JP4395059B2 - Communication device accommodating communication lines of multiple users - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention is a communication device such as a layer 2 switch or a router based on Ethernet (registered trademark) or IP (Internet Protocol) communication technology, and is installed in an apartment house, a collective office, etc. The present invention relates to a communication device that accommodates a communication line.

In order to connect to the Internet at the user's home, it is common to make a contract with a carrier and connect to the network of the carrier via an access line. There are the following methods for accommodating and consolidating.
(1) Using copper wires and optical fibers on a one-to-one basis, linking the user's home to the network operator's station, and consolidating them using a BAS (Broadband Access Server) device or layer 2 switch device in the network operator's office .
(2) The communication lines of a plurality of users are aggregated by an OLT (Optical Line Terminal) device by one-to-many connection using PON (Passive Optical Network) technology.
(3) Wiring the communication line of each user using communication equipment such as Ethernet (registered trademark), VDSL (Very high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line) or HomePNA (Home Phone line Networking Alliance) in the apartment house. The communication lines are aggregated using a layer 2 switch.

  A BAS device installed as a device for aggregating user communication lines in a circuit provider station terminates a user tunnel such as PPPoE (Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet (registered trademark)), and is called a virtual router. Is implemented, and different routing functions are provided for each user by holding individual routing information for each user in the apparatus.

  Each user's home uses a communication device that terminates the PPPoE tunnel with the BAS device by a broadband router and at the same time has various communication functions such as NAT (Network Address Translation) function and DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) function of the broadband router. A home network is being built.

  In addition, a user authentication server may be installed after the user communication lines are aggregated by the layer 2 switch for a user of an apartment house, and a tunnel is always established by PPPoE between the authentication server and the carrier server. A service is provided in which only the communication of a user authenticated using a Web screen based on a protocol such as HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) is transferred to a higher-level PPPoE.

  Furthermore, in recent years, home appliances that can be connected to a network have appeared, communication devices for controlling those home appliances, devices for controlling the capture of various video and audio data distributed from the network, etc. Various box-type communication devices are increasing in users' homes, and it is required to provide different communication functions according to each user.

As prior art documents related to the present invention, the following patent document 1 describes an Internet distribution device for collective housing that can protect privacy between dwelling units, and patent document 2 includes a communication buffer area and a route table area. A virtual private network system set for each VR (virtual router) is described. Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2 below describe the VR (virtual router) function, and Non-Patent Document 3 describes the IP-VPN service.
JP 2002-300187 A JP 2003-204346 A “Mopera access premium”, [online], [searched on November 5, 2004], Internet <URL: http://www.docomo.biz/b-mopera/intro/prm_free/option.html> “Broadband Dictionary“ Virtual Router System ””, [online], [searched on November 5, 2004], Internet <URL: http://dictionary.rbbtoday.com/Details/term147.html> “Good news for SOHO and small and medium-sized companies. IP-VPN that can be used at the same level as a dedicated line”, [online], [searched on November 5, 2004], Internet <URL: http: //www.pc- view.net/Security/020318/page2.html>

  As described above, in a general user premises, in addition to a broadband router that provides a communication connection with a communication carrier, a terminal device having a box-type communication function that provides services and applications such as video distribution, IP phone, and home appliance control is provided. Increasingly, there are increasing problems such as problems with installation locations. In addition to the broadband router, the user has to purchase a lot of equipment, which is an economic burden.

  In some housing complexes, there is an authentication server device that terminates a PPPoE tunnel with a communication carrier and provides an authentication function for each user. Such a server device provides a connection with a communication carrier. Since there is no DHCP or NAT function that operates individually for each user, and the user cannot individually set these functions, it is not a substitute for a broadband router placed in the user's home.

  Further, since different PPPoE tunnels cannot be provided for each user, the user cannot individually select an Internet provider, and all the users in the housing complex can only connect to the same Internet provider.

  Furthermore, a communication system using PPPoE is not compatible with a multicast service, and when performing a multicast service on a PPPoE communication system, multicast distribution data is transmitted to each user in a device that terminates a PPPoE tunnel in a communication carrier. You will have to copy minutes.

