JP6272980B2 - Network connection system and method - Google Patents

Description

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

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

  Here, in a normal network connection configuration, IP packets from application software are transferred on a best effort basis, and the IP packets cannot be preferentially controlled so as to be selected for each application. Therefore, for example, control of giving priority to communication of application software that handles voice information such as an IP phone cannot be performed over other application software, leading to dissatisfaction with smartphone users.

  On the other hand, it is possible to set the IP address of a specific smartphone in the router in advance and preferentially control the connection from that smartphone, but in that case, not only the IP phone but also the connection of all applications of that smartphone is prioritized. Will be. In addition, although it is possible to preferentially control only connections addressed to a specific service server, for example, recent IP telephone services are provided in cooperation with a plurality of servers. It is difficult to grasp all the IP addresses and set them in the router in advance.

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

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

In order to achieve the above object, according to a first main aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bandwidth control router placed between a mobile network and the Internet,
A network connection system configured such that a plurality of application software installed in a mobile information terminal on a mobile network is connected to a service server on the Internet via the bandwidth control router,
This system
An application communication environment management server provided on the Internet, which detects the type of application trying to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal, and determines a connection policy (bandwidth control, priority communication) according to the type of application. And an application communication environment management server for setting the bandwidth control router together with information (IP address, port number, etc.) for identifying the portable information terminal),
The bandwidth control router is configured to transfer packets from the specified portable information terminal with priority control or a predetermined priority communication bandwidth according to a connection policy received from the application communication environment management server. A network connection system is provided.

  According to one embodiment of the present invention, the application connection server displays the detection of the type of application that is going to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal as the frontmost display on the portable information terminal. This is done by receiving the type of application that is running.

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

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

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

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

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the application connection environment management server refers to a table storing a type of application to be preferentially connected or bandwidth controlled and a connection policy of the application. A connection policy corresponding to the type of software is extracted from the table and transmitted to the bandwidth control router.

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

  According to still another embodiment, the system of the present invention monitors the data communication amount of each portable communication terminal by the bandwidth control router, and downloads for each application according to the type of application active in the portable information terminal. A data communication amount recording unit for recording the data communication amount; In this case, according to the type of application active in the portable information terminal, a traffic volume upper limit determination unit that determines whether the data traffic volume for each application recorded by the data traffic volume recording unit has reached a predetermined upper limit value. The system preferably includes a communication limiting unit that limits packet transfer from the portable information terminal by the bandwidth limiting router in accordance with the determination by the communication amount upper limit determination unit.

  Further, based on the data traffic volume for each application recorded by the data traffic volume recording unit, a line communication congestion level for each application is calculated, and a congestion level display interface for displaying the congestion level to a user who generates the congestion level is generated. It is preferable to have a congestion degree display portion. Further, it is preferable to have a communication amount display unit for generating a data communication amount display interface for displaying the data communication amount for each application recorded by the data communication amount recording unit to the user. Furthermore, it is preferable to charge the user based on the data communication amount for each application recorded by the data communication amount recording unit.

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

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

  According to still another embodiment, in the system of the present invention, the connection policy includes setting of a communication time zone and a location that are different for each specific application.

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

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

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

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

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

  According to still another embodiment, the system of the present invention is installed in the portable information communication terminal, and causes the portable information terminal to detect the type of application that is actively displayed on the display of the portable information terminal. Means for causing the portable information terminal to acquire portable information terminal identification information for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network; and And an application management software program having means for transmitting to the bandwidth control system together with information to be specified.

