KR20050094286A - Upnp device controlling method using internet - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for controlling a UPnP device using the Internet. In particular, the UPnP control point (CP) in a home network adds and deletes a port mapping of UPnP IGD on the Internet while a description of the UPnP device is stored. The purpose of this is to update the specification and to perform UPnP IGD portmapping of UPnP Control Points (CP) in the home network to control UPnP devices in the home network through the Internet. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method for controlling a device in a home network on the Internet using a portable control point, wherein the control point existing in the home network stores specifications of UPnP devices and dynamically adds port mapping of IGDs on the Internet. Updating the stored specification while deleting, opening an access path for accessing the home network from the internet through port mapping of the UPnP IGD, and directly updating a UPnP device in a home via the Internet based on the specification. And to perform the controlling step.

Description

UPnP DEVICE CONTROLLING METHOD USING INTERNET}

The present invention relates to UPnP, and more particularly, to a method for controlling an Internet of a UPnP device.

Recently, as computing power is applied to small and various devices, cheap and universal networking media technologies are emerging or commercialized. For example, a variety of devices such as refrigerators, TVs, washing machines, PCs, and audio devices used in homes are connected by networking and given the computing power, so that they can be easily used and set up so that people can enjoy a higher quality of life. It became possible.

For this purpose, a function of UPnP ^™ (hereinafter abbreviated as UPnP) has been proposed.

Since the Plug and Play (PnP) feature has been added to the current operating system, installing and configuring PC peripherals has become much easier, but Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) brings these convenient features to the Internet, such as TCP / IP, HTTP, and XML. It is a technology that allows network devices such as home appliances, network printers, and Internet gates to be networking, especially home networking, by extending to the entire network based on standard technology.

In particular, the UPnP Device Architecture 1.0 specification is based on distributed and open networking architectures, enabling each appliance in a home network to be seamlessly peer-to-peer instead of centrally managed.

At this time, UPnP defines standard networking technology such as IP, HTTP, etc. as a technical component of distributed and open networking structure to operate independently of an operating system, a platform, and a transmission medium.

However, since the UPnP 1.0 specification generally uses IP multicast for device discovery, discovery and control of devices existing in different network segments are not guaranteed. In addition, UPnP devices based on private IPv4 addresses in the home network cannot be accessed through the Internet without address translation through NAT (Network Address Translation) in an environment where the home network is composed of a private network due to a lack of IPv4 addresses.

Therefore, when the UPnP 1.0 standard is adopted, there is a problem in that UPnP devices of a home network composed of a private network cannot be found and controlled through the Internet for the above reason.

However, since UPnP is based on IP, if you solve the device discovery problem and perform address translation through NAT, IP communication with UPnP devices in the home network can be controlled directly through the Internet.

The problem of UPnP device discovery over the Internet is to run an external directory server that provides device discovery information on the Internet, or to store mobile device information found in accordance with the UPnP 1.0 specification at home to mobile devices (eg, PDAs) that travel between the home and the Internet. It can be solved by using.

In addition, the NAT address translation problem for the private IPv4 address based UPnP device in the home network can be solved through additional equipment such as UPnP Internet Gateway Device (hereinafter, abbreviated as "UPnP IGD").

UPnP IGD is a standard for convenient configuration and use of home gateways, located at the boundary between LAN and WAN that make up a home network. In particular, UPnP IGD is characterized by automatically configuring NAT through a function called port mapping. Port mapping of UPnP IGD is done by sending external host address for application connection, public port to be used for external connection, protocol, internal port, internal host address information through SOAP-based UPnP action.

Accordingly, in order to improve the conventional problem, the present invention stores UPnP control points (CP) in a home network and performs port mapping of UPnP IGDs on the Internet to address information of corresponding device specification information. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for discovering and controlling UPnP devices in a home network through the Internet by updating.

That is, an object of the present invention is to enable discovery and control on the Internet for UPnP devices on a home network not provided by UPnP device architecture 1.0 through port mapping of UPnP IGDs and storage of device specifications.

The present invention provides a method for controlling a device in a home network on the Internet using a portable control point to achieve the above object, wherein the control point in the home network stores the specification of the UPnP device and port mapping of the IGD on the Internet Updating the stored specification while dynamically adding and deleting the data, and opening an access path for accessing the home network from the Internet through port mapping of UPnP IGD, and based on the specification, And directly controlling the UPnP device.

In addition, the step of adding and deleting the port mapping is a process of checking whether there is a port mapping of the corresponding device when the device is to be controlled, and when the port mapping of the corresponding device does not exist, based on the device specification of IGD Setting a port mapping, performing a URL conversion on a specification of a corresponding device based on the port mapping of the corresponding device, accessing and controlling a corresponding device in a home network using the converted URL; When the control of the device is terminated, the process of deleting the set port mapping may be performed.

In the present invention, since the UPnP IGD is a UPnP device serving as a home gateway, the UPnP IGD can be automatically detected by the control point and can be set through the UPnP action.

