KR20060065303A - Apparatus and method for selecting optimal paying system in mobile terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for selecting an optimal plan in a mobile communication terminal. To this end, in the present invention, when the user makes a call, the user checks the time at which the call is made, counts the time until the call is ended, extracts the entire call time in which the call is made, classifies it by time zone, and then calls it as call history information. Save it. Whenever a user makes a call, the call time classified by time zone is included and stored in the call history information stored for each time, and information about each plan is received from the mobile communication service provider, and the call time information is received according to the call history information. Calculate the call charge. The lowest rate plan is selected and displayed. Accordingly, the user can select an optimal plan according to his call pattern using only the mobile communication terminal.

Mobile terminal, choose the best plan

Description

Apparatus and method for selecting an optimal plan in a mobile terminal {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SELECTING OPTIMAL PAYING SYSTEM IN MOBILE TERMINAL}             

1 is a block diagram showing a state in which a mobile communication terminal and a server of a mobile communication service provider according to an embodiment of the present invention are connected when the mobile communication service provider is supported;

2 is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of storing a call history of a user according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of searching for an optimal plan according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of changing a plan to a plan found according to an embodiment of the present invention according to a user's selection;

6 is an exemplary view of screens displayed in a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly, to selecting a plan of a mobile communication terminal.

In general, mobile service providers have various plans, and the user can select any one of these plans. Examples of these plans include a nightly discount plan where the call charges are discounted during certain night hours, a weekly discount plan where the call charges are discounted during certain afternoon hours, or a specific phone number. In case of a call, there is a couple plan where the call rate is discounted, or a local discount plan where the call rate is discounted when a call is made in a specific region.

Therefore, users can choose a plan that is suitable for them among these various plans. In this case, the criterion for the user to select a plan is the call history of the user. However, it is not easy for users to select a plan suitable for them based on the call history. Therefore, various methods have been introduced to analyze the call history of users to help users easily select a plan suitable for them, and the software disclosed in the domestic application No. 10-2002-0065136 is one such method.

Looking at the software disclosed in the domestic application No. 10-2002-0065136, the software relates to the design of the optimal fee for each individual user through the Internet, when the user executes the software, the software from the mobile communication service provider By downloading the information on the call history of the statistics program to analyze the user's call frequency and so that the user can select the optimal plan.

However, looking at the method disclosed in the domestic application No. 10-2002-0065136, it can be seen that the user's call history from the mobile communication service provider must be downloaded from the Internet. Accordingly, in the above method, the user can check his / her call history only through a device such as a PC (personal computer) capable of communicating using the Internet. Therefore, if a user uses a PC or the like stored in a public place, or if the user's PC is hacked using a computer virus or the like, his call history may be exposed to other people.

In addition, if there is an error in the call history recorded in the mobile service provider, the software disclosed in the domestic application number 10-2002-0065136 analyzes the user's call pattern based on the error call history, the mobile communication service There is a problem in that a plan including an error included in a call history provided by a company may be selected.

Therefore, the present invention provides an apparatus and method for analyzing a call pattern of a user in a mobile communication terminal itself without receiving a call history from a mobile communication service provider.                         

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for allowing a user to select an optimal plan according to a call pattern analyzed in the mobile communication terminal itself.

An apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object, the plan information storage unit for storing at least one plan information for the mobile communication service fee, transmitted from the mobile communication service provider of the mobile communication terminal, and the call history of the user A memory unit having a call history storage unit for storing information, a charge rate calculator for receiving the at least one plan information and the call history information, and calculating a charge according to the call history for each plan; and the user According to the selection of the at least one plan information and the call history information is input to the rate plan calculation section, receiving the rate calculated according to each rate plan from the rate plan calculation unit, the lowest rate among them is calculated And a control unit for informing the user of the selected plan as an optimal plan. The.

The method may further include storing call history information when the call is requested by a user, and collecting call history information and storing the call history information with previously stored call history information, and at least received from the mobile communication service provider of the mobile terminal. A rate calculation step of calculating a mobile communication service fee based on the call history information collected for each plan by one plan information, and an optimal rate plan for selecting a plan having the lowest rate among the rates calculated for each plan And a notification step of informing the user of the selected optimal plan.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the same elements in the figures are denoted by the same reference numerals wherever possible. In the following description and the annexed drawings, detailed descriptions of well-known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

