Method and Apparatus for Controlling of Remote Access to a Local Network

• US 20080289009A1
• Filed: 04/19/2006
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Song, Yu Kyoung, Lee, Kyung Ju
• Granted Patent: US 8,561,147 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/029 Firewall traversal, e.g. tunnelling or, creating pinholes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

The present invention is to ensure security of a local network, e.g., a home network from remote access while allowing remote access. In a method of the present invention, if a device on the local network is to be accessed remotely, user identifying information (and/or device identifying information) and connection information of a target device, that are accompanied by the access, are compared with information of registered allowance entries and whether to allow the access is determined based on the comparison result. According to the method, remote access to a device invoked by a user (and/or a remote device) whose remote access is not set to allowance is blocked while remote access invoked by a user (and/or a remote device) whose remote access is set to allowance is admitted.

Claims

1. A method for managing remote access to a device connected to a local network, comprising:

creating permission information about a device;

when an access is externally requested to a device connected to the local network, searching the created permission information about a device for information of the access and connection information of a target device; and

according to the search result, determining whether to allow the access.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection information includes connection protocol information, an IP address, and a port number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the permission information is created through a procedure in which a remote access permission action is received from the device, and user information and/or device information for remote access and device connection information are extracted from input argument of the received action and are registered as an allowance entry.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the input argument of the remote access permission action further comprises unique identifying information of the device.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the input argument of the remote access permission action further comprises a parameter indicative of remote access permission or refusal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating step comprises:

creating a list of remote access enabled devices according to receiving a first action for setting a user and/or remotely-accessed to allowance, the first action having device identifying information and user information and/or information about a remotely-accessed device as input argument;

upon receiving a second action allowing remote access from the device, extracting device identifying information from input argument of the received second action and searching the list for the extracted information and obtaining user information and/or information about a remotely-accessed device associated with the extracted information; and

configuring the obtained user information and/or information about a remotely-accessed device, and device connection information extracted from the input argument of the second action into an entry of the permission information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first and second action further comprise a parameter indicative of remote access permission or refusal respectively.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the first action is received from a control application for managing devices connected to the local network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating step comprises:

obtaining user information of remote access, searching a user-group list for the user information, and identifying a group where the user belongs;

extracting device identifying information from input argument of a received action and checking whether the extracted device identifying information belongs to the identified group based on a table listing remote access enabled devices for each group; and

according to the checking result, configuring the user information and device connection information extracted from input argument of the received action into an entry of the permission information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the user information is an ID assigned to a user or credential used for authentication.

12. A networked apparatus, comprising:

a gateway device for data arbitration among networked devices and conducting configuration/management of network addresses,

the gateway device storing a list of connection allowance including user identifying information and/or identifying information of a remotely-accessed device and device connection information as an allowance entry;

at a time of access to one of the networked devices remotely, searching the list of connection allowance for information about the access and an allowance entry having connection information of a target device; and

according to the search result, determining whether to allow the access.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the device connection information includes connection protocol information, an IP address, and a port number.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein device connection information in the allowance entry is information extracted from input argument of a remote access permission action received from a device allowing remote access.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein user identifying information and/or identifying information of a remotely-accessed device in the allowance entry is information extracted from input argument of a remote access permission action received from a device allowing remote access.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein user identifying information and/or identifying information of a remotely-accessed device in the allowance entry is information copied from user identifying information and/or identifying information of a remotely-accessed device in a list of allowed devices, the information being stored associated with device identifying information extracted from input argument of a remote access permission action received from a device allowing remote access.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the list of allowed devices is created according to receiving an action for setting allowed devices from a control application for managing the networked devices, the action having device identifying information and user identifying information and/or identifying information of a remotely-accessed device as input argument.

18. A networked apparatus, comprising:

a gateway device for conducting data arbitration among networked devices and configuration/management of network addresses and for storing permission information of which one entry consists of identifying information of a remotely-accessed device and remote access enabled device information; and

a proxy, when receiving device search message from a remote device, searching the permission information for a target device and transmitting a response of the device search message to the remote device for only remote access enabled devices.