JP2018078395A - Device communication method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To let only an appropriate apparatus serving as a representative communicate with a server but not permitting a plurality of apparatuses (terminals) connected with a LAN to individually transmit a request to the server.SOLUTION: When an apparatus 10 connected with a LAN communicates with a server 100 connected with an external network, a flag apparatus is determined in advance. An IoT apparatus 10 newly connected with the LAN compares its reliability with that of all IoT apparatuses connected with the LAN, and if the apparatus 10 has the highest reliability, it becomes a flag apparatus by displacing the predetermined flag apparatus and communicates with the server 100.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a device communication method and devices for allowing a plurality of devices connected to a local area network to communicate with a server.

  Generally, when a device in a local area network (LAN) communicates with an external server via a router, each device transmits a different request to the server. For example, as shown in Non-Patent Document 1, it is known that communication is performed in a one-to-one correspondence between a Web browser and a Web server. Therefore, if the number of connected devices increases, the load on the server increases.

ITPro, “Web Access Basics (2)”, [online], March 2, 2004, [August 24, 2016 search], Internet <URL: http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp / article / COLUMN / 20060215/229453 /? rt = nocnt>

  On the other hand, in the future IoT (Internet of Things) era, it is considered that many such devices are connected to the Internet, so if each device sends a request to the server, the load on the server may increase. is expected. Further, since each device communicates with a server outside the LAN, there remains a problem in securing security for each request.

  Such IoT devices, unlike personal computers, are expected to be used for a long period of time. Therefore, when the installed processor performs communication, the latest security method and encryption method are used (for example, due to processor performance limitations). It may be possible to continue using it without being able to handle it. In addition, the IoT device sends the data acquired from the sensor or the like to the server at a predetermined timing rather than the process of sending a request irregularly from the browser and obtaining a response in a conventional device such as a personal computer. There are many processes to do. Therefore, the device is allowed to send a request to the server with a certain time difference.

  The present invention relates to a device communication method in which a plurality of devices (terminals) connected to a LAN do not individually transmit requests to a server, but only appropriate devices that are representative in the LAN communicate with the server, and The purpose is to provide equipment.

  The present invention provides the following solutions.

The invention according to the first feature is a method in which a device connected in a LAN communicates with a server connected to an external network, and determines a flagship device in advance,
(A) the device searches for other devices in the LAN;
(B) When another device is searched as a result of the search, a step of comparing the reliability of the searched other device with the reliability of the device;
(C) determining that the device is more reliable than the other device, and further, when the other device is a flagship device, determining the device as a flagship device,
The device repeats the steps (A) to (C) for all devices connected to the LAN, and either the flagship device or the predetermined flagship device determines the flagship device and the A device communication method in which another device communicates with the server is provided.

  The invention according to the first feature is a method category, but the same actions and effects corresponding to the category are exhibited in other categories such as a device, a system, and a program.

  The invention according to the second feature is the invention according to the first feature, wherein when performing communication to the server, the flagship device transmits from another device connected in the LAN to an external server. A device communication method further comprising the step of receiving data and combining the received data into one data, wherein the flagship device transmits the combined one data to the server when communicating with the server; I will provide a.

  The invention according to a third feature is the invention according to the first feature, wherein in the step of determining the flagship device, when a plurality of devices in the LAN communicate with the server, the communication reliability is determined. The device communication method is determined based on at least one of security reliability, communication error rate, communication band, power consumption, manufacturing year of the device, and software version installed on the device.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a terminal (equipment) connected to the LAN does not individually transmit a request to the server, but a suitable and reliable device that is representative in the LAN. Only the device communicates with the server, thereby reducing the communication load on the server. Furthermore, since each terminal does not consume power due to continued connection to the server, it is possible to save power.

  Further, according to the second and third aspects of the present invention, the flagship device has a communication reliability with the server (security reliability, communication error rate, communication bandwidth, power consumption, year of manufacture of the terminal, Therefore, the security level can be improved and the reliability of communication can be improved. Furthermore, since a terminal that does not directly communicate with a server existing outside the LAN only needs to communicate within the LAN, it is not always necessary to use a high-level communication encryption method. Furthermore, since the flagship device can be switched, redundancy can be achieved.

It is a figure which shows the functional block of the apparatus communication system. It is a flowchart which shows the flagship apparatus communication process which the IoT apparatus 10 or 20 performs. It is a continuation of the flowchart of FIG. It is a flowchart of the joint data transmission process which the IoT apparatus 10 or 20 performs. It is a reliability table used when the IoT apparatus 10 or 20 performs a reliability comparison process.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This is merely an example, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to this.

[System configuration]
Based on FIG. 1, the system configuration of the equipment communication system 1 will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a device communication system 1 which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The device communication system 1 includes at least a plurality of IoT devices 10, 20,..., An external server 100, and a router 50. The number of IoT devices 10, 20,... May be any number, but only two are shown in FIG.

