KR100721601B1 - Service discovery in a wireless communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of searching for services for a wireless multimode terminal having a plurality of wireless interfaces. In order to improve the efficiency of the wireless multimode terminal in terms of power consumption and user friendliness, an indication is sent to the multimode terminal of the mobile network, wherein the indication is transmitted to the multimode terminal via at least one short-range wireless network. It may be available locally. The indication is received at the multimode terminal and based on the indication information about services available over at least one short range wireless network is collected. Based on the collected information, a service list is compiled, which describes at least one service locally available in one or more short range wireless networks.

Description

SERVICE DISCOVERY IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM}

The present invention relates to service discovery in a wireless communication system including a mobile network.

Current developments in practical mobile computing and networking have led to the evolution of various access technologies that allow users to access service delivery networks such as the Internet when they are outside their own home network. Currently, wireless Internet access is typically based on short range wireless systems or mobile networks or both.

Short range wireless systems have a typical range of about 100 meters or less. The systems combine with systems that are wired to the Internet to provide communication over long distances. The category of short-range wireless systems includes wireless personal area networks (PAN) and wireless local area networks (WLAN). The systems have a common feature of operating in the unlicensed portions of the radio spectrum, which are usually in the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band of 2.4 GHz or the unlicensed band of 5 GHz.

A well known example of wireless personal area network technology is Bluetooth, which uses the 2.4 GHz ISM band. The Bluetooth provides a peak air link speed of 1 Mbps and low power consumption for personal use of portable electronic devices such as PDAs and mobile phones. Wireless local area networks generally operate at higher peak rates of 10 to 100 Mbps and have longer distances requiring greater power consumption.

Wireless LAN systems are typically an extension of the wired network and provide mobile users with wireless access to the wired network. Examples of wireless local area network technologies include IEEE 802.11a, which is designed for a 5 GHz unlicensed band and uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) to transmit at data rates up to 54 Mbps; 802.11b designed for the 2.4 GHz ISM band and using direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) to transmit at data rates up to 11 Mbps; And the HIPERLAN standard, which is designed to operate in the 5 GHz unlicensed band.

So-called multimode terminals are also becoming more and more popular. If wireless technologies are provided to a terminal in accordance with multiple access standards, the user can select the most suitable network type in each case. However, a drawback associated with the selection of the network to which the services are accessed is that the short range wireless systems are only available locally in limited geographic areas, whereby a larger area, such as a city, may include a number of distinct service areas, Each of the service areas has their own characteristics depending on the connection standard used.

International patent application WO 02/01807 discloses a method for controlling and managing wireless network access in a wireless multi-standard environment. In the method, the terminal sequentially transmits and / or scans network polling information to determine whether it is within range of the supporting network. When one or more networks are detected, a determination is made whether to connect to the detected network. The decision about connecting to a particular network may be made on a number of grounds, and the user may also be asked to decide whether to connect to a particular network. By this method, the network may be selected from the networks available at any given time, based on what is optimal in terms of "access criteria" such as quality of service, data rate or price.

Another deficiency of the network environments relates to the power consumption of the terminals. In order to detect networks supported in a communication environment that includes separate and geographically restricted access areas, the terminal must frequently search for networks to which communication can be established. Since the terminal must be in a power saving state frequently, much power is consumed only for the retrieval.

Another drawback of the current multimode network environment relates to the user friendliness of the access management. When multiple radio technologies are integrated into one terminal, operating different radio technologies is too technical for the average user. Thus, while the technologies can be hidden from the user, new mechanisms are needed to facilitate access to local services when supported networks are available.

It is an object of the present invention to achieve a solution by being able to mitigate or eliminate the above deficiencies.

The present invention seeks to devise a new mechanism for improving the efficiency of wireless multimode terminals in terms of power consumption and user friendliness.