First of all, in order to help a complete understanding of the present invention, the basic principles of the present invention will be described. In the present invention, when a user makes a call, the mobile terminal checks the time at which the call is made. Then, the time until the end of the call is counted to extract the total talk time in which the call is made, which is classified by time zone and stored as call history information. Whenever a user makes a call, the call time classified by time zone is stored in the call history information stored for each time. In addition, the mobile communication terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention receives information about each plan according to the mobile communication service from the mobile communication service provider, and sets the hourly rate according to each plan for each time. And the call charge of the user is calculated for each rate plan according to the call history information. The lowest rate among the calculated call rates is selected and displayed on the display unit. If the user wants to change to the currently selected plan, the user transmits a message for changing the plan to the mobile service provider, and displays a message for confirming the change of the plan from the server of the mobile service provider. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a rate change request message and a rate change confirmation message are transmitted and received between a mobile communication terminal and a server of a mobile communication service company according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention transmits plan information 104 from a server 102 of a mobile communication service company through a short messaging service (SMS) or over the air (OTA). Receive. In this case, the plan information 104 may be automatically received by the mobile communication terminal 100 by requesting the server 102 of the mobile communication service provider when a predetermined period of time expires, and a new plan is added. When a plan update situation occurs, such as a change or a plan change, the mobile communication service provider 102 may be transmitted from the mobile communication service provider 102 to the mobile communication terminal 100 without a request of the mobile communication terminal 100.

When the plan information is transmitted from the server 102 of the mobile communication service provider, the mobile communication terminal 100 selects an optimal plan according to the call history of the user. And if the user wants to change the plan to the optimal plan currently selected, the mobile communication terminal 100 transmits a plan change request message 106 to the server 102 of the mobile communication service provider, the mobile communication service In response, the vendor transmits a rate change confirmation message 108. When the user confirms the change of the plan, the change of the plan is completed.

2 is a view showing the configuration of a mobile communication terminal 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention described above. Referring to FIG. 2, the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a memory unit 202, a key input unit 204, a display unit 206, a baseband processor 208, and a codec. The coder-decoder 212 and the tariff fare calculator 216 are connected to the controller 200. Here, the controller 200 processes voice signals and data according to protocols for telephone calls, data communications, and wireless Internet access, and controls each part of the mobile communication terminal. Then, the user's key input is received from the key input unit 104 to control the display unit 106 accordingly to generate and provide image information according to the user's key input. In addition, the mobile communication service provider receives the information on each plan from the server 102 and stores it in the memory unit 202. Here, the plan information refers to rate information for each time, which is a standard for calculating a call rate of a user. Table 1 below shows an example of the plan information for the night discount plan among these plan information.

time fee 10:00 to 15:00 14 won 15:00 to 21:00 12 won 21:00 to 10:00 8 won

When the user starts a call, the controller 200 checks the time at which the call was started, and counts the total time that the call was made until the user terminated the call. The call time is classified by time zone and stored as call history information. That is, if a user starts a call from 8:58 pm (20:58) and talks until 9:13 pm (21:13), the controller counts the total talk time, that is, 15 minutes, It is classified by each time zone and classified into calls made at 20:00 to 21:00 (2 minutes) and calls made at 21:00 to 22:00 (13 minutes). The call information is stored in the call history information, that is, information previously classified by each time zone. Therefore, in the above example, two minutes are added to the call history information between 20:00 and 21:00 of the call history information, and 13 minutes are added to the call history information between 21:00 and 22:00. The operation of storing the call history in the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be shown in FIG. 3.

When the function of searching for the optimal plan is selected from the user, the controller 200 inputs the call history information and the plan information classified for each time by the rate plan unit 216 for each rate plan and inputs the call history. Calculate the rate for each rate plan based on the information. The lowest rate among the rates calculated by the rate calculation unit 216 is selected as the optimal rate and is displayed. If the user wants to change to the currently selected plan, the service plan request message is transmitted to the server 102 of the mobile communication service provider, and the service plan confirmation message is received from the server 102 of the mobile service provider. This is displayed on the display unit 206.

Here, the rate calculation unit 216 for each rate plan receives input of plan information according to each plan from the controller 200 and receives call history information classified for each time slot. Under the control of the control unit 200, a rate according to the call history information is calculated for each rate plan, and the calculated rate for each rate plan is input to the controller 200. The memory unit 202 connected to the controller 200 includes a read only memory (ROM), a flash memory, a random access memory (RAM), and the like. The ROM stores a program for processing and controlling the controller 200 and various reference data. The RAM provides a working memory of the controller 200, and the flash memory provides an area for storing various updatable data for storage.

