KR102023605B1 - System and method for providing of data service based on data rate controlling - Google Patents

Abstract

In order to provide a service by adjusting a data rate to a terminal, the data service providing system receives a rate adjustment request signal from the terminal and converts the first data rate being used by the terminal into a second data rate based on the rate adjustment request signal. Change it. Based on the data charging rate related to the data transmission rate, the data amount used by the terminal at the second data transmission rate is converted into the charging data amount.

Description

System and method for providing data service using data rate control {System and method for providing of data service based on data rate controlling}

The present invention relates to a data service providing system and method using data rate control.

In general, in order to use a mobile communication service, users subscribe to various plans and pay a monthly fee charged to the user according to the subscription plan. Then, users use a basic service such as a certain amount of voice call, data call amount and text usage provided by the carrier according to the service plan they subscribe to.

And if you use up all of the service provided as the basic service in the month, you will pay additional costs the following month after using the additional services according to the data billing rate set by the plan. However, because users do not use a certain amount of call service or data service every month, there is a charge anxiety due to the additional use of the basic service.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a data service providing system and method for flexibly providing a rate benefit through data rate adjustment.

A method of providing a service by adjusting a data rate to a terminal by a data service providing system which is one feature of the present invention for achieving the technical problem of the present invention,

Receiving a speed control request signal from the terminal; Changing a first data transmission rate used by the terminal to a second data transmission rate based on the speed adjustment request signal; And converting the data amount used by the terminal at the second data transmission rate into the charging data amount based on the data charging rate related to the data transmission rate.

The converting into the charging data amount may include converting the charging data amount to less than the data amount used by the terminal when the second data transmission rate is the first transmission rate; And converting the charging data amount into more than the data amount used by the terminal if the second data transmission rate is the second transmission rate.

The receiving of the speed control request signal may include: checking whether the terminal is subscribed to a preset additional service based on terminal identification information and subscriber information stored in advance in the speed control request signal; And notifying the terminal that the data transmission rate cannot be adjusted if the terminal is not subscribed to a preset additional service.

After the step of changing to the second data transmission rate, generating a data usage history including data usage used by the terminal at the changed second data transmission rate and speed information on the second data transmission rate; And transmitting the generated data usage history to a billing system interworking with a data service providing system, calculating a billing data amount in the billing system and requesting billing information to be generated.

After requesting that the charging information is generated, the charging system uses the amount of data used by the terminal included in the received data usage history at the second data transmission rate based on a previously stored data charging rate. Converting to billing data amount; And generating the charging information based on the converted charging data amount.

Before the step of receiving the speed adjustment request signal, the terminal, the step of checking the speed information input by the user to increase or write the amount of basic data provided to the terminal; And transmitting a speed adjustment request signal such that a transmission speed of data transmitted from the data service providing system is adjusted to a speed input by a user.

Receiving a speed recovery request signal from the terminal after converting to the charging data amount; And changing the second data transmission rate being used by the terminal to the first data transmission rate based on the speed recovery request signal.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for providing a data additional service to a terminal using data rate adjustment, which is another feature of the present invention.

A policy manager for requesting speed adjustment to a gateway so that the first data transmission rate at which the terminal receives data is the second data transmission rate, based on the speed adjustment request signal transmitted from the terminal; According to a request of the policy manager, the speed is adjusted so that data is transmitted to the terminal at the second data transmission rate, and the amount of data used by the terminal at the second data transmission rate is based on the data charge rate related to the data transmission rate. And converting the billing data amount to generate a data usage history.

The gateway converts the charging data amount less than the data amount used by the terminal according to the data charging rate if the second data transmission rate is the first transmission rate, and if the second data transmission rate is the second transmission rate According to the data charging rate, the amount of data may be converted into a charging data amount more than the data amount used by the terminal.

The system transmits a speed adjustment request signal received from the terminal to the policy manager, and checks whether the terminal is subscribed to an additional service based on the terminal identification information and the received subscriber information included in the speed control request signal. An adjustment request receiving unit; And a subscriber information processor configured to transfer the subscriber information stored in advance to the speed adjustment request receiver.