In the present invention, a mobile network is used to indicate to a multimode terminal whether the geographic area in which the terminal is currently located may include alternative technologies for accessing services, i.e. short-range wireless systems. When the terminal receives the indication, the terminal starts to collect information about such systems or services. In one embodiment of the invention, the collection is performed such that the terminal drives at least one of its short range radio (s) to search for networks (ie access points) compatible with the at least one short range radio. . The driven short range radios depend on the content of the indication received from the mobile network. In the case of a generic indication that alternative access technologies may be available but do not specify available technologies, all short-range radios of the terminal may be driven unless the user provides certain commands to the contrary. The short range radios may be driven one radio at a time in succession. When performing a search for one radio, the terminal controls the radio into a power saving mode and drives the next short-range radio to perform a search for the radio. If the indication received from the wireless network specifies alternative techniques / techniques available, then only the short-range radio (s) corresponding to the techniques / techniques in question should be driven.

In another embodiment, the indication received from the mobile network includes a pointer to a network address from where information about local services can be retrieved. The information can be retrieved via a mobile network, for example.

In this way, the terminal receives network-specific information from the short range wireless network (s) available to the neighbor, without user interaction. Based on the received information, the terminal compiles a service list describing the services provided by the networks. The list is shown to the user of the terminal and the user can determine whether any of the services are accessed, ie whether any of the short range radios are driven. Alternatively, the terminal can automatically drive one of the short range radios, especially if the user predefines the conditions under which this can be achieved.

Accordingly, one embodiment of the present invention provides a method for searching for services for a wireless multimode terminal having a plurality of operating modes. The method includes transmitting an indication to a multimode terminal operatively connected to the mobile network, the indication indicating that services may be available locally through at least one short-range wireless network, and displaying the indication on the multi-mode terminal. Receiving at the mode terminal. The method includes collecting service information about services available for the multimode terminal over at least one short-range wireless interface of the multimode terminal based on the indication, and based on the collected service information. Compiling a service list describing at least one service locally available through the at least one short-range air interface. As is also evident from the above, short-range air interface refers herein to a radio interface different from the air interface in the mobile network.

In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a system for searching for services for a wireless multimode terminal. In a mobile network, the system sends an indication to a multimode terminal operably connected to the mobile network indicating that services may be locally available to the multimode terminal over at least one short range wireless network. Means; In the multimode terminal, the system responsive to the receiving means, information collecting means for collecting service information about services available through at least one of the at least one short-range wireless network, and based on the collected service information. Service indication means for compiling a service list, wherein the service list describes at least one service available over at least one of the at least one short range wireless network.

In another embodiment, the present invention provides a wireless multimode terminal. The terminal includes means similar to that the system described above includes in a multimode terminal.

In the following, the invention and its numerous embodiments are explained more clearly with reference to the examples shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.

1 illustrates an example of a communication environment in which a terminal of the present invention may operate.

2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a multi-mode terminal in an embodiment of the present invention.

3 illustrates the architecture of one embodiment of a multimode terminal of the present invention.

4 illustrates one embodiment of a compiled service list for a user.

1 shows an example of a general communication environment to which the present invention may be applied. The communication environment includes three interaction domains, namely user equipment 100, an access domain 110 comprising several radio access networks and a backbone domain 120 comprising a core network.

The communication environment includes a mobile network and a plurality of short range wireless networks. The mobile network may be based, for example, on a Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) or Global System of Mobile communications (GSM) network architecture.

The short range wireless networks may be based on various technologies such as wireless local area network (WLAN), Bluetooth or Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology. Thus, the access domain includes the base station 130 (or Node B elements) of the mobile network and the access points 140 of the short range wireless systems. The backbone domain includes a plurality of service providers 150 and may also include a specific service database 160 for the mechanism of the present invention as discussed below.

The user equipment is shown as a plurality of mobile terminals 100. In this context, it is assumed that the terminals are multimode terminals, ie terminals having at least two modes of operation. One operation mode is an operation mode in which a terminal can communicate with the mobile network, and at least one other operation mode is an operation mode in which short-range radio of the terminal is activated. In general, the terminals typically have different states with respect to each mode of operation, and at the same time the states allowed are dependent on the implementation of the terminal. Typically, however, the "mobile network mode" does not exclude the use of "short range mode" and the "short range mode" does not exclude the use of the "mobile network mode".

In the present invention, the mobile network is used to convey from the base station to the mobile terminals in the base station's coverage area (i.e., the cell) an indication as to whether the relevant cell contains alternative access technologies. Thus, the indication may indicate whether at least one short-range network service is available for users moving within the cell in question.

