WO2009010669A2

WO2009010669A2 - Method for the remote monitoring of a plurality of local area networks through an external communication network

Info

Publication number: WO2009010669A2
Application number: PCT/FR2008/051208
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giyyarpuram Madhusudan
Original assignee: France Telecom
Priority date: 2007-07-02
Filing date: 2008-06-30
Publication date: 2009-01-22
Also published as: EP2165462A2; WO2009010669A3

Abstract

The invention relates to a local area network that comprises an address translation means for matching an external address in the external network with an internal address in the local area network, wherein said method comprises regularly transmitting from a monitoring entity of the local area network a condition report on said local area network to an aggregation entity of the external network at a transmission frequency adapted for maintaining a correspondence between an internal address of the monitoring entity of the local area network and an external address in the external network via the address translation means, and in the case an abnormality is detected at the local area network, establishing communication between a remote monitoring platform and the monitoring entity of the local area network via the external network from an initiative of said remote monitoring platform based on said correspondence.

Description

Method for remote monitoring of a plurality of local networks, via an external communication network

The present invention relates to a method and a remote monitoring system of a plurality of local networks, such as home networks, comprising a local gateway for connection to an IP network (for Internet Protocol in English).

Domestic remote monitoring systems are known primarily for medical applications, to remotely monitor a patient, or secure, to detect intrusions into a home. Such systems include sensors that monitor a specific activity, for example the cardiac activity of a patient, the opening of a door or window of a home or the presence of an intruder in this home . These sensors are connected to a local communication module capable of signaling to a remote remote monitoring center alarms in the event of problems detected, generally via a telephone line of a PSTN network (for Public Telephone Network).

These home network monitoring systems actually provide an alarm notification service from a home network to a remote monitoring center. If the communication chain between the home network and the remote monitoring center is working, the solution is satisfactory. However, if an element of the chain is not operational, for example because of a failure, the system no longer performs its function. In addition, such remote monitoring systems are not suitable for proactively monitoring home networks.

Also known are local network monitoring systems, such as enterprise networks, including a monitoring server for monitoring a relatively large number of devices, possibly through aggregation entities. These systems usually use SNMP (Simple Network Managment Protocol). They are not suitable for remote monitoring of local home networks, through an external communication network.

The object of the invention is to propose a remote monitoring method through an external telecommunications network, such as a WAN (for WideArea Network in English) or ADSL (for Asymnrtric Digîal Suscriber Line in English), of a plurality local networks, each local network being connected to the external network via a gateway with network address translation (NAT) means for mapping local internal network addresses to external addresses of the external network, which allows these local networks to be monitored proactively . To this end, the invention relates to a remote monitoring method of a plurality of local networks, through an external communication network, a local network comprising means for translating addresses to correspond to an internal address in the local network. an external address in the external network, which comprises: a regular sending from a LAN monitoring entity of a status report on said local network to an aggregation entity of the external network, with a transmission frequency adapted to maintain "alive a correspondence between an internal address of the monitoring entity of the local network and an external address in the external network by the address translation means, - in case of detection of an anomaly in the local network, the establishment of a communication between a remote monitoring platform and the local network monitoring entity, through the external network, at the i nitiative of the remote monitoring platform, according to said correspondence. Keeping alive a correspondence between an internal address and an external address of a local network monitoring entity makes it possible, in case of detection of an anomaly, to communicate directly with this monitoring entity.

It is also possible to provide proactive monitoring of the local network. According to a preferred characteristic, the address translation means are of NAT type (for Network Address Translation). Thus, the remote monitoring method according to the invention applies more particularly to networks implementing a NAT type address translation mechanism according to which, for an observer external to the local network, any request resulting from this network seems to come from the gateway between the local network and the external network and not an entity behind this gateway. According to a preferred characteristic, the state report on said local network is contained in a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) type packet. UDP packets have the advantage of being very small in size. This makes it possible to ensure the remote monitoring of a very large number of local networks while limiting the load of the external network and that of the aggregation entity.

According to a preferred characteristic, the status report on said local network and / or the correspondence between an internal address of the monitoring entity of the local network and an external address in the external network are saved in a database.

Thus, by backing up in a database the correspondence between an internal address of the monitoring entity of the local network and an external address in the external network, it is possible to access at any time this correspondence and in particular to the internal address of the local network monitoring entity.

