KR20050000888A - billing system in wireless communication network and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A charging system and method in a wireless communication network is provided to enable a user who has been active in a basic area to receive a service at a lower cost by differently applying charges for the service using a wireless communication network according to access areas. CONSTITUTION: A charging system comprises an authentication database(510), an address database(520), an access information database(530), a charging database(540), an authentication processing part(550), an access area judgement part(560), an access processing part(570), and a charging processing part(580). The authentication database(510) stores authentication information for each user. The address database(520) stores the address information of each network access control unit(200). The access information database(530) stores access information for each user. The charging database(540) stores charging information for each user's service usage. The authentication processing part(550) executes authentication for a user's authentication information provided from a network access control unit(200) and transmits a result to the network access control unit(200). The access area judgement part(560) searches the address database(520) on the basis of the IP address of a network access control unit(200), contained in a message transferred from the network access control unit(200), acquires the location of the network access control unit(200), judges a user's access area, and provides a result to the access processing part(570). The access processing part(570) records access information containing the user's access area, provided from the access area judgement part(560), in the access information database(530). The charging processing part(580) differently makes charging according to service-provided areas, based on the information stored in the access information database(530), and records this charging information in the charging database(540).

Description

Billing system in wireless communication network and method

The present invention relates to a charging system, and more particularly, to a charging system and a method thereof in a wireless communication network.

Recently, in accordance with the development of wireless communication network technology, in addition to the Internet access service through a mobile communication network, an Internet access service through a wireless local area network (WLAN: hereinafter referred to as a "wireless LAN") has been made.

In general, a wireless LAN means a wireless LAN that transmits and receives data between a computer and a computer or other communication devices by using radio frequency (RF) or light. The wireless LAN has been developed in recent years due to the rapid development of Internet service and wireless communication technology, which is mainly installed in places where wired networks are not easily built, such as network access between buildings, large offices, and distribution centers. The use is soaring.

In the conventional wireless LAN service and the mobile communication service, a billing method, a subscription, etc. are used according to specific detailed services. In the case of mobile communication service, a fixed amount of basic fee (flat fee) is added to the pay-as-you-go fee according to the usage time, and in the case of wireless LAN service, a monthly flat fee method is generally used. And the like are additionally used.

However, although the conventional billing method is limited in the areas where the users are mainly active, conventionally the base fee is set based on providing access services in all areas, so users with a small number of active areas have many users. There is a case where a relatively high cost is paid. For example, if the basic fee is set based on the provision of access services in Seoul, users who are active in Gangnam rarely request access services from Gangbuk, but services that can be accessed from Gangnam and Gangbuk The problem of paying for this may occur.

In addition, in the related art, billing is performed according to a subscription or usage time regardless of local characteristics. Therefore, network operators are reluctant to install communication devices in other special areas where the cost of installing communication devices is high or the number of users is relatively small. . As a result, users who mainly operate in special areas cannot use the wireless network service.

Therefore, the technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to solve the conventional problems, to differently charge for a service using a wireless communication network according to the user's access area.

In addition, another technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to increase the user's use of wireless services by increasing the investment in communication equipment installation of the network operator by varying the billing according to the specificity of the region.

1 is a network structural diagram of a wireless communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a detailed structural diagram of a charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an authentication and access process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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

In order to achieve the above technical problem, a charging method according to an aspect of the present invention is a method for charging a user who is provided with a wireless communication network service according to a relay of a network access control device, the method comprising: a) connecting through the wireless communication network; Determining an access area of the user terminal; And b) different charging according to the user's use of the wireless communication network according to the access region of the user terminal.

In addition, c) performing authentication on a user terminal connecting through the wireless communication network; And d) storing access information including an access area and an access date and time of the authenticated user terminal. In this case, step b) performs charging based on the stored access information.

In particular, in step b), if the access area of the user terminal belongs to the basic area, the user is charged a basic fee, and if the access area is an additional area other than the basic area, the additional fee is charged. In addition, in step b), if the access area of the user terminal is an additional area, the first additional fee is charged, and if the access area is an additional area and a special area, the second additional charge is charged.

Meanwhile, in step b), the user terminal may charge an additional fee differently according to the number of additional areas using the wireless communication network.

In addition, in step b), if the access area of the user terminal is a basic area and the number of access areas using a service is less than or equal to the set number, the basic fee is charged; if the number of access areas is more than the set number, an additional fee is charged. You can charge.

On the other hand, step a) determines the access area of the user terminal according to the position of the network access control device.

