayed on the screen. The set-top box 410 according to the present invention is connected to the Internet as an IP set-top box in which the Internet communication unit 412 is installed as shown in FIG. 5.

5 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a set top box according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Here, the set-top box 410 may include a configuration for converting the video and audio signals received through the Internet to output to the game console / TV of the external or built-in form, which is not related to the present invention, In FIG. 5, the configuration thereof will be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 5, the storage unit 411 is a storage unit for operating data required for operation of the control unit and internal data to be temporarily stored, such as a flash memory, RAM, kernel or I used for software upgrade. I / O systems loaded with / O system. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the storage unit 411 stores the router model information downloaded from the remote server 450. The router model information includes a model confirmation page path information and a router setting page for each of the one or more routers. Route information may be included.

In addition, the controller 413 controls and manages each element in the set-top box, and according to an embodiment of the present invention, the model information management module 414, the automatic configuration module 415, and the unsupported router information providing module 416. It may be configured to include.

The model information management module 414 downloads one or more router model information from the remote server 450 and stores it in the storage unit 411. In addition, the router 411 may be updated by receiving a new version of the router model information from the remote server 450.

The automatic configuration module 415 attempts to connect to the router with information about each of the one or more router models stored in the storage unit 411, and model confirmation page information for identifying which model the router is connected to, and Obtains configuration page information necessary for router setting of the corresponding router model, and transmits the obtained information to the remote server 450 to request a command for automatically setting the router to enable inbound access. Then, the router automatic setting command received from the remote server 450 is transmitted to the router 420 to control the automatic setting.

If the unsupported router information providing module 416 determines that there is no information on the router connected to the remote server 450, that is, a router of a new model not yet supported by the remote server 450, the router information By acquiring and transmitting to the remote server 450 can be automatically supported later.

On the other hand, the remote server 450 is a server for supporting automatic configuration to enable inbound access through various types of routers, and generates and provides router automatic configuration commands in response to requests from a plurality of set-top boxes connected through the Internet. .

6 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of a remote server 450 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, the database 451 stores information about one or more router models. The information on the router model may include model confirmation page path information and router setting page path information for each model. In addition, information about the unsupported router model received from the set-top box 410 may be stored.

The controller 452 may include a model information providing module 453, an automatic configuration command generation module 454, and an unsupported router information management module 455 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The model information providing module 453 extracts the router model information stored in the database 451 and the updated new version model information according to a request from the set top box 410, and transmits the extracted model information to the set top box 451.

The automatic configuration command generation module 454 checks the router model connected to the set-top box 410 through the router information transmitted from the set-top box 410, and automatically configures the router using the configuration page information corresponding to the router model. Create a command.

An example of the generated router automatic configuration command is shown in Table 1 below. The following router autoconfiguration command is a router autoconfiguration command of the HTTP protocol that enables UPNP configuration in a router. In Table 1, http://192.168.1.1/Management.asp is router configuration page information transmitted from the set-top box as described above.

POST /apply.cgi HTTP / 1.1
Accept: * / *
Referer: http://192.168.1.1/Management.asp
Accept-Language: en
UA-CPU: x86
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
User-Agent: Mozilla / 4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Mozilla / 4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1); .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648; .NET CLR 3.5.21022; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Host: 192.168.1.1
Content-Length: 80
Connection: Keep-Alive
Cache-Control: no-cache
Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4 =

submit_button = Management & change_action = & actionApply & PasswdModify = 1 & http_enable = 1 & https_enable = 0 & wait_time = 4 & http_passwd = d6nw5v1x2pc7st9m & http_passwdConfirm = d6nw5v1x2pc7st9m & _http_enable = 1 & web_otenpconfignetup

The unsupported router management module 455 stores dozens of information about currently unsupported routers transmitted from the set-top box 410 in a database, and then utilizes them for development for future support.

The operation of the set-top box 410 and the remote server 450 for automatic router configuration will be described in more detail through the following automatic router configuration method for inbound access.

7 to 8 are diagrams for describing a method for automatically setting a router in a set-top box apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In step 705, the set-top box attempts to read router model information from the storage. This operation reads router model information that can support automatic description command generation from a remote server.

