JP2020014226A - Network connection system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide high-quality services with a very simple configuration even if multiple different applications are running on a mobile terminal.SOLUTION: An application/infrastructure cooperation server 14 provided on the Internet, detects a type of application which is active on a specific mobile terminal 3 and sets a connection policy according to the type of application on a bandwidth control router 8 together with information for specifying the mobile terminal 3. The bandwidth control router 8 responds to the connection policy set by the application/infrastructure cooperation server 14 to transfer a packet from the specified mobile terminal 3 by priority control or a predetermined priority communication band.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a network connection system used in a mobile network, and more particularly to a network connection system for specifically controlling priority / bandwidth of a connection communication band of a specific application installed in a terminal device on a mobile network, and a network connection system therefor. It is about the method.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the performance of portable information terminals, so-called smartphones, has improved, and users can freely select and install necessary application software. Here, many application softwares are configured to connect to a specific service server placed on the Internet, receive various information from the service server, and present information required by a user on a smartphone. .

  Here, in a normal network connection configuration, IP packets from application software are transferred on a best-effort basis, and it is not possible to perform priority control on IP packets so as to select each application. Therefore, for example, control of giving priority to communication of application software such as an IP phone that handles voice information over other application software cannot be performed, which has led to dissatisfaction of smartphone users.

  On the other hand, it is possible to set the IP address of a specific smartphone in the router in advance and prioritize the connection from the smartphone, but in this case, the priority control is applied not only to the IP phone but also to all applications of the smartphone. Will be done. Although it is possible to give priority control only to a connection to a specific service server, for example, since recent IP telephone services are provided by linking a plurality of servers, It is difficult to keep track of all the IP addresses and set them in the router in advance.

  That is, in the conventional mobile carrier network connection system, it is difficult to respond to a desire to provide a user with a high-quality telephone service by, for example, performing priority control / bandwidth control only on IP packets of an IP telephone application. .

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a high-quality service with a very simple configuration even when a plurality of different applications are executed on a portable information terminal. It is an object of the present invention to provide a network connection system capable of performing the above.

To achieve the above object, according to a first main aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bandwidth control router located between a mobile network and the Internet,
A network connection system, wherein a plurality of application software installed on a portable information terminal on a mobile network are configured to be connected to a service server on the Internet via the band control router,
This system is
An application communication environment management server provided on the Internet, which detects the type of application that is trying to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal, and establishes a connection policy (bandwidth control, priority communication, etc.) according to the type of application. , A compression conversion method, etc.) together with information (IP address, port number, etc.) for specifying the portable information terminal in the bandwidth control router.
The bandwidth control router is configured to perform priority control or transfer a packet from the specified portable information terminal in a predetermined priority communication band according to a connection policy received from the application communication environment management server. A network connection system is provided.

  According to one embodiment of the present invention, the application connection server actively detects the type of an application that is trying to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal on the front of the portable information terminal. This is done by receiving the type of application that is running.

  According to another embodiment of the present invention, the application connection server includes, in a packet transmitted from the portable information terminal, detection of a type of an application that is trying to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal. This is performed based on the tag to be used.

  According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, the tag is a process ID of the application generated by the OS of the portable information terminal or an identifier associated with the process ID.

  According to still another embodiment of the present invention, when a plurality of types of the applications are detected at the same time, the bandwidth control router sets a different IP address or / and port number for each application included in the packet. Accordingly, according to the individual connection policy, the packet from the specified portable information terminal is controlled by priority or transferred in a predetermined communication band.

According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, when a plurality of types of the applications are detected at the same time, the bandwidth control router may determine an IP address and / or a port number for each application included in the packet. In accordance with an individual connection policy, priority control of a packet from the specified portable information terminal or transfer of the packet in a predetermined priority communication band.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the application connection environment management server refers to a table in which types of applications to be subjected to priority connection or band control and connection policies of the applications are stored, and A connection policy corresponding to the type of software is extracted from the table and transmitted to the bandwidth control router.

  According to another embodiment, in the system of the present invention, the connection policy includes a setting of a communication priority or a communication band that is different for each specific application.

  According to yet another embodiment, the system of the present invention monitors the data traffic of each mobile communication terminal by the band control router, and downloads each application according to the type of application active in the mobile information terminal. It has a data traffic recording unit that records data traffic. In this case, according to the type of the application active in the portable information terminal, the communication amount upper limit determining unit that determines whether the data communication amount for each application recorded by the data amount recording unit has reached a predetermined upper limit value. This system preferably has a communication restriction unit that restricts the transfer of packets from the portable information terminal by the bandwidth restriction router according to the determination by the communication volume upper limit determination unit.

  Further, based on the data communication amount for each application recorded in the data communication amount recording unit, a line communication congestion degree for each application is calculated, and a congestion degree display interface for displaying the congestion degree to a user who displays the congestion degree is generated. It is preferable to have a congestion degree display section that performs the following. Further, it is preferable to have a communication amount display unit that generates a data communication amount display interface for displaying to the user the data communication amount for each application recorded by the data communication amount recording unit. Further, it is preferable that the user be charged based on the data traffic for each application recorded in the data traffic recording unit.

  According to yet another embodiment, in the system of the present invention, the connection policy includes a setting of a different data compression degree for each specific application.

  According to yet another embodiment, in the system of the present invention, the data compression degree of the connection policy includes a setting of a data conversion method that differs for each specific application.

  According to yet another embodiment, in the system of the present invention, the connection policy includes a setting of a time zone and a place where communication is possible for each specific application.

