APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TRANSFERRING NETWORK ACCESS INFORMATION OF SMART HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES

• US 20150312230A1
• Filed: 09/01/2014
• Published: 10/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Flower Works Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: CHOI, Jaeduck, KIM, Sinkyu, KIM, Sungho
• Granted Patent: US 9,596,097 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2898 Subscriber equipments DSL modems H04M11/062; cable modems H04L12/2801
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2514 between local and global IP addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2517 using port numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2575 using address mapping retrieval, e.g. simple traversal of user datagram protocol through session traversal utilities for NAT [STUN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5076 Update or notification mechanisms, e.g. DynDNS

Abstract

An apparatus and method for transferring network access information of smart household appliances are provided. The apparatus includes a detection unit for detecting whether a public IP address of an external interface of an indoor IP sharer has changed. An extraction unit is configured to, if the public IP address of the external interface has changed, extract network access information of a smart household appliance connected to an internal interface of the indoor IP sharer, the network access information being updated together with change in the public IP address. An encryption and generation unit encrypts the network access information using a pre-stored encryption key, and generates data to be transmitted to a smart grid service provider server using the encrypted information and an ID of a customer user. A transmission unit transmits the data generated by the encryption and generation unit to the smart grid service provider server.

Claims

1. An apparatus for transferring network access information of smart household appliances, comprising:

a detection unit for detecting whether a public Internet Protocol (IP) address of an external interface of an indoor IP sharer has changed;

an extraction unit for, if the public IP address of the external interface of the indoor IP sharer has changed, extracting network access information of a smart household appliance connected to an internal interface of the indoor IP sharer, the network access information being updated together with the change in the public IP address;

an encryption and generation unit for encrypting the network access information of the smart household appliance extracted by the extraction unit using a pre-stored encryption key, and generating data to be transmitted to a smart grid service provider server using the encrypted information and an identifier (ID) of a customer user; and

a transmission unit for transmitting the data generated by the encryption and generation unit to the smart grid service provider server.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transmission unit is configured to, when a destination address of the data generated by the encryption and generation unit is set to that of the smart grid service provider server, transmit the data using an anonymous routing technique.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network access information of the smart household appliance includes an IP address and a port address of an external interface of the smart household appliance and an ID of the smart household appliance.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the public IP address of the external interface of the indoor IP sharer is changed by a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (CHCP).

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network access information of the smart household appliance connected to the internal interface of the indoor IP sharer is changed via Network Address Translation (NAT).

6. An apparatus for transferring network access information of smart household appliances, comprising:

a registration detection unit for checking whether encrypted network access information of a smart household appliance is included in received data, and detecting the received data as data to be registered if the encrypted network access information of the smart household appliance is included in the received data;

a storage unit for, if the data to be registered is detected by the registration detection unit, storing the encrypted network access information of the smart household appliance from the received data;

a request detection unit for detecting whether the received data is data indicating that the smart mobile terminal requests network access information of a smart household appliance;

a search and generation unit for, if request data has been detected by the request detection unit, searching the storage unit for encrypted network access information of a smart household appliance corresponding to the request data, and generating data that is transmittable to the smart mobile terminal, based on the encrypted network access information of the smart household appliance that has been found; and

a transmission unit for transmitting the data generated by the search and generation unit to the smart mobile terminal.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the encrypted network access information of the smart household appliance includes an IP address and a port address of an external interface of the smart household appliance and an ID of the smart household appliance.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the smart mobile terminal comprises a decryption unit for receiving the data from the transmission unit and decrypting the data using a pre-stored encryption key.

9. A method for transferring network access information of smart household appliances, comprising:

encrypting, by an indoor IP sharer, network access information of a smart household appliance using an encryption key;

generating, by the indoor IP sharer, data to be transmitted to a smart grid service provider server, using the encrypted information and an ID of a user;

transmitting, by the indoor IP sharer, the generated data to the smart grid service provider server;

receiving and storing, by the smart grid service provider server, the user ID and the encrypted network access information of the smart household appliance;

generating, by a smart mobile terminal, a message requesting the encrypted network access information of the smart household appliance, and sending, by the smart mobile terminal, the message to the smart grid service provider server; and

if the message is received, generating, by the smart grid service provider server, a response message based on the encrypted network access information of the smart household appliance corresponding to the received message, and sending, by the smart grid service provider server, the response message to the smart mobile terminal.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein transmitting the generated data to the smart grid service provider server comprises transmitting the data using an anonymous routing technique if a destination address of the generated data is set to that of the smart grid service provider server.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the network access information of the smart household appliance includes an IP address and a port address of an external interface of the smart household appliance and an ID of the smart household appliance.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising, before encrypting the network access information of the smart household appliance using the encryption key, setting the encryption key, the user ID, and service provider server access information in the smart mobile terminal and in the indoor IP sharer.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising, after generating the response message and sending the response message to the smart mobile terminal, receiving, by the smart mobile terminal, the response message, and decrypting, by the smart mobile terminal, the encrypted network access information of the smart household appliance using the encryption key.