KR20050049126A - System and method for imposing a differential rate according to up-link and down-link for wireless internet service - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a differential charging method and system for up-link and down-link for a wireless Internet service. The differential charging method according to the present invention comprises the steps of setting up-link charging rate and down-link charging rate, respectively, measuring and recording the amount of up-link data transmitted from the subscriber terminal, down-transmission to the subscriber terminal Measuring and recording the amount of link data, calculating the uplink usage rate using the amount of uplink data and the uplink link rate, and using the amount of downlink data and the downlink link rate Calculating a link usage fee; And generating a final wireless data usage fee for the subscriber using the calculated up-link usage fee, down-link usage fee and subscriber's fee product information. The uplink link rate and the downlink link rate may be set differently. According to the present invention, there is an effect of reducing the imbalance in the use of up-links and down-links in the wireless Internet service and activating the wireless Internet service.

Description

TECHNICAL AND METHOD FOR IMPOSING A DIFFERENTIAL RATE ACCORDING TO UP-LINK AND DOWN-LINK FOR WIRELESS INTERNET SERVICE}

The present invention relates to a method and system for applying differential charging for the use of the wireless Internet, and more particularly, a charging rate for up-link data transmitted from the terminal to the wireless internet network and a downlink transmitted to the terminal from the wireless internet network. The present invention relates to a charging method and system capable of differentially applying a charging rate for down-link data.

As technology advances, many people are using the Internet using personal computers. In addition, the use of the Internet using a mobile communication terminal is also increasing, the restrictions on the place for using the Internet gradually disappear.

Therefore, a user who wants to use the Internet using a mobile communication terminal can use the Internet anytime and anywhere, and can download as well as upload desired data through the connected Internet.

However, the fees for the wireless Internet services provided by the mobile communication service providers are still burdensome for general users. Therefore, in order to enable a large number of people to use the Internet service using a mobile communication terminal, a usage fee charging method such as a flat fee method or a usage time charging method has been attempted. In addition, a method and system for differentially charging each wireless Internet service is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-0018991 published on March 9, 2002. Here, the packet fee depends on the type of the wireless Internet service, for example, whether it is a text-based service, a multimedia-based service, or a streaming service such as VOD (Video On Demand) or AOD (Audio On Demand). There is disclosed a charging method for calculating differently.

However, the above-described charging method for the wireless Internet service has a problem that the imbalance of down-link data and up-link data in the wireless Internet service cannot be solved.

Up to now, the wireless internet service is mainly transmitted by a wireless internet server or a content providing server to a terminal at the request of a user. That is, most of the traffic of the wireless Internet service is a structure generated by the down-link. Recently, with the development of mobile communication terminals, terminals equipped with additional functions such as camera phones and video phones are increasing. In addition, due to the development of a wireless communication network, the desire to transmit data of a terminal to a wireless Internet network (including a wireless Internet server) or to another terminal through a wireless Internet network is also increasing. Accordingly, although the amount of uplink data transmission tends to increase compared to the prior art, downlink data still shows much more unbalanced than uplink data in the wireless Internet service.

Therefore, in order to further activate the use of the wireless Internet service by activating data transmission between individuals using wireless, transmission of data generated or owned by individuals to a server, charging rates for up-link data and down-link data may be set. There is a need to apply differentially.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to determine whether the data transmitted when a user uses the wireless Internet service is up-link data or down-link data, and to charge wireless Internet service by charging different rates. To provide an up-link / down-link differential charging method and system in the present invention.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an aspect of the present invention, a billing method for calculating a wireless Internet service fee for a wireless Internet subscriber, comprising: setting up-link billing rates and down-link billing rates, respectively; Measuring and recording the amount of up-link data transmitted from the subscriber station; Measuring and recording an amount of down-link data transmitted to the subscriber station; Calculating an uplink usage fee using the amount of uplink data and the uplink link rate; Calculating a down-link usage fee using the amount of down-link data and the down-link billing rate; And generating a final wireless data usage fee for the subscriber using the up-link usage fee, the down-link usage fee, and the subscriber's fee product information, wherein the up-link billing rate and the down-link There is provided a recording medium including a differential charging method of an up-link and a down-link for a wireless Internet service and a program for performing the same.