  According to yet another embodiment, in the system of the present invention, the information specifying the portable information terminal is an IP address of the portable information terminal.

  According to yet another embodiment, a system of the present invention includes a user billing information acquisition unit that receives user billing information and associates the billing information with a portable information terminal.

  According to yet another embodiment, in the system of the present invention, the type of application received from the portable information terminal specifies a type of service provided by the application.

  According to yet another embodiment, the system of the present invention generates a setting interface for setting a connection condition for a user and sets the setting interface through the interface.

    According to yet another embodiment, in the system of the present invention, the type of the application software to be preferentially connected or the service provided by the application software includes at least application software or a service for a voice call.

  According to yet another embodiment, the system of the present invention is installed in the personal digital assistant and causes the personal digital assistant to detect the type of application actively displayed on the display of the personal digital assistant. Means; means for causing the portable information terminal to acquire portable information terminal identification information for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network; Means for transmitting to the band control system together with the information to be specified.

  According to yet another embodiment, a system of the present invention is installed in the portable information communication terminal, and causes the portable information terminal to detect a process ID of an application started on the portable information terminal. Means for causing the portable information terminal to acquire portable information terminal identification information for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network; and transmitting the process ID to the packet transmitted from the application to the portable information terminal. Alternatively, it has an application management software program including a specific tag that differs for each process, and means for causing the band control system to transmit the information together with information for specifying the portable state terminal.

According to yet another embodiment, the system of the present invention is installed on the portable information communication terminal,
Means for causing the portable information terminal to detect the IP address and / or port number of an application started on the portable information terminal; and for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal to the portable information terminal on a communication network. Means for acquiring the portable information terminal specifying information; the IP address and / or port number being included in a packet transmitted from the application in the portable information terminal, and the band control system together with the information for specifying the portable state terminal. And an application management software program having means for transmitting the application management software.

  According to yet another embodiment, the system of the present invention is installed in the portable information communication terminal, and causes the portable information terminal to receive a communication state for each application from the band control system. It has an application management software program having means for displaying on a display.

  According to a second main aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bandwidth control router provided between a mobile network and the Internet, and a plurality of application software installed on a portable information terminal on the mobile network includes the bandwidth control router. A method executed by a network connection system configured to be connected to the service server on the Internet via a control router, wherein the application connection environment management server provided on the Internet includes The type of application to be connected to the server from the information terminal is detected, and a connection policy (control band, compression / non-compression, etc.) according to the type of application software is set together with the information (IP address, etc.) specifying the portable information terminal. Step of sending to the control router The bandwidth control router transfers priority control packets or a predetermined priority communication band from the specified portable information terminal according to the connection policy (control band, compression availability, etc.) received from the application connection environment management server. Performing the steps of:

  Other features of the present invention which are not described in the above claims will be apparent in the following preferred embodiments of the present invention and the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram showing a data communication environment through a mobile network. FIG. 2 is an overall schematic configuration diagram showing a data communication environment according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing application management software. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing steps of the application management software. FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an application / infrastructure cooperation server. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing processing steps of the application / infrastructure cooperation server. FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram similarly illustrating a bandwidth control connection policy. FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram similarly illustrating a bandwidth control connection policy. FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a bandwidth control connection policy. FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a bandwidth control connection policy. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing processing steps of the application / infrastructure cooperation server. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the portable information terminal. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the portable information terminal. FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a billing process performed by the billing server. FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating a band control method according to another embodiment.

In this embodiment, the network connection system including the bandwidth control router is a mobile communication carrier (Mobile Virtual Network).
The following describes an example in which the information is provided by an operator (hereinafter, referred to as an “MVNO operator”).

  An MVNO is a company that does not own a physical mobile network called a mobile network but borrows from a mobile network operator (Mobile Network Operator, hereinafter referred to as “MNO operator”) that actually owns it. Refers to an operator that provides communication services.

Before describing the characteristic configuration of the present invention, an example of a data communication environment through a mobile network will be described with reference to FIG. 1 for convenience of understanding the present invention.
(Data communication environment on which the present invention is based)
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a mobile network of an MNO, and reference numeral 2 denotes a network connection system of the MVNO.

  After the mobile information terminal 3 of the user who has contracted with the MVNO is connected to the mobile network 5 of the MNO via the base station 4, the service gateway 6 (SGW) of the MVO is connected to the mobile information terminal 3 of the MVNO. The packet is routed to the network connection system 2 of the MVNO through the packet data network gateway 7 (PGG), and then connected to various servers 10a to 10e of the Internet by the router 8 provided in the network connection system 2. Has become. A communication band, for example, 100 Mbps based on a contract between the MVO operator and the MVNO operator is secured between the service gateway 6 on the MVO operator side and the packet gateway 7 on the MVNO operator side. I have.

  The portable information terminal 3 of the user is a so-called smartphone, and has a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM (not shown). In the ROM, operation system software programs (hereinafter, referred to as “OS”) such as iOS (product name) and Android (product name), and various application software programs (hereinafter, simply referred to as “applications”) 3a to 3e are installed. In addition, data used by the OS and the applications 3a to 3e are stored.

  The applications 3a to 3e installed in the user's portable information terminal 3 include moving image software 3a, IP phone 3b, SNS 3c, browser 3d, mailer 3e, and the like. It can be installed. The applications 3a to 3e on the portable information terminal 3 are appropriately called up on the RAM by the CPU, expanded and executed, and are connected via the mobile network 5 of the MNO and the network connection system 2 of the MVNO. Various processes are performed by connecting to various servers 10a to 10e on the Internet 9 and appropriately performing necessary data communication with the servers 10a to 10e.

