KR20130013849A - Method and apparatus for creating and providing information of access points of a wireless network and utilizing said information - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for composing information about wireless network APs(Access Point) and using the same and a device thereof are provided to supply information about each AP to select an optimal AP by composing the information. CONSTITUTION: An API(Application Program Interface) reporting unit(311) composes AP property information. The API reporting unit reports a remote place server through a communication network among a plurality of heterogeneous networks. The AP property information includes information about confirmed signal strength, information about a measured use bandwidth, and identification information of an AP. An AP selecting unit(312) transmits an AP recommendation information request to the remote place server. The AP selecting unit performs an access request to an AP written in AP recommendation information received in response to the request. The AP recommendation information request includes information about the signal strength of one or more APs included in a wireless data network and the identification information.

Description

Method and Apparatus for creating and providing information of access points of a wireless network and utilizing said information}

The present invention is to provide information to a mobile communication terminal by configuring information on access points (APs) of a wireless data network, for example, a Wi-Fi network, and to provide the selected information to the mobile communication terminal. It is about using.

As mobile communication network develops, users can receive various information and contents that they need regardless of place using not only mobile phones but also smart phones, tablet computers (hereinafter referred to as “mobile communication terminals”). It became possible.

Users usually check whether a high-speed wireless data network, e.g., Wi-Fi wireless network, can be accessed in case of information or content with a large amount of data, and if possible, access and use the mobile phone. A data service is used by using a communication network, for example, a CDMA2000 or W-CDMA mobile telephone communication network. The use of such a network is largely due to a communication environment in which a high-speed wireless data network has limited service areas in which geographically dispersed areas are provided, while providing a data service without incurring additional burden on users.

Therefore, if a user cannot use a high-speed wireless data network in a space frequently used by the user, this is soon expressed as a complaint about a mobile communication provider. For the mobile communication provider, it is advantageous to induce the data service to a high-speed wireless communication network if possible, since the quality of the essential service called a voice call providing service decreases when the load of the data service using the mobile communication network increases.

In response to user reactions and conditions on the communication service, the mobile communication provider may select access points (APs) of high-speed wireless data networks, for example, Wi-Fi wireless LAN networks, in places where users are mainly concentrated. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1A, even in the same mobile communication provider, each service area of the Wi-Fi wireless LAN network may be partially overlapped.

When an arbitrary user is in the overlapping service area 10 illustrated in FIG. 1A, the mobile communication terminal 1 that is carrying it usually selects one connection point of a high-speed wireless data network and remains connected to the communication network. As a method of selecting one access point, the mobile communication terminal sets service identification information (SSID) and reception signal strength of access points for which a wireless data network signal is received in the overlapping service area 10. List on the screen, and the user selects one from the displayed list, the mobile communication terminal attempts to connect to the access point corresponding to the selected item.

By the way, the user's usual method of selecting is to select the item with the highest received signal strength from the displayed list. However, this choice does not guarantee the good quality you expect (for example, allocation of wide bandwidth (BW: Bandwidth)). This is because, even when the received signal has the highest intensity, when many users connected through the access point are using the data service, or when the network state at the rear end of the access point is not good, as illustrated in FIG. Vs. actual bandwidth used ”may not have an ideal characteristic 11a and may have a saturated characteristic 11b. In this state, although the signal strength is high, the desired data rate may not be provided when the actual data service is used after the access point is connected.

Therefore, in the present connection point selection method, the probability of obtaining an optimal result in connection point selection is not high from the viewpoint of actual data service usage.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for configuring and providing information on each access point so that the mobile communication terminal can make the best access point selection.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for allowing a mobile communication terminal to select an access point capable of providing a probabilistic high quality data service based on statistical data.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for improving the accuracy of the connection point recommendation by classifying and collecting statistical data according to a condition in which a change in usage behavior of a data service occurs.

The object of the present invention is not limited to the object explicitly stated above, and of course includes the purpose of achieving an effect that can be derived from the specific and exemplary description of the present invention.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing information on an access point of a wireless data network, wherein the access point is described with information on signal strength of the access point, information on usage bandwidth measured from data reception, and access point identification information. Receiving a characteristic information report, selecting at least one statistical table from among statistical tables previously classified according to a classification condition, based on the report of the connection point characteristic information, and reflecting the connection point characteristic information in the selected at least one statistical table; And receiving, from the mobile communication terminal, an access point recommendation information request for the at least one access point, the information on the signal strength of the access point and the access point identification information, and at least one statistical table among the previously classified statistics tables. Specify based on the request for connection point recommendation information, and specify Calculating a recommendation value based on the information on the signal strength in the access point recommendation information request from the statistical table; and reflecting the calculated recommendation value, for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request. And forming recommendation information and transmitting the recommended information to the mobile communication terminal.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the access point characteristic information further includes the identification information of the terminal for transmitting the information on the signal strength of the access point and the information on the measured use bandwidth, the access point recommendation information request Identification information of the mobile communication terminal is further included. Further, in the present embodiment, the calculating step, specifying a statistical table on the basis of the access point recommendation information request from the statistical tables constructed for the identification information of the mobile communication terminal included in the access point recommendation information request, Based on the information on the signal strength in the access point recommendation information request from the specified statistical table, further calculating a recommendation value, and transmitting, the reflecting the recommended calculated value, described in the access point recommendation information request Further configured to transmit the recommended information for at least one of the connection point. Alternatively, the calculating may include specifying one or more statistical tables among the previously classified statistical tables based on the access point recommendation information request, and from the specified statistical table to the information on the signal strength in the access point recommendation information request. Calculating a first recommended value based on the request; and specifying a statistical table based on the access point recommendation information request from statistical tables constructed for the identification information of the mobile communication terminal included in the access point recommendation information request. Calculating a second recommended value based on the information on the signal strength in the access point recommendation information request from a statistical table; multiplying the first recommended value and the second recommended value by a weight, respectively, and adding the recommended value; It consists of two steps to calculate. In this case, in the second step, the recommended value may be calculated by giving a weight for the second recommended value greater than a weight for the first recommended value.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the reflecting step includes information on the used bandwidth and signal strength in the access point characteristic information in the one or more selected statistical tables.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the access point characteristic information further includes information on a required bandwidth of the received data obtained with the measured use bandwidth. At this time, the reflecting step may include calculating a quality score of information on the measured usage bandwidth and correcting the quality score by a variable calculated according to the difference between the requested bandwidth and the measured usage bandwidth. A score is reported in the one or more statistical tables together with information about the signal strength in the connection point characteristic information. In the present embodiment, the reflecting step may be obtained by correcting the quality score by adding or multiplying the variable by the variable.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the previously sorted statistical tables are classified by at least weekday or non-day, and time zone. The time zone is each time zone when the day is divided so that at least the working time zone, working time zone, and leaving time zone are separated from each other.

In one embodiment according to the invention, the calculating step, in calculating the recommended value from the specified statistical table, for the elements belonging to it based on the information on the signal strength, described in the specified statistical table By dividing into a plurality of time periods, the more the elements for the latest time period is reflected in the above recommended value with a greater specific gravity. In the present embodiment, when the number of elements belonging to the latest time period among the divided time periods is large, the specific gravity for the time period becomes large, and if small, the specific gravity for the time period may be adjusted in such a manner as to be small.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the calculating step comprises determining a search section based on the information on the signal strength in the access point recommendation information request and for the elements in the specified statistical table belonging to the determined search section. Any one of the first step of determining the fluctuation range, the middle value of the high degree value when divided into the minimum value, the maximum value, the median value, and the rank of the constant size obtained from the elements within the predetermined fluctuation range, and the average value. This involves two steps of calculating the recommended values. In the first step, the search section determines a section in which the number of elements registered within a predetermined time period within the section based on the information on the signal strength becomes greater than a predetermined number. In the first step, the variation range may include a section excluding elements distributed out of a predetermined criterion in the distribution of the elements in the determined statistical table.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the step of calculating, selecting at least one section other than the signal strength section based on the information on the signal strength, and further calculates the additional recommended value for the selected one or more sections The method may further include determining the representative value for the corresponding interval for which the additional recommendation value is calculated, and transmitting the at least one additional recommendation value together with the corresponding representative value in the access point recommendation information request. In addition to the recommended information for at least one of the access point is present to the mobile communication terminal.

In another embodiment according to the present invention, the calculating may include calculating a recommended value for each section of the plurality of divided signal strengths in the specified statistical table while the calculated recommended value is more than a predetermined limit value and is the smallest. Specifying a corresponding section to be a value and further determining a representative value for the specified section, and transmitting the recommendation for the at least one of the access points described in the connection point recommendation information request. The information is added to the mobile communication terminal.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the transmitting may include a list in which at least one of the connection points described in the connection point recommendation information request is arranged in order according to the calculated size of the corresponding recommended value as the recommendation information. Configure and transmit to the mobile communication terminal.