Preferably, the up-link charging rate and the down-link charging rate may be differently set for each service type, and the amount of up-link data and the amount of down-link data are each measured in units of packets.

In order to achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, in a billing system for calculating a wireless Internet service fee for a wireless Internet subscriber, up-link billing rates and down-link billing that can be set differently from each other Billing data rate information providing unit for storing information about the rate; A communication network manager which measures the amount of up-link data transmitted from the subscriber station and measures the amount of down-link data transmitted to the subscriber station and separately records each of them; A transmission / reception session manager configured to record the amount of up-link data and the amount of down-link data; And calculate an uplink link using the amount of uplink data and the uplink link rate, and calculate a downlink link using the amount of downlink link and the downlink link rate. And a billing data processor for calculating a final wireless data fee of the subscriber by using the up-link fee, down-link fee, and subscriber fee product information. A differential charging system is provided.

Preferably, the communication network manager further performs a gateway function including data format conversion and / or protocol conversion between the subscriber station and the content providing server.

In order to fully understand the present invention, the operational advantages of the present invention, and the objects achieved by the practice of the present invention, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention and the contents described in the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements.

1 is a schematic diagram of an overall wireless Internet service network including an up-link / down-link differential charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, a wireless internet service network subscriber terminal 110, a differential charging system 120, and a content providing server 130 are provided.

The subscriber terminal 110 is a terminal that can be connected to the differential charging system 120 through a wired / wireless communication network, and may be a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or the like.

The mobile communication service system 120 may include a communication network manager 122, a transmission / reception session manager 124, a charging data rate providing unit 126, a charging data processing unit 128, and the like.

The communication network manager 122 serves as a gateway for connecting the mobile communication terminal to the Internet network and the content providing server 130. That is, the communication network manager 122 includes a function of an interworking bidding (IWF) or a packet data service node (PDSN), which is a gateway for a wireless Internet service.

The communication network manager 122 converts heterogeneous data formats or heterogeneous protocols between the subscriber station 110 and the content providing server 130. When the network management unit 122 receives the service providing request from the subscriber terminal 110 connected through the communication network, accesses the content providing server 130 providing the requested service, collects the data requested by the subscriber, and the subscriber terminal 110. To send). At this time, if necessary, the communication network manager 122 divides the collected data and sequentially transmits the collected data to the subscriber station 122.

In addition, the communication network manager 122 determines whether the wireless Internet data via the network manager 122 is data uploaded from the subscriber terminal 110 or data downloaded to the subscriber terminal 110 and measures the amount of data. Recording to the transmission and reception session management unit 124. More specifically, the network manager 122 may combine the up-link data amount and the down-link data amount on a per session basis (from start call to end call) together with the subscriber's phone number, session start time, session end time, and the like. A recorded call detail record (CDR) is generated and stored in the transmission / reception session managing unit 124.

The transmission / reception session management unit 124 includes a database for storing the above-mentioned subscriber's telephone number, session start time, session end time, uplink data amount, and downlink data amount for each session ID, and in the IWF or PDSN. It can be implemented as one of the functional modules to be mounted.

The billing data rate providing unit 126 stores separate billing rate information for up-link data and down-link data in the wireless Internet service. The billing data rate providing unit 126 provides up-link billing rate information and down-link billing rate information to the transmit / receive session management unit 124 according to a request of the network management unit 122, or the request of the billing data processing unit 128. In accordance with the billing data processing unit 128 provides up-link billing rate information and down-link billing rate information.

Examples of up-link charging rate information and down-link charging rate information stored in the charging data rate providing unit 126 are shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. In the example shown in FIG. 3A, the packet charging rate of the wireless Internet data is set at 3.0 won per packet for the up-link and 6.5 won per packet for the down-link. Packet charging is a charging method that calculates the fee based on the number of packets by measuring the amount of wireless Internet data in packet units.

When measuring the amount of wireless data in packet units, the network manager 122 may measure the amount of wireless data by counting the number of up-link packets and the number of down-link packets passing through the network manager 122, respectively. have.