  As shown in the figure, the applications 3a to 3e of the portable information terminal are connected to a plurality of servers 10a to 10e having different IP addresses when executed. In this case, the router 8 provided in the network connection system 2 appropriately sends the packets 3a to 3e to the destination servers 10a to 10e based on the destination IP address included in the header information of the packet from the portable information terminal 3. It is designed to be transferred.

  The router 8 has a bandwidth control function 12 for controlling a transfer order and a transfer speed of packets passing based on the IP address of the portable information terminal 3. The bandwidth control function is also called a QoS function, and can be broadly classified into two types, “priority control” and “bandwidth control”. When applied to the present invention, the priority control method is a method of distinguishing an application type by a source IP address for a packet flowing on a network and assigning an absolute priority to each application. Is a method of allocating an upper limit of a communication band that can be used for each application.

  According to this band control, a packet of a high-priority application can always be output with a higher priority, or a larger communication band can be used, and packets related to a high-priority service can be transferred stably. Becomes possible.

  In these QoS controls, it is important to accurately identify the type of application from a received IP packet. Generally, moving image / audio packets from moving image software or IP telephone software need to be controlled with priority or transferred over a wide communication band in order to maintain quality. In this case, the router 8 needs to specify only the moving image software or the IP packet of the IP phone from the received many packets. The identification of the IP packet is generally performed based on the source or destination IP address or transfer port number.

  For example, when a specific terminal device such as a dedicated IP phone or a VoIP gateway is used with a fixed IP address, specifying the IP address of the terminal device of the transmission source allows the target packet to be reliably identified. Can be

  However, this method cannot be used in a case where a plurality of applications having different priorities are running on the same terminal like the portable information terminal 3 described above. In other words, if an attempt is made to identify a packet using only the information of the IP address, priority control / bandwidth control is performed even for communication that does not need to be prioritized. Further, in an environment in which an IP address is automatically assigned to a portable information terminal by DHCP, it is not possible to determine which terminal to look at from the IP address in the first place.

  On the other hand, a case where the application type is identified based on the IP addresses of the destination servers 10a to 10e may be considered. For example, when a packet from the portable information terminal 3 is always connected to a specific IP telephone server 10b, by specifying the IP address of the IP telephone server 10b, it is possible to reliably determine to which service type the target packet belongs. You can tell. However, recently, some applications connect to many different servers with one application, and it has been difficult and practically impossible to specify addresses of all the servers.

As described above, the present invention has been made in view of such circumstances.
(Characteristic configuration of the present invention)
Hereinafter, an example in which the characteristic configuration of the present invention is applied to the mobile communication environment described in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. However, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted.

  First, as shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the system 2 of the MVNO is provided with a bandwidth control router 8 having basically the same configuration and function as shown in FIG. Application / infrastructure cooperation server 14 (the “application connection environment management server” of the present invention), a line status / usage sensing server 15 for monitoring the line market status, and charging according to the used bandwidth. It has a charging server 17 to manage, a compression conversion proxy server 19, and application management software 16 installed in the portable information terminal 3. In the present invention, the system 2 on the MVNO side including the bandwidth control router 8 is referred to as a "bandwidth control system".

  First, the application management software 16 is installed in the portable information terminal 3. The application management software 16 stores information on the types of the applications 3a to 3e activated on the portable information terminal 3 together with an IP address and a port number for specifying the portable state terminal 3 on the application / infrastructure cooperation server. 14.

  The application / infrastructure cooperation server 14 is provided in the system 2 of the MVNO, and is designed to cooperate with the application management software 16 installed in the portable information terminal 3. The type of the applications 3a to 3e active on the information terminal 3 is detected, and the connection policy according to the type of the applications 3a to 3e is transmitted to the band control router 8 together with the IP address and port number for specifying the portable information terminal 3. Has a function to set.

  The bandwidth control router 8 is for performing priority control or transferring a packet from the specified portable information terminal 3 in a predetermined priority communication band according to the connection policy received from the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14. As a result, priority control according to the types of the applications 3a to 3e or communication is performed in a predetermined priority communication band.

  The line status / usage monitoring server 15 monitors packets passing through the packet gateway 7 (PGW) provided in the system 2 of the MVNO, and associates the packets with the IP address and port number of the portable information terminal 3. It outputs the data traffic and notifies the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14.

Hereinafter, the configurations of the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14 and the application management software 16 of the present invention will be described in detail.
(App management software)
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the portable information terminal 3 of the user.

  In the portable information terminal 3, an OS (not shown), a plurality of different applications 3a to 3e, and the application management software 16 of the present invention are installed.

  The application management software 16 includes an application detection module 22 that detects that a specific application is activated and activated in cooperation with an OS (not shown) of the mobile information terminal 3 and a GPS or the like mounted on the mobile information terminal 3. A position detection module 23 for detecting the geographical position of the portable information terminal 3 in cooperation with the position detection device 21; and a terminal IP address / port number for detecting the IP address and port number of the portable information terminal 3 in cooperation with the OS A detection module 24, an application parameter detection unit 25 that detects parameters of the applications 3a to 3e, an active application state change determination module 26 that determines a state change of the active application based on the detection results of the detection modules 22 to 25, The above active The server communication module 27 that transmits the state change determined by the application state change determination module 25, and the communication state of the active application of the portable information terminal 3 and the communication state and line congestion state of each application received from the server 14 And an application communication status display unit 28 for displaying on the display screen 29 of the portable information terminal 3. In this embodiment, the application management software 16 is implemented in the form of an API for the OS.