  In addition, when users at the end point of PPPoE connection perform peer-to-peer (Peer to Peer) communication such as VoIP (Voice over IP), even if the users are in the same apartment house, It is not possible to communicate directly with other communication facilities, and communication must be performed by returning communication data within the communication facility of the communication carrier.

  Also, in such a collective communication device that aggregates communication lines of a plurality of users, it is difficult to update the firmware accompanying a function change or expansion. Normally, when a firmware update or upgrade is performed, it is necessary to restart the communication device. If it is a device such as a general user's home broadband router, the user can download a firmware update program at their own discretion and update or upgrade, but in the case of a collective communication device, Since a plurality of users are aggregated, it is difficult to restart by updating or upgrading appropriately.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a communication function that operates individually for each user and an individual logical tunnel interface in one communication apparatus, and further, it is possible for each user to set them. As a result, it is possible to provide a user with a connection service to a plurality of different communication carriers with a single communication device, and to improve the convenience of the user by providing a communication function such as DHCP or NAT for each user. be able to. Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily manage a communication apparatus while minimizing a decrease in service given to each user when the communication apparatus is updated or upgraded.

  A communication apparatus accommodating communication lines of a plurality of users according to the present invention is (1) a communication apparatus accommodating communication lines of a plurality of users and providing a connection between the plurality of users and a communication carrier. A communication function unit that operates individually for each user, a storage unit that separately stores setting information of the communication function unit and user information for each user, and analysis of communication data transmitted and received A data analysis / user identification unit for identifying a user to whom the communication data is sent and received, and the communication data identified by the data analysis / identification unit is a request for reading or writing to the storage unit; And a setting / information control unit that controls to read or write only the information about the user related to the transmission / reception.

  (2) A plurality of interfaces to which only one user communication line is connected to one physical interface, and the data analysis / user identification unit identifies a corresponding user by a physical interface to which communication data is input. It is provided with.

  And (3) means for assigning different identifiers to the communication data of each user for each user, and the data analysis / user identification unit assigns the corresponding user by the identifier different for each user assigned to the communication data. A means for identifying is provided.

  And (4) a storage unit that manages the destination of the packet based on address information in the communication packet, and a unit that updates the contents of the storage unit when a network address is assigned to the user by the communication control protocol. It is characterized by that.

  Further, (5) means for configuring a plurality of logical interfaces by a tunnel protocol, a storage unit for managing the connected user and the logical interface in association with each other, and when the communication data is received from the user, Means for selecting a logical interface associated with the user identified by the address of the input physical interface, transferring the communication data to the logical interface, and receiving the communication data from the logical interface; Means for selecting a user associated with the received logical interface and transferring the communication data to a physical interface connected to the user.

  Also, (6) means for configuring a plurality of logical interfaces by a tunnel protocol, a storage unit for managing the connected user and the logical interface in association with each other, and communication data when the communication data is received from the user. Means for selecting a logical interface associated with the user identified by the assigned identifier, transferring the communication data to the logical interface, and receiving the communication data from the logical interface; And a means for selecting a user associated with the interface and assigning the identifier of the user to the communication data for transfer.

  Further, (7) a storage unit that manages route information of destinations of packets deployed individually for each user, a storage unit that manages route information of destinations of packets deployed commonly to a plurality of users, and a packet And a route search unit that searches for one of the two types of storage units in accordance with a predetermined priority when receiving.

  In addition, (8) when the route search of the received packet is performed, the route information of the destination in the own device is registered in the storage unit that manages the route information of the destination of the packet deployed in common to the plurality of users. In the case of recognizing the packet, there is provided means for preferentially transferring the packet to the destination route in the own apparatus registered in the storage unit without going through the network of the network operator.

  Also, (9) means for acquiring the program from another device storing a new program for rewriting via the network, and monitoring / measuring the communication state of each user, and monitoring / measured communication volume or communication Comparing the priority of the contents with a preset threshold value, and when they are equal to or less than the threshold value, there is provided a means for rewriting the program of the own apparatus with the new program acquired via the network.

