JP5824097B2 - Communication device and service management system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to communication technology.

  Store visit points may be processed using wireless data communication technology. Point service information is transmitted as a broadcast packet from a wireless communication module installed in a facility, received by a mobile terminal, and a point grant request is made to the server system. As a wireless communication method, wireless LAN, NFC, Bluetooth (trademark), ZigBee (trademark), or the like can be used.

  In recent years, a service is provided in which points are given at the time of visit using an advertising packet using Bluetooth LE (trademark). By the way, it is possible to learn UUID (Universally Unique Identifier, Request For Comment 4123) included in this advertising packet and to impersonate a store, etc., which is a problem in providing a point grant service. Such impersonation is also a problem when providing other services.

  In addition, the technique to which points are given in relation to the store visit is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-231622. For example, information on a point card is acquired by short-range wireless and points are given.

  The above-described prior art and its problems are described only to explain a part of the background of the present invention. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described prior art and problems.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-231622

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and is a communication technique that can acquire data contained in a broadcast information unit and cope with illegally receiving a service by impersonating a situation such as a store visit. The purpose is to provide.

  According to this invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the configuration as described in the claims is adopted. Here, prior to describing the invention in detail, supplementary explanations of the claims will be given.

  That is, according to one aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above-described object, the communication device includes: fixed first information for specifying the content of a service, and predetermined second information that can be updated A first communication means for transmitting a communication data unit by a predetermined wireless communication method; an update means for updating the second information; and a content of update by the update means in a communication method different from the predetermined wireless communication method. And a second communication means for transmitting to the external device or receiving from the external device.

  In this configuration, since the external device can use the updated content of the second information included in the communication data unit, it is possible to prevent an unauthorized use of the service by impersonating the communication data unit. .

  The update content may be determined by the communication device itself and transmitted to the external device, or the external device may determine the content and transmit it to the communication device. The update may be performed based on an arbitrary event including the passage of time in the communication device or the external device.

  In this configuration, the predetermined wireless communication method is Bluetooth Low Energy (trademark, Bluetooth conforms to the IEEE 802.15.1 standard), and the predetermined second information is UUID. It is not limited to. The advertising packet for beacon broadcast using Bluetooth LE includes, for example, a UUID, a major number, and a minor number, and may be identified as a service by the major number and the minor number. The service may be specified only by the major number without specifying the minor number. The UUID may be unique to the communication device, or the same UUID may be adopted by a plurality of communication devices. In the latter case, for example, the UUID may be used for business entity identification, the major number may be used for store identification, and the minor number may be used for in-store communication device (beacon) identification. For updating the UUID, a new UUID may be generated and used, or may be updated by calculating with some data. For example, the updated second information may be obtained by performing an exclusive logical operation using all or part of the time data.

  In this configuration, the communication method of the second communication means may be any communication method including a wired or wireless local area network communication method. The wireless local area network communication system is typically a wireless LAN compliant with IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g, and IEEE 802.11N, but is not limited thereto. The wireless LAN communication network may be connected to the Internet or the like via a router, and may be connected to an external device via this. The second communication means is set to a communicable state only when it is necessary to perform communication, and can be in a low power consumption state (including the case of zero) in other states. The transition to a communicable state may be based on any event such as the passage of time.

  Further, in this configuration, although the update content by the update means is the UUID that has been updated or is to be updated, if the update content is determined according to a predetermined rule, the update has been performed. You may be notified. When the communication device and the external device are synchronized, transmission or reception of the update content can be omitted.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, a service management system includes a communication device, a portable terminal, and a server device, and the communication device specifies fixed first information for specifying a service content. And a first communication means for transmitting a communication data unit including predetermined second information that can be updated by a predetermined wireless communication method, an update means for updating the second information, and an update by the update means And a second communication means for transmitting to the server device by a communication method different from the predetermined wireless communication method, or receiving from the server device, the portable terminal, A receiving unit that receives the communication data unit transmitted from one communication unit, and an information unit including the first information included in the received communication data unit, to the server device. The server device determines whether the first information included in the information unit sent from the portable terminal corresponds to the content of the update by the update unit of the communication unit. An inspection unit for inspecting and an execution unit for executing processing corresponding to the service based on the inspection unit are provided.

