KR20060018405A - The home network device, the peripheral device install program system and method for setting the peripheral device install program - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a peripheral installation program system that can automatically install the installation program of the peripheral device in a low-performance home network device without a professional knowledge.

The peripheral installation program system according to the present invention includes a database, a download server, and a search server. The database stores information of a plurality of home network devices to which peripheral devices can be connected through a communication interface. The download server stores an installation program of a peripheral device suitable for each home network device corresponding to each of the plurality of home network devices, and downloads the installation program of a corresponding peripheral device to the home network device based on a request signal from the home network device. do. The search server searches and provides the information of the home network device stored in the database and the information and installation programs of the peripheral devices stored in the download server.

USB, Home Gateway, Set Top Box

Description

The home network device, the peripheral device install program system and method for setting the peripheral device install program}

1 is a view schematically showing the configuration of an entire system including a peripheral device installation program system and a home network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating a process of uploading the USB camera installation program by the USB camera device developer 201 connected to the peripheral device installation program system 300.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of downloading an installation program of a USB camera in the home network device 110 in order.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of installing an installation program of a USB camera in a home network device in order.

5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a USB camera installation information file (Caminfo.dll) installed in a home network device.

The present invention relates to a home network device and a peripheral device installation program system, and more particularly, to a home network device that can be connected to various types of peripheral devices using a predetermined interface, and to provide a peripheral device installation program to the home network device. Device installer system.

In general, home network devices such as home gateways or set-top boxes are not standardized and are relatively low in performance and use Windows CE or Linux as their operating system. It has a very small amount of RAM (16M to 64M), and there is no hard disk, and once written, nonvolatile memory takes over. In addition, the CPU included in the home network devices has a relatively lower performance than a general personal computer (PC), and the output is a TV and is mainly controlled using a remote controller. Therefore, the software running on such a home network device needs to have a small capacity, and it is not only difficult for users to change randomly once the software has been set up on the home network device, but also serves as a hard disk when adding new software. The memory is so small that you can't add it by storing new software on your hard disk as you would on a PC, and you can only add it after you've deleted the software.

When newly connected hardware is added to the home network device, the home network device generally does not have a disk driver, so it is necessary to connect to the network and download a driver program for the added hardware. In addition, the downloaded drive program is stored in the RAM of the home network device and is erased when the home network device is turned off. Therefore, the operation program must be stored in the nonvolatile memory again.

In a home network device, when the power is turned on, the program loaded in the nonvolatile memory is moved to RAM, and then the program is run like moving the contents of the hard disk from the PC to the memory. As the device is installed, the order and location of the program are widely known. Also, the method of installing or removing a program is standardized and the hard capacity is sufficient. Therefore, the home network device is not a general purpose device such as a PC. Since there are no standards because they are manufactured according to the specific use of some manufacturers, the method of loading programs in different locations and different forms by each manufacturer, and the method of running the mounted programs (order, size, shape) may also vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Add or remove programs on a gateway or home network device. The situation is a little hard to hagieneun to perform.

For example, when attempting to install a USB camera connected to a home network device through a universal serial bus (USB), the following two methods have been conventionally used.

The first method is to pre-install a camera driver program that is expected to be connected to a home network device at the time of manufacture. Once the camera driver program you want to install is included in the entire binary (this is a program that makes the home network device's operating program and other applications into a single file), the file containing the method of running the program (usually .ini) Use the file or save the value in a specific registry to store the basic information to run the camera you want to install, and then recreate and install the entire binary.

The second method is to install a new camera program that you want to link to without including it in the entire binary. That is, when a home network device has already been manufactured and a new USB camera needs to be connected during use, it is downloaded through a camera installation program (installer + driver) network and stored in a temporary storage location of the home network device. If you run the downloaded installation program, the installation program moves the downloaded camera driver program to RAM, and also moves the program to a non-volatile location for restarting when the power is turned on. Link the files so you can start the new camera.

However, the first method is virtually impossible to store each driver ahead of time in anticipation of all the cameras that will be connected later, and also because of the large amount of data stored in as few non-volatile memories as there are multiple connections, The problem is that the program cannot be used.

 In addition, in the second method, the USB camera installation program can be installed only after having professional knowledge, and there is a problem that it is more difficult for a user to perform because the method is different according to various manufacturers.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a peripheral device installation program system that can automatically install the installation program of the peripheral device in a low-performance home network device without a standard.                         