According to a preferred characteristic, the database further comprises the synthesis of the status reports of at least two local networks.

Advantageously, the method is applicable to more than one local network. Establishing a summary of the status reports of the local networks considered makes it possible to limit the data processing load.

According to a preferred characteristic, data contained in the database is transmitted to the remote monitoring platform by the aggregation entity.

Thus, the remote monitoring platform has data enabling it to monitor the local network. This data is transmitted by the aggregation entity either on the initiative of the latter or on request of the remote monitoring platform.

According to a preferred characteristic, a fault in the local network corresponds to the absence of sending the status report on said local network by a monitoring entity of the local network for a duration greater than a predefined limit duration. The analysis by the remote monitoring platform of data transmitted by the aggregation entity allows the platform to detect anomalies in the local network.

The detection of anomaly by not sending the status report on the local network makes it possible to ensure proactive remote monitoring of the local network.

The invention also relates to an aggregation entity in an external communication network through which remote monitoring of a plurality of local area networks is provided, a local area network comprising address translation means for matching an internal address in the local network an external address in the external network, which comprises means for recording data in a database, the data forming part of the set:

- status reports of at least one local network,

- summary of the status reports of at least two local networks, - information relating to the correspondence between the internal address in the local network considered of a monitoring entity of a local network and an external address in the external network .

The aggregation entity includes a database in which it records data for remote monitoring of at least one local area network. According to a preferred feature, the aggregation entity includes means for transmitting to a remote monitoring platform data stored in the database.

Advantageously, the aggregation entity can transmit data making it possible to ensure remote monitoring of the local network, in particular to a remote monitoring platform of the local network.

The invention also relates to a remote monitoring platform in an external communication network through which the remote monitoring of a plurality of local area networks is ensured, a local area network comprising address translation means for matching an internal address in the network. local network an external address in the external network, characterized in that it comprises means for establishing a communication between the remote monitoring platform and a monitoring entity of a local network when a data analysis transmitted by a Aggregation entity leads to detect an anomaly at the local network monitoring entity.

By analyzing data transmitted by the aggregation entity, the remote monitoring platform detects anomalies in the local network.

The invention also relates to a computer program product that includes instructions for implementing communication establishment operations between a remote monitoring platform and a monitoring entity of a local network, through a network. external, at the initiative of the remote monitoring platform, when an analysis of data transmitted by an aggregation entity leads to detect an anomaly at the monitoring entity of the local network, when these operations are executed by a computer . The invention will be better understood with the aid of the following description of a particular example of implementation of the method and of the remote monitoring system of the invention, with reference to the appended drawings, in which: FIG. Figure 2 shows a more detailed view of the system but with a single LAN.

FIG. 1 shows a plurality of local home networks HOME1,..., HOME99999, and a remote monitoring platform server 1. Local networks HOME1,..., HOME9999 are connected to the remote monitoring platform 1 by via an external telecommunications network 3, such as Wide Area Network (WAN) or ADSL. In the particular example described here, the network 3 is the Internet.

A home network, for example HOME1, here comprises a set of detection devices 2, such as smoke, gas and / or presence sensors.

These detection devices 2 are connected to a local surveillance entity 4, which is itself connected to a communication gateway 5 between the home network HOME1 and the external telecommunications network 3. In the particular example decined here, the HOME 1 LAN uses a wireless communication technique, such as ZigBee.

The gateway 5 comprises a broadband modem and a NAT module 6 for translating addresses making it possible to correspond to an internal address of the local network an external address in the external network 3. This module NAT 6 establishes a correspondence table between addresses 3. Specifically, the NAT module matches a pair (internal address / internal port of gateway 5) with a pair (external address / external port of gateway 5). With this NAT table, the NAT module 6 is able to determine which element of the local network is intended for an incoming packet and to which address of the external network an outgoing packet is to be sent. With reference to FIG. 2, the system further comprises an aggregation entity

7 intended to receive status reports from local networks HOME l, ..., HOME 99999. The remote monitoring system operates as follows. The local monitoring entity of a local network 4, for example HOME1, collects information from detection devices 2 of the local network, as represented by the arrow El. This collection can be carried out in "push" mode. ie spontaneous sending of information from the devices 2, or in "pull" mode, that is to say at the request of the local monitoring entity 4.

