KR20100053419A - Device management apparatus, device management method of home network system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A device management apparatus of a home network system and a method thereof are provided to manage all kinds home devices of home network environment effectively by proceeding a control/management function about a adaptive middleware device within a plurality of clients. CONSTITUTION: A local device manager(202) proceeds control/management through device initialization, software maintenance, device state monitoring and device event alarm management about an adaptive middleware device within a plurality of home device environments. A local device agent(204) proceeds the device initialization, the software maintenance, the device state monitoring and the device event alarm management.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a device management apparatus,

The present invention relates to a management technique for each device in a home network system, and more particularly, to a device management apparatus suitable for providing various management functions for various devices in a home network system, .

The present invention was derived from research conducted as part of the IT growth engine technology development project of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency. [Project number: 2008-S-038-01, Project: .

As is well known, early home networking meant a range of home automation and home control systems that automatically controlled the security, lighting, and temperature in the home.

Then, as the number of households with multiple PCs and peripherals increased in one home, networking technologies for connecting them effectively began to emerge. Home networking kits (home networking kits) Was started to be used in earnest.

In addition, the development of advanced transmission media technologies such as existing telephone lines, power lines, and wireless, and the broadband of subscriber networks such as DSL and Cable Modem, the rapid expansion of high-speed Internet, and home networking, It is possible to provide intelligent communication by providing a connection to an external Internet network while providing a path for exchanging data between home digital information appliances.

On the other hand, various devices (for example, a notebook, a PC, a digital TV, etc.) existing in a home use a host management function provided through an operating system installed in each of them (for example, Various corresponding management conditions are set, and the corresponding device is managed accordingly.

In a home network system having various devices as described above, requirements for periodic management and automatic configuration of various devices, which are excluded from the home network middleware, are required.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a device management apparatus capable of performing device recognition, information collection, and device management for each device using a local device manager and a local device agent corresponding to various devices And a device management method of a home network system.

Also, the present invention provides a device management apparatus capable of performing device initialization, software update, real-time monitoring, event notification for each device using a local device manager and a local device agent, and a device management method of a home network system .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a first aspect, the invention features a local device manager for controlling and managing device initialization, software maintenance, device state monitoring, and device event alarm management for an adaptive middleware device in a plurality of home device environments, And a local device agent that performs device initialization, software maintenance, device status monitoring, and device event alarm management for each home device in accordance with control and management from the device manager.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for booting a local device, comprising: booting a home device according to a predetermined booting procedure to drive a local device agent; setting a network address through the activated local device agent; Searching for a local device manager corresponding to the home device through the local device manager, and transmitting the device information of the home device to the searched local device manager.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a home device, the method comprising: storing downloaded software for a home device; requesting stopping the use of the home device if the installing or updating of software for the home device is requested; Moving a service to be performed to another home device when the service using the service is performed, and installing or updating the software in the home device.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a home device, comprising: receiving a control or monitoring request of a home device from a device manager; generating a VDT-based device table in a local device manager according to a control or monitoring request of the received home device; , Converting the control or monitoring message for the adaptive middleware into a UMB message according to the generated VDT-based device table, and transmitting the converted UMB message to the local device agent corresponding to the home device And a device management method of the home network system.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a home device, comprising: receiving an event registration request for a home device from a device manager; registering a requested event in a local device manager according to an event registration request for the home device; The method comprising the steps of: notifying the local device agent corresponding to the registered event; checking the occurrence of the event of the home device through the local device agent; And notifying the service of the occurrence of the event.

The present invention controls device initialization, software maintenance, device status monitoring, and device event alarm management for a plurality of adaptive middleware devices in a client by selecting and controlling the corresponding home devices according to context information according to each home device environment And managing functions, it is possible to effectively manage various home devices in the home network environment.

The present invention provides a plurality of device management apparatuses in a client providing a device initialization service, a software maintenance management service, a device state monitoring service, and a device event alarm management service in a home network management system. Can be solved.

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

1 is a block diagram of a home network management system suitable for managing various devices in a home network according to an embodiment of the present invention and includes a service center 102, a communication network 104, a home network system 106, and the like . Here, the home network system 106 may include a network server 106a, a plurality of clients 106b, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 1, the service center 102 includes, for example, a device manufacturer service server, and provides download services such as software and firmware for various devices in the home network system 106.

The communication network 104 refers to a wired / wireless communication network, and is responsible for data communication between the service center 102 and the home network system 106 through various wired / wireless communication modules.