In step 705, if the router model information is read successfully, the set-top box generates a model confirmation page URL including the router-specific model confirmation page path information and the gateway address included in the read router model information. In operation 715, the set-top box attempts to read the model verification page by accessing the HTTP protocol to the router using the generated model verification page URL.

If it is determined in step 720 that the read of the model confirmation page fails, the process proceeds to step 705 and repeatedly reads another router model stored in the storage unit.

If it is determined in operation 720 that the read of the router model confirmation page is successful, the set-top box generates a router configuration page URL including the configuration page path information and the gateway address of the corresponding router that has successfully read the model confirmation page in step 725. .

An example of the router configuration page URL may be “http://192.168.1.1/Management.asp”. Here, “192.168.1.1” can be a router address as a router address, and “Management.asp” can be a configuration page path.

In operation 730, the set-top box attempts to read the router configuration page by accessing the router through the HTTP protocol using the generated router configuration page URL.

If the result of the determination of step 735 fails to read the router configuration page, the process proceeds to step 705 and repeatedly attempts the next router model on the DB.

However, if the determination result of step 735 succeeds in reading the router setting page, in step 740, the set-top box transmits the router setting page and the router model confirmation page to the remote server as the router information for automatic router setting for inbound access. Wait for the response.

In operation 745, when the router automatic configuration command is received from the remote server, the set-top box sets the router using the automatic configuration command through the HTTP protocol in operation 750.

However, if it is determined that all of the router models stored in the storage unit have been read, the router model confirmation page read in step 720 and the router configuration page read in step 735 fail, the set-top box accesses the remote server in step 755. Check for newer router model information.

If it is determined in step 755 that the new version router model information exists, the set-top box receives the new router model information in step 760 and updates the storage unit. In step 705, the router model confirmation page and the router configuration page are retried for the added router models.

However, if the remote server does not have the new version router model information or the read of the router model confirmation page and the router setting page fails for the new version router models, the set-top box proceeds to step 765 and the router page. Collect them.

The collection of router pages in step 765 is performed by the set-top box by creating an initial router access URL using a gateway address, reading an initial access page, obtaining an accessible page URL in all routers from the initial access page, and reading the corresponding page again. Is repeated until all accessible pages in the router have been read.

In step 770, the set-top box delivers the collected unsupported router pages to the remote server. In operation 775, the automatic setting of the corresponding router is not possible at this time. After the user is authorized to perform the manual setting, the router setting operation is terminated.

9 to 11 are flowcharts illustrating a method for automatically setting a router in a remote server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for describing a method of operating a remote server according to receiving router automatic setting command request information for inbound access.

Referring to FIG. 9, in step 910, a model confirmation page and a router configuration page for requesting an automatic router configuration command are received from the set-top box. Then, in step 920, the remote server checks the model name and the firmware version using the model confirmation page. In operation 930, a router automatic configuration command corresponding to the checked model name and firmware version is generated using the received router configuration page. In operation 940, the remote server transmits the generated router auto-configuration command back to the set-top box.

10 is a diagram for explaining a method of operating a remote server when a router information update request is made from a set-top box.

This step is linked with step 755 of FIG. 8. When a router information update request is received from the set-top box in step 1010, the remote server searches for a new version of router information in the database and transmits it to the set-top box in step 1020.

FIG. 11 illustrates an operation of a remote server when unsupported router page information is received from a set top box.

Referring to FIG. 11, in operation 1110, unsupported router page information received from a set-top box is collected. In step 1120, the collected information is added to the database as unsupported router information. In step 1130, the remote server analyzes the added information and generates new router model information so that the corresponding router model can be supported in the router automatic configuration command generation step. In operation 1140, the remote server updates the database with the newly generated router model information. Then, in step 910, the newly generated router model information is delivered from the set-top box according to the model information upgrade request.

Thus, the remote server's operator can support automatic configuration of new router models without purchasing new additional equipment.