  In this configuration, since the external device can use the updated content of the second information included in the communication data unit, it is possible to prevent an unauthorized use of the service by impersonating the communication data unit. . The service is typically a service such as point granting, but can be applied to various arbitrary services provided by the server device such as content provision.

  The portable terminal or mobile terminal is typically a mobile phone, but includes a portable computer, tablet computer, media player, personal digital assistants, and combinations of two or more of these products It may be a device.

  The server device is typically an HTTP-compliant web-based server device, but may be any server device that complies with other communication methods.

  The present invention can be realized not only as an apparatus or a system but also as a method. Of course, a part of the invention can be configured as software. Of course, software products used to cause a computer to execute such software are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  These and other aspects of the invention are set forth in the appended claims and will be described in detail below with reference to examples.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to cope with illegally receiving a service by acquiring data contained in an information unit to be broadcast and impersonating a situation such as a store visit.

It is a figure explaining the environment where the point management system of the Example of this invention is performed. It is a functional block diagram of the transmission apparatus of FIG. It is a functional block diagram of the portable terminal of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the portable terminal of FIG. It is a functional block diagram of the server apparatus of FIG. It is a figure explaining the whole flow of the point management system of the Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the example of a format of the advertising packet used in FIG. It is a figure explaining the provider database of a server apparatus. It is a figure explaining the user point database of a server apparatus. It is a figure explaining UUID update operation | movement in the point management system of the Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining UUID update operation | movement in the transmitter of FIG. It is a figure explaining the operation | movement of the UUID update notification in the transmitter of FIG.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a point management system as a whole. In this figure, a beacon communication device 100 and a wireless LAN router 400 are fixed in a store facility 700 and arranged to be movable. Has been. The wireless LAN router 400 is configured to perform wireless communication with the beacon communication device 100 based on IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g, or IEEE 802.11N. The wireless LAN router 400 is connected to a communication network 600 such as the Internet, and the server apparatus 300 is connected to the communication network 600. The server device 300 is typically a web server that is compliant with HTTP, but is not limited thereto. The portable terminal 200 may exist in the store facility 700 as the customer moves. Although the mobile terminal 200 is typically a mobile phone, it may be any device including a portable computer, a tablet computer, a media player, personal digital assistants, and combinations of two or more of these products. It's okay. The portable terminal 200 is connected to a communication network 600 such as the Internet via a packet communication network or the like, and further via a gateway 500 of a communication center of a mobile communication company, and further connected to the server device 300 via this. is there. When the mobile terminal 200 is within a predetermined distance range of the beacon communication device 100, the mobile terminal 200 can receive the beacon signal of the weak radio wave. The beacon signal is an advertising packet that is typically broadcasted in accordance with Bluetooth LE (IEEE802.15.1), but is not limited thereto.

  Although FIG. 1 shows an example in which the beacon communication device 100 is one, the beacon communication device 100 may be provided apart from the store facility 700, for example, on different floors. A plurality of store facilities 700 may be operated, and one or a plurality of beacon communication devices 100 or one or a plurality of wireless LAN routers 400 may be provided in each store facility.

  For example, the beacon communication apparatus 100 broadcasts the advertising packet shown in FIG. 7 using weak radio waves, and the mobile terminal 200 at a short distance receives it. The mobile terminal 200 transmits predetermined data in the advertising packet, for example, data including the UUID to the server apparatus 300, and the server apparatus 300 receives the data including the UUID and the like, and sends it to the user account corresponding to the mobile terminal 200. You can add points. The UUID may be unique for each point service (operator), and the server device 300 adds points only when the received UUID is authentic.

  The beacon communication apparatus 100 holds UUID data, which is updated in accordance with a predetermined rule or a predetermined event, and the updated content, for example, a new UUID, for example, the wireless LAN router 400 and the Internet To the server apparatus 300 via the communication network 600. The server device 300 can determine the authenticity of the UUID based on the updated content.