In another embodiment according to the present invention, the transmitting may include, as at least one of the connection points described in the connection point recommendation information request, a connection point list including the calculated corresponding recommended value as the recommendation information. Configure and transmit to the mobile communication terminal. The recommended value may be a value for a bandwidth determined from elements belonging thereto based on the information on the signal strength described in the specified statistical table.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the step of transmitting, for at least one of the connection point described in the connection point recommendation information request, the information on the signal strength described in the connection point recommendation information request for the connection point The additionally listed access point list is configured as the recommended information and transmitted to the mobile communication terminal.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the access point recommendation information request further includes information on a required bandwidth. At this time, in the step of transmitting, if the calculated recommendation value does not support the required bandwidth, the recommendation information is configured and transmitted to the mobile communication terminal excluding the access point indicating the recommendation value.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the step of calculating, for the at least one additional connection point other than the connection point described in the connection point recommendation information request, the classification for the additional connection point, specified based on the connection point recommendation information request Computing the recommended value for the at least one signal strength interval from the statistical table, and further determine a representative value of the interval, and the transmitting step, the identification information of the additional access point and the at least one signal strength interval The recommended value and the representative value calculated for the additional information are added to the recommendation information for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request, and are transmitted to the mobile communication terminal.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the access point recommendation information request further includes information on the required bandwidth, and the calculating step, if the recommended value does not support the required bandwidth, in the specified statistical table Calculating a recommended value for each section of the plurality of divided signal strengths, specifying a corresponding section in which the calculated recommended value is more than the required bandwidth and becomes the smallest value, and further determines a representative value for the specified section, In the transmitting, the determined representative value is further described in the recommendation information for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request, and transmitted to the mobile communication terminal.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for providing information on an access point of a wireless data network includes information on the signal strength of the access point, information on the bandwidth used when receiving data, and access point identification information. Upon receiving the connection point characteristic information, the at least one statistical table pre-classified according to the classification condition is selected based on the report of the received connection point characteristic information and configured to reflect the connection point characteristic information in the selected at least one statistical table. Receiving a request for connection point recommendation information that describes the first processing unit and the information about the signal strength and the access point identification information for at least one or more connection points, the at least one statistical table is classified based on the request for the connection point recommendation information. And the received contact from that particular statistical table. Calculating a recommendation value based on the information on the signal strength in the point recommendation information request, reflecting the calculated recommendation value, and constructing recommendation information for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request; And a second processor configured to transmit the configured recommendation information to the mobile communication terminal that has transmitted the access point recommendation information request.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the apparatus is configured to receive the report of the access point characteristic information and the access point recommendation information request from the mobile communication terminal through a communication network and to transmit to the first processing unit and the second processing unit, respectively. And a network connection unit configured to receive a response to the access point recommendation information request from the second processing unit and to transmit the access point recommendation information request to the mobile communication terminal that has sent the request.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a mobile communication terminal capable of accessing a plurality of heterogeneous networks including a wireless data network checks signal strength from an access point of the wireless data network, and checks the signal strength from the access point. Any one of the plurality of heterogeneous networks is formed by measuring access bandwidth when receiving data, and configuring access point characteristic information including information on the identified signal strength, information on the measured usage bandwidth, and identification information of the access point. An information reporting unit configured to report to a remote server through a communication network, and an access point recommendation information request including information on signal strength of at least one access point belonging to the wireless data network and identification information of the access point, to the remote server, Request to connect to the connection point specified in the recommended information received in response to the request. It is configured to include parts of the access point selection.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the information on the signal strength may be information determined as an average value of the signal strength values checked a plurality of times.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the information reporting unit is configured to measure the use bandwidth from a value obtained by dividing the amount of data received within a measurement time or from an average value of values obtained by dividing the amount of received data within a plurality of measurement times. do. In the present embodiment, the information reporting unit may be configured to variably set the length of the measurement time to measure the bandwidth used according to the type of request by the communication protocol for which the data reception is made.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the information reporting unit further includes the identification information of the mobile communication terminal to configure the connection point characteristic information, and the connection point selection unit sends the identification information of the mobile communication terminal to the connection point recommendation information request. Configure to include more.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the information reporting unit further comprises information on the required bandwidth of the received data to measure the use bandwidth to configure the access point characteristic information.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the information reporting unit further comprises information on the date and time of measurement of the use bandwidth to configure the access point characteristic information.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the access point selector is configured to further include information on a required bandwidth required for a data service in the access point recommendation information request. In this embodiment, the required bandwidth is any one of a bandwidth required by any application, a bandwidth listed in association with the arbitrary application, and a bandwidth listed in association with a server requesting data by the arbitrary application. It may be confirmed from.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the connection point selector, in order of the connection point described in the recommended information until the connection to the connection point or in order of the recommended value for the connection point, for example, the value of the value for the expected bandwidth Is configured to request a connection as is.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the connection point selector is configured to specify at least one statistical table from among statistical tables classified according to the classification condition based on the connection point recommendation information request, and from the specified statistical table in the connection point recommendation information request. It is further configured to generate a recommendation value based on the information on the signal strength and reflect the calculated recommendation value to generate the recommendation information for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request. In the present embodiment, the access point selector is based on the received recommendation information and the order or recommendation value of each access point described in the generated recommendation information, for the APs in the recommendation information selected from the quantity recommendation information or the quantity. It may be configured to sequentially request access to APs in the recommendation information.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the received recommended information further includes information on the signal strength of each connection point described. At this time, the connection point selector checks the current received signal strength for each connection point in the recommended information, and the checked current received signal strength than the information on the signal strength described in the recommended information for the corresponding connection point. If is lower than a certain allowable range, the connection point is configured not to request.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the received recommended information is for each of the connection points described, for at least one signal strength section other than the signal strength section corresponding to the information on the signal strength described in the connection point recommendation information request. Further comprising an expected bandwidth information and a representative value of the corresponding section, wherein the connection point selecting unit checks the current received signal strength for each connection point in the recommended information, and the representative value described in the recommended information for the connection point. And determine whether to connect to the access point according to the expected bandwidth information identified through the comparison of the current received signal strength with the identified current.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the received recommendation information may include information about the unsolicited access point not described in the transmitted access point recommendation information request, its identification information, and estimated bandwidth information for at least one signal strength section. And a representative value of the corresponding section, wherein the connection point selector is configured to predict the at least one signal strength section when the connection request other than the unrequested connection point described in the recommendation information is not requested or the connection fails. And selectively connect to the unsolicited access point according to the bandwidth estimated for the signal strength currently identified for the unsolicited access point based on the bandwidth information and the representative value of the interval. In the present embodiment, the connection point selector may distinguish the unsolicited connection point described in the recommended information from other connection points based on the specific information recorded in association therewith.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the recommendation information includes a first access point list and a second access point list, each of which is divided into types. At this time, the connection point selecting unit is configured to first select one from the list of both connection points according to the set mode, and to request a connection to the connection point described in the selected list.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the connection point selecting unit, after the connection is made to the specific access point described in the received recommended information, if the usage bandwidth measured by the information reporting unit is lower than a given reference value the connection point recommendation information It is further configured to reconfigure and send the request. In the present embodiment, the connection point selector may be configured to skip the connection request for the specific connection point if the specific connection point is included in the recommended information received in response to the reconfigured transmission point recommendation information request. . In addition, the access point selecting unit, if it is not possible to determine the access point to access from the recommended information received in response to the reconfigured access point recommendation information request or if the access request fails, mobile phone communication network belonging to the plurality of heterogeneous networks May be configured to request a connection for a data service.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the access point selector, after the connection to the specific access point described in the received recommended information is made, if the use bandwidth measured by the information reporting unit is lower than a given reference value, the received It is further configured to request the connection in the recommended information according to the order described for the other access point except the specific connection point or the size of the corresponding recommended value.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the information reporting unit, if the usage bandwidth measured after the connection to the particular access point described in the received recommended information is lower than a given reference value, the information on the usage bandwidth and the And reconstruct and report the access point characteristic information including information on signal strength.

In the above-described embodiments according to the present invention, examples of the given reference value include a preset limit bandwidth, a bandwidth according to the recommended value described for the specific access point currently connected in the recommendation information, or any application started up by the data service. It may be the bandwidth required.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the access point selector determines whether a current state of the mobile communication terminal corresponds to a preset condition, and transmits the access point recommendation information request when it corresponds to a preset condition. And request a connection to the connection point described in the above recommended information which is a response. Examples of the set conditions include releasing the locked state of the mobile communication terminal, every cycle according to a set search period, starting a predetermined application, requesting a network connection of an arbitrary application, requesting entry of the wireless data network from an external server, or communication. It may be the case that the transmission rate of the data to be received, which is grasped from the response to the request according to the protocol, requires a certain bandwidth or more. In the present embodiment, when the current state does not correspond to the preset condition, the access point selector suppresses the access point search function of the wireless data network of the operating system implemented in the mobile communication terminal. The operation of activating the access point searching function is further performed when the set condition is met. In addition, the access point selecting unit may further perform an operation to prevent the operating system from using history information that is a previous access record of the wireless data network before the operating system performs the access point searching function according to the activation of the access point searching function. .

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for acquiring and transmitting information about an access point of a wireless data network in a mobile communication terminal, the signal strength and identification of the access point of the connected wireless data network Confirming information, transmitting a request by a communication protocol to an external server through the connected connection point, and responding to a request by the transmitted communication protocol received from the external server through the connection point Measuring a reception speed with respect to data, configuring information on the identified signal strength, identification information of the connection point, and connection point characteristic information including the measured reception speed, and the configured connection point characteristic information And reporting the address information for access to the remote server that has been previously designated. .

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, in a mobile communication terminal, a method for receiving recommendation information on an access point of a wireless data network from a remote server includes a signal of each access point identified from a search for an access point of the wireless data network. Constructing an access point recommendation information request form including information on strength and identification information of each access point, transmitting the configured access point recommendation information request form to the remote server to which address information for access is previously specified; Receiving recommendation information that is a response according to the transmitted connection point recommendation information request, and determining whether to request a connection for each of the connection points described in the received recommended information, and requests the connection to the connection point according to the determination result It comprises a step.

In one embodiment according to the invention, all the above steps in the method for receiving recommendation information from a remote server are performed without being connected to the wireless data network.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, all the above steps in the method for receiving recommendation information from a remote server may be performed while connected to the wireless data network through any one access point. have.

At least one embodiment of the present invention described above, or described in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings below, provides a mobile communication terminal with a data rate that can be obtained in actual use instead of signal strength, which is generally measured inversely proportional to distance. By making it possible to select a connection point that is likely to be fast, the user's satisfaction is increased when using a high-speed wireless data network having a limited service area.

In addition, at an access point where the service quality is statistically saturated by concentrating the data service, the traffic may induce a data service request to an access point that is statistically smaller, thereby making it possible to equalize the traffic load on each access point to some extent. This increases the efficiency of using high-speed wireless data network resources and reduces network maintenance costs.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example in which service zones for allowing a mobile communication terminal to use a wireless LAN network such as a Wi-Fi network overlap.
FIG. 1B is an example of a characteristic curve showing that a transmission bandwidth of a data service may be saturated according to the usage environment of the AP, not proportional to the signal strength of the AP.
2 illustrates an example of a network configuration in which a method for configuring and providing information on wireless network access points according to an embodiment of the present invention is performed.
FIG. 3A illustrates an example of a configuration of a mobile communication terminal that reports usage characteristics of a wireless network access point and may use information about provided access points according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3B illustrates the logical configuration of an adaptive AP selector that reports usage characteristics of a wireless network access point and also uses information about the provided access points, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, and its relationship to adjacent components. FIG. One,
4A, 4B and 4C illustrate examples of a method of measuring actual bandwidth used from received data, respectively, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5A and 5B illustrate, respectively, formats of AP characteristic information for providing a measured actual usage bandwidth to a remote server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a signal exchange flowchart of a method for configuring and providing information on wireless network access points according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7A illustrates a structure of statistical tables created by describing bandwidth measured in a statistical table classified according to a condition based on received AP characteristic information, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7B illustrates a structure of personal statistical tables created by describing bandwidth measured in individual statistical tables classified according to a condition based on received AP characteristic information, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8A and 8B illustrate examples of a format of a request in which neighboring access points and signal strengths from each access point are transmitted to a remote server in order to know a recommended AP according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively. ,
9A and 9B are diagrams for illustrating an example of calculating an expected bandwidth in a statistical table selected according to a reception condition for each AP in an AP recommendation information request according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9C illustrates an example of calculating an expected bandwidth for an additional section other than a section of signal strength received from a statistical table selected according to a reception condition, for each AP in the AP recommendation request request according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a drawing to show,
10A to 10D illustrate examples of formats of AP recommendation information configured for providing to a mobile communication terminal, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 11 is a diagram exemplarily illustrating that an AP having a high probability of providing a higher transmission bandwidth than an AP having a high signal strength may be selected according to embodiments of the present invention.
FIG. 12 illustrates an example of another format of a request in which neighboring access points and signal strengths from each access point are described and transmitted to a remote server in order to know a recommended AP according to another embodiment of the present invention. ,
13A and 13B illustrate examples of a process of calculating a score for a corresponding AP from information described in received AP characteristic information according to other embodiments of the present invention.
14A illustrates examples of functions that can be applied to calculate a score for each of the measurement bandwidth and the difference between the required bandwidth and the measurement bandwidth, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
14B illustrates one form of a function to apply in determining a correction ratio of a measurement bandwidth, corresponding to a difference between a requested bandwidth and a measurement bandwidth, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of selecting a score variation range for obtaining an evaluation score from a statistical table selected according to a reception condition for each AP in an AP recommendation information request according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a configuration of an access control server for constructing statistical information on AP characteristic information and creating and providing AP recommended information based on the same according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a network configuration in which a method for configuring and providing information on wireless network access points according to an embodiment of the present invention and performing the same is performed. Two heterogeneous networks constructed as different communication infrastructures are shown. (Iii), for example, a mobile telephone communication network 20 and a wireless LAN network 2,2 _I for high-speed data service, and are connected to the mobile telephone communication network 20 and the wireless LAN network 2, for example. Access control that receives information on the access points of the wireless LAN network (actually the service zone (2 _I )) from the mobile communication terminal in the communication network and configures and provides recommended information on the connection access point suitable for the mobile communication terminal The server 200 is included. For convenience of explanation, hereinafter, a 3G or 4G cellular network (hereinafter, abbreviated as "cellular network") will be taken as an example of the mobile telephone network 20, and the wireless of the Wi-Fi system LAN network (hereinafter, abbreviated as "Wi-Fi network") will be described as an example of the high-speed wireless LAN network (2, 2 _I ). Hereinafter, the principle and concept of the present invention will be described in detail by taking the Wi-Fi network, which is a high-speed wireless LAN network, as a data communication network used together with the mobile telephone communication network 20 for data service. Since the concept can be applied to other data communication networks other than the Wi-Fi network, the scope of the rights under the claims cannot be excluded due to the difference of the data communication networks to be applied.

The mobile communication terminal providing information on access points to the access control server 200 and requesting and receiving access point recommendation information when necessary has a configuration as illustrated in FIG. 3A.

