KR20170034516A - Apparatus and method for allocating network address - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for allocating a network address. According to the present invention, a method for controlling a network connection apparatus, to which a network address is allocated by a network address allocation server and which is connected to a network and requests predefined first service and second service, comprises the steps of: receiving any one of an official network address based on a first standard and an official network address based on a second standard from a network address allocation server; when the official network address received from the network address allocation server is a network address based on the first standard, using the network address based on the first standard upon requesting of the first and second service; and when the official network address received from the network address allocation server is a network address based on the second standard, using an unofficial network address based on the first standard and received by a request from the network address allocation server upon requesting of the first service, and using the official network address based on the second standard upon requesting of the second service.

Description

[0001] APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ALLOCATING NETWORK ADDRESS [0002]

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for network address allocation, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for allocating a network address to a device using a service using addresses according to IPv4 and IPv6, .

(Hereinafter referred to as "IPv6 address") according to a new standard, that is, Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), in accordance with depletion of an IP address (hereinafter referred to as "IPv4 address" .

However, operators of the service network are duplicating IPv4-based services and IPv6-based services for sub-device compatibility.

For example, an IPTV operator providing an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) service notifies a set-top box of an IPv4 multi-hop service in order to normally provide an IPTV broadcast service even when an address according to an IPv4 is assigned, It is sending the cast stream and the IPv6 multicast stream simultaneously.

In order to explain this situation, a schematic configuration of an IPTV broadcasting service is shown in FIG.

1 shows a set-top box 2 connected to the television 1. The set-top box can access the broadcasting network via the home gateway 3 or can access the internet for surfing the web and the like.

Here, the broadcasting network carries the function of delivering the broadcast contents transmitted from the IPTV contents providing server to the set-top box 2 or the home gateway 3. As shown in FIG. 1, the plurality of routers 4,5 , 6 may be provided in the broadcasting network. Although the first router 4, the second router 5 and the third router 6 are shown in FIG. 1 as an example, it is needless to say that more or fewer routers may be provided.

Since the broadcast contents such as IPTV contents must react immediately to the change of the user's channel, they are operated in a state where they reach the specific router, for example, the second router 5 in advance. In this case, the second router may be referred to as a rendezvous pointer.

For example, the IPTV contents providing server 7 transmits the IPTV broadcast contents in advance even if there is no request from the user, and finally the IPTV broadcast contents reach the second router through the third router 6 5).

At this time, the IPTV broadcast content transmitted by the IPTV content providing server 7 is not broadcast content of a specific channel but broadcast content of all channels that can be selected by the customer.

On the other hand, when the second router 5 receives the transmission request of the specific channel from the customer, more precisely from the set-top box 2 or the home gateway 3, while receiving the broadcast contents of all the channels, And provides the corresponding broadcast content.

However, since the set-top box 2 or the home gateway 3 provided in the home can be assigned to an IPv4 address or use an IPv6 address, the IPTV broadcasting operator must simultaneously operate the IPv4 network and the IPv6 network, Accordingly, the IPTV contents providing server 7 must transmit the same IPTV broadcast contents in duplicate, that is, as an IPv4 multicast stream and an IPv6 multicast stream.

Even though the same broadcast contents are transmitted through the broadcast network, the multicast stream according to the IPv4 and the multicast stream according to the IPv6 are transmitted through the broadcast network, thereby causing excessive broadcast network traffic, thereby increasing the investment burden on the network device .

Registration No. 10-1424708

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for using a set-top box or a gateway to use a network address according to a specific standard, Device.

In order to achieve the above object, a network access apparatus for allocating a network address from a network address assignment server according to the present invention and accessing a network and requesting predefined first and second services, An address receiver for receiving either the public network address according to the standard or the public network address according to the second standard; If the public network address received by the address receiving unit is an authorized network address according to the first standard, the network address according to the first standard is used for both the first service and the second service request, When the received public network address is a public network address according to the second standard, the non-public network address requested by the network address assignment server according to the first standard is used for the first service request, And a service utilization unit for using the authorized network address according to the second service request.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network address assignment server comprising: a request receiver for receiving an address allocation request from a network access device; A group selection unit for selecting a group corresponding to the address assignment request among the authorized network address group and the non-public network address group; An address extractor for extracting a network address from a network address group selected by the group selector; And an address providing unit for transmitting the network address extracted by the address extracting unit to the network access device.