The terminal may include: a speed adjustment request unit configured to receive speed adjustment request information input by a user and to transmit a speed adjustment request signal including a data transmission speed and identification information of the terminal to the speed adjustment request receiver; And a speed adjustment completion receiver configured to receive a speed adjustment result signal which is any one of a speed adjustment impossible message or a speed adjustment result message transmitted from the speed adjustment request receiver.

The billing system may further include a billing system configured to receive a bill of data usage from the gateway in association with the data service providing system, calculate billing information based on the received bill of data usage, and perform billing.

The charging system may include: a charging information generation unit configured to generate charging information based on the charging data amount if the charging data amount is included in the data usage history received from the gateway; If the data usage history received by the charging information generator includes the data amount and transmission rate information used at the second data transmission rate, the data amount and transmission rate information used at the second data transmission rate and the pre-stored data charging rate A billing data amount calculation unit configured to calculate a billing data amount based on the billing amount and generate billing information based on the calculated billing data amount; And a charging unit configured to perform charging based on the charging information generated by the charging information generator or the charging data amount calculator.

According to the present invention, by differentially calculating the data consumption rate or the data charge rate based on the speed in using the mobile communication service, it is possible not only to provide differentiated quality services but also to provide a household communication cost reduction effect by expanding service benefits. can do.

1 is an exemplary diagram of an environment to which a data service providing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is applied.
2 is a structural diagram of a data service providing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a structural diagram of a charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a data service providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating a speed conversion method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a flowchart illustrating a charging information generating method according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a flowchart illustrating a charging information generating method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a flowchart illustrating a speed restoring method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
10 is an exemplary view of a screen for data rate adjustment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is said to "include" a certain component, it means that it can further include other components, without excluding other components unless specifically stated otherwise.

In the present specification, a terminal is a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), a subscriber station (SS), a portable subscriber station (PSS), a user device (User). It may also refer to an Equipment (UE), an Access Terminal (AT), or the like, and may include all or some functions of a mobile terminal, a subscriber station, a portable subscriber station, a user device, and the like.

Hereinafter, a data service providing system and method using data rate adjustment according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the embodiment of the present invention, a data control network that provides an additional service through data rate adjustment is referred to as a "data service providing system" for convenience of description, but is not necessarily limited thereto.

1 is an exemplary diagram of an environment to which a data service providing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is applied.

As shown in FIG. 1, a user applies for adjustment of a data usage rate through an app or a web installed in the terminal 200. The data service providing system 100 authenticates a user based on a data usage rate adjustment request transmitted from the terminal 200, and provides the additional service by adjusting the data usage rate requested by the user to the terminal 200 that has been authenticated. Provide a differential.

In addition, the data service providing system 100 adjusts and provides a data transmission rate according to a user's request. The data transmission rate may be adjusted to be fast or slow at the basic transmission rate provided to the terminal 200, and conversely may be restored to the basic transmission rate.

The charging system (Rater) 300 is connected to the data service providing system 100, the terminal 200 based on the data charge rate associated with the data transmission rate based on the data usage history transmitted from the data service providing system 100. The amount of billing data used is calculated. Subsequently, the calculated billing data amount is subtracted from the remaining data amount of the terminal 200 to generate billing information, and billing is performed based on this. The method for charging the mobile communication service used by the user in the charging system 300 is already known, and detailed description thereof will be omitted in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the data service providing system 100 and the charging system 300 are physically separated and described as an example, but the charging system 300 may be included in the data service providing system 100.

The structure of the data service providing system 100 that provides a communication service by adjusting a data rate in response to a user's request in this environment will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

2 is a structural diagram of a data service providing system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the data service providing system 100 may include a speed control request receiver (SDP) 110, a subscriber information processor (Order) 120, and a policy and charging rule function (PCRF) 130. ), A profile storage unit (SPR: Subscription Profile Repository) (150) and the P-GW (140).

