KR20050076065A - Home network system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a home network system, and more particularly, to a home network system that varies a packet size transmitted according to a buffer size in a home appliance.

The home network system of the present invention comprises at least a first and a second home appliance, and a predetermined network to communicate them with each other, the first home appliance sending a packet including a buffer size request message to the second home appliance. And the second home appliance sends a packet including a buffer size response message to the first home appliance in response thereto, and the first home appliance includes the second home appliance included in the buffer size response message. By storing the buffer size of the reference buffer size, the size of the packet to be transmitted to the second home appliance according to the reference buffer size.

Description

Home Network System {HOME NETWORK SYSTEM}

The present invention relates to a home network system, and more particularly, to a home network system that varies a packet size transmitted according to a buffer size in a home appliance.

At present, home automation for automatic control of home appliances in each home or remote is almost commercialized. In the early stages of home automation, each device was controlled separately using a telephone or an infrared ray, and there was no connection between the devices, but now, there is a controller that controls the network by establishing a network between home appliances using communication means. A method for integrated management is used.

1 is a block diagram of a general overall home network system. As shown, a home network means that various digital home appliances can be connected to each other to enjoy convenient, safe and economical living services at home and at any time.

In the background of the appearance of the home network, refrigerators and washing machines, which have been called white household appliances, have been gradually digitized due to the development of digital signal processing technology. Also, due to the rapid development of home appliance operating system technology and high-speed multimedia communication technology, This is because these technologies are emerging as a form of integrated new information appliances.

Here, the IT network refers to a network type established for exchanging data or providing Internet service between a personal computer and peripheral devices, and the AV network refers to a network type between home appliances that handle audio or video information. And, the living network is a network constructed for the purpose of simple control of home appliances, such as home automation and remote meter reading, and may be composed of a refrigerator, a washing machine, a microwave oven, a light lamp, a gas alarm, an air conditioner, a telephone, and the like.

A home network system configured in such a home has a master device, which is a home appliance that can control or monitor the operation of other home appliances, the ability to respond to the needs of the master device based on the characteristics and other factors of the home appliance, and its status. It consists of a slave device, which is a home appliance with the function of informing about the change. As used herein, the home appliance is meant to include not only home appliances for living network services described above, such as washing machines and refrigerators, but also home appliances for IT network services and AV network services.

2 is a block diagram of a home network system in a typical home. As shown, a home network system 1 formed in a home consists of at least one master device 10 connected by a bus network 28 and slave devices 1 to 4 (20, 22, 24, 26). .

Each master device 10 and slave devices 1 to 4 (20, 22, 24, 26) of the illustrated home network system 1 include a predetermined command message or a response message or a notification message informing of a change of state. A packet is generated and transmitted via the bus network 28. At this time, the generated packet is generated and transmitted to a predetermined size regardless of the characteristics of the respective elements in the home network system 1. For example, the buffer size of each component is 4 (units omitted) in the master device 10, 2 (units omitted) in the slave device 1 (20), and 2 to 4 (22, 24, 26) in the slave devices. When 1.5 (unit omission), when the master device 10 sets the size of the packet to be generated to 1, when the total size of the packet is 4, the master device 10 converts this entire packet into a packet of size 1. It generates a partition and transmits it four times.

Since the packet having the size set in this way is generated regardless of the state (particularly, the buffer size) of each component in the home network system 1, there is a problem that the packet transmission capability of each component cannot be used as efficiently as possible. .

An object of the present invention to solve this problem is to provide a home network system to maximize the packet transmission capacity by setting the size of the packet to be transmitted, in consideration of the state of the components connected to the home network system.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a home network system that maximizes the packet transmission capability by setting the size of the packet to be transmitted in consideration of the state of the interface module included in the component connected to the home network system. .