The mobile communication terminals 300P and 300R illustrated in FIG. 3A have a cellular modem 31a (RF signal processing) that modulates or demodulates a signal according to a specified scheme of the cellular network 20 to transmit and receive a signal to and from the corresponding communication network. And a cellular codec 31b that encodes data or decodes encoded data according to a communication protocol adopted by the cellular network 20, and the Wi-Fi. A Wi-Fi modem 32a (a component including an RF signal processing module) which modulates or demodulates a signal according to a designated method of the network 2, and transmits and receives a signal to and from the corresponding communication network, and the Wi-Fi network 2 Wi-Fi codec 32b that encodes data or decodes an encoded data frame according to the communication protocol adopted in the present invention, a display panel 35 for displaying images, characters, and the like, and arbitrary data includes the display panel 35. Visually A keypad including a display driver 34 for driving the display panel 35, a touch sensor 36a attached to the front of the display panel 35, and a key and / or a button. 36b), an input control unit 36 for detecting a user input and / or selection on the touch sensor 36a and the keypad 36b and outputting corresponding input information, and input information from the input control unit 36. In order to perform the operation according to the above, the display driver 34 for the display of the UI screen for transmitting or receiving data from or control data appropriately to the corresponding one of the components according to the result or the user's desired action selection ) And a memory unit 37 for providing a data storage space necessary for the operation of the main control unit 30 or a process executed by the main control unit 30.

The main control unit 30 executes command codes such as firmware to drive hardware resources of the mobile communication terminals 300P and 300R, and to perform appropriate signal and / or information exchange with the corresponding resources. An adaptive access point selector 310 (AAS Agent: Adaptive AP) which includes information on the current characteristics of the access points of the Wi-Fi network 2 and requests and receives access point recommendation information, if necessary. Selecting Agent) (hereinafter, abbreviated as “adaptive AP selector”).

The adaptive AP selector 310 is a process or an application implemented in the mobile communication terminals 300P and 300R and includes program codes executed based on the operating system 300a as illustrated in FIG. 3B. It may be provided in the form of software having a structure. In some cases, it may be provided in the form of middleware or a platform on which applications are based. Alternatively, by including a hardware configuration, the hardware may perform some of the functions described in detail below. Therefore, in various embodiments according to the present invention, the adaptive AP selector in which the configuration and operation method are described is not limited by the type of resource to be implemented.

As illustrated in FIG. 3B, the adaptive AP selector 310 obtains and provides characteristic information about access points and provides one AP based on AP recommendation information received from a remote server. And an AP selector 312 for selecting an AP to connect to the Wi-Fi network 2, wherein the adaptive AP selector 310 and the AP information reporter 311 and the AP selector 312 are selected. In some cases of operations described in detail below, the hardware components illustrated in FIG. 3A and the operating system 300a are provided through an appropriate application program interface (API) provided by the operating system 300a. The operation is performed by requesting specific functions (eg, input / output through a screen, communication with the outside based on a protocol, checking hardware status, and a timer) provided by each.

The configuration of the mobile communication terminals 300P and 300R illustrated in FIG. 3A is just one example for specifically and illustratively explaining an embodiment for aiding in understanding the concept and the subject matter of the present invention. Terminals embodying the concepts and themes may further include components of various functions not shown in FIG. 3A or may exclude some of the illustrated components.

When the mobile terminal 300P illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B is located in any one Wi-Fi zone 2 ₁ as illustrated in FIG. 2, it is allocated to a Wi-Fi signal band. The Wi-Fi modem 32a, which periodically transmits a probing packet for each of the 13 channels, for example, receives a response packet from the neighboring AP at this time. The RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) is obtained from the response packet signal, and the channel information, service set identifier (SSID) and the address of the MAC (Media Access Control) layer of the AP are extracted. When the Wi-Fi modem 32a is in such a state, the operating system 300a selects one AP and requests an access to allocate an IP address and set it as a local address.

In this state, any application (hereinafter, abbreviated as “application”) 320 is executed on the basis of the operating system 300a so as to request a communication protocol for an external server, for example, FTP based. When the request, HTTP-based request, or RTSP / RTP-based request is transmitted and the corresponding data is received directly or through the adaptive AP selector 310, the AP information report unit 311 configures characteristic information on the current AP. It is provided to the access control server 200. This will be described in more detail.

First, the AP information reporting unit 311 receives a request by a communication protocol transmitted by the arbitrary network 320 to an arbitrary external server. The method for setting the request by the communication protocol sent by the arbitrary application 320 to be received by the AP information report unit 311 based on the same operating system includes a local communication socket through proxy setting. Communication method, a method of externally redirecting to the AP information reporter 311, or a method in which an arbitrary application inserts a local IP into a host field of a request based on a communication protocol. These methods are described in detail in the application No. 10-2011-0066981 filed on July 7, 2011, the applicant will be omitted here. When the AP information report unit 311 receives a request by the communication protocol sent by the arbitrary application 320 through any one of the above-described methods, the AP information report unit 311 receives the request by the communication protocol. Request the creation of a communication socket to the operating system (300a). This request is passed along with the request by the protocol or the address of the host field in that request. Since the mobile communication terminal 300P is currently in the Wi-Fi zone 2 ₁ , the Wi-Fi modem 32a can receive a physical signal and according to this state, the mobile communication terminal 300P receives the request for the communication socket generation request. The operating system 300a generates a communication socket by using a connection IP address assigned in the Wi-Fi network 2 as described above as a local address and a destination address of a request according to a communication protocol as a remote address. At that time, a session is established with the remote server.) The AP returns to the AP information reporting unit 311. Then, the AP information reporting unit 311 transmits the request according to the communication protocol previously received using the returned communication socket, and accordingly, the request according to the communication protocol is remoted through the Wi-Fi network 2. Is sent to the server.

If the user stops using the Wi-Fi network, even if the mobile communication terminal 300P is in the Wi-Fi zone, the operating system 300a still receives the access IP address from the cellular network 20. To keep things. In this case, even if a request for creation of a communication socket is not made, a communication socket for using the Wi-Fi network 2 is not generated. Therefore, the AP information report unit 311 may query the operating system 300a for current communication network connection information and request network connection information received through the inquiry before requesting creation of a communication socket. . The network connection information includes a connection IP address and a connection type (for example, 3G mobile telephone network, Wi-Fi wireless LAN network), etc. when connected to a communication network. It can be seen that the communication socket is for the Wi-Fi network (2).

If the communication socket 310a for the cellular network 20 is generated, the AP information reporting unit 311 acquires and reports AP characteristic information described below with respect to transmission and reception of data through the communication socket. Do not do it.

A communication socket 310b for the Wi-Fi network 2 is generated and a request according to the received communication protocol is transmitted through the communication socket 310b, and a response corresponding thereto is received through the corresponding communication socket 310b. Then, the AP information reporting unit 311 measures the actual bandwidth used, that is, the actual data transmission rate of the data according to the type of request by the communication protocol as follows.

If the request according to the previously transmitted communication protocol is a file download of a large capacity (for example, several MBytes or more) based on FTP or HTTP, which involves one-time transmission of a large amount of data, the response accordingly is the Wi-Fi When the operating system 300a reaches the operating system 300a in the form of data through a modem 32a and a Wi-Fi codec 32b, the operating system 300a grasps the corresponding session information of the data and corresponds to the communication socket corresponding to the session ( Data is pushed to 310b). When data is pushed to the communication socket 310b, the AP information reporting unit 311 recognizes this and confirms the time t41 at that time as illustrated in FIG. 4A. Recognition of the AP information reporting unit 311 is made from the occurrence of an event from the operating system 300a or through confirmation of a continuous communication socket.

After the first time t41 is confirmed, the AP information reporting unit 311, when the predetermined time Tint elapses, for example, a time t42 of 1 second or more elapses, the checked time point t41. Afterwards, the size (DS) of the data pushed in the corresponding communication socket 310b is checked. The data size DS thus obtained is divided by the reference time Tint (this value is the actual bandwidth of the data received so far, which is the actual transmission speed). It is stored as an element of characteristic information of the AP.

If the request according to the previously transmitted communication protocol is, for example, an HTTP-based streaming transmission involving repeated transmission of a relatively large capacity (eg, several hundred kBytes or more) of data, the response is received. The AP information report unit 311 sets a reference time Tint for measurement, for example, to several hundred milliseconds, and grasps the amount of data received per hour for several times for example for one second or more. The actual bandwidth can also be calculated by taking the average value over time. Figure 4b illustrates the process for this. In the example of FIG. 4B, the AP information reporting unit 311 calculates a real bandwidth (aBW) using the following equation (S420).

In the type of request under this protocol, the same reference time may not be used for every measurement. In this case, when the reference time for each measurement is called Tint _j and the amount of data received for each reference time Tint _j is DS _j , the actual bandwidth aBW is calculated according to the following formula.

That is, the actual bandwidth is calculated from the value obtained by dividing the amount of data received during the measurement time (sum of Tint _j ).

If the requirements of the previously transmitted communication protocol are, for example, RTSP / RTP (Realtime Streaming Protocol / Realtime Transport Protocol) based streaming transport involving periodic transmission of relatively small capacity (for example, tens of kBytes or less) data, In this case, since the response is distributed in a very short time unit and received in a burst, the unit time (time resolution) within the range supported by the operating system 300a is more than that while the data is being received. Difficult to shorten Therefore, in this case, the actual bandwidth is measured in the manner as illustrated in FIG. 4C. The AP information report unit 311 sets a reference time Tint for the measurement at this time, for example, several tens of millimeters ( milli) seconds. In this case, the actual bandwidth (aBW) is calculated using the following equation as illustrated in FIG. 4C (S430).

The above equations are presented to help understand the practical bandwidth measurement for this case, which means that the numerators of the equations are summed by obtaining their respective data sizes DS _k (k = 1,2,…, P). (As mentioned above, each DS _k can be difficult to measure or very error due to the time resolution provided), but only refers to the total amount of data received during the set reference time (Tint). That is, it means that the size of data received up to the point of time when the reference time has elapsed is applied.

In the above-described embodiment, although the first arrival time of the response data according to the request by the communication protocol to the communication socket is set as the starting points t41, t44 _k and t45 of the reference time Tint, the AP information report unit 311 After the acknowledgment that the response data has reached the communication socket indicates that the reference time (Tint) has elapsed from the last data position reached at that point as a starting point at any time while the data is arriving. The actual bandwidth used as described above may be calculated by checking the position of the last data.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the location of the data reached has been described in the communication socket, but this is only for understanding, and the memory (which is allocated and managed by the AP information report unit 311 from the communication socket) is described. It is, of course, possible to calculate the actual bandwidth based on the movement time and the position of each data in the space after moving to the storage space.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the operating system 300a generates an event for each of a push start of a data packet to a communication socket and a push point of the last data of the packet, the AP information reporting unit ( 311 may use the time interval of occurrence of each event instead of the reference time Tint. That is, it divides the length of a received packet by the interval at which an event occurs to calculate the actual bandwidth.

If the AP information reporting unit 311 calculates, or before calculating, the actual bandwidth used by any one of the above-described methods according to the type of request by the communication protocol, the operating system 300a determines that the operating system 300a performs the calculation. The Wi-Fi modem 32a reads the signal strength value, that is, the RSSI value, the service identification information (SSID), and the MAC address, through the provided API (r31). In one embodiment according to the present invention, while receiving data, which is a process of calculating the actual bandwidth, the signal strength value may be read several times and the average value may be determined as the signal strength value. The information thus obtained and the calculated actual bandwidth are used to configure the characteristic information for the current AP having the information elements as illustrated in FIG. 5A. In constructing the characteristic information, the information on the signal strength may be used as it is, but the signal strength value or the average value read out, but for the signal strength, there are several classes, for example, "very good", "good" It can also be specified as "normal", "bad", "very bad", or the like. The characteristic information illustrated in FIG. 5A adopts the MAC address of the AP as identification information of the AP, but if the service identification information is allocated in such a manner as to distinguish an individual AP, the service identification information is substituted for the MAC address. Of course it can be used as. Instead of the calculated actual bandwidth, a parameter that can be calculated, for example, the reference time and the amount of received data during the reference time may be described as elements of the characteristic information.

