KR100826660B1 - Method and device for managing and using information of number portability - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and apparatus for managing and utilizing number portability information of a mobile communication terminal are disclosed. According to an embodiment of the present invention, in a method for managing number porting information by an information management device that provides number porting information of a mobile communication terminal to a combined mobile communication network, a part or all of telephone numbers of the mobile communication terminal are numbered. There is provided a number transfer information management method, which uses the address information as address information of a storage space. The present invention can effectively manage various information related to the mobile communication terminal by using the mobile phone number as the address information, and can provide various services using the terminal information.

Port Number, Terminal, Phone Number, Message Transfer, NPDB

Description

Method and device for managing and using information of number portability}

1 is a diagram illustrating a number portability subscriber DB management network using NPDB for providing a conventional number portability service.

2 shows a data structure of an NPDB according to the prior art;

3 is a block diagram showing an overall system for processing message transmission with reference to number porting information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a message transmission process by a number porting information management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 and 6 are diagrams showing the configuration of a mobile communication telephone number including general prefix information according to each type.

7 and 8 illustrate a storage structure for storing number porting information according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information management apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10: calling terminal

30: network

50: information management device

70: mobile communication network

90: called terminal

The present invention relates to number portability of a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for managing and utilizing number portability information.

Recently, not only a mobile communication terminal, but also any system capable of communicating through a communication network such as a general computer, transmits a message to the mobile communication terminal using a message transmission service such as a short message service (SMS) or a multimedia message service (MMS). Can be. That is, the message can be transmitted to the mobile communication terminal through a messenger service such as MSN or nate-on and a message sending service provided at a specific site.

Conventional message transmission services, such as short message service (SMS) or multimedia message service (MMS), include a case where a message transmission relay service provider processes a message transmission according to a number movement, and a mobile communication service provider performs a message transmission according to a number movement. It can be divided into processing methods. Number transfer is a service that allows a subscriber to change to another mobile service provider without changing his or her phone number to receive a mobile communication service with the same phone number.

When the message transmission relay service provider processes the message transmission service according to the number movement, the conventional message transmission service provider uses the prefix information of the phone number of the message receiving terminal to check whether it is normal after sending it to the mobile carrier. do. The prefix information is information for identifying a mobile carrier initially determined for each mobile carrier in the form of 011, 016, 017, 018, 019, 010XX, and the like.

Therefore, in the related art, if a transmission failure process is performed due to a number shift of a corresponding destination terminal in a mobile communication company that receives a message from a message transmission relay service provider, the message transmission relay service provider has to retransmit the message to another mobile service provider. That is, the cost of transmitting a message such as SMS due to frequent number shifting of subscribers increases, and there is a problem of an increase in the cost of reprocessing the number shifted information.

When the mobile communication provider performs number porting processing, the mobile station performs a number porting information using NPDB (Number Portability Database) and transmits a message. NPDB is a system for relaying number portability service between service providers so that subscribers can change to other mobile service providers and receive mobile communication service with the same phone number without changing their phone number.

1 is a diagram illustrating a number portability subscriber DB management network using an NPDB for providing a conventional number portability service, and FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of an NPDB according to the prior art.

Referring to FIG. 1, the number mobile subscriber DB management network includes a common master NPDB (1, M-NPDB) and a local NPDB (3, 5, L-) for call processing for each mobile operator. MPDB), and the same subscriber information is maintained between the M-NPDB 1 and the L-NPDB 3,5. Therefore, each mobile communication provider may transmit a message after checking the number porting information using the L-NPDB (3, 5) provided in each.

M-NPDB (1) is maintained by the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association (KTOA), an alliance created by mobile operators.

Therefore, the mobile communication service provider has financial problems due to the cost of constructing the L-NPDB 3 and 5 as well as the cost of building and maintaining the M-NPDB 1.