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

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

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

  According to a second main aspect of the present invention, a plurality of application software having a bandwidth control router placed between a mobile network and the Internet and installed in a portable information terminal on the mobile network is provided with the bandwidth A method executed by a network connection system configured to be connected to a service server on the Internet via a control router, wherein the application connection environment management server provided on the Internet The type of application to be connected to the server from the information terminal is detected, and the connection policy (control bandwidth, compression presence / absence, etc.) according to the type of application software and the band (information such as IP address) specifying the portable information terminal Sending to the control router The bandwidth control router transfers the packet from the specified portable information terminal with priority control or a predetermined priority communication bandwidth according to the connection policy (control bandwidth, compression presence / absence, etc.) received from the application connection environment management server. And a method characterized by comprising the steps of:

  Other features not described in the claims of the present invention will become apparent from the following best mode for carrying out the invention and the drawings.

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

In this embodiment, a network connection system including a bandwidth control router is a virtual mobile network operator (Mobile Virtual Network).
An example provided by an operator (hereinafter referred to as “MVNO operator”) will be described.

  An MVNO operator does not own a physical mobile line network called a mobile network, but borrows it from a mobile communication operator (Mobile Network Operator, hereinafter referred to as “MNO operator”). A business operator that provides communication services.

Before describing the characteristic configuration of the present invention, an example of a data communication environment through a mobile network will be described first with reference to FIG. 1 for the convenience of understanding the present invention.
(Data communication environment as a premise of the present invention)
In FIG. 1, a mobile network of the MNO operator is indicated by 1 in the figure, and a network connection system of the MVNO operator is indicated by 2.

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

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

  The applications 3a to 3e installed in the user's portable information terminal 3 include video software 3a, IP phone 3b, SNS 3c, browser 3d, mailer 3e, etc., but the user can freely add additional applications according to his / her preference. It can be installed. The applications 3a to 3e on the portable information terminal 3 are appropriately called and expanded and executed on the RAM by the CPU, so that the mobile network 5 of the MNO operator and the network connection system 2 of the MVNO operator are used. In addition, various processes are performed by connecting to various servers 10a to 10e on the Internet 9 and appropriately performing necessary data communication with the servers 10a to 10e.

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

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

  According to this bandwidth control, high priority application packets are always output with priority, or a larger communication bandwidth can be used, and packets related to high priority services can be transferred stably. Is possible.

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

  For example, when a specific terminal device is used with a fixed IP address, such as a dedicated IP phone or a VoIP gateway, the target packet can be reliably identified by specifying the IP address of the terminal device at the source. It is done.

  However, this method cannot be used in the case where a plurality of apps with different priorities are running on the same terminal, such as the portable information terminal 3 described above. That is, if it is attempted to identify a packet using only IP address information, priority control / bandwidth control is performed even for communications that do not need to be prioritized. Further, in an environment in which an IP address is automatically allocated to a portable information terminal by DHCP, it is impossible to determine which terminal is the original by looking at the IP address.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  The line status / usage monitoring server 15 monitors packets passing through the packet gateway 7 (PGW) provided in the system 2 on the MVNO provider side, and associates them with the IP address / port number of the portable information terminal 3. The amount of data communication is output and notified to the application / infrastructure cooperation server 14.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  As shown in FIG. 9, by default (indicated by “all”), 100 kbps, compression level “medium”, download remaining amount is 100 MB, usable time zone and place are not defined, and monthly capacity is set to 100 MB. . The specific application is set as shown in this table.

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

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

  Specifically, initially, the default connection policy is set, the communication speed is 100 kbps, and the communication upper limit is set regardless of the location and time. However, when the mobile information terminal 3 detects that the YouTube is activated and activated, the connection policy specified by the YouTube in FIG. 9 is specified (step S8).

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

  The bandwidth control router 8 performs bandwidth control based on the connection policy corresponding to the IP address and port number of the transmission source included in the packet. The bandwidth control router 8 performs bandwidth control for all packets from the specific portable information terminal 3 at a time, and the bandwidth based on the application (in this case, the YouTube) that the user is actively using at that time. As a result, the speed band that matches the type of application is secured.