410: set-top box 420: router
430: Modem 440: Internet
450: remote server 411: storage unit
412: Internet communication unit 413, 452: control unit

Claims (18)

From the external Internet through interworking with remote servers connected through a network In a method in which a set-top box device connected to a router automatically configures a network address translation function of a router device to allow inbound access to a private network composed of one or more private IPs,
Obtaining accessible router information;
Transmitting the obtained router information to the remote server;
Receiving a router auto-configuration command for automatically setting the network address translation function of the router equipment to enable inbound access from the external Internet to the private network, using a database provided in the remote server,
Setting up a router using the received automatic configuration command. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the router information
Attempting to read the model confirmation page and setup page for each router model included in the stored router model information;
And obtaining the model confirmation page and the setting page information for the router model that has been read successfully as the router information. The method of claim 1,
And if the router information acquisition fails, accessing a remote server to obtain information about a new router model and updating router model information. The method of claim 1,
And if the router model confirmation page and setting page acquisition by the router model information obtainable from the remote server fails, transmitting unsupported router information consisting of all pages obtainable from the router to the remote server. Auto setup method. In a method in which a remote server automatically configures a network address translation function of a router device so as to connect to a set-top box connected to a router to allow inbound access from a external network to a private network composed of one or more unauthorized IPs,
Receiving router information from the set-top box,
Generating an automatic configuration command for automatically setting a network address translation function of a router device using the router information using a database provided therein;
And forwarding the generated router auto-configuration command to the set-top box. 6. The method of claim 5,
The router information includes model confirmation page information,
Generating the router automatic configuration command
Confirming the router model using the model confirmation page;
And generating a router automatic configuration command word corresponding to the checked router model. 6. The method of claim 5,
The router information further includes configuration page information,
The router automatic configuration command is generated using the configuration page information. 6. The method of claim 5,
Detecting new router model information from a database and transmitting the new router model information to a set-top box according to a request for updating new router model information from the set-top box. 6. The method of claim 5,
And receiving the unsupported router page information from the set-top box, and analyzing the received information and storing the obtained model confirmation page path and configuration page path information as new router model information. In the set-top box device to set the network address translation function of the router equipment to be connected to the router, the inbound connection to the private network consisting of one or more non-public IP from the external Internet through interworking with the remote server connected through the communication network,
A storage unit for storing router model information;
Obtain router information that can be accessed using the router model information, transmit it to the remote server, and perform a network address translation function of the router device to enable inbound access from a public network created using a database provided in the remote server to a private network. And a controller for setting the router by using the router automatic configuration command. The method of claim 10, wherein the control unit
Router auto setting, which attempts to read the model confirmation page and setting page for each router model included in the stored router model information, and obtains the model confirmation page and setting page information for the router model that has been successfully read as the router information. Device. The method of claim 10, wherein the control unit
And if the router information acquisition fails, access to a remote server to obtain information about a new router model, and update router model information. The method of claim 10, wherein the control unit
And if the router model confirmation page and setting page acquisition by the router model information obtainable from the remote server fails, unsupported router information consisting of all pages obtainable from the router is transmitted to the remote server. A remote server device that automatically sets up a network address translation function of a router device to allow inbound access to a private network composed of one or more unauthorized IPs from an external Internet by interworking with a set-top box connected to a router.
A database that stores router model information,
Generated using the router information received from the set-top box, generates an automatic configuration command of the network address translation function of the router device to enable inbound access from the public network to the private network, and set the automatic configuration command of the address translation function of the router device Router automatic setting device comprising a control unit for transmitting to the box. The method of claim 14,
The router information includes model confirmation page information,
The control unit
And confirming the router model by using the model checking page, and generating a router auto setting command corresponding to the checked router model. The method of claim 14,
The router information further includes configuration page information,
The automatic router configuration command is generated using the configuration page information. The method of claim 14, wherein the control unit
And receiving unsupported router page information from the set-top box, and storing the model confirmation page path and configuration page path information obtained by analyzing the received information as new router model information. The method of claim 14, wherein the control unit
In response to a request for updating new router model information from the set-top box, the router automatic setting apparatus detects new router model information from the database and transmits the new router model information to the set-top box.

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