In order to achieve the above object, a control method of a network access device for allocating a network address from a network address allocation server according to the present invention and accessing a network to request a predefined first service and a second service, Receiving an authorized network address according to a first standard and an authorized network address according to a second standard from an assignment server; Using the network address according to the first standard when requesting the first service and the second service when the authorized network address received from the network address assignment server is an authorized network address according to the first standard; If the public network address received from the network address assignment server is an authorized network address according to the second standard, the non-public network address requested by the network address assignment server and received according to the first standard is referred to as a request And using the public network address according to the second standard upon request of the second service.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a network address allocation server, comprising: receiving an address allocation request from a network access device; Selecting a group corresponding to the address assignment request among the authorized network address group and the non-public network address group; Extracting a network address from the selected network address group; And transmitting the extracted network address to the network access device.

As described above, according to the present invention, when a network access device is assigned a public network address according to IPv6, the non-public network address according to IPv4 is separately allocated, and then, when a multicast broadcasting service is requested, Address, a service provider providing a multicast broadcast service does not need to transmit a multicast stream according to IPv6 in order to provide broadcast contents.

This can reduce network traffic and reduce network device investment burden.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional communication system,
2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an entire communication system including a network connection device according to the first embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the DHCPv4 server of FIG. 2,
FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the network connection device of FIG. 2,
5 is a control flowchart of a network connection apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention,
6 is a schematic configuration diagram of an entire communication system including a network connection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

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

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. In particular, the present invention can be configured by combining at least any one of individual components, individual functions, or individual steps included in each embodiment.

Hereinafter, each signal referred to in the embodiments of the present invention may refer to one signal transmitted by one connection or the like, but may also mean a series of signals transmitted for the purpose of performing a specific function . That is, in each embodiment, a plurality of signals transmitted after a predetermined time interval or after receiving a response signal from the counterpart device can be represented by a single signal name for convenience.

A schematic configuration of the entire communication system including the network connection device 110 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, the entire communication system includes a network connection device 110, an IPTV broadcast content providing server 400, a first router 501, a second router 502, a third router 503, a DHCPv4 A server 200, a DHCPv6 server 300, and a web server 600. [

In FIG. 2, the internal network includes a broadcasting network for delivering broadcast content to the network access device 110, and is a network distinguished from the Internet open to unspecified persons.

Although the internal network and the Internet are shown separately in FIG. 2 for the sake of understanding, both the internal network and the Internet may be a packet communication network according to IP (Internet Protocol), and thus may be operated in an integrated form according to the configuration of the apparatus to be.

The IPTV broadcast content providing server 400 stores a variety of broadcast contents for providing IPTV broadcast content to a domestic subscriber. In the present embodiment, the IPTV broadcast content providing server 400 is a server And is configured to transmit the multicast stream. That is, the IPTV broadcast content providing server 400 does not transmit the multicast stream according to IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6).

A plurality of routers may be provided in the internal network. In FIG. 2, the first router 501, the second router 502, and the third router 503 are shown. The number of routers provided in the internal network can be variously changed according to the network operation.

In order to transmit the multicast traffic transmitted by the IPTV broadcast content providing server 400, the communication information is managed by the routers 501, 502, and 503 in units of one hop.

For example, when a network access device (e.g., the set-top box 110) joins the first router 501 to watch a specific channel, the information is stored in the first router 501, 1 router 501 joins the second router 502. At this time, the second router 502 stores information indicating that the first router 501 has joined the specific channel.

That is, the second router 502 does not manage whether or not the network connection device 110 has joined a specific channel, and manages whether only the first router 501 joins a specific channel.

