KR101077979B1 - Method of charging fee for service in Ubiquitous Sensor Network Infra-Structure and apparatus using it - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a service billing method in a ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure, and receives a service request and user information from a user terminal, authenticates user information by referring to a database in which user information is stored, and authenticates user information. Requesting the permission information of the sensor node providing the sensor to the first server, and if it is determined that the user has the permission of the sensor node from the permission information received from the first server, and transmits the service request to the second server, If the billing method for charging the bill is based on the usage of the service, the billing method is charged by measuring the amount of response to the service request received from the second server, thereby reducing the overload of the billing system.

Description

Method of charging fee for service in Ubiquitous Sensor Network Infra-Structure and apparatus using it}

The present invention relates to a service charging method and apparatus in a ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure, and more particularly, to a service charging method and apparatus for more efficiently processing the processing method according to the charging method.

The ubiquitous sensor network (hereinafter referred to as USN) refers to a network configured to wirelessly collect information detected by various sensors. As network technologies such as wire-less personal area network (WPAN) and ad-hoc network develop, sensor network technology is very active. There are various types of sensors such as temperature, acceleration, location information, pressure, fingerprint, and gas. In order to grasp the flow of logistics, a technology for grasping the flow of various logistics information by attaching a tag to an object using RFID (radio frequency identification) technology has also emerged. The ubiquitous sensor network comprises a sensor node, a sink node, and a reference node. The sensor node is a node that collects event data generated in the surrounding environment, and the sink node is a node that aggregates the data collected by the sensor node and transmits it to the gateway, and the reference node transmits its current location information to the sensor node in advance. A node that transmits power and cycles.

Therefore, the first problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a service billing method in the ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure to reduce the overload of the billing system and to more efficiently process the processing method according to each billing method. Further, the present invention provides a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the above method on a computer.

The second problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a service billing device in the ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure to reduce the overload of the billing system and to more efficiently process the processing method according to each billing method.

The present invention comprises the steps of receiving a service request and user information from the user terminal to achieve the first object; Authenticating the user information with reference to a database storing user information; Requesting authorization information of a sensor node providing the service to a first server when the user information is authenticated; Transmitting the service request to a second server when it is determined that the user authority of the sensor node is from the user authority information received from the first server; And if the charging method of charging a user is based on service usage, measuring and charging the amount of a response to the service request received from the second server, and charging the ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure. Provides a way to charge for services.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, if it is determined that the user has the authority of the sensor node from the authority information received from the first server, the service request and the charging method may be transmitted to the second server, and received from the second server. The response to a service request can be distinguished according to the charging method.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the charging method is a flat rate, a response to the service request received from the second server may be transmitted to the user terminal.

The billing method of charging a user may be one of a prepaid pay-as-you-go or a postpaid pay-as-you-go, which is a method based on service usage.

In addition, the first server may be a server managing location information of the sensor node and usage authority information of the sensor node. For example, the service request may request sensing information of a sensor node.

The present invention is a receiver for receiving a service request and user information from a user terminal to achieve the second object; A user management unit requesting permission information of a sensor node providing the service to a first server when authenticating the received user information by referring to a database storing user information; An authority manager that determines whether the user has the authority to use the sensor node from the authority information received from the first server; And when the user receives the result of the use right from the authority management unit, sends the service request and the user billing method to the second server, and if the billing method of charging the user is based on the service usage, It provides a service billing device in the ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure, characterized in that it comprises a billing processing unit for billing by measuring the amount of the response to the service request received from the server.

According to the present invention, since the billing server selectively collects information on the data usage of the user according to various billing methods and charges the user, it reduces the overload of the billing system and processes the processing method according to each billing method more efficiently. Do it. In addition, according to the present invention, when the user requests a service to the sensor node, providing a method for checking whether the user has the authority to access the sensor node, and by separating the access to the sensor node of the sensor network according to the user's authority It can increase the security of the network and increase the efficiency of the network by enabling personal use. Furthermore, according to the present invention, by retaining the usage rights information for each user's sensor node, and confirms that the user accesses to the unauthorized sensor node immediately after the user authentication step, network efficiency is improved.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to preferred examples. However, these examples are intended to illustrate the present invention in more detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the scope of the present invention is not limited thereby.