In addition, the memory unit 202 of the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention stores the plan information transmitted from the server 102 of the mobile communication service provider, the memory unit (where the plan information is stored ( The area of 202 will be referred to as a plan information storage unit 218 hereinafter. In addition, in the memory unit 202 of the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, when the user makes a call, call history information is classified for each time zone, and the call history information is stored. The area of the memory unit 202 is referred to as a call history storage unit 220.

The key input unit 204 includes various keys including numeric keys as described above, and provides the controller 200 with a key input input from a user. The RF unit 210 serves to transmit and receive an RF signal with the base station. And converts the received signal into an IF (Intermediate Frequency) signal, outputs it to the baseband processor 208 connected to the controller 200, and converts the IF signal input from the baseband processor 208 into an RF signal. Send. The baseband processing unit 208 is a baseband analog ASIC (BBA) that provides an interface between the control unit 200 and the RF unit 210. The baseband processing unit 208 converts a baseband digital signal applied from the control unit 200 into an analog IF signal. The conversion is applied to the RF unit 210, and converts the analog IF signal applied from the RF unit 210 to a digital signal of the base band and applies it to the control unit 200.

In addition, the codec 212 connected to the control unit 200 is connected to the microphone and the speaker through the amplifying unit 214, and the voice signal is input by the PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) encoding of the voice signal input from the microphone. ) And PCM decodes the voice data input from the controller 200 and outputs the voice data to the speaker through the amplifier 214. The amplifier 214 amplifies the voice signal input from the microphone or the voice signal output from the speaker, and adjusts the volume of the speaker and the gain of the microphone according to the control of the controller 200. Therefore, the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may store information on a call history of the user by itself, thereby informing the user of an optimal plan according to the call pattern of the user.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of storing a call history of a user in the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention in more detail. Referring to FIG. 3, when the user sends a call request signal and the call is made in response to the call request, the controller 200 proceeds to step 300 to check the current time. The control unit 200 proceeds to step 302 to count the talk time from the time when the call is made. The controller 200 proceeds to step 304 to check whether the call is terminated. If the call is not terminated, the controller 200 proceeds to step 302 again to count the talk time again.

However, if the call is terminated in step 304, the controller 200 proceeds to step 306 to end the talk time count. The controller 200 proceeds to step 308 to classify the counted talk time by time zone. In step 310, the call history information stored before the current call point is included in the call count information classified for each time zone in step 308 and stored. Accordingly, the call history information stored in step 310 is information collected by dividing the total call time of the user by each time zone from the time when the call history information was recently reset to the end of the current call. . Therefore, the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention stores the information on the total call history of the user's time zone by the mobile communication terminal itself without receiving information on the call history from the mobile communication service provider 102. Can be. Accordingly, when there is an error in the call history of the mobile communication service provider, an error occurring in the call history of the mobile communication service provider may be found. Therefore, it is possible to allow the user to more accurately select the optimal plan suitable for the user's call pattern.

FIG. 4 illustrates that when the user selects a function for searching for an optimal plan in the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, the controller 200 analyzes the call pattern of the user and displays the optimal plan. This is a flow chart showing the operation process. Referring to FIG. 4, when the user selects a plan change of the mobile communication terminal, the process proceeds to step 400 and checks whether a search for the optimal plan is selected. If the user does not select to search for the optimal plan, the control unit 200 proceeds to step 422 and displays the currently stored plan information on the display unit 206 for each plan. In operation 424, the controller 200 checks whether the user has selected one of the displayed plans. If the user selects one of the plans in step 424, the controller 200 proceeds to step 416 to change the plan according to the user's selection. However, if the user has not selected any one rate system, the controller 200 proceeds to step 418 to maintain the current rate plan and ends the operation of FIG. 4 to change the rate plan.

Meanwhile, if the user selects to search for the optimal plan in step 400, the controller 200 proceeds to step 402 to load plan information for each plan stored in the plan information storage unit 218. In addition, the controller 200 proceeds to step 404 and sets a time period fee of each plan according to the plan information loaded in step 402. The control unit 200 proceeds to step 406 to load the call history information stored up to the current time from the call history storage unit 220. In step 408, the rate plan information loaded in step 402 and the call history information loaded in step 406 are input to the rate plan calculator 216.