  Further, (10) provided with means for identifying HTTP protocol communication from user communication, and possessing notification information to the user including the rewrite of the program, the HTTP protocol from the user A means for terminating communication and displaying the notification information to the user through communication using an HTTP protocol is provided.

  The first effect of the present invention includes a communication function unit that operates individually for each user, and a storage unit that separately stores setting information of the communication function unit and user information about each user for each user. Accordingly, various different services can be provided to each user with a single communication device, and each user can change settings and view setting information for the services provided to him / herself.

  Especially in a communication device accommodating a plurality of users in an apartment house, different services can be provided to each user according to the type of service to which each user subscribes, and the user himself can change or view the settings. It becomes possible to do. In addition, since the present invention can establish a PPPoE tunnel with a communication carrier for each user, each user can connect to a different communication carrier, and each user's home has a broadband router. Eliminates the need for equipment.

  The second effect of the present invention is that a common service can be provided to each user by providing the common route information for each user separately from the individual route information for each user. In particular, a user line aggregation device installed in an apartment house and terminating a PPPoE tunnel connection can easily provide a multicast service that has conventionally been difficult to provide on a PPPoE transmission system. In addition, peer-to-peer communication between users in the same apartment house can be performed directly without going through the network of the network operator.

  The third effect of the present invention is that the rewriting of the program of the communication device is automated, so that the timing of rewriting the program can be set flexibly and the communication device can be upgraded, for example, when the amount of communication is small. Further, by monitoring the user's HTTP communication and forcibly terminating the HTTP communication, it becomes possible to notify the user of program rewrite information, service stop time information, and the like in real time.

  FIG. 1 shows a communication apparatus of the present invention having a communication function for each user. The communication device according to the present invention accommodates communication lines of a plurality of users 110 and 111 to 11N, and operates independently for each user. The communication function unit 120, the setting information of the communication function unit 120, and each user A storage unit 130 that stores user information separately for each user, and data analysis / user identification that analyzes communication data to be transmitted and received to identify a corresponding user of the communication data (a user to whom the communication data is transmitted and received) Unit 140 and a setting / information control unit 150 that controls reading / writing of information in the storage unit 130.

  When the communication data identified by the data analysis / identification unit 140 is a read request from the storage unit 130 or a write request to the storage unit 130, the setting / information control unit 150 determines a user corresponding to the communication data. Control is performed to read or write only the information.

  By providing the communication function unit 120 and the storage unit 130 for each user, it is possible to provide a different communication function for each accommodated user, and each user can access the communication device 100 without being particularly conscious. For example, the user of the communication source is automatically identified by the data analysis / user identification unit 140, and only setting contents and information related to the user can be viewed and changed.

  Further, the communication device 100 of the present invention includes means for presetting usable communication functions for each user, and the communication function unit 120 provides a usable communication function for each user according to the setting means. Reading / writing of the storage unit 130 for storing user information includes means for reading / writing only usable items for each user by the setting means.

  As a result, the services subscribed to by each user are set in advance, only the communication functions related to the subscribed services are provided to each user, and the setting change / read of the storage unit 130 is also performed by the subscribed services. You can only do things about.

  Further, the communication apparatus of the present invention includes a plurality of interfaces to which only one user communication line is connected to one physical interface, and means for analyzing the communication data to identify a corresponding user of the communication data, A configuration may be adopted in which the communication data is identified by a physical interface to which the communication data is input.

  The communication apparatus of the present invention includes means for performing communication by assigning different identifiers to the communication data of each user for each user, and means for analyzing the communication data and identifying a corresponding user of the communication data. Also, a configuration can be adopted in which the identifier is given by the identifier given to the communication data.

  The communication device of the present invention further includes a storage unit 130 that manages the destination of the packet based on address information in the communication packet. The content of the storage unit 130 is obtained when a network address is assigned to a user by a communication control protocol. It can be configured to be automatically updated.

