KR20110032234A - Method and system for providing contents services based on network quality states - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method and a system for providing customized content services based on network quality are provided to offer a content by converting the content to a suitable format. CONSTITUTION: A communication terminal measures network quality state(1). The communication terminal transmits the content request message to a content service server with the network quality state information(3). The content service server deciphers the network quality state within the content request message(4). According to the analyzed network quality state, the content service server converts the requested content(6). The content service server offers the converted content to the communication terminal(7).

Description

Method and system for providing contents services based on network quality states

The present invention relates to providing a content service through a wired or wireless communication network, and more particularly, to a method and system for adaptively providing a content service according to a communication quality state of a terminal on a network.

With the recent rapid development of electronic engineering and communication engineering, mobile communication terminals have various functions. That is, with the rapid development of wireless communication and data processing technology, people can use not only voice calls but also Internet access, video communication and video message transmission using mobile communication terminals. In addition, due to the rapid dissemination of mobile communication terminals, mobile communication terminals have become an essential means of communication in modern life, such as a considerable amount of communication occurring in human relationships through mobile communication terminals.

With the development of such mobile communication terminals, technologies related to wireless internet and wireless data services using terminals such as PDAs, notebook computers, netbooks, and PMPs are continuously developed. In addition to the development of network technologies such as the Internet, mobile communication networks, wireless LANs, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, contents, which are services provided to terminals, also require large capacity and high quality. It is a trend. In order to smoothly provide high-quality large-capacity content to the terminal, the quality of the wired / wireless communication network accessed by the terminal must be secured to a certain level or more.

However, such a personal mobile communication network, particularly a wireless network, has a problem that it is difficult to maintain communication quality above a certain level. In other words, wireless networks often have a small bandwidth, and when a mobile device degrades quality due to physical conditions such as roaming and handoff, or due to a decrease in wireless channel state or congestion, the wireless signal strength decreases. There are many factors that affect communication quality, such as deterioration of quality.

As described above, according to the related art, it may be difficult to continuously provide contents of a certain quality or more to the communication terminal in a state where the communication quality is fluid.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve this problem, and an object thereof is to adaptively convert content data according to a quality state of a wireless communication network and provide the same to a communication terminal.

Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to identify the overall available communication quality according to the performance and power supply state of each terminal as well as the network communication quality from the viewpoint of the communication terminal, and to convert the content so as to correspond to the content.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be described below and will be appreciated by the embodiments of the invention. Further, objects and advantages of the present invention can be realized by the means and the combination shown in the appended claims.

In order to achieve the above object, the content service providing method based on the network quality state according to the present invention is a method for providing a content service based on the communication quality to a communication terminal connected via a network with a content service server, (a Measuring network quality status at the communication terminal; (b) recording and transmitting the measured network quality status information when transmitting a content request message to a content service server; (c) receiving a content request message at the content service server and reading network quality status information contained in the message; And (d) converting the requested content according to the read network quality status information and providing the requested content to the communication terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a system for providing a content service to communication terminals connected through a network based on respective communication qualities, which is connected to a content service server through a network to receive a service, and provides a network quality state. A communication terminal which measures and records the measured network quality state information together with the measured content quality when transmitting a content request message to the content service server; And providing a content service to communication terminals connected through a network, reading network quality state information included in a content request message received from the connected communication terminal, and adaptively applying the requested content according to the read network quality state information. Provided is a content service providing system based on the network quality state, including; a content service server converted to the form and provided to the corresponding communication terminal.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for providing a content service to communication terminals connected through a network based on respective communication qualities, the service providing means for providing a content service to communication terminals connected through a network ; Quality information reading means for receiving a content request message from a connected communication terminal and reading network quality status information of the terminal included in the message; And content conversion means for converting the content requested by the connected terminal into an adaptive form in accordance with the network quality state read by the quality information reading means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a terminal device receiving a content service based on a communication quality from a content service server connected through a network, the terminal device comprising: communication means receiving a service by accessing a content service server through a network; Quality measuring means for measuring a network quality state; And quality information recording means for recording together network quality status information measured by the quality measuring means in a content request message transmitted to the content service server.

According to the present invention, by measuring the communication quality in the communication terminal and transmits the quality state information at the time of the content request to the content service server, by converting (downscaling) and providing the content corresponding to the current communication quality state of each communication terminal, There is an effect that can provide a customized content service according to the state of the communication terminal.

In addition, by identifying the available communication quality according to the power supply status and performance of the terminal itself as well as the simple network state, it is provided by applying the processing such as format conversion or data compression of the content, thereby providing deeper personalization of the content. It provides achievable effects.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms or words used in the specification and claims should not be construed as having a conventional or dictionary meaning, and the inventors should properly explain the concept of terms in order to best explain their own 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 embodiment of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical idea 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 diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system in which a method for providing a content service based on a network quality state according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented.