 The wireless Internet service fee usually consists of a data (packet) fee and a content fee, that is, an information fee, charged according to the amount of wireless Internet data (packet) to be transmitted. The content fee is usually calculated by the content providing server 130 that provides the content.

In the example shown in FIG. 3B, the packet charging rate of the wireless Internet data is set differently according to the type of service and depending on the up-link data or the down-link data. In FIG. 3B, service ID1 represents a character-based service type (eg, text-based stock information, news, etc.), and service ID2 represents a multimedia-based downloadable service type (eg, photos, music, etc.). It is assumed that service ID3 represents a streaming service type such as VOD (Video On Demand) or AOD (Audio On Demand). In the example shown in FIG. 3B, 3.0 won per packet for up-link data of the character-based service, 6.5 won per packet for downlink data of the character-based service, and 6.5 packets per packet for the up-link data of the multimedia-based service. 1.3 won, 2.5 won per packet for downlink data for multimedia-based services, 0.6 won per packet for uplink data for streaming services, and 1.3 won per packet for downlink data for streaming services. do. Unlike the examples shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, when the charging rate is set for one link (up-link or down-link) data, the charging rate for the other link data is at a predetermined rate relative to the previously set charging rate. It may be set. For example, the up-link charging rate may be determined as the rate reduced at a predetermined rate relative to the down-link charging rate (eg, 50% of the up-link charging rate).

Referring back to FIG. 1, the billing data processor 128 receives the CDR for each session from the transmit / receive session manager 124 and generates a final CDR using the fee product information subscribed to by the subscriber. Based on the final CDR, the wireless data usage fee (ie, packet fee) for each subscriber is finally determined. The wireless data usage fee for each subscriber is notified to the subscriber through the bill, along with the information usage fee, or notified to the subscriber through the wired / wireless communication network.

The content providing server 130 stores a content to be provided to the subscriber and transmits the content at the request of the subscriber. The content providing server 130 is connected to the communication network manager 122 through a wired communication network.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a differential charging method for up-link and down-link data according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a differential charging method for up-link and down-link data according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In FIG. 2, it is assumed that a subscriber uses a wireless Internet service that receives wireless Internet data from a content providing server 130 using a terminal 110.

When the subscriber requests the wireless Internet service by operating the terminal 110, the terminal 110 is connected to the communication network manager 122 and one session is started (S210). According to an operation of the terminal 110, data for requesting a wireless Internet service is transmitted to the communication network manager 122 (S212). At this time, the wireless Internet service request data corresponds to the up-link data, and the communication network manager 122 identifies the up-link data and measures the amount of data (S214). An identifier indicating whether the up-link data or the down-link data may be included in a predetermined position of a packet transmitted to identify whether the data is up-link data. Then, the communication network manager 122 may determine the uplink / downlink data by looking at the identifier included in the packet. Even if the packet does not include a separate identifier, the network manager 122 may determine up-link / down-link data by looking at the source address or the destination address of the packet.

The communication network manager 122 accesses the content providing server 130 corresponding to the wireless Internet service requested by the subscriber (S216) and collects the information requested by the subscriber (S218). The communication network manager 122 transmits the corresponding information to the subscriber station 110 (S220). At this time, the information transmitted to the terminal corresponds to the down-link data. When the subscriber station 110 normally receives the corresponding information, the subscriber station 110 transmits an acknowledgment signal (ACK signal) (S222). Depending on the service, there may be no ACK signal.

When receiving the ACK signal from the terminal 110, the communication network manager 122 determines that the down-link data is normally transmitted to the terminal 110, and records the down-link data amount in the transmission / reception session managing unit (S224). When the session ends, the communication network manager 122 receives the up-link charging rate and down-link charging rate information from the charging data rate providing unit 126 (S226). The communication network manager 122 generates a CDR including the up-link data amount, the down-link data amount, the up-link billing rate, and the down-link billing rate information (S228), and transmits it to the billing data processor 128. (S230).

