KR20050019647A - Home gateway apparatus providing integrated authentication function and integrated authentication method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A home gateway device supplying an integrated authentication function and an integrated authentication method thereof are provided to flexibly receive plural services by using the one home gateway device, and to perform an integrated authentication process, thereby reducing time and cost while easily expanding services. CONSTITUTION: An external network interface(110) terminates an external network function, and relays an external network(500). An internal network interface(120) terminates an internal network function, and relays an internal network(600). Interface processors(130,140,150) mutually connect and relay the external network interface(110) with the internal network interface(120). An integrated authenticator(160) authenticates a home gateway device(100), and automatically and integratedly authenticates subscribers who receive a service through the home gateway device(100). A manager(180) connects home apparatuses(300-1¯300-m) with service provider servers(200-1¯200-n).

Description

HOME GATEWAY APPARATUS PROVIDING INTEGRATED AUTHENTICATION FUNCTION AND INTEGRATED AUTHENTICATION METHOD THEREOF}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a home gateway device, and more particularly, to a home gateway device providing an integrated authentication function and a method for integrated authentication thereof.

Recently, due to the rapid development of information and communication technology, efforts are continuously made to provide faster and more accurate information. In addition, as the home network connecting various devices in the home network is increasing, the development of a home gateway device for integrating and providing services for various information is actively progressing.

As described in TTAS.KO-04.0015, the home gateway device, as a basic function, data can be smoothly transferred or shared among various network interfaces in the internal network by interworking between the external network and the internal network. At the same time, it is a device that allows smooth communication and security between respective internal network interfaces and external network interfaces.

The technologies associated with home networks connected to home gateway devices include Home Phoneline Networking Alliance (HPNA), IEEE1394, Bluetooth, Power Line Communication (PLC), Ethernet, and Wide Local Area Network (WLAN). Area Network (USB), Universe Serial Bus (USB), etc., and external networks include xDSL (Digital Subscriber Line), cable modem, satellite, Ethernet, and power line communication.

As the home gateway device connects various home network technologies and external network technologies, the user can receive various services in various integrated networks.

However, each time a user requests each service in order to receive various services through such a home gateway device, the user must directly authenticate his / her own authentication information, that is, an ID and a password, to the server related to the service. There is a problem in that the service can be used only when both the ID and the password for authentication for each service are known.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, to accommodate and provide more various services, to consider the scalability of other services in addition, and the user to directly input authentication information when using various services. The present invention provides a home gateway device that provides an integrated authentication function and its integrated authentication method so that there is no problem.

In order to achieve the above object, the home gateway device according to the characteristics of the present invention,

A home gateway device interconnecting an internal network and an external network connected to home devices,

An external network interface unit terminating the external network function and responsible for mediation between the external networks; An internal network interface unit terminating the internal network function and responsible for mediation between the internal networks; An interface processor for interconnecting and intermediating the external network interface unit with the internal network interface unit; An integrated authentication unit which automatically performs authentication on the home gateway device itself and integrated authentication on subscribers provided with the service through the home gateway device; And a management unit for controlling the external network interface unit, the internal network interface unit, the inter-interface processing unit, and the integrated authentication unit to interconnect the home devices and the service providing servers connected to the external network. .

The inter-interface processor may include: a video processor configured to decode a video received through the external network interface unit and output the decoded video to the home devices through an internal network connected to the internal network interface unit; An SMS processor for transmitting a short message service (SMS) message received from the home devices through the internal network connected to the internal network interface to a mobile terminal set in advance through an external network connected to the external network interface; And a home monitoring processor configured to receive and encode a video output from a camera installed in a home through the internal network and the internal network interface, and transmit the encoded video to a specific display device through an external network connected to the external network interface unit.

The home gateway device may further include an expansion unit configured to expand and accommodate specific services to be added later between the external network interface unit and the internal network interface unit.