The billing system according to another aspect of the present invention is a system for billing a user who is provided with a wireless communication network service according to a relay of a network access control device, and the access database storing access information including a region connected to each user. ; A connection area determining unit for determining a location of a user terminal connecting to a wireless communication network through the network access control device; A connection processor configured to establish a session according to a connection request of a network access control device to an authenticated user terminal, and to record connection information including the connection area in the connection database; A charging processor configured to access the user terminal based on the access information stored in the access information database and perform charging according to an access area using a wireless communication network; And a billing database in which billing processing details are stored for each user.

In addition, the apparatus may further include an address database in which location information is stored for each identification address of the network access control apparatus. In this case, the access region determination unit may be included in the access request message for the user terminal provided from the network access control apparatus. The location of the network access control device is determined according to the identified identification address, and the connection area of the user terminal is determined based on the location.

On the other hand, the charging processing unit charges a basic fee to the user when the access region of the user terminal belongs to the basic region, and charges an additional fee if the access region is an additional region other than the basic region.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.

Although an embodiment of the present invention describes an access service in a wireless LAN (public wireless LAN service) as an example, the billing differs according to the access region, but the present invention is not limited thereto. WLAN mobile communication service) is also applicable when charging.

1 illustrates a network structure of a public wireless LAN to which the present invention is applied.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the public wireless LAN to which the present invention is applied, a plurality of user terminals 100 are connected to the network access control device 200, and the network access control device 200 includes a connection device ( It is connected to the Internet 400 through 300, it is connected to the charging system 500.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the user authentication is made according to the relay of the network access control device 200 when a connection request from the user terminal 100 is made, the network access control device 200 performs a session with respect to the user terminal 100. Set and send an accounting start message to the billing system 500. Accordingly, the charging system 500 determines an area to which the user terminal accesses based on the IP address of the network access control device included in the accounting start message, and provides access information including an access area and an access start time corresponding to the user ID. Record it. Thereafter, when the user uses the access service and logs off to terminate the network connection, the network access control apparatus 200 terminates the session and transmits an accounting end message to the charging system 500. Accordingly, the charging system 500 deletes the session information and records the connection termination time corresponding to the user ID according to the accounting termination message.

After a certain period of time, the billing server performs billing based on the recorded billing information. In particular, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the billing is different according to the region of access for each user. Specifically, the number of communication equipment device management areas provided by the public wireless service user by default (the base station in the case of the public wireless mobile communication service, or the area or administrative area unit covered by a plurality of network access control devices in the case of the public wireless LAN service). For convenience of description, hereinafter referred to as "basic area"), if the public wireless service is used only, the billing by the existing plan (basic billing). If you access from a region other than the default region, you will be charged according to the number of accesses or the number of service areas.

In addition, if a user is provided with a service in a special area where a large amount of facility investment is required among the areas other than the basic area, or the user has little user, additional charges are made in addition to the basic charge. Since the installation cost, management cost and depreciation cost of the communication equipment installed in the user's special area is larger than other areas, the user is charged a part of it as a fee. In order to receive some compensation from the user side and to provide a convenient wireless service in a special area from the user side.

Figure 2 shows the specific structure of each component of the charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention for such a charging process.

First, referring to the structure of the user terminal 100, an IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN card 110 is provided. For example, it may be a notebook computer, a desktop computer or a personal digital assistant (PDA) having a communication port such as a PCMCIA port, a USB port, or a PCI slot. Since the structure of the WLAN card is a known technology, a detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

The network access control device 200 relays the wireless LAN connection of the user terminal 100, and a router, a hub, etc. may be used as the connection device 300 connecting the network access control device 200 to the Internet 400. Can be.

The charging system 500 that performs charging for the user terminal 100 having the above structure provided with the wireless WLAN service according to the relay of the network access control apparatus 200 includes an authentication database 510 and an address database ( 520, a connection information database 530 and a charging database 540, an authentication processing unit 550, a connection area determination unit 560, a connection processing unit 570, and a charging processing unit 580.

The authentication database 510 stores authentication information for each user. For example, a password used for authentication in response to a user ID is stored. In addition, information such as a name, a social security number, and a contact information is stored.

The address database 520 stores address information of the network access control device. For example, the region information where the network access device is located corresponds to the IP address of the network access control device. Here, the area information stores information indicating whether the network access control device is installed in the basic area or whether it is installed in the special area. For example, area information such as "basic" or "special" may be stored in correspondence with the IP address of the network access control device. If the area information does not correspond, the network access control device may be configured as a default area or special device. Indicates that you are located outside of the region.