2 illustrates one embodiment of a multimode terminal operation to retrieve local services. When the terminal enters the cell or switches to a cell where local services are available, the terminal receives the indication (step 200). In response to receiving the indication, the terminal starts searching for short range wireless networks through its short range wireless interfaces. As shown in FIG. 2, the search may be performed for one short-range air interface at a time. Thus, the terminal activates the first short range radio (step 201) and searches for networks corresponding to the radio technology (step 202). If a compliant network is found, the terminal receives network-specific information from the network and stores the information. Upon receiving information from one or more networks, the terminal deactivates the radio (step 207), ie the short range radio enters a power saving state. If the terminal includes other short range radios for which the received indication may have been considered, the terminal performs the steps at once for each radio. In other words, the terminal activates short-range radios, searches for one or more compliant networks, receives and stores network-specific information when a network is found, and controls the radio to sleep after the search for the radio is complete. do. If networks are searched for all short range radios of the terminal, the terminal compiles the service list based on the received information (step 211). The list may be tailored according to user preference data stored in the terminal. The list is then presented to the user after the user can determine whether to access any of the services, i.e. activate any of the short range radios (step 212). .

Thus, the mobile network provides the terminals with an indication of alternative technologies available to access services locally. In response to the indication, the terminal searches for compatible networks and compiles a list of services available through the alternative techniques. Based on the list, the user can determine whether any of the services are accessed. The number of short range radios activated in response to the indication depends on the indication and the implementation of the terminal. If the indication is a generic indication indicating the possibility of one or more alternative access technologies, all short range radios of the terminal can be activated unless otherwise indicated by the user. If the indication includes specific information about available technologies, one or more radios corresponding to these technologies may be activated.

The implementation of the search for an compliant network may depend on the description of the problem. For example, in a WLAN system, a terminal may use active or passive scanning to detect access points in the area. In active scanning, the terminal transmits a message called a probe on each channel. When the access point receives a probe message, the access point returns a probe response to the terminal. In passive scanning, the terminal simply browses the network by listening to beacon messages broadcast periodically by each access point. Using the active or passive scanning described above, the terminal scans the channels and examines the information transmitted in beacon frames or probe response frames containing information about the characteristics of the access point. The information typically includes information that can be used directly for a service list, such as the network identity.

3 shows an example of architecture of a multimode terminal. Here, it is assumed that the terminal includes three short range wireless interfaces such as an interface 300 to the mobile network, a WLAN interface 301, a Bluetooth interface 302, and a UWB interface 303. Each air interface is controlled by, for example, corresponding control engines 310-313 providing media access control (MAC) services in the corresponding mode of operation. An operating system layer 320 controls the states of the different control engines and the terminal. The operating system layer receives the selections made by the user of the application and controls the state and operation of the terminal accordingly.

Arrows with underlined numbers illustrate compiling a service list 350 for the user and assuming that the search is performed one radio at a time for each short-range radio. An indication of a possible short range network is received by the operating system layer via the mobile network interface (arrow 1). Thereafter, the operating system layer controls the operation of the terminal so that compliant networks are searched through each of the short range air interfaces. Arrow 2 represents the activation of the WLAN interface, arrow 3 represents the reception of network-specific information from at least one WLAN network, and arrow 4 represents the deactivation of the WLAN interface. Arrows 5 to 7 and 8 to 10 represent corresponding events for each of the Bluetooth and UWB interfaces. Based on the received information, the operating system layer compiles the service list (arrow 11). The user can use the list through an application. As discussed below, user preference data (user profiles) stored in the user database 360 and accessible by the user may also control the operation of the terminal during service retrieval.

Upon receiving an indication from the mobile network, the terminal searches for compatible short range wireless networks without user interaction and then compiles a service list based on the information received from the detected different networks. In this way, the different wireless technologies can be hidden from the user. 4 shows an example of a service list displayed to a user of the terminal. As shown, in the basic embodiment the list may only include names of locally available services or service providers.

However, the list may be hierarchical to a higher level representing only the services, while the information under a service or service provider may include various items related to the service or service provider, such as the wireless technology in question. The radio technology corresponding to the service may also be indicated by attaching a symbol and / or color indicating the description of the problem to the service shown. As discussed below, the information for the service list may be received entirely with the network-specific information received, or the received indication or network-specific information may be used to obtain desired information for the service list. It may contain data such as addresses that may be.