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

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

  Next, the communication upper limit determination unit 40 determines whether or not the remaining communication capacity of the user / application communication bandwidth control connection policy 34 has reached the upper limit (1G in the example of the YouTube) (step S13). If the current communication is continued and reached, the bandwidth control is returned to the default value and set in the control bandwidth server (step S14). As a result, the priority bandwidth control (75 Mbps in this example) of the application (in this example, youtube) is terminated, and the default (default) line speed is limited to 100 kbps.

If another application becomes active during communication, the operations shown in FIGS. 4 and 6 are executed even during communication, and bandwidth control suitable for different applications is executed. .
(Display of line status)
In this embodiment, the data communication state display processing unit 41 shown in FIG. 5 has a function of presenting the data communication amount and the line congestion level for each application to the user's portable information terminal 3. Specifically, the data communication state display processing unit 41 transmits time series data for each application to be presented to the user in response to a request from the terminal 3 of the user. This data is displayed on the screen as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 by the communication status display unit 28 for each application provided in the application management software of the terminal 3 of the user.

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

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

  In this case, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 14, the billing server 17 cooperates with the billing processing module 43 of the app / infrastructure linking server 14, and the bandwidth control / connection policy for each user / application in the data storage unit 30. 34 is searched, and the registered communication band and usage (remaining amount) are acquired (S15). The billing processing module 43 transmits the information to the billing server 17 together with information specifying the user.

  The charging server 17 holds a charging policy (indicated by 17a in FIG. 2), and specifies a charging policy for each user based on the user information acquired from the cooperation server 14 (step S16). As a charging policy, for example, a user YouTube or the like can be set to have a low data communication fee for moving images and a high data communication fee such as WEB. Thereby, it is possible to perform a billing process according to the connection bandwidth and the usage amount for each application for the user (step S17).

  According to the configuration described above, even when a plurality of applications that perform network information communication are installed in the portable information terminal 3, communication control can be performed with different control bands for each application.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said one Embodiment, A various deformation | transformation is possible in the range which does not change the summary of invention.

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

  When the OS (for example, Android (registered trademark)) of the portable information terminal 3 starts an application on the terminal 3, the process also starts and outputs a unique process ID for each application. This process ID is detected by the IP address / port number detection module 25 of the application management software 50, and based on this, the per-process communication tag assignment module indicated by 50 in FIG. 15 assigns a different tag for each process number to the packet. To do. This tag may be the process ID itself of the above embodiment, the application name, or another identifier related to the process ID. By tagging a packet in this way, it becomes possible to determine which application is sending the packet even in the same session communication by the same terminal 3. In addition to the application that operates, even when an application that operates in the background transmits a packet, it is possible to determine the application that operates in the background. This connection is terminated by a tag release module 51 provided in the system 2 of the MVNO operator, and is configured to delete the tag after bandwidth control.

  According to such a configuration, even when a plurality of applications are communicating at the same time on the terminal 3, bandwidth control / priority control based on different connection policies can be performed for each connection. Specifically, in step S7 of FIG. 6, the application state change information acquisition module 36 receives the state change information transmitted from the application management software 16 of the portable information terminal 3 through the application management software communication module 42. receive. As described above, in this status information, a tag assigned based on the process ID of each application started on the user's terminal 3 (in the above embodiment, the application name is output based on whether it is active). Domain name base, coordinate position, application parameters, process name, IP address / port number of the mobile terminal 3 are included. In step S8, the communication band control policy setting unit 38 sets a control band connection policy for each user / application based on the state change information. In order to determine which application uses the packet based on the tag, it is necessary to transmit the association between the tag and the application name to the application infrastructure cooperation server 14 in advance. Is executed by the state change determination module 26.

  According to the configuration as described above, it is possible to identify which application the packet is transmitted by the tag included in the specific packet, so not only the application that is actively displayed on the forefront of the terminal 3, but also the background It is also possible to control the bandwidth of what is being communicated by, for example, narrowing the bandwidth or blocking the connection.

