KR101869253B1 - Method and apparatus for managing device context by using ip address in communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system configuration and an apparatus for collecting and analyzing information regardless of characteristics and types of services, while preventing a user privacy infringement in a process of collecting and analyzing user information by a system providing a context aware service.
In the present invention, a method of configuring and using a Context Analyzer and a Device Profile DB so that a system providing a Context Aware service can collect and analyze information regardless of characteristics and types of services is presented. Also, we propose a method to collect and analyze Context based on IP address or device name so that the system that provides Context Aware service collects and analyzes user context so that user privacy is not infringed.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for managing a device context using an IP address in a communication system,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for collecting and managing a user's activity or service use history in a communication system without infringing on user privacy.

Generally, a mobile communication system is developed for providing communication while securing the mobility of a user. Such a mobile communication system has reached a stage where it can provide high-speed data communication services as well as voice communication owing to the remarkable development of the technology. On the other hand, with the emergence of high-level processing devices, auxiliary storage devices, display devices and the like, along with the improvement of user terminal manufacturing technology, smart phones capable of providing users with high-performance and high-quality data communication services on the move are widely spread.

The development of such a high-speed data mobile communication service and the spread of high-performance smart phones have led to the emergence of new types of user application services. A service that provides users with high quality multimedia video (eg, YouTube), a social networking service (eg Facebook) that allows users to share information and activities, a search service that allows users to find information whenever they want, Google) are examples.

These next generation application service providers are developing technologies for introducing Context Aware Service competitively to provide a better level of user experience. Context recognition service is a technology that improves user convenience by predicting what the user ultimately wants in the current situation based on the user's existing service utilization record or activity record. Therefore, in order to provide the context recognition service to the user, the service provider must determine whether the user has used the history or service history, such as which Internet web page was accessed, what keyword was searched, , What people have mainly talked to, and where they have been in the area. As more information about the user, that is, the context, is collected, it is possible to provide a more accurate context recognition service.

However, in such a context recognition service, there is a fear that a privacy of the individual may be infringed in the process of collecting the user context by the server. Therefore, it is necessary to study how to provide high-quality context-aware services without infringing on individual privacy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for collecting and managing user activities and service usage details without infringing on user privacy in a communication system.

In a system for collecting and analyzing user contexts for providing a context-aware service in a system according to an embodiment of the present invention, a context analyzer (Context) is provided to prevent user privacy invasion and to collect and analyze user information regardless of a service type. Analyzer) and a device profile database (Device Profile DB).

In addition, the system for providing context-aware services according to an embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that an apparatus for performing context collection and analysis uses an IP address so that user context can be collected and analyzed without user privacy violation.

Also, in the system for providing context recognition service according to the embodiment of the present invention, in an apparatus for performing context collection and analysis, when an IP address allocated to a user device is used in an IP address so that user context acquisition and analysis can be performed without user privacy violation And a method for continuing context collection and analysis even when the address is changed.

Also, the present invention features a method of using a device alias so that an apparatus for context collection and analysis in a system for providing context aware service according to an embodiment of the present invention can collect and analyze user contexts without infringement of user privacy .

More specifically, in the communication system of the present invention, a context management method includes a sensing step of sensing packet transmission between a device and a server, a request step of requesting information on an IP address of the device by transmitting an IP request message to a device profile database A receiving step of receiving an IP response message transmitted from the device profile database; and an updating step of updating the context according to IP address information included in the IP response message.

In the communication system of the present invention, the context management apparatus includes an interface unit for performing wired or wireless communication with at least one node, a storage unit for storing context information according to the IP address, Transmits an IP request message to the device profile database to request information on the IP address of the device, receives an IP response message transmitted from the device profile database, And a controller for updating the context.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user can make a context-aware service provider know that information provided by the user is not actually who, and a business entity that intends to provide a context-aware service can collect user information without infringing on a user privacy, And can provide high value-added services. In addition, the service provider can collect and utilize a wide range of user contexts not limited to a specific service type.