The local monitoring entity 4 periodically sends a summary report on the state of the network to an aggregation entity 7 of the external network 3, as represented by the arrow E2. This report is here contained in a simple UDP packet (for User Dataψam Protocol). It indicates here a state for each device 2 of the network, for example

"ok", if the device is operational and has detected no abnormality, or "nok", if the device 2 has a malfunction or has detected a problem (smoke, gas, intrusion, etc.). This report is transmitted to the aggregation entity 7 via the gateway 5. By virtue of this, the NAT 6 of the gateway 5 creates a correspondence between the internal address in the local network HOME1 of the communication entity. local monitoring 4, associated with an internal port of the gateway 5, through which the gateway 5 communicates with the entity 4, and an external address in the network 3, associated with an external communication port through which the gateway 5 communicates with the aggregation entity 7. In addition, the sending frequency of this status report of the local network 3 is adapted to keep alive this correspondence.

The aggregation entity 7 registers in a database the regularly received reports as well as the information relating to the correspondence between the internal address in the local network local 1 HOME 1 of the local monitoring entity 4 and an external address in the network 3. The aggregation entity 7 transmits to the remote monitoring platform 1 the information relating to the correspondence between the internal address in the local network LOC of the local monitoring entity 4 and an external address in the network 3, as well as reports regularly received, during a step E3.

In a variant, the remote monitoring platform 1 sends a request to the aggregation entity 7 to request the transmission of the information relating to the correspondence between the internal address in the local network HOME1 of the communication entity. local monitoring 4 and an external address in the network 3, as well as reports regularly received, during a step E3.

It could be envisaged that the entity 7 records in a database syntheses on the reports received from a plurality of local networks for transmission to the remote monitoring platform 1 either on the initiative of the aggregation entity 7 at the request of the remote monitoring platform 1.

The remote monitoring platform 1 analyzes the status reports of the network HOME 1 received in order to detect a possible anomaly. An anomaly may for example correspond to a state of malfunction reported for a device 2 HOMEl network or the detection of a problem (smoke, gas, intrusion, etc.). In case of detection of an anomaly, the remote monitoring platform 1 takes the initiative of establishing a communication with the local surveillance entity 4 in order to carry out a detailed monitoring of the state of the network HOMEl, during a step E4. The establishment of this proactive communication, on the initiative of the platform 1, is made possible by the fact that the correspondence between the internal address of the local entity 4 and an external address in the external network 3 is kept alive. by regularly sending the network status report HOME 1 from the local entity 4 to the aggregation entity 7, through the gateway 5.

In addition, if the local entity 4 has not sent a network status report HOMEl for a duration greater than a predefined duration, the monitoring platform 1 detects that there is an anomaly and informs another platform service, in this case a support platform, the problem. This service platform can for example inform the customer user of the local network considered, in this case HOME l, the problem, by sending an SMS, per call, etc.. In addition, the monitoring platform 1 may attempt to establish a communication with the local monitoring entity 4, as in the case of detection of an anomaly in the reports received.

It will be noted that with the invention, at a given moment, the majority of the networks function correctly. As a result, only a small number of local area networks will be monitored in detail by establishing communication between the monitoring platform 1 and the local monitoring entity 4.

In the case where the number of local networks to be monitored is very important, the system may comprise several aggregation entities 7. On the other hand, if the number of local networks to be monitored is relatively small, it could be envisaged that they send their status reports directly to the remote monitoring platform 1 which integrates the aggregation entity 7.

The aggregation entity 7 comprises means for recording data in a database.

The recorded data includes status reports of at least one local network (HOME1, ..., HOME 99999) regularly transmitted by the local monitoring entity 4 of the local area network. The recorded data may include the synthesis of status reports from at least two local area networks.

The recorded data may, furthermore, include information relating to the correspondence between the internal address in the local network considered of the local monitoring entity 4 and an external address in the external network 3. The aggregation entity 7 comprises means for transmitting data to the remote monitoring platform 1. The transmitted data correspond to data recorded in the database.

The means for recording data in a database and the data transmission means to the remote monitoring platform 1 may be software modules forming a computer program. The invention therefore also relates to a computer program comprising software instructions for the execution of data recording operations in a database and data transmission to the remote monitoring platform 1 when these operations are performed by the aggregation entity 7. Software modules may be stored in or transmitted by a data carrier. This may be a hardware storage medium, for example a CD-ROM, a magnetic diskette or a hard disk, or a transmissible medium such as an electrical signal, optical or radio.