  Note that not only a tag is attached to each application, but also a different port number or a different IP address (virtual IP address) may be assigned to establish a tunnel connection. This function is executed by the function 50 of the tag addition module and the network stack. According to such a configuration, even when a plurality of applications are simultaneously communicating on the terminal 3, it is possible to individually control (band control, priority control) the communication band of each application packet. It should be noted that when the priority order is determined between applications, the connection policy determined on the management server side is used. In this case, the tunnel connection is executed by the tag cancellation module 51, and the IP address or / and port number for each application is deleted from each packet. As still another embodiment, the connection policy 34 is not limited to that of the above embodiment, and other policies can be included. For example, as the data compression method executed by the compression proxy server 19, a specific image conversion method or moving image conversion method can be defined. For example, if the image is converted to black and white, it can be converted to high definition or set.

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

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

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

Claims (48)

A bandwidth control router located between the mobile network and the Internet,
A network connection system configured such that a plurality of application software installed in a mobile information terminal on a mobile network is connected to the service server on the Internet via the bandwidth control router,
This system
A connection environment management server, detects the type of services that are from a specific portable information terminal attempts to connect upon connection to the service server, that sends information specifying the upper Symbol portable information terminal to the bandwidth control router has a connection environment management server,
The bandwidth control router state, and are not to forward a packet from the portable information terminal that is pre-Symbol particular priority control or at a predetermined priority communication band,
The portable information terminal is configured to generate a setting interface for a user to set a connection policy, and to transmit the connection policy set through the setting interface to the bandwidth control router via the connection environment management server. network connection system, characterized in that is. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
The connection environment management server receives detection of the type of service that is going to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal, and the type of application that is actively displayed on the forefront on the portable information terminal. A network connection system characterized by what is performed. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
The connection environment management server is configured to detect a type of service to be connected to the service server from a specific portable information terminal based on a tag included in a packet transmitted from the portable information terminal. Network connection system. The network connection system according to claim 3, wherein
The network connection system, wherein the tag is a process ID of the application generated by an OS of the portable information terminal or an identifier related to the process ID. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
When a plurality of types of the service are detected at the same time, the bandwidth control router is specified according to an individual connection policy according to an IP address or / and a port number that is different for each service included in the packet. A network connection system characterized by priority control of packets from portable information terminals. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
When a plurality of types of the service are detected at the same time, the bandwidth control router is specified according to an individual connection policy according to an IP address or / and a port number that is different for each service included in the packet. A network connection system for transferring packets from a portable information terminal in a predetermined priority communication band. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
The connection environment management server
Refers to a table storing the types of services to be prioritized or band-controlled and the connection policies of those services, extracts connection policies according to the service types from the table and sends them to the bandwidth control router. A network connection system characterized by being. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
The connection policy includes a setting of a communication priority or a communication band that is different for each specific service. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
It has a data communication volume recording unit that monitors the data communication volume for each portable information terminal by the bandwidth control router and records the download data communication volume for each service according to the type of service used in the portable information terminal. A network connection system characterized by that. The network connection system according to claim 9, wherein
A communication amount upper limit determination unit that determines whether the data communication amount for each service recorded by the data communication amount recording unit has reached a predetermined upper limit value according to the type of service used in the portable information terminal And
The system includes a communication restriction unit that restricts transfer of packets from the portable information terminal by the bandwidth control router according to the determination of the communication amount upper limit determination unit. The network connection system according to claim 9, wherein
Based on the data traffic volume for each service recorded by the data traffic volume recording unit, the line communication congestion level for each service is calculated,
A network connection system, comprising: a congestion level display unit for generating a congestion level display interface for displaying to the user who displays the congestion level. The network connection system according to claim 9, wherein
A network connection system, comprising: a communication amount display unit that generates a data communication amount display interface for displaying a data communication amount for each service recorded by the data communication amount recording unit to a user. The network connection system according to claim 9, wherein
A network connection system characterized in that a user is charged based on the data communication volume for each service recorded by the data communication volume recording unit. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
The network connection system, wherein the connection policy includes a setting of a different data compression level for each specific service. The network connection system according to claim 14, wherein
