KR100658566B1 - Multi-system terminal and apparatus and method for providing service adaptation thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A multi-system terminal and a device and method for service adaptation thereof are provided to selectively connect to a network when it is necessary to change the network which the multi-system terminal is connected to, thereby providing the optimum service satisfying the surrounding environment and service request of a user. A service adaptation apparatus for a multi-system terminal(100a) comprises the followings: a context management unit(131); a profile management unit(132); a service adaptation unit(133) which determines whether to adapt a service on the basis of context information, collected from the context management unit(131), and user profile information, received from the profile management unit(132), and a pre-registered service adaptation policy, and then adapts the service according to the context information; and a service management unit(134).

Description

MULTI-SYSTEM TERMINAL AND APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING SERVICE ADAPTATION THEREOF

1 is a diagram illustrating a next generation communication system to which the present invention is applied.

2 is a diagram illustrating an apparatus configuration of a multi-system terminal for service adaptation according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of adapting a service in a multi-system terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating an operation process of selectively accessing a network according to an adapted service in a multi-system terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a multi-system terminal and a service adaptation apparatus and method thereof.

In a future communication age in which various services are provided using various terminals through various access networks, the most important thing is to provide seamless network access. In order to connect various access networks according to the seamless network connection and the user's preference, the future terminal will be dominated by multiple system terminals having various access network interfaces.

Conventionally, as a criterion for selecting and accessing various access networks, the multi-system terminal relies on information of the access network and priority information between the access networks determined by the user. In the case of selecting and accessing the access network based on such narrow information, it is difficult to meet the service requirements of the user and the network selection access is generated irrespective of the service currently used by the user, resulting in deterioration of service quality.

As a related art, Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-67515 discloses a method and apparatus for selective network access. This known technique is a method and apparatus for selectively accessing a network between a terminal device and a network such as the Internet through one or more access network terminal devices, wherein the access capability is determined for each of the one or more access network terminal devices. One access network terminal device is selected by comparing the determined access capability with the preferred access capability associated with the terminal device. The terminal device is configured according to the selected access network terminal device. In this known technology, only the access network information is collected and the access network is selected based on the preference information between the user access networks. That is, the selected access network connection does not take into account the service currently being used by the user. As a result, it may not be possible to provide a service required by a user in the selected access network.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a service and access network adapted to the user's requirements in a next-generation communication system consisting of a variety of access network and a multi-system terminal and its service adaptation apparatus and method that can minimize the degradation of service quality It is to provide.

According to one aspect of the invention, a multiple system terminal having multiple interfaces for connection with a plurality of access networks comprises a service adaptation apparatus for adapting services. The service adaptation apparatus includes: a context manager configured to collect context information including state information of the plurality of access networks; A profile manager for managing user profile information; A service adaptor adapted to adapt the service according to the context information by determining whether to adapt the service based on the context information collected from the context manager, the user profile information received from the profile manager, and a previously registered service adaptation policy; And a service manager configured to manage a service provided by the user and a service adaptation policy, and to provide the user with a service adapted by the service adaptor.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for adapting a service in a multi-system terminal having multiple interfaces for connection with a plurality of access networks is provided. The method includes determining whether to adapt a service based on context information including the plurality of access network state information, a service adaptation policy of a user, and user profile information; Adapting the service according to the context information based on the determination of whether to adapt the service; And providing the adapted service to the user.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a multi-system terminal for providing an adapted service through a plurality of access networks is provided. The multi-system terminal includes a plurality of interfaces for connection with the plurality of access networks; A matching unit for matching the plurality of interfaces; And determining whether to adapt the service based on the context information collected through the plurality of interfaces, the user profile information, and the adaptation policy of the service provided by the user, and providing the adapted service to the user according to the context information. Device.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the specification. In addition, when a part is said to "include" a certain component, this means that it may further include other components, except to exclude other components unless otherwise stated.

Now, a multi-system terminal and a service adaptation apparatus and method thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a next generation communication system to which the present invention is applied.

