KR20040076097A - Emulating system for developing a home network - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An emulating device for developing a home network is provided to verify whether data transmitted/received between a home server and a client computer corresponds to a CIM format and whether the data has an error. CONSTITUTION: A packet receiver(211) receives a packet including certain data by using serial communication from a home server or a client computer. A packet verifier(212) verifies whether the packet has a CIM format, and if the packet has the CIM format, the packet verifier(212) checks whether the data has an error. A data extracting unit(213) extracts data from a packet which is verified to have the CIM format, does not have an error and has not been repeatedly received. A packet transmitter(214) transmits the packet, received from the packet receiver(211), which has the CIM format and does not have an error. A display unit(215) displays the packet or the data.

Description

Emulation device for home network development {EMULATING SYSTEM FOR DEVELOPING A HOME NETWORK}

The present invention relates to an emulating apparatus for developing a home network, and more particularly, to an emulating apparatus that enables data communication with a home server or client computer.

The digital revolution of the 90's influenced the industrial field, where informatization became the primary direction for all business operations, and at the center was the Internet connecting PCs and the world. This change in industrial sites is also going on in the homes.

A home network generally means that information in the home, including PCs, is integrated into a single network so that they can communicate with each other. Home networks are spreading along with the development of networking technologies, software, and information appliances, and as homes with multiple PCs increase, interest in home networks, commonly referred to as 'in-home information', is increasing.

The negotiated home network is limited to the network technology that integrates wired and wireless, but the wide-ranging home network is based on the integration with information appliances (hardware) and the basic software that can control and manage the information appliances. It can be called a network. The home network needs to be developed together with the development of networking technology, the information and electronic devices that operate on it, and the application software that makes this integrated environment work smoothly.

Home network technologies can be categorized into telephone line networking, standard networking in the enterprise, and local wireless networking in the home. Powerline-based networking technology is also in the development stage. In the case of a home network using a power line, data transmission between a home server and an information appliance or information appliances is performed using serial communication via a modem.

However, the process of developing a home network or testing a developed home network by transmitting and receiving data through serial communication using a modem and an information server with an actual home server cannot verify data values transmitted through serial communication. It is not easy to determine whether the normal operation or malfunction according to.

In addition, in order to receive a response according to predetermined command data received from the home server, there is a problem that development and testing of the home server side is possible only when the actual information has been developed and completed. And the same is true for testing).

Therefore, there is a high need for a development tool that can facilitate home network development.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems of the prior art, and an emulation apparatus capable of verifying whether data transmitted or received between a home server or a client computer corresponds to a CIM format and whether an error exists. It aims to provide.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an emulating apparatus capable of functioning as a modem by allowing data communication with a home server or a client computer in a home network complying with HNCP.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an improved home network development environment as a whole.

1 is a diagram showing a connection structure between a CIM-embedded information appliance and a modem.

2A is a diagram illustrating a connection relationship between a home server and a client computer using an emulating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2B is a block diagram illustrating an emulating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2C is a block diagram illustrating an emulating apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an emulating process using an emulating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a screen displayed on a display unit before an emulating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention operates.

5 is a diagram illustrating a display screen when an emulating apparatus is in operation according to one embodiment of the present invention;

6 illustrates an internal block diagram of a computer system in which the present invention may be used.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

20, 20 'emulating device

21 home server

22 client computers

In order to achieve the above object and to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the emulating apparatus according to the present invention is a packet receiving unit for receiving a packet containing predetermined data from a server or a client computer using serial communication, A packet verifying unit for verifying whether the packet is in a CIM format, and checking whether an error occurs when the packet is in the CIM format, and a data searching unit for extracting the data from the packet when no error is found as a result of the checking. .

In addition, the emulating apparatus according to the present invention is a packet receiving unit for receiving a packet including predetermined data from a server or a client computer using serial communication, and verifies whether the packet is in the CIM format, an error if the packet is in the CIM format And a packet transmitter which checks whether or not a packet is verified and a packet transmitter which transmits the packet to the server or the client computer by using serial communication when no error is found.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the packet verification unit may further verify whether the received packet is duplicated.

In addition, the emulating apparatus according to the present invention includes a packet generator including predetermined data and generating a packet corresponding to a CIM format, and a packet transmitting unit transmitting the packet to a server or a client computer using serial communication. It is characterized by.

The emulating apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention may further include a display unit for displaying the packet or the data.

On the other hand, every server or client computer used in the present invention has a CIM that complies with HNCP.