  Hereinafter, the basic operation of the application management software 16 will be described with reference to FIG. Note that reference numerals S1 to S6 in the figure are for referring to steps, and correspond to steps S1 to S6 in the following description.

  First, when the management software 16 is activated, the application activation detection module 22 operates, and any of the applications 3a to 3e installed in the portable information terminal 3 is activated, and is activated on the display screen 29 of the portable information terminal 3. Is monitored (step S1 shown in the figure). In this embodiment, “active” means that the activated application is displayed on the foreground of the display screen 29 of the terminal 3 and has acquired the user's focus. Once the application is activated, the application activation detection module 22 monitors at regular time intervals whether the application is active or another application is activated and activated. When a specific application is active, the application activation detection module 22 outputs an application name (a unique name of the application output by the OS) and sends it to the state change determination module 26 of the active application.

  The active application state change determination module 26 determines that an “active application state change” has occurred when the application name received from the application activation detection module 22 has changed, that is, when the active application has changed ( Step S2).

  On the other hand, the position detection module 23 monitors a signal from the location signal detection device 21 (step S3), and sends the current position coordinates of the portable information terminal 3 to the active application state change determination module 26. The active application state change determination module 26 determines that an “active application state change” has occurred when the position coordinate information received from the position detection module fluctuates by a certain amount or more or meets certain conditions (step S2).

  Further, the terminal IP address / port number detection module 24 monitors the current IP address and the number of the currently used communication port of the portable information terminal 3 in cooperation with the communication module 30 of the portable information terminal 3. Then, the obtained information is sent to the state change determination module 26 of the active application (step S4). The active application state change determination module 26 determines that an “active application state change” has occurred when the IP address or port name received from the terminal IP address / port number detection module changes (step S2).

  Further, the application / parameter acquisition module 25 acquires a parameter associated with the specific application in conjunction with the specific application (step S5), and sends it to the active application state change determination module 26. As an example of the parameter, a connection destination URL corresponds to a browser, and a connection destination telephone number corresponds to an IP phone. The active application state change determination module 26 determines that “active application state change” has occurred when the parameter has changed (step S2).

  The state change determination module 26 of the active application determines whether the state is the “state change of the active application” based on the information received from each of the modules 22 to 25 as described above, and determines that the state is the state change. Only the determination result is sent to the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14 (step S6).

At this time, the information sent to the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14 is, for example, an application name, a domain name base, a coordinate position, an application parameter, a mobile terminal IP address and a port number to be used. This information is sent only when it is determined that a state change has occurred in order to secure a line use band.
(App / Infrastructure linked server)
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14 that receives the status change.

  The application / infrastructure cooperation server 14 includes an OS, a RAM, various input / output interfaces (not shown), and a data storage unit 30 and a program storage unit 31 shown in FIG.

  The data storage unit 30 stores user information 32, application information 33 for performing band control in this system, and a user / application band control connection policy 34 set based on the terminal state change determination information. I have.

  The program storage unit 31 includes an application state change information acquisition module 36 that receives information on a change in the communication state of an application on the terminal 3 from the portable information terminal 3 and information acquired by the application state change information acquisition module 36. A policy setting unit 38 that obtains the communication band control / connection policy 34 for each user / application based on the above and transmits the communication band control router 8 to the communication band control router 8 and the communication amount of the terminal 3 from the line status / usage sensing server 15. A data communication amount recording unit 39 stored in the data storage unit 30 in association with a user application; and a communication upper limit for determining the communication upper limit by applying the communication amount for each application to a communication band control connection policy for each user application. A data communication unit that generates an interface for displaying the data communication state to the portable terminal 3 with the determination unit 40. A status display processing unit 41, an application management software communication module 42 that communicates with the server transmission module 27 of the application management software 16 in order to cooperate with the application management software 16, And a billing processing module 43 for performing billing processing.

  Hereinafter, the basic operation of the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14 will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numerals S7 to S17 in the figure correspond to steps S7 to S17 in the following description.

  In the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14, the communication with the portable information terminal 3 is performed by the application management software communication module 42 communicating with the server communication module 27.

  First, in step S7 of FIG. 6, the application state change information acquisition module 36 receives the state change information transmitted from the application management software 16 of the portable information terminal 3 through the application management software communication module 42. As described above, the status information includes the application name, domain name base, coordinate position, application parameters, and the IP address and port number of the mobile terminal 3 of the application active on the user terminal 3 as described above. Next, in step S8, the communication band control policy setting unit 38 sets a control band connection policy for each user / application based on the state change information.

  Here, the user information 32 (FIG. 5) is information for linking the portable information terminal 3 with the attribute of the user, and such user information includes the IP address / port number received from the terminal 3 above. Is stored, and information on whether the user has a specific contract regarding the communication band can be included. When the specific contract is charged, the charging server 17 performs charging processing on the user through the charging processing module 43 as described later. The communication band control policy setting unit 38 recognizes that the state change information received from the terminal 3 is linked to a specific user based on the user information 32.

  Further, the application information 33 (FIG. 5) stores identification information of a specific application to be connected for bandwidth control in this system. In this embodiment, only a part of the applications installed in the portable information terminal 3 is identified and a band control connection is established. In the application information 33, the name of the application to be band controlled is registered. In this embodiment, the application information 33 includes information unique to the web browser, youtube, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo (all of which are registered trademarks) and 050 (IP telephone) so as to recognize the software. Is stored. The communication band control policy setting unit 38 recognizes whether the application is a control target application based on the application information 33.