The home network system of the present invention comprises at least a first and a second home appliance, and a predetermined network to communicate them with each other, the first home appliance sending a packet including a buffer size request message to the second home appliance. And the second home appliance sends a packet including a buffer size response message to the first home appliance in response thereto, and the first home appliance includes the second home appliance included in the buffer size response message. By storing the buffer size of the reference buffer size, the size of the packet to be transmitted to the second home appliance according to the reference buffer size.

In this case, when the home network system includes a plurality of second home appliances, the first home appliance preferably receives a plurality of buffer sizes and sets the smallest buffer size among them as a reference buffer size.

In addition, the first home network system may vary by limiting the size of the packet to be transmitted to the second home appliance to less than the reference buffer size.

It is also preferred that the first home appliance comprises at least one master means and the second home appliance comprises at least one slave means.

The first and second home appliances may further include an interface module for connecting to the network, and the buffer size may further include a buffer size of the interface module.

In addition, the first home appliance compares the buffer size of the second home appliance with the buffer size of the interface module, and based on a smaller buffer size.

In addition, the communication barrier in the home network system of the present invention comprises at least the first and second home appliances and a predetermined network for communicating them with each other, the reference buffer size of which the first home appliance is stored in advance. Reading, generating, by the first home appliance, a packet to be transmitted to the second home network system according to the reference buffer size, and transmitting, by the first home appliance, the generated packet to the second home appliance. It includes a step.

At this time, in the generating step, it is preferable that the first home appliance generates the packet by limiting the size of the packet to be transmitted below the reference buffer size.

The communication method may further include transmitting, by the first home appliance, a packet including a buffer size request message to the second home appliance, and by the second home appliance in response to the buffer size request message. And transmitting the packet including the buffer size response message to the first home appliance, and storing, by the first home appliance, the buffer size of the second home appliance as a reference buffer size. Do.

In addition, when the home network system includes a plurality of second home appliances, the communication method may include: receiving, by the first home appliance, a plurality of buffer size response messages, and comparing the plurality of received buffer sizes. And setting the smallest buffer size as the reference buffer size according to the comparison result.

It is also preferred that the first home appliance comprises at least one master means and the second home appliance comprises at least one slave means.

The first and second home appliances may further include an interface module for connecting to the network, and the buffer size may further include a buffer size of the interface module. The home appliance may further include comparing the buffer size of the second home appliance with the buffer size of the interface module, so that the smaller buffer size may be set as the reference buffer size according to the comparison result.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and preferred embodiments. However, the scope of the present invention should not be limited by the following description, and the scope of the present invention will be limited only by what is described in the following claims.

3 is a block diagram of a home network system according to the present invention. As shown, the home network system 100 formed in the home consists of at least one master device 50 and slave devices 60, 70, 80 connected by the bus network 90. In addition, the gateway 30 for connecting to the external Internet, and the network manager 40 connected to the gateway 30 to provide Internet services and to perform configuration and initialization functions of home appliances in the home network system 100. ) May be additionally provided.

Here, the master device 50 may perform the same function as the above-described master device, and the network manager 40 may perform a function similar to that of the master device 50 except for an internet service. However, for convenience of explanation below, it is assumed that the network manager 40 performs a function such as a bridge for an Internet service, etc., and only one master device 50 exists in the home network system 100. It is assumed that the explanation is made.

Here, the bus network 90 may be a wired medium such as a power line or a telephone line already installed in a separate line or installed in each home, or may be a wireless-based transmission medium. However, as shown, the home network system 100 according to the present invention constitutes a closed network that connects home appliances in an independent home with a wired or wireless transmission medium. In this case, the closed network includes physically connected but logically separated networks.

Here, the master device 50 transmits a packet including a buffer size request message to the slave devices 60, 70, and 80 through the bus network 90. Accordingly, the slave devices 60, 70, and 80 receiving this packet each receive a buffer size response message including their own buffer size (for example, the buffer size of the microcomputer included therein) to the master device 50, respectively. Transmit via bus network 90.

