KR100677979B1 - Method for charging for wireless internet service - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a charging method for using the Internet in a wireless terminal.

According to the present invention, when a terminal accesses a content provider through a wireless service provider system, an electric serial number (ESN) and a mobile internet number (MIN), which are registered information of the wireless terminal, are provided to the content provider through a wireless service provider system. In the case of a connected wireless terminal, the registration information of the wireless terminal is stored in a database in the content provider, and later provided by the ESN and MIN in the content provider database and the wireless terminal when the wireless terminal accesses the content provider's site and downloads the paid content. If the ESN and MIN are the same, the discount rate is applied to the usage fee for the content use, thereby reducing the burden of the usage fee and inducing more and more service usage, resulting in the sales of wireless communication. Can contribute There is an advantage to that.

Description

Charging method for internet usage in wireless terminal {METHOD FOR CHARGING FOR WIRELESS INTERNET SERVICE}

1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a charging system according to the present invention.

2 is a schematic block diagram showing an internal configuration of a charging center of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of comparing and charging information of a terminal in a charging system of the present invention.

<Explanation of Signs of Major Parts of Drawings>

100: wireless terminal 102: base station

104: wireless service provider system

106: billing center 108: gateway

110: the Internet

112: content provider

114: User Properties Database

12: billing server 14: time server

16: DB server 18: User DB

20: Billing DB

The present invention relates to a charging method for using the Internet in a wireless terminal, and when a wireless terminal user receives content or uses a web page through the Internet, a method for charging by differentially applying a service cost according to the use time and frequency of use. It is about.

With the development of wireless communication, services that provide music files, picture files, and the like through the wireless Internet, or provide various information such as law, medical care, stocks, etc. are becoming common. In particular, with the widespread use of wireless terminals, the information providing business through the wireless Internet is being activated.

However, in the wireless Internet, unlike wired Internet communication, it is a problem to charge the users who connect to the information usage fee for providing information according to the usage time. That is, when a wireless Internet user receives information from a content provider, there is a disadvantage in that the user pays a heavy fee in using the wireless Internet due to a collective charge.

Therefore, there is a need for a reasonable method for a wireless Internet service provider to charge a user a fee for using information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of this point, and an object thereof is to provide a charging method for using the Internet in a wireless terminal which can differentially apply the charging according to the use of information through the wireless Internet.

According to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, the user of the terminal using the terminal, the wireless service provider system wirelessly connected to the terminal and the charging server of the charging center in the wireless service provider system, A charging method for using the internet of a wireless terminal for charging a cost of using a provider's content, the wireless service provider system registering the terminal with the content provider when the terminal user accesses the internet through the wireless service provider system. A first step of transmitting information; A second step of searching for whether the terminal registration information is in a DB in the content provider when the terminal user requests downloading of the content provider; And the third step of transmitting the applied charge to the charging center of the wireless service provider system by differentially applying the charging cost according to the search result in the second step. It is billing method about use.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The core technical aspect of the present invention is that when the wireless terminal downloads the content provider's contents through the base station, the wireless service provider system, and the Internet, the wireless terminal register information (ESN / MIN) if the wireless terminal has downloaded the content provider's contents more than once. ) Is recognized in the content provider's database, retrieves the usage time, the frequency of use, and the number of downloads of the wireless terminal from the content provider's database, and applies a discount rate according to past usage information of the terminal user. By charging, it is possible to easily achieve the purpose of the present invention through this technical means.

1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a charging system according to the present invention.

The charging system of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 includes a wireless terminal 100, a base station 102, a wireless service provider system 104, a charging center 106, a gateway 108, the Internet 110, and a plurality of Consists of the content provider 112 and the user registration information DB 114 in the content provider, its individual configuration and function is as follows.

First, the terminal 100 having an input device is a mobile communication means for inputting a command desired by a user, converting the input command into an RF signal suitable for data service, and transmitting the received command. (E.g., cellular phone, personal mobile communication (PCS), PDA, IMT-2000, etc.). The terminal 100 is connected to the Internet 110 through the base station 102, the wireless service provider system 104, and the gateway unit 108 using a wireless application protocol (WAP), thereby providing Internet service from the content provider 112. Can be provided.

On the other hand, the base station 102 receives the RF signal transmitted from the wireless terminal 100, demodulates with a command, and performs a mobile communication service between the wireless terminal 100 and the wireless service provider system 104 in its service area. In addition, the wireless service provider system 104 converts and transmits the demodulated command transmitted from the base station 102 into a protocol for Internet service, and together with the registration information of the wireless terminal 100, for example, ESN or MIN, or both, to content provider 112. The terminal registration information transmitted by the wireless service provider system 104 is stored in the user registration information DB 114 of the content provider 112 when the wireless terminal 100 is connected to the content provider 112 and stored in the wireless terminal ( 100 is used as identification information.