The data compression degree of the connection policy includes a setting of a data conversion method that differs for each specific service. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
The network connection system, wherein the connection policy includes a setting of a time zone and a place where communication can be performed for each specific service. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
The network connection system, wherein the information specifying the portable information terminal is an IP address of the portable information terminal. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
A network connection system comprising: a user billing information acquisition unit that receives user billing information and associates the billing information with a portable information terminal. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
The detection of the service type is based on the specification of the type of service provided by the application. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
The network connection system, wherein the type of service to be subjected to priority control or bandwidth control includes at least a service for voice calls. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
Installed on the portable information terminal,
Means for causing the portable information terminal to detect the type of service actively displayed on the display of the portable information terminal;
Means for causing the portable information terminal to acquire information identifying the portable information terminal, the identifying information being for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network; ;
The portable information terminal has a management software program having means for causing the connection environment management server to transmit the type of service to the connection environment management server together with information identifying the portable information terminal. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein the type detection is performed based on information received from the portable information terminal. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
Installed on the portable information terminal,
Means for causing the portable information terminal to detect a process ID of an application started on the portable information terminal;
Means for causing the portable information terminal to acquire information identifying the portable information terminal, the identifying information being for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network; ;
Means for causing the portable information terminal to transmit information identifying the portable information terminal to the connection environment management server together with the process ID or a specific tag different for each process;
Means for including a process ID or a specific tag that differs for each process in a packet transmitted from the application and transmitting the bandwidth control router to the packet, and the connection environment management server The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein the detection of the type of service is performed based on information received from the portable information terminal. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
Installed on the portable information terminal,
Means for causing the portable information terminal to detect an IP address or / and a port number of an application started on the portable information terminal;
Means for causing the portable information terminal to acquire information identifying the portable information terminal, the identifying information being for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network; ;
Means for causing the portable information terminal to transmit the portable information terminal specifying information to the application connection environment management server together with the IP address or / and the port number;
Means for including the IP address and / or port number in a packet transmitted from the application and transmitting the packet to the bandwidth control router. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein the type detection is performed based on information received from the portable information terminal. The network connection system according to claim 1, wherein
Installed in the portable information communication terminal;
A network connection system comprising: an application management software program having means for causing the portable information terminal to receive a communication state for each service from the connection environment management server and displaying it on a display of the portable information terminal. A bandwidth control router located between the mobile network and the Internet,
A plurality of application software installed in a mobile information terminal on a mobile network is configured to be connected to a service server on the Internet via the bandwidth control router,
This method
The connection environment management server detects the type of service when connecting to the service server from a specific portable information terminal,
Send information identifying the mobile information terminal to the bandwidth control router,
The bandwidth control router transfers the packet from the specified portable information terminal with priority control or a predetermined priority communication bandwidth,
The mobile information terminal generates a setting interface for a user to set a connection policy,
A network connection method characterized by transmitting a connection policy set through the setting interface to the bandwidth control router via the connection environment management server. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The connection environment management server receives detection of the type of service that is going to connect to the service server from a specific portable information terminal, and the type of application that is actively displayed on the forefront on the portable information terminal. A network connection method characterized by what is performed. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The connection environment management server is configured to detect a type of service to be connected to the service server from a specific portable information terminal based on a tag included in a packet transmitted from the portable information terminal. Network connection method. The network connection method according to claim 27, wherein
The network connection method, wherein the tag is a process ID of the application generated by an OS of the portable information terminal or an identifier related to the process ID. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
When a plurality of types of the services are detected at the same time, the bandwidth control router determines the specified mobile phone according to an individual connection policy according to an IP address or / and a port number that is different for each application included in the packet. A network connection method characterized by preferentially controlling packets from an information terminal. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The bandwidth control router, when a plurality of types of the services are detected at the same time, according to an individual connection policy according to an IP address or / and a port number for each application included in the packet, A network connection method characterized by transferring a packet from a terminal in a predetermined priority communication band. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The connection environment management server