The third router 503 can manage only information about the second router 502 without managing whether or not the network access device 110 has joined a specific channel.

Therefore, according to the information management of each of the routers 501, 502, and 503, the network access device 110 can receive multimedia contents using an unofficial network address.

Herein, the unofficial network address refers to a network address that can be used redundantly in different internal networks, for example, in contrast to a unique authorized network address in the global network.

For example, the unofficial network address may be a private IP address or a shared IP address.

The web server 600 is a server connected to the Internet and performs a function of providing a web page at the request of the network access device 110. The functions of the web server 600 are well known and will not be described in detail.

The DHCPv4 server 200 is a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server for extracting and allocating an address according to IPv4 to a terminal requesting an address according to IPv4, and the DHCPv6 server 300 includes a terminal And extracts and allocates addresses according to IPv6.

That is, the DHCPv4 server 200 and the DHCPv6 server 300 have a function of allocating and transmitting a network address according to IPv4 and a network address according to IPv6, respectively, to the network access device 110 at the request of the network access device 110 They are all a kind of network address allocation server. Unlike FIG. 2, the DHCPv4 server 200 and the DHCPv6 server 300 may be connected to the Internet.

The DHCP server itself allocates the IP according to a request of a predetermined terminal. However, the DHCPv4 server 200 of the present invention performs a special function different from the conventional DHCP server.

An example of the function block of the DHCPv4 server 200 is as shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, the DHCPv4 server 200 includes a request receiving unit 210, a group selecting unit 220, an address extracting unit 230, an address providing unit 240, and a storage unit 250 .

Here, the network address according to IPv4 is stored in the storage unit 250, and information on whether to use or allocate the stored network addresses can be stored. At this time, the predetermined router information and the network address may be stored in a matched form, and a more detailed description thereof will be provided later.

Particularly, the network address stored in the storage unit 250 may include a public network address according to IPv4 (e.g., a public IP address), and may include a private network address (e.g., a private IP address) or a shared network address Address) may be included.

In this case, the storage unit 250 may store the public network address group including the public network and the non-public network address group including the non-public network addresses separately.

Of course, the public network address and the non-public network address may be stored in a separate database server communicating with the DHCPv4 server 200 instead of the storage unit 250. [

The request receiving unit 210 performs a function of receiving an address allocation request from the network access device 110. That is, the network access device 110, which has not yet received the network address or has received and assigned the public network address according to the IPv6, may request the public IPv4 network address or the non-public network address to the DHCPv4 server 200, The request reception unit 210 receives a network address allocation request of the network access device 110. [

The group selection unit 220 selects a group corresponding to an address assignment request of the network connection device 110 among the group of authorized network addresses and the group of unofficial network addresses.

For example, the address assignment request of the network access point 110 may be a request signal according to the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). At this time, the network access point 110 transmits a request (The public network address or the non-public network address). The group selection unit 220 analyzes the option field of the DHCP request signal and selects a corresponding group.

The address extractor 230 extracts a network address from the network address group selected by the group selector 220.

For example, when the group selection unit 220 selects a public network address group, the address extraction unit 230 extracts any one public network address included in the public network address group, When the network address group is selected, the address extraction unit 230 can extract any one of the non-public network addresses included in the non-public network address group.

At this time, the address extraction unit 230 may extract a network address that is allocated to another device or not used by another device among the network addresses stored in the storage unit 250.

In this case, the address extracting unit 230 may store predetermined information in the storage unit 250 so that the extracted network address is not allocated to another device in the future.

Meanwhile, the address allocation request of the network access device 110 may include predetermined router information, and the address extraction unit 230 may confirm the router information included in the address allocation request.

Here, the router information corresponds to at least one of the routers that the address assignment request of the network access device 110 reaches until reaching the DHCPv4 server 200. For example, the router information may be transmitted to the network access device 110 The information of the first router 501 in FIG.

That is, when the network access device 110 transmits an address assignment request signal, the first router 501 may transmit its information (for example, a network address) to the upper router by including it in the payload of the address assignment request signal The address extracting unit 230 analyzes the payload portion of the received address allocation request to confirm the router information.