Furthermore, referring to FIG. 2, which shows the data structure of the NPDB and an example thereof, data according to mobility information for a subscriber stored in the NPDB includes information about a mobile phone number, a change date, past carrier information, a changed carrier information, and a state. Contains information. NPDB has a problem that it takes a lot of search time because the amount of data for one subscriber in the data structure of the NPDB not only has a large amount of overall data to be managed, but also needs to search for the corresponding subscriber using a mobile phone number. In addition, in the L-NPDB (3, 5) provided by the M-NPDB (1) it was not possible to manage a variety of information on the characteristics of the mobile communication terminal other than the number porting information.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for efficiently managing and utilizing number porting information in improving the performance of a message transmission service using number porting information. have.

In addition, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for managing and utilizing number portability information capable of managing various information related to the mobile terminal as well as efficient number portability information management using the mobile phone number as the address information. There is a purpose.

Other objects of the present invention will become more apparent through the preferred embodiments described below.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, in the information management apparatus for providing the number porting information of the mobile communication terminal to the combined mobile communication network in the method for managing the number porting information, There is provided a number transfer information management method comprising using part or all of a phone number as address information of a storage space in which the number transfer information is stored.

Preferably, the prefix information of the telephone number may be used as a file name in which the number porting information is stored or identification information of a storage area including the storage space.

In addition, the mobile communication network may be plural.

The storage space may further store terminal information including at least one of a model, a manufacturer, sound support information, and a communication type of the mobile communication terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, the information providing apparatus for transmitting the message through the corresponding mobile carrier after the number porting information of the receiving terminal to receive the received message utilizes the number porting information A method, comprising: accepting a message transfer request from any originating terminal; Recognizing a corresponding mobile communication company by inquiring the number porting information corresponding to the called terminal according to the message transmission request, wherein some or all of the telephone numbers of the called terminal are address information of a storage space in which the number porting information is stored; Used as; And sending a message through a communication network of the mobile communication company, and if the message fails to be sent, through the communication network of the mobile communication company and another mobile communication service until the message is successfully sent to the called terminal. There is provided a method of utilizing number porting information, characterized in that it sends a message and updates the number porting information correspondingly.

According to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, an apparatus for providing the number porting information of the mobile communication terminal to the combined mobile communication network, Communication unit for communicating with the mobile communication network; A storage unit for storing number porting information of at least one mobile communication terminal, wherein some or all of the phone numbers of the mobile communication terminal are used as address information of a storage space in which the number porting information is stored; And a control unit for extracting number porting information corresponding to a mobile communication terminal in response to a request from the mobile communication network from the storage unit and providing the number porting information to the mobile communication network through the communication unit.

Here, the prefix information of the telephone number may be used as a file name in which the number porting information is stored or identification information of a storage area including the storage space.

The storage space may further store terminal information including at least one of a model, a manufacturer, sound support information, and a communication type of the mobile communication terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, the information providing apparatus for transmitting the message through the corresponding mobile carrier after the number porting information of the receiving terminal to receive the received message utilizes the number porting information A storage unit for storing number porting information for one or more mobile communication terminals, wherein some or all of telephone numbers of the mobile terminal are used as address information of a storage space in which the number porting information is stored. ; A communication unit which receives a message transmission request from any originating terminal; And a control unit which inquires the number porting information corresponding to the called terminal according to the message transmission request in the storage unit, recognizes a corresponding mobile communication company, and sends a message through the communication network of the mobile communication service. If this fails, the controller sends the message through the communication network of the mobile communication company and another mobile communication company until the message is successfully sent to the destination terminal, and updates the number porting information corresponding to the destination terminal accordingly. Provided is a number porting information utilization apparatus, characterized in that.

As the invention allows for various changes and numerous embodiments, particular embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the written description. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, it should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Terms including ordinal numbers such as first and second may be used to describe various components, but the components are not limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as the second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as the first component. The term and / or includes a combination of a plurality of related items or any item of a plurality of related items.