The speed control request receiver 110 receives a speed control request signal for requesting data transmission speed control from the terminal 200. Then, it is checked whether data can be transmitted by adjusting the speed to the terminal 200 requesting the speed adjustment.

Here, the speed control request signal includes identification information of the terminal 200 and speed information of data selected by the user. Rate information is either the first rate at which data usage is subtracted according to a predetermined data billing rate but slower than the reference rate, or the second rate at which data usage is deducted more but at a rate faster than the reference rate. It contains either velocity information.

In addition, the speed adjustment request receiver 110 receives a speed recovery request signal from the terminal 200. The speed recovery request signal includes identification information and reference speed information of the terminal 200. Then, the received speed recovery request signal is transmitted to the subscriber information processing unit 120. Here, the reference speed refers to a speed of basically transmitting data according to the type of mobile communication service (for example, a rate plan) subscribed to by the user of the terminal 200.

In addition, the rate adjustment request receiver 110 receives subscriber information from the subscriber information processor 120. In addition, based on the subscriber information and the identification information of the terminal 200, a user of the terminal 200 that transmits the speed control request signal receives data whose transmission speed is adjusted and uses the additional service according to this (hereinafter, Check whether or not you have subscribed to the speed control service for convenience.

If the user of the terminal requesting the speed adjustment is a user who subscribes to the speed adjustment service, the speed adjustment request receiving unit 110 transmits a message indicating that the speed adjustment service can be provided to the terminal 200, and then the subscriber information processing unit ( 120) to transmit the speed adjustment request signal. However, if the user is not subscribed to the speed control service, the terminal 200 transmits a speed control impossible message indicating that speed control is impossible.

In addition, the speed adjustment request receiving unit 110 receives any one of the speed adjusting result message or the speed restoring result message from the subscriber information processing unit 120 and transmits it to the terminal 200. Here, the speed adjustment result message is a response message to the speed adjustment request, and the speed recovery result message is a response message to the speed recovery request.

The speed adjustment result message and the speed restoring result message each include information indicating that the speed adjustment was successful, and also includes data charge rates applied according to the changed speed.

The subscriber information processor 120 stores and manages subscriber information subscribed to all mobile communication services including a speed control service. Then, subscriber information is provided to the speed control request receiver 110 so that the speed control request receiver 110 checks whether the terminal requesting speed control is subscribed to the speed control service. In the embodiment of the present invention, for convenience of description, description of the embodiment of various additional services other than the speed adjustment service is omitted.

The subscriber information processor 120 receives a speed adjustment request signal or a speed restoring request signal transmitted by the terminal 200 subscribed to the speed adjustment service from the speed adjustment request receiver 110. The received speed adjustment request signal or speed recovery request signal is transmitted to the policy manager 130 and the profile storage 150.

In addition, when the subscriber information processing unit 120 receives the speed adjusting result message or the speed restoring result message from the policy manager 130, the subscriber information processing unit 120 transmits the speed adjusting request receiving unit 110.

The policy manager 130 stores and manages all subscriber information subscribed to use the mobile communication service. In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, all the subscriber information subscribed to the service for using the mobile communication service are stored in the policy management unit 130, the subscriber information processing unit 120, and the profile storage unit 150 as an example. do. In addition, since a method of storing subscriber information is already known, a detailed description thereof will be omitted in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The policy manager 130 transmits a transmission rate control signal so that the P-GW 140 may adjust the data transmission rate based on the rate adjustment request signal or the speed recovery request signal received from the subscriber information processor 120. In addition, the policy manager 130 transmits any one of a speed adjustment result message or a speed recovery result message informing that the data rate adjustment requested by the terminal 200 is completed, to the subscriber information processor 120.

When the policy manager 130 transmits a transmission rate control signal to the P-GW 140, the policy manager 130 also includes a data usage history generation request signal included in the rate adjustment request signal to the P-GW 140.

The profile storage unit 150 receives, stores and manages subscriber information transmitted from the outside. Then, the speed adjustment request signal or the speed recovery request signal transmitted from the subscriber information processor 120 is stored. The speed adjustment request signal or the speed restoring request signal stored in this way is provided as usage history information when the user inquires about the use of the speed adjustment service.