In another embodiment according to the present invention, as illustrated in FIG. 5B, identification information of the mobile communication terminal 300P constituting the characteristic information may also be included in the AP characteristic information. As the terminal identification information, other information may be used in addition to the telephone number 501 of the illustrated mobile telephone terminal. For example, if the user number described in the Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) chip is allowed access, the number may be used. Information for use as terminal identification information is shared by the AP information reporting unit 311 by the adaptive AP selector 310 through an API provided by the operating system 300a, or the AP information report. The part 311 confirms and uses an API when needed.

In another embodiment according to the present invention, the above-mentioned real-time bandwidth may be measured by the arbitrary application 320 for data received by the application 320 and then provide the measured bandwidth to the AP information reporter 311. have. At this time, through the identifier of the process or the application set by the shared information, directly from the arbitrary app 320 or by the adaptive AP selector 310 to be mediated to the API information report unit 311 Delivered. When the measured bandwidth is received, the API information report unit 311 reads the signal strength value and the AP identification information previously checked for the AP that is currently connected, from the operating system 300a, and thus, for the current AP. Configure the characteristic information. The AP characteristic information configured as described above is provided to the access control server 200 according to the signal exchange flow diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG. 6, after which the recommended AP for the own or another mobile communication terminal. It is used as statistical data to present.

If the characteristic information on the AP currently connected in any Wi-Fi zone is configured as described above (S61), the AP information report unit 311 makes a request for the communication socket generated by the operating system 300a. Report the configured AP characteristic information to the access control server 200 through (S62). Access information about the destination of the AP characteristic information, for example, a URL, is preset in the adaptive AP selector 310 and shared by the AP information reporter 311 and the AP selector 312. The AP information reporting unit 311 may report the date and time at which the characteristic is measured in the AP characteristic information and report it to the access control server 200.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the AP information reporting unit 311 also transmits the characteristic information on the AP configured by any one of the above-described methods to the AP selecting unit 312.

The access control server 200 is configured to report each AP characteristic information that is configured and reported from the mobile communication terminals equipped with the adaptive AP selector 310 according to several classification requirements. It is recorded as a statistical element in the corresponding characteristic statistical table in the public AP characteristic statistical table (S63). At this time, if the information on the actual bandwidth used consists of the measurement time and the data amount, the data amount is divided by the measurement time to obtain the actual bandwidth. Examples of the classification requirements may include time zones [working hours, morning and afternoon (or working hours), leaving hours, evenings, nights, etc.], days of the week, holidays, and the like. According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5B, when the terminal identification information is included in the received AP characteristic information, the received characteristic information is recorded in the corresponding AP characteristic statistics table of the at least one public, and the corresponding terminal identification information is recorded. It is also recorded in the Personal AP Characteristics Statistics Table.

The term “statistics table” used in this specification for a set of statistical elements separated according to each classification requirement does not mean only a set of statistical elements existing as separate objects, for example, files. However, even if statistical elements corresponding to two or more classification conditions belong to the same object, the statistical elements are classified in one or more objects so that they can be distinguished from each other. It is also used to mean a group of individual statistical elements.

FIG. 7A illustrates an example of a public AP characteristic statistical table in which received AP characteristic information is described as a statistical element, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the example of FIG. 7A, the characteristic information for the AP having ID1 of the example shown in FIG. 5A (in the drawing, the MAC address is described as “00-08-9F-C4-E5-6A”) is displayed on the time of work on Tuesday. For example, the statistics table of the Tuesday time zone matched from the classified AP characteristic statistics table of the public classified as reported at 7 am to 9 hours) or the measurement date and time described in the reported characteristic information of the AP belongs to the time zone of Tuesday. Shows an example recorded as one statistical element 711, that is, a measured value. As mentioned above, in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 5B, as illustrated in FIG. 7B, one of the characteristic statistical tables in which the classification condition is matched among the AP characteristic statistical tables 720 of the individual specified by the received terminal identification information is also included. It is also recorded as the measured value 721. On the other hand, in the embodiment in which the AP selector 312 in the mobile communication terminal receives the characteristic information about the AP from the AP information reporter 311, the AP selector 312 also shows the AP characteristic statistics table as shown in FIG. 7B. And manage and list the characteristic information received from the AP information reporting unit 311 as one measurement value in the characteristic statistical table of the classification condition matched at the received time.

In the above-described embodiment, when the signal strength element in the received characteristic information is lower than a predetermined threshold or when it corresponds to the lowest level among the predetermined classes, for example, "very bad", the characteristic information is ignored. And may not be listed in the statistics table.

The access control server 200 which prepares and manages the public or private AP characteristic statistics table in the manner as described above, databases all the statistics tables, and receives the request for AP recommendation information from the mobile communication terminal. Based on the AP, the AP recommendation information is prepared and provided. This will be described in detail below.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the mobile communication terminal 300R having the configuration illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B can access the Wi-Fi network 2 within the cellular network 20. When the connection to the Wi-Fi network 2 is enabled by entering (p2) the service zone 2 ₁ , 2 ₂ , 2 ₃ with (2 _ov ), the operating system 300a has been previously connected. Check whether the AP is in the currently detected APs (AP1, AP2, AP3 forming Wi-Fi zones 2 ₁ , 2 ₂ , 2 ₃ respectively in the example of FIG. 2), and if not, the “Wi- Fi Available Event ”. The event at this time includes the signal strength and identification information of each AP for the currently detected AP.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the adaptive AP selector 310 disables the search for the Wi-Fi network of the operating system 300a and enables the search function when necessary. You may ask. When necessary, every time period according to a search period in which the time length is changed and set according to the time, state or time zone, etc., when the screen lock state of the mobile communication terminal 300R is released, a network from an arbitrary application is started. When the connection request, the response according to the request by the communication protocol may be when the data to be received requires a high bandwidth or more than a certain standard, or when the entry request for Wi-Fi network entry from an external server. In this embodiment, when the illustrated required time point is reached, the adaptive AP selector 310 activates the Wi-Fi search of the operating system 300a so that the search result is the result of the “Wi-Fi available event”. The AP may be delivered to the AP selector 312 that has already registered the reception. The operating system 300a may directly access the corresponding AP without generating an event if the AP included in the previously accessed history information is included when the accessible APs are searched after the Wi-Fi network search. Accordingly, the adaptive AP selector 310 reads and stores the " AP access history information " from the operating system 300a in order to ensure the occurrence of an event, and then deletes the history information from the operating system 300a. You can also ask for In one embodiment according to the present invention, the adaptive AP selector 310 may notify the AP selector 312 of the request fact after a predetermined delay time after the request for activation of the Wi-Fi network search.

When the “Wi-Fi available event” occurs, the AP selecting unit 312 receives the event and reads identification information of each AP, which is information added to the event, and signal strength from the AP. Alternatively, when receiving the request notification of the Wi-Fi network search activation from the adaptive AP selector 310, the AP selector 312 requests the operating system 300a for each AP currently being searched for. Receive the identification information and the signal strength from the AP. When identification information and signal strength of each AP are confirmed, an AP recommendation information request form having a format as illustrated in FIG. 8A including these information is configured (S65) and transmitted to the access control server 200 ( S66). In another embodiment according to the present invention, a class value designated as one of the predetermined classes for signal strength may be described in the AP recommendation request. Transmission to the access control server 200 is made through the communication socket 310c generated by the AP selecting unit 312 for the cellular network 20 by requesting the operating system 300a. The data transmitted at this time is coded by the cellular codec 31b, modulated by the cellular modem 31a, and then transmitted as a radio signal to a neighboring base station. In one embodiment according to the present invention, the AP recommendation information request may be configured by adding the terminal identification information 801 as illustrated in FIG. 8B.

In the above-described embodiment, the server receiving the AP characteristic information report and the server receiving the AP recommendation information request are described as the single access control server 200. However, in another embodiment according to the present invention, as described below with respect to the configuration of the access control server 200 may be constructed as a plurality of servers having independent IP addresses. Therefore, in this case, the AP information reporting unit 311 and the AP selecting unit 312 store access information, for example, URLs, for the corresponding server to report or request information differently.

The access control server 200 receiving the AP recommendation information request through the cellular network 20, for each AP included in the request, the recommended value, for example, the expected transmission bandwidth (hereinafter, "expected" Bandwidth ”.) AP recommendation information is constructed in the following way.

First, one from the list of APs included in the request is sequentially selected, and among the statistically databaseized statistical tables as illustrated in FIG. 7A for the selected AP, the date and time (time zone, day of the week, holiday, etc.) when the request was received. For example, if the received date and time are Monday's time zone, one AP characteristic statistics table corresponding to the classification condition is selected. In the selected statistical table, an expected bandwidth, which is a recommended value, is calculated based on the current signal strength received for the corresponding AP. 9A illustrates an example of calculating an expected bandwidth from a selected statistical table. For convenience of understanding, each statistical element recorded in the statistical table, that is, a measured value (RSSI vs. actual bandwidth) is graphed.

The access control server 200 determines, from the selected statistical table, the signal strength range to be searched from the current signal strength described in the received request. As illustrated in FIG. 9A, the search section 910 is included by a width designated up and down about the received current signal strength 920. Each of the upper and lower widths may be the same or different from each other, and the size of the width may be adaptively determined according to the current signal strength 920. In another embodiment according to the present invention, the number of measured values included in the width or the latest measured values (e.g., 15 minutes before the present time) is dynamically changed based on the received signal strength 920. The search interval may be defined such that the number of measured values listed therein becomes more than a predetermined number. According to an embodiment of the present invention described above, when the information on the signal strength is given as a value of one of the predetermined classes, the corresponding class becomes the search section.

When the search section 910 of the signal strength is determined, the AP selector 312 determines a variation range of previously stored measured values belonging to the section. The method of determining the variation range of the actual bandwidth from the measured values may be a range of all the values in which the measured values are distributed, and in the distribution of the measured values, for example, 1.5σ (σ is the standard deviation of the measured values). It can also be a range of values excluding measured values outside of 2σ or 3σ. FIG. 9B illustrates only the determined search section 910 extracted for the example of FIG. 9A, and the variation range 930 determined by excluding a part of the measurement values 940 according to the latter method in the determination example of the variation range. ) Shows an example. When the variation range 930 is determined, the expected bandwidth is calculated in the range (S67a). As a method of obtaining the expected bandwidth, the minimum value 931, the maximum value 932 of the determined variation range 930 or the median of the determined variation range 930 may be taken. Alternatively, when the fluctuation range 930 is divided into ranks of a certain size, the median of the rank values having the greatest frequency may be taken, or an average value may be calculated.

The access control server 200 calculates all the expected bandwidths from the public AP characteristic statistical table of the corresponding classification condition, which is already databased, for each AP described in the received AP recommendation information request as described above. After that, APs (that is, AP identification information) are listed according to the calculated estimated bandwidth sizes, and AP recommendation information recording the number of APs is written (S67b). When it is explicitly distinguished from “Personal AP Recommendation Information”, it is referred to as “General AP Recommendation Information”). As illustrated in FIG. 10A, each of the calculated estimated bandwidths 1001 may be included in the AP recommendation information in association with the corresponding AP. In another embodiment according to the present invention, each calculated expected bandwidth may be scored and APs may be listed according to the score. As an example of scoring, a value based on a function such as y = k x , y = k · log x , a difference from a predetermined reference bandwidth (BWref), or a ratio to a predetermined reference bandwidth may be obtained.

In another embodiment according to the present invention, the access control server 200 includes in the AP recommendation information the received signal strength which has been given for the calculation of the expected bandwidth or score. When describing the estimated bandwidth calculated in the AP recommendation information, the order of the APs described in the AP recommendation information may not be in accordance with the calculated order of the estimated bandwidth.

In an exemplary embodiment in which the terminal identification information is included in the AP recommendation request, the access control server 200 may determine the estimated bandwidth of each AP listed in the AP recommendation request request in the aforementioned AP characteristic statistics table. In the same manner as the calculation method, an estimated bandwidth for each AP is also calculated from the personal AP characteristic statistics tables previously databased for the terminal in the manner illustrated in FIG. 7B, and then used according to the size of the estimated bandwidth. Also fill out the AP recommendations.