The terminal may also store user preference data that may determine the operation of the terminal at different stages of the method. First, the user preference data may define wireless technologies for which a network (ie, access point) is searched for when an indication is received from the mobile network. Secondly, the preference data may determine how the service list is compiled. For example, services available through some technology may always be at the top of the list. The user preference data may also include criteria for determining information taken about the service list. The application may also interact with the user to display the list in various forms preferred by the user. Various selection or sorting criteria such as price or data rate may be displayed to the user and the user may select one or more criteria for modifying the service list. The terminal may also have a learning system that compiles the service list according to the user's behavior.

The indication may be introduced in system information transmitted from the base station to the terminals of the mobile network. Since the terminals listen to the system information sent by the base stations, the terminals can detect whether the system information includes an indication of a short range wireless network. The short range radios may be in a power saving state unless an indication is received from the mobile network.

In order to convey an indication in the system information from the base station to the mobile terminals, new system information messages may be defined to inform the mobile terminals of short range wireless networks. In a GSM / GPRS system, one or more new system information messages may be introduced, for example in addition to the current types 1-14. In a WCDMA system, one or more new system information blocks may be correspondingly defined in addition to the current system information blocks 1-18.

In system information elements, the indication may be given in several ways. Although only one bit may be given to the basic indication that an alternative technique is available or not available, the indication may include additional information (several bits). In general, the additional information may include any service-related information, such as instructions for accessing the service or obtaining additional information about the services. The following table shows an example of three different information elements with respect to three different technologies, respectively, for conveying information about the networks corresponding to the mobile terminals.

 System information elements  Length  Adjacent WLAN Description  4 to 16 bits  Proximity Bluetooth Description  4 to 16 bits  Adjacent UWB Description  4 to 16 bits

In this example, the length of the system information elements is assumed to be between 4 and 16 bits. However, the length is not limited to this range and may vary in various ways, depending on the information passed from the mobile network to the terminals. At least some of the bits available for the information elements may be used, for example, to indicate the type of short-range wireless network available. With regard to WLAN, to define whether there is a network compliant with the IEEE 802.11b standard, a network compliant with the IEEE 802.11a standard, a combined network compliant with both standards, or no WLAN network at all, eg For example, a 2-bit combination can be used. Some of the bits may be used to notify the terminal about the transmit power allowed for the terminal. In addition, some of the bits may be used to indicate to the terminal network identities, ie service providers available to users.

The indication may also include an address, for example an IP address, from which the terminal may obtain additional information about locally available short range wireless services, such as a list of service providers. Upon receiving the address, the terminal can automatically retrieve the information, or the user can be asked whether the information should be retrieved for the terminal. In a further embodiment, the terminal may first check whether the indication includes a network address pointing to a source of service information, and if no such address is found, the terminal may be configured to at least one short-range radio. Attempt to detect at least one short range network by driving the interface.

Short range access points may be operated by an operator of the mobile network or one or more local operators. Each local operator may send information about its services to the mobile network operator, and the information may maintain a service database of the network (cf. service database 160 of FIG. 1). Thereafter, the information collected in the service database is used for indications sent in the system information.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the examples shown in the accompanying drawings, it is apparent that the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be modified by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, if the implementation of the terminal does not cause excessive interference to any of the interfaces (with dedicated MAC entities for different air interfaces), then the terminal may simultaneously operate over several short range air interfaces. Search for compatible access points.