  The communication band control policy setting unit 38 specifies the connection policy for each user / application from the postponed band control connection policy 34 for each user / application by referring to the state change information, the user information 32, and the application information 33. Then, it is set to the bandwidth control router 8 (the compression degree is set to the compression conversion proxy 19 (hereinafter, the setting of the compression conversion proxy 19 is omitted as it is included in the bandwidth control setting)). In this embodiment, the specific connection policy 34 includes a communication band 34a, a data compression degree 34b, a communicable time zone 34c, a communicable place 34d, a data communication amount upper limit 34e, and a data communication remaining amount 34f.

  7 to 10 are schematic diagrams for explaining the concept of the connection policy set in this embodiment.

  FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a policy setting relating to a user application and a line speed (communication band) (34a). The default connection speed (connection band) other than the specific application described above is set to 100 kbps, and the LTE speed is set for the specific application. In this example, the mobile connection is not permitted for some applications, and only the Wi-Fi connection is set.

  FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a policy setting regarding the user application and the remaining download amount (34e, 34f) for each application. The default is unlimited, but the specific application whose connection speed is set to the LTE speed is initially set to 100 MB. In this embodiment, the user can set an option to increase the upper limit, and in this case, the charging server 17 can perform a charging process for a usage amount exceeding the initial setting. ing. Note that the billing method is not limited to this, and various methods can be adopted.

  The setting of the line speed (bandwidth control) and the remaining amount of download is the main connection policy. In this embodiment, in addition to the line speed, various policies (the data compression degree 34b, the communicable time zone 34c, A communicable place 34d) can be set. FIG. 9 shows the example comprehensively.

  As shown in FIG. 9, by default (indicated by "all"), 100 kbps, the compression degree is "medium", the remaining amount of download is 100 MB, the available time zone and place are not specified, and the monthly capacity is set to 100 MB. . The specific application is set as shown in this table.

  Further, in this example, as shown in the conceptual diagram of FIG. 10, band control based on parameters specific to the application can be performed. In this example, the line speed is defined for each URL to which the browser is connected. This information is also stored in the data storage unit 30 as the connection policy 34.

  As shown in FIG. 6, when such a policy 34 is set in the bandwidth control router 8, the server 14 transmits the status change signal received from the application management software 16 by the application status change information acquisition module 36. (Step S7), the user is identified from the IP address and the port number, the application name and the user name are applied to the user information 32, the application information 33, and the policy 34, and the connection policy for the application is identified (step S7). S8).

  Specifically, initially, the connection policy indicated by default above is set, and the communication speed is set to 100 kbps and the communication upper limit is set to unlimited irrespective of the place and time. However, when the portable information terminal 3 detects that the YouTube is activated and becomes active, the portable information terminal 3 specifies the connection policy specified by the YouTube in FIG. 9 (step S8).

  Next, the communication band control policy setting unit 38 checks other conditions, in this embodiment, the remaining communication amount (step S9), and if the condition is cleared, sends the connection policy determined above to the band control router 8. Transmit and set (step S10). This policy is set in the bandwidth control router 8 together with information specifying the terminal 3, in this example, an IP address and a port number.

  The bandwidth control router 8 performs bandwidth control based on the source IP address and port number included in the packet and based on the corresponding connection policy. The bandwidth control router 8 controls the bandwidth of all the packets from the specific portable information terminal 3 at a time. The bandwidth based on the application (youtube in this case) that the user is actively using at that time is used. Since the control is performed, a speed band matching the type of the application is secured as a result.

In this case, the time lag from when the user switches the active application on the terminal 3 to when the bandwidth control is set becomes important, but under the environment of this embodiment, the length of the time lag is 10 seconds or less. Yes, the user will not experience a delay in the set because the new band will be set while the application is loaded.
(Operation during bandwidth control communication)
Next, the operation of the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14 during the bandwidth control communication will be described with reference to FIG.

  During communication, the data communication amount recording unit 39 (shown in FIG. 5) of the server 14 monitors the communication state through the line status / usage amount sensing server 15 and transmits the unit time of the portable information terminal 3 of the specific user. The communication amount for each is recorded in association with the application being communicated at that time (steps S11 and S12). As shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 8, this recording is executed by appropriately updating the remaining communication amount (currently 50 MB in the example of YouTube) of the communication bandwidth control connection policy 34 for each user / application.

  Next, the communication upper limit determining unit 40 determines whether the communication remaining amount of the user / application communication band control connection policy 34 has not reached the upper limit (1G in the example of YouTube) (step S13). Continues the current communication, and if it has reached, returns the bandwidth control to the default value and sets it to the control bandwidth server (step S14). As a result, the priority band control (75 Mbps in this example) of the application (youtube in this example) is completed, and the line speed is limited to the initially set (default) line speed of 100 kbps.

When another application is activated during the communication, the operations shown in FIGS. 4 and 6 are executed even during the communication, and the band control suitable for different applications is executed. .
(Display of line status)
Further, in this embodiment, the data communication state display processing unit 41 shown in FIG. 5 has a function of presenting the data communication amount and the line congestion degree for each application to the portable information terminal 3 of the user. Specifically, the data communication state display processing unit 41 transmits time-series data for each application to be presented to the user by requesting the terminal 3 of the user. This data is displayed on the screen as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 by the communication state display unit 28 for each application provided in the application management software of the terminal 3 of the user.