  The IoT devices 10, 20,... Are devices connected by a LAN (local area network), and are, as described later, wired, wireless (wireless LAN using SSID, WiFi), etc. A P2P (point-to-point) connection is made to another IoT device, or the router 50 is connected to be communicable with the external server 100. The router 50 is connected to a WAN (wide area network) that is an external network, and is connected to the external server 100 via a line such as the Internet or a dedicated line so as to be communicable.

[Description of each function]
Based on FIG. 1, each hardware which comprises the apparatus communication system 1, and its function are demonstrated.

  The IoT devices 10, 20,... Are devices including a computer, a microcomputer, and the like, and include a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc. As a communication unit, a device for enabling communication with other devices, for example, a device that can be connected to a wired / wireless LAN, a WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) compatible device compliant with IEEE 802.11, or a wired connection such as USB or HDMI Equipped with compatible devices.

  The IoT devices 10, 20,... May be terminals such as computer terminals, smartphones, tablet terminals, slate terminals, electronic book terminals, wearable terminals, communication devices equipped with sensors, home appliances, mobile phones. It may be a telephone.

  In each of the IoT devices 10, 20,..., The control unit reads a predetermined program, thereby cooperating with the communication unit and other hardware to search later, search units 11, 21, and a comparison unit. 12, 22, content combining units 13 and 23, and combined data transmitting units 14 and 24 are realized. The flagship device communication process described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 is executed by these module units.

[Flagship equipment communication processing]
Next, the flagship device communication process executed by the device communication system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of flagship device communication processing executed by one IoT device among the IoT devices 10, 20,. Processing executed by the module unit of each device described above will be described together with this processing.

  In the following, the case where the IoT device 10 executes this processing will be described. However, the IoT devices 10, 20,... Under the router 50 are all the same at the timing when each device is connected to this LAN. This process may be executed. As a premise, this processing is processing when one IoT device 10 is first connected to the LAN. Therefore, flagship equipment already exists in this LAN. That is, all the IoT devices connected in the LAN are installed with programs that realize the above-described search units 11 and 21, comparison units 12 and 22, content combination units 13 and 23, and combined data transmission units 14 and 24. Has been. Therefore, when one IoT device is connected to the LAN, the IoT device is determined as the flagship device. If another IoT device is connected to the IoT device, the IoT device with high reliability is selected as the flagship device. It becomes equipment. That is, in that case, the flagship device having the highest reliability in the LAN is the flagship device. Since the flagship device has the highest reliability by the processing described here, the reliability of the newly connected IoT device 10 is compared with the reliability of the flagship device, and the IoT device with the high reliability becomes the flagship device. . Note that the flow may be repeatedly executed not only when the process is first connected to the LAN but also at a predetermined timing after a certain period.

  First, the search unit 11 of the IoT device 10 searches for other devices in the LAN (step S01). If the search unit 11 searches and finds another device in the LAN (step S02), the search unit 11 proceeds to step S03, and if no other device is searched in the LAN, step S08. Move processing to.

  Then, the comparison unit 12 of the IoT device 10 makes an inquiry about reliability to the discovered device (step S03). The reliability is a standard for selecting a device optimal for communication among IoT devices connected in the LAN.

  The reliability is, for example, a specification of a security communication method when communicating with the external server 100, as shown in FIG. 5, or a communication error rate when communicating with the external server 100 (equipment between devices in the LAN Or a communication band for communication with the external server 100 (may be an average value of communication bands for communication between devices in the LAN), IoT The power consumption lost when the devices 10, 20,... Communicate with the external server 100 (the lower the power consumption, the higher the evaluation), or the manufacture of the IoT devices 10, 20,. The model year, the version of the operating system, and the version of the software for performing the flagship device communication processing (manufacturing year, the newer the version, the higher the evaluation) may be used.

  Here, as will be described with reference to FIG. 5, the reliability specification and the score are associated in advance, and the IoT device having a high score is determined as the flagship device. The comparison unit 12 compares the inquired reliability with the reliability of the own aircraft (step S04). If the own aircraft has a higher score, the flagship flag indicating that the own aircraft is a flagship device. Is set (step S05), and if the own aircraft has a lower score, the own aircraft is not set as the flagship flag (step S06), and the process proceeds to step S07.

  Next, the IoT device 10 adds the IoT device to the verified list, assuming that the IoT device inquired here has already been verified (step S07), and returns to step S01. At this time, in the process from step S01, an IoT device not shown in the verified list in the LAN is searched.

  Next, when the search unit 11 of the IoT device 10 cannot search for another IoT device (including a case where all devices in the LAN are searched and the verified list is filled), the flagship flag of the own device Is True (step S08), and if it is True, activation is started as a flagship device, and the other device in the LAN is notified that it is a flagship device (step S09).

  Here, when the IoT device 10 determines that the verified device list is empty, that is, all the IoT devices in the LAN have been verified (step S10), the flagship flag is set to True (step S11), and the flagship is Start as a device. In this case, since there is only the IoT device in the LAN, no notification is required, and the own device is the flagship device.

[Combined data transmission processing]
Next, the combined data transmission process in which the IoT device that has become the flagship device communicates with the external server 100 will be described. Here, the IoT device 10 executes the combined data transmission process on the assumption that the flagship flag becomes True and the flagship device is activated.