When the P-GW (or “gateway”) 140 receives the speed control control signal of the terminal 200 transmitted from the policy manager 130, the P-GW adjusts the wireless Internet speed provided to the terminal 200. . Since the P-GW 140 may adjust the wireless Internet speed through various methods, embodiments of the present invention are not limited to any one method.

In addition, the P-GW 140 generates the data usage history for each terminal 200 and transmits the data usage history to the charging system 300. The data usage history is whenever the transmission speed of transmitting data to the terminal 200 varies according to the request of the terminal 200. Is generated and sent to the charging system 300.

Here, the data usage history is a data charge rate preset by the P-GW 140 according to the data rate provided to the terminal 200, and the data usage history used by the terminal 200 is calculated as the billing data amount to be used as the first data usage history. Can be generated. Alternatively, the terminal 200 may generate the second data usage history that includes the data usage actually provided to the terminal 200 and the speed information provided with the corresponding data in the data usage history.

To this end, the P-GW 140 stores and manages the data charge rate according to the data rate, and the data charge rate according to the data rate managed by the P-GW 140 is managed by the billing system 300 to be described later. Is equal to the data charge rate. This will be described later in detail.

On the other hand, the structure of the terminal 200 for requesting speed adjustment to the data service providing system 100 or receiving data whose speed is adjusted will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

3 is a structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal 200 includes a speed adjusting request unit 210, a speed adjusting completed receiving unit 220, and a data receiving unit 230.

The speed control request unit 210 receives the speed control request information input from the user. In order to receive the speed adjustment request information, the terminal 200 displays a screen for allowing the user to select a data pattern through the speed adjustment request unit 210. This will be described first with reference to FIG. 10.

10 is an exemplary view of a screen for data rate adjustment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 10, in order to provide the user with the speed of data provided in the current month at a speed desired by the user, a drag bar is displayed on the data pattern selection screen.

The first location ① is slower than a reference speed for transmitting data based on a mobile communication service subscribed to by the user, and transmits data to the terminal 200 at a preset first speed, but the data subtraction is greater than the actual data usage. This area is chosen to be less deductible. On the contrary, the second position (②) is faster than the reference speed and transmits data to the terminal 200 at a preset second speed, but the data subtraction is an area selected to be subtracted more by imposing an additional data amount on the actually used data usage. . The data subtraction rate according to the data rate selected by the user is shown in the third position ③.

By moving the position of the drag bar, the user is provided with data at a slow speed, but the amount of data less than the actual amount of data used is subtracted, so that even if the same amount of data is provided, more data can be used. On the contrary, the data usage is deducted more than the reference data amount, but data may be provided at a high speed. In the embodiment of the present invention, the data is provided at a slow speed, but the data amount less than the actually used data amount is used as an example to be subtracted as used.

When the user selects the data pattern displayed on the screen as described above, the speed adjustment request unit 210 generates the speed adjustment request signal or the speed restoration request signal including the identification information of the terminal 200 and the speed information selected by the user. . The generated speed adjustment request signal or speed recovery request signal is transmitted to the data service providing system 100.

In addition, the speed adjustment request unit 210 may receive a speed adjustment impossible message transmitted from the data service providing system 100. This is the case that the terminal 200 requesting the speed adjustment is a terminal that is not subscribed to the speed regulation service or the data service providing system 100 fails to provide a service at the time of requesting the speed regulation, even if the terminal 200 is subscribed to the speed regulation service. In this case, a non-speed control message is sent.

The speed adjustment completion receiving unit 220 receives a speed adjustment result message or a speed recovery result message transmitted from the data service providing system 100 and provides the same to the user.

The data receiver 230 receives data at a rate requested by the user.

Next, the structure of the billing system 300 that performs billing by generating billing information based on data usage history in conjunction with the data service providing system 100 will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

4 is a structural diagram of a charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the billing system 300 includes a billing information generation unit 310, a billing data amount calculation unit 320, and a billing unit 330.