In FIG. 2, up-link charging rate and down-link charging rate information is transmitted from the charging data rate providing unit 126 to the network management unit (or a transmitting / receiving session managing unit), and the transmitted rate information is included in the CDR and the charging data processing unit ( 128). However, up-link charging rate and down-link charging rate information may be transmitted from the charging data rate providing unit 126 to the charging data processing unit 128.

Structural examples of CDRs are shown in FIGS. 4A-4C.

4A shows an example of separately generating the up-link CDRs 410 and the down-link CDRs 420. Referring to this, the up-link CDR includes a session ID for identifying a session, a subscriber number, a session start time, a session end time, an uplink data amount, and the down-link CDR includes a session ID for identifying a session. , Subscriber number, session start time, session end time, downlink data amount, and the like.

Instead of generating the up-link CDRs and the down-link CDRs separately, as shown in FIG. 4B, one CDR may be generated for one session.

FIG. 4C shows an example in which the amount of up-link data and the amount of down-link data are recorded for each service ID in the CDR shown in FIG. 4A or 4B. That is, the amount of data transmitted during one session is not simply divided into the amount of up-link data and the amount of down-link data, but the amount of up-link data is divided by service ID or service type ID, and the amount of down-link data For each service ID or service type ID may be recorded in the CDR.

In order to generate the CDR having the configuration as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the network manager 122 needs to recognize the session start and end, and record the session start time and the session end time. And collect / generate and record data necessary for charging.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the billing data processor 128 generates the final CDR for each subscriber by using the CDR generated by the communication network manager 122 and the charge product of the corresponding subscriber. A rate product is a wireless Internet usage plan that a subscriber subscribes to. For example, a monthly flat rate (a fee system that charges a flat rate regardless of the amount of data), and a partial flat rate (if the amount of data is less than a predetermined amount, the flat rate is calculated. For example, there may be a fee system that adds a fee for the amount of excess data, and a discount plan for a specific time period.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of calculating a final wireless data usage fee for a subscriber by the billing data processor 128.

Referring to FIG. 5, the billing data processor 128 calculates a session uplink data rate by applying an uplink link rate to the amount of uplink data for each session, and downlinks the downlink data amount. The session down-link data rate is calculated by applying the charging rate (S510). The up-link data amount and the down-link data amount are extracted from the CDR generated in the network management unit 122. The up-link billing rate and the down-link billing rate are extracted from the CDR generated by the network management unit 122 if it is included, and from the billing data rate provider 126 if not included in the CDR.

The session up-link data rate and the session down-link data rate are added together to calculate the session data rate (S520).

The billing data processor 128 also extracts the subscriber's wireless Internet fee product information (S530). Check whether the rate product is a flat rate (S540), and if this is the case, regardless of the session data rate is determined as the flat rate (S550). Check whether the priced product is a product discounted at a specific time of use (S560), and if so, adjust the session data rate with reference to the session start time, session end time, discount rate, etc. for each session (S570).

The subscriber's monthly wireless data charge is calculated by accumulating session data charges for a certain period (eg, monthly) for each subscriber (S580). This fee is the subscriber's final data usage fee, that is, the packet usage fee.

The content usage fee (that is, the information usage fee) for the use of the content other than the data usage fee may be calculated in a predetermined period unit (for example, monthly unit) for each subscriber in the content providing server 130 providing the corresponding content.

The billing data processing unit 128 receives the content usage fee calculated by each content providing server 130, adds the calculated content usage fee to the subscriber, and calculates the total content usage fee (information usage fee), and separates the calculated total content usage fee from the subscriber using the packet fee. Can impose.

 In the present embodiment, the differential pricing method is described using a service in which a subscriber receives data from a wireless Internet server as an example. However, the service for transmitting data generated by a subscriber to a wireless Internet server and the wireless Internet between the subscriber and the subscriber. In the service, the above-described up-link / down-link differential rates may equally apply.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

As described above, according to the present invention, a charge for up-link data and a charge for down-link data can be charged in a wireless Internet service. Therefore, there is an effect that can reduce the imbalance in the use of the up-link and down-link in the wireless Internet service, and activate the wireless Internet service. In particular, in response to an increasing trend of portable terminals having contents / multimedia data production functions such as photographing, video recording, and music composition, by activating uploading of contents by general users rather than professional contents providers, In this regard, it can be expected to activate wireless Internet services.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order to better understand the drawings cited in the detailed description of the invention, a brief description of each drawing is provided.