Referring to FIG. 1, a system in which the present invention is implemented is configured by connecting a content service server 100 providing content and a plurality of communication terminals 200 to receive and use content through a communication network.

The content service server 100 provides content at the request of communication terminals 200 connected through a communication network, and adaptively according to network communication quality information measured and provided by each communication terminal 200. Provide content by converting content.

In addition, the content service server 100 provides various contents to the communication terminals 200. In particular, the content service server 100 may include wireless webpage service contents. Furthermore, adaptive content conversion means processing such as reducing the capacity of content data or changing the format in order to provide a smooth content service when communication quality is degraded. For example, in the case of an image-oriented wireless web page, if the text-based conversion process is reduced, the data capacity is reduced, and even if it is transmitted to a degraded communication network, content services can be provided without difficulty. In addition, in the case of video content data, downscale processing such as reducing the bitrate or changing the codec may be performed.

In addition, the content service server 100 may include a content service node 101 and a gateway 105. The content service node 101 is a general content providing server (CP) for providing content and the gateway 105 is the content service node according to the quality information included in the content request message received from the communication terminal 200. Dedicated to perform the conversion processing of the content data provided from the 101. As such, when the content service server 100 is divided into a content service node 101 and a gateway 105, the content service server 100 may support various content service nodes 101, and the various content provided from each of the gateways may be provided. Dedicated at 105, the conversion process can be performed according to the current quality of the communication terminal 200, more efficient operation is possible.

The communication terminal 200 is a terminal device that receives a content from the content service server 100 through a communication network 300 to be used by a user, and measures a current network communication quality state and at the time of a content request. A function for delivering to the content service server 100 side is included. The communication terminal 200 may include, for example, a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone, a PDA, a notebook computer, a PMP, and may also include a desktop PC.

The communication network 300 includes a network capable of data communication, such as a mobile communication network, the Internet, a wired network. In addition, data communication is performed between the content service server 100 and the communication terminal 200 through the communication network 300. In this case, for example, a HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) protocol may be used. Is used. Furthermore, the communication terminal 200 measures the communication quality, and then records the measured quality state information in the HTTP header to provide the content service server 100 with the content request. The content request may use an HTTP GET message.

Hereinafter, a configuration of a content service providing device and a content service using terminal device of a content service providing system based on a network quality state according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a content service providing apparatus based on a network quality state according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the content service providing apparatus 100 according to the present invention is an apparatus for adaptively converting and providing content to a plurality of communication terminals connected through a communication network to fit each communication quality state. The provision module 110, the quality information reading module 120, the content conversion module 130 and the like.

The service providing module 110 serves to provide a content service according to a request from a communication terminal. The service providing module 110 includes a communication processing unit 112, a content providing unit 114, and the like. The communication processing unit 112 performs connection and data communication processing of communication terminals via a communication network. The content providing unit 114 provides a content to the connected communication terminal. In this case, the content data may be converted and provided through the content conversion module 130 to be described later. In addition, the provided content may include multimedia content, web page service content, and the like.

The quality information reading module 120 receives a content request message from a connected communication terminal, analyzes the message, and extracts quality information measured and recorded by the communication terminal. The quality information reading module 120 includes a message reading unit 122, a quality information extracting unit 124, and the like.

The message reading unit 122 receives a content request message of a connected communication terminal, and analyzes and reads the message. In this case, the content request message may be an HTTP GET message according to the HTTP protocol.

The quality information extracting unit 124 extracts network communication quality state information measured and recorded by the communication terminal through the message structure analyzed by the message reading unit 122. The communication quality state information is recorded in the header area of the message via the HTTP protocol.

In addition, the communication quality state information measured and recorded by the communication terminal may be recorded as identification information to distinguish only whether the network communication state is deteriorated or normal. Alternatively, state information may be recorded by being divided into differential steps according to the network quality state. That is, the status information may be recorded by dividing the steps according to the deterioration degree of the network communication.

The content conversion module 130 performs a role of adaptively converting and providing content data according to network communication quality state information of a corresponding communication terminal when providing content to a communication terminal. The content conversion module 130 includes a conversion control unit 132, a conversion processing unit 134, and the like.

The conversion control unit 132 controls whether or not to convert the content data to be provided to the corresponding communication terminal and the degree of the conversion processing according to the quality information read by the quality information reading module 120. That is, in the general case in which only one of the deteriorated state or the normal state is read by the quality information reading module 120, the control process such as converting or providing the content data without providing the converting process is performed according to whether the deterioration is performed. . On the other hand, when the quality status information is differentially read according to the degree of deterioration, the content conversion process is also controlled to correspond to the corresponding step according to the corresponding step.

