What is an IP Address?

IP is the abbreviation of Internet Protocol, which is the network layer protocol in the TCP / IP system. The purpose of designing IP is to improve the scalability of the network: one is to solve the Internet problem and realize the interconnection of large-scale and heterogeneous networks; the other is to separate the coupling relationship between the top-level network applications and the bottom-level network technologies to facilitate the Independent development. According to the end-to-end design principle, IP only provides hosts with a connectionless, unreliable, best-effort datagram transmission service. ^[1]

IP is the core of the entire TCP / IP protocol suite and the foundation of the Internet. IP is located at the network layer of the TCP / IP model (equivalent to

IP mainly includes three aspects: IP addressing scheme, packet encapsulation format and packet forwarding rules. ^[1]

The services provided by IP can be roughly divided into two categories: ^[2]

When transmitting IP packets, the source and destination addresses must be specified. Of course there is only one source address, but the destination address may represent a single or multiple devices. According to the destination address, it is divided into three types of transmission methods: unicast, broadcast, and multicast. ^[2]

At present, the selection of live TV broadcast signals is achieved through IP transmission, which mainly depends on the network of communication operators. The live signal is encoded by the transmitting end encoding device to form a data stream that can be transmitted in the communication network, and the unique IP address corresponding to the receiving end in the communication network is attached. When the data stream reaches the receiving end, it is decoded by the decoding device to generate Required audio and video signals. The technology of IP codec equipment accessing communication networks has become increasingly mature, and the methods of accessing networks have become more and more abundant.

As the Internet extends and expands the Internet of Things, it is necessary to reasonably introduce the IP protocol in the process of its construction. Since information communication is required between items in the Internet of Things, ensuring the smooth transmission of the network is the most basic prerequisite. However, from the current situation, the lack of IP addresses has become one of the key factors restricting the construction of the Internet of Things. The emergence of the IPv6 protocol provides a way to solve this problem, because IPv6 has a large amount of address space. ^[5]

The advantages of the IP protocol are reflected in the following aspects: First, openness. The IP protocol is regulated by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). Under this premise, the IP protocol has an open characteristic, which provides a broad space for the application of the IP protocol. The second is lightweight. The release of various lightweight IP protocol stacks has laid a solid foundation for the popularization and application of IP protocols, and can support a variety of different applications. The third is stability. The widespread use of IP protocols around the world is inextricably linked to the stability of the architecture itself. The fourth is scalability. The IPv6 protocol has a huge address space, and all devices connected to the Internet of Things can be assigned a corresponding IP address. At the same time, IP can provide communication between network devices, and the entire process does not need to switch gateways or configure intermediate protocols. It is precisely because of the above-mentioned features and advantages of the IP protocol that it plays an irreplaceable role in the construction of the Internet of Things, and also lays an unshakable position. ^[5]