Portmapping is one of the functions provided by UPnP IGD. The IGD's public IP address and IGD are configured externally by connecting a specific IP address and port number in the private network with IGD's own public IP address and specific port number. In case of trying to access through one port number, it passes NAT (Network Address Translation) process to specific IP address and port in private network.

Therefore, if port mapping is set for a UPnP device in a private network, the device can be accessed from the outside through IGD.

That is, UPnP IGD is the minimum requirement for Internet control because it is impossible to directly access UPnP device with private network IP address from the Internet due to the characteristics of IPv4.

Therefore, the present invention extends the function of the control point, which is necessary for controlling the UPnP device, together with the UPnP IGD, so that the control point can directly control the UPnP device in the Internet.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating device control in a home network through the Internet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the home network 110, there are a plurality of UPnP devices that a user wants to control, and there is a UPnP IGD 120 for connecting to the Internet 140.

The UPnP device and the UPnP IGD 120 have a private IP address due to the characteristics of a home network.

In general, the IP address of a UPnP device can be changed through DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) or Auto IP according to UPnP 1.0.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is assumed that a DHCP server exists on a home network so that all UPnP devices receive an IP through DHCP and an IP set in a device is still assigned to the device.

The UPnP IGD 120 serves as a gateway of a home network as a UPnP device for setting port mapping, and follows the UPnP IGD DCP 1.0 standard. At this time, the UPnP IGD 120 supports a public IP address accessible from the outside by the NAT function.

1 is a control point (CP) 130 is a mobile device that can be used in the home as well as outside the home, the UPnP device on the home network 110 and the Internet 140 as well as the IGD 120 It can be controlled and provides a UI (User Interface) to the user.

First, the control point 130 operates in local mode when present on the home network to store the device specification in non-volatile local storage separate from the UPnP device control and to the UPnP IGD 120 itself. Set port mapping for.

When the control point 130 goes out to the Internet, the control point 130 operates in internet mode to dynamically set port mapping for the device to be controlled in the UPnP IGD 120 and convert the device specification based on the port mapping information. Control the device directly.

Meanwhile, in order for a control point (CP) to access a device of a private network from the Internet, it is necessary to know a URL for each service of a UPnP device.

The device information recorded in the control point 130, as shown in the data structure of Figure 2, the device description (Device Description) URL for downloading the device description (Device Description) URL (A of FIG. 2), and the service description for downloading the service description ( Service Description) URL (B in FIG. 2), Control URL (C in FIG. 2) for invoking the action defined by the service, and event subscription for sending an event subscription request. An event subscription URL (D in FIG. 2) and a presentation URL (E in FIG. 2) of the presentation page including the control UI provided by the device.

The device specification URL can be found through the Location field of the SSDP header in the device discovery step, and all other URLs are described in the device specification.

Since the device specification includes the minimum information for controlling the device by the control point 130, the control point 130 should be able to secure the device specification.

That is, when the control point 130 is present on the same network segment as the device, the control point 130 can know the device specification URL by UPnP 1.0 SSDP, so that the necessary device specification can be immediately obtained.

If the control point 130 exists on the Internet, the device specification URL cannot be obtained by the UPnP 1.0 SSDP, and thus the device specification cannot be obtained.

Accordingly, in an embodiment of the present invention, when the control point 130 exists on the home network 110 to download the device specification, the device specification is downloaded and stored in the local storage and moved outside the home network. The stored device specification enables device control.

In addition, since the URL information described in the device specification is all based on the private IP, it is impossible to directly control the device through the port. Use mappings and translations of device specifications.

That is, port mapping for private IP addresses and ports in various URLs of the device is set in the IGD 120, and the public IP addresses of the IGD 120 determined by port mapping with the private IP addresses and ports of the URLs. When converted to a port, a request for this URL may be NATed through the IGD 120 to be delivered to a device existing in a private network, and a response thereof may also be received. If the port number is not described in the URL, the port number is '80'.

If the external IP address of the IGD 120 is not fixed, the IP address may be determined through dynamic DNS.

Therefore, the control point 130 can directly control the UPnP device based on this by replacing the URL information of the device specification stored therein using the method as illustrated in FIG. 4.

If the URL to be converted is a relative URL, the IP address and port are not described on the URL. In this case, first, if there is a URLBase field in the device specification, change its value and relative URL to an absolute URL. Second, if there is no URLBase field, the base URL part of the device specification URL found through the SSDP header during the device discovery phase. You can combine this with a relative URL to make it an absolute URL and then convert it.

In addition, the control point 130 preloads the information on the portmapping in addition to the basic information about the device and the device specification when the information exists on the home network 110. Port mapping information set in the UPnP IGD 120 is required for device specification conversion, and its structure is the same as that of FIG. Here, the port mapping information for the IGD itself is also included.

In order to configure port mapping to the UPnP IGD 120, the control point 130 calls an action of the WANIPConnection service, which is an essential service of the UPnP IGD 1.0. The AddPortMapping () action is used to add a new port mapping and the DeletePortMapping () action is used to delete the added port mapping.