Refers to a table storing the types of services to be prioritized or band-controlled and the connection policies of those services, extracts connection policies according to the service types from the table and sends them to the bandwidth control router. A network connection method characterized by that. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The network connection method, wherein the connection policy includes a setting of a communication priority or a communication band that is different for each specific service. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
It has a data communication volume recording step of monitoring the data communication volume for each portable information terminal by the bandwidth control router and recording the download data communication volume for each service according to the type of service communicating with the portable information terminal. A network connection method characterized by the above. The network connection method according to claim 33,
A communication amount upper limit determination step for determining whether the data communication amount for each service recorded in the data communication amount recording step has reached a predetermined upper limit value according to the type of service used in the portable information terminal. And
This method includes a communication restriction step of restricting packet transfer from the portable information terminal by the bandwidth control router according to the determination in the communication amount upper limit determination step. The network connection method according to claim 33,
Based on the data traffic volume for each service recorded in the data traffic volume recording step, the line communication congestion level for each service is calculated,
A network connection method comprising: a congestion level display step of generating a congestion level display interface for displaying to the user who displays the congestion level. The network connection method according to claim 33,
A network connection method, comprising: a communication amount display step of generating a data communication amount display interface for displaying a data communication amount for each service recorded in the data communication amount recording step to a user. The network connection method according to claim 33,
A network connection method characterized in that the user is charged based on the data communication amount for each service recorded in the data communication amount recording step. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The network connection method, wherein the connection policy includes a setting of a different data compression level for each specific service. The network connection method according to claim 38, wherein
The data compression degree of the connection policy includes a setting of a data conversion method that differs for each specific service. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The network connection method, wherein the connection policy includes a setting of a time zone and a place where communication is possible for each specific service. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The information for specifying the portable information terminal is an IP address of the portable information terminal. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
A network connection method comprising: a user billing information acquisition step for receiving user billing information and associating it with a portable information terminal. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The detection of the service type is based on the specification of the type of service provided by the application. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The network connection method, wherein the type of service to be subjected to priority control or bandwidth control includes at least a service for voice calls. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The portable information terminal detecting the type of service actively displayed on the display of the portable information terminal;
The portable information terminal is means for obtaining information for identifying the portable information terminal, and the identifying information is for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network; ;
The portable information terminal includes a step of transmitting the type of service to the connection environment management server together with information identifying the portable information terminal, and the detection of the type of service by the connection environment management server includes: A network connection method, which is performed based on information received from a portable information terminal. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The portable information terminal detecting a process ID of an application started on the portable information terminal;
The step of obtaining information for identifying the portable information terminal, wherein the portable information terminal is for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network; and ;
The portable information terminal transmits information identifying the portable information terminal to the application connection environment management server together with the process ID or a specific tag different for each process;
The packet transmitted from the application includes the process ID or a specific tag that is different for each process and transmits the packet to the bandwidth control router, and the connection environment management server detects the type of service. A network connection method, which is performed based on information received from the portable information terminal. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
The portable information terminal detecting an IP address or / and a port number of an application started on the portable information terminal;
The step of obtaining information for identifying the portable information terminal, wherein the portable information terminal is for uniquely identifying the portable information terminal on a communication network; and ;
The portable information terminal transmitting the portable information terminal specifying information together with the IP address or / and the port number to the application connection environment management server;
The packet transmitted from the application includes the IP address and / or the port number and transmits the packet to the bandwidth control router, and the connection environment management server detects the type of service. A network connection method, which is performed based on information received from an information terminal. The network connection method according to claim 25, wherein
A network connection method comprising: a step in which the portable information terminal receives a communication state for each service from the bandwidth control router and displays it on a display of the portable information terminal.