The billing information generation unit 310 receives a first data usage history or a second data usage history transmitted from the P-GW 140 of the data service providing system 100. Here, the first data usage history includes information on the amount of billing data for the terminal 200. The second data usage history includes data usage used by the terminal 200 and speed information on which data is transmitted to the terminal 200.

The charging information generating unit 310 subtracts the charging data amount used by the terminal 200 from the remaining data amount based on the first data usage history transmitted from the P-GW 140 and generates charging information based on this. The generated billing information is transferred to the billing unit 330. In this case, since the P-GW 140 already calculates the amount of data provided to the actual terminal 200 based on the data charging rate according to the transmission rate as the charging data amount and includes it in the data usage history, the charging information generation unit 310 does not need to calculate the billing data amount separately.

When the billing information generation unit 310 receives the second data usage history from the data service providing system 100, the billing information generation unit 310 transmits the received second data usage history to the billing data amount calculation unit 320.

The charging data amount calculator 320 calculates the charging data amount based on the second data usage history received by the charging information generator 310. In order to calculate the billing data amount, the billing data amount calculation unit 320 stores and manages the data billing rate according to the data rate.

The billing data amount calculation unit 320 calculates the billing data amount and subtracts the billing data amount from the remaining data amount and generates billing information. The generated billing information is transferred to the billing unit 330.

The charging unit 330 charges the terminal 200 based on the charging information from the charging information generating unit 310 or the charging data amount calculating unit 320. The charging method is already known, and detailed description thereof will be omitted in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In the environment described above, a method of providing an additional service through data rate adjustment will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a data service providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, the terminal 200 transmits a speed adjustment request signal to the data service providing system 100 so that data can be transmitted at a rate requested by the user (S100). The speed adjustment request signal includes information on a transmission speed together with identification information of the terminal 200.

The data service providing system 100 controls the transmission rate of data to be provided to the terminal 200 based on the speed adjustment request signal received in step S100 (S110). And while providing the data to the terminal 200 at the transmission rate (S120), the data usage history is generated according to the transmission speed of the data (S130).

The data service providing system 100 transmits the data usage history generated in step S130 to the charging system 300 (S140). And the charging system 300 generates the charging information based on the data usage history, and performs the charging based on the generated charging information (S150).

When the speed restoring request signal is transmitted from the terminal 200 that has received data at the adjusted speed as described above (S200), the data service providing system 100 rests on the speed (S210). In addition, the data is provided to the terminal 200 at an unchanged speed (S220), and together with this, a data usage history is generated (S230). The data usage history generated in step S230 is transferred to the billing system 300 (S240), the billing system 300 generates billing information based on the received data usage history, and the terminal 200 based on the generated billing information Perform the charging for (S250).

Here, the method of converting the speed through the steps S100 to S120 will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a speed conversion method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Before describing the speed conversion method based on FIG. 6, it is assumed that the subscriber information processing unit 120 and the profile storage unit 150 store and manage subscriber information of all users who use the mobile communication service. The subscriber information includes user identification information, identification information of a terminal possessed by the user, service information subscribed to the user, and additional service information, and the like, and the subscriber information is not limited to any one. The subscriber information is updated at preset intervals or when special issues arise.

As shown in FIG. 6, when a speed control request signal is input from the terminal 200 (S101), the speed control request receiver 110 receives subscriber information from the subscriber information processor 120 (S102). The speed adjustment request signal is a signal for requesting data to be transmitted at a first speed that is slower than a reference speed of data provided to the terminal 200 or at a second speed that is faster than the reference speed.

The speed adjustment request receiving unit 110 checks whether the speed adjustment of the data requested by the terminal 200 is possible based on the identification information of the terminal included in the speed adjustment request signal and the subscriber information of the terminal included in the subscriber information (S103). The speed control request signal includes identification information of the terminal 200 and data rate information requested by the user.