When a component is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another component, it may be directly connected to or connected to that other component, but it may be understood that other components may be present in between. It should be. On the other hand, when a component is said to be "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another component, it should be understood that there is no other component in between.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this application, the terms "comprise" or "have" are intended to indicate that there is a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification, and one or more other features. It is to be understood that the present invention does not exclude the possibility of the presence or the addition of numbers, steps, operations, components, components, or a combination thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Terms such as those defined in the commonly used dictionaries should be construed as having meanings consistent with the meanings in the context of the related art and shall not be construed in ideal or excessively formal meanings unless expressly defined in this application. Do not.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and in describing the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same or corresponding components are given the same reference numerals regardless of the reference numerals. Duplicate explanations will be omitted.

3 is a block diagram showing an entire system for processing a message transmission with reference to the number porting information according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4 is a number porting information management apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention Is a diagram illustrating a process of message transmission processing.

Referring to FIG. 3, the entire system includes an information management device 50, a calling terminal 10, a network 30, a mobile communication network 70, and a called terminal 90.

The information management device 50 manages number porting information of each mobile communication terminal. When the information management device 50 receives a request for message transmission from the calling terminal 10 to the called terminal 90 through a network 30, the number management information of the corresponding called terminal 90 is checked and the corresponding movement is performed. Deliver the message transmission to the carrier. In this case, delivering a message to a mobile communication company means that a specific device of a corresponding mobile communication company that processes a message transmission receives the message. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, the message will be referred to as a mobile communication company.

Calling terminal 10 is the same as any communication device capable of providing a message transmission service, such as a short message service (SMS) or multimedia message service (MMS), such as a general computer device, a specific server such as a Nate On server, MSN server, etc. Can be applied.

In the present embodiment, the information management device 50 has been described as providing only the number portability confirmation and the message transmission relay service according to the message transmission service to the communication device via the network 30, the information management device 50 is a mobile phone It is also possible to confirm with the mobile carrier whether or not the called party's number for the message sent from the mobile communication terminal. That is, any mobile communication company that receives the message transmission request may inquire and process the information management device 50 according to the embodiment of the present invention to determine whether the corresponding destination terminal 90 moves.

In addition to the message transmission service, each mobile communication company may inquire the information management device 50 about whether the destination terminal 90 moves according to a call connection. For example, the exchange of the mobile communication network may request the number management information confirmation from the information management device 50 to set up a call with the destination terminal 90 when a call request from the originating terminal 10 is made. That is, the information management apparatus 50 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention may provide not only a message transmission relay service but also a service according to number port information confirmation according to a telephone connection.

Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 4 illustrating a process of processing a message according to a message transmission service such as an SMS or an MMS, the information management device 50 displays the message sent from the originating terminal 10. Receive from network 30 (step 410). Of course, it is natural that the message may be received from the mobile communication company's mobile communication network corresponding to the calling terminal 10.

The information management device 50 uses the phone number of the called terminal 90 to receive the message, inquires the number movement information of the called terminal 90 (step 420), and then sends the corresponding message to the corresponding mobile carrier. (Step 430).

The information management device 50 determines whether the corresponding mobile communication service has normally processed the message (step 440). That is, if the mobile communication company that has received the message succeeds in transmitting the message to the called terminal 90, the processing is completed (the information management device 50 may receive a normal processing completion message), and if it fails, the information management device ( 50) is informed that the mobile service provider has failed.

If it fails, the information management device 50 sends a message to another mobile carrier until it is processed normally (step 450 and step 460), and if the normal processing is notified from the mobile carrier that handled the message sending, the incoming call is received. The number porting information of the terminal 90 is updated to correspond to the mobile communication company which normally performed the message transmission process (step 470).

Steps 450 to 470 described above are for processing the case where the information on the number movement is not updated even though the subscriber of the destination terminal 90 is the number transfer subscriber.

That is, the number management device stores and manages number porting information about mobile communication terminals by itself, and changes the mobile communication terminal by using information on whether message transmission from the mobile communication company is successful without interworking with a separate device. Can update their numbering information.

Therefore, as compared with the related art, the information management apparatus 50 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention can increase the processing speed by minimizing the process procedure for message transmission processing by managing number porting information, There is an advantage that it is possible to simply update the number porting information by using the information about.

