KR20110022265A - System and method for preventing overload of billing server by multimedia message sending service - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A system and a method thereof which prevents overload of an account server according to sending off a multi media message are provided to prevent mobile communication business owner from losing finance by smoothly performing account process according to a message service supply. CONSTITUTION: An account service performs account processing according to a receiving check of a multimedia message. The account server transmits an overload warning signal due to an account processing. A message sending off server(200) receives a sending request of a multimedia message and send off a multimedia message to a plurality of the same receiving communication terminal. The message sending server controls a sending speed of a multimedia message according to the overload warning signal.

Description

System and method for preventing overload of billing server according to the sending of multimedia message {system and method for preventing overload of billing server by multimedia message sending service}

The present invention relates to a system and method for preventing an overload of a billing server when a message is sent. More particularly, when a mobile operator or a mobile subscriber sends a large amount of multimedia messages, the subscriber receiving the message checks the multimedia message. A system and method for preventing overloading a server.

In many cases, a mobile operator sends a large number of messages to deliver a number of mobile subscribers events or announcements. For example, a promotional message may be sent to subscribers in order to promote a newly provided additional service. As such, when a mobile communication service provider sends a large amount of messages, a multimedia message service (MMS) is often used. This is because the multimedia message includes multimedia such as pictures, sounds, animations, videos, etc., which is advantageous for amplifying interest and interest by the subscriber.

In addition, mobile communication subscribers such as individuals or companies may also send a large number of messages to many other subscribers. For example, when a company that operates an online shopping mall promotes a special sale event or requests a change in customer information, a multimedia message including the contents may be mass-delivered to a large number of members.

As such, a mobile communication provider or a mobile communication subscriber generally uses a mass-sending server to mass-load multimedia messages. The mass dispatch server is a device for transmitting a large amount of messages to a plurality of mobile subscribers by a mobile operator or a specific mobile subscriber, rather than a one-to-one message transmission between mobile subscribers.

On the other hand, the subscriber is connected to the billing server that performs the billing process in the process of confirming the multimedia message sent by the mobile operator or the mobile subscriber. In other words, unlike a general short message service (SMS), in the case of a multimedia message service, the billing process must be performed while the receiver accesses the mobile communication network to receive the multimedia. As needed.

However, since a large number of multimedia messages have been sent, a large number of subscribers may simultaneously access the billing server in the process of checking the sent message. In particular, students often check messages received at the end of class time. Therefore, when the students check the received multimedia message at about the same time, the connection to the charging server may be congested. Therefore, in this case, overloading of various equipment including the billing server may occur.

Such an overload of the billing server may cause a problem of delaying the billing process and, in severe cases, may result in stopping the intelligent network data service itself. Therefore, it is not possible to smoothly perform a mass message delivery service of multimedia messages, and may also cause financial loss to the mobile communication service provider.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and when a mobile subscriber or a mobile operator sends a multimedia message to a plurality of mobile subscribers, a receiving server, etc., when the receiving subscriber checks the corresponding message, etc. It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method that can prevent the overload of the apparatus of the present invention.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention can be understood by the following description, and will be more clearly understood by the embodiments of the present invention. It will also be readily apparent that the objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In order to achieve the above object, a system for preventing an overload of a billing server according to a sending of a multimedia message according to the first aspect of the present invention performs a billing process according to an incoming confirmation of the multimedia message, A charging server for transmitting an overload warning signal to the outside to notify the overload condition; And a message sending server that receives a request for sending a multimedia message from a sender, sends a multimedia message to a plurality of designated mobile communication terminals, and adjusts a sending speed of the multimedia message according to an overload warning signal from the charging server. It includes.

Method for preventing the overload of the billing server according to the multimedia message transmission of the message sending server according to the second aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, (S1) the billing server to perform the billing processing according to the confirmation of the receipt of the multimedia message Determining whether or not an overload condition is caused by the charging process; (S2) when the charging server is overloaded, transmitting the overload warning signal to the message sending server by the charging server; And (S3) adjusting the sending speed of the multimedia message by the message sending server according to the overload warning signal from the charging server.

According to the present invention, even when a mobile communication subscriber or a mobile communication provider sends a large amount of multimedia messages to a plurality of mobile communication subscribers, it is possible to prevent an overload of a device such as a billing server. Therefore, it is possible to stably provide a mass message delivery service for a mobile communication subscriber or a mobile communication service provider.

In addition, it is possible to smoothly perform the billing processing according to the multimedia message service provision to prevent the financial loss of the mobile communication operator due to the overload of the billing server.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, the terms or words used in this specification and claims should not be construed as being limited to the common or dictionary meanings, and the inventors should properly explain the concept of terms in order to best describe their invention. Based on the principle that can be defined, it should be interpreted as meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention.

Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and the drawings shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical spirit of the present invention, various modifications that can be replaced at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

1 is a block diagram of a mobile communication network including a system for preventing an overload of the billing server 100 according to the sending of a multimedia message (MMS) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the billing server 100 overload protection system of the present invention includes a message sending server 200 and a billing server 100.

The message sending server 200 is a concept including a mass sending server and a multimedia message service center (MMSC). Here, the mass dispatch server is a device for simultaneously mass sending SMS or MMS messages to the mobile terminal 600 of a plurality of mobile communication subscribers. At this time, the subject requesting the mass broadcast sending of the message to the mass-sending server is preferably a mobile communication provider or a specific mobile communication subscriber, and if the mass message can be broadcasted using the other mobile communication network, the subject must be the example described above. It is not limited to. In addition, the mobile communication subscriber may be a natural person or a legal person.

On the other hand, the receiving group information, such as the subscriber number of the called party for transmitting the mass-sending message may be stored in advance in the mass-sending server, or may be stored in a separate receiving group database (not shown). In this way, the mass sending server extracts the previously stored reception group information and mass sends the multimedia message.

The mass-sending server, which is requested to mass-send a message from a mobile subscriber or a mobile service provider (hereinafter referred to as a message sender), broadcasts a multimedia message to the called subscriber terminal 600 through the mobile communication network.

In this case, the access network 500 serves to guarantee the mobility of the subscriber station, and performs hand-off and radio resource management functions. The access network 500 includes a base station and a base station controller. The core network 400 may include a switch, and the switch performs basic and additional service processing, incoming and outgoing signal processing of a subscriber, location registration and handoff procedures, and interworking with other networks. . In addition, the protocol network 300 may include a NO.7 network or an IP back-bone network.

The message sending server 200 according to the present invention receives an overload warning signal from the charging server 100. Then, the transmission speed of the multimedia message is adjusted accordingly.

Here, the multimedia message sending rate refers to the number of multimedia message sending per unit time such as hours, minutes or seconds. The multimedia message sending speed can be adjusted through various methods such as adjusting the number of multimedia messages sent per unit time or queuing the multimedia message for a predetermined time.

Preferably, the message sending server 200 adjusts the sending speed of the multimedia message by adjusting the number of multimedia message sending per second. For example, when the number of message transmissions per second of the message sending server 200 is specified as 20, when the overload warning signal is received from the charging server 100, the message sending server 200 receives 20 message sendings per second. Can be reduced to less than.

The billing server 100 performs billing processing for message confirmation when the called subscriber confirms the multimedia message sent by the message sending server 200. That is, generally, a subscriber who receives a short message does not pay a separate fee when checking the message. However, in order to check the multimedia message, the called subscriber should access the message sending server 200 and download the corresponding message to his or her mobile terminal, and pay a fee in this process. Therefore, when the called subscriber confirms the multimedia message sent by the message sending server 200, the billing process proceeds.

In addition, the charging server 100 according to the present invention determines whether the charging server 100 is overloaded. There may be various criteria for determining whether the billing server 100 is overloaded. Preferably, it may be determined whether the overload is based on the number of connections per second of the charging server 100. For example, when the number of accesses per second of the billing server 100 is 7,000 or more, it may be determined as an overload state, and when it is less than that, the normal state may be determined. However, the present invention is not limited by the type of such overload determination criteria, and various overload determination criteria may exist.

On the other hand, if the charging server 100 determines that the state of the server as an overload, the charging server 100 transmits an overload warning signal to the message sending server 200.

At this time, the overload warning signal preferably includes not only a warning message but also information indicating the degree (level) of overload (hereinafter, overload state information). For example, the overload state is classified into 0% overload state, 20% overload state, 40% overload state, 60% overload state, 80% overload state, and the like, and includes the information in the overload warning signal. Can be sent to.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a table in which the charging server 100 classifies the degree of overload according to the number of connections per second and shows an overload indicator request corresponding to the degree of each overload.

Referring to FIG. 2, when the number of connection is 7,000 or less per second, the charging server 100 determines that the service is in a normal state. In addition, it is overloaded with 7,001 to 8,400 connections per second, 20% overload, 8,401 to 9,800 connections per second, 40% overload, 9,801 to 11,200 connections per second, 60% overload, 11,201 per second ~ 12,600 connections per second is determined to be 80% overloaded.