The conversion processing unit 134 performs a conversion process of the content data provided to the communication terminal according to the control processing by the conversion control unit 132. Examples of conversion processing performed by the conversion processing unit 134 include conversion of content data, compression, format change, and downscaling. In other words, when the communication quality is not smooth under the control of the conversion control unit 132, the amount of data is reduced by converting and compressing the transmitted data, or the bit rate is reduced or the image is converted into an image, and the image is converted into text. Processing such as to reduce the load on the network. As a result, the number of available sessions in the communication channel with the communication terminal can be reduced and the number of requests for the channel can be reduced, so that the content service can be easily provided even in the quality of the degraded state.

3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a content service using terminal device based on a network quality state according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, the terminal device 200 according to the present invention receives a content from a content service server through a data communication to be used by a user, and measures a network communication quality when providing a content request and provides the measurement information to a server. The terminal device may receive the converted content data corresponding to the quality state from the server. The terminal device 200 of the present invention includes a service use module 210, a quality measurement module 220, a quality information recording module 230, and the like.

The service using module 210 connects to a content service server, requests a user's desired content, and receives and receives the content. That is, the service usage module 210 may be an application such as communication means capable of accessing a server through a network and performing data communication, and a browser and content reproducing means for enabling a user to request and receive the content. And so on.

The quality measuring module 220 measures the network communication quality currently connected or measures the communication quality in the current state. When measuring the communication quality, the measurement is performed by considering the terminal state such as the current network state and the terminal performance and power state. Network quality is measured according to variables such as congestion of base station, network load, shadow area, and data channel reduction due to voice channel protection. In the terminal state, variables such as the performance of the terminal, the power consumption state of the terminal power source, and the load state of the terminal may affect the communication quality, so that the terminal state is included in the quality state measurement. That is, when the performance of the terminal is insufficient, the current load is increased on the terminal, or when the power of the terminal is insufficient, a decrease in communication quality inevitably occurs. Therefore, each of these terminal states are also included in the communication quality measurement.

The quality information recording module 230 records the quality state information measured by the quality measurement module 220 in the content request message to provide the quality state information to the server when the message is transmitted. The quality information recording module 230 records the measured quality state information as a parameter in the header area of the content request message. The content request message may be, for example, an HTTP GET message of the HTTP protocol. In addition, when recording the quality information, it can be recorded using an identifier that can distinguish only a normal state or a degraded state according to the measured quality state. Alternatively, the quality status can be recorded in several stages according to the measured quality status. That is, the quality state value can be recorded by dividing into a plurality of stages according to the degree of deterioration.

4 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of a content service providing method based on a network quality state according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, in the service providing procedure according to the present invention, first, a communication quality measurement procedure in a terminal is performed. When measuring the communication quality, a procedure of measuring and combining both the quality according to the state of the connected communication network and the quality of the terminal is performed.

Next, the terminal records in a message to provide measured communication quality information. In this case, the measured quality information is recorded in the content request message to be transmitted to the content service server. In addition, the measured communication quality value may be recorded as quality information as it is, or the communication quality may be recorded as an identifier in each step.

After the quality information is recorded, the content request message including the quality information is transmitted to the content service server through the gateway. In this case, the HTTP protocol among data communication protocols is used, and a content request signal is transmitted through an HTTP GET message.

Next, the gateway proceeds to read the content request message transmitted from the terminal. In this case, the content request message transmitted to the content service server is analyzed to read the header area and the quality information recorded in the area. For example, the quality information identifier and the parameter value are read from the header area of the HTTP GET message.

As a result of reading the message, a procedure of extracting quality information from the header area of the content request message is performed.

When the quality information is extracted, a procedure of adaptively converting the content data to be provided to the corresponding terminal to correspond to the extracted quality information is performed. In this case, the degree of conversion and compression is adjusted when converting the content data according to the degree of quality information.

The gateway proceeds with the processing of transmitting the adaptively converted content data to the corresponding terminal requesting the content. The terminal receives the data adaptively converted according to the communication quality and the terminal state, so that the terminal can receive stable contents regardless of the communication state and the terminal state. That is, if the quality state is good, it is provided as high-quality, high-capacity content data, and if the quality state is not good, the content data converted to low quality and low-capacity can be provided so that inconvenience in using the service can be avoided. (7)

5 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of a content service providing method based on a network quality state according to another embodiment of the present invention.

This embodiment differs from the embodiment in FIG. 4 in the case of using only two normal steady state and deteriorated communication quality.

As shown in FIG. 5, first, a UE measures a communication quality.

Next, a procedure of comparing whether the measured communication quality is equal to or less than a preset threshold is performed.

If the measured quality is less than the threshold value is determined to be in a deteriorated state, if the threshold value is exceeded, a procedure is determined that the normal state is not a deteriorated state.