In addition, the charging center 106 is for charging the wireless Internet use of the wireless terminal 100, the gateway unit 108 receives a signal suitable for the protocol for the Internet service from the wireless service provider system 104 The signal is converted into a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) / IP (Internet Protocol) or HDTP (Handheld Device Transport Protocol) suitable for Internet access, and the Internet 110 is connected to a command output from the gateway 108. It arranges connections between other networks for a corresponding operation, and a plurality of content providers 112,... Are provided with web information by receiving a command from the Internet 110. User registration information corresponding to each of the content providers is provided. DB 114,...

Each user registration information DB 114, ... stores the registration information of the wireless terminal 100, the use time, the cumulative time, the number of past downloads, and the like.

2 is a schematic block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the charging center 106 of the present invention.

The billing center 106 of the present invention includes a billing server 12 that performs user authentication, a time server 14 that serves to measure time in the case of a time meter for internet usage fee, and various databases such as a user DB. 18 and a DB server 16 that manages the billing DB 20.

The user DB 18 of the DB server 16 stores the ESN / MIN of the wireless terminal 100 and the wireless Internet use time of the user, and the charging DB stores the user fee for using the content of the user.

Next, charging for using the Internet in the wireless terminal 100 having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of comparing and charging information of a terminal in a charging system of the present invention.

First, in order for a user of a certain wireless terminal 100 to download or view contents that he / she needs, the content provider 112 is sequentially provided through the base station 102, the wireless service provider system 104, and the Internet 110. ) Connect to the server (step S100).

At this time, the wireless service provider system 104 transmits the registration information of the corresponding terminal 100, that is, one or both of the ESN / MIN to the content provider 112 server (step S102).

Thereafter, the wireless terminal user accessing the content provider 112 server requests the download of desired content through the search (step S104).

Then, the content provider 112 server determines whether ESN / MIN, which is registration information of the wireless terminal provided from the wireless service provider system 104, is registered in the user registration information DB 114 (step S106).

If ESN / MIN, which is the registration information of the wireless terminal 100, is registered in the user registration information DB 114 of the content provider, the content provider 112 server discounts the content usage fee to the user of the wireless terminal 100. The fee is set and the set billing data is transmitted to the billing center 106 (step S108).

Meanwhile, when ESN / MIN, which is registration information of the wireless terminal 100, is not registered in the user registration information DB 114 of the content provider 112, the ESN / MIN of the wireless terminal 100 is transferred to the content provider 112 server. The user registration information is registered in the DB 114 (step S110). Therefore, the fee for using the corresponding content of the content provider 112 is set to a non-discounted rate for the wireless terminal user who first accesses the content provider 112 server and downloads the content, and sets the set billing data to the charging center 106. (Step S112).

The user of the wireless terminal 100 downloads the searched content from the content provider 112 according to the set fee and pays the content usage fee corresponding thereto (step S114).

In this regard, in the step (S108) of applying a discount rate with respect to the content provider's content download to the wireless terminal, the content frequency to be downloaded by the wireless terminal is determined by the content provider in terms of frequency of use and usage time in the past. In this case, the service may be provided at a free or high discount rate, or else, according to a discount rate set by the content provider.

Therefore, the present invention reduces the fee to be paid by the user by differentially charging the fee according to the user's use time and frequency of use of the corresponding content, rather than the method of collectively charging the Internet fee of the conventional wireless terminal. In addition to customer satisfaction, it is an invention that induces customers to use more and more services and consequently contributes to increase in wireless communication sales.

Claims (4)

 Internet use of a wireless terminal for charging a terminal user using a content provider's content by using a terminal, a wireless service provider system wirelessly connected to the terminal, and a charging server of a charging center in the wireless service provider system. In the charging method about,  A first step of transmitting, by the wireless service provider system, terminal registration information to the content provider when the terminal user accesses the Internet through the wireless service provider system;   A second step of searching for whether the terminal registration information is in a DB in the content provider when the terminal user requests downloading of the content provider;   And a third step of differentially applying the charging cost according to the search result in the second step, and transmitting the applied charge to the charging center of the wireless service provider system for charging. About charging method. The method of claim 1, And the terminal registration information is an ESN and a MIN of each terminal. The method of claim 1, The DB of the content provider, the usage time, cumulative time, the number of past downloads of the content, etc., along with the ESN or MIN of each terminal stored in the wireless terminal, characterized in that the wireless terminal. The method of claim 1, In the third step, the charging cost is In the wireless terminal, characterized in that the terminal user stored in the user registration information DB in the content provider is set in a number of stages according to the range set by the content provider according to the number of times the user downloaded to the content and the usage time of the content. Billing methods for internet use.

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