Hereinafter, a method of managing mobile communication terminal information including number porting information in the information management device 50 will be described.

5 and 6 are diagrams showing the configuration of a mobile communication telephone number including general prefix information according to each type, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are diagrams for storing number porting information according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows a storage structure.

A type, which is a type of a typical mobile communication terminal telephone number as shown in FIG. 5, includes a prefix field indicating a mobile communication company and two fields for an identification number. Here, the division number means the remaining number except for the prefix from the phone number, and is for distinguishing each phone number.

A type B of FIG. 6, which is another type that is widely used recently, includes a prefix field indicating a mobile communication company as '010' and a number from 10 to 99, and a field for two identification numbers.

The information management device 50 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention uses part or all of the telephone number of the mobile communication terminal as address information.

Referring to FIG. 7, which illustrates a method of managing number porting information according to type A illustrated in FIG. 5, the prefix value of FIG. 5 is used as a file name, and the remaining division number is used as address information. It has information about the subscribed mobile carrier.

For example, a value of 1 may be set to KTFSKT, a value of 2 to SKTKTF, and a value of 3 to LGT. For convenience of understanding, for example, a file according to reference number 710 (ie, file 011) may be set. The data value whose first address is 01000000 is 1. That is, it can be seen that the subscribed mobile telecommunication company of the mobile telecommunication terminal having the telephone number 011-0100-0000 is KTFSKT.

Therefore, according to an embodiment of the present invention, since only the registered mobile carrier information is actually stored, the storage space for storing the number porting information can be efficiently used, and the telephone number of the mobile terminal is used as the file name and address information. By doing so, the retrieval of the number porting information can be processed more quickly.

Referring to FIG. 8, a storage method according to the type B shown in FIG. 6 is illustrated. Similarly, prefix information (e.g., 01011, as shown in the figure) can be set as a file name, and a division number can be used as address information. Of course, unlike the example shown in Figs. 7 and 8, it is natural that the file name may be set separately and the entire telephone number including the prefix information and the division number may be used as the address information.

In addition, the prefix information may be used as identification information of a specific storage area instead of a file name. That is, the information management device 50 may recognize the corresponding storage area through the prefix information, and recognize the corresponding storage space by using the remaining division numbers.

9 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of an information management apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 9, the information management device 50 includes a communication unit 910, a storage unit 930, and a control unit 950.

The storage unit 930 stores information about the mobile communication terminal including the number porting information. As described above, the mobile communication terminal information stored in the storage unit 930 utilizes a part of the telephone number as the address information as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 (of course, the entire telephone number is the address information as described above). Can be used to save).

The communication unit 910 is a means for allowing the information management apparatus 50 to perform communication through a communication network. The communication unit 910 receives a message received by the mobile communication company recognized as a result of the number transfer information inquiry and the reception unit 912 that receives the message transmission request. The message sending unit 914 may be transmitted.

The controller 950 controls the storage unit 930 and the communication unit 910 to inquire the number porting information of the called terminal 90 according to the received message transmission request and to send the message to the corresponding mobile communication company. In addition, the control unit 950, the storage unit 930 to query the number porting information in response to the number port information query request from the mobile communication network and to provide the corresponding information to the mobile communication network, the storage unit 930 And the communication unit 910.

The controller 950 may include an information inquiry unit 952 and an information update unit 954 according to its function. The information inquiry unit 952 functions to inquire the number porting information stored in the storage unit 930 by using the telephone number of the destination terminal 90 in response to the message transmission request and to recognize the corresponding mobile communication company. Here, as described above, the storage unit 930 includes, in addition to the number porting information, a model, a manufacturer, sound support information, a communication type (for example, information on whether a WCDMA terminal or a CDMA terminal, etc.) for the corresponding mobile communication terminal. The various information may be further stored. Accordingly, the information inquiry unit 952 may inquire the corresponding information so that the information providing apparatus may provide various corresponding services.