If the group selection unit 220 selects an unofficial network address group and router information is included in the address allocation request, the address extraction unit 230 extracts the unofficial network address from the unofficial network address Any one non-public network address can be extracted.

At this time, the address extracting unit 230 matches the extracted non-public network address with the router information and stores it in the storage unit 250. If an address allocation request including the same router information is received later, It can be extracted by excluding the unofficial network address.

For example, when the router information is 211.104.107.196 and the extracted unofficial network address is 192.168.0.10, the address extracting unit 230 stores the matching information in the storage unit 250, and the same router information 211.104.107.196 , The network address is extracted except 192.168.0.10 matched to the corresponding router information among the unofficial network addresses.

However, when an address allocation request including other router information 214.1.1.130 is received, for example, the address extraction unit 230 stores the router information 214.1.1.130 and the non-public network address 192.168.0.10 in the storage unit 250, If not, it can extract 192.168.0.10 as an unofficial network address to be assigned to the network access device 110.

This makes it possible to duplicate and assign the same non-public network address to an address allocation request including non-identical router information.

The address providing unit 240 transmits the network address extracted by the address extracting unit 230 to the network access device 110.

The network access device 110 is a device that receives a network address from the address allocation server (for example, the DHCPv4 server 200 or the DHCPv6 server 300), accesses the network, and uses various services. In particular, the network access device 110 may perform a function of requesting a predefined first service and a second service, wherein the first service is a broadcast service using multicast and the second service is a web service using a unicast Service.

That is, the network connection device 110 may be a communication device provided in the home, such as a computer, a set-top box, or the like, which can use a predetermined service by connecting to an internal network (a broadcasting network) or the Internet.

In the present embodiment, the network connection device 110 is a set-top box connected to the television 100 and connected to the broadcasting network to receive broadcasting contents and request a web page to the web server 600 of the Internet do.

The function block of this network connection device 110 is shown in Fig.

As shown in the figure, the network connection device 110 may include an address request unit 111, an address receiving unit 112, and a service utilization unit 113.

The address receiving unit 112 receives either the public network address according to the first standard or the public network address according to the second standard from the network address assignment server, for example, the DHCPv4 server 200 and the DHCPv6 server 300 .

Here, the public network address according to the first standard may be a public network address according to IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4), and the public network address according to the second standard may be a public network address according to Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv6).

The reception of such a network address can be made by a request, and the address request unit 111 performs such a function.

That is, the address request unit 111 can request at least one of the public network address according to the first specification and the public network address according to the second specification to the network address assignment server.

For example, the address request unit 111 can request an address according to IPv4 to the DHCPv4 server 200 and request an address according to the IPv6 to the DHCPv6 server 300. [

In particular, when the authorized network address received by the address receiving unit 112 is an authorized network address according to the second standard, the address request unit 111 requests the network address assignment server to request the unofficial network address according to the first standard .

For example, when the address requesting unit 111 requests the DHCPv4 server 200 according to the IPv4 public network address, but the DHCPv4 server 200 does not have the authorized network address spare according to the IPv4, At this time, the address request unit 111 requests the DHCPv6 server 300 for the public network address according to the IPv6, and the public network address according to the IPv6 is received from the DHCPv6 server 300 according to the request .

In this case, the address requesting unit 111 requests the DHCPv4 server 200 for an unofficial network address according to the IPv4, instead of receiving the public network address according to the IPv6, An unofficial network address is received.

The service utilization unit 113 performs a function of requesting and processing various services using the network address received by the address reception unit 112.

For this, the service utilization unit 113 may also function to set the network address received by the address reception unit 112 as a network address for service use.

In particular, when the network address received by the address receiving unit 112 is a public network address conforming to the first standard, the service using unit 113 requests the first service and the second service both to the first specification However, when the authorized network address received by the address receiving unit 112 is an authorized network address according to the second standard, the address request unit 111 further requests the network address assignment server to request the network address allocation unit The non-public network address according to the first standard can be used when requesting the first service, and the authorized network address according to the second standard can be used when requesting the second service.