The access information database 530 stores local information accessed by each user. For example, connection information such as the date and time of connection and the area to which the user is connected is stored for each user ID. In addition, information such as service usage amount at the time of connection may be stored.

The billing database 540 stores billing information according to service usage for each user. For example, information such as a usage period, a basic fee according to the usage period, a premium fee generated according to an additional charge, and a total billed amount is stored for each user ID.

The authentication processing unit 550 performs authentication on the authentication information of the user provided from the network access control apparatus 200, and transmits the result to the network access control apparatus 200 so that the user's wireless network connection is made.

The access area determination unit 560 searches the address database 520 based on the IP address of the network access control device included in the message transmitted from the network access control device 200 to determine the location of the network access control device. Accordingly, it is determined where the user is connected to and the result is provided to the connection processor 570.

The connection processing unit 570 establishes a session according to the accounting start and end messages of the network access control device 200 for the authenticated user terminal, and is provided from the access area determination unit 560 to the connection information database 530. Record the access information including the access area of the user.

The billing processing unit 580 performs billing for the services provided by the users during the set period. In particular, the billing processing unit 580 changes the billing according to the region where the users are provided with the service based on the information stored in the access information database 530. The information is recorded in the charging database 540.

Next, the operation of the charging system according to the embodiment of the present invention having such a structure will be described.

3 schematically illustrates an authentication process and an access process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When the user terminal 100 enters a basic service set (BBS) where a service is provided, a connection is made between the WLAN card 100 of the user terminal 100 and the network access control device 200. At this time, the network access control apparatus 200 receives a predetermined IP, gateway, domain name server information (Internet connection information) from the user terminal 100 and performs a wireless LAN relay function (S100 to S110).

Then, when the user logs on using the access program, the user terminal 100 sends an authentication start message to the network. Upon receiving the authentication start message, the network access control device 200 sends an ID request message to the user terminal 100. In response, the user terminal 100 transmits authentication information including an ID and a password input by the user. The ID response message is transmitted to the network (S120 to S140).

The network access control apparatus 200 provides an ID response message to the authentication processing unit 550 of the charging system 500 through the connection apparatus 300. The authentication processing unit 550 extracts the user ID from the authentication information included in the ID response message, and then the user ID is stored in the authentication database 510 and the transmitted password corresponds to the user ID. If it matches the password stored in the, it is determined that the user is a legitimate user who can receive the service, and transmits the authentication result to the network access control device 200 (S150).

After the authentication is completed, the network access control apparatus 200 does not establish a session (S160 to S170) if the authentication result is unsuccessful, and sets a session for the user terminal 100 if the authentication succeeds (S180). In step 570, the accounting start message is sent (S190). The access processing unit 570 sets up a session for the corresponding user ID (S200), and the access area determination unit 560 determines the access area of the user (S210). That is, the IP address of the network access control apparatus is extracted from the ID response message, and the address database 520 is searched based on the extracted IP address to determine where the network access control apparatus is located, and the user according to the determination result. Determines where the region is. For example, if the area information corresponding to the IP address of the network access control device is basic, it is determined that the current user is accessed from the default area. If the area information is special, it is determined that the current user is accessed from the special area. On the other hand, if the region information is not listed corresponding to the IP address of the network access control device, it is determined that the current user has accessed from a region other than the basic region and the special region, and the user access region information according to the result of the determination is accessed. It is provided to the processing unit 570. The connection processing unit 570 stores the connection information (connection area, date, time, or usage amount) in the connection information database 530 in correspondence with the determined user ID.

Thereafter, when the user uses the access service and logs off to terminate the network access (S220), the network access control apparatus 200 terminates the session and transmits an accounting end message to the access processing unit 570 (S230 to S240). ). Upon receiving this, the connection processing unit 570 deletes the session information and records the connection termination time of the user in the connection information database 530 according to the accounting termination message (S250 to S260).

As described above, when the user uses the public WLAN service for the set period, the charging processing unit 580 charges the user for using the service based on the information stored in the access information database 530.

In Figure 4 is shown in detail the charging process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the charging processing unit 580 determines the area where the user is connected, that is, the area using the service. If the area in which the user used the service during the setting period belongs to the basic area, the user is charged a basic fee (S300 to S320).