Meanwhile, according to the embodiment of FIG. 2, the overload warning signal transmitted by the charging server 100 to the message sending server 200 includes D and N areas. Here, the D area is an area indicating an overload status, and the N area is an area indicating an overload field. Referring to FIG. 2, in 0% overload, D may be represented by 0, N may be represented by 1, and in 20% overload state, D may be represented by 1 and N may be represented by 0.8. In the 40% overload state, D may be represented by 2, N is represented by 0.6, the 60% overload state may be represented by D, 3, and N may be represented by 0.4.

Meanwhile, the D region and the N region are included in the numerals and the overload warning signal described in FIG. 2, but only one embodiment. The present invention is not limited to these descriptions and can be modified in various forms. It is obvious to those skilled in the art.

On the other hand, the message sending server 200 adjusts the sending speed of the message based on the overload status information of the overload warning signal transmitted from the charging server 100.

For example, assuming that the message sending server 200 performs the sending of a multimedia message at 20 message sending rates per second, when the overload warning signal including the N area information of FIG. 2 is received from the charging server 100, , Adjust the message sending speed according to Equation 1 below.

(Where S represents the number of message transmissions per second and N represents the number in the N region of FIG. 2 included in the overload warning signal.)

The constant 20 of Equation 1 represents a predetermined initial number of message transmissions per second and may be freely changed according to an environment. In addition, N in Equation 1 expresses the degree of overload of the billing server 100 as a number.

Therefore, the message sending server 200 may adjust the message sending speed S in conjunction with the overload degree of the charging server 100 through Equation 1 above. For example, when N of the overload warning signal transmitted from the charging server 100 is 0.4, the number of new message transmissions per second (that is, message transmission rate) S is calculated as 8. As a result, the message sending server 200 may reduce the number of message transmissions per second from 20 to 8 while the charging server 100 is overloaded by 40%, thereby preventing the overload of the charging server 100 from continuing. have.

Preferably, the message sending server 200 is a calculation module for calculating a message sending speed corresponding to the overload level of the overload status information and the multimedia message to the called party's mobile communication terminal according to the calculated message sending speed. It includes a message sending module for sending.

Meanwhile, Equation 1 for adjusting the message sending speed by the message sending server 200 is just an embodiment. Accordingly, the message sending server 200 may derive the message sending rate using various mathematical algorithms, in addition to the above equation, and adjust the message sending rate accordingly.

According to the above embodiment, the message sending server 200 may elastically adjust the message sending speed according to the degree of overload.

Preferably, the message sending server 200, after adjusting the message sending rate, it is preferable to transmit the information about the adjusted message sending rate to the billing server (100). This is to induce additional overload protection measures when overload continues even though the message sending speed adjusting operation of the message sending server 200 is completed. For example, if the overload persists despite adjusting the message sending speed of the message sending server 200, the charging server 100 sets the degree of overload higher than before and sends an overload warning signal back to the message sending server 200. I can send it. Accordingly, the message sending server 200 may lower the message sending rate to a predetermined level than the previously adjusted message sending rate. In addition, the billing server 100 may use a device other than the message sending server 200 to solve the overload condition.

In addition, the message sending server 200 may periodically or irregularly transmit information regarding the adjustment of the message sending rate to the billing server 100. For example, the message sending server 200 may transmit the message sending rate adjustment information to the billing server 100 at two cycles per minute. Therefore, the charging server 100 may compare and analyze the message sending speed control information and the current overload state to take an additional response related to the overload.

On the other hand, when the charging server 100 is returned from the overload state to the normal state, it is preferable to transmit the overload release signal to the message sending server 200.

At this time, the message sending server 200 adjusts the message sending speed to its original state according to the overload release signal. Therefore, even if the overload condition is released, the message sending server 200 prevents the message sending rate from being limited below the reference value, thereby enabling efficient message mass sending.

That is, when the message sending server 200 adjusts the number of message transmissions per second of the multimedia message from 20 to 8 according to the overload warning signal of the charging server 100, and receives an overload release signal from the charging server 100. The message sending server 200 may raise the number of sending per second again from eight to 20.

3 is a block diagram schematically showing the functional configuration of the charging server 100 according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the charging server 100 includes a charging request receiving module 110, a charging performing module 120, an analyzing module 130, a determining module 140, and a transmitting module 150.

The billing request receiving module 110 receives a billing request (CDR) generated when the called party receiving the multimedia message checks the corresponding multimedia message. The charging performing module 120 performs the charging process according to the charging request (CDR).

In this case, when the multimedia message is mass-delivered to a plurality of called subscribers, a large number of billing requests are generated while a plurality of called subscribers confirm the message. As a result, an overload may occur in the charging request receiving module 110 and / or the charging performing module 120 of the charging server 100.