At this time, if it is determined that the state is not deteriorated, a content request procedure for transmitting a content request message to a content service server through a gateway is performed. In this case, since the communication quality is not a deteriorated state but a normal state, the general content request procedure is performed without any further processing. Alternatively, the identifier indicating the normal state may be recorded in the header area of the content request message.

On the other hand, if it is determined that it is in a degraded state, a degradation information recording procedure for recording an identifier indicating that it is in a degraded state is performed in the header area of the content request message. 6 shows an example in which an identifier for distinguishing a deteriorated state from a normal state is recorded in the content request message.

6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state where a network quality identifier is recorded in an HTTP GET message. As shown in the figure, when the HTTP GET message is described as an example of the content request message, when the network identifier item A is added in the message and the identifier of this item is recorded as '1' It is determined that the general state. (32)

After the degradation information is recorded as the identifier, the content request message is transmitted to the content service server through the gateway. The identifier of the deterioration state is recorded in this message. (33)

The gateway reads messages sent to the content service server. In this case, a procedure of reading and extracting the degradation state identifier from the header area of the message is performed.

The gateway uses the identifier extracted as a result of the message reading to determine whether the gateway is in a degraded state or a normal state. For example, in the drawing, when the deterioration state identifier is '1', it is determined as a deterioration state, and when it is '0', it is determined as a normal state.

If it is determined that the deterioration state is in the normal state, the procedure of transmitting the content data provided from the content service server to the corresponding terminal is provided as it is.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the degradation state, the gateway performs a process of converting the content data provided from the content service server. At this time, compression or downscaling of content data is performed so that data can be transmitted smoothly even in a degraded communication network.

After the conversion process, a procedure of transmitting and providing the converted content data to the corresponding terminal is performed.

Through this, the terminal can receive a stable content service regardless of the normal state or the deterioration state.

Although the present invention has been described above by means of limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto and will be described below by the person skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Of course, various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the claims.

The following drawings, which are attached to this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and together with the detailed description of the present invention serve to further understand the technical spirit of the present invention, the present invention includes matters described in such drawings. It should not be construed as limited to.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system in which a method for providing a content service based on a network quality state according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented.

2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a content service providing apparatus based on a network quality state according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a content service using terminal device based on a network quality state according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of a content service providing method based on a network quality state according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of a content service providing method based on a network quality state according to another embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state where a network quality identifier is recorded in an HTTP GET message.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: content service server 101: content service node

105: gateway 200: communication terminal

300: communication network

Claims (11)

A method for providing a content service based on a communication quality to a communication terminal connected to a content service server through a network, (a) measuring a network quality state at the communication terminal; (b) recording and transmitting the measured network quality status information when transmitting a content request message to a content service server; (c) receiving a content request message at the content service server and reading network quality status information contained in the message; And (d) converting the requested content according to the read network quality state information and providing the requested content to the communication terminal. The method of claim 1, In step (b), The content service server and the communication terminal communicates using the HTTP protocol, the content service providing method based on the network quality status, characterized in that for recording the network quality status information in the HTTP header. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Step (b) is, If the measured network quality state is less than a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the quality deterioration state, and recording it as network quality state information, characterized in that the content quality providing method based on the network quality state. The method of claim 3, wherein Step (d) is, (1) converting the format of the content data or compressing the content data to provide it to the corresponding communication terminal when read in a quality deteriorated state; And (2) if it is read that the quality is not in a deteriorated state, providing the requested content data to the corresponding communication terminal without modification; and providing the content service based on the network quality state. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Step (b) is, A method for providing a content service based on a network quality state, wherein the measured network quality state is divided into preset stages, and the separated step information is recorded. The method of claim 5, Step (d) is, A method of providing a content service based on a network quality state, characterized in that the format conversion or compression degree of content data is provided to the corresponding communication terminal according to the read quality level. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Step (c) and step (d), A method for providing a content service based on a network quality state, which is performed at a gateway server before the content service server. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The network quality state measurement in the communication terminal, The network characterized by combining the quality degradation due to the power consumption of the terminal power supply, the quality degradation due to the congestion of the communication base station, the quality degradation in the shadow area, and the quality degradation due to the data channel reduction due to the protection of the voice channel. How to provide content services based on quality status. The method according to claim 1 or 2, And the content service is a wireless data web page service. An apparatus for providing a content service to communication terminals connected through a network based on respective communication qualities, Service providing means for providing a content service to communication terminals connected through a network; Quality information reading means for receiving a content request message from a connected communication terminal and reading network quality status information of the terminal included in the message; And And content conversion means for converting the content requested by the connected terminal into an adaptive form according to the network quality state read by the quality information reading means. A terminal device that receives a content service based on a communication quality from a content service server connected through a network, Communication means for receiving a service by accessing a content service server through a network; Quality measuring means for measuring a network quality state; And And quality information recording means for recording together network quality state information measured by the quality measuring means in a content request message for transmitting to the content service server.

Images