However, if there is a region other than the basic region among the regions where the user used the service during the set period, it is determined whether the corresponding region is a special region (S330). If the user has a service other than the basic area and a non-special area in the service area during the set period, the user is charged an additional fee (first additional fee) in addition to the basic fee (S340). Even in this case, the additional fee may be charged according to the number of regions other than the basic region where the user is provided with the service.

In operation S330, when the area used by the user belongs to the special area, an additional fee (second additional fee) according to the use of the special area is charged in addition to the basic fee (S350). In this case, the user may charge an additional fee differently according to the number of special regions provided with the service.

Meanwhile, in the above-described embodiment, the basic region is set, the basic region is charged in the basic region, and if the service is provided in a region other than the basic region, the additional charge is described. The billing may be performed in such a way that the fee is discounted if the service is provided through a region below the set number, or the additional fee is received if the service is provided through the region over the set number.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the charging method for the user's use of the public WLAN service is different for each region, but the above-described charging method may be equally applied to the public wireless mobile communication service. When applied to the public wireless mobile communication service, the base station functions as a network access control device according to an embodiment of the present invention, the control system of the mobile communication network operator connected to the base station performs the function as a charging system, the user terminal is connected Different regions charge differently. At this time, the location determination of the access area of the user terminal may also be determined based on the location of the base station controller, and the location of the user terminal may be directly determined using a global positioning system (GPS) method. A person skilled in the art can implement different charging according to the access area in the public wireless mobile communication service based on the above-described embodiment, and thus, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present invention defined in the following claims are also provided. It belongs to the scope of rights.

According to such an embodiment of the present invention, billing for a service using a wireless communication network may be differently received according to a user's access region.

Therefore, users who are active only in the base area can receive the service at a lower price than the billing for all the conventional areas.

In addition, an additional fee is charged for service use in a special area, so that the public wireless service provider can cover the basic investment cost or depreciation cost of the equipment investment device from this additional fee. As a result, operators can invest in special areas they have been reluctant to invest in, thus broadening the service support area as a whole.

As a result, the area in which the public wireless service is available becomes wider, and the convenience of the public wireless service user is increased. In particular, even in the mountains, islands, or areas where the users are less expensive than the normal rate, a fee product can be provided that meets the needs of users who want to receive public wireless service.

Claims (11)

In the method for charging a user who receives a wireless communication network service in accordance with the relay of the network access control device a) determining an access region of a user terminal connecting through the wireless communication network; And b) different charging according to the user's use of the wireless communication network according to the access area of the user terminal; Charging method comprising a. The method of claim 1 c) performing authentication on a user terminal connecting through the wireless communication network; And d) storing access information including an access area and an access date and time of the authenticated user terminal; More, In step b), the charging method is performed based on the stored access information. The method of claim 1 Step b) If the access area of the user terminal belongs to the basic area, the user is charged a basic fee, and if the access area is an additional area other than the basic area, the charging method. The method of claim 3, Step b) If the access area of the user terminal is an additional area, the first additional fee is charged; if the access area is an additional area and a special area; The method of claim 1 Step b) The charging method of the user terminal charges an additional fee differently according to the number of additional areas using a wireless communication network. The method of claim 3, Step b) Charging if the access area of the user terminal is a basic area and the number of access areas using a service is less than or equal to the set number, and if the number of access areas is more than the set number, an additional fee is charged. The method of claim 1 The step a) is a charging method for determining the access area of the user terminal according to the position of the network access control device. In a system for charging a user who receives a wireless communication network service in accordance with the relay of the network access control device A connection database storing access information including a region accessed by a user; A connection area determining unit for determining a location of a user terminal connecting to a wireless communication network through the network access control device; A connection processing unit which establishes a session according to a connection request of a network access control device to an authenticated user terminal, and records connection information including the connection area in the connection database; A charging processor configured to access the user terminal based on the access information stored in the access information database and perform charging according to an access area using a wireless communication network; And Billing database that stores the billing processing history for each user Billing system comprising a. The method of claim 8 Further comprising an address database for storing the location information for each identification address of the network access control device, The access area determination unit determines the location of the network access control device according to the identification address included in the access request message for the user terminal provided from the network access control device, and based on this charging system for determining the access area of the user terminal . The method of claim 8 And the charging processing unit charges a basic fee to the user when the access area of the user terminal belongs to the default area, and charges an additional fee if the access area is an additional area other than the default area. The method of claim 10 And the charging processing unit charges a first additional fee if the access area of the user terminal is an additional area, and charges a second surcharge fee if the access area is an additional area and a special area.