The Home Network Control Protocol (HNCP) refers to a communication protocol between electric appliances based on power line communication among various components of a home network. HNCP provides standard interface specifications between information appliances and modems. Modules conforming to these standard interface specifications are called CIM (Communication Interface Module). An object of the present invention is to provide an emulating apparatus for home network development using HNCP. Therefore, the emulating apparatus according to the present invention follows the CIM protocol.

1 is a diagram illustrating a connection structure between a CIM-embedded device and a modem. The HNCP protocol layer consists of an application layer, a network layer, a data link layer, and a physical layer. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the CIM is responsible for transmitting and receiving data, data flow control, data error control, and the like at a connection portion between an information appliance (or a home server) and a modem.

Data is transmitted and received between the electric machine (or home server) and the modem in a CIM packet structure. The CIM packet structure transmitted using serial communication (RS232C may be used) is basically as follows.

STX IPL IPT IPN DATA Check sum ETX

On the other hand, in the CIM packet structure that follows the HNCP, the value corresponding to each frame is as follows.

STX (Start Of Text) (1 byte) and EXT (End Of Text) (1 byte) are defined to distinguish the start and end of a packet, respectively, and are defined as 0xFD and 0xFE, respectively. IPL (Interface Packet Length) (1 byte) indicates the length of the packet, and IPT (Interface Packet Type) (1 byte) indicates the packet type. In CIM, values as shown in the following table are defined in the IPT according to the packet type.

Packet type (1 byte = 8 bit) Type Code Request modem information 0 × 11 Modem Information Settings 0 × 12 Normal data 0 × 21 (ACK + response) data 0 × 22 ACK data 0 × 23 NACK data 0 × 24 reservation not use

An IPN (Interface Packet Number) (1 byte) is given to distinguish packets of CIM format.

Check Sum (1 byte) checks the length of data.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2A is a diagram illustrating a connection relationship between a home server and a client computer using an emulating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 20 denotes an emulating apparatus according to the present embodiment, 21 denotes a home server, and 22 denotes a client computer. The client computer used in the present invention is a concept in which the information includes an electric device.

As shown in FIG. 1, in a home network, data between a "home server (or client computer) ↔ modem (embedded in home server) ↔ power line ↔ modem (embedded in client computer) ↔ client computer" using CIM is used. Communication takes place. However, in the case of using the emulating apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment, data communication between "home server 21 (or client computer) ↔ emulating apparatus 20 ↔ client computer 22" is basically performed. Will be done. According to this configuration, the home server 21 and the client computer 22 is not actually connected by a power line, and for the application or home network installed in the home server 21 and the client computer 22 in the absence of a modem. Since the necessary hardware can be developed, the development conditions can be simplified and the home network can be easily developed than the conventional development environment.

2B is a block diagram illustrating an emulating apparatus 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The emulating apparatus 20 includes a packet receiver 211, a packet verifier 212, and a data extractor 213.

First, the packet receiving unit 211 receives a packet including predetermined data from the home server 21 or the client computer 22 by using serial communication. The home server 21 and the client computer 22 are equipped with CIM.

The predetermined data is transmitted in a packet, and the packet verification unit 212 verifies whether the packet is in the CIM format, and checks whether an error exists when the packet is in the CIM format.

One way to check whether the packet is in CIM format is to check STX and ETX. That is, in the case of the packet structure of the CIM format, the STX and the ETX are defined as 0xFD and 0xFE, respectively, and the packet verifying unit 212 may verify whether the packet is in the CIM format by checking it.

When verifying whether the packet is in the CIM format or not, the packet verification unit 212 checks whether an error exists in the packet in the CIM format.

One of the methods of checking whether an error exists in the CIM format is by checking CheckSum among the packets. CheckSum method divides the length of data into byte (= 1 byte) unit, adds each 1 byte data using Exclusive OR method, and returns the result value (1 byte). When sending data from sending side to receiving side, CheckSum is calculated and the result value is saved in CheckSum field among packets, and the receiving side receives this data and calculates the received data using the same CheckSum method as above. The value is compared with the value stored in the CheckSum field of the data sent by the sender. If both CheckSum values are different, it can be said that an error occurred during data transmission. In addition, as a more sophisticated error checking method, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) may be used to check whether an error exists in the CIM format.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the packet verification unit 212 may further check the packet type of the packet. By checking the packet type, the emulating apparatus 20 can be configured to take appropriate action for the packet type.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the packet verification unit 212 may further verify whether or not the packet is repeatedly received by comparing the packet number of the packet. By such a configuration, it is possible to prevent an increase in the load on the emulating apparatus 20 or the client computer 22, such as not processing a newly received packet when a packet is received in duplicate.