Another technical problem of the present invention is to provide a home network device in which an installation program of a peripheral device can be automatically installed.

Another technical problem of the present invention is to provide a method of installing a peripheral device installation program suitable for a home network device on a home network device.

Peripheral installation program system according to one aspect of the present invention,

A database storing information of a plurality of home network devices to which a peripheral device can be connected through a communication interface;

The installation program of a peripheral device suitable for each home network device is stored corresponding to each of the plurality of home network devices, and the installation program of the corresponding peripheral device is downloaded to the home network device based on a request signal from the home network device. Download server; And

It includes a search server for searching and providing information of the home network device stored in the database and information and installation programs of the peripheral device stored in the download server.

The information of the peripheral device and the installation program may be stored in the download server in association with the information of the corresponding home network device.

The information of the home network device may include at least one of an operating system, an entire memory map, a memory size, and a program driving method.

The information of the peripheral device may include at least one of a model name of the peripheral device, the name of the peripheral device.

The information of the home network device may be changed and added to the database, and the download server may be changed and added to a peripheral device installation program corresponding to the information of the home network device.

The peripheral device may be a USB device connected to the home network device through a universal serial bus.

A method of uploading a peripheral device installation program according to another aspect of the present invention is a method of uploading a peripheral device installation program suitable for each of the home network devices to a peripheral device installation program system storing information of a plurality of home network devices.

a) checking information of a home network device stored in the peripheral device installation program system, and checking whether a peripheral device installation program corresponding to the home network device exists;

b) if a peripheral device installation program corresponding to the home network device does not exist, preparing a peripheral device installation program suitable for the home network device based on the information of the home network device; And

c) storing the produced peripheral device installation program and the information of the peripheral device in the peripheral device installation program system in association with the information of the home network device.

The information of the home network device may include a model name of the home network device, and the information of the peripheral device may include a model name of the peripheral device.                     

In the step c), the produced peripheral device installation program and the information of the peripheral device may be uploaded in association with the model name of the home network device.

Home network device connected to a communication network according to another aspect of the present invention,

A volatile memory in which predetermined data is temporarily stored;

A nonvolatile memory in which predetermined data is stored; And

And an interface recognizing unit which automatically recognizes a peripheral device connected through a predetermined interface, searches an installation program of the peripheral device suitable for the home network device through a communication network, downloads it to the volatile memory, and installs the nonvolatile memory in the nonvolatile memory. .

The interface recognition unit may search through a communication network using information of a home network device and information of a connected peripheral device.

The peripheral device may be a USB device connected through a universal serial bus.

A method of installing a peripheral device installation program according to another aspect of the present invention is a method of installing a peripheral device installation program in a home network device having a volatile memory and a nonvolatile memory having a predetermined capacity.

a) recognizing the peripheral device when the peripheral device is connected to the home network device, and checking whether the peripheral device is registered with the home network device;

b) If the connected peripheral device is an unregistered device, the interface recognition unit receives the information of the peripheral device and connects to the communication network, and installs the installation program of the peripheral device suitable for the home network device based on the input information of the peripheral device. Searching;                     

c) storing the found installation program of the peripheral device in the home network device; And

d) installing an installation program of a peripheral device stored in the home network device.

Step d),

da) copying a device driver file included in the peripheral device installation program to a predetermined location of the volatile memory;

db) reading a device installation file of the peripheral device to determine a location to store in the nonvolatile memory;

dc) checking whether the remaining capacity of the nonvolatile memory is larger than that of a driver program;

dd) deleting a specific file stored in the nonvolatile memory when the remaining capacity of the nonvolatile memory is smaller than that of a driver program; And

de) storing the driver program in the nonvolatile memory when the remaining capacity of the nonvolatile memory is larger than that of the driver program.

The step dd) may include determining a file to be deleted by referring to the equipment installation file of the home network device.

After the step dd), the step dc) may be performed again.

The da) may include restoring the compressed peripheral device installation program.

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.