That is, in an embodiment of the present invention, port mapping for service specification URL, control URL, event subscription URL, and presentation URL is set for internet control of the device. Since the IP address and port are specified for each URL, this is an internal IP address and an internal port, and if one external port of the IGD 120 is selected and the AddPortMapping () action is called, port mapping for the URL is set.

When calling the AddPortMapping () action, the protocol must be TCP or TCP / UDP to send an HTTP request.

Therefore, if the request is sent to the converted URL after setting the port mapping as described above, since the port mapping of the IGD 120 is set, the IGD 120 performs NAT processing to request the corresponding device. Will be delivered to.

However, since the UPnP IGD 120 is also a UPnP device, the use of port mapping and device specification conversion enables control over the Internet. Port mapping settings for the IGD 120 itself must be performed in advance when the control point 130 is on the home network.

However, when the control point 130 exists in the home network and operates in the local mode, the device specification of all devices including the IGD 120 may be stored, but the port mapping for the IGD 120 itself may be performed. You can set this only, but not port mapping to other devices. This is because, when port mapping for the IGD 120 itself is set, the IGD 120 can be controlled on the Internet so that port mapping for other devices can be dynamically added or deleted when necessary.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the device control process through the Internet will be described with reference to the operation flowchart of FIG.

The control point 120 existing on the Internet 140 may show a list of devices that can be controlled by the user based on the device specification stored in the internal memory. Accordingly, when the user selects a specific device from the device list, control of the corresponding device is started.

First, the control point 130 checks through port mapping information whether port mapping for the corresponding device is already set.

In this case, if port mapping is already set, the control point 130 does not need to newly set port mapping to the IGD 120, but if port mapping is not already set, the control point 130 is a WANIPConnection of the IGD 120. Call the AddPortMapping () action on the service to set up a new port mapping.

However, in order to call an action to the IGD 120, the device specification of the IGD 120 stored in the internal memory must also be converted.

Port mapping for the IGD 120 itself is already set when the control point 130 is on the home network and information about this is contained in the data structure of the control point 130 based on the IGD 120. Convert the device specification of.

The control point 130 establishes a new port mapping to the IGD 120 and then adds it to the data structure and converts the device specification of the stored device based on this information.

When this process is performed, the control point 130 directly sends a request to the device through various URLs on the converted device specification and receives a response from the device.

Accordingly, the user may directly control a device existing in the home network 110 on the Internet 140.

Subsequently, when control of the device is terminated, the control point 130 deletes the port mapping set in the IGD 120 by calling the DeletePortMapping () action in the WANIPConnection service and deletes it from the data structure.

As described in detail above, the present invention can control UPnP devices in a private network on the Internet based on device specification and port mapping information acquired on a home network, thereby providing convenience of device control to a user.

In addition, the present invention has the effect of improving the performance of the network system because it is possible to control devices in the private network on the Internet only by expanding the function of the control point without adding a separate device other than IGD.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a device control process in an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is an exemplary diagram of the data structure of the control point in Figure 1;

3 is an exemplary diagram of a structure of port mapping information in FIG. 2; FIG.

4 is a diagram illustrating a device specification conversion process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a device control process according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

110: home network 120: UPnP IGD

130: control point (CP) 140: Internet

Claims (9)

A first step in which the movable control point stores specification and port mapping information of the UPnP device; A second step of updating the stored specification while dynamically adding and deleting port mapping of an IGD (Internet Gateway Device) on the Internet; A third step of opening an access path for accessing a home network from the Internet through port mapping of the UPnP IGD; And a fourth step of directly controlling a UPnP device in a home through the Internet based on the above specification. The method of claim 1, wherein the first step is configured to be performed when the control point exists in the home network. The method of claim 1, wherein the port mapping information of the first step is UPnP device control method using the Internet, characterized in that it comprises at least port mapping information for the IGD itself. The method of claim 1, wherein the port mapping information is A method of controlling a UPnP device using the Internet, comprising port mapping information on a service description URL, a control URL, an event subscription URL, and a presentation URL. The method of claim 1 wherein the second step is Checking whether port mapping is set for the device, If the port mapping is not set in the above, the process of setting and adding the port mapping of the device by calling the AddPortMapping () action, Updating a specification of a corresponding device based on the additionally configured port mapping; And deleting the corresponding port mapping information by calling the DeletePortMapping () action when the control of the corresponding device is terminated. The method of claim 5, wherein the port mapping setting is Set your private IP address and port to IGD UPnP device control method using the Internet, characterized by converting to an external IP address and port determined by the IGD. The method of claim 5, wherein the port mapping setting is If the external IP address of the IGD is not fixed, UPnP device control method using the Internet, characterized in that to provide an IP address using dynamic DNS. The method of claim 5, wherein the specification update is converted into a URL of the corresponding device. The method of claim 8, If the URL is a relative URL, checking whether a URLBase Field exists in the device specification; If the Field exists in the above process of combining the value and the relative URL to convert to an absolute URL, If the field does not exist in the UPnP device control method using the Internet comprising the step of converting the base URL and the relative URL of the device specification URL to an absolute URL.