1 is a conceptual diagram of an RFID / USN open infrastructure network including a service charging device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The RFID / USN infrastructure network described herein includes user terminals 100a to 100f, infrastructure server groups (Infra-Servers, uIS, 120), gateways (130, 130a to 130e), and sensor networks (Sensor Network, 140). It consists of.

The user terminals 100a to 100f may be a device for inputting a service desired by the user, and may be a mobile phone 100a, a personal digital assistant (100b), a client (100c-100f), or a server (100e).

The infrastructure server group (Infra-Servers, uIS, 120) is an authentication server (u-User / u-Server Registration Server, u-AAA, 121), context server (Context Server, CtxS, 122), integrated transport server (Aggregation & transfer server, ATS, 123a ~ 123b), node home location server (u-nHLS, 124), node visiting location server (u-nVLS, 125), node history server (Mobile Tracking) Server, MTS.126), a virtual private network server (RFID / USN VPN Supporting server, u-VPN, 127), and a location name server (Location Name Server, LNS, 128). The infrastructure server group 120 receives the information collected from the sensor nodes by the gateways 130a to 130b using an internet backbone. If there is a request from the user terminals 100a to 100f or is scheduled to be periodically transmitted to the user terminals 100a to 100f through the Internet backbone, the information managed by the infrastructure server group 120 is managed by the user terminals 100a to 100f. Is sent to.

The authentication server 121 is a server that registers, changes or releases the user terminals 100a to 100f, authenticates a user requesting a service through the user terminals 100a to 100f, and charges the user. The authentication server 121 may include a service charging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The context server 122 is a server that converts a service requested by a user authenticated by the authentication server 121 into a context and transmits it to the integrated transmission servers 123a to 123b. A context is a file that defines what the user requests or what actions the sensor node should take.

Integrated transmission server 123a to 123b manages the sensing information and the RFID tag information. Integrated transmission server (123a ~ 123b) receives the service request of the user, and transmits the service request to the sensor node.

The node location information server 124 manages sensor node information and location information of the sensor node, and manages user permission information. The usage right information is information on whether the user is authorized to receive a service response from the sensor node, and is information mapped with the user information. The sensor node information means information of the sensor node itself such as ID of the sensor node and sensor node sensing type.

The visited location information server 125 updates the sensor node information and the location information when the sensor node is moved.

The node history server 126 manages the movement path of the sensor node.

The virtual private network server 127 manages IP and location of the gateway in the virtual private network and ID information of the sensor node.

The location name server 128 is a server that converts the absolute coordinates or the relative coordinates representing the location information by corresponding to the representative names of the sensor nodes.

The gateways 130a to 130e relay data flows between the sensor network 140 and the infrastructure server group 120 and between the user terminals 100a to 100f and the infrastructure server group 120.

The sensor network 140 is composed of a sensor node 141, a sink node 142, and a reference node 143. The sensor network 140 refers to a wireless sensor / RFID network providing information requested by the user terminals 100a to 100f to the infrastructure server group 120. The gateway 130e connected to the sensor network 140 is a device that communicates with the gateway 130a connected to the infrastructure server group uIS.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a service charging device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Service billing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is the receiver 200, the distribution unit 210, the user management unit 220, the user database unit 230, the authority management unit 240, the billing processing unit 250, and the transmission unit 260. Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described in detail.

The receiving unit 200 receives a service request and user information from the user terminal 100a to 100f. Receiving unit 200 receives the use authority information of the sensor node from the node location information server 124, and receives a response to the service from the integrated transmission server (123a ~ 123b). The service request includes a request for transmitting sensing information and sensor node information. The sensing information refers to information sensed by the sensor node, and the sensor node information includes the type of the sensor node, the ID of the sensor node, the location information of the sensor node, and the like.