The data extracting unit 213 verifies that the CIM format has been processed through the above-described process, and extracts the data from the packets with respect to a packet in which there is no error and is not duplicated.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an emulating process using the emulating apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment as described above. The emulating apparatus 20 may allow an appropriate operation to be performed according to the data value of the extracted data (in accordance with a command defined by the data).

In addition, according to another embodiment of the present invention, the emulating apparatus 20 may further include a packet transmitter 214 for transmitting the packet. If it is verified by the packet validator 212 that the packet received from the packet receiver 211 is in CIM format and no error exists, the packet transmitter 214 transmits the packet using serial communication.

For example, the packet transmitted from the home server 21 may be transmitted to the client computer 22 by the packet transmitter 214. At this time, the client computer 22 that has received the predetermined packet from the home server 21 through the emulating apparatus 20 performs a predetermined operation according to the data value of the received packet (for example, the client computer If the built-in air conditioner is to control the air conditioner, the client computer receives a command regarding the air conditioner ON, OFF, temperature control, etc. from the home server to control the corresponding operation in the air conditioner). With this arrangement, the emulating device 20 acts as a modem in place of the two (physical) modems needed between the home server 21 and the client computer 22. At this time, the home server 21 or the client computer 22 can be operated by the emulating device 20 in the same working environment as using the actual modem, but the data transmission with less error is achieved by the absence of the physical modem. This enables home network development in an ideal environment.

In addition, according to another embodiment of the present invention, the emulating apparatus 20 may further include a display unit 215 for displaying the packet or the data. 4 illustrates a screen displayed on the display unit 215 before the emulating apparatus 20 operates, and FIG. 5 illustrates a display screen when the emulating apparatus 20 is in operation. Although the display unit 215 shown in FIG. 5 shows a status of transmitted data and a received data value, according to an embodiment, the display unit 215 shows packet values, received data status, and data values. Or the like may also be displayed on the display unit 215. When developing a home network using an actual modem, it was difficult to check the data values actually transmitted and received. However, since the emulating apparatus 20 includes such a display unit 215, the emulating apparatus 20 is used. By knowing the status and the value of the packet (or data) to be transmitted and received through, it is easier to develop a home network.

2C is a block diagram illustrating an emulating apparatus 20 'according to another embodiment of the present invention. The emulating apparatus 20 'includes a packet generator 226 that contains predetermined data and generates a packet corresponding to the CIM format, and the packet to the home server 21 or the client computer 22 through serial communication. It includes a packet transmission unit 225 for transmitting. The packet transmitter 225 may transmit the packet generated by the packet generator 226 to the home server 21 or the client computer 22.

According to this structure, the data necessary for confirming the operation of the home server 21 or the client computer 22 can be easily generated by the home network developer and transmitted to the home server 21 or the client computer 22. Therefore, even when neither the home server 21 nor the client computer 22 has been developed, the packet generation unit 226 as if it is a packet transmitted from the home server 21 or the client computer 22. There is an advantage that can transmit the packet generated in. For example, if only the client computer 22 is being developed while the home server 21 is not developed, only the client computer 22 and the emulating apparatus 20 perform data communication using serial communication. At this time, when the predetermined data is transmitted from the home server 21, the emulating apparatus 20 'can be used when it is necessary to develop and test the operation performed on the client computer 22. In the emulating apparatus 20 ', the packet generator 226 generates a packet including predetermined data and corresponding to the CIM format, and the packet transmitter 225 transmits the packet to the client computer 22. As a result, the same effect as that of the packet from the home server 21 can be achieved.

Further, according to another embodiment of the present invention, the emulating apparatus 20 'is a packet receiver 221 for receiving a packet including command data from the home server 21 or the client computer 22 using serial communication. ) May be further included. In this case, when the command data is input from the packet receiver 221, the packet transmitter 225 may transmit predetermined response data corresponding to the command data to the home server 21 or the client computer 22. .

For example, when a packet including command data for the client computer 22 is transmitted from the home server 21, the emulation apparatus 20 described above transmits the packet to the client computer 22. It only functions as a modem. However, in the emulating apparatus 20 ', when the packet containing the command data for the client computer 22 is received from the home server 21 while the client computer 22 is not ready, the emulating device 20' The client computer 22 "generates" the data corresponding to the response data it responds to (if the client computer is ready) and sends it to the home server 21. In this case, the home server 21 operates in the same environment as the client computer 22 as well as the modem. Therefore, it is much easier to develop a home network when using the emulating apparatus 20 '.