In another embodiment according to the present invention, when the access control server 200 calculates the expected bandwidth for the corresponding signal strength for each AP described in the received AP recommended information request as described above, The estimated bandwidth for at least one other section other than the search section at that time may also be calculated and added to the AP recommendation information. FIG. 9C illustrates an example in which additional sections 941 and 942 are selected up and down adjacent to the search section 910 selected based on the received signal strength 920 for the example illustrated in FIGS. 9A and 9B, respectively. As illustrated in FIG. 9C, the access control server 200 selects the additional sections 941 and 942, and then, as described above, for each of the selected additional sections, determines a corresponding variation range and estimates the range. Calculate the bandwidth respectively. The additional section does not necessarily need to be one section above and below, as illustrated in FIG. 9C, and one or more sections are selected to the upper and / or lower sections according to the currently determined search section, and the section above and below It does not have to be the same width as each other nor need to be the same width as the determined search section. Further, the additional section may be one or more sections 949 that are not adjacent to the determined search section 910 and spaced apart from each other. According to the present embodiment, when the estimated bandwidth for each additional section is calculated, the representative bandwidth for each additional section is also determined, and the calculated expected bandwidth and the representative value are described in the AP recommendation information. FIG. 10B illustrates an example of AP recommended information prepared according to the present embodiment, and a representative value and an expected bandwidth 1010 _k for two adjacent signal strength sections are described for each AP. As the representative value, as illustrated in FIG. 10B, one value 1011 may be described, such as a median value or a median value for each signal strength section, but the corresponding signal strength section may be described instead. For example, an interval designation value of [-56 to -50 dBm] may be described instead of the representative value of -53 dBm.

In another embodiment according to the present invention, a predetermined limit bandwidth, for example, a recommended bandwidth or a minimum bandwidth, may be included in the AP recommendation information by identifying a signal strength or signal strength interval calculated as an expected bandwidth. The access control server 200 divides the signal strength into sections of appropriate size in the selected statistical table, and then selects one section upward or downward of each section, and the expected bandwidth in the manner described above for the section. And a representative value of the interval in which the calculated expected bandwidth is closest to the predetermined limit bandwidth and becomes larger than that is included in the AP recommendation information as a signal strength request value as illustrated in FIG. 10C. It may be. The signal strength request value 1021 at this time may be a median value, a median value of the corresponding section, or a minimum value of the section.

In another embodiment according to the present invention, the access control server 200 is adjacent to the APs described above from the location information already registered for each AP, in addition to the APs described in the received AP recommendation information request. If it is confirmed that there are other APs, the AP bandwidth information is calculated for the other APs (APs not requested in the AP recommendation request) to configure AP recommendation information as illustrated in FIG. 10D. The unsolicited AP (hereinafter referred to as " secondary AP ") further described at this time is separately from the APs (hereinafter referred to as " primary AP ") which are described in the AP recommendation information request form. It may be listed in the AP recommendation information without being distinguished. In another embodiment according to the present invention, as illustrated in FIG. 10D, a specific mark 1031 that may be distinguished from the primary APs may be added to the secondary AP. In addition, in the case of the secondary AP, for some divided representative signal strength intervals (for example, -70 dBm interval and -60 dBm interval), from the statistical table for the secondary AP of the same classification conditions as the classification conditions of the primary AP, The expected bandwidth is calculated in the same manner as described above, and is further described in the AP recommendation information together with the representative value 1032 of the interval. When describing the secondary AP in the AP recommendation information, as illustrated in FIG. 10D, the secondary AP may be separately described (1033) regardless of the description order of the primary APs. In this embodiment, for each primary AP, the corresponding signal strength 1034 described in the AP recommendation request request is additionally included in the AP recommendation information.

Each information element described in the AP recommendation information according to each embodiment described separately may be included together in the AP recommendation information according to a single embodiment when they are compatible with each other.

The AP recommendation information created in the manner described above is transmitted to the mobile communication terminal 300R as a response to the previously received request (S68). If personal AP recommendation information is transmitted together, the type information (eg, 'personal' and 'general') that distinguishes each recommendation information is included.

The AP recommendation information transmitted from the access control server 200 is restored to data via the cellular modem 31a and the cellular codec 31b of the mobile communication terminal 300R and transmitted to the operating system 300a. The operating system 300a analyzes the corresponding data in the session layer, identifies the session, and transfers the data to the AP selection unit 312 through a previously generated communication socket 310c associated with the session. .

The AP selecting unit 312 performs the access request to the AP in the following order if the access request is not successful in the AP order presented in the AP recommendation information including the information as illustrated in FIG. 10. Or the first connection to the Wi-Fi network 2 in the zone or inter-AP by requesting the operating system 300a to access the AP while providing AP identification information in the order of the AP having the highest recommended value. The switch connection is made (S69). If personal AP recommendation information is also received according to the above-described embodiment, the AP selector 312 may first apply the personal AP recommendation information according to the currently set mode. For example, through a user UI (User Interface) provided by a user through an input / output unit (the display panel 5, the touch sensor 6a, the keypad 6b, etc.) of the mobile communication terminal 300R. If the value of the "recommended information application mode" shared by the AP selection unit 312 is set for the adaptive AP selector 310 is "Personal Priority", the APs of the personal AP recommended information are sequentially accessed. If the value is "general priority", the APs of the general AP recommendation information are requested in order. If the access to the AP is not made by the applied recommendation information, the AP access request is applied by applying other recommendation information.

According to the above-described embodiment, when the AP selector 312 constructs statistical tables having a structure as shown in FIG. 7B, the AP selector 312 may request an AP recommendation information request or a response thereof. With respect to the information of each AP described in, the access control server 200 specifies a statistical table in the same manner as the method of calculating the recommended value for each AP according to the AP recommendation request information to calculate the recommended value. Based on the calculated recommendation value, each AP is listed in order or its own AP recommendation information is written, and the generated AP recommendation information and the received general AP recommendation information are prepared. Considering it together, access requests for APs will proceed. In order to consider together, the application order of recommendation information is changed according to the set mode, or the recommended value (average of the two recommended values calculated according to the weight for the same AP) is considered in consideration of both recommended information. In this case, there may be a method of requesting access alternately with each other in the order of each AP in the recommended information (excluding duplicate requests for the same AP).

In one embodiment according to the present invention, before making a request for access to the AP contained in the AP recommendation information, the operating system 300a requests information on the currently identified APs and is based on the latest AP information accordingly. In addition, the access request for the AP may be adaptive. In other words, if there is no AP currently listed in the AP search information (listed in the AP recommendation information), the access request for the AP may be skipped.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the signal strength is included in the AP recommendation information, the AP selector 312 requests the operating system 300a again the characteristic information for the current APs. If the current signal strength of the AP is lower than the signal strength in the AP recommendation information received over a predetermined allowable range, the AP may skip the AP and request an access to the AP in the following order. In the case of the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 10D, if the access requirements for the primary APs are not satisfied through the signal strength comparison, all of them are skipped, or if all of them fail, the secondary AP may request a connection. have. For example, a new AP (the AP of "ID n" of FIG. 10D) is searched in the process of re-checking the characteristic information of the current APs, and the representative value described in the AP recommendation information about the current signal strength for the AP. If it is determined that the bandwidth estimated from the 1032 and the corresponding expected bandwidth is more than the proper speed, the secondary AP requests a connection. Whether the received AP recommendation information includes information on the secondary AP is confirmed from the specific mark 1031 indicating that the secondary AP is illustrated as illustrated in FIG. 10D, or in the embodiment in which the specific mark is not specified. It is checked whether or not the AP described in the recommended information is described in the AP recommendation information request sent by the AP selecting unit 312. According to another embodiment of the present invention described above, when the estimated bandwidth for each signal strength section is also included in each AP in the AP recommendation information, the AP selecting unit 312 reconfirms neighboring APs. Even if the current signal strength of is lower than the signal strength in the received AP recommendation (or the signal strength reported for the AP in the request for AP recommendation) beyond the predetermined allowable range, the current signal strength belongs to or near the signal strength. If the expected bandwidth described in the AP recommendation information for the representative value is higher than the expected bandwidth of the next AP, the access request is made to the current AP without skipping to the next AP.

In addition, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention described with reference to FIG. 10C, when the signal strength request value 1021 is included in the AP recommendation information, the AP selector 312 may determine a current signal of each of the neighboring APs. If the strength does not meet the signal strength request value described for the AP, the AP may skip the request and access the AP in the next order.

Through the above-described process, one AP, which is expected to have the fastest speed of data service, is considered in consideration of the received signal strength in which the relative distance to the AP is generally reflected among the neighboring APs searched for. 300R) is selected and connected to the AP. Therefore, according to the present invention, as illustrated in FIG. 11, the average transmission rate is close, but the average number of accessors is large, or the communication resources at the back end of the access point are not sufficient, so that the network state is not good. In case of being in a region overlapped by an AP having a saturated service characteristic 1110 and an AP showing a proportional service characteristic 1120 that is somewhat separated but has an average number of accessors to provide a certain rate. In spite of the relatively high signal strength SS1 for the former AP, a connection is made to the latter AP, which is more likely to provide a higher expected bandwidth pBW2 than the former AP.

When the access to the AP is established, the AP selecting unit 312 notifies the AP information report unit 311 of the estimated bandwidth if the estimated bandwidth is described in the received AP recommendation information. do.

If the AP is not listed in the received AP recommendation information, or if there is no AP to access according to the above-described conditions, or if all of the accesses to the AP fail, the AP selector 312 gives up the access request to the AP. To maintain the connection to the mobile communication network (usually, when no special connection request is made, the operating system 300a remains connected to the cellular network 20) or to the mobile communication network. Will request a data connection.

Meanwhile, the AP information reporting unit 311 measures and reports the actual bandwidth used as described above when an application uses a data service provided by the Wi-Fi network 2 through an AP to which an application is currently connected. Will be performed. During the measurement process, the AP reselection unit 312 selects the AP reselection if the actual measured bandwidth that is currently measured is less than or equal to a preset limit bandwidth or a bandwidth lower than an allowable range notified by the AP bandwidth notified by the AP selector 312. Ask. The AP reselection request includes identification information about the AP for which the current actual bandwidth is measured. When the estimated bandwidth notified from the AP selector 312 is used as a criterion for the reselection request, the AP information report unit 311 is provided with response data for FTP or HTTP request requesting transmission of a large amount of data. It will only compare with the measured bandwidth. This is a condition that can provide the quality of the expected bandwidth, but the actual bandwidth measured when the requesting object is based on slow streaming that does not require that quality or only a small amount of data is available, allows for more than the expected bandwidth. This may be lower than the range, in order to prevent AP reselection in this case.

When the AP reselection request is requested from the AP information reporter 311, the AP selector 312 constructs an AP recommendation information request form from the information obtained through the search of each AP as described above. In step 200, APs are selected and the APs are requested in connection with the AP recommendation information received from the response. At this time, the transmission of the request for AP recommendation information and the reception of the AP recommendation information accordingly may be performed through the Wi-Fi network 2 by the AP currently connected rather than the cellular network 20. If the AP in the order of the received AP recommendation information is the AP included in the AP reselection request, the AP skips and selects the next AP. According to this process, one AP is selected and requested to access. In accordance with this request, the access point may be connected to another AP from the currently connected AP. When the access to the AP is made, the AP selector 312 responds with a 'success' to the previously requested AP reselection. If not, for example, the AP to be connected is other than the AP included in the AP reselection request. If the received AP is not within the recommended information or if the received expected bandwidth is less than the threshold bandwidth, etc., the response is 'failed'. Meanwhile, until the response is received, the AP information reporting unit 311 may not request the AP reselection again. When the AP selecting unit 312 responds with a failure, the AP selecting unit 312 may request the operating system 300a to make a connection for the data service to the cellular network 20.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, when the AP selector 312 constructs an AP recommendation request, as illustrated in FIG. 12, the required bandwidth 1201 required for a smooth data service is added. It may be. This required bandwidth can be determined in various ways. For example, when any application is started to request a data service, the adaptation specified by the identification information directly or by the identification information specified by the AP selection unit 312 specified by the identification information of a process or an application which is shared and set in advance. It may be determined by being mediated by the AP selector 310 and delivered to the AP selector 312. Alternatively, the registration is performed by confirming whether or not the pre-registered application is started from the required bandwidth information which is preset in the adaptive AP selector 310 and registered for each process (or application) shared by the AP selector 312. It can also be determined by the required bandwidth set for a given application. Alternatively, the AP selection unit 312 may separately receive a request according to the communication protocol requested from the application to the AP information report unit 311 so that the host and / or the request item (eg, described in the request) are received. For example, the required bandwidth may be determined according to the type of file).