The distribution unit 210 transmits user information to the user management unit 220, usage authority information to the authority management unit 240, service requests to the transmission unit 260, and responds to the service to the charging processing unit 250 or the transmission unit 260. To send). Whether the distribution unit 210 transmits the response to the service to the charging processing unit 250 or the transmission unit 260 is determined by analyzing the service response received from the integrated transmission server 123a to 123b. The service response sent from the integrated transmission servers 123a to 123b to the service charging device is set differently according to the user charging method. If the user billing method is a method of charging based on usage, the integrated transmission server 123a to 123b transmits a service response to the billing processing unit 250 as a destination, and if it is not a method of charging based on usage, the transmitting unit. A service response is sent to 260 as a destination. If the fee is not based on the usage, the integrated transmission servers 123a to 123b may transmit the service response to the user terminal 100a to 100f without transmitting the service response to the service charging device.

The user manager 220 refers to the user database 230 with the user information and authenticates the user. When the user is authenticated, the user manager 220 transmits the request for the authority information of the sensor node that provides the requested service from the user terminals 100a to 100f to the node location information server 124 as a destination. To send. If the user is not authenticated, the user manager 220 transmits a message indicating that the user is not authenticated to the transmitter 260 using the user terminals 100a to 100f as destinations.

The user database unit 230 stores user information referred to by the user manager 220.

The authority manager 240 determines whether the user has the authority to use the sensor node that provides the service requested from the user terminal 100a to 100f by using the authority information received from the node location information server 124. If it is determined that the user has authority to use the sensor node, the authority manager 240 notifies the charging processor 250 that the user has authority to use the sensor node. If it is determined that the user does not have the authority to use the sensor node, the authority manager 240 requests the transmitter 260 to transmit a message indicating that the user does not have the authority to use the sensor node.

When the billing processing unit 250 receives the information that the user has permission to use the sensor node from the rights management unit 240, the service request received from the user's billing method and the user terminal (100a ~ 100f) integrated transmission server (123a) ~ 123b). The billing processor 250 may include a database referring to the user's billing method. In addition, the charging processing unit 250 receives the service response from the distribution unit 210 to measure the amount of use, and transmits the service response to the transmission unit 260 to the user terminal 100a to 100f as a destination. The billing process is handled differently depending on the user billing method. User billing methods include a method of charging a fee based on usage and a method of charging a certain amount of time. The amount of usage can be determined by measuring data usage, connection time, download count, and the like. There are prepaid and postpaid pay-as-you-go methods, and there is a flat fee method that charges a certain amount for a certain period of time.In the case of using a private network service, there is no billing system. Has nothing to do with In the case of using a private network service, the virtual private network server 127 may be used to provide a service.

The transmitter 260 requests the node node's location information server 124 for permission information of the sensor node, requests the service to the integrated transmission server 123a through 123b together with the user's billing method, and sends them to the user terminal 100a through 100f. Send a response to the service request.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a service charging method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the service billing method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of time series processing in the service billing apparatus shown in FIG. 2. Therefore, even if omitted below, the above description of the service charging apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is also applied to the service charging method according to the present embodiment. Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 will be described in detail.

In operation 300, the service charging device receives a service request and user information from the user terminals 100a to 100f. The service request includes a request for transmission of sensing information and sensor node information. The sensing information refers to information sensed by the sensor node, and the sensor node information includes the type of the sensor node, the ID of the sensor node, the location information of the sensor node, and the like.

In operation 310, the service billing apparatus authenticates the user information using the user database unit 230. If the user information exists in the user database unit 230, the user information is authenticated, and the flow proceeds to step 320. If the user information does not exist in the user database unit 230, the user information is not authenticated, and the process proceeds to step 310 and ends after transmitting a message indicating that the user is not authenticated to the user terminals 100a to 100f.

In operation 320, the service billing apparatus requests the node location information server 124 for permission information of the sensor node that provides the service requested in operation 300. The node location information server 124 is a server that manages usage authority information of the sensor node. The usage right information is information on whether the user is authorized to receive a service response from the sensor node, and is information mapped with the user information.