As shown in Fig. 1, the next generation communication system is composed of multiple system terminals 100a and 100b and various access networks 200a, 200b, 200c and 200d. The multi-system terminals 100a and 100b have an interface for connecting to various access networks 200a, 200b, 200c and 200d and receive services through various access networks 200a, 200b, 200c and 200d. For example, a user may access and convert an access network such as a 3G cellular network (200a), a WiBro network (200b), a WLAN network (200c), or a satellite network (200d). The service is provided through a connection to a converged IP core network (130).

2 is a diagram illustrating an apparatus configuration of a multi-system terminal for service adaptation according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the multi-system terminal 100a includes an interface unit 110, a matching unit (Network Convergence Layer) 120, and a service adaptation device 130. Although only the multi-system terminal 100a is illustrated in FIG. 2, the multi-system terminal 100b also has the same configuration as the multi-system terminal 100a.

The interface unit 110 provides an interface for connection with various access networks 200a, 200b, 200c, and 200d. In FIG. 2, the multi-system terminal 100a or 100b includes a 3G cellular network interface 111 for connecting to the 3G cellular network 200a, a WiBro network interface 112 for connecting to the WiBro network 200b, and a satellite network 200d. Are shown as having a satellite network interface 113 for connection with a network and a future access network interface 114 for connection with a future access network.

The service adaptation apparatus 130 includes a context manager 131, a profile manager 132, a service adaptor 133, a service manager 134, a network selector 135, and a session manager 136.

In order to adapt the service to the current situation of the user and to select and access the optimal network, the context manager 131 continuously monitors the surrounding environment, mainly the state of a plurality of access networks, and collects the required context information to collect the service adaptation unit 133. To pass).

The profile manager 132 manages user profile information required for service adaptation. The user profile information may include user network preference information, user service type information, user quality of service (QoS) information, cost information, user terminal information, network information, and service priority information.

The service adaptor 133 downloads the user profile information from the profile manager 132 and adapts the service provided by the user based on the context information transferred from the context manager 131 and the service adaptation policy of the user registered in advance. Decide In this case, when the service adaptation is determined, the service adaptor 133 adapts the service according to the context information, and generates a service adaptation trigger to the service manager 134 based on the adapted service. In addition, the service adaptor 133 generates a network selection trigger when a change from an access network to which the user is currently connected to another access network is required based on the adapted service.

The service manager 134 provides a user with an adapted service based on the service adapted from the service adaptor 133. That is, the service is provided to the user based on the service adaptation trigger received from the service adaptation unit 133. In addition, the service manager 134 registers the service adaptation policy provided by the user as the service adaptation unit 133 in advance.

The network selector 135 selects and connects to the access network based on the service adapted from the service adaptor 133. That is, the network selector 135 activates the access network interface to be changed based on the network selection trigger received from the service adaptation unit 133 to change and access the access network.

The session manager 136 manages a service session necessary for providing a service, and provides a service session required for a service adapted to the request of the service manager 134.

Next, the operation of the service adaptation apparatus 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of adapting a service in a multi-system terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the service manager 134 registers the adaptation policy of the service provided by the user as the service adaptor 133 in advance (S310). In addition, the service adaptor 133 downloads user profile information necessary for adapting the service from the profile manager 132 (S320), and receives the context information collected from the context manager 131 (S430). Thereafter, the service adaptation unit 133 performs service adaptation control to determine how the service should be adapted according to the context information based on the context information, the service adaptation policy, and the user profile information (S340). At this time, if it is determined that the user needs to execute the service provided by the service adaptor 133, the service adaptor adapts the service according to the context information, generates a service adaptation trigger corresponding thereto, and transmits the generated service adaptation trigger to the service manager 134 ( S350). The service manager 134 performs the service adaptation based on the service adaptation trigger received from the service adaptation unit 133 and provides the adapted service to the user (S360). In this case, when the service session control is required based on the adapted service, the service manager 134 performs the service session control to the session manager 136 to receive the necessary service session (S370).