1 is a view schematically showing the configuration of an entire system including a peripheral device installation program system and a home network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Here, the peripheral devices refer to devices connected to a PC or a home network device through a predetermined interface such as a universal serial bus. For example, a peripheral device is a USB camera connected to a home network device through a USB. Hereinafter, a USB camera will be described as an example of a peripheral device. However, the present invention is not limited to the case of the USB camera, but can be applied to all types of peripheral devices that can be connected through various interfaces.

A home network device is a device that forms a network between information devices in a home, such as a personal computer (PC), a mobile phone, a digital television, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a game machine. For example, a home network device connects an access network by using asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), very high-data rate digital subscriber line (VDSL), or high-speed Ethernet. It may include a home gateway or a set-top box which is a home communication terminal required to use a next generation interactive multimedia communication service (so-called interactive television) such as video on demand (VOD), image home shopping, and network game.

As shown in FIG. 1, the peripheral device installer system 300 may be connected to the USB camera developer 201 through the communication network 20, and the home network devices 110, 120... It may be connected to the peripheral device installation program system 300 through the communication network (10).

The peripheral installation program system 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a search server 301, a database 302, and a download server 303.

First, the database 302 stores information on various types of home network devices currently used. Specifically, the information of the home network device such as the model name of the home network device, the total memory map, the method of recognizing the peripheral devices connected to the home network device through a predetermined interface, the program driving method, etc. is classified by the manufacturer and the device type. And stored in the database 302. Such home network device information may be provided from home network device manufacturers, or alternatively, may be built by an administrator of the peripheral device installation program system 300.

The download server 303 is connected to a home network device that can be provided in each home through a communication network 10. The download server 303 is also connected to the USB camera developer 201 through the communication network 20. The USB camera developer 201 checks the home network device list and the corresponding home network device information through the search server 301. In addition, the USB camera developer 201 may determine whether there is a suitable installation program in the download server 303 that allows the connected USB camera to operate normally when the USB camera developed by the home camera is connected to the home network device. If it does not exist, it creates an installation program suitable for the corresponding home network device and uploads it to the download server 303 together with the model name of the USB camera. The installation program of the USB camera uploaded and stored in the download server 303 may be downloaded to the home network devices 110 and 120 at the request of the home network devices 110 and 120.

The search server 301 is connected to the USB camera developer 201 developing the USB camera through the communication network 20, the USB camera developer 201 is connected to the information about the current commonly used home network device stored in the database 302 ), And manages the database 302 and the download server 303 so that the download server 303 can search whether the installation program of the USB camera corresponding to the home network device exists.

The home network device 110 includes an interface recognition unit 111 for automatically recognizing the USB camera 113 connected to the home network device 110 via USB. Although not specifically illustrated, as described above, the home network apparatus 110 may include a RAM, which is a volatile memory having a predetermined capacity, and a nonvolatile memory.

When the USB camera 113 is connected to the home network device 110, the interface recognition unit 111 automatically recognizes the USB camera 113 and checks whether the USB camera is already registered in the home network device 110. . If the USB camera 113 connected to the home network device 110 is not registered, the interface recognition unit 111 connects to the download server 303, searches for a suitable installation program existing in the download server 303, and downloads it. do. In addition, the interface recognition unit 111 executes the downloaded installation program so that the home network device 110 can recognize the connected USB camera 113 normally.

Next, the process of uploading the USB camera installer by the USB camera developer 201 to the peripheral device installer system 300 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2.

2 is a diagram illustrating a process of uploading a USB camera installation program by the USB camera developer 201 connected to the peripheral device installation program system 300.

In FIG. 2, the USB camera developer 201 accesses the search server 301 (S110) and checks a model list of currently used home network devices existing in the database 302 (S120).

Check whether there is an installation program of a suitable USB camera for each identified home network device (S130). If there is no installation program of the USB camera suitable for a specific model of home network device, information about the home network device, namely operating system (OS), total memory map, memory size, installation driving method, etc., can be found from the database 302. Download (S140).

Using the information about the downloaded home network device, a USB camera installation program suitable for the home network device is created (S150). The USB camera developer uploads the created USB camera installation program to the download server 303 together with the USB camera model name or the camera name in association with the model name of the home network device (S160).                     

By this process, the installation program of the USB camera suitable for the home network device of the specific model is stored in the download server 303.

Next, the process of executing the installation program of the USB camera in the home network device 110 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of downloading an installation program of a USB camera in the home network device 110 in order.