Therefore, the charging server 100 according to the present invention further includes an analysis module 130, a determination module 140, and a transmission module 150 to determine such an overload condition. The analysis module 130 analyzes the charging throughput according to the confirmation of the receipt of the multimedia message of the called subscriber, and the determination module 140 determines whether the overload is based on the charging throughput analyzed by the analysis module 130. In addition, the transmission module 150 generates an overload warning signal including the overload status information when it is determined that the overload is determined by the determination module 140.

The generated overload warning signal may be transmitted to the message dispatch server 200 so that the message dispatch server 200 may adjust the message dispatch rate. Preferably, the overload warning signal may include information indicating the degree of overload to what extent the charging server 100 is overloaded. Accordingly, the message sending server 200 receiving the information may differentially adjust the message sending speed according to the degree of overload of the charging server 100.

On the other hand, when the determination module 140 determines that the charging server 100 is released from the overload state, the transmission module 150 preferably generates an overload release signal and transmits it to the message sending server 200. . Therefore, when the message sending server 200 receives such an overload release signal, the number of messages sent per second may be increased again. That is, the message sending module of the message sending server 200 may restore the sending speed of the multimedia message to the original normal speed based on the overload release signal.

Preferably, the billing server 100 further includes a database 160. The database 160 stores data necessary for the determination module 140 to determine whether the charging server 100 is overloaded. For example, when the determination module 140 determines whether to overload based on the number of connections per second of the billing server 100, the determination module 140 may store information on whether or not to overload when the number of connections per second is greater. In addition, the database 160 may store information necessary for the billing performing module 120 to perform the billing process.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of adjusting a message sending speed in order to solve an overload condition of the charging server 100 due to the sending of a multimedia message.

Referring to FIG. 4, when the charging server 100 is overloaded due to an increase in the number of accesses per second (S110), the charging server 100 transmits an overload warning signal to the message sending server 200 (S120). At this time, the overload warning signal includes information indicating the degree of overload (overload state information).

The message sending server 200 receiving the overload warning signal from the charging server 100 adjusts the sending speed of the multimedia message based on the overload state information (S130). That is, the message sending server 200 reduces the message sending speed by lowering the number of message sending per second. In addition, the message sending server 200 may adjust the message sending speed in stages according to the overload state information. For example, when a slight overload is applied to the billing server 100, the message sending speed may be relatively reduced slightly, and if a large amount of overload is applied to the billing server 100, the message sending speed may be relatively reduced.

The message sending server 200 that adjusts the sending speed of the message based on the overload state information thus responds to the charging server 100 with information (adjustment completion information) regarding the adjusted sending rate of the message (S150). In addition, the information on the message sending speed may be transmitted periodically or arbitrarily to the billing server 100 during the message sending process irrespective of the overload warning signal (S140).

On the other hand, when the overload condition that is charged to the charging server 100 is released (S160), the charging server 100 transmits an overload release signal to the message sending server 200 (S170). The message sending server 200 receiving the overload release signal returns (increased) the reduced message sending speed to the normal speed (S180), and transmits the work completion information and the work progress information to the charging server 100 (S200 and S190).

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of releasing an overloaded state of a billing server due to mass broadcasting of a multimedia message.

Referring to FIG. 5, when receiving a mass broadcast request for a multimedia message from a transmitter, the mass dispatch server sends the same multimedia message to a plurality of designated recipients in bulk (S310). Upon receiving the multimedia message from the mass-sending server, the plurality of called subscribers are connected to the mobile communication system to check the multimedia message. In this process, the billing server is overloaded as a plurality of billing processing requests are driven to the billing server at once. Is transferred. When the charging server is overloaded in this way (S320), the charging server transmits an overload warning signal including the overload status information to the mass dispatch server (S340). The mass sending server calculates a new message sending rate as shown in Equation 1 based on the overload state information, and reduces the number of sending of multimedia messages per second to correspond to the calculated message sending rate (S350). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S320 that the billing server is not in an overloaded state, the message sending speed of the mass dispatch server is maintained as it is (S330).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of restoring a message sending rate of a mass sending server when the overload state of the charging server is released while the message sending rate is adjusted according to the procedure of FIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 6, in a state in which the message sending speed of the mass shipment server is adjusted (decreased) at least one time (S410) due to the overload of the charging server (S410), the charging server determines the number of receipts of the charging processing request and the like of the server. The load state is determined periodically or according to an event (S420). At this time, if the load state of the charging server is determined to be in a normal state (that is, the state in which the overload is released), the overload release signal is transmitted to the mass dispatch server (S440). Upon receiving the overload release signal, the mass-sending server recovers (increases) the number of transmissions per second of the multimedia message to an initial setting value (S450). However, if it is determined in step S420 that the load state of the charging server is still an overload state, the mass dispatch server adjusts the message sending speed according to the procedure of FIG. 5 (S430).

