Information processing device, information processing method, and computer program

• US 20060168264A1
• Filed: 03/05/2004
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ihara, Keigo, Kinoshita, Yasuyuki, Baba, Kensuke, Kobori, Yoichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,870,261 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51

Abstract

The present invention provides a device and a method enabling a client connected to an external network to efficiently obtain information about servers connected to an internal network. An information processing device serving as an application gateway connected at an interface between the external network and the internal network performs a server information obtaining process about connected servers through the internal network in response to a request for obtaining information about the servers connected to the internal network transmitted from the client connected to the external network, generates a device list based on the obtained server information, and transmits the device list to the client through the external network. With this configuration, the client connected to the external network can efficiently obtain information about the servers connected to the internal network.

Claims

1. An information processing device performing a process in accordance with a data processing request from a client connected to an external network at an interface between the external network and an internal network, the information processing device comprising:

a data transmitting/receiving unit which transmits/receives data through the external network and the internal network; and

a server discovering unit which performs a server information obtaining process about connected servers through the internal network in response to a request for obtaining information about the servers connected to the internal network transmitted from the client connected to the external network and which performs a device list generating process of generating a device list to be transmitted to the client through the external network based on server information obtained in the server information obtaining process.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the server discovering unit is configured to perform the server information obtaining process about the connected servers through the internal network as a process applying an SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol).

3. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the server discovering unit is configured to perform the server information obtaining process about the connected servers through the internal network by multicasting a search request through the internal network and to generate the device list based on information received from the servers connected to the internal network.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the server discovering unit is configured to generate the device list to be transmitted to the client connected to the external network based on UDP (User Datagram Protocol) packet storage information received from each server connected to the internal network.

5. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the server discovering unit is configured to encrypt the device list to be transmitted to the client connected to the external network by using a key shared with the client and to transmit the device list as encrypted data to the client.

6. The information processing device according to claim 5, wherein the key applied to encrypt the device list is an encryption key that is obtained in an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) handshake process performed between the client and the information processing device.

7. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the information processing device is configured to perform the server information obtaining process about the connected servers through the internal network in accordance with a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) and to transmit the device list to the client through the external network in accordance with a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol).

8. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the server discovering unit is configured to generate, in the device list generating process, a device list including access information to each server and service information about a service that can be provided by each server based on information received from the servers connected to the internal network.

9. The information processing device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a device authenticating unit which determines whether the client has an access right,

wherein the server discovering unit is configured to perform a server discovering process if the device authenticating unit determines that the client has an access right.

10. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the information processing device is configured to have a client session ID table in which client identifiers are associated with session IDs serving as connection identification information with the client and to identify the client by searching the client session ID table based on a session ID received from the client.

11. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the information processing device has a function of an application gateway positioned at the interface between the external network and the internal network.

12. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the information processing device has a function of a reverse proxy server positioned at the interface between the external network and the internal network.

13. An information processing method for performing a process in accordance with a data processing request from a client connected to an external network in an information processing device connected at an interface between the external network and an internal network, the method comprising:

an information request receiving step of receiving a request for obtaining information about servers connected to the internal network from the client connected to the external network;

a server information obtaining step of obtaining server information about the connected servers through the internal network;

a device list generating step of generating a device list to be transmitted to the client based on the server information obtained in the server information obtaining step; and

a device list transmitting step of transmitting the device list generated in the device list generating step to the client through the external network.

14. The information processing method according to claim 13, wherein the server information obtaining step performs a server information obtaining process about the connected servers through the internal network as a process applying an SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol).

15. The information processing method according to claim 13, wherein the server information obtaining step performs a server information obtaining process about the connected servers through the internal network by multicasting a search request through the internal network.

16. The information processing method according to claim 13, wherein the server information obtaining step receives UDP (User Datagram Protocol) packet storage information received from each server connected to the internal network, and wherein the device list generating step generates the device list to be transmitted to the client connected to the external network based on the UDP (User Datagram Protocol) packet storage information.

17. The information processing method according to claim 13, wherein the device list transmitting step encrypts the device list to be transmitted to the client connected to the external network by using a key shared with the client and transmits the device list as encrypted data to the client.

18. The information processing method according to claim 17, wherein the key applied to encrypt the device list is an encryption key that is obtained in an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) handshake process performed between the client and the information processing device.

19. The information processing method according to claim 13, wherein the server information obtaining step performs a server information obtaining process about the connected servers through the internal network in accordance with a UDP (User Datagram Protocol), and wherein the device list transmitting step transmits the device list to the client through the external network in accordance with a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol).

20. The information processing method according to claim 13, wherein the device list generating step generates a device list including access information to each server and service information about a service that can be provided by each server based on information received from the servers connected to the internal network.

21. The information processing method according to claim 13, further comprising:

a device authenticating step of determining whether the client has an access right,

wherein the server information obtaining step is performed if it is determined that the client has an access right in the device authenticating step.

22. The information processing method according to claim 13, further comprising:

a step of identifying the client by performing a table search in accordance with a session ID received from the client based on a client session ID table in which client identifiers are associated with session IDs serving as connection identification information with the client.

23. A computer program performing a process in accordance with a data processing request from a client connected to an external network in an information processing device connected at an interface between the external network and an internal network, the computer program comprising:

an information request receiving step of receiving a request for obtaining information about servers connected to the internal network from the client connected to the external network;

a server information obtaining step of obtaining server information about the connected servers through the internal network;

a device list generating step of generating a device list to be transmitted to the client based on the server information obtained in the server information obtaining step; and

a device list transmitting step of transmitting the device list generated in the device list generating step to the client through the external network.