In addition, the integrated authentication unit preferably stores the subscriber authentication information for the user of the home devices to use the services provided by the service providing servers connected to the external network.

In addition, the integrated authentication unit preferably receives and stores the subscriber authentication information from a specific integrated authentication server that stores all of the subscriber authentication information.

In addition, the integrated authentication unit preferably stores the subscriber information in the form of a cookie having a valid period of use.

The integrated authentication unit preferably receives the subscriber authentication information from the specific integrated authentication server upon authentication of the home gateway device itself.

Integrated authentication method in a home gateway device according to another aspect of the present invention,

A method of performing integrated authentication in a service request for service providing servers connected to the external network from the home devices in a home gateway device interconnecting an internal network and an external network connected to home devices,

a) determining whether there is subscriber authentication information for the requested service; b) when it is determined in step a) that there is no subscriber authentication information for the requested service, requesting and receiving the subscriber authentication information from the specific integrated authentication server; c) if it is determined that there is subscriber authentication information for the requested service in step a) or if the subscriber authentication information is received in step b), the subscriber authentication information is connected to the external network. Requesting subscriber authentication by transmitting to a service providing server providing a service; And d) interconnecting the home device requesting the service and the service providing server to enable service use when the requested subscriber authentication is completed from the service providing server.

Here, the integrated authentication method in the home gateway device, before the step a), transmitting the authentication information of the home gateway device to the specific integrated authentication server, requesting authentication of the home gateway device itself; And receiving and storing subscriber authentication information transmitted from the specific integrated authentication server after authentication of the requested home gateway device itself is completed from the specific integrated authentication server.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention. Like parts are designated by like reference numerals throughout the specification.

First, a home gateway device providing an integrated authentication function according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a home gateway device 100 that provides an integrated authentication function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the home gateway device 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include an external network interface unit 110, an internal network interface unit 120, a video processing unit 130, and a short message service (SMS). The processor 140 includes a home monitoring processor 150, an integrated authentication unit 160, an expansion unit 170, and a management unit 180.

The external network interface 110 terminates the network function flowing from the outside of the home, and serves to mediate the function between the internal network interface or the external network interface. In this case, the external network 500 may be an xDSL, a cable modem, an Ethernet interface, or the like, and in some cases, an optical module based on FTTH (Fiber To The Home) may be mounted.

Service providing server 1 200-1, service providing server 2 200-2,. The various service providing servers such as the service providing server n 200-n may be connected to the external network interface 110 of the home gateway device 100 to provide a service through the home gateway device 100.

The internal network interface unit 120 is an interface specific to the home service, and serves to terminate the related network in the standard physical electrical interface. In this case, the internal network 600 may be HPNA, PLC, Ethernet, WLAN, Bluetooth, IEEE1394, USB, RF, and the like, and the internal network interface unit 120 may selectively, collectively or collectively interface with them. Can provide. In addition, the home device that needs to have an Internet Protocol (IP) among the internal network interfaces may provide a hub function and a network address translation (NAT) function to allocate a public IP or a private IP as needed. In addition, a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) may be provided to allow static and dynamic IP allocation. In addition, a bridging function may be provided to enable seamless networking between home devices.

Home device 1 (300-1), home device 2 (300-2),... Various home devices, such as the home device m (300-m), may be connected to the internal network interface unit 120 of the home gateway device 100 to use a service through the home gateway device 100. The internal network interface unit 120 may share a home device in some cases between the connected home devices. In addition, it is possible to control or operate the home devices connected to the internal network interface from the outside.

On the other hand, the home gateway device 100 provides a basic inter-processing function, that is, a bridging function or a routing function, which interconnects and arbitrates the external network interface 110 and the internal network interface 120. And such functions are already well known and will be readily understood by those skilled in the art even if omitted herein. Embodiments of the present invention include a video processing unit 130, SMS processing unit 140, home monitoring processing unit 150 and the like to perform a specific processing function in addition to the basic inter-interface processing function. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and may further include various processing functions in addition to those described above between the external network interface unit 110 and the internal network interface unit 120.