The home network system 106 includes a network server 106a for carrying out various kinds of networking through the communication network 104 and a plurality of clients 106b connected thereto and the network server 106a includes a service center 102 And various types of data are provided to a plurality of clients 106b as needed and provided with error prediction services, multimedia data transmission services, multicasting services, etc. .

In addition, the plurality of clients 106b mean a plurality of assumptions for performing home networking included in the home network system 106. These are the error prediction service, the multimedia data transmission service, Multicasting service and the like through various devices. In accordance with the control of the network server 106a, a device initialization service such as system information initialization, local device manager (LDM) discovery, device recognition, software downloading, software installation And software maintenance services such as updating and removing software, device status monitoring services, and device event alarm management services.

Next, a plurality of device management apparatuses in a client providing a device initialization service, a software maintenance service, a device state monitoring service, and a device event alarm management service in a home network management system having the above-described configuration will be described.

2 is a block diagram of a device management apparatus suitable for performing home networking according to an embodiment of the present invention, and may include a local device manager 202, a local device agent 204, and the like.

2, a local device manager 202 performs a management function corresponding to a home device environment included in each of a plurality of clients 106, Selects and controls a home device, and performs control and management functions such as device initialization, software maintenance, device status monitoring, and device event alarm management for an adaptive middleware device in a plurality of clients (106).

In addition, the local device manager 202 displays a universal middleware bridge (UMB) device in the form of a virtual device type (VDT) device to the adaptive middleware component or application service , The ability to control or monitor these devices through the actions described on the VDT, and the ability of the adaptive middleware component or application services to receive events from the UMB device via the event handler.

Next, the local device agent 204 has a device initialization function for initializing it when the home device is driven, a software maintenance function including firmware necessary for driving the home device, a change in the execution state of the home device Device event monitoring function for detecting, Device event alarm management function for error message or event alarm generated by home device itself.

Here, the device initialization function will be described. The device initialization function is initialized according to a predetermined boot sequence for each home device, and then performs network setting, local device agent 204 recognition, home device recognition, When the initialization according to the set boot sequence is performed, the local device agent 204 is activated, and the local device agent 204 recognizes the network information to check whether the network address is allocated. If the network information is not set, Analyzes the file, performs network configuration using the stored IP information, and sets the network address through a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server when there is no network information.

In addition, when the network address setting is completed, the local device agent 204 registers itself with the local device manager 202 to participate in the adaptive middleware, The local device manager 202 sends a response to the local device agent 204. Upon completion of this process, the local device manager 202 uses the communication protocol with the local device manager 202 to retrieve the home device information from the local To the device manager 202. If the search fails, the local device manager 202 recognizes that the local device manager 202 does not exist, and determines whether the local device manager 202 is running through the presence of the local device manager executable file included in the predetermined path information have.

The software for the home device is divided into a firmware for device driving and a library for realizing the device function. When the initialization of the home device is completed, Collects library information, generates a firmware list and a library list corresponding thereto, collects software state information of the home device, and generates and maintains a state information table including the collected state information. When such software is updated, deleted, installed, or the like, this information is reflected and managed in the status information table. In the case of software maintenance, downloading, installation and update, Can be performed through a process.

3 illustrates an example of a home device in the home according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the home device refers to all network-connected physical devices (uD) existing in the home network system 106 A device (RD: legacy device) recognized by the home network middleware and a device (RD: rubiham device) loaded with the local device agent 204, and a device (RD ) Includes an adaptive middleware service and a host device (HD) running components.

Next, a process of initializing the system information in the above-described device management apparatus and recognizing various home devices after discovering the local device manager will be described.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of initializing a home device using a device management apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, in the home device initialization mode of the device management apparatus (step 402), booting is performed according to a predetermined boot procedure for each home device (step 404), and the local device agent 204 is driven ).

Then, the local device agent 204 recognizes the network information and checks whether the network address is allocated. If the network information is not set, the local device agent 204 analyzes the file (for example, rubiham_device_configuration.mf) describing the initialization information The network is set using the stored IP information, and if there is no initialization information, the network address is set through the DHCP server (step 408). Thereafter, in order to maintain the IP information in the next execution, the network setting can be maintained by modifying and storing the file (for example, rubiham_device_configuration.mf or the like) in which the initialization information is described when the IP information is changed.

Next, the local device agent 204 searches the local device manager 202 using a discovery protocol, and checks whether the local device manager 202 is found (step 410). Here, the local device manager 202 can discover the local device manager 202 at the local device agent 204 by sending a response message corresponding to the discovery process of the local device agent 204. [

If the local device manager 202 is found as a result of the checking in step 410, the local device agent 204 transmits the device information to the local device manager 202 through the communication protocol (step 412).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 412 that the local device manager 202 is not found, the local device agent 204 recognizes that the local device manager 202 does not exist, (Step 414). Here, the execution of the local device manager 202 can be confirmed by checking whether or not the executable file of the local device manager 202 existing in the predefined path exists.