The controller 200 proceeds to step 408 and the rate calculation unit 216 calculates the rate according to the time period call history included in the call history information for each rate plan according to the hourly rate set for each rate plan. Do it. When the rate calculation for each rate plan is completed, the control unit 200 proceeds to step 410 and receives information on the rate calculated for each rate plan from the rate plan unit 216 for each rate plan. Choose a smaller plan. In operation 412, information about the currently selected plan is displayed on the display unit 206. An example of the screen displayed here will be shown in FIG. 6.

The controller 200 proceeds to step 414 and checks whether to change the plan to the currently selected plan. If the user does not select a change in the rate plan in step 414, the control unit 200 proceeds to step 418 to check whether the user resets the call history. If the user selects to reset the call log in step 418, the controller 200 proceeds to step 420 to delete the call log information stored in the call log storage 220. Here, the process of resetting the call history information may be set so that the user sets a period and automatically resets when the period set by the user expires or when a specific date set by the user arrives.

On the other hand, if the user has selected to change to the currently selected plan in step 414, the control unit 200 proceeds to step 416 to change the plan to the plan according to the user's selection. Here, there are a number of ways to change the plan to the plan according to the user's choice. For example, if the mobile communication service provider 102 can support, the mobile communication service provider 102 prompts the user to enter a plan change request message 106 by inputting a specific key from a menu of the screen displayed in step 412. There may be a method for transmitting the change plan request message 106 to the mobile communication service provider 102 by inputting a predetermined code and a confirmation key in a specific plan information in step 412 There may be a way. This method will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 5 below. In this case, an example of a display screen of the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be shown in FIG. 6 below. In addition, if there is no support from the mobile communication service provider 102, there may be a method in which the user changes the plan through a visit to an agent or through an access through OTA (Over The Air).

In operation 416, if the plan is changed according to the user's selection, the controller 200 proceeds to operation 418 and checks whether the user has selected to reset the call history, that is, whether the user has selected to delete the call history up to the present time. . If the user selects to reset the call history in step 416, the controller 200 proceeds to step 420 to delete the call history and ends the operation of FIG. 4 that changes the plan. However, if the user has not selected to reset the call history in step 416, the controller 200 terminates the operation of changing the plan while maintaining the call history information. Therefore, in the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, without having to receive the call history from the server 102 of the mobile communication service provider, it analyzes the call history of the user is most suitable, according to the call pattern of the user The user can be informed of the best rate plan with the lowest fee.

FIG. 5 is a plan change request message 106 by inputting a preset code to a plan selected in step 410 of FIG. 4 and a user inputting a confirmation key in the method of changing a plan according to a user's selection in FIG. 4. ) Is a detailed view of the step 416 when transmitting to the mobile communication service provider 102. Referring to FIG. 5, when step 416 of changing to a plan according to a user's selection starts from among the steps shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 200 proceeds to step 500 and the user selects a plan selected in step 410. Check that the code followed is entered.

If the code according to the plan selected in step 410 is input by the current user, the control unit 200 proceeds to step 502 and changes the plan to the plan according to the input code to the server 102 of the mobile communication service provider. Send a message requesting that The controller 200 proceeds to step 504 and checks whether a change plan confirmation message has been received from the server 102 of the mobile communication service provider. If the tariff change confirmation message is not received for more than the preset time in step 504, the controller 200 proceeds to step 504 again to transmit a tariff change request message to the server 102 of the mobile communication service provider. If the rate change confirmation message is received from the mobile communication service provider 102 in step 504, the controller 200 proceeds to step 506 and displays the received rate change confirmation message. Therefore, in the present invention, the user can easily change the plan by entering a code corresponding to the plan that he wants to change.

6 is a view showing an example of the display screen of the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, referring to FIG. 6A, the mobile communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided with a menu for searching for an optimal rate plan. In FIG. 6B, FIG. When the user selects the optimal plan search among the menus displayed in (a) of FIG. 4, the optimal plan according to the call pattern of the user is selected by the process described above with reference to FIG. 4, and information about the plan is displayed. I am showing the screen.

In addition, if the Ido communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 5, the user inputs the code of the rate plan that the user wants to change, and the rate plan is changed according to the input code, FIG. ) Shows that the optimal plan selected by the above-described process in FIG. 4 and the code set in the plan are displayed. In this case, when the user inputs the change key in FIG. 6 (b), as shown in FIG. 6 (c), the change code input by the user and the name of the plan according to the changed code are displayed. When the confirmation key is input, the mobile communication terminal 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention transmits the rate change request message 104 to the server 102 of the mobile communication service company. When the rate change confirmation message 106 is received from the server 102 of the mobile communication service provider, the received message is displayed as shown in FIG. 6D, and the user approves it in FIG. 6D. The user's plan is changed, and the plan change operation is terminated.