1 illustrates a network structure that conventional Internet service providers use to provide a context aware service to a user.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration capable of collecting and analyzing the context of a user who wishes to receive various types of services without infringing upon a user privacy. FIG.
3 is a flowchart showing a process in which, when the device 300 first accesses the system, the context analyzer 302 detects it and starts context storing and analyzing using the IP address of the device 300. FIG.
4 is a flow diagram illustrating the procedure by which the context analyzer 402 detects and associates previously stored and analyzed user information with the IP address assigned to the device 400 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for collecting and analyzing a context according to a device name;
6 is a flowchart showing a process in which a context analyzer manages contexts according to an embodiment of the present invention;
7 is a block diagram illustrating an internal structure of a context analyzer according to an embodiment of the present invention;

In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Although a basic Internet system will be the main object in explaining the embodiments of the present invention in future, the main point of the present invention is to provide the scope of the present invention to other communication / computer systems having similar technical background and system form It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

1 is a diagram illustrating a network structure that conventional Internet service providers use to provide a context recognition service to a user.

The user 100 may use the wired device 102 or the wireless device 106 to receive Internet service. The user 100 logs on to the Internet service provider server 112 and transmits information for requesting the service to the server 112 before receiving the Internet service.

For example, to utilize the location-based service, the user first transmits his or her current location to the service provider server 112. Based on this information, the service provider 112 returns the appropriate information and services to the user. Instead, the context transmitted by the user is not used only once but is continuously stored in the server 112 to improve the quality of the context recognition service.

However, the process of collecting the user context by the current service providers shown in FIG. 1 has the following disadvantages. First, user privacy may be infringed because the subscribed user 100 collects the user information based on the information log-on to the server 112. The user does not seem to be satisfied that the service provider stores his / her information and makes unauthorized use of it. For example, the service provider 112 can record in real time what area the user 100 has stayed in. If the information is collected unauthorizedly and utilized, the user 100 may feel uncomfortable.

Second, since user contexts are stored separately for each service provider, it is difficult to collect a wide range of user contexts. That is, for example, a multimedia video service provider can only collect user contexts that are in a beta state with a location based service provider.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a system structure for collecting user information without infringing user privacy in a system for providing a context recognition service and collecting user information not limited to a specific service provider .

2 is a diagram showing a network configuration capable of collecting and analyzing a context of a user who desires to receive various types of services without infringing on a user privacy.

The context of the user described below may refer to user information including at least one of purchase history, user location, preference, click history, and social networking service (SNS) information.

In order to solve the problems of the existing technology shown in FIG. 1, the network configuration proposed in the present invention includes a context analyzer 200 and a device profile database 202. [ The context analyzer 200 is separate from the server 102 for service provision and collects and analyzes user information independently of the server. The device profile DB 202 includes information for concealing an actual owner of the collected user context.

2, in the network structure proposed by the embodiment of the present invention, the context analyzer 200 existing in the middle of the transmission path acquires the information transmitted by the user 100 to the server 102, do. Accordingly, according to the embodiment of the present invention, there is an advantage that information for a certain type of service can be collectively collected regardless of the type and location of the service providing server 112. The context analyzer 200 can be utilized by, for example, an Internet service provider or a mobile communication network operator.

The device profile DB 202 is a device that records an IP address assigned by a specific device without information about an actual user. That is, the device profile DB 202 stores information on which IP address the specific device is currently using and the IP address used by the device currently using the IP. Information stored in the device profile DB 202 is shown in Table 1 below.

Previous IP address Current IP address 100,000.1011 121.516.6541 111.181.2201 221.321.6542 132.213.8465 135.321.6557 -
-
- -
-
-

On the other hand, in another embodiment of the present invention, the device profile DB 202 may store alias of a device using a specific IP address.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, only the IP address of the device is tracked to manage context information, and the IP address of the device and the actual device or the user's association with the user are not stored or used so that user privacy is not infringed.