The video processor 130 decodes a video received through VOD (Video On Demand) or digital broadcasting received through the external network interface 110 and is connected to the internal network through the internal network interface 120. Output to the device, the codec for decoding is not limited. The video processor 130 may decode a video read by a device such as a digital video disk (DVD) in some cases.

The SMS processing unit 140 detects an operation such as an emergency call, an intrusion detection, or a doorbell push by a visitor from home devices connected to the internal network 600, and is received through the internal network interface unit 120. In order to transmit the message to the mobile phone registered in advance through the interface unit 110, the message is transmitted to the pre-registered SMS server. At this time, a plurality of mobile phone numbers can be specified.

The home monitoring processor 150 receives and encodes a video output from a camera installed in the home through the internal network interface 120 and transmits the encoded video to be monitored by a display device connected to the external network interface 110. At this time, since the camera providing the web server function and the codec function in the camera itself is expensive, a low cost camera is used, and the web server function and the codec function are provided by the home monitoring processor 150.

On the other hand, the integrated authentication unit 160 is a module that performs authentication to provide a service, and provides the integrated authentication for each service, including the home gateway device 100 authentication through the integrated authentication server 400. The integrated authentication unit 160 stores a unique device number, a representative ID, and a password for authentication of the home gateway device 100, and when the home gateway device 100 is powered on or rebooted, the integrated authentication server ( Authentication of the home gateway device 100 is performed through 400. In addition, the integrated authentication unit 160 performs authentication for using the service provided by the service providing servers 200-1, 200-2,..., 200-n, and stores the ID and password used for such authentication. do. At this time, the ID and password for each service is basically stored in the integrated authentication server 400, when the authentication of the home gateway device 100, the integrated authentication unit 160 from the integrated authentication server 400 to the basic service Receive and store the authentication information, name and password and service subscription information for. At this time, the integrated authentication unit 160 stores each authentication information in the form of a cookie, and in particular, it is preferable that the use time is in the form of a cookie.

When the authentication unit 160 receives a service request from the home devices 300-1, 300-2,..., 300-m, the cookie for authentication of the service is not stored or the usage time of the stored cookie is insufficient. When expired, the authentication information of the corresponding service is received from the integrated authentication server 400 and used.

In addition, the integrated authentication unit 160 for each service providing server 200-1, 200 for logging in to each service providing server 200-1, 200-2,..., 200-n through authentication using a cookie. -2, ..., 200-n), that is, software in which the path and the procedure are recorded.

Meanwhile, the expansion unit 170 is a module for extending and accepting services provided in addition to the above services or services to be provided later, for example, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), visitor management, home automation, and the like. .

The management unit 180 manages and controls the video control unit 130, the SMS processing unit 140, the home monitoring processing unit 150, the integrated authentication unit 160 and the expansion unit 170 to control the network state, It checks the link status, service status, and reports the failure to the user. In particular, when a specific management server is connected to the management unit 180, various check states, failure reports, and the like are transmitted to the management server, and in particular, environment setting and the like can be performed remotely.

Meanwhile, the integrated authentication server 400 stores authentication data 410 which is authentication information on each of the service providing servers 200-1, 200-2,..., 200-n, and the home gateway device 100. Perform authentication. In addition, the integrated authentication server 400 in the embodiment of the present invention is described as being independently of the home gateway device 100, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, the integrated authentication server 400 is Included in the home gateway device 100 may be integrally configured. In this case, it is preferable that the integrated authentication unit 160 of the home gateway device 100 includes the function of the integrated authentication server 400. In addition, the integrated authentication server 400 is connected to the home devices (300-1, 300-2, ..., 300-n), respectively, from the home devices (300-1, 300-2, ..., 300-n) Authentication information for each service can be directly input.