The remote monitoring platform 1 comprises means for receiving data transmitted by the aggregation entity 7. According to one variant, the remote monitoring platform 1 comprises means for sending a request to the aggregation entity 7.

The remote monitoring platform 1 comprises data analysis means transmitted by the aggregation entity 7 either at the initiative of the latter or at the request of the remote monitoring platform 1.

The remote monitoring platform 1 also comprises means for establishing a call that establishes a communication between the remote monitoring platform 1 and the local monitoring entity 4 when the data analysis by the analysis means of the platform monitoring 1 has led to detect an anomaly at the level of the local monitoring entity 4.

The means for receiving data and the means for sending a request by the remote monitoring platform 1 may be software modules forming a computer program.

The invention therefore also relates to a computer program comprising software instructions for executing data reception and sending a request operations when these operations are performed by the remote monitoring platform 1.

The means of data analysis by the remote monitoring platform 1 may be software modules forming a computer program.

The invention therefore also relates to a computer program comprising software instructions for the execution of the data analysis operations when these operations are carried out by the remote monitoring platform 1.

The means of establishing a communication by the remote monitoring platform 1 may be software modules forming a computer program. The invention therefore also relates to a computer program comprising software instructions for carrying out the establishment of a communication operations when these operations are performed by the remote monitoring platform 1.

The software modules can be stored in or transmitted by a data carrier. This may be a hardware storage medium, for example a CD-ROM, a magnetic diskette or a hard disk, or a transmissible medium such as an electrical signal, optical or radio.

Claims

A method of remote monitoring of a plurality of local area networks, via an external communication network (3), a local area network comprising address translation means for mapping an internal address in the local network to an external address in the external network, characterized in that it comprises a regular sending from a monitoring entity (4) of the local network of a status report on said local network to an aggregation entity ( 7) of the external network, with a sending frequency adapted to keep alive a correspondence between an internal address of the monitoring entity (4) of the local network and an external address in the external network (3) by means of address translations, in the event of detection of an anomaly at the local network, the establishment of a communication between a remote monitoring platform (1) and the monitoring entity (4) of the local network, through the rese externally, at the initiative of the remote monitoring platform (1), according to said correspondence.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the address translation means are of type NAT (for Network Address

Translation).

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the status report on said local network is contained in a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) type packet.

4. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the status report on said local network and / or the correspondence between an internal address of the monitoring entity (4) of the local network and an address in the external network (3) are saved in a database.

5. Method according to claim 4, characterized in that the database further comprises the synthesis of status reports of at least two local networks.

6. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, caractéπsé in that data contained in the database are transmitted to the remote monitoring platform (1) by the aggregation entity (7).

7. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that a fault in the local network corresponds to the absence of sending the status report on said local network by a monitoring entity (4). ) of the local network for a period longer than a predefined time limit.

Aggregation entity (7) in an external communication network (3) through which remote monitoring of a plurality of local area networks is provided, a local area network including address translation means for matching an address internal in the local network an external address in the external network, characterized in that it comprises means for recording data in a database, the data being part of the set:

- status reports of at least one local network,

- summary of the status reports of at least two local networks,

- information relating to the correspondence between the internal address in the considered local network of a surveillance entity (4) of a local network (4) and an external address in the external network (3).

9. aggregation entity (7) according to claim 8, characterized in that it comprises means for transmitting to a remote monitoring platform (1) of data stored in the database.

10. Remote monitoring platform (1) in an external communication network (3) through which remote monitoring of a plurality of local networks, a local area network comprising means for translating addresses to correspond to an internal address in the local network an external address in the external network, characterized in that it comprises means for establishing a communication between the monitoring platform (1) and a monitoring entity (4) of a local area network when an analysis of data transmitted by an aggregation entity (7) leads to detecting an anomaly at the level of the monitoring entity ( 4) of the local network.

11. Computer program product, characterized in that it comprises instructions for the implementation of operations for establishing a communication between a remote monitoring platform (1) and a monitoring entity (4) of a local network, via an external network (3), at the initiative of the remote monitoring platform (1), when an analysis of data transmitted by an aggregation entity (7) leads to detecting an anomaly at the level of the monitoring entity (4) of the local network, when these operations are executed by a computer.