When the AP recommendation information request including the required bandwidth is received, the access control server 200 calculates the estimated bandwidth for each AP described as in the above-described embodiment, but the calculated estimated bandwidth is the required bandwidth. If it is lower than a certain level, the AP may not be included in the AP recommendation information. In another embodiment according to the present invention, when the calculated expected bandwidth is lower than the required bandwidth, instead of excluding the corresponding AP, as shown in the above-described embodiment, the signal strength interval from which the required bandwidth is obtained is identified and the interval is obtained. Representative value of may be included in the AP recommendation information. In other words, if the estimated bandwidth calculated based on the received signal strength is lower than the required bandwidth, the region higher than the signal strength is divided into several sections, and then for each section in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment. Comparing the calculated expected bandwidth with the required bandwidth, the representative value of the lowest interval showing the higher expected bandwidth, that is, the representative value of the signal strength, is included in the AP recommendation information for the corresponding AP. When the AP recommendation information according to the present embodiment is received, the AP selection unit 312, as described above, the signal strength of each AP obtained by re-searching the surrounding AP is information on the signal strength described in the AP recommendation information. That is, if there is a signal strength greater than the representative value of the signal strength, the access request to the AP, if not, the cellular network 20 requests that the connection for the data service is made.

On the other hand, in the same manner as described above, the required bandwidth of any application that is launched after connecting to the AP can also be confirmed by the AP information reporting unit 311, the required bandwidth is the actual bandwidth that is currently measured by itself If the bandwidth is higher than the bandwidth measured in response to the response to the HTTP request requesting the transmission of the large amount of data, the AP information reporting unit 311 may request the AP selection unit 312 to reselect the AP. In this case, the AP bandwidth re-selection request the required bandwidth, the AP selector 312 in accordance with the request to configure the AP recommendation information request further described in the required bandwidth 1201 in the manner illustrated in FIG. Transmit to the access control server 200 via the cellular network 20 or Wi-Fi network (2). According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8B, the terminal identification information may be added to the AP recommendation request. If there is an AP listed in the AP recommendation information corresponding thereto, the operating system 300a requests a connection to the AP and a success response to the AP reselection request. If there is no AP listed, a failure is returned to the AP information reporting unit 311.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, when the AP information reporting unit 311 requests the AP reselection of the AP selection unit 312, the AP information reporting unit 311 is applied to the currently measured actual bandwidth that caused the reselection. The AP characteristic information including the information may be configured as described above and provided to the access control server 200.

Meanwhile, according to another embodiment of the present invention, when the AP selecting unit 312 receives an AP reselection request from the AP information reporting unit 311, an AP recommendation information request is configured to configure the access control server ( Rather than performing the operation of transmitting to 200, the AP recommendation information received previously may be used again to select another AP to request access. In this case, the identification information of the currently connected AP is checked through the operating system 300a, and access is made to the AP next to the current AP or the AP having the next recommended value from the previously received AP recommendation information. Perform the request. If the required bandwidth is added to the AP reselection request from the AP information reporting unit 311, if the AP that is greater than the recommended value supporting the required bandwidth is not in the previously received AP recommendation information, the AP as described above. The recommendation information request is reconfigured and transmitted to the access control server 200.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, when the AP information reporting unit 311 of the mobile communication terminal 300P configures characteristic information on an AP currently connected, as illustrated in FIG. 5A or 5B, the measurement is performed. In addition to the used bandwidth, the required bandwidth of the received data from which the bandwidth is measured is included in the characteristic information. The requested bandwidth is a field of b field that designates a bandwidth in media information described as a header [for example, a Session Description Protocol (SDP) included in a response according to a communication protocol request, for example, an RTSP / RTP request. Value can be identified from the bandwidth information recorded in the value]. Alternatively, the metadata for the content object (eg, header of the video or audio stream) included in the response may be decoded and identified from the bitrate for video and / or audio.

As described above, when the request according to the communication protocol is a specific type, for example, a request of an object based on FTP or HTTP, the server usually supports the physical communication resources within a range that can be supported regardless of the required bandwidth of the content object. Will transmit at maximum speed. When the actual bandwidth is measured for the response according to the request, the AP information reporting unit 311 sets the information on the requested bandwidth of the characteristic information on the AP to a specific value, for example, 'unnecessary' or '0'. List it.

As described above, the characteristic information on the AP in which the required bandwidth is further described is transmitted to the access control server 200 by the AP information report unit 311 as in the above-described embodiment.

The access control server 200 calculates a score for the actual bandwidth used in the received AP characteristic information, and displays the AP characteristic statistics table of the public classified as in the above-described embodiments (or in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 5B). In addition to the individual AP characteristics statistics table). In other words, each score calculated in the "Quality Score" field instead of the "actual BW" field is recorded in each statistical table illustrated in FIG. 7A or 7B. The access control server 200 calculates a quality score for the bandwidth information described in the received AP characteristic information according to the process illustrated in FIG. 13A.

The access control server 200 calculates a quality score according to a predetermined rule with respect to the measured value S1301a of the actual bandwidth used in the received AP characteristic information. The predetermined rule may be a function value S1302a according to the primary function 1401 or the logarithm function 1402 having the measured value as an independent variable, illustrated in FIG. 14A. The coefficient k of the linear function 1401 illustrated in FIG. 14A may be one. This means that the measured actual bandwidth is used as the quality score. Thus, the meaning of the term “quality score” herein does not exclude a value indicating bandwidth. The correction score is also calculated according to a predetermined rule with respect to the difference between the actual measured value and the required bandwidth. If the information on the required bandwidth is written as a specific value such as 'unnecessary' or '0', the correction score for the difference is assigned to '0'. As one of the predetermined rules, the function value S1302b corresponding to the function is obtained by applying one function 1401 or 1402 illustrated in FIG. 14A by using the absolute value S1301b of the difference as an independent variable. If the actual measured value is smaller than the required bandwidth, the value is made negative (S1303b). The function illustrated in FIG. 14A is for example only and various other functions that give a function value in a one-to-one correspondence to a given value may be used.

When the quality score (Pt_aBW) for the actual measured value and the correction score (Pt_BWdif) according to the difference between the required bandwidth and the measured value are respectively calculated, the weights (0≤α) appropriately selected for these scores as shown in Equation 1 below. The final quality score Pt is calculated by multiplying (beta) ≤1) (S1311a and S1311b) and adding up (S1312) (S1313).

Pt = α x Pt_aBW + β x Pt_BWdif (where α + β = 1) (Equation 1)

In another embodiment according to the present invention, instead of correcting the quality score Pt_aBW for the actual measured value by adding or subtracting the corrected score as in the above-described embodiment, the correction is performed according to the difference between the required bandwidth and the measured value. The quality score may be corrected by obtaining a ratio. 13B illustrates a process of calculating a final quality score with respect to the bandwidth information described in the received AP characteristic information. Also in this embodiment, the quality score Pt_aBW for the actual measured value is obtained by applying a function as illustrated in FIG. 14A, and the correction ratio according to the difference between the required bandwidth and the measured value is as illustrated in FIG. 14B. The same function 1411, for example, if the measured value is less than the required bandwidth and shows a difference within the required bandwidth and within a certain size 1412, gives a value greater than 1 in inverse proportion to the difference and 1 if it is larger than the required bandwidth. It is obtained from a value according to a function giving a larger maximum ratio value r_max. As the maximum ratio value r_max, an appropriate value, for example, 1.2, 1.5 or 2.0, may be selected within a range that does not excessively increase the quality score Pt_aBW. Also in the present embodiment, as in the above-described embodiment, the quality scores Pt_aBW for the actual bandwidth in the received AP characteristic information are calculated (S1321a, S1322a), and the difference between the actual measured value and the required bandwidth is shown in FIG. The correction ratio r_BWdif is obtained by applying a function as illustrated in 14b (S1321b and S1322b). If the information on the required bandwidth is described as a specific value such as 'unnecessary' or '0', the correction ratio is assigned to '1' without applying a function. When the quality score (Pt_aBW) for the actual measured value and the correction ratio (r_BWdif) according to the difference between the required bandwidth and the measured value are obtained, they are multiplied by these (S1331) to obtain the final quality score (Pt) according to Equation 2 below. It calculates (S1332).

Pt = r_BWdif x Pt_aBW (Equation 2)

According to Equation 1 or 2 above, the quality score for the measured actual bandwidth is corrected by the quantified variable how much the bandwidth is in accordance with the required bandwidth. The degree of correction depends on the selection of the coefficient values of α and β in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 13A (in the embodiment of FIG. 13A, if α is 0, the quality score can only be a correction score, and if α is 1, only the actual bandwidth is used. Quality scores can only be scored on). In the embodiment of FIG. 13A, if the measured bandwidth is larger than the required bandwidth, the quality score is further added by the difference, and when the bandwidth is small, the quality score is further reduced by the difference (as described above, correction for the difference). The score PT_BWdif is negative when the measured bandwidth is smaller than the required bandwidth (S1303b).) In the case of the embodiment of Fig. 13B, when the measured bandwidth is more than a certain extent close to the required bandwidth, the quality is as close as it is. The score is increased and, if it is over the required bandwidth, it is increased to the maximum ratio.

The access control server 200 further describes the calculated final quality score Pt on the statistical table selected according to the classification condition together with the signal strength in the characteristic information. Alternatively, when the quality scores, which are previously calculated, are described as average scores for a certain signal intensity, the newly calculated quality score Pt is reflected in the average score m _old of the same signal strength section. The new average score (m _new ) may be obtained and written according to the following equation.

Where N is the number of quality scores from which the previous average score was obtained.

In another embodiment according to the present invention, a new average score (m _new ) may be obtained and described according to the following equation so that the newly calculated quality score (Pt) is more reflected in the average value.

(Where δ is a weight that reflects the newly calculated quality score, and an appropriate value of zero or more is selected according to the degree of reflection.)

FIG. 15 illustrates, in graph form, an example of a statistical table prepared according to an embodiment in which each calculated quality score is separately described together with the signal strength. In this embodiment, as described with reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B, for the mobile communication terminal 300R requesting AP recommendation information in the Wi-Fi zone, the current received signal strength of each AP included in the AP recommendation information request form. A search section 1510 corresponding to 1520 is determined, and a variation range 1530 of the quality score is determined for the determined interval, and a recommended value from the statistical elements of the variation range 1530, that is, the quality scores. For example, the evaluation score is calculated. The evaluation score may be calculated in the same manner as that of calculating the expected bandwidth in the above-described embodiment. Preferably, the evaluation score is calculated as an average value for the quality scores in the determined variation range 1430. In the case of calculating the average value, it may be calculated by weighting the larger value according to the elapsed time and the number of days of the quality scores in the variation range 1430. For example, if the elapsed time is averaged only for quality scores within a month, obtain the partial mean value for each time period divided by each elapsed time and days, and then within 15 minutes and within 30 minutes for each partial mean value. An evaluation score may be obtained by multiplying weights of 0.6, 0.2, 0.1, 0.07, and 0.03 in time, within a week, and within a month in a time zone (for example, at work). To this end, when the quality score is calculated from the characteristic information as described above, the calculated date and time are recorded in association with the quality score. The method of calculating the average value by weighting the partial average value for each elapsed time may of course be applied to the above-described expected bandwidth calculation. In addition, the weight given to the partial mean value may be variably set according to the number of statistical elements belonging to the corresponding time period. For example, if the number of statistical elements belonging to the time interval within 15 minutes is less than the lower limit, the value of 0.6 in the above example may be set to 0.4 and the average value may be set to 0.8 if the upper limit is larger than the upper limit. Of course, accordingly, the weights of other time periods are appropriately reduced or increased so that the sum of the total weights is one.