  FIG. 2 shows functional blocks of the beacon communication apparatus 100. In this figure, the beacon communication apparatus 100 includes a beacon transmission unit 101, a wireless LAN transmission / reception unit 103, and a UUID update unit 102. The beacon transmission unit 101 broadcasts an advertising packet in accordance with Bluetooth, and this packet includes a UUID, a major number, and a minor number as described above (FIG. 7). The beacon transmission unit 101 includes a data storage unit 101a that stores data including a UUID, a major number, and a minor number. The data storage unit 101a may be provided outside the beacon transmission unit 101. The UUID update unit 102 newly generates a UUID and updates and writes the UUID stored in the data storage unit 101a. The UUID can be generated using a pseudo random number generator or can be generated using a MAC address. The wireless LAN transmission / reception unit 103 can transmit and receive wireless LAN signals. In this example, the new UUID generated for update writing by the UUID update unit 102 is preferably transmitted to the server apparatus 300 together with the major number and the minor number. As a result, the server apparatus 300 can reflect the latest UUID information.

  In addition, when a single provider (or service) uses a plurality of beacon communication devices 100, it is preferable that the corresponding plurality of beacon communication devices 100 hold the same UUID. In this case, it is preferable that one beacon communication device 100 notifies the other beacon communication device 100 of the update of the UUID, and the UUID is updated motivated.

  FIG. 3 shows functional blocks of the portable terminal 200 with a focus on the parts related to the present invention. In this figure, the portable terminal 200 includes a beacon receiving unit 201, a point addition requesting unit 202, and a confirmation processing unit 203. Including. These functional parts are formed by combining the hardware and software of the portable terminal 200 described in FIG. The beacon receiving unit 201 receives an advertising packet broadcast-transmitted from the beacon communication device 100 in conformity with Bluetooth LE. The beacon receiving unit 201 acquires a UUID, a major number, and a minor number from the advertising packet, and further, based on the radio field intensity, it is close, near (near, for example, within 1 m), and far (far, for example, 1 m or more). The distance information (proximity) of the category is acquired and supplied to the point addition request unit 202. The point addition request unit 202 generates a point addition request including these pieces of information as arguments and transmits them to the server device 300. The confirmation processing unit 203 acquires information about whether or not the point addition is successful based on a response from the server device 300. If the point addition is successful, the confirmation processing unit 203 stores information such as the time in the status storage unit 204 as a UUID, a major number, and Memorize the minor number. Based on the information in the status storage unit 204, various managements can be performed, such as adding only one point within the same day.

  The mobile terminal 200 responds to a similar advertising packet sent from another beacon transmission device provided to provide another service in addition to the point addition service at the time of visiting the store described here. A service corresponding to the other beacon communication device may be requested.

  FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the mobile terminal 200. In this figure, the mobile terminal 200 includes a processing system 210, a memory 220, an input / output subsystem 230, a high-frequency circuit unit 240, and an audio circuit unit 250. Each of the components can be realized as appropriate by hardware including a signal processing integrated circuit and an application specific integrated circuit, software, or a combination thereof. The high-frequency circuit unit 240 is used to transmit / receive information to / from other devices over a wireless link or network, and to perform this function, an antenna system, an RF transceiver, an amplifier, a tuner, an oscillator, Including, but not limited to, digital signal processors, CODEC chip sets, memories, and other known circuit configurations. The high-frequency circuit unit 240 is used for mobile communication such as time division multiple access (TDMA) and code division multiple access (CDMA), wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g and / or IEEE 802.11N), Bluetooth. Although communication protocols such as (IEEE802.15.1) and Wi-MAX (IEEE802.16) can be used, the present invention is not limited to this. The audio circuit unit 250 is connected to the audio speaker 251 and the microphone 252. The processing system 210 includes a processor 211, a memory controller 212, and a peripheral device marking surface 213. A memory 220 stores codes and data executed by the processor 211. The memory 210 may include any storage device such as RAM, ROM, FLASH, disk drive, magnetic tape and the like. The processor 211 executes various software components stored in the memory 220. For example, the software components include an operating system 221, a communication module 222, a contact / operation module 223, a graphics module 224, an application 225, a timer module 226, and a web browser module 227. Application 225 includes location capabilities such as a browser, address book, e-mail, encryption, global positioning system (GPS). The input / output subsystem 230 controls the touch panel 231 and the like.

  As described above, the various functions in FIG. 3 are realized as the hardware resources and software resources in FIG. 4. For example, the point addition request unit 202 and the confirmation processing unit 203 in FIG. This can be realized by installing in the memory 220.