1 is a schematic diagram of an overall wireless Internet service network including an up-link / down-link differential charging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a differential charging method for up-link and down-link data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3A is a diagram illustrating an example of setting up-link charging rate information and down-link charging rate information.

3B is a diagram illustrating another setting example of up-link charging rate information and down-link charging rate information.

4A to 4C are diagrams showing examples of the configuration of CDRs generated by the communication network management unit, respectively.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of calculating a final wireless data usage fee for a subscriber in a billing data processor.

Claims (10)

In the charging method for calculating the wireless Internet service usage fee for a wireless Internet subscriber, Setting up-link charging rates and down-link charging rates, respectively; Measuring and recording the amount of up-link data transmitted from the subscriber station; Measuring and recording an amount of down-link data transmitted to the subscriber station; Calculating an uplink usage fee using the amount of uplink data and the uplink link rate; Calculating a down-link usage fee using the amount of down-link data and the down-link billing rate; And Generating a final wireless data usage fee for the subscriber using the up-link usage fee, the down-link usage fee and the subscriber's fee product information Including; The up-link charging rate and the down-link charging rate may be set differently from each other, the differential charging method of the up-link and down-link for the wireless Internet service. The method of claim 1, The up-link charge rate and the down-link charge rate can be set differently for each service type, characterized in that the differential charging of the up-link and down-link for the wireless Internet service. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of up-link data and the amount of down-link data are The differential charging method of the up-link and down-link for the wireless Internet service, characterized in that each packet measured. The method of claim 3, The packet of up-link data includes an up-link identifier, The packet of data of the down-link includes a down-link identifier, Measuring the amount of up-link data Counting a number of packets including the up-link identifier; Measuring the amount of down-link data And counting the number of packets including the down-link identifiers. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating a final wireless data usage fee for the subscriber Calculating a data fee by adding the up-link fee and the down-link fee; Extracting the subscriber fee product information; And And calculating the final billing data by using the data usage fee and the fee product information of the subscriber. The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink link rate is And a rate reduced by a predetermined ratio with respect to the downlink link rate. The method of claim 1, The differential charging method Recognizing the session start and session end, and recording the session end time and the session end time, The session end time and the session end time are used to calculate the final wireless data usage fee of the subscriber according to the fee product information of the subscriber, characterized in that the up-link and down-link for the wireless Internet service . In the charging system for calculating the wireless Internet service usage fee for a wireless Internet subscriber, A billing data rate information providing unit for storing information about an uplink link rate and a downlink link rate that may be set differently from each other; A communication network manager which measures the amount of up-link data transmitted from the subscriber station and measures the amount of down-link data transmitted to the subscriber station and separately records each of them; A transmission / reception session manager configured to record the amount of up-link data and the amount of down-link data; And Calculate an up-link fee using the amount of up-link data and the up-link billing rate, calculate a down-link fee using the amount of the down-link data and the down-link billing rate, A billing data processor for calculating the final wireless data fee of the subscriber by using the up-link fee, the down-link fee, and the subscriber fee product information. Differential charging system of the up-link and down-link for the wireless Internet service comprising a. The method of claim 8, wherein the network management unit And performing a gateway function including data format conversion and / or protocol conversion between the subscriber station and the content providing server. In the recording medium that can be read by the billing system is programmatically implemented a program of instructions that can be executed by the billing system for calculating a fee for using a wireless Internet service for a wireless Internet subscriber, Setting up-link charging rates and down-link charging rates, respectively; Measuring and recording the amount of up-link data transmitted from the subscriber station; Measuring and recording an amount of down-link data transmitted to the subscriber station; Calculating an uplink usage fee using the amount of uplink data and the uplink link rate; Calculating a down-link usage fee using the amount of down-link data and the down-link billing rate; And Generating a final wireless data usage fee for the subscriber using the up-link usage fee, the down-link usage fee and the subscriber's fee product information , And And the up-link charging rate and the down-link charging rate can be set differently from each other.