That is, the speed control request receiving unit 110 checks whether the terminal 200 which has transmitted the speed control request signal received in step S101 is a terminal subscribed to the speed control service (S103). In this case, the speed adjusting service may adjust the transmission speed of the data transmitted to the terminal 200 so that the user of the terminal 200 may use less data so that a larger amount of data may be used even if the same amount of data provided for the current month is slower than the reference speed. An additional service that provides data by subtracting usage. Alternatively, it refers to an additional service that allows data to be provided at a speed faster than the reference speed even if a larger amount of data is used than the actual data usage.

If it is confirmed that the terminal can not receive data at the adjusted data rate, the speed control request receiving unit 110 transmits a speed control impossible message to the terminal 200 (S104). In this case, the data rate may not be adjusted when the terminal 200 is a terminal that does not subscribe to a speed adjusting service or when the terminal 200 is suspended even if the subscriber subscribes to an additional service.

However, if the terminal 200 is a terminal subscribed to the corresponding additional service, the speed adjustment request receiver 110 transmits a speed adjustment request signal to the subscriber information processor 120 (S111).

The subscriber information processor 120 transmits the speed adjustment request signal received in step S111 to the profile storage unit 150 and the policy manager 130 (S112 and S113). The policy manager 130 transmits the transmission rate control signal to the P-GW (P-GW) so that the P-GW 140 may transmit data to the terminal 200 at the rate requested by the user, based on the speed adjustment request signal received in step S113. 140) (S114).

Based on the transmission rate control signal received through step S114, the P-GW 140 transmits data to the terminal 200 at a controlled rate (S120). The speed control result message generated by the policy manager 130 is transmitted to the terminal 200 via the speed control request receiver 110 (S121 and S122).

As described with reference to FIG. 6, a method of providing data to the terminal 200 at a controlled speed and charging by adjusting a data charging rate of data used by a user will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. The billing method will be described separately into a first embodiment in which the billing data amount is calculated in the P-GW 140 and a second embodiment in which the billing data amount is calculated in the billing system 300 according to the subject.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a charging information generating method according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 6, when the policy manager 130 requests the P-GW 140 to adjust the speed of data, the policy manager 130 transmits the data rate to the P-GW 140 as shown in FIG. 7. Is controlled to be transmitted to the terminal 200 and at the same time transmits a data usage history generation request signal (S131-1).

The P-GW 140 calculates the billing data amount based on the data billing rate stored in advance, while providing the data to the terminal 200 at the adjusted speed (S131-). 2). In this case, it is assumed that data charge rates previously stored in the P-GW 140 are as shown in Table 1 below.

Data transfer rate Rate 1st speed (10Mbps or less) 50% Basic speed 100% 2nd speed (100Mbps or more) 150%

The rate of 50% in Table 1 means that when the terminal 200 receives data at the first rate, only 50% of the data usage used by the terminal 200 is adjusted. A rate of 100% is 100% processing without adjusting the data usage used by the terminal 200, and a rate of 150% is added to 100% of data usage when the terminal 200 receives data at a second rate. That means 50% plus 150% data usage.

Then, even if the P-GW 140 provides the terminal 200 with 100 MB of data at the first speed, only 50 MB of data, which is 50% according to the data charging rates shown in Table 1, is provided to the terminal 200 as the charging data. After calculating the quantity, generate the data usage history.

The P-GW 140 calculates the billing data amount according to the pre-stored data billing rate and generates a first data usage history including the calculated billing data amount (S131-3). In operation S131-4, the generated first data usage history is transmitted to the charging system 300.

The charging system 300 subtracts the charging data amount of the terminal 200 included in the first data usage history received in step S131-4 from the remaining data amount. Then, charging information is generated based on the subtracted data amount (S131-5).

Next, a method of generating charging information according to another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 8.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a charging information generating method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 8, the P-GW 140 of the data service providing system 100 transmits the second data usage history including the amount of data and the transmission rate transmitted to the terminal 200 to the charging system 300. Transmit (S140). Here, the second data usage history will be described using an example generated by the P-GW 140.

The charging system 300 that has received the second data usage history calculates the charging data amount according to the data charging rate stored in advance (S151). Subsequently, the calculated billing data amount is subtracted from the remaining data amount of the terminal 200, and then billing information is generated (S152).