  FIG. 12 is an interface showing the line congestion degree for each application. According to this figure, although the Web connection is congested, it can be seen that YouTube still has room. By looking at such an interface, the user can know which software can perform comfortable communication.

FIG. 13 shows a user interface for setting a connection policy for each application. From this screen, the user can set the connection speed, data compression degree, and remaining download amount for each application. That is, each setting value is selected and set in a pull-down manner, and the setting is enabled by pressing an OK button on this screen. The set value is written and updated in the data storage unit 30 (34) by the communication band control policy setting unit 38 of the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14.
(Billing process)
In this embodiment, the charging server 17 is configured to perform charging according to the data usage amount and the usage band of the user.

  In this case, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 14, the charging server 17 cooperates with the charging processing module 43 of the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14 to control the user / application band control / connection policy in the data storage unit 30. 34, and acquires the registered communication band and the used amount (remaining amount) (S15). The billing module 43 transmits the information to the billing server 17 together with information for specifying the user.

  The charging server 17 holds a charging policy (indicated by 17a in FIG. 2), and specifies a charging policy for each user based on the user information acquired from the cooperation server 14 (step S16). As the charging policy, for example, it is possible to set a low data communication fee for a moving image such as the user YouTube and a high data communication fee such as a WEB. As a result, it is possible to perform a charging process for the user in accordance with the connection band and the usage amount of each application (step S17).

  According to the configuration described above, even when a plurality of applications for performing network information communication are installed in the portable information terminal 3, it is possible to perform communication control in a different control band for each application.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be variously modified without changing the gist of the invention.

  First, in the above-described embodiment, the connection band control of the terminal 3 is performed based on the type of application that is actively displayed on the front of the display screen 29 of the terminal 3 and has gained the user's focus. Instead, as shown in FIG. 15, band control may be performed based on the types of a plurality of applications 3a and 3b including an application operating in the background. Hereinafter, the control in this case will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  When the OS of the portable information terminal 3 (for example, Android (registered trademark)) starts the application on the terminal 3, the process also starts, and outputs a unique process ID for each application. This process ID is detected by the IP address / port number detection module 25 of the application management software 50. Based on the detected process ID, the communication tag assignment module for each process indicated by 50 in FIG. I do. This tag may be the process ID of the above embodiment, the application name, or another identifier related to the process ID. By tagging the packet in this way, it is possible to determine which application has sent the packet even in the same session communication by the same terminal 3, Even when an application operating in the background other than the operating application is transmitting a packet, it is possible to determine the application operating in the background. The connection is terminated by a tag release module 51 provided in the system 2 of the MVNO, and the tag is deleted after the band control.

  According to such a configuration, even when a plurality of applications are simultaneously communicating on the terminal 3, band control and priority control can be performed for each connection based on different connection policies. Specifically, in step S7 of FIG. 6, the application status change information acquisition module 36 transmits the status change information transmitted from the application management software 16 of the portable information terminal 3 through the application management software communication module 42. receive. In the same manner as described above, the status information includes a tag assigned based on the process ID of each application started on the user terminal 3 (in the above-described embodiment, the application name is output based on whether the application is active or not). ), A domain name base, a coordinate position, an application parameter, a process name, an IP address of the mobile terminal 3 and a used port number. Next, in step S8, the communication band control policy setting unit 38 sets a control band connection policy for each user / application based on the state change information. Note that when determining which application is a packet based on a tag, it is necessary to transmit in advance the association between the tag and the application name to the application infrastructure cooperation server 14, but in this embodiment, this transmission is performed. Is executed by the state change determination module 26.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to identify the packet transmitted by which application by the tag included in the specific packet. Therefore, not only the application actively displayed on the foreground of the terminal 3 but also the background It is also possible to control the band of the communication, for example, to narrow the band or cut off the connection.

  It should be noted that a tunnel connection may be established by assigning a different port number or assigning a different IP address (virtual IP address) instead of assigning a tag to each application. This function is executed by the function 50 of the tag assignment module and the network stack. According to such a configuration, even when a plurality of applications are simultaneously communicating on the terminal 3, the communication band of the packet of each application can be individually controlled (band control, priority control). When the priority is determined between the applications, the priority is determined by the connection policy determined on the management server side. In this case, the tunnel connection is performed by the tag release module 51, and the IP address and / or port number of each application is deleted from each packet. Further, as still another embodiment, the connection policy 34 is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and may include other policies. For example, as a data compression method executed by the compression proxy server 19, a specific image conversion method or moving image conversion method can be defined. For example, after conversion to black and white, it is possible to set or convert to high definition.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the bandwidth control function is provided by a method of assigning a specific line speed value by the bandwidth control. However, instead of the bandwidth control, priority control (a relative value rather than an absolute value of the line speed) is performed. This function may be provided by priority assignment).
In the above embodiment, the connection policy is set directly in the bandwidth control router 8, but the present invention is not limited to this. It may be performed indirectly, such as through the PGW 7.

  Further, in the operation during the band control communication (FIG. 11), in the above-described embodiment, when the remaining communication amount of the user / application communication band control connection policy 34 reaches the upper limit (1G in the example of YouTube), Although the bandwidth control is returned to the default value (100 kbps) and set in the control bandwidth server 8 (step S14 in FIG. 11), the communication (routing) itself may be blocked.