  Next, the communication apparatus of the present invention that constitutes a plurality of logical interfaces based on the tunnel protocol will be described with reference to FIG. The communication apparatus 200 according to this embodiment accommodates communication lines of a plurality of users 210 and 211 to 21N, configures a logical interface by a tunnel protocol, and configures a logical interface, and each logical interface and a user connected thereto. And when the communication data is received from the user, the data analysis / user identification unit 240 that identifies the user identifies the corresponding user, and the storage unit 230 associates the user with each user. A user who selects a logical interface and transfers communication data to the logical interface → the logical IF transfer unit 250, and when receiving communication data from the logical interface, selects a user associated with the logical interface by the storage unit 230 , Transfer the communication data to the user And a management IF → user transfer unit 260.

  In the communication apparatus of this embodiment, the means for identifying the user of the data analysis / user identification unit 240 may be configured to identify the user by a physical interface to which the user's communication line is connected. Further, the means for identifying the user can be configured to identify the user based on the identifier given by the means for giving the identifier different for each user to the packet.

  Next, the communication apparatus of the present invention having route information for each user and route information common to users will be described with reference to FIG. The communication apparatus 300 of this embodiment accommodates a plurality of users' communication lines 310, 311 to 31N, and stores a storage unit 320 that manages route information of destinations of packets individually arranged for each user, and a plurality of users. The storage unit 330 that manages the route information of the destination of the commonly deployed packet, and when the packet is received, either of the two types of storage unit 320 or the storage unit 330 is determined according to a predetermined priority. A route search unit 340 for searching.

  This embodiment may be configured in combination with the above-described embodiment that forms a plurality of logical interfaces based on the tunnel protocol shown in FIG. 2. In this case, the user → logical IF transfer unit 250 in the embodiment of FIG. In addition, the transfer by the destination determination policy by the storage unit 330 is applied in preference to the logical IF → user transfer unit 260.

  Next, an embodiment of a communication apparatus that can rewrite the program of the own apparatus will be described. The communication device according to the present invention obtains the program from another device storing a new program for rewriting via the network, and obtains the program of the own device via the network at a predetermined opportunity described below. A means for automatically rewriting the program is provided.

  As a trigger for rewriting the above-mentioned program, the communication state of the user is monitored / measured in the communication device, and the amount of communication or priority of communication content monitored / measured is compared with a preset threshold value. It can be configured to rewrite to a new program acquired via the network at the following times.

  In addition, the communication device according to the present invention includes means for identifying communication data based on HTTP protocol from user communication, and only when the user has information to be notified of program rewriting, etc. Means may be provided for identifying and terminating communication data from the user according to the HTTP protocol and transmitting the notification information to the user using the communication data according to the HTTP protocol.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below. In addition, the following Examples are illustrations and the structure of this invention is not limited to the structure of the following Examples. FIG. 4 shows a first embodiment of a user line aggregation system using a communication apparatus according to the present invention. There are homes for the respective users 410 and 411 to 41N in the apartment house 430, and each user constitutes a network in each home.

  A communication device 400 according to the present invention is installed in the management room 440 in the apartment house 430, and a communication line of one user is connected to one physical interface of the communication device 400. Each user's home is an Ethernet (registered trademark), VDSL. (Very high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line), HomePNA (Home Phone Line Networking Alliance) and other communication equipment are wired, and the communication device 400 aggregates communication lines wired from each user's home.

  Further, a transmission line such as an optical fiber is laid between the apartment house 430 and the line operator, and the communication device 400 installed in the apartment house 430 uses a tunnel protocol such as PPPoE. A BAS (Broadband Access Server) device 450 is connected, and communication data from a user is distributed to each service provider (communication operator) 461 to 463 by the BAS device 450.

  The communication device 400 provides a different communication function for each user depending on the content of a service contract exchanged between each user and a service provider (communication provider). In the example of FIG. 4, the service provider 461 with which the user 410 contracts provides an IPv4 Internet connection, and the communication device 400 provides the user 410 with an IPv4 router function, NAT function, and DHCP function.

  As a similar example, a user 411 contracted with a service provider 462 (IPv6 Internet connection provider) has an IPv6 router function and a firewall function, and a service provider 463 (IPv4 Internet connection and IP telephone provider). The bridging function is provided to the contracted user 41N. These communication functions are individually provided for each user, and each communication function operates independently.