Therefore, after the system information is initialized by using the device management apparatus and the local device manager is discovered, various home devices can be recognized effectively.

Next, when there is a request for installing or updating an arbitrary software in the initialization and recognition state of the home device using the device management apparatus as described above, the software is downloaded and stored according to the download path corresponding thereto, Or installing or updating the software according to the library in the corresponding home device.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of installing or updating software for a home device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, in the device software maintenance mode of the device management apparatus (step 502), the local device manager 202 checks whether downloading of any software corresponding to a specific home device is requested (step 504).

As a result of the checking in step 504, when downloading of arbitrary software is requested, the local device manager 202 transmits the corresponding software to the service center 102 connected to the communication network 104 through the network server 106a Downloads the corresponding software transmitted from the service center 102 via the network server 106a (step 506). Here, in the local device manager 202, various software download services can be provided by accessing the service center 102 using the download path information per the home device for software download provided from the local device agent 204, Based on this information, it is possible to continuously update the software information using the stored information.

Next, the local device manager 202 checks whether installation or update of the software for the home device is requested (step 508).

If it is determined in step 508 that software installation or update is requested, the local device manager 202 checks whether installation or update of the software is related to the firmware request (step 510).

As a result of checking in step 510, if the firmware request is related to the firmware request, the local device manager 202 requests the network server 106a to stop using the corresponding home device for installing or updating the firmware (step 512).

Accordingly, the network server 106a checks whether a service using the home device is being performed (step 514).

If it is determined in step 514 that the service is being performed, the software manager (SM) of the network server 106a moves the service. If there is a bound service, the network server 106a And performs device surrogation (step 516). Here, the device association is performed when there is a home device performing the same function, and a binding error is notified when there is no home device performing the same function.

Then, the local device manager 202 installs or updates the corresponding firmware in the corresponding home device through the local device agent 204 (step 518). Of course, if it is determined in step 514 that the service is not being performed, the firmware installation or update process of step 518 may be performed.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the firmware request is not a result of the check in step 510, it is checked whether the request is for a library request (step 520).

If it is determined in step 520 that the library device is related to the library request, the local device manager 202 requests the network server 106a to suspend the use of the home device according to the library installation or update (step 522).

Then, the network server 106a searches for a service operating in the home device using the library, and requests the software manager () to move the searched service (step 524). In the software manager, And moves the service to the device (step 526).

Then, the local device manager 202 installs or updates the corresponding library in the corresponding home device through the local device agent 204 (step 528).

Accordingly, if there is a request for installing or updating arbitrary software in the device management apparatus, the software corresponding to the firmware or the library can be installed or updated in the corresponding home device after the corresponding software is downloaded and stored.

Next, if there is a request to remove any software in the device software maintenance mode as described above, the use of the software is stopped, the corresponding software file is deleted, the configuration file and device status information are updated, And the like.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of deleting software installed in a home device according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, in the device software maintenance mode of the device management apparatus (step 602), the local device manager 202 checks whether a removal request of any software is received (step 604).

If it is determined in step 604 that an arbitrary software removal request is received, the local device manager 202 notifies the network server 106a of the use of the software in step 606.

Then, the local device manager 202 deletes the software file for the software (step 608).

Then, the local device manager 202 updates the configuration file and the device status information (step 610), and notifies the device manager of the network server 106a of the update information (step 612).

Thus, if there is a request for removal of any software from the device management apparatus, the software requested to be removed can be effectively deleted by stopping the use of the software and updating the configuration file and the device status information after deleting the software file .

Next, a UMB device is displayed in the form of a VDT device to the adaptive middleware component or application service using the device management apparatus having the above-described configuration, and the home device is controlled and monitored through the actions described on the VDT .

7 is a flowchart illustrating a process of monitoring a home device status according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, in the device status monitoring mode of the device management apparatus (step 702), the local device manager 202 checks whether there is a control or monitoring request of the home device from the device manager of the network server 106a 704).

If it is determined in step 704 that there is a control or monitoring request of the home device, the local device manager 202 generates a VDT-based device table (step 706).

Then, the local device manager 202 converts the control or monitoring message for the adaptive middleware into a UMB message according to the generated VDT-based device table (step 708), and transmits the UMB message to the local device agent 204 To the home device (step 710).

Therefore, it is possible to effectively perform control or monitoring functions for various home devices by using the device management apparatus.