In operation 330, the service billing apparatus receives the usage right information from the node location information server 124. The usage right information may include a user billing method corresponding to the user information. User billing methods include a method of charging a fee based on usage and a method of charging a certain amount of time. The amount of usage can be determined by measuring data usage, connection time, download count, and the like. There are prepaid and postpaid pay-as-you-go methods, and there is a flat fee method that charges a certain amount for a certain period of time.In the case of using a private network service, there is no billing system. Has nothing to do with In the case of using a private network service, the virtual private network server 127 may be used to provide a service.

In step 340, the service charging device checks whether the user has a right to use the sensor node from the use right information received in step 330. As a result of the check, if the user has authority to use the sensor node, the process proceeds to step 350. If the user does not have the authority to use the sensor node, the process proceeds to step 345 and the user terminal sends a message indicating that the user does not have the authority to use the sensor node. do. The authority to use the sensor node can be checked by whether you are a sensor node administrator, whether you are subscribed to a plan, if you are a prepaid pay-per-user, if there is no balance of prepaid fees, and if you are a flat user. This can be done by checking whether the period of use has passed.

In step 350, the service billing apparatus transmits the service request and the user billing method received in step 300 to the integrated transmission servers 123a to 123b.

In operation 360, the service charging device receives a service response from the integrated transmission servers 123a to 123b. The service response received from the integrated transmission server 123a to 123b according to the user billing method transmitted to the integrated transmission servers 123a to 123b in step 350 indicates whether to be transmitted to the billing processor in the service charging device or immediately to the user. Contains processing information. The integrated transmission servers 123a to 123b include this processing information in the service response and transmit it to the service charging device. The processing information may be destination information of a service response sent from the integrated transmission servers 123a to 123b to the service charging device. If the user billing method is a method of charging based on usage, the integrated transmission server 123a to 123b transmits a service response to the billing processing unit 250 as a destination, and if it is not a method of charging based on usage, the transmitting unit. A service response is sent to 260 as a destination.

In operation 370, the service billing apparatus determines whether the user charging method charges a fee based on the usage amount from the processing information included in the service response received in operation 360. Checking whether the user billing method charges a fee based on the amount of usage is performed by checking whether the processing information received in step 360 indicates whether to transmit a service response to the billing processing unit 250 in the service billing apparatus. If it is determined in step 370 that the user billing method is based on the usage, proceed to step 380;

In operation 380, the service billing apparatus measures the amount of usage associated with the service response received in operation 360. In this case, the usage amount may be measured from data usage amount, access time, download count, and the like.

In operation 390, the service billing apparatus transmits the service response received in operation 360 to the user terminals 100a to 100f.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a service charging method according to an embodiment of the present invention. This will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4. Service billing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is included in the authentication server 121.

The user terminals 100a to 100f request a service from the authentication server 121. The authentication server 121 receiving the service authenticates whether the user who requested the service is a legitimate user using the user information. The authentication server 121 requests the node location information server 124 for use authority information for checking whether the user has authority to use a sensor node that provides a service requested by the user. The node location information server 124 responds to the authentication server 121 with permission information for checking whether the user has the authority to use the sensor node. When the authentication server 121 determines that the user has the authority to use the sensor node, the authentication server 121 transmits a service approval message to the user terminals 100a to 100f. In addition, if the authentication server 121 determines that the user has the authority to use the sensor node, requests the service to the integrated transmission server (123a ~ 123b) and transmits the user billing method. Integrated transmission server (123a ~ 123b) requests the service to the sensor node is connected to the sensor network 140. The sensor node receiving the service request transmits a service response to the integrated transmission servers 123a to 123b. The integrated transmission server 123a to 123b transmits the service response by classifying the destination in the authentication server 121 according to the user billing method. When the user billing method is a prepaid or postpaid pay-as-you-go method, the authentication server 121 sends a service response to the user terminals 100a to 100f after charging a usage fee for the service response. The service response is transmitted to the user terminals 100a to 100f without checking.