3. Mobile information terminals 3a-3e. Various applications 2. Network connection system 4. Base station 5. Mobile network 6. SWG
7 ... PWG
8 ... Band control router 9 ... Internet 10a-10e ... Various service servers 14 ... Application / infrastructure cooperation server 15 ... Line status / usage sensing server 16 ... Application management software 19 ... Compression conversion proxy server

Claims (50)

A bandwidth control router located between the mobile network and the Internet,
A network connection system configured to connect a plurality of application software installed on a portable information terminal on a mobile network to a service server on the Internet via the band control router,
This system is
An application connection environment management server provided on the Internet, wherein the application connection environment management server detects a type of application that is trying to connect to the service server from a specific mobile information terminal, and sets a connection policy according to the application type to the mobile information terminal. Having an application connection environment management server that transmits to the bandwidth control router together with the information to be specified,
The bandwidth control router is configured to perform priority control or transfer a packet from the specified portable information terminal in a predetermined priority communication band according to a connection policy received from the application connection environment management server. Network connection system. The network connection system according to claim 1,
The application connection server detects the type of application that is trying to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal by receiving the type of application that is active and displayed on the front of the portable information terminal. A network connection system, characterized in that: The network connection system according to claim 1,
The application connection server detects a type of an application that is trying to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal based on a tag included in a packet transmitted from the portable information terminal. Network connection system. The network connection system according to claim 3,
The network connection system, wherein the tag is a process ID of the application generated by an OS of the portable information terminal or an identifier related to the process ID. 2. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein, when a plurality of types of the applications are detected at the same time, the bandwidth control router sets an individual IP address and / or port number for each application included in the packet. A network connection system, wherein priority is given to a packet from the specified portable information terminal in accordance with a connection policy, or the packet is transferred in a predetermined priority communication band. The network connection system according to claim 1,
The bandwidth control router, when a plurality of types of the applications are detected at the same time, according to an individual connection policy according to an IP address and / or a port number of each application included in the packet, and A network connection system for transferring packets from a portable information terminal through priority control or a predetermined priority communication band. The network connection system according to claim 1,
The application connection environment management server,
Refers to a table that stores the type of application to be subjected to priority connection or bandwidth control and the connection policy of the application, extracts a connection policy corresponding to the type of application software from the table, and transmits the connection policy to the bandwidth control router. A network connection system, characterized in that: The network connection system according to claim 1,
The network connection system, wherein the connection policy includes a setting of a communication priority or a communication band that differs for each specific application. The network connection system according to claim 1,
It has a data traffic recording unit that monitors the data traffic of each mobile communication terminal by the bandwidth control router and records the download data traffic of each application according to the type of application that is communicating with the portable information terminal. A network connection system, characterized in that: The network connection system according to claim 9,
A communication amount upper limit determining unit that determines whether the data communication amount of each application recorded by the data communication amount recording unit has reached a predetermined upper limit value in accordance with the type of the application started by the portable information terminal. And
The network connection system according to claim 1, further comprising a communication restriction unit configured to restrict a transfer of a packet from the portable information terminal by the bandwidth restriction router according to the determination of the communication volume upper limit determination unit. The network connection system according to claim 9,
Based on the data traffic for each application recorded in the data traffic recording unit, calculate the line communication congestion degree for each application,
A network connection system comprising a congestion degree display unit that generates a congestion degree display interface for displaying the congestion degree to a user who displays the congestion degree. The network connection system according to claim 9,
A network connection system, comprising: a communication amount display unit that generates a data communication amount display interface for displaying to a user a data communication amount for each application recorded by the data communication amount recording unit. The network connection system according to claim 9,
A network connection system, wherein a user is charged based on a data communication amount for each application recorded by the data communication amount recording unit. The network connection system according to claim 1,
The network connection system, wherein the connection policy includes a setting of a different data compression degree for each specific application. The network connection system according to claim 14,
The network connection system, wherein the data compression degree of the connection policy includes a setting of a data conversion method that differs for each specific application. The network connection system according to claim 1,
The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein the connection policy includes setting of a time zone and a place where communication is possible for each specific application. The network connection system according to claim 1,
The network connection system, wherein the information identifying the portable information terminal is an IP address of the portable information terminal. The network connection system according to claim 1,
A network connection system, comprising: a user charging information acquisition unit that receives user charging information and associates the charging information with a portable information terminal. The network connection system according to claim 1,
A network connection system, wherein the type of application received from the portable information terminal specifies a type of service provided by the application. The network connection system according to claim 1,
A network connection system, wherein a setting interface for setting connection conditions is generated for a user, and setting is performed through the interface. The network connection system according to claim 1,
The network connection system, wherein the type of the application software to be preferentially connected or the service provided by the application software includes at least application software or a service for a voice call. The network connection system according to claim 1,
Installed in the portable information communication terminal,
Means for causing the portable information terminal to detect the type of application actively displayed on the display of the portable information terminal;
Means for causing the portable information terminal to acquire portable information terminal identification information for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network;
Means for causing the portable information terminal to transmit the type of the application to the band control system together with information for identifying the portable state terminal. An application management software program, comprising: The network connection system according to claim 1,
Installed in the portable information communication terminal,
Means for causing the portable information terminal to detect a process ID of an application started on the portable information terminal;
Means for causing the portable information terminal to acquire portable information terminal identification information for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network;
Means for causing the portable information terminal to include a process ID or a specific tag different for each process in a packet transmitted from the application, and causing the packet to be transmitted to the band control system together with information for identifying a portable state terminal. A network connection system having a software program. The network connection system according to claim 1,
Installed in the portable information communication terminal,
Means for causing the portable information terminal to detect an IP address and / or a port number of an application started on the portable information terminal;
Means for causing the portable information terminal to acquire portable information terminal identification information for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network;