  FIG. 5 shows a user management table for managing user identification information, connection destination tunnel information, provided communication function, and setting information of each user 410 to 41N in the communication apparatus 400. The communication device 400 searches the user management table when receiving a packet to identify the corresponding user, and determines a communication function to be provided, information that can be set / viewed by the user, a packet transfer destination, and the like. .

  Each user can access the communication device 400 using a communication protocol such as HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) to directly set his / her communication function or browse setting information. The communication device 400 identifies the transmission user by searching the above-mentioned user management table for the control packet by the HTTP protocol addressed to the own device sent from the user, and only the control screen or information related to the corresponding communication function. Is displayed on the WEB browser screen of the user.

  Accordingly, the user 410 has setting information related to the IPv4 router, NAT function, and DHCP function, the user 411 has setting information related to the IPv6 router and firewall function, and the user 41N has only setting information related to the bridging function. It is possible to change or view only the communication function setting or its setting information for each user.

  Similarly, when a user communicates via a service provider, the communication apparatus 400 determines a transfer destination PPPoE tunnel connection destination by the user management table when receiving a packet from the user, and conversely Even when a packet is received from the provider side, the physical port of the transfer destination is determined by the user management table.

  FIG. 6 is a second embodiment of a system for aggregating user communication lines using a communication apparatus according to the present invention. A communication device 600 according to the present invention is installed in the management room 650 of the apartment house 660. The communication lines of the users 610 and 611 to 61N are aggregated by the layer 2 switch 640, and the aggregated one line is connected to one physical interface of the communication apparatus 600 of the present invention.

  The layer 2 switch 640 separates communication between users by VLAN (Virtual LAN), and uses a port-based VLAN to associate a physical interface to which each user's communication line is connected with a VLAN ID, and a communication device. Packets are sent to and received from 600 using the tag VLAN.

  The layer 2 switch 640 manages the LAN connection using the VLAN management table 670. In the example shown in FIG. 6, since the packet from the user 610 connected to the physical port # DL0 belongs to VLAN ID = 1000, when transferring the packet to the physical port #UL to which the communication device 600 is connected, A VLAN tag indicating VID = 1000 is added and output, and the communication device 600 identifies the user by recognizing the VID of the VLAN tag by the user identification unit 630 and corresponds to the user by the communication function unit 620 for each user. Provides communication functions.

  FIG. 7 shows a user management table for managing user identification information, connection destination tunnel information, communication functions to be provided, and setting information of each user 610 to 61N in the communication apparatus 600. In this embodiment, the VID of the VLAN tag is used as the user identifier.

  FIG. 8 shows a third embodiment of the user communication line aggregation system using the communication apparatus according to the present invention. A communication apparatus 800 according to the present invention aggregates communication lines of users in an apartment house and is connected to a higher level service provider by a tunnel protocol such as PPPoE.

  Usually, packets from each user are transferred to the corresponding PPPoE connection destination tunnel by referring to the path information for each user after the user identification in the communication device 800. Here, the line provider 840 mainly provides a service for connecting the service provider and the apartment house, but can also provide a content distribution service 830 using the network of the line provider 840 itself.

  Here, it is assumed that the users 810 and 811 subscribe to the content distribution service 830 of the line operator 840 and view the content using a TV (television) terminal installed in the home. At this time, in the distribution procedure of the content distribution service 830 to the users 810 and 811, the communication apparatus 800 refers to the common route information 850, recognizes the subscription of the users 810 and 811 to the distribution service, and the user Packets (content viewing request, etc.) addressed to the content distribution service from 810 and 811 are directly transferred to the line carrier as IPoE (IP over Ethernet (registered trademark)) without being transferred into the PPPoE tunnel.

  Conversely, the communication apparatus 800 transfers an IPoE packet such as multicast received from the content distribution service 830 to the users 810 and 811 subscribed to the content distribution service 830. In this way, it is possible to provide a common content distribution service to a plurality of users by referring to the common route information separately from the individual route information for each user, and use the PPPoE tunnel on the PPPoE system. Without providing a distribution service such as a multicast service.

  FIG. 9 shows a fourth embodiment of the user communication line aggregation system using the communication apparatus according to the present invention. The communication device 900 according to the present invention aggregates user communication lines in an apartment house and connects to a higher level service provider by a tunnel protocol such as PPPoE.