The user connects the USB camera 113 to the home network device 110 (S210). Then, the interface recognition unit 111 of the home network device 110 recognizes the connected USB camera 113 (S220), it is not registered whether the USB camera 113 is already registered in the home network device 110. Check whether the camera is not (S230).

If the camera is already registered, the installation program of the USB camera is already in operation, the home network device 110 operates the USB camera 113 normally, so the process of executing the installation program of the USB camera is terminated.

If the camera is not registered, the interface recognition unit 111 outputs a message for inputting the model name or camera name of the connected USB camera, and the user inputs the model name or camera name of the connected USB camera according to the output message (S240). . Then, the interface recognition unit 111 connects to the download server 303 of the peripheral device installation program system 300 and installs a USB camera suitable for the home network device 110 using the model name or camera name of the input USB camera. Search for a program (S250).

When the installation program of the USB camera suitable for the home network device 110 is found, the installation program is downloaded to the home network device 110 (S260) and the installation program is executed (S270).

By doing so, the installation program of the USB camera is automatically installed in the home network device 110, and the user can drive the USB camera by connecting it to the home network device without any professional knowledge.

Next, the process of installing the installation program of the USB camera downloaded from the download server 303 to the home network device will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of installing an installation program of a USB camera in a home network device in order.

First, the installation program downloaded from the download server 303 is decompressed (S310), for example, a driver program such as a * .dll file, which is a device driver file, is copied to a specific location of RAM (S320). Then read the device installation files associated with the USB camera (S330) to determine the location to be stored in the non-volatile memory from the device installation file (S340). The size of the remaining capacity of the nonvolatile memory of the home network device 110 is determined (S350), and it is determined whether the driver program is larger than the remaining capacity of the current nonvolatile memory (S360).

If the driver program is larger than the remaining capacity of the current nonvolatile memory, find the last program installed in the nonvolatile memory in the device installation file and delete it from the nonvolatile memory (S363), and update the device installation file (S361). .

Then, the driver program again determines whether it is larger than the remaining capacity of the current nonvolatile memory (S360). Steps S360, S361, and S363 are repeatedly performed until the remaining capacity of the current nonvolatile memory is larger than the driver program.

In this way, if it is determined that the driver program is smaller than the remaining capacity of the current nonvolatile memory, the driver program is copied to the nonvolatile memory (S370), and the device installation file is updated (S380).

In this way, the installation program of the USB camera 113 suitable for the home network device 110 is installed in the home network device 110 so that the USB camera 113 can be normally driven through the home network device 110.

Next, a USB camera installation related information file installed in a home network device will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 5.

5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a USB camera installation information file (Caminfo.dll) installed in a home network device.

The information file shown in FIG. 5 is a case where installation information of two USB cameras is stored in a home network device.

Here, [CAMERA_INFO] (401) indicates that installation related information of two types of USB cameras is registered. [CAMERA_VENDOR] (402) shows the ID and location of the first camera (2760) and the ID of the second camera. The location 1363 is shown and [CAMERA_DRIVER] 403 shows the name of the driver file of the first camera (usbcam.dll) and the name of the driver file of the second camera (mcamce.dll).

[CAMERA_API] 404 indicates the name and location of the camera API file. In other words, the first camera API file is usbcamapi.dll and the second camera API file is mcamceapi.dll. And [DOM_LOCATION] (405) is the path where the API file is stored. The API files of the first and second cameras are displayed in the \ HardDisk directory. Where \ HardDisk represents a directory in nonvolatile memory. The home network device reads this information file (Caminfo.dll) at boot time to recognize and run the camera. It can also indicate which part of the non-volatile memory the information file (Caminfo.dll) is stored in.

As described above, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the developer of a peripheral device checks the type and information of the home network devices provided by the home network device company in the database of the peripheral device installation program system, Peripheral installers can be stored on the download server.

In addition, the installation program of the peripheral device stored in the download server may be automatically downloaded to the home network device through the interface recognition unit of the home network device.

By doing so, the user can easily install the peripheral device to be used in the home network device without the expert knowledge about the home network device and the peripheral device.