The control procedure of the network connection device 110 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the network access point 110 requests the DHCPv4 server 200 for an authorized network address according to IPv4 (step S1).

When a public network address according to IPv4 is received from the DHCPv4 server 200 in response to the request (step S3), the network access point 110 uses the public network address according to the IPv4 both when the multicast service and the unicast service are requested (Step S5).

For example, even when requesting multicast broadcast content, the network access device 110 uses a public network address according to IPv4 and requests a unicast service such as requesting a web page to the web server 600 It is to use the authorized network address according to IPv4.

On the other hand, if the authorized network address according to the IPv4 is not received from the DHCPv4 server 200 due to the address exhaustion or the like (step S3), the network connecting apparatus 110 requests the DHCPv6 server 300 (Step S7).

When an authorized network address based on IPv6 is received from the DHCPv6 server 300 in response to the request (step S9), the network access point 110 requests the DHCPv4 server 200 for an unofficial network address according to IPv4 S11).

Such a request may be repeatedly performed until an unofficial network address according to IPv4 is received from the DHCPv4 server 200 (step S13).

On the other hand, when an unofficial network address according to IPv4 is received from the DHCPv4 server 200 (step S13), the network access device 110 uses an unofficial network address according to IPv4 when requesting a multicast service, When requesting the cast service, the public network address according to IPv6 is used (step S15).

For example, when requesting a multicast broadcast content, the network access device 110 uses an unofficial network address according to IPv4 and requests a unicast service such as requesting a web page to the web server 600 Is to use an authorized network address according to IPv6.

In this case, when the multicast broadcast content is used, the network connection device 110 uses a network address according to IPv4, that is, a public network address or a non-public network address, so that the IPTV broadcast content providing server 400 can acquire multi- Only the cast broadcast stream needs to be downloaded, and it is not necessary to transmit the multicast broadcast stream according to the conventional IPv6. As a result, network traffic can be greatly reduced.

In particular, even if the network access device 110 uses an unauthorized network address, the routers 501, 502, and 503 included in the internal network manage multicast broadcasts by managing information in units of one hop, There is no problem to receive.

5 shows an example in which the network access device 110 receives an unauthenticated network address according to IPv4 from the DHCPv4 server 200 after receiving the authorized network address according to the IPv6 from the DHCPv6 server 300. However, The request for the unofficial network address may be received from the DHCPv4 server 200 upon receiving a response that the authorized network address according to IPv4 can not be assigned.

2, the network connection device 110, that is, the set-top box directly connects to the internal network (broadcasting network) and the Internet, but a router or a home gateway may be provided between the network connection device 110 and each network have.

6 shows an overall communication system including a network connection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention in which a set-top box 110 'is provided at home and a home gateway 130' The configuration is shown.

In FIG. 6, the home gateway 120 'performs the characteristic function of the network connection device 110 in the preceding embodiment.

That is, the home gateway 130 'requests and receives a public network address according to IPv6 from the DHCPv6 server, and requests the DHCPv4 server according to the IPv4 to receive the unofficial network address. Then, when requesting the multicast service, And when the unicast service is requested, the authorized network address according to the IPv6 can be used.

In this case, the set-top box 110 'communicating with the home gateway 130' can be used for communication by being assigned an unofficial network address from the home gateway 130 '. When the home gateway 130' ) Is a well-known technique, and thus a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Meanwhile, it goes without saying that the process of performing each of the above-described embodiments can be performed by a program or an application stored in a predetermined recording medium (for example, a computer-readable). Here, the recording medium includes an electronic recording medium such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a magnetic recording medium such as a hard disk, and an optical recording medium such as a CD (Compact Disk).

At this time, the program stored in the recording medium may be executed on hardware such as a computer or a smart phone to perform each of the above embodiments. In particular, at least one of the functional blocks of the network access device and the network address assignment server according to the present invention can be implemented by such a program or an application.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described specific embodiments, and various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. It is to be understood that such variations and modifications are intended to be included in the scope of the appended claims.