The billing system 300 executes billing using the billing information generated in step S152 or billing information transmitted from the data service providing system 100 (S160). Here, the data charging rates stored in advance are the same as in Table 1 above.

Next, a method of restoring the adjusted speed will be described with reference to FIG. 9.

9 is a flowchart illustrating a speed restoring method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 9, when a speed restoring request signal is input from the terminal 200 (S201), the speed adjusting request receiving unit 110 receives subscriber information from the subscriber information processing unit 120 (S202). Here, the speed restoring request signal is a signal for requesting data to be transmitted at a reference speed of data provided to the terminal 200.

The speed adjustment request receiver 110 checks whether the terminal 200 can restore the speed of the requested data based on the identification information of the terminal included in the speed recovery request signal and the subscriber information of the terminal included in the subscriber information (S203). ).

That is, the speed adjustment request receiving unit 110 checks whether the terminal 200 which has transmitted the speed restoring request signal received in step S201 is a terminal subscribed to the speed adjusting service (S203).

If it is confirmed that restoring at the original reference speed is impossible at the adjusted data rate, the speed adjusting request receiving unit 110 transmits a speed restoring impossible message to the terminal 200 (S204). In this case, there may be various cases in which speed restoring is impossible, and embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.

However, if the data provided to the terminal 200 can be provided at the restored speed, the speed adjustment request receiver 110 transmits the speed recovery request signal to the subscriber information processor 120 (S211).

The subscriber information processor 120 transmits the speed recovery request signal received in step S211 to the profile storage unit 150 and the policy manager 130 (S212 and S213). The policy manager 130 transmits the P-GW transmission rate control signal to the P-GW 140 so that the data can be transmitted to the terminal 200 at the reference rate requested by the user, based on the speed restoration request signal received in step S213. And transmits to 140 (S214). At this time, the P-GW 140 transmits the data recovery history generation request signal together with the speed recovery request signal to generate the data usage history.

The P-GW 140 transmits data to the terminal 200 based on the speed restoring signal received through step S214 (S220). And the speed recovery result message generated by the policy management unit 130 is transmitted to the terminal 200 via the speed adjustment request receiving unit 110 (S221 ~ S222).

In the embodiment of the present invention, only the example in which the effect of providing additional data to the user by estimating the data usage less according to the data billing rate when providing the data at the first transmission rate has been described. Even if a large amount of data usage is estimated, data may be provided at a second data rate, which is a high data rate.

That is, when data is transmitted to the terminal 200 at the second speed, when 100 MB of data is transmitted as shown in Table 1, data usage is adjusted as if 150 MB of data is used. In this case, as much as 50MB of data is used, the data can be received much faster than the reference speed.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present invention defined in the following claims are also provided. It belongs to the scope of rights.

Claims (15)