Hereinafter, an integrated authentication method in a home gateway apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

First, when the home gateway device 100 is powered on and restarted by rebooting or the like, the integrated authentication unit 160 of the home gateway device 100, that is, the home gateway device 100 may be managed by the manager 180. By using the control of the home gateway device 100 by using the unique device number, the representative ID and password, etc., the authentication is requested to the integrated authentication server 400 (S10).

The integrated authentication server 400 searches for the authentication data 410 using the unique device number, the representative ID and the password transmitted from the home gateway device 100 according to the authentication request from the home gateway device 100, and performs authentication. After performing (S20), the authentication result is transmitted to the home gateway device 100 (S30). At this time, if the authentication result is good, the integrated authentication server 400 includes the subscriber authentication information for the basic service available through the home gateway device 100 in the authentication result and transmits it to the home gateway device 100. It is assumed that such basic service and subscriber authentication information for the basic service are preset by a home network user, that is, a user of home devices 300-1, 300-2, ..., 300-m.

As such, the home gateway apparatus 100 may provide subscriber authentication information for the basic service, that is, each ID, password, and service for the services basically provided by the home gateway apparatus 100 as a result of authentication of the authentication request. The subscription information is received from the integrated authentication server 400, and the subscriber authentication information is stored in a memory such as a hard disk device (S40). At this time, the form to be stored is preferably a cookie (cookie) form generally known. In addition, the stored subscriber authentication information, that is, cookies are set to be valid for a predetermined time, and when the set predetermined time expires, the subscriber authentication information stored in the cookie becomes unavailable.

As such, when there is a service request from various home devices 300-m after the home gateway device 100 is powered on or restarted (S50), the management unit 180 of the home gateway device 100 is integrated. The authentication unit 160 is controlled to perform integrated authentication.

That is, the integrated authentication unit 160 checks subscriber authentication information corresponding to the service requested from the home device 300-m, that is, whether a cookie is stored or whether a valid time expires when the cookie is stored. It is determined whether the subscriber authentication information is available (S60).

If the cookie corresponding to the requested service is not stored or the valid period expires even though there is a stored cookie, and thus the subscriber information is not available, the home gateway device 100 uses the integrated authentication server 400 to provide the service. Request the subscriber authentication information for the home gateway (S70), the integrated authentication server 400 retrieves the authentication data 410 for the subscriber authentication information requested from the home gateway device 100 (S80) to find the subscriber authentication information found in the home gateway. It transmits to the device 100 (S90). At this time, the home gateway device 100 similarly stores the subscriber authentication information transmitted from the integrated authentication server 400 in the form of a cookie and is valid only for a predetermined time.

In this way, it is determined that the use of the cookie with the subscriber authentication information for the service requested in the step (S60) is available, or the corresponding subscriber authentication from the integrated authentication server 400 through the steps (S70, S80, S90) When the information is received, the home gateway device 100 performs subscriber authentication to the service providing server 200-n that provides the requested service using subscriber authentication information corresponding to the requested service, that is, the subscriber ID and password. Request (S100).

Next, the service providing server 200-n receiving the subscriber authentication request from the home gateway apparatus 100 performs subscriber authentication using the ID and password of the subscriber transmitted from the home gateway apparatus 100 (S110). The authentication result is transmitted to the home gateway device 100 (S120).

When the authentication result transmitted from the service providing server 200-n is good, the home gateway device 100 provides a home device 300-m that has requested a service and a service providing server that provides the corresponding service and has already completed subscriber authentication. 200-n) is connected to each other to enable the use of services of the home device (300-m) (S130).

As such, the subscriber who requests a service through the home device 300-m does not directly input subscriber authentication information through the home device 300-m, and the home gateway device 100 automatically performs subscriber authentication for the corresponding service. This eliminates the hassle of subscribers.

In addition, since the home gateway device 100 may have all or no subscriber information on services that may be connected through the home gateway device 100, the home gateway device 100 may receive the information from the integrated authentication server 400, thereby automatically enabling subscriber integrated authentication.