When the evaluation score is calculated based on the signal strength for each AP included in the received AP recommendation information request, the access control server 200 lists received APs in order of high score based on the evaluation score. The AP recommendation information is configured and provided to the mobile communication terminal 300R. Alternatively, instead of listing the evaluation scores in high order, general AP recommendation information including the evaluation scores for each AP may be configured and provided. Of course, in the present embodiment, if the terminal identification information is included in the AP recommendation request, personal AP recommendation information may be configured and provided.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, when the AP recommendation request information includes the terminal identification information, the AP score and the public AP for each AP calculated from the personal AP characteristic statistics table without separately configuring the personal AP recommendation information. The combined score reflecting the evaluation scores for each AP calculated from the characteristic statistics table may be calculated, and the AP recommendation information may be configured by adding APs in the order of APs or list APs in the order of the combined scores. have. The method of calculating the combined score may be obtained by multiplying and adding the individual weights 0 <δ, ζ <1, δ + ζ = 1 to each evaluation score. In this case, the weight multiplied by the evaluation score calculated from the personal AP characteristic statistical table among the individual weights may be set to have a larger value than other weights. This is to allow the evaluation score by the personal AP characteristic statistics table to be more important in determining the priority of the AP.

In the above-described embodiments, the access control server 200, based on a predetermined time in order to reflect the latest usage environment or state for each AP in the statistics table prepared from the measured bandwidth for each AP received. The previous statistical elements, ie measured values or output scores, are deleted from the statistical table. For this purpose, the measured value or the calculated score of each statistical table is recorded in association with the date and time at which it was obtained. Based on the date and time, for example, statistical elements that have passed one week, ten days, or one month are deleted from the statistical table. In another embodiment according to the present invention, instead of collectively deleting according to the elapsed time, as described above, one measurement value is received and a statistics table for recording the measurement value is specified and received in the statistics table. When listing a measured value, the elements whose elapsed time elapses for a predetermined time or the oldest element among the listed measured values which are almost in the same range as the measured value may be deleted.

The various embodiments described so far may be selectively combined and implemented in various ways unless incompatible with each other.

Meanwhile, the access control server 200 described in the above embodiments may include a network connector 201, an AP information processor 202, and a DB manager 203 as illustrated in FIG. 16. The access control server 200 may be composed of a single computing device or a plurality of computing devices that are independent of each other. When each of the components is built as an independent computing device, for example, a server (server), they are interconnected by a leased line or a dedicated network, and mutual communication is performed under an appropriate network security communication protocol. Each of the above-described components illustrated in FIG. 16, that is, the network connector 201, the AP information processor 20, and the DB manager 203, may be described in the above-described operations performed by the access control server 200 in various embodiments. They will work together.

The network connector 201 communicates with the mobile communication terminals 300P and 300R through the cellular network 20 and / or the Wi-Fi network 2 and requests AP characteristic information and AP recommendation information therefrom. Receives and transmits it to the AP information processor 20, and when the AP recommendation information is received from the AP information processor 20 performs the operation of transmitting to the terminal in response to the request. In addition, the mobile communication terminal 300R that transmits the AP recommendation request request may be specified to manage logical objects such as sockets and / or sessions to provide AP recommendation information.

The AP information processor 202 is configured to classify the AP characteristic information received from the network connector 201 according to a time point (or measurement date / time information described in the characteristic information) (for example, a day and a non-working day). Determine whether or not, time zone, etc.) and transmit the AP characteristic information received along with the determined condition information to the DB manager 203 to request databaseization. At this time, if the received AP characteristic information includes the terminal identification information, the database is also requested to the personal AP characteristic statistics table. When the AP recommendation information request is received from the network connector 201, the pre-classified condition is determined according to the received time point, and the determined condition information, identification information and signal strength information of each AP are transmitted to the DB manager 203. While requesting measurement bandwidths or calculated scores within the variability range 930 or 1530 in the statistics table for each AP, and receiving the measurement bandwidths or calculated scores as a response to this request, or a storage space for identifying them. When location information is received, the AP information processor 202 determines a recommended value, such as an expected bandwidth or an evaluation score, as described in the above-described embodiments, and accordingly lists each AP in order or identifies each AP. The AP recommends information to which the recommended value is added to the information and prepares the AP recommendation information and transmits it to the network connector 210 to request transmission to the mobile communication terminal. According to the above-described embodiments, the AP information processor 202 may include various information elements in the AP recommendation information, for example, received signal strength, expected bandwidth and interval representative values for additional signal strength intervals, and signal strength request values. In addition, the AP recommendation information may be configured by adding the expected bandwidth and the interval representative value of at least one signal strength interval for the secondary AP. In addition, if there is terminal identification information in the received AP recommendation information request, the DB manager 203 also requests to provide data within the variation range in the personal AP characteristic statistics table to configure personal AP recommendation information to configure the network accessor 201. Request the transmission to the mobile communication terminal while transmitting with the general AP recommendation information, or use the data within the variation range to calculate the combined score as described above.

The DB manager 203 builds a database in a physical storage space managed by the AP information processor 202 according to the classification condition information transmitted by the AP information processor 202 or the built-in database for the characteristic information of each AP received. When new information is added and classification condition information, AP identification information, and signal strength are received (terminal identification information may be selectively received), one or more statistical tables may be specified from the information to determine statistical elements based on signal strength. Determine the fluctuation range, and transmit the data (measurement bandwidth values or calculated scores, signal strength, etc.) within the fluctuation range to the AP information processor 202 or position information of a storage space capable of accessing them. do. In addition, when constructing a database, the time and date at which the measured bandwidth value or the calculated score are recorded may be recorded and transmitted together with the data within the variation range. In addition, the DB manager 203 deletes the elapsed period of time so that the latest measured values or scores are reflected.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the AP information processor 202 may be configured as a characteristic information processing unit and a recommended information processing unit which are separate computing devices. The characteristic information processing unit performs the above-described operation such as processing the received AP characteristic information as described above, requesting the DB manager 203 to database the AP characteristic statistics table, and the recommended information processing unit, According to the received AP recommendation information request, the above-described operation such as configuring AP recommendation information is performed using the statistics table databased in the DB manager 203. In the present embodiment, the network connector 201 may also be integrally formed by distributing the above-described functions and necessary hardware resources to the feature information processor and the recommended information processor configured as separate computing devices.

In order to interconnect the request and the response by the information transfer between the network connector 201, the AP information processor 202, and the DB manager 203, the information identifier included in the request is included in the response or the information is answered. May be added in response to the request.

As mentioned above, preferred embodiments of the present invention described above are disclosed for the purpose of illustration, and those skilled in the art can improve other various embodiments within the spirit and technical scope of the present invention disclosed in the appended claims below. Changes, substitutions or additions will be possible.

2: Wi-Fi network 20: cellular network
30: Main Control 31a: Cellular Modem
31b: cellular codec 32a: Wi-Fi modem
32b: Wi-Fi codec 34: display driver
35: display panel 36a: touch sensor
36b: keypad 37: memory
200: access control server 201: network connector
202: AP information processor 202: DB manager
300P, 300R: mobile communication terminal
300a: operating system (O / S) 310: adaptive AP selector
310a, 310b, 310c: communication socket
311: AP information reporting unit 312: AP selection unit
320: application

Claims (57)