  Normally, packets from each user are transferred to the corresponding PPPoE tunnel with reference to individual path information for each user after performing user identification in the communication device 900. The communication apparatus 900 manages services subscribed to by each user. In FIG. 9, it is assumed that the users 910 and 911 are subscribed to the same service provider (service provider 1).

  Here, when a call request is made from the user 910 to the user 911 using the IP telephone service provided by the service provider 1, a peer-to-peer is established between the IP telephone terminal of the user 910 and the IP telephone terminal of the user 911. Peer to Peer communication occurs. At this time, the communication apparatus 900 refers to the common path information 920 and recognizes that the user 910 and the user 911 are subscribed to the same service provider 1, and does not transfer into the PPPoE tunnel. According to the information of the common route information 920, packet transfer is directly performed between the user 910 and the user 911.

  In this way, peer-to-peer communication services in collective housing can be connected to a line operator by referring to route information common to users separately from individual route information for each user. By using only the lines in the apartment house without using the terminal, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the line use.

  When changing a program in a communication device, it is generally necessary for a communication carrier or an apartment manager to make the change. However, in the communication device according to the present invention, a program is downloaded in advance from a server on a network. In addition, it is possible to set the program to be automatically rewritten and restarted at a time when the service usage is low, such as at midnight.

  The communication device according to the present invention monitors the communication state of the user in real time, and automatically executes the program of the communication device when the amount of data communication transmitted and received by the user is small or when high-priority data communication is not performed. It can be set to perform rewriting and restart processing.

  Further, at the time of this automatic program rewriting, it is necessary to notify the user of specification change due to program rewriting or information indicating a temporary service stop due to restart. FIG. 10 shows an embodiment in which the communication apparatus according to the present invention notifies the user of information to rewrite the program.

  In the communication apparatus 1000 according to the present invention, notification information holding unit 1020 holds notification information to the user such as service suspension or specification change. When the notification information holding unit 1020 does not particularly hold the information to be notified to the user, the user terminal 1030 accesses the Web server 1040 on the Internet as usual.

  However, for example, when the user terminal 1030 accesses the Web server 1040 on the Internet using the HTTP protocol when the notification information holding unit 1020 holds the processing program rewrite notification information, The HTTP identification unit 1010 forcibly terminates the access using the HTTP protocol, and returns an HTTP response including notification information indicating that the program has been rewritten to the source user.

  In the HTTP response message, a script that automatically accesses the Web server 1040 after a predetermined time has elapsed, or a hyperlink that allows the user to access the Web server 1040 after reading the notification information is inserted. . As a result, the user can obtain necessary notification information in advance when access is made using the HTTP protocol.

It is a figure which shows the communication apparatus of this invention provided with the communication function for every user. It is a figure which shows the communication apparatus of this invention which comprises the some logical interface by a tunnel protocol. It is a figure which shows the communication apparatus of this invention which has the route information for every user, and the route information common to a user. It is a figure which shows the 1st Example of the user line aggregation system using the communication apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the user management table of 1st Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 2nd Example of the user line aggregation system using the communication apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the user management table of 2nd Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 3rd Example of the user line aggregation system using the communication apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 4th Example of the user line aggregation system using the communication apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the Example which notifies a user of the effect of program rewriting in the communication apparatus of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

110, 111 to 11N User 120 Communication function unit 130 Storage unit 140 Data analysis / user identification unit 150 Setting / information control unit

Claims (1)

A communication device that accommodates communication lines of a plurality of users and provides a connection between the plurality of users and a communication carrier,
Means for connecting each user's communication line to an individual service provider by a tunnel protocol;
Means for individually providing a communication function of an IPv4 router function, a NAT function, a DHCP function, an IPv6 router function, a firewall function, or a bridging function that operate independently for each user communication line;
A user management table for managing user identification information, connection destination tunnel information, provided communication function and setting information of each user;
Means for searching the user management table upon receiving a packet from the communication line of each user, identifying the corresponding user, and determining a communication function to be provided and a tunnel connection destination;
A communication apparatus that accommodates communication lines of a plurality of users.

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