  First, the IoT device 10 receives data to be transmitted to the external server 100 from another IoT device connected to the LAN (step S12). That is, in step S09 described above, since the other device has been notified of which IoT device the flagship device is, it recognizes that the flagship device is an IoT device having the IP address. Therefore, other IoT devices transmit the data to be transmitted to the external server 100 to the flagship device without directly transmitting the data to the external server 100.

  The content combining unit 13 of the IoT device 10 extracts the content portion of the received data (Step S13). That is, in the received data, the content portion that is the actual data content is extracted, not the additional information such as the header / footer including the destination information of the data. Then, the extracted contents are combined to generate one data. Then, the combined data transmission unit 14 determines the timing of transmission to the external server 100 (step S15), and if that timing is reached, transmits one data to the external server 100 (step S16). If not, the process returns to step S12 in order to wait for data from another device. The administrator may arbitrarily determine the transmission timing.

  In this way, since the flagship device having the highest reliability transmits the combined data to the external server 100, the IoT device connected to the LAN does not individually transmit the data to the external server 100. The communication load of the external server 100 can be reduced by allowing only a suitable device with high reliability, which is representative in the LAN, to communicate with the server. Furthermore, since each terminal does not consume power due to continued connection to the external server 100, it is possible to save power.

  Further, the flagship device is equipped with the reliability of the communication with the server, that is, the encryption method, the communication method, the communication error rate, the communication band, the power consumption, the manufacturing year of the terminal, the OS version, and the terminal. Since it is determined based on the version of software or the like, it is possible to improve the security level and improve the reliability of communication. Furthermore, since a terminal that does not directly communicate with a server existing outside the LAN only needs to communicate within the LAN, it is not always necessary to use a high-level communication encryption method. Furthermore, since the flagship device can be switched, redundancy can be achieved.

  FIG. 5 is a reliability table for comparing the reliability. The reliability table may be stored in each IoT device 10, 20,. For the calculation of the reliability, for example, SSL (Secure Socket Layer) or TLS (Transport Layer Security), which is an encryption communication protocol using a hash function such as SHA1, SHA2, is used as an encryption communication method with a high security level. Communication methods such as HTTPS, MQTTTS, and WSS (WebSocket secure) used can be applied. When these methods are adopted by the IoT device, the administrator may determine in advance which method has a higher score. Further, if a more advanced and reliable communication method is adopted in the future, the administrator may be able to register the method. In the example of FIG. 5, since the score of the IoT device A is “39”, which is the highest, the IoT device A is determined as the flagship device.

  The means and functions described above are realized by a computer (including a CPU, an information processing apparatus, and various terminals) reading and executing a predetermined program. The program may be in a form (SaaS: Software as a Service) provided from a computer via a network, for example, a flexible disk, a CD (CD-ROM, etc.), a DVD (DVD-ROM), for example. , DVD-RAM, etc.) and the like recorded in a computer-readable recording medium. In this case, the computer reads the program from the recording medium, transfers it to the internal storage device or the external storage device, stores it, and executes it. The program may be recorded in advance in a storage device (recording medium) such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or a magneto-optical disk, and provided from the storage device to a computer via a communication line.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to these embodiment mentioned above. The effects described in the embodiments of the present invention are only the most preferable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are limited to those described in the embodiments of the present invention. is not.

  1 equipment communication system, 100 external server, 10 IoT equipment, 20 IoT equipment

Claims (4)

A method in which a device connected in a LAN communicates with a server connected to an external network, and a flagship device is determined in advance.
(A) the device searches for other devices in the LAN;
(B) When another device is searched as a result of the search, a step of comparing the reliability of the searched other device with the reliability of the device;
(C) determining that the device is more reliable than the other device, and further, when the other device is a flagship device, determining the device as a flagship device,
The device repeats the steps (A) to (C) for all the devices connected to the LAN, and the flagship device and the flagship device determined by either the determined flagship device or the predetermined flagship device. Device communication method in which the other device communicates with the server When communicating with the server, the flagship device further includes a step of receiving data to be transmitted to an external server from another device connected in the LAN, and combining the received data into one data,
The device communication method according to claim 1, wherein the flagship device transmits the combined data to the server when performing communication with the server.   In the step of determining the flagship device, when a plurality of devices in the LAN communicate with the server, the reliability of communication includes security reliability, communication error rate, communication band, power consumption, The device communication method according to claim 1, wherein the device communication method is determined based on at least one of a manufacturing year and a version of software installed in the device. A device that communicates with a server connected to an external network via a LAN,
Search means for searching for other devices in the LAN in a state where flagship devices are determined in advance;
As a result of the search, when another device is searched, a comparing means for comparing the reliability of the searched other device with the reliability of the device,
When it is determined that the device is more reliable than the other devices, flagship device determination means for determining the device as a flagship device,
The device performs a search performed by the search unit for all devices connected to the LAN, performs a comparison performed by the comparison unit, and performs a determination performed by the flagship device determination unit. The flagship device and the other device communicate with the server by any one of the flagship devices.

Images