5 and 6 have described the case where the message sending server is a mass sending server, the embodiment can be applied to the case where the message sending server is a multimedia message center (MMSC). In particular, in recent years, since a large number of recipients may be transmitted by designating a plurality of recipients through a smartphone or the like, the MMSC may often send a large amount of multimedia messages. Therefore, the message sending server of various embodiments of the present invention including the above embodiment may also include an MMSC along with a mass sending server.

As described above, although the present invention has been described by way of limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto and is intended by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Of course, various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of equivalents of the claims to be described.

On the other hand, the terms 'server' and 'module' as used herein refers to a logical structural unit, and it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not necessarily a physically divided component.

1 is a block diagram of a mobile communication network including a system for preventing an overload of a billing server according to sending a multimedia message (MMS) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a table in which a billing server classifies the degree of overload according to the number of connections per second and shows an overload warning signal corresponding to each degree of overload.

3 is a block diagram schematically showing a functional configuration of a charging server according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of adjusting a message sending speed in order to solve an overload state of a charging server due to the sending of a multimedia message.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of releasing an overloaded state of a billing server due to mass broadcasting of a multimedia message.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a process of restoring a message sending rate of a mass sending server when the overload state of the charging server is released while the message sending rate is adjusted according to the procedure of FIG. 5.

Claims (12)

A system for preventing an overload of a billing server caused by sending a multimedia message, A billing server configured to perform billing processing according to receipt confirmation of the multimedia message and to transmit an overload warning signal for notifying an overload condition due to a large amount of billing processing; And A message sending server that receives a request for sending a multimedia message from a sender, sends a multimedia message to a plurality of designated mobile communication terminals, and adjusts a sending speed of the multimedia message according to an overload warning signal from the charging server; Billing server overload prevention system according to the sending of the multimedia message comprising a. The method of claim 1, The overload warning signal includes an overload state information indicating the level of the overload, billing server overload prevention system according to the multimedia message sending, characterized in that. The method of claim 2, wherein the message sending server, A calculation module for calculating a message sending speed corresponding to the overload level of the overload state information; And And a message sending module for sending the multimedia message to the called party's mobile communication terminal according to the calculated message sending speed. The method of claim 3, wherein the billing server, An analysis module for analyzing a charge throughput according to confirmation of receipt of the multimedia message; A determination module for determining whether or not an overload is based on the charging throughput; And If it is determined that the overload is determined by the determination module, the transmission module for generating an overload warning signal including the overload status information, and transmits it to the message sending server; Server overload protection system. The method of claim 4, wherein If it is determined that the overload state is released by the determination module of the charging server, the transmission module generates an overload release signal and transmits it to the message sending server. And a message sending module of the message sending server restores the sending speed of the multimedia message to an original normal speed based on the overload release signal. The method of claim 1, The billing server overload prevention system according to the sending of the multimedia message, characterized in that the message sending rate represents the number of messages sent per second. As a method of preventing an overload of the billing server according to the multimedia message transmission of the message sending server, (S1) the charging server performing the charging process according to the confirmation of the receipt of the multimedia message, and determining whether or not the overload state due to the charging process; (S2) when the charging server is overloaded, transmitting the overload warning signal to the message sending server by the charging server; And (S3) adjusting the sending speed of the multimedia message by the message sending server according to the overload warning signal from the charging server; Billing server overload prevention method according to the sending of the multimedia message comprising a. The method of claim 7, wherein The overload warning signal includes an overload state information indicating the level of the overload, billing server overload prevention method according to the multimedia message is sent. The method of claim 8, wherein the step S3, Calculating a message sending speed corresponding to the overload level of the overload state information; And And sending the multimedia message to the called-party mobile communication terminal according to the calculated message sending speed. The method of claim 9, wherein the step S1, Analyzing the charging throughput according to the receipt confirmation of the multimedia message; And And determining whether or not an overload is based on the charging throughput. The method of claim 10, after the step S3, If it is determined that the overload state is released by the charging server, the charging server generating an overload release signal and transmitting the signal to the message sending server; And And the message sending server restores the transmission speed of the multimedia message to its original normal speed based on the overload release signal. The method of claim 7, wherein The message sending rate is billing server overload prevention method according to the sending of the multimedia message, characterized in that the number of messages sent per second.

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