  FIG. 5 shows functional blocks of the server device 300 centering on portions related to the present invention. In FIG. 5, the server device 300 is typically a web server that performs transmission and reception in accordance with HTTP. Application modules, and an application server and a database management server.

  The server device 300 can accept and process a point addition request from the beacon communication device 100 respectively disposed in a plurality of different stores.

  The server device 300 includes a point addition request receiving unit 301, a point addition request checking unit 302, a point addition processing unit 303, an update content receiving unit 304, an operator database 305, and a user point database 306. The company database 305 (FIG. 8) includes a company ID, UUID, major number, minor number, distance information, URL, and the like for each company. The user point database 306 includes a user ID, a store, points, and the like. The point addition request receiving unit 301 receives a point addition request corresponding to the beacon signal from the mobile terminal 200, and the point addition request inspecting unit 302 uses the UUID, major number, and minor number (may be only the major number) in the business entity database. If there is a row corresponding to 305, the point addition processing unit 303 adds points in the user point database 306 for the corresponding user. The user point database 306 (FIG. 9) holds information such as users, stores, and points. The update content receiving unit 304 receives the update content information transmitted from the beacon communication device 100 via the router 400 and the communication network 600, and updates and writes the UUID of the provider database 305. The update content information includes, for example, a new UUID, major number, and minor number. The major number and minor number, or the UUID data of the business specified by the major number is updated and written.

  In addition, when the mobile terminal 200 scans (monitors) the advertising packet of the beacon communication apparatus 100 and the UUID of the advertising packet is indispensable, the beacon communication apparatus 100 changes the UUID of the business operator (service). Then, it is preferable to notify each mobile terminal 200 of the new UUID value after the change by PUSH notification, and update the UUID to be monitored in each mobile terminal. For example, in the case of iOS (trademark), APNs (Apple Push Notification Service (trademark)) can be used to execute a PUSH notification using a device token to the application of the mobile terminal 200. In addition, the mobile terminal 200 may periodically poll the server device 300 or the like to acquire a new UUID. In this case, even if the UUID acquired in the past in the store facility is illegally used and the beacon communication device 100 is camouflaged, the UUID that has been illegally used is not monitored by the mobile phone 200 after the UUID is updated. Not.

  When the same operator operates a plurality of beacon communication devices, the major number or the minor number is changed for each beacon communication device, and the UUID value is the same in the operator database 305 for each beacon communication device 100. May be managed as individual records. In this case, the record having the same UUID value is similarly updated and written with the UUID value.

  FIG. 6 shows the overall flow of the point addition process. In this figure, the beacon communication device 100 intermittently broadcasts a beacon signal (advertising packet, FIG. 7), and the portable terminal 200 approaching this broadcasts this signal. (S10), a point addition request (including UUID, major number, and minor number) is generated based on the request (S10), and transmitted to the server device 300 (S11). If the UUID is indispensable when the mobile terminal 200 or its application monitors the beacon signal, the UUID is different when the old UUID before the update is used illegally, and the beacon is different at this time. Signals cannot be determined significantly and services are not provided illegally. The server apparatus 300 receives the point addition request, and checks whether or not the UUID is authentic corresponding to the major number and the minor number with reference to the business (service) database 305. For example, the operator database 305 is looked up by the major number and the minor number for which point addition is requested, and the corresponding UUID is extracted, and it is checked whether or not this matches the UUID for which point addition is requested. As a result of this inspection, if the UUID in the point addition request is authentic, points are added with respect to the store for the user corresponding to the mobile terminal 200, and if not, error processing is performed. After that, the processing result is transmitted to the portable terminal 200 (S12), and if necessary, a web page such as an advertisement of the corresponding store is transmitted.

  FIG. 10 illustrates the UUID update operation in the beacon communication device 100 and the server device 300. The beacon communication device 100 notifies the server device 300 of this when the UUID is updated (S20). In response to this, 300 updates the UUID that is a copy thereof and returns a response confirmation to beacon communication apparatus 100 (S21). When specifying the UUID of the advertising packet when the mobile terminal 200 scans (monitors) the advertising packet of the beacon communication device 100, when the UUID of the business operator (service) is changed in the beacon communication device 100 A new UUID value after the change may be notified to each mobile terminal 200 by a PUSH notification to request an update (S22).