In an embodiment of the present invention, in the network structure shown in FIG. 2, the context analyzer 200 may provide an identifier (e.g., a user name, a user name, (Internet Protocol) address used by the user device instead of using an identifier, such as a resident registration number, or an identifier directly referring to the user subscription information, e.g., a telephone number, a user ID, and the like. Also, a method of continuously collecting and analyzing a context even when an IP address assigned to a user device is changed is proposed.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a process in which, when the device 300 first accesses the system, the context analyzer 302 starts to store and analyze the context using the IP address of the device 300 by detecting it.

First, in the embodiment of the present invention described below, the IP address of the device can be assigned by a node such as a gateway (not shown in the figure), and when the device IP address is updated, the gateway notifies the device profile DB . Accordingly, the device profile DB can update the new IP address for the device whenever the IP address of the device is changed.

3, information on the device 300 is not stored in the context analyzer 302 before the user connects (308). This is because, as described above, it is assumed that the device 300 first accesses the system. The device 300 is allocated an IP address for use of the Internet (310) and transmits the first packet to the server (312).

The context analyzer 302 detects this (310, Option 1) and sends an IP request message (Old IP (Option 1)) to the device profile DB 306 to inquire whether the device 300 has an existing IP address (318). The device profile DB 306 transmits an IP response message (Ild IP Response) to the context analyzer 302, so that the existing IP address is not used (320). In this case, the DB included in the device profile DB 306 may be provided as shown in Table 2 below. As shown in the following Table 2, it can be confirmed that the current context analyzer 302 does not have a previous IP address value corresponding to the IP address value 121.516.6541 requested for analysis.

Previous IP address Current IP address null 121.516.6541 111.181.2201 221.321.6542 132.213.8465 135.321.6557 -
-
- -
-
-

The context analyzer 302 records the source IP address of the corresponding packet in the IP address of the device 300, and then stores and analyzes the context using the packets transmitted and received in the corresponding IP (322).

On the other hand, if the first packet is transmitted through the router 304 from the server 300 instead of the device 300, the context analyzer 302 senses it (310, Option 2) and sends it to the device profile DB 306 The device 300 transmits an IP request message (318) to inquire whether the device 300 has an existing IP address.

When the device 300 is initially connected to receive a service, the device profile DB 306 informs that the device 300 is a new device 300 without an existing IP address since there is no IP address that has been used. The context analyzer 302 then records the destination IP address of the packet as an IP address for the device 300. [ The context analyzer 302 then stores and analyzes the context using the packets transmitted and received in the corresponding IP (322).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure in which, when the IP address assigned to the device 400 is changed according to the embodiment of the present invention, the context analyzer 402 detects the IP address and associates the information with the user information stored and analyzed previously.

The IP address assigned to the device may be changed (408) while the user information is collected and analyzed according to the operation shown in FIG.

If the first packet is transmitted from the device 400 after the IP address of the device is changed (412), the context analyzer 402 detects (410, Option 1) that an IP address that has not been seen has appeared. Then, the context analyzer 402 transmits an IP request message (Old IP Request) 416 to the device profile DB 406 in order to inquire whether the device 400 has an IP address allocated or used by the device 400 1). At this time, the context analyzer 402 transmits (418) the source IP address by including it in the IP request message (Old IP Request)

Then, the device profile DB 406 searches the DB and confirms the existing IP address assigned to the device 400 that used the IP address. The device profile DB 406 transmits an IP response message (Old IP Response) including the existing IP address information to the context analyzer 402 (420). The DB included in the device profile DB 406 in the present embodiment can be shown in Table 3 below.