The information updating unit 954 functions to update the number porting information of the corresponding mobile communication terminal when the subscribed mobile communication company is changed due to the number movement of any mobile communication terminal. An update process of the number port information according to the number shift of the mobile communication terminal has been described with reference to FIG. 4 and will be omitted.

The method of the present invention as described above may be implemented in a program and stored in a computer-readable recording medium (CD-ROM, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, etc.).

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and many variations are possible by those skilled in the art within the spirit of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, in improving the performance of a message transmission service using number porting information, there is an effect of providing a method and apparatus for efficiently managing and utilizing number porting information.

In addition, the present invention is effective to provide a variety of information associated with the mobile communication terminal, as well as efficient number portability information management using the mobile phone terminal number as the address information can provide a variety of services using the terminal information have.

Although described above with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art that various modifications of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described in the claims below And can be changed.

Claims (11)

In the method for managing the number porting information by the information management device for providing the number porting information of the mobile communication terminal to a mobile communication network, Some or all of the telephone number of the mobile communication terminal is used as the address information of the storage space in which the number movement information is stored, The number porting information is a mobile number service information management method characterized in that the subscriber changes the mobile communication provider without changing the telephone number. The method of claim 1, And the prefix information of the telephone number is used as a file name in which the number porting information is stored or as identification information of a storage area including the storage space. The method of claim 1, And a plurality of mobile communication networks. The method of claim 1, And the terminal information including one or more of a model, a manufacturer, sound support information, and a communication type of the mobile communication terminal is further stored in the storage space. In the method of using the number porting information information providing apparatus for transmitting a message through a corresponding mobile carrier after inquiring the number porting information of the receiving terminal to receive the received message, Accepting a message transfer request from any originating terminal; Recognizing a corresponding mobile communication company by inquiring the number porting information corresponding to the called terminal according to the message transmission request, wherein some or all of the telephone numbers of the called terminal are address information of a storage space in which the number porting information is stored; Used as; And Including sending a message through a communication network of the mobile communication company, If the message fails to be sent, the message is sent through the communication network of the mobile communication company and another mobile communication company until the message is successfully sent to the called terminal, and the number porting information is updated accordingly. How to use number porting information. The method of claim 5, And the prefix information of the telephone number is used as a file name in which the number porting information is stored or as identification information of a storage area including the storage space. The method of claim 5, And the terminal information including at least one of a model, a manufacturer, sound support information, and a communication type of the mobile communication terminal is stored in the storage space. An apparatus for providing number porting information of a mobile communication terminal to a combined mobile communication network, A communication unit for communicating with the mobile communication network; A storage unit for storing number porting information of at least one mobile communication terminal, wherein some or all of the phone numbers of the terminal are used as address information of a storage space in which the number porting information is stored; And And a control unit which extracts number porting information corresponding to a mobile communication terminal in response to a request from the mobile communication network from the storage unit and provides the number porting information to the mobile communication network through the communication unit. The method of claim 8, And the prefix information of the telephone number is used as a file name in which the number porting information is stored or as identification information of a storage area including the storage space. The method of claim 8, And the terminal information including one or more of a model, a manufacturer, sound support information, and a communication type of the mobile communication terminal is further stored in the storage space. An apparatus for utilizing number porting information in an information providing device for transmitting a message through a corresponding mobile carrier after inquiring number porting information of a called terminal to receive a received message. A storage unit which stores number porting information for one or more mobile communication terminals, wherein some or all of the telephone numbers of the mobile communication terminal are used as address information of a storage space in which the number porting information is stored; A communication unit which receives a message transmission request from any originating terminal; And And a control unit for retrieving the corresponding number carrier information from the storage unit in response to the message transmission request, recognizing a corresponding mobile communication company, and sending a message through the communication network of the mobile communication company. If the sending of the message fails, the controller sends the message through the communication network of the mobile communication company and another mobile communication company until the sending of the message is successful to the called terminal, and correspondingly the number corresponding to the called terminal. A number porting information utilization apparatus, characterized in that for updating the port information.

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