Meanwhile, the above-described embodiments of the present invention can be written as a program that can be executed in a computer, and can be implemented in a general-purpose digital computer that operates the program using a computer-readable recording medium. In addition, the structure of the data used in the above-described embodiment of the present invention can be recorded on the computer-readable recording medium through various means.

The computer-readable recording medium may be a magnetic storage medium (for example, a ROM, a floppy disk, a hard disk, etc.), an optical reading medium (for example, a CD-ROM, DVD, etc.) and a carrier wave (for example, the Internet). Storage medium).

So far I looked at the center of the preferred embodiment for the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be implemented in a modified form without departing from the essential features of the present invention. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The scope of the present invention is shown in the claims rather than the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present invention.

1 is a conceptual diagram of an RFID / USN open infrastructure network including a service charging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a service charging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a service charging method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a service charging method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (15)

Receiving a service request and user information from a user terminal; Authenticating the user information with reference to a database storing user information; Requesting authorization information of a sensor node providing the service to a first server when the user information is authenticated; Transmitting a user billing method and the service request to a second server if it is determined that the user has the authority to use the sensor node from the authority information received from the first server; Determining whether the user billing method is a method based on service usage based on information included in the response received from the second server; And If the user billing method is based on the service usage method comprising the step of charging by measuring the amount of the response to the service request received from the second server, The first server is a server that manages location information of the sensor node and usage rights information of the sensor node. When receiving the service request of the user terminal, the second server is a server for transmitting a service request to the sensor node, and transmits a response to the service request received from the sensor node to the user terminal, The usage right information includes the user billing method, the service billing method in a ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure. delete The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the service request to the second server comprises: If it is determined that the use authority of the sensor node is from the use authority information received from the first server, the charging method and the service request corresponding to the user characterized in that the step of transmitting to the second server , The service charging method in the ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure, characterized in that the response to the service request received from the second server is distinguished according to the charging method. The method of claim 1, And transmitting the response to the service request received from the second server to the user terminal when the user billing method is a flat rate. 5. The method of claim 4, Ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure, characterized in that the user billing method is one of a prepaid pay-as-you-go or postpaid pay-as-you-go method, which is a method based on service usage, and receives a response to the service request from the second server to measure service usage. How do you charge for services? delete The method of claim 1, The service request is a service charging method in the ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure, characterized in that for requesting the sensing information of the sensor node. A receiving unit for receiving a service request and user information from a user terminal; A user management unit requesting permission information of a sensor node providing the service to a first server when authenticating the received user information by referring to a database storing user information; An authority manager that determines whether the user has the authority to use the sensor node from the authority information received from the first server; If the user receives a result from the authority management unit, the service request and the user billing method is transmitted to the second server, and if the user billing method is based on the service usage received from the second server A billing processor configured to bill by measuring an amount of a response to the service request; And A distribution unit that determines whether the charging method is based on a service usage amount based on information included in the response received from the second server, The usage right information includes the charging method, The first server is a server that manages location information of the sensor node and usage rights information of the sensor node. The second server is a server that transmits a service request to the sensor node when receiving the service request of the user terminal, and transmits a response to the service request received from the sensor node to the user terminal. Service billing device in ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure. delete The method of claim 8, And the information included in the response received from the second server is generated based on a user charging method transmitted to the second server. The method of claim 8, And a distribution unit which transmits a response to the service request received from the second server to the user terminal when the charging method is a flat rate. The method of claim 11, The distribution unit In the ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure, if the billing method of charging the user is one of a prepaid pay-per-pay or postpaid pay-as-you-go, which is a method based on service usage, transmitting a response to the service request to the billing processing unit. Service charging device. delete The method of claim 8, The service requesting device in the ubiquitous sensor network infrastructure, characterized in that for requesting the sensing information of the sensor node. A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of any one of claims 1, 3, 5, or 7, on a computer.

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