Previous IP address Current IP address 125.544.8765 121.516.6541 111.181.2201 111.181.2201 132.213.8465 132.213.8465 -
-
- -
-
-

Assume that the device 400 is newly assigned an IP address 121.516.6541 instead of the IP address that was conventionally used. The context analyzer 402 then queries the device profile DB 406 for the previous IP address of the device that was using the IP address 121.516.6541. Then, the device profile DB 406 confirms in the DB that the previous IP address of the device that used the IP address 121.516.6541 is 125.544.8765. The device profile DB 406 then sends the verified IP address 125.544.8765 to the context analyzer 402. Then, using the existing IP address received through the device profile DB, the context analyzer 402 determines whether the context generated from the new IP address

 You can see if it is for a device that used an IP address. Accordingly, the context analyzer 402 adds 424 a new context to the existing context. That is, the old IP address is updated to the new IP address, and the context managed for the previous IP address is changed to the context for the new IP address.

The following will be further described with reference to Tables 4 and 5 below.

Table 4 below is a table showing an example of the user context management table provided by the context analyzer 402 before the IP address update.

IP address Context 125.544.8765 a1, a2, a3, 111.181.2201 b1, b2, b3, 132.213.8465 c1, c2, c3, -
-
- -
-
-

When the context analyzer 420 inquires of the device profile DB 406 that the IP address 125.544.8765 is updated to 121.516.6541, Table 4 is updated as shown in Table 5 below.

IP address Context 125.544.8765 -> 121.516.6541 (update) a1, a2, a3, a4, a5 , 111.181.2201 b1, b2, b3, 132.213.8465 c1, c2, c3, -
-
- -
-
-

That is, the context analyzer 402 newly updates the IP address, and updates the information (a4, a5) generated for the IP address as the context for the IP address 121.516.6541.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, only the IP address is stored and updated in the context analyzer 402 or the device profile DB, and no information that can identify the actual device or the user is stored or used. Thus, while providing a context aware service, user privacy is not violated.

If the IP address of the device 400 is changed, then the first packet may be sent 414 from the server via the router 404. In this case, the context analyzer 402 detects that an unseen IP address has been received (410, Option 2) and transmits an IP request message (Old IP Request) to the device profile DB 406, 400) to determine whether there is an assigned IP address (416, Option 1). To this end, the context analyzer 402 includes 418 the destination IP address in the IP request message. Then, the device profile DB 406 searches the DB and confirms the existing IP address assigned to the device 400 that used the IP address. The device profile DB 406 transmits an IP response message (Old IP Response) to the context analyzer 402 to notify the existing IP address used by the device 400 (420).

Meanwhile, another embodiment of the present invention related to FIG. 4 will be briefly described. 4, when the IP address allocated to the device 400 is changed (408) while the user information is being collected and analyzed, the context analyzer 402 detects the IP address and transmits the existing IP address to the device profile DB 406 And how to acquire them.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the device profile DB 406 may first inform the context analyzer 402 that the device 400 using the specific IP address has been assigned a new IP address (422) . In this case, the context analyzer 402 can use the existing IP address to know whether the user context generated from the new IP address is for a device that has used an IP address, and adds the new context to the existing context to use it (424 ).

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, only the IP address is stored and updated in the context analyzer 402 or the device profile DB, and no information that can identify the actual device or the user is stored or used. Accordingly, the present invention provides a context-aware service, but does not infringe upon user privacy. In another embodiment of the present invention, a method for collecting and analyzing a context according to a device name is described.

5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for collecting and analyzing contexts according to device names.

The operation in which the context analyzer 502 detects that the packet transmitted or received from the device is a new IP is not so different from the previous embodiment, and thus a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The context analyzer 502 sends 518 a device name request message to the device profile DB 506 when a new IP address is detected, and inquires what the pseudonym for the device using this IP address is.

Then, the device profile DB 506 searches the DB provided by the device profile DB 506 and confirms the device name of the device to which the IP address is allocated. In the present embodiment, an example of the DB possessed by the device profile DB 506 is shown in Table 6. < tb > < TABLE > The IP address shown in Fig. 6 below is updated at the same time that the IP address assigned to the device is updated.