In this case, the emulating apparatus 20 ′ may further include a display unit 224 displaying the command data and the response data, the packet including the command data or the response data, or the state of each data or packet. Can be. The advantage of the case where the display unit 224 is provided is the same as in the emulating apparatus 20 described above.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the emulating apparatus 20 ′ detects an error if a packet transmitted from the packet receiving unit 221 is in CIM format, or a packet verification unit 222 that detects an error, or a test result error is found. If not, it may further include a data extractor 223 for extracting the data (which may be command data) from the packet. Since the packet verification unit 222 and the data extraction unit 223 are the same as those described in the emulating apparatus 20, the description thereof will be omitted.

The following describes a general purpose computer system that can be employed as a home server or client computer connected to the emulating apparatus according to the present invention in serial communication and used for home network development. 6 illustrates an internal block diagram of a computer system. The term general purpose computer system is used herein to include any mechanical device in the form of a set-top box having all or some of the components shown in FIG. 6 as well as a computer such as a PC.

Computer system 600 includes one or more processors 601 connected to a main memory including random access memory (RAM) 602 and read only memory (ROM) 603. The processor 601 may also be called a central processing unit (CPU). As is well known in the art, the ROM 603 serves to transfer data and instructions to the CPU unidirectionally, and the RAM 602 typically transfers data and instructions bidirectionally. Used to. RAM 602 and ROM 603 may include any suitable form of computer readable media. Mass storage 604 is bidirectionally coupled to processor 601 to provide additional data storage capability, and may be any of the computer readable recording media described above. The mass storage device 604 is used to store programs, data, and the like, and is typically an auxiliary memory device such as a hard disk which is slower than the main memory device. Certain mass storage devices such as CD ROM 606 may be used. The processor 601 may include one or more input / output interfaces such as a video monitor, trackball, mouse, keyboard, microphone, touchscreen display, card reader, magnetic or paper tape reader, voice or handwriting reader, joystick, or other known computer input / output device. 605 is connected. Finally, the processor 601 may be connected to a wired or wireless communication network through the network interface 607. Through this network connection, the procedure of the method described above can be performed. The apparatus and tools described above are well known to those skilled in the computer hardware and software arts.

The hardware device described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the present invention.

As described above, the present invention has been described by way of limited embodiments and drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, which can be variously modified and modified by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Modifications are possible. Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention should be understood only by the claims set forth below, and all equivalent or equivalent modifications thereof will belong to the scope of the present invention.

According to the emulating apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to simply check whether a packet transmitted and received from a home server or a client computer is in CIM format, and whether there is an error in the packet. Since the value is easy to know, there is a technical effect of improving the home network development environment.

In addition, according to the emulating apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to perform data (packet) communication between a home server or a client computer without using a modem, thereby improving the home network development environment.

In addition, according to the emulating apparatus according to the present invention, the emulating apparatus can generate predetermined data and transmit it to a home server or a client computer, and can generate and retransmit response data corresponding to the received command data. As a result, the development of the other side is possible even when either the home server or the client computer is not developed, thereby improving the home network development environment.

Claims (10)

An emulating device for developing a home network that conforms to the HNCP (Home Network Control Protocol), A packet receiving unit for receiving a packet including predetermined data from a server or a client computer using serial communication, A packet verification unit for verifying whether the packet is in a CIM format and checking whether an error occurs when the packet is in a CIM format, and A data extraction unit for extracting the data from the packet when no error is found as a result of the test; And said server or client computer comprises a CIM. An emulating apparatus for developing a home network that complies with HNCP, A packet receiving unit for receiving a packet including predetermined data from a server or a client computer using serial communication, A packet verification unit for verifying whether the packet is in a CIM format and checking whether an error occurs when the packet is in a CIM format, and A packet transmission unit for transmitting the packet to the server or the client computer using serial communication when no error is found as a result of the inspection; And said server or client computer comprises a CIM. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The packet verification unit verifies whether or not the CIM format by examining the STX and ETX, An emulator device that checks for errors by checking CheckSum. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And the packet verifying unit further verifies whether the received packet is duplicated. The method of claim 4, wherein The packet verification unit emulating apparatus, characterized in that for verifying the duplicate reception by comparing the IPN. The method of claim 2, And the packet verification unit further verifies a packet type of the received packet. The method of claim 6, And the packet verifying unit verifies a packet type by comparing an IPT. An emulating apparatus for developing a home network that complies with HNCP, A packet generation unit including predetermined data and generating a packet corresponding to a CIM format, and A packet transmitter for transmitting the packet to a server or a client computer using serial communication; And said server or client computer comprises a CIM. The method of claim 8, A packet receiving unit for receiving a packet including command data from a server or a client computer using serial communication, And said predetermined data is response data corresponding to said command data. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 8, Emulating apparatus further comprises a display unit for displaying the packet or the data.