Means for causing the portable information terminal to include the IP address and / or port number in a packet transmitted from the application, and to transmit the packet to the band control system together with information specifying the portable state terminal. A network connection system comprising: The network connection system according to claim 1,
Installed in the portable information communication terminal,
A network connection system comprising: an application management software program having the portable information terminal receive a communication state for each application from the band control system and displaying the communication state on a display of the portable state terminal. A bandwidth control router located between the mobile network and the Internet,
A network connection method, wherein a plurality of application software installed in a portable information terminal on a mobile network is configured to be connected to a service server on the Internet via the band control router,
This method
The application connection environment management server is an application connection environment management server provided on the Internet, detects a type of an application that is trying to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal, and performs connection according to the type of the application. Sending the policy together with the information identifying the portable information terminal to the bandwidth control router,
The network connection method, wherein the bandwidth control router transfers a packet from the specified portable information terminal in priority control or a predetermined priority communication band according to a connection policy received from the application connection environment management server. . 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
The application connection server detects the type of application that is trying to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal by receiving the type of application that is active and displayed on the front of the portable information terminal. A network connection method, characterized in that: 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
The application connection server detects a type of an application that is trying to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal based on a tag included in a packet transmitted from the portable information terminal. Network connection method to be used. The network connection method according to claim 3,
The network connection method, wherein the tag is a process ID of the application generated by an OS of the portable information terminal or an identifier related to the process ID. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26, wherein, when a plurality of types of the applications are detected at the same time, the bandwidth control router has a separate IP address or / and port number for each application included in the packet. A network connection method, wherein priority control or transfer of a packet from the specified portable information terminal is performed in a predetermined communication band according to a connection policy. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
The bandwidth control router, when a plurality of types of the applications are detected at the same time, according to an individual connection policy according to an IP address and / or a port number of each application included in the packet, and A network connection method for transferring packets from a portable information terminal by priority control or a predetermined priority communication band. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
The application connection environment management server,
Refers to a table that stores the type of application to be subjected to priority connection or bandwidth control and the connection policy of the application, extracts a connection policy corresponding to the type of application software from the table, and transmits the connection policy to the bandwidth control router. A network connection method, characterized in that: 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
The network connection method, wherein the connection policy includes a setting of a communication priority or a communication band that differs for each specific application. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
It has a data traffic recording unit that monitors the data traffic of each mobile communication terminal by the bandwidth control router and records the download data traffic of each application according to the type of application that is communicating with the portable information terminal. A network connection method, characterized in that: The network connection method according to claim 34,
A communication amount upper limit determining unit that determines whether the data communication amount of each application recorded by the data communication amount recording unit has reached a predetermined upper limit value in accordance with the type of the application started by the portable information terminal. And
This method includes a communication restriction unit that restricts the transfer of a packet from the portable information terminal by the bandwidth restriction router according to the determination of the communication volume upper limit determination unit. The network connection method according to claim 34,
Based on the data traffic for each application recorded in the data traffic recording unit, calculate the line communication congestion degree for each application,
A network connection method, comprising: a congestion degree display unit that generates a congestion degree display interface for displaying the congestion degree to a user who displays the congestion degree. The network connection method according to claim 34,
A network connection method, comprising: a communication amount display unit that generates a data communication amount display interface for displaying to a user a data communication amount for each application recorded by the data communication amount recording unit. The network connection method according to claim 34,
A network connection method, wherein a user is charged based on a data communication amount for each application recorded by the data communication amount recording unit. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
The network connection method, wherein the connection policy includes a setting of a different data compression degree for each specific application. The network connection method according to claim 39,
The network connection method, wherein the data compression degree of the connection policy includes a setting of a data conversion method that differs for each specific application. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
The network connection method, wherein the connection policy includes setting of a time zone and a place where communication is possible for each specific application. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
The information for specifying the portable information terminal is an IP address of the portable information terminal. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
A network connection method, comprising: a user charging information acquisition unit that receives user charging information and associates the information with a portable information terminal. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
A network connection method, wherein the type of application received from the portable information terminal specifies a type of service provided by the application. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
A network connection method, wherein a setting interface for setting a connection condition is generated for a user, and setting is performed through the interface. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
The network connection method, wherein the type of the application software to be preferentially connected or the service provided by the application software includes at least application software or a service for a voice call. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
A step in which the portable information terminal detects a type of application actively displayed on a display of the portable information terminal;
A step in which the portable information terminal acquires portable information terminal identification information for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network;
A step in which the portable information terminal transmits the type of the application to the band control method together with information specifying the portable state terminal. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
The portable information terminal detecting a process ID of an application started on the portable information terminal;
A step in which the portable information terminal acquires portable information terminal identification information for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network;
The portable information terminal including a process ID or a specific tag different for each process in a packet transmitted from the application, and transmitting the packet to the band control method together with information identifying the portable state terminal. Characteristic network connection method. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
A step in which the portable information terminal detects an IP address and / or a port number of an application started on the portable information terminal;
A step in which the portable information terminal acquires portable information terminal identification information for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network;
The portable information terminal including the IP address and / or port number in a packet transmitted from the application, and transmitting the packet to the band control method together with information specifying the portable state terminal. Network connection method. 27. The network connection method according to claim 26,
A network connection method, wherein the portable information terminal receives a communication state for each application from the band control method and displays the communication state on a display of the portable state terminal.