Device alias IP address Apple 121.516.6541 Bus 221.321.6542 mountain 135.321.6557 -
-
- -
-
-

If the device profile DB 506 has the IP address 221.321.6542 requested by the context analyzer 502, the device profile DB 506 informs 520 that the IP address requested for inquiry is a device name bus.

At this time, there is an advantage that there is no privacy infringement because the information about what device name the device alias actually refers to is not stored or used in the system.

If the device name received from the device profile DB 506 is first seen by the context analyzer 502, the context analyzer 502 maps the device name and the corresponding IP address, and collects and analyzes the user context for the transmitted and received packets.

On the other hand, when the context analyzer 502 already has a user context for the device name, the device name is mapped to the new IP address, and the user context for the transmitted and received packets is collected and analyzed.

In this case, an example of the user context management table that the context analyzer 502 has is shown in Table 7. [

Device alias Context Apple a1, a2, a3, Bus b1, b2, b3, mountain c1, c2, c3, -
-
- -
-
-

For example, it is assumed that context analyzer 502 has received a response that IP address 221.321.6542 is the IP address of the device alias bus. Then, the context analyzer 502 updates the context collected via the IP address as a context for a device name of bus shown in Table 7. [

6 is a flowchart showing a process of context management by a context analyzer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows only the flow according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and the flow of the remaining embodiments will be clarified with reference to FIG.

First, in step S610, the context analyzer detects a packet transmitted by an arbitrary device. In step S620, the context analyzer requests information on the IP address of the device that transmits the packet to the device profile DB. The information on the IP address may refer to an IP address of the same device used before the IP address is newly allocated.

In step S630, the context analyzer determines whether a response has been received from the device profile DB. If the response is not received, the context analyzer proceeds to step S640 and waits for the response transmitted from the device profile DB.

On the other hand, if a response is received, the context analyzer proceeds to step S650 and determines whether the previous IP address information used by the same device is included in the public response. If not, the context analyzer proceeds to step S660 and newly records the source IP address of the detected packet. On the other hand, the Context Analyzer proceeds to step S680 and updates the previous IP address of the corresponding device to the new IP address.

In step S670, the context analyzer stores and analyzes the context information of the user with respect to the newly recorded device IP address.

7 is a block diagram showing an internal structure of a context analyzer according to an embodiment of the present invention. 7, the context analyzer of the present invention may include an interface unit 710, a storage unit 720, and a control unit 730.

The interface 710 provides a context analyzer and means for communicating between each network node according to an embodiment of the present invention. In particular, the interface 710 of the present invention includes an interface with a device profile DB for requesting information on an IP address and receiving a response, as well as a wired / wireless interface for detecting packets transmitted from the wired or wireless terminal to the network .

The storage unit 720 stores programs and data necessary for the operation of the context analyzer. In particular, the storage unit 720 according to the embodiment of the present invention may further include a user context storage area 721.

The user context storage area 721 can store the user context management table illustrated in Table 4 above. The user context management area includes an IP address field and a context field. The IP address is used as an identifier identifying an arbitrary device, and is continuously updated through mutual communication between the context analyzer and the device profile DB. The context includes user information. As illustrated above, the user's context includes information including at least one of purchase history, user location, preference, click history, and social networking service (SNS) information. can do.

The control unit 730 controls the overall operation of the context analyzer and the signal flow between the blocks according to the embodiment of the present invention. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 730 may further include a context management unit 731. [

The context management unit 731 can detect the transmission of packets transmitted and received between the device and the server in a wired or wireless manner. Then, the context management unit 731 sends an IP request message to the device profile database to request information about the IP address of the device. The context management unit 731 receives the IP response message transmitted from the device profile database, and controls to update the context according to the IP address information included in the IP response message.

In this case, the information on the IP address may refer to an IP address used before the IP address currently allocated to the device, or a pseudonym (Aljas) for the device using the currently allocated IP address.

