Domestic network setting method, home gateway device, home gateway program, and recording medium

• US 20060280127A1
• Filed: 06/02/2005
• Published: 12/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
• Inventors: Mizuno, Shintaro, Yamada, Kohji
• Granted Patent: US 7,778,193 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/281 indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2898 Subscriber equipments DSL modems H04M11/062; cable modems H04L12/2801
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0209 Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones

Abstract

The setting of the connection of devices to a home gateway apparatus is simplified by providing the apparatus with a gateway function interconnecting a residential network and an external network; a database holding information setting the states of devices getting connected to the residential network and software for the setting, as settings information for each device; and a device setting processing part, setting, for a device newly requesting connection, the state of the device via the residential network by using the settings information, and, when getting accessed from the external network, making settings, with respect to the gateway function for making the firewall settings and the network address translation settings, on the basis of the network information further included in the settings information and the IP address granted to the device.

Claims

1. A residential network setting method comprising a gateway function interconnecting at least a residential network and an external network, and a database holding, for each device, settings information for setting devices getting connected to said residential network;

and making connection settings for connecting new devices to said residential network, said method including;

(a) a step of receiving a connection setting request and acquiring attribute information pertaining to said device;

(b) a step of querying said database for said attribute information and, in case settings information for the corresponding device is present in said database, acquiring the settings information from said database and executing the settings for the device and the settings for the gateway function, and, in case the corresponding settings information is not present in said database, accessing an information-providing server connected to the external network via said gateway function and acquiring the desired settings information from the information-providing server; and

(c) a step of holding this settings information in said database together with executing the settings for the corresponding device and the gateway function.

2. The residential network setting method according to claim 1, wherein said Step (a) includes a step of receiving said connection setting request by means of a web server.

3. The residential network setting method according to claim 1, wherein said Step (a) includes a step of receiving said connection setting request from a device having UPnP functionality.

4. The residential network setting method according to claim 1, wherein said Step (a) includes a step of receiving identity information for the device or the user as said connection setting request.

5. The residential network setting method according to claim 1, wherein said Step (a) includes a step of detecting packets having an address not registered in said residential network, searching said settings information for all corresponding devices which are not yet registered, displaying a list of all the searched devices, and receiving the device selection designation from said list as said connection setting request.

6. The residential network setting method according to claim 1, wherein are further included:

(d) a step of determining whether said connection setting request received in said Step (a) is a request based on UPnP and if it is not;

executing said Steps (b) and (c); and

(e) if it is a request based on UPnP,

(e-1) a step of collecting the device information by means of a UPnP negotiation with said device,

(e-2) a step of making settings for said device and said gateway function, if there is settings information in said collected device information, on the basis of that information,

(e-3) a step, in case there is no settings information, of consulting said database, requesting the settings information corresponding to said device, and, if there is no corresponding settings information in said database, requesting the corresponding settings information from said information-providing server, and

(e-4) a step of making settings for said device and said gateway function on the basis of the requested settings information.

7. A home gateway, including:

a gateway function interconnecting a residential network and an external network;

a database holding information, setting the states of devices connected to the residential network as well as software for the setting, as settings information for each device;

a device setting means, setting, for a device newly requesting a connection, the state of said device via said residential network by using said settings information; and

a gateway setting means, making settings with respect to the gateway function for making firewall settings and network address translation settings in case of getting accessed from an external network, on the basis of network information included in said settings information and an IP address given to said device.

8. The home gateway apparatus according to claim 7, further including a means for accessing an information-providing server connected to said external network, in case the settings information of said device newly requesting connection is not held in said database, and a means for storing in said database the settings information acquired from the information-providing server.

9. The home gateway apparatus according to claim 8, further including an authentication means performing authentication between the apparatus and said information-providing server, on the basis of the authentication information held in said home gateway, when accessing said information-providing server.

10. The home gateway apparatus according to any of claims 7 to 9, further including a web server receiving, from said device newly requesting connection, said connection setting request.

11. The home gateway apparatus according to any of claims 7 to 9, further including an identifier reading means receiving identity information from said device newly requesting connection as said connection setting request.

12. The home gateway apparatus according to any of claims 7 to 9, further including a detection means supervising packets in said residential network and detecting packets emitted from a device possessing the network interface address or IP address of a device not yet registered in said residential network, and a display means displaying that a device has been added by means of detection by this detection means.

13. The home gateway apparatus according to any of claims 7 to 9, wherein:

there is further stored in said database a default port list showing the predetermined protocols and the device port numbers allocated with respect to those;

said home gateway apparatus further includes a UPnP processing means performing a negotiation with a device having UPnP functionality, collecting device information, extracting network information from the collected device information, and generating and saving the device information; and

said device setting means which, if the port numbers in said device information are included in said default port list, sets said gateway function on the basis of that, and in case they are not included in said default port list, sets said gateway function on the basis of said device information, if there is a registration execution flag in said device information.

14. A home gateway program described by means of a programming language which can be decoded by a computer, and making the computer operate as a home gateway apparatus according to claim 7.

15. A storage medium composed of a storage medium which can be read by a computer, a home gateway program according to claim 14 being stored in this storage medium.