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 developer of a peripheral device checks the type and information of home network devices provided by a home network device company in a database of a peripheral device installation program system, and downloads an installation program of a peripheral device suitable for each home network device. Can be stored in

In addition, the installation program of the peripheral device stored in the download server may be automatically downloaded to the home network device through the interface recognition unit of the home network device. By doing so, the user can easily install the peripheral device to be used in the home network device without the expert knowledge about the home network device and the peripheral device.

Claims (17)

A database storing information of a plurality of home network devices to which a peripheral device can be connected through a communication interface; The installation program of a peripheral device suitable for each home network device is stored corresponding to each of the plurality of home network devices, and the installation program of the corresponding peripheral device is downloaded to the home network device based on a request signal from the home network device. Download server; And Search server for searching and providing the information of the home network device stored in the database and the information and installation programs of the peripheral device stored in the download server Peripheral installation program system comprising a. The method of claim 1, The peripheral device installation program system of the peripheral device is stored in the download server in association with the information of the corresponding home network device. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The information on the home network device includes a peripheral device installation program system including at least one of an operating system, a total memory map, a memory size, and a program driving method. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The peripheral device information includes a peripheral device installation program system including at least one of a model name of the peripheral device, the name of the peripheral device. The method of claim 1, The information of the home network device can be changed and added to the database, The download server is a peripheral device installation program system that can be changed and added to the peripheral device installation program corresponding to the information of the home network device. The method of claim 1, And the peripheral device is a USB device connected to the home network device via a universal serial bus. A method of uploading a peripheral device installation program suitable for each of the home network devices to a peripheral device installation program system in which information of a plurality of home network devices is stored, the method comprising: a) checking information of a home network device stored in the peripheral device installation program system, and checking whether a peripheral device installation program corresponding to the home network device exists; b) if a peripheral device installation program corresponding to the home network device does not exist, preparing a peripheral device installation program suitable for the home network device based on the information of the home network device; And c) storing the produced peripheral device installation program and the information of the peripheral device in the peripheral device installation program system in association with the information of the home network device; Upload method of peripheral installation program comprising a. The method of claim 7, wherein The information of the home network device includes a model name of the home network device, the information of the peripheral device includes a model name of the peripheral device uploading method of the installation program. The method of claim 8, In step c) The method of uploading the peripheral device installation program and the peripheral device is uploaded in association with the model name of the home network device. In the home network device connected to the communication network, A volatile memory in which predetermined data is temporarily stored; A nonvolatile memory in which predetermined data is stored; And An interface recognition unit which automatically recognizes a peripheral device connected through a predetermined interface, searches an installation program of the peripheral device suitable for the home network device through a communication network, downloads it to the volatile memory, and installs it in the nonvolatile memory. Home network device comprising a. The method of claim 10, And the interface recognition unit searches through a communication network using information of a home network device and information of a connected peripheral device. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein The peripheral device is a home network device which is a USB device connected through a universal serial bus. A method of installing a peripheral device installation program in a home network device having a volatile memory and a nonvolatile memory having a predetermined capacity, a) recognizing the peripheral device when the peripheral device is connected to the home network device, and checking whether the peripheral device is registered with the home network device; b) If the connected peripheral device is an unregistered device, the interface recognition unit receives the information of the peripheral device and connects to the communication network, and installs the installation program of the peripheral device suitable for the home network device based on the input information of the peripheral device. Searching; c) storing the found installation program of the peripheral device in the home network device; And d) installing an installation program of a peripheral device stored in the home network device; Installation method of the peripheral installation program comprising a. The method of claim 13, Step d), da) copying a device driver file included in the peripheral device installation program to a predetermined location of the volatile memory; db) reading a device installation file of the peripheral device to determine a location to store in the nonvolatile memory; dc) checking whether the remaining capacity of the nonvolatile memory is larger than that of a driver program; dd) deleting a specific file stored in the nonvolatile memory when the remaining capacity of the nonvolatile memory is smaller than that of a driver program; And de) storing the driver program in the nonvolatile memory when the remaining capacity of the nonvolatile memory is larger than that of the driver program. Installation method of the peripheral installation program comprising a. The method of claim 14, The step dd) comprises the steps of determining the file to be deleted by referring to the equipment installation file of the home network device. The method of claim 14, Method of installing a peripheral device installation program proceeds to step dc) again after the step dd). The method of claim 14, The da) step of installing a peripheral device installation program comprising the step of restoring the compressed peripheral device installation program.

Images