On the other hand, when the device first accesses the system, the IP response message does not include information on the previously used IP address. On the other hand, if the device is not initially connected to the system, the IP response message includes information on the previously used IP address. In this case, the context management unit 731 controls to update the previously used IP address included in the context to the currently allocated IP address.

In the above description, the control unit 730 and the context management unit 731 are configured as separate blocks, and each block performs a different function. However, this is for convenience of description only. no. For example, it should be noted that the control unit 730 itself may perform a specific function performed by the context management unit 731. [

710:
720: storage unit 721: user context storage area
730: Control section 731: Context management section

Claims (20)

A method in a communication system,
Detecting packet transmission between a device and a server to which a new temporary identifier is assigned;
Requesting a device profile database for information on a previous temporary identifier of the device based on the new temporary identifier of the device; And
And managing the user context of the device by mapping the previous temporary identifier and the new temporary identifier of the device. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information on the previous temporary identifier comprises:
The previous IP address or previous pseudonym used prior to the device being assigned a new IP address or a new alias. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein managing the user context of the device comprises:
Updating the previous IP address or a previous pseudonym of the device with the new IP address or a new pseudonym. 2. The method of claim 1,
User activity information, and user service usage information,
Wherein at least one of the user activity information and the user service use information comprises:
Purchase history, user location, preference, click history, and social networking service (SNS) information. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user context is managed without user identification of the device. An apparatus in a communication system,
A transmission / reception unit;
A storage unit for storing a user context; And
Detecting a packet transmission between the device and the server to which the new temporary identifier is assigned,
Requesting the device profile database for information about the previous temporary identifier of the device based on the new temporary identifier of the device,
And a controller for controlling the user context of the device by mapping the previous temporary identifier of the device to the new temporary identifier. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the information on the previous temporary identifier comprises:
The previous IP address or previous pseudonym used prior to the device being assigned a new IP address or a new alias. 8. The apparatus of claim 7,
And updates the previous IP address or the previous pseudonym of the device with the new IP address or a new pseudonym. 7. The method of claim 6,
User activity information, and user service usage information,
Wherein at least one of the user activity information and the user service use information comprises:
Purchase history, user location, preference, click history, and social networking service (SNS) information. 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the user context is managed without user identification of the device. A method in a communication system,
Receiving, from the context management device, a request for information on a previous temporary identifier of a device to which a new temporary identifier is assigned; And
And transmitting, to the context management apparatus, a response message including the information on the previous temporary identifier of the device,
Wherein the user context of the device is managed by mapping the previous temporary identifier of the device to the new temporary identifier. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the information on the previous temporary identifier comprises:
The previous IP address or previous pseudonym used prior to the device being assigned a new IP address or a new alias. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the previous IP address or the previous pseudonym of the device is updated with the new IP address or a new pseudonym to manage the context of the device. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user context comprises:
User activity information, and user service usage information,
Wherein at least one of the user activity information and the user service use information comprises:
Purchase history, user location, preference, click history, and social networking service (SNS) information. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user context is managed without user identification of the device. An apparatus in a communication system,
A transmission / reception unit;
A storage unit for storing temporary identifiers; And
From the context management apparatus, a request for information on a previous temporary identifier of a device to which a new temporary identifier is assigned,
And a control unit for controlling the context management apparatus to transmit a message including the information on the previous temporary identifier of the device,
Wherein the user context of the device is managed by mapping the previous temporary identifier of the device to the new temporary identifier. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the information on the previous temporary identifier comprises:
The previous IP address or previous pseudonym used prior to the device being assigned a new IP address or a new alias. 18. The apparatus of claim 17,
And updates the previous IP address or the previous pseudonym of the device with the new IP address or a new pseudonym. 17. The method of claim 16,
User activity information, and user service usage information,
Wherein at least one of the user activity information and the user service use information comprises:
Purchase history, user location, preference, click history, and social networking service (SNS) information. 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the user context is managed without user identification of the device.

Images