On the other hand, all data transmitted between the home gateway device 100 and the integrated authentication server 400 is preferably encrypted and transmitted and received.

The integrated authentication method in the home gateway device according to the embodiment of the present invention as described above is implemented in a program and stored in a computer-readable recording medium (CD-ROM, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, etc.). Can be stored.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various other changes and modifications are possible.

According to the present invention, a plurality of services can be flexibly accommodated using one home gateway device. In addition, by performing the integrated authentication at the home gateway device, the user's trouble is eliminated, and time and cost are saved. In addition, services to be provided later can be easily extended and accommodated.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a home gateway device providing an integrated authentication function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart of an integrated authentication method in a home gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating an integrated authentication method in a home gateway device according to an embodiment of the present invention as a flow between components.

Claims (10)

A home gateway device interconnecting an internal network and an external network connected to home devices, An external network interface unit terminating the external network function and responsible for mediation between the external networks; An internal network interface unit terminating the internal network function and responsible for mediation between the internal networks; An interface processor for interconnecting and intermediating the external network interface unit with the internal network interface unit; An integrated authentication unit which automatically performs authentication on the home gateway device itself and integrated authentication on subscribers provided with the service through the home gateway device; And A management unit which controls the external network interface unit, the internal network interface unit, the inter-processing unit, and the integrated authentication unit to enable mutual connection between the home devices and service providing servers connected to the external network. Home gateway device comprising a. The method of claim 1, The inter-processing unit, A video processor for decoding a video received through the external network interface unit and outputting the decoded video to the home devices through an internal network connected to the internal network interface unit; An SMS processor for transmitting a short message service (SMS) message received from the home devices through the internal network connected to the internal network interface to a mobile terminal set in advance through an external network connected to the external network interface; And Home monitoring processing unit for receiving the video output from the camera installed in the home via the internal network and the internal network interface to encode and transmit to the specific display device through the external network connected to the external network interface unit Home gateway device comprising a. The method of claim 1, And an expansion unit configured to expand and accommodate specific services to be added later between the external network interface unit and the internal network interface unit. The method according to claim 1, wherein And the integrated authentication unit stores subscriber authentication information for the user of the home devices to use the services provided by the service providing servers connected to the external network. The method of claim 4, wherein And the integrated authentication unit receives and stores the subscriber authentication information from a specific integrated authentication server that stores all of the subscriber authentication information. The method of claim 5, And the integrated authentication unit stores the subscriber information in the form of a cookie having a valid period of use. The method of claim 5, And the integrated authentication unit receives the subscriber authentication information from the specific integrated authentication server upon authentication of the home gateway device itself. In the home gateway device for interconnecting the internal network and the external network connected to the home devices in the service request for the service providing server connected to the external network from the home devices to perform the integrated authentication, a) determining whether there is subscriber authentication information for the requested service; b) when it is determined in step a) that there is no subscriber authentication information for the requested service, requesting and receiving the subscriber authentication information from the specific integrated authentication server; c) if it is determined that there is subscriber authentication information for the requested service in step a) or if the subscriber authentication information is received in step b), the subscriber authentication information is connected to the external network. Requesting subscriber authentication by transmitting to a service providing server providing a service; And d) connecting the home device requesting the service and the service providing server to enable service use when the requested subscriber authentication is completed from the service providing server; Integrated authentication method in the home gateway device comprising a. The method of claim 8, Before step a), Requesting authentication of the home gateway device by transmitting authentication information of the home gateway device to the specific integrated authentication server; And Receiving and storing subscriber authentication information transmitted from the specific integrated authentication server after authentication of the requested home gateway device itself is completed from the specific integrated authentication server; Integrated authentication method in a home gateway device further comprising. The method of claim 9, And the subscriber information is stored in the form of a cookie having a valid period of use.