4 is a diagram illustrating an operation process of selectively accessing a network according to an adapted service in a multi-system terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. On the other hand, since the operation process (S410 ~ S440, S460, S470) for adapting the service in the service adaptation device is the same as the operation process (S310 ~ S360) shown in FIG. 3, description thereof is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 4, the service adaptation unit 133 adapts the service according to the context information when it is determined that the user needs to execute the service provided. At this time, if it is determined that a change from the currently connected access network to another access network is necessary based on the adapted service, a network selection trigger is generated and transmitted to the network selecting unit 135 (S450). The network selector 135 activates the access network interface to be changed based on the received network selection trigger and executes the corresponding access network selection access (S470).

The embodiments of the present invention described above are not implemented only through an apparatus and a method, but may be implemented through a program for realizing a function corresponding to the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention or a recording medium on which the program is recorded. From the description of the above-described embodiment can be easily implemented by those skilled in the art.

The above embodiments are intended to illustrate the present invention, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, it can be modified or modified by those skilled in the art within the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims.

As described above, according to the present invention, as a criterion for selecting and accessing various access networks, multiple system terminals are provided with service policy, service QoS, user as well as priority information between access network information and user-defined access network. It adapts the service including the service used by the user, such as service type, and selects and connects to the optimal network so that the service requirements of the user can be met, and the network selection connection considers the service currently used by the user. It is possible to minimize the deterioration of the quality.

In addition, in the future communication era in which various services are provided using various terminals through various access networks, the user may receive the best service adapted to the current situation of the user according to the environment and preferences of the user through the optimal access network. Thus, the optimum network can be selected and connected accordingly.

Claims (10)

An apparatus for adapting a service in a multi-system terminal having multiple interfaces for connection with a plurality of access networks, the apparatus comprising: A context manager configured to collect context information including state information of the plurality of access networks; A profile manager for managing user profile information; A service adaptor adapted to adapt the service according to the context information by determining whether to adapt the service based on the context information collected from the context manager, the user profile information received from the profile manager, and a previously registered service adaptation policy; And A service manager that manages the service provided by the user and the service adaptation policy, and provides the user with the service adapted by the service adaptor. Service adaptation apparatus of a multi-system terminal comprising a. The method of claim 1, A network selector for selectively accessing the access network based on the service adapted by the service adaptor Service adaptation apparatus of a multi-system terminal further comprising. The method of claim 2, A session manager providing a service session required for the adapted service to the service manager; Service adaptation apparatus of a multi-system terminal further comprising. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, And the service manager registers the service adaptation policy as the service adaptation unit. The method of claim 4, wherein The user profile information may include at least one of user's network preference information, user's service type information, user's service QoS information, cost information, user's terminal information, network information, and service priority information. Device. A method for adapting a service in a multi-system terminal having multiple interfaces for connection with a plurality of access networks, the method comprising: Determining whether to adapt a service based on context information including the plurality of access network state information, a service adaptation policy of a user, and user profile information; Adapting the service according to the context information based on the determination of whether to adapt the service; And Providing the adapted service to the user Service adaptation method of a multi-system terminal comprising a. The method of claim 6, Changing access to an access network from the adapted service Service adaptation method of a multi-system terminal further comprising. In the multi-system terminal for providing an adapted service through a plurality of access networks, A plurality of interfaces for connection with the plurality of access networks; A matching unit for matching the plurality of interfaces; And The service adaptation device determines whether to adapt the service based on the context information collected through the plurality of interfaces, the user profile information, and the adaptation policy of the service provided by the user, and provides the adapted service to the user according to the context information. Multi-system terminal comprising a. The method of claim 8, And the service adaptation device selects and connects an access network based on the adapted service. The method of claim 9, The service adaptation device, A context manager which collects the context information; A profile manager for managing the user profile information; A service adaptor determining whether to adapt the service based on the context information collected from the context manager, the user profile information received from the profile manager, and a service adaptation policy, and adapting the service according to the context information; A service manager for managing a service provided by the user and a service adaptation policy and providing the user with a service adapted by the service adaptor; And A network selector for selectively accessing the access network according to a service adapted by the service adaptor Multi-system terminal comprising a.

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