100: television 110: set-top box
200: DHCPv4 server 300: DHCPv6 server
400: IPTV broadcast content providing server
501: first router 502: second router
503: Third router 600: Web server
111: address request unit 112: address receiver
113: service utilization unit 210: request reception unit
220: group selection unit 230: address extraction unit
240: address providing unit 250: storing unit

Claims (14)

A control method of a network access apparatus for allocating a network address from a network address assignment server and accessing a network to request a first service and a second service defined in the network,
(a) receiving from the network address assignment server any one of a public network address according to a first standard and a public network address according to a second standard;
(b) if the public network address received from the network address assignment server in the step (a) is a public network address according to the first specification, the first service and the second service are both requested Using the network address according to the network address;
(c) if the public network address received from the network address assignment server in the step (a) is a public network address according to the second specification, the non-public network according to the first specification, Using the address of the second service when requesting the first service, and using the second network address when requesting the second service. The method according to claim 1,
The step (c)
(c1) if the public network address received from the network address assignment server in the step (a) is a public network address according to the second specification, the non-public network address according to the first standard is requested to the network address assignment server, ;
(c2) using an unofficial network address according to the first standard upon request of the first service, and using a public network address according to the second specification upon request of the second service A method of controlling a network access device. The method according to claim 1,
The public network address according to the first standard is a public network address according to IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4), and the public network address according to the second standard is a public network address according to Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv6) The control method comprising: The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first service is a broadcast service using multicast and the second service is a web service using unicast. A method of controlling a network address assignment server,
(a) receiving an address allocation request from a network access device;
(b) selecting a group corresponding to the address assignment request among the authorized network address group and the unofficial network address group;
(c) extracting a network address from the network address group selected in the step (b);
(d) transmitting the network address extracted in the step (c) to the network access device. 6. The method of claim 5,
If the unofficial network address group is selected in the step (b) and the router information is included in the address allocation request, in step (c), corresponding router information And extracts any one of the non-public network addresses that are not matched with the network address assignment server. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6. 6. An application stored on a medium for executing the method of any one of claims 1 to 6 in combination with hardware. There is provided a network access device for allocating a network address from a network address assignment server and accessing a network to request a first service and a second service defined in advance,
An address receiver for receiving either a public network address according to a first standard or a public network address according to a second standard from a network address assignment server;
If the public network address received by the address receiving unit is an authorized network address according to the first standard, the network address according to the first standard is used for both the first service and the second service request, When the received public network address is a public network address according to the second standard, the non-public network address requested by the network address assignment server according to the first standard is used for the first service request, And a service utilization unit for using the public network address according to the second service request. 10. The method of claim 9,
Further comprising an address requesting unit for requesting at least one of a public network address according to a first standard and a public network address according to a second standard to the network address assignment server,
Wherein the address request unit requests an unofficial network address according to the first standard to the network address allocation server when the authorized network address received by the address receiving unit is an authorized network address according to the second standard,
Wherein the service utilization unit uses an unofficial network address according to a first standard received by the address receiver in response to a request of the address request unit when requesting the first service and sends an authorized network address according to the second standard to the second service On request. ≪ / RTI > 10. The method of claim 9,
The public network address according to the first standard is a public network address according to IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4), and the public network address according to the second standard is a public network address according to Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv6) The control method comprising: 10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the first service is a broadcast service using multicast and the second service is a web service using unicast. In a network address assignment server,
A request receiving unit for receiving an address allocation request from the network access device;
A group selection unit for selecting a group corresponding to the address assignment request among the authorized network address group and the non-public network address group;
An address extractor for extracting a network address from a network address group selected by the group selector;
And an address providing unit for transmitting the network address extracted by the address extracting unit to the network access device. 14. The method of claim 13,
Wherein when the non-public network address group is selected by the group selection unit and the router information is included in the address allocation request, the address extractor extracts one of the non-public network addresses And extracts a network address.

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