  FIG. 11 illustrates an example of UUID update operation in the beacon communication device 100. In this figure, the UUID update unit 102 of the beacon communication device 100 starts an update operation based on a predetermined event, for example, the passage of time. To do. First, a new UUID is generated by, for example, a pseudo random number generator (S30). The new UUID performs update writing of the UUID portion of the data storage unit 101a (S31), and requests the wireless LAN transmitting / receiving unit 103 to notify the update contents (for example, new UUID, major number, and minor number) (S32). . A notification that the notification has been made successfully is obtained from the wireless LAN transmission / reception unit 103, and the process is terminated (S33).

  FIG. 12 illustrates an operation example of the update content notification of the beacon communication apparatus 100. In FIG. 12, when the wireless LAN transmission / reception unit 103 receives a notification request from the UUID update unit 102, a low power consumption operation (zero) is performed. (Including power) to a start state in which wireless LAN communication is possible (S40), and thereafter, the received update content is notified to the server device 300 (S42). A confirmation notification is received from the server device 300, and thereafter, this is further notified to the UUID update unit 102 (S42), and then the state is shifted to the low power consumption state and the process is terminated (S43). Note that the wireless LAN transmission unit 103 only needs to return to a communicable state prior to notification of the update content, and until then, may be a low power consumption operation (including zero power).

  This is the end of the description of the embodiment.

  In addition, this invention is determined based on description of a claim, and is not limited to the specific structure of the Example, a subject, and an effect. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the update content such as UUID is transmitted from the beacon communication device to the server device, but the update content is transmitted from the server device to the beacon communication device, and the UUID is updated in the beacon communication device based on this. May be good. In addition, if it is determined in advance how to update the UUID, the update mode may be instructed to maintain the consistency of the UUID between the beacon communication device and the server device.

  Further, in place of or in accordance with the UUID, the camouflage may be inspected by checking the SSID, MAC address, and IP address of the wireless LAN router when the mobile terminal connects to the server device. Further, position information such as GPS may be sent from the mobile terminal, or position information by mobile communication may be sent to check for camouflage.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Beacon communication apparatus 101 Beacon transmission part 101a Data storage part 102 UUID update part 103 Wireless LAN transmission / reception part 200 Portable terminal 201 Beacon reception part 202 Point addition request part 203 Confirmation process part 204 Status storage part 225 A application 300 Server apparatus 301 Point addition Request receiving unit 302 Point addition request checking unit 303 Point addition processing unit 304 Update content receiving unit 305 Operator database 306 User point database 400 Wireless LAN router 500 Gateway 600 Communication network 700 Store facility

Claims (6)

First communication means for transmitting a communication data unit including fixed first information for specifying the content of service and predetermined second information that can be updated by a predetermined wireless communication method;
Updating means for updating the second information;
A communication apparatus comprising: a second communication unit that transmits the content of the update by the update unit to an external device using a communication method different from the predetermined wireless communication method or receives the content from the external device.   The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined wireless communication method is Bluetooth Low Energy (trademark), and the predetermined second information is UUID.   The communication apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication method of the second communication means is a wired or wireless local area network communication method.   The communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the content of the update by the update means is a UUID that has been updated or is to be updated. In a service management system comprising a communication device, a portable terminal, and a server device,
The communication device is
First communication means for transmitting a communication data unit including fixed first information for specifying the content of service and predetermined second information that can be updated by a predetermined wireless communication method;
Updating means for updating the second information;
A second communication unit that transmits the content of the update by the update unit to the server device in a communication method different from the predetermined wireless communication method, or receives from the server device;
The above portable terminal
Receiving means for receiving the communication data unit sent from the first communication means of the communication device;
Means for transmitting the information unit including the first information included in the received communication data unit to the server device;
The server device is
Inspection means for inspecting whether or not the first information included in the information unit sent from the portable terminal corresponds to the content of the update by the update means of the communication means;
A service management system comprising: execution means for executing processing corresponding to the service based on the inspection means.   6. The service management system according to claim 5, wherein the service is a point management service.

Images