Next, a description will be given of a process in which an adaptive middleware component or application services are provided with an event of a UMB device using an event handler in a device management apparatus having the above-described configuration.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a process of managing an event alarm of a home device according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, in the device event and notification management mode of the device management apparatus (step 802), the local device manager 202 checks whether the device manager of the network server 106a requests registration of an event for the UMB device (Step 804).

If it is determined in step 804 that the event registration is requested for the UMB device, the local device manager 202 registers the requested event and then registers the event registered in the home device through the local device agent 204 (Step 806).

Then, the local device manager 202 checks whether an event has occurred in the corresponding home device through the local device agent 204 (step 808).

If it is determined in step 808 that an event has occurred, the local device manager 202 notifies the adaptive middleware component or the application service that the event has been registered to the corresponding event (step 810). These event notification functions can be performed through a device event handler, and information necessary for device event registration and delivery can be stored in the event table.

Accordingly, an event management function for a home device can be provided by registering an event for a home device using the device management apparatus and notifying occurrence of the event when an event occurs.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be readily apparent that such substitutions, modifications, and alterations are possible.

1 is a block diagram of a home network management system suitable for managing various devices in a home network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a block diagram of a device management apparatus suitable for performing home networking according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a view illustrating the types of home devices in a home according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of initializing a home device using the device management apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention,

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of installing or updating software for a home device according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of deleting software installed in a home device according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a flowchart illustrating a process of monitoring a home device status according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a flowchart illustrating a process of managing an event alarm of a home device according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the Related Art

102: service center 104: communication network

106: Home network system

202: Local Device Manager 204: Local Device Agent

Claims (16)

A local device manager responsible for device initialization, software maintenance, device state monitoring, and device event alarm management for an adaptive middleware device in a number of home device environments; A local device agent that performs device initialization, software maintenance, device status monitoring, and device event alarm management for each home device in accordance with control and management from the local device manager The device management apparatus comprising: The method according to claim 1, Wherein the local device manager provides a universal middleware bridge (UMB) device in the form of a virtual device type (VDT) device to the adaptive middleware component or application service. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the local device agent initializes the home device in accordance with a predetermined boot sequence upon booting of the home device, performs network setting of the home device, recognizes the corresponding local device manager, To the local device manager. The method of claim 3, Wherein the local device agent verifies whether a network address is assigned to the home device, and analyzes the initialization information file when the network information is not set, and performs the network setting through the stored IP information. 5. The method of claim 4, Wherein the local device agent sets the network address for the home device through a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server when the network information does not exist. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the local device agent performs software maintenance for software download, software installation and update, and software removal for the home device. The method according to claim 6, Wherein the local device agent collects firmware information and library information when the initialization of the home device is completed, generates a firmware list and a library list corresponding thereto, collects software state information of the home device, And generates and maintains a state information table including the collected software state information. Booting the home device according to a predetermined booting procedure to drive the local device agent, Setting a network address through the driven local device agent; Retrieving a local device manager corresponding to the home device through the local device agent; Transmitting the device information of the home device to the searched local device manager The method comprising the steps of: 9. The method of claim 8, The step of setting the network address may include determining whether the network address is assigned to the home device, analyzing the initialization information file when the network information is not set, performing a network setting through the stored IP information, A method for managing a device in a network system. 10. The method of claim 9, Wherein the setting of the network address sets the network address for the home device through a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server when the network information does not exist. Storing downloaded software for a home device, Requesting disconnection of the home device if the installation or update of the software for the home device is requested; Moving the service to another home device if the service is being performed using the home device; Installing or updating the software in the home device The method comprising the steps of: 12. The method of claim 11, Wherein the step of storing the downloaded software downloads the software using the download path information corresponding to the home device for software download provided from the local device agent in the local device manager. 12. The method of claim 11, Wherein the step of moving to the another home device moves the home device when the home device and the other device provide the same service. Receiving a control or monitoring request of the home device from the device manager; Generating a VDT-based device table in the local device manager according to a control or monitoring request of the received home device; Converting a control or monitoring message for the adaptive middleware into a UMB message according to the generated VDT-based device table; Transmitting the converted UMB message to a local device agent corresponding to the home device The method comprising the steps of: Receiving an event registration request for a home device from a device manager; Registering a requested event in the local device manager according to an event registration request for the home device; Notifying the local device agent corresponding to the home device of the registered event; Checking an occurrence of an event of the home device through the local device agent; When the event occurs, notifying the occurrence of the event to an adaptive middleware component or an application service that has registered the event The method comprising the steps of: 16. The method of claim 15, Wherein the checking of the occurrence of the event is performed through the device event handler of the local device manager.

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