The master device 50 stores the buffer size included in the received buffer size response message, and sets the smallest buffer size among the stored buffer sizes as the reference buffer size. In this case, in general, the buffer size of the microcomputer included in the master device 50 is designed to be larger than the buffer size of the microcomputer included in the slave devices 60, 70, and 80, so that the buffer size of the master device 50 is not considered. However, sometimes it can be considered. Subsequently, when the master device 50 generates and transmits a packet including a message to be transmitted to the slave devices 60, 70, and 80, the packet size varies according to the reference buffer size and transmitted. That is, the master device 50 transmits a packet having a size smaller than or equal to this reference buffer size through the bus network 90.

In this case, when there is no change in the components of the home network system 100, the master device 50 variably generates and transmits packets according to the stored reference buffer size, and transmits new components to the home network system 100. In this case, the master device 50 transmits a packet including the above-mentioned buffer size request message to reset the reference buffer size.

In addition, the master device 50 and the slave devices 60, 70, and 80 additionally include an interface module (not shown) for connection with the bus network 90 in addition to the buffer of the microcomputer described above. This interface module also has a predetermined buffer to limit the size of incoming and outgoing packets. Therefore, when the master device 50 transmits a packet including a buffer size request message to the slave device 60, 70, 80, the buffer size request message is the size of all the buffers in the slave device (60, 70, 80) Message or a message requesting the size of the smallest buffer among all buffers in each slave device 60, 70, or 80.

In both cases, the master device 50 stores the buffer sizes received from each slave device 60, 70, 80, and the stored buffer sizes and the buffers of the master device 50 of its own interface module and of the microcomputer. By comparing the sizes, the smallest buffer size among them is set as the reference buffer size.

The packet according to the set reference buffer size does not overload the master device 50 even when the master device 50 transmits, and does not generate an overload when the slave devices 60, 70, 80 also receive. In addition, when viewed from the bus network 90, the packets between the master device 50 and the slave devices 60, 70, 80 are transmitted at the most optimal size, so that the bus network 90 may be configured to have a particular master device 50 or The time occupied by the slave devices 60, 70, 80 can be reduced. As described above, the buffer size of each component is 4 (units omitted) for the master device 50, 2 (units omitted) for the slave device 60, and 1.5 (units omitted) for the slave devices 70 and 80. In this case, when the master device 50 sets the size of the packet to be generated to 1, when the total size of the packet is 4, the master device 10 divides the entire packet into packets of size 1 to generate 4 times. Will be sent across. However, when the master device 50 sets the reference buffer size to 1.5, which is the smallest buffer size, the master device 50 can transmit the buffer having the size 4 over three times (1.5 + 1.5 + 1).

4A is a flowchart of a communication method of a home network system according to the present invention.

In detail, in step S41, the master device 50 reads the reference buffer size previously stored in the built-in memory (not shown).

In step S42, the master device 50 generates a packet containing the message sent to the slave devices 60, 70, 80 according to the read reference buffer size. That is, the master device generates a packet having a size smaller than or equal to this reference buffer size.

In step S43, the master device 50 transmits the packet to the slave devices 60, 70, and 80 via the bus network 90, and ends.

4B is a flowchart of a method of setting a reference buffer size.

In detail, in step S44, the master device 50 transmits a packet including a buffer size request message to the slave devices 60, 70, and 80.

In step S45, the slave device 60, 70, 80 generates a packet including a buffer size response message including its buffer size and transmits the packet to the master device 50, so that the master device 50 receives a plurality of packets. Receive a buffer size response message. This buffer size response message includes the smallest one of the elements (e.g., microcomputer, interface module, etc.) in each slave device 60, 70, 80, as described above, or all buffer sizes (each The buffer size of the microcomputer, the buffer size of the interface module).