In the method for providing information on the access point of the wireless data network,
Receiving an access point characteristic information report describing information on the signal strength of the access point, information on the used bandwidth measured from the data reception, and access point identification information;
Selecting one or more statistical tables among the statistical tables previously classified according to the classification condition based on the report of the connection point characteristic information, and reflecting the connection point characteristic information in the selected one or more statistical tables;
Receiving an access point recommendation information request from the mobile communication terminal, wherein the access point recommendation information, which is described for at least one access point, includes information on the signal strength of the access point and access point identification information;
Specifying at least one statistical table from among the statistical tables previously classified based on the access point recommendation information request, and calculating a recommendation value based on the information on the signal strength in the access point recommendation information request from the specified statistical table; ,
And reflecting the calculated recommendation value, constructing recommendation information for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request, and transmitting the recommended information to the mobile communication terminal. The method of claim 1,
The access point characteristic information further includes identification information of a terminal transmitting information on the signal strength of the access point and the information on the measured bandwidth used,
And requesting the access point recommendation information further including identification information of the mobile communication terminal. The method of claim 2,
The calculating may include specifying a statistical table based on the access point recommendation information request from statistical tables constructed for the identification information of the mobile communication terminal included in the access point recommendation information request, and the access point from the specified statistical table. Further calculating a recommendation value based on the information on the signal strength in the request for recommendation information;
The transmitting may include additionally configuring recommendation information for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request and reflecting the additionally calculated recommended value to further transmit the information about the access point. . The method of claim 2,
Wherein the calculating step comprises:
Specifying one or more statistical tables among the previously classified statistical tables based on the access point recommendation information request, and calculating a first recommended value based on the information on the signal strength in the access point recommendation information request from the specified statistical table; Specifying a statistical table based on the access point recommendation information request from the statistical tables constructed for the identification information of the mobile communication terminal included in the access point recommendation information request, and from the specified statistical table, the statistics table in the access point recommendation information request. A first step of calculating a second recommended value based on the information on the signal strength;
And calculating the recommended value by multiplying and summing the weights assigned to the first recommended value and the second recommended value, respectively. 5. The method of claim 4,
In the step 2, the weight value for the second recommended value is greater than the weight value for the first recommended value to provide the information on the access point to calculate the recommended value. The method of claim 1,
And the reflecting step includes listing information on the bandwidth used and the signal strength in the connection point characteristic information in the selected one or more statistics table. The method of claim 1,
The access point characteristic information further includes information on a required bandwidth of the received data obtained with the measured use bandwidth.
The reflecting may include calculating a quality score of the information on the measured usage bandwidth, and correcting the quality score by a variable calculated according to the difference between the requested bandwidth and the measured usage bandwidth. A method for providing information about a connection point, comprising listing in said one or more statistical tables together with information about signal strength within. 8. The method of claim 7,
And the reflecting step is to obtain the score correcting the quality score by adding or multiplying the variable to the quality score. The method of claim 1,
The previously classified statistical tables are classified by at least weekday or non-working day, and by time zone, wherein the time zone is at least each time zone when the day is divided so that the time zone for work, the time zone, and the time zone are separated from each other. How to Provide Information. The method of claim 1,
In the calculating step, in calculating the recommended value from the specified statistical table, the elements belonging to the elements based on the information on the signal strength described in the specified statistical table may be divided into a plurality of time periods, and the latest values may be updated. A method for providing information about a connection point such that the elements for a time period are reflected in the recommended value with a greater specific gravity. The method of claim 10,
A method of providing information about an access point, in which the number of elements belonging to the most recent time period among the divided time periods is adjusted in such a manner that the specific gravity for the time period becomes large, and the small weight for the time interval is small. . The method of claim 1,
Wherein the calculating step comprises:
Determining a search section based on the information on the signal strength in the access point recommendation information request and determining a variation range for the elements in the specified statistical table belonging to the determined search section;
Calculating the recommended value as any one of a minimum value, a maximum value, a median value, a middle value of a rank value having a high degree when divided into classes of a predetermined size, and an average value obtained from the elements within the predetermined fluctuation range; A method for providing information about an access point comprising a. 13. The method of claim 12,
The method may include determining, as the search section, a section in which the number of elements registered within a predetermined time in a section based on the information on the signal strength is greater than or equal to a predetermined number. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the step 1, the method for providing information about the connection point to determine the interval of excluding the elements that are distributed outside a certain criterion in the distribution of the elements in the specified statistical table, the determined interval as the variation range. The method of claim 1,
The calculating may include selecting one or more sections other than the signal strength section based on the information on the signal strength to further calculate additional recommended values for the one or more selected sections, and further calculating the additional recommended values. Determine a representative value for the interval,
The transmitting may include adding the calculated one or more additional recommended values to the mobile communication terminal by adding the calculated one or more additional recommended values to the recommendation information for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request. A method for providing information about an access point that is to be transmitted. The method of claim 1,
The calculating step may be performed by calculating a recommendation value for each section of the plurality of divided signal strengths in the specified statistical table, and specifying the section in which the calculated recommendation value is more than a predetermined limit value and becomes the smallest value. Determine more representative values for the given intervals,
The transmitting may include transmitting the determined representative value to the recommendation information for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request and transmitting the information to the mobile communication terminal. Way. The method of claim 1,
The transmitting may include configuring, as the recommendation information, a list in which at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request is arranged in order according to the calculated size of the corresponding recommended value, and transmitting to the mobile communication terminal. Providing information about the connection point. The method of claim 1,
The transmitting may include configuring, as the recommendation information, a connection point list including the calculated corresponding recommendation value to at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request to the mobile communication terminal. To provide information about access points. 19. The method of claim 18,
And the recommendation value is a value for a bandwidth determined from elements belonging thereto based on the information on the signal strength described in the specified statistical table. The method of claim 1,
The transmitting may include: for at least one of the connection points described in the connection point recommendation information request, the connection point list including information on the signal strength described in the connection point recommendation information request for the connection point; And providing information about an access point configured to transmit to the mobile communication terminal. The method of claim 1,
The access point recommendation request further includes information on a required bandwidth,
In the transmitting, if the calculated recommendation value does not support the required bandwidth, the access point indicating the recommendation value is excluded and information about the access point is configured to be transmitted to the mobile communication terminal. How to give. The method of claim 1,
The calculating step may include at least one signal strength section in the classified statistical table for the additional access point specified for the at least one additional access point other than the connection point described in the connection point recommendation information request, based on the request for the connection point recommendation information. Calculate more recommendations for, and determine more representative values for that interval,
The transmitting may include identifying identification information of the additional access point, the recommendation value and the representative value calculated for the at least one signal strength section, for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request. And providing information on the access point, which is added to the recommended information and transmitted to the mobile communication terminal. The method of claim 1,
The access point recommendation request further includes information on a required bandwidth,
In the calculating step, if the recommended value does not support the required bandwidth, the recommended value is calculated while calculating the recommended value for each section of the plurality of divided signal strengths in the specified statistical table. The corresponding section that is above and the smallest value is specified, and the representative value for the specified section is further determined.
The transmitting may include transmitting the determined representative value to the recommendation information for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request and transmitting the information to the mobile communication terminal. Way. An apparatus for providing information on an access point of a wireless data network,
Receiving access point characteristic information including information on signal strength of the access point, information on bandwidth used when receiving data, and access point identification information, receiving one or more statistical tables from among statistical tables previously classified according to classification conditions. A first processor configured to select based on the reported connection point characteristic information and to reflect the connection point characteristic information in the selected one or more statistical tables,
Upon receiving the access point recommendation information request for information on signal strength and access point identification information for at least one or more access points, one or more statistics tables among the previously classified statistics tables are specified based on the access point recommendation information request. From a specific statistical table, a recommendation value is calculated based on the information on the signal strength in the received access point recommendation information request, and reflects the calculated recommendation value to at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request. And a second processor configured to transmit the recommended information to the mobile communication terminal which has transmitted the access point recommendation information request. 25. The method of claim 24,
And receive the report of the access point characteristic information and the access point recommendation information request from the mobile communication terminal through a communication network and transmit the request to the first processing unit and the second processing unit, respectively. And a network connection unit configured to receive from the second processing unit and transmit the access point recommendation information request to the mobile communication terminal that has sent the request. A mobile communication terminal capable of accessing a plurality of heterogeneous networks including a wireless data network,
Check the signal strength from the access point of the wireless data network, measure the bandwidth used when receiving data from the access point, and the information on the identified signal strength, the information on the measured bandwidth used and the identification information of the access point An information reporting unit configured to configure the connection point characteristic information to be included and report to a remote server through any one of the plurality of heterogeneous networks;
A request for a connection point recommendation information including information on the signal strength of at least one access point belonging to the wireless data network and identification information of the access point is transmitted to a remote server, and the access point described in the recommendation information received in response to the request is connected. And a connection point selector configured to request. 27. The method of claim 26,
And the information on the signal strength is information determined as an average value of the signal strength values checked a plurality of times. 27. The method of claim 26,
And the information reporting unit is configured to measure the use bandwidth from a value obtained by dividing the amount of data received within a measurement time, or from an average value of values obtained by dividing the amount of data received respectively within a plurality of measurement times. The method of claim 28,
And the information reporting unit is configured to variably set the length of the measurement time to measure the bandwidth used according to the type of request by the communication protocol for which the data reception is made. 27. The method of claim 26,
The information reporting unit further comprises identification information of the mobile communication terminal to configure the access point characteristic information,
And the access point selector is configured to further include identification information of the mobile communication terminal in the access point recommendation information request. 27. The method of claim 26,
The information reporting unit, the mobile communication terminal further comprises information on the required bandwidth of the received data to measure the bandwidth used to configure the access point characteristic information. 27. The method of claim 26,
The information reporting unit, the mobile communication terminal further comprises information on the date and time the bandwidth measured. 27. The method of claim 26,
The access point selector is configured to further include information on the required bandwidth required for data service in the access point recommendation information request. 34. The method of claim 33,
The required bandwidth is determined from any one of a bandwidth required by an application, a bandwidth listed in association with the arbitrary application, and a bandwidth listed in association with a server requesting data by the arbitrary application. Mobile terminal. 27. The method of claim 26,
And the connection point selecting unit is configured to request connection in the order of the connection points described in the recommendation information or in the order of the magnitude of the recommended value for the connection point until the connection to the connection point is made. 27. The method of claim 26,
The access point selector is further configured to specify one or more statistical tables from among statistical tables classified according to classification conditions based on the access point recommendation information request, and based on the information on the signal strength in the access point recommendation information request from the specified statistical table. And calculating a recommendation value and reflecting the calculated recommendation value to generate recommendation information for at least one of the access points described in the access point recommendation information request. 37. The method of claim 36,
The access point selector may be configured to access the APs in the recommendation information selected from the quantity recommendation information or the APs in the quantity recommendation information based on the received recommendation information and the order or recommendation value of each access point described in the generated recommendation information. The mobile communication terminal is configured to sequentially request for the connection. The method according to any one of claims 35 to 37,
The recommended value is a value for bandwidth. 27. The method of claim 26,
The received recommended information further includes information on the signal strength of each connection point described,
The connection point selector checks the current received signal strength with respect to each connection point in the recommended information, and allows the identified current received signal strength to be constant than the information about the signal strength described in the recommended information for the corresponding connection point. If the range is lower than the mobile communication terminal is configured not to request a connection for the connection point. 27. The method of claim 26,
The received recommendation information includes, for each access point described, the estimated bandwidth information for at least one signal strength section other than the signal strength section corresponding to the information on the signal strength described in the access point recommendation information request, and a representative value of the corresponding section. More,
The connection point selector checks the current received signal strength with respect to each connection point in the recommended information, and confirms the result by comparing the representative value described in the recommended information with the checked current received signal strength. The mobile communication terminal is further configured to determine whether to connect to the access point according to the expected bandwidth information. 27. The method of claim 26,
The received recommendation information further includes identification information, estimated bandwidth information for at least one signal strength section, and a representative value of the section for the unsolicited access point not described in the transmitted access point recommendation information request. ,
The connection point selector may be configured to perform the connection bandwidth of the at least one signal strength section based on the expected bandwidth information and the representative value of the section when the connection request for the connection point other than the unsolicited connection point described in the recommended information is not made or the connection fails. And selectively connect to the unsolicited access point according to the estimated bandwidth for the signal strength currently identified for the unsolicited access point. 42. The method of claim 41 wherein
And the connection point selecting unit is configured to distinguish the unsolicited connection point described in the recommended information from other connection points based on specific information recorded in association therewith. 27. The method of claim 26,
The recommended information includes a first access point list and a second access point list, each of which is divided into types,
And the access point selector is configured to first select one from both access point lists according to a set mode, and to request access to the access points listed in the selected list. 27. The method of claim 26,
The access point selector is further configured to reconfigure and transmit the access point recommendation information request if the use bandwidth measured by the information reporting unit is lower than a given reference value after the connection to the specific access point described in the received recommendation information is made. The mobile terminal. 45. The method of claim 44,
And the access point selecting unit is configured to skip the connection request for the specific access point if the specific access point is included in the recommended information received in response to the reconfigured transmission point recommendation information request. 45. The method of claim 44,
If the connection point selection unit cannot determine the connection point to be connected from the recommended information received in response to the reconfigured and sent connection point recommendation information request, or if all the connection requests fail, data is transmitted to the mobile telephone communication network belonging to the plurality of heterogeneous networks. Mobile communication terminal configured to request a connection for a service. 27. The method of claim 26,
The access point selecting unit, after the connection to the specific access point described in the received recommendation information is made, if the use bandwidth measured by the information reporting unit is lower than a given reference value, remaining except for the specific access point from the received recommended information And further request for connection in accordance with the order described for the access points or the magnitude of the corresponding recommended value. 27. The method of claim 26,
The information reporting unit may include information about the usage bandwidth and information on the signal strength at the time when the usage bandwidth measured after the connection to the specific access point described in the received recommended information is lower than a given reference value. And reconfigured and reporting access point characteristic information. 49. The method of any of claims 44, 47 and 48,
Wherein the given reference value is a preset limit bandwidth, a bandwidth according to the recommended value described for the specific access point currently connected in the recommendation information, or a bandwidth required by any application started for data service. 27. The method of claim 26,
The access point selector determines whether a current state of the mobile communication terminal corresponds to a preset condition, and if the condition corresponds to a preset condition, transmits the access point recommendation information request and responds to the recommended information. And request to connect to the access point described in FIG. 51. The method of claim 50 wherein
The set condition may include unlocking the locked state of the mobile communication terminal, every cycle according to a set search period, starting a predetermined application, requesting a network connection of an arbitrary application, requesting entry of the wireless data network from an external server, and receiving a request. A mobile communication terminal comprising at least any one of the case that the data requires a high bandwidth of a predetermined criterion or higher. 51. The method of claim 50 wherein
When the current state does not correspond to the preset condition, the access point selector suppresses the access point search function of the wireless data network of the operating system implemented in the mobile communication terminal, and corresponds to the preset condition. And activating the access point searching function. The method of claim 52, wherein
The access point selector is further configured to perform an operation to prevent the operating system from using history information, which is a previous access record to the wireless data network, before the operating system performs the access point search function according to the activation of the access point search function. Communication terminal. In the method of obtaining information about the access point of the wireless data network in the mobile communication terminal and transmitting to a remote server,
Checking signal strength and identification information of an access point of the wireless data network being connected;
Sending a request according to a communication protocol to an external server through the connected connection point,
Measuring a reception speed for response data according to a request by the transmitted communication protocol received from the external server through the access point;
Configuring access point characteristic information including information on the checked signal strength, identification information of the access point, and the measured reception speed;
And reporting the configured connection point characteristic information to the remote server to which address information for access has been previously specified. A method for receiving recommendation information on an access point of a wireless data network from a remote server in a mobile communication terminal,
Constructing an access point recommendation information request document including information on signal strength of each access point identified from a search for access points of the wireless data network and identification information of each access point;
Transmitting the configured access point recommendation information request to the remote server to which address information for access is previously specified;
Receiving recommendation information which is a response according to the transmitted connection point recommendation information request form;
Determining whether a connection request is made for each of the connection points described in the received recommendation information, and requesting connection to the connection point according to the determination result. 56. The method of claim 55,
And wherein said all steps are performed without being connected to said wireless data network. 56. The method of claim 55,
And all the above steps are performed while being connected to the wireless data network through any one of the access points.

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