In the data service providing system to provide a service by adjusting the data rate to the terminal,
Receiving a speed adjustment request signal including speed information input by a user from the terminal;
Changing, by the P-GW included in the data service providing system, a first data transmission rate used by the terminal to a second data transmission rate based on the speed information included in the speed adjustment request signal; And
Converting, by the P-GW, the data amount used by the terminal at the second data transmission rate into a charging data amount different from the used data amount based on the data charging rate related to the data transmission rate.
Data service providing method comprising a. The method of claim 1,
Converting to the billing data amount,
If the second data transmission rate is the first transmission rate, the P-GW converts the used data amount into the charging data amount so that a data amount less than the data amount used by the terminal is used based on the data charging rate. ; And
If the second data transmission rate is the second transmission rate, the P-GW converts the used data amount into the billing data amount because more data amount is used than the data amount used by the terminal based on the data charging rate.
Data service providing method comprising a. The method of claim 1,
Receiving the speed adjustment request signal,
Checking whether the terminal is subscribed to a preset additional service based on terminal identification information included in the speed control request signal and subscriber information stored in advance; And
Notifying the terminal that the data transmission rate cannot be adjusted if the terminal is not subscribed to a preset additional service;
Data service providing method comprising a. The method of claim 1,
After the step of changing to the second data rate,
Generating a data usage history including data usage used by the terminal at the changed second data transmission rate and speed information on the second data transmission rate; And
Transmitting the generated data usage history to a billing system interworking with a data service providing system, calculating a billing data amount in the billing system and requesting billing information to be generated;
Data service providing method comprising a. The method of claim 4, wherein
After requesting that the charging information is generated,
The charging system converts the amount of data used by the terminal included in the received data usage history at the second data transmission rate into a charging data amount based on a previously stored data charging rate; And
The charging system generating charging information based on the converted charging data amount;
Data service providing method comprising a. The method of claim 1,
Before the step of receiving the speed adjustment request signal, the terminal,
Confirming speed information input by a user in order to increase or easily write an amount of basic data provided to the terminal; And
Transmitting a speed adjustment request signal such that a transmission speed of data transmitted from the data service providing system is adjusted to a speed input by a user;
Data service providing method comprising a. The method of claim 1,
After converting to the billing data amount,
Receiving a speed recovery request signal from the terminal; And
Changing a second data transmission rate being used by the terminal to the first data transmission rate based on the speed recovery request signal;
Data service providing method further comprising. In the system for providing a data additional service to the terminal using data rate adjustment,
Based on the speed control request signal transmitted from the terminal, the first data transmission speed at which the terminal receives data according to the speed information input by the user included in the speed control request signal is a second data transmission speed. A policy manager for requesting speed adjustment to the gateway;
Adjust the speed so that data is transmitted to the terminal at the second data transmission rate according to the request of the policy manager, and based on the data charging rate related to the data transmission rate, The gateway converting into different billing data amounts to generate data usage history
Including,
The gateway is a P-GW data service providing system. The method of claim 8,
The gateway,
If the second data transmission rate is the first transmission rate, a data amount less than the data amount used by the terminal is used according to the data charging rate, and the used data amount is converted into the charging data amount.
And when the second data transmission rate is the second transmission rate, a data amount larger than the data amount used by the terminal according to the data charging rate is used, and converts the used data amount into the charging data amount. The method of claim 8,
Speed control request receiving unit for transmitting the speed control request signal received from the terminal to the policy management unit, and confirming whether the terminal is subscribed to the additional service based on the terminal identification information and the received subscriber information included in the speed control request signal. ; And
Subscriber information processing unit for transmitting the subscriber information stored in advance to the rate adjustment request receiving unit
Data service providing system further comprising. The method of claim 10,
The terminal,
A speed adjustment request unit which receives the speed adjustment request information input by the user and transmits a speed adjustment request signal including a data transmission speed and identification information of the terminal to the speed adjustment request receiver; And
Speed control complete receiving unit for receiving a speed control result signal which is either one of the speed control impossible message or the speed control result message transmitted from the speed control request receiver
Data service providing system comprising a. The method of claim 8,
The policy management unit,
And requesting speed recovery to the gateway so that the second data transmission rate at which the terminal receives data is the first data transmission rate, based on the speed recovery request signal transmitted from the terminal. The method of claim 8,
And the gateway generates the data usage history including the data amount used by the terminal at the second data transmission rate and the transmission rate information of the data, and transmits the data usage history to the charging system. The method of claim 13,
The billing system that receives the data usage history from the gateway in conjunction with the data service providing system, calculates the billing information based on the received data usage history to perform the billing
Data service providing system further comprising. The method of claim 14,
The charging system,
A billing information generation unit generating billing information based on the billing data amount if the billing data amount is included in the data usage history received from the gateway;
If the data usage history received by the charging information generator includes the data amount and transmission rate information used at the second data transmission rate, the data amount and transmission rate information used at the second data transmission rate and the pre-stored data charging rate A billing data amount calculation unit configured to calculate a billing data amount based on the billing amount and generate billing information based on the calculated billing data amount; And
A billing unit that performs billing based on the billing information generated by the billing information generation unit or the billing data amount calculation unit.
Data service providing system comprising a.

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