In step S46, the master device 50 sets the smallest buffer size among the received buffer sizes as the reference buffer size. At this time, the master device 50 compares not only the buffer sizes of the received slave devices 60, 70, and 80 but also the buffer sizes of its own microcomputer and / or interface module, and compares the smallest buffer size among them with the reference buffer. You can set the size.

In step S47, the master device 50 stores the set reference buffer size. In this case, when there is only one slave device 60, 70, 80, the master device 50 may simply store the received buffer size as the reference buffer size without the step S46.

The present invention having such a configuration has an effect of maximizing the packet transmission capability by setting the size of the packet to be transmitted in consideration of the state of the components connected to the home network system.

In addition, the present invention has an effect of maximizing the packet transmission capability by setting the size of the packet to be transmitted in consideration of the state of the interface module included in the component connected to the home network system.

In addition, the present invention exhibits the maximum packet transmission capability in the home network system, thereby preventing the bus network from being occupied for a long time.

1 is a block diagram of a general overall home network system.

2 is a block diagram of a home network system in a typical home.

3 is a block diagram of a home network system according to the present invention.

4A is a flowchart of a communication method of a home network system according to the present invention.

4B is a flowchart of a method of storing a reference buffer size.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

30: gateway 40: network manager

50: master device 60, 70, 80: slave device

90: bus network 100: home network system

Claims (12)

At least a first and a second home appliance, and a predetermined network to enable them to communicate with each other, the first home appliance sending a packet including a buffer size request message to the second home appliance; In response, the home appliance transmits a packet including a buffer size response message to the first home appliance, and the first home appliance references the buffer size of the second home appliance included in the buffer size response message. Storing in size, the size of the packet to be transmitted to the second home appliance according to the reference buffer size, characterized in that the home network system. The method of claim 1, wherein when the home network system includes a plurality of second home appliances, the first home appliance receives a plurality of buffer sizes and sets the smallest buffer size among them as a reference buffer size. Home network system, characterized in that. The home network system of claim 1, wherein the first home network system limits the size of a packet to be transmitted to the second home appliance to less than or equal to the reference buffer size. 3. A home network system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first home appliance comprises at least one master means and the second home appliance comprises at least one slave means. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second home appliances include an interface module for connecting to the network, and the buffer size further includes a buffer size of the interface module. Home network system. 6. The home network system of claim 5, wherein the first home appliance compares the buffer size of the second home appliance with the buffer size of the interface module, and based on a smaller buffer size. In a home network system consisting of at least a first and a second home appliance and a predetermined network that enables them to communicate with each other, Reading, by the first home appliance, a pre-stored reference buffer size; Generating, by the first home appliance, a packet to be transmitted to the second home network system according to the reference buffer size; And transmitting, by the first home appliance, the generated packet to the second home appliance. The communication method of claim 7, wherein the first home appliance generates the packet by limiting the size of the packet to be transmitted to be less than or equal to the reference buffer size. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the communication method comprises the steps of the first home appliance sending a packet including a buffer size request message to the second home appliance, and the second home appliance responding to the buffer size request message. Transmitting a packet including a buffer size response message including a buffer size to the first home appliance, and storing, by the first home appliance, the buffer size of the second home appliance as a reference buffer size. Communication method of a home network system, characterized in that it comprises a. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein when the home network system comprises a plurality of second home appliances, the method of communication comprises: receiving the first home appliance comprising a plurality of buffer size response messages; Comparing the buffer size and the step of setting the smallest buffer size as the reference buffer size according to the comparison result. 11. A home network system according to any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein the first home appliance comprises at least one master means and the second home appliance comprises at least one slave means. Communication method. The apparatus of claim 9 or 10, wherein the first and second home appliances include an interface module for connecting to the network, and the buffer size further includes a buffer size of the interface module. The comparing step may further include the first home appliance comparing the buffer size of the second home appliance with the buffer size of the interface module, and setting a smaller buffer size as a reference buffer size according to the comparison result. Communication method of a home network system, characterized in that.