Meanwhile, in the above description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. In particular, the embodiment of the present invention receives the plan information from the mobile communication terminal service provider, and shows the process of searching for the optimal plan by classifying the call history of the user by time, but the call history of the user is not classified by time Of course, you can also sort by specific phone numbers or by specific regions. When a call is made by a user's call request, the control unit of the mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention may store not only the talk time but also a phone number input by the user, and in the case of the call, RF signal exchange between base stations. This is because it is natural that the control unit can determine its location through the base station when the current user makes a call.

Therefore, in the mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, when storing the call history information, if the phone number input by the user or the information about the location where the user made the call are stored together, According to the plan that discounts the rate, and the plan that discounts the rate when talking to a specific phone number, such as the couple rate plan, of course. Therefore, the scope of the invention should not be defined by the described embodiments, but should be determined by the equivalent of claims and claims.

In the present invention, when a user makes a call, the user checks the time at which the call is made, counts the time until the call is ended, extracts the entire call time in which the call is made, classifies it by time zone, and stores the call history information. . Whenever a user makes a call, the call time classified by time zone is included and stored in the call history information stored for each time, and the information about each plan is received from the mobile communication service provider. After setting, calculate the call charge of the user according to the call history information. The lowest rate plan is selected and displayed. Accordingly, the user can select an optimal plan according to his or her call pattern using only the mobile communication terminal regardless of the place.

Claims (13)

In the mobile communication terminal, A memory unit including a plan information storage unit for storing at least one plan information on a mobile communication service fee transmitted from a mobile communication service provider of the mobile communication terminal, a call history storage unit for storing call history information of the user; , A rate calculation unit for receiving the at least one rate information and the call history information and calculating a rate according to the call history for each rate plan; According to the user's selection, the at least one rate information and the call history information is input to the rate calculation unit, receiving the rate calculated according to each rate from the rate calculation unit, the lowest rate among them And a control unit for informing the user by selecting the calculated rate plan as an optimal rate plan. The method of claim 1, wherein the call history information, The mobile communication terminal is characterized by checking the talk time made due to the user's call request, classifying the checked talk time by each time, and then gathering the talk time classified by the time for each time period. To select the best plan for your plan. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one rate plan, Device for selecting an optimal plan in a mobile communication terminal, characterized in that the rate is different depending on the call time. The method of claim 1, wherein the call history information, Apparatus for selecting an optimal plan in a mobile communication terminal, characterized in that for a certain period of time, the call made by the call request of the user, the information collected by classifying by the phone number to which the call is connected. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one rate plan, Device for selecting an optimal plan in a mobile communication terminal, characterized in that the charge is a plan that varies depending on the charge number connected to the call. The method of claim 1, wherein the call history information, When a call is made due to the call request of the user for a certain period of time, the device for selecting an optimal plan in the mobile communication terminal, characterized in that the information collected by the classification by the location of the mobile communication terminal. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one rate plan, A device for selecting an optimal plan in a mobile communication terminal, characterized in that the rate is different depending on the region in which the mobile communication terminal is located. The method of claim 1, wherein the plan information, Apparatus for selecting an optimal plan in a mobile communication terminal, characterized in that transmitted from the mobile service provider via an Over The Air (OTA) method or a Short Message Service (SMS) message method. In the mobile communication terminal, When the call is made by the user's request, the call history information collecting step of storing the corresponding call history information, and collects it with the previously stored call history information, A rate calculating step of calculating a mobile communication service fee according to the collected call history information for each plan by at least one plan information transmitted from a mobile communication service provider of the mobile communication terminal; Selecting an optimal rate plan for selecting the lowest rate rate among the rates calculated for each rate plan; And a notification step of informing the user of the selected optimal rate plan. The method of claim 9, wherein the notification step, And displaying information on the selected tariff on the display unit of the mobile telecommunication terminal. The method of claim 10, wherein the information about the plan, A method for selecting an optimal plan in a mobile communication terminal, characterized by comprising a preset change code in the selected plan. The method of claim 11, wherein the notification step, The mobile communication terminal further comprises a rate change step of transmitting a rate change request message requesting the mobile communication service provider to change to a rate corresponding to the change code when the change code is input from the user. How to choose the best plan. The method of claim 10, wherein the notification step, When one of a specific key or a specific menu is selected, a plan change request message requesting a change to the selected optimal plan is transmitted to the mobile communication service provider. Way.

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