Claims (31)

A method of searching for services for a wireless multimode terminal having a plurality of wireless interfaces, the method comprising: In a mobile network, sending an indication to a multimode terminal operably connected to the mobile network indicating that services may be locally available through at least one short-range wireless network; Receiving the indication at the multimode terminal; Based on the indication, collecting service information regarding services for a multimode terminal available over at least one short-range wireless interface of the multimode terminal; And And based on the collected service information, compiling a service list describing at least one service available over the at least one short-range wireless interface. A method for retrieving services for a terminal. The method of claim 1, The collecting step is: Attempting to detect at least one of the at least one short range wireless network via at least one short range wireless interface of the multimode terminal; And And collecting the service information over the at least one short-range wireless interface. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said attempting and collecting steps are performed for one short-range air interface at a time. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of controlling the multimode terminal to a power saving state with respect to the short range wireless interface after service information is collected over the short range wireless interface or when no network is detected through the short range wireless interface. And searching for services for a wireless multimode terminal having a plurality of wireless interfaces. 3. The wireless multimode terminal of claim 2, wherein the attempting step comprises attempting to detect short range wireless networks corresponding to all short range wireless interfaces of the multimode terminal. How to search for services. The method of claim 1, Storing user preference data in the multimode terminal; Selecting one short-range wireless network based on the preference data and the service information collected in the collecting step; And Establishing a communication with the selected short range wireless network further comprising: searching for services for a wireless multimode terminal having a plurality of wireless interfaces. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication includes command information for the collecting step. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the command information includes at least one network address. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the service information is collected through a wireless interface to which the multimode terminal is operatively connected to the mobile network. Way. The method of claim 8, The collecting step is: Extracting the at least one network address from the indication; And Collecting the service information based on the at least one network address. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the network address is an IP address. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the command information indicates at least one short range air interface for each locally available service. The method of claim 12, The collecting step is: Attempting to detect at least one of the at least one short range wireless network via at least one of the at least one short range wireless interface indicated by the command information; And Collecting the service information over at least one of the at least one short-range air interface. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the service list to a user of the multimode terminal. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the compiling step includes compiling the service list according to user preference data. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the presenting step further comprises presenting a connectivity standard required for each of the at least one service. How to search. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the service list includes service providers corresponding to the at least one service. 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: asking a user of the multimode terminal which of the at least one service should be accessed. How to search. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting comprises transmitting the indication as part of system information sent to the mobile network. Way. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining a service database in the mobile network that includes service related data for the indication. Way. A system for searching for services for a wireless multimode terminal, On the mobile network side: Display means for transmitting an indication to a multimode terminal operably connected to the mobile network, wherein the indication is that services may be locally available to the multimode terminal over at least one short-range wireless network. Represent; On the multimode terminal side: A first air interface having a mobile network and at least one short-range air interface; Receiving means for receiving the indication via the first air interface; Information collecting means for collecting, in response to the receiving means, service information about services available through at least one of the at least one short-range wireless network; And Service display means for compiling a service list based on the collected service information, wherein the service list describes at least one service available through at least one of the at least one short-range wireless network. A system for retrieving services for a wireless multimode terminal. 22. The system of claim 21, wherein said information collecting means is adapted to attempt to detect at least one of said at least one short range wireless network in response to said indication. 22. The system of claim 21, wherein said display means is adapted to transmit said indication as system information sent to terminals of said mobile network. 22. The system according to claim 21, wherein said display means is adapted to transmit command information for said information collecting means. 22. The system of claim 21, wherein said service list includes information regarding connectivity standards for said at least one service. 22. The system of claim 21, wherein said information collecting means is adapted to retrieve said service information from a network address included in said indication. A first air interface operatively connected to the mobile network; At least one short-range wireless interface; Receiving means for receiving an indication over the first air interface, wherein the indication indicates that services may be locally available to the multimode terminal via at least one short-range wireless network; Information collecting means for collecting, in response to the receiving means, service information about services available through at least one of the at least one short-range wireless network; And Service display means for compiling a service list based on the collected service information, wherein the service list describes at least one service available through at least one of the at least one short-range wireless network. Wireless multimode terminal. 28. The wireless multimode terminal of claim 27, wherein the information collecting means is adapted to attempt to detect at least one of the at least one short range wireless network in response to the indication. 29. A wireless multimode terminal according to claim 28, wherein said information collecting means is adapted to activate one short-range air interface at a time. 30. The system of claim 29, wherein the information collecting means puts the activated short-range wireless interface into a power saving state after service information is collected through the activated short-range wireless interface or when no network is detected through the activated short-range wireless interface. Wireless multi-mode terminal, characterized in that for controlling. 28. The wireless multimode terminal according to claim 27, wherein said information collecting means is adapted to retrieve said service information from a network address included in said indication.

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