KR20170050628A - Dynamic reconfiguration method for beacon topology network, apparatus and system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for establishing a dynamic beacon network, which can establish a beacon network by dynamically changing a beacon device acting as a gateway in accordance with a network situation, and to an apparatus and a system therefor. To this end, the method for establishing a dynamic beacon network according to an embodiment of the present invention, in a method for establishing a dynamic beacon network in a master beacon which is connected to at least one slave beacon to control the same and transmits and receives information to and from at least one neighbor master beacon and a beacon management server so as to act as a gateway beacon, comprises the steps of: confirming, by a master beacon, current state information; determining, by the master beacon, whether a gateway beacon between neighboring master beacons is performed or not by using the current state information; and requesting gateway beacon performance or the stop of gateway beacon performance of the neighboring master beacon in accordance with the result of determination.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a dynamic beacon network construction method, and more particularly to a dynamic beacon network construction method,

The present invention relates to a dynamic beacon network construction method, and more particularly, to a dynamic beacon network construction method capable of dynamically changing a beacon device acting as a gateway according to network conditions, and a device and a system therefor.

The contents described in this section merely provide background information on the present embodiment and do not constitute the prior art.

The contents described in this section merely provide background information on the present embodiment and do not constitute the prior art.

In general, a wireless network has a star topology structure of a point to point and a point to multi point, but recently, a mesh of a multipoint to multipoint such as a wired network ) -Type wireless network is increasingly attracting attention.

The characteristics of the wireless mesh network are that it is easy to expand the network without connection with the wired network, and has advantages in flexibility and scalability of the network, such as speedy and economical installation of the network and redundancy by providing multi-path.

In the existing wired network environment, an access point (AP) is called a repeater or a wireless router, and all APs are wired. However, if only the representative AP is connected to the wired network, the mesh network is a method in which wireless communication routers serving as an antenna, like an existing wireless communication base station, become mesh nodes and wirelessly connect all sections. The user can use the network in a similar procedure to access using a mesh network.

This is not only a network connection in a disaster situation, it is difficult to establish a wired network, but also a home networking. Therefore, it is attracting attention as a technology that is indispensable in the ubiquitous era mentioned for many years ago.

Meanwhile, with the development of the mobile communication network and the development of the terminal specification, the mobile communication terminal has become a necessity of modern people and has evolved into a total entertainment device beyond the category of the conventional simple communication device or information providing device.

The mobile communication terminal has a function for performing near field communication such as NFC (Near Field Communication) or Bluetooth (Bluetooth) as well as a communication function through a mobile communication network.

However, the NFC is short in communication distance and requires a separate wireless chip for communication, whereas Bluetooth has a relatively long communication distance and most terminals are equipped with Bluetooth communication function. Recently, a beacon service using Bluetooth communication Is attracting attention.

The beacon service transmits a beacon signal to a terminal of a user located in a certain coverage, such as a merchant, installed in various places according to the purpose of the beacon. The beacon service is connected to the terminal of the user who scanned the beacon, For example, providing a location-based service by providing information on a product advertisement, a discount coupon or the like to a terminal of a user who has entered the store, or by confirming the location of a user in a store.

For this beacon service, a beacon device for transmitting a beacon signal should be installed within the service area at regular intervals. Also, as the number of beacon devices increases, more accurate beacon service can be provided to the user terminal. Increasing the number of beacon devices, however, leads to an increase in cost, and an increasing number of cases employ a mesh beacon network structure to construct a more efficient beacon network system.

In the mesh beacon network structure, a master beacon is connected to a communication network and a slave beacon is connected to a master beacon. A master beacon can manage up to seven slave beacons. However, there may be a case where it is no longer efficient for the master beacon to manage the slave beacon due to a wireless environment change of the master beacon and the slave beacon, or various other situations.

Previously, in this case, manually locating the slave beacon, manually connecting the slave beacon to the other master beacon by manual operation, or manually adjusting the sending power of the smart beacon and the slave beacon, effectively resets the wireless mesh network It took a lot of time and money to do it.

Therefore, it is required to develop a technology capable of dynamically changing the beacon network structure according to the network situation and reforming it.

Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 1998-702607 (titled "Method for determining additional routes between nodes in a communication network and nodes used in the network," Aug. 5, 1998)

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a dynamic beacon network establishment method capable of building a beacon network by dynamically changing a beacon device acting as a gateway according to a network situation, And the like.

However, the object of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and other objects not mentioned can be clearly understood from the following description.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a method of controlling a slave beacon, which is connected to at least one slave beacon according to an embodiment of the present invention, transmits and receives information to and from at least one neighboring master beacon and a beacon management server, A method for establishing a dynamic beacon network in a master beacon, the method comprising: checking current state information of the master beacon; Determining whether the master beacon performs a gateway beacon between neighboring master beacons using the status information; And requesting to perform a gateway beacon operation or requesting to stop performing a gateway beacon with the neighbor master beacon according to the determination result.

At this time, the status information may include at least one of information on the number of beacon devices currently connected, the number of terminals, connection status between access point devices, and information on a resource environment.

The determining whether to perform the gateway beacon includes: transmitting the current state information to the at least one neighboring master beacon; Receiving status information from the neighboring master beacon; And comparing the current state information with state information on the received neighboring master beacon to determine whether to perform the gateway beacon.

In this case, the step of determining whether to perform the gateway beacon includes: transmitting the current status information to the beacon management server; And determining whether to perform the gateway beacon according to the control of the beacon management server.

If the master beacon is currently performing the gateway beacon, the requesting step requests the gateway beacon to perform the gateway beacon using the neighbor master beacon if the neighbor master beacon is determined to be a gateway beacon, And stopping performing the role of the gateway beacon after the step of performing the gateway beacon.

If it is determined that the master beacon does not currently perform the gateway beacon, the requesting step may determine that the neighbor beacon is not suitable as the gateway beacon as a result of the determination, And performing a role of a gateway beacon after the requesting step.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a method of controlling a slave beacon, which is connected to at least one slave beacon according to an embodiment of the present invention, transmits and receives information to and from at least one neighboring master beacon and a beacon management server, A method for establishing a dynamic beacon network in a master beacon, the method comprising: receiving a master beacon from a neighbor master beacon or a beacon management server; And a step of determining whether the master beacon stops performing the gateway beacon and requesting to perform a gateway beacon operation or a gateway beacon stop according to the determination result.

Further, the present invention can provide a computer readable recording medium on which a program for executing the dynamic beacon network construction method as described above is recorded.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a method of controlling a slave beacon, which is connected to at least one slave beacon according to an embodiment of the present invention, transmits and receives information to and from at least one neighboring master beacon and a beacon management server, The master beacon may be configured to identify current state information, determine whether to perform a gateway beacon between neighboring master beacons using the state information, perform a gateway beacon operation using the neighbor master beacon according to the determination result, And requesting to stop the gateway beacon.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a method of controlling a slave beacon, which is connected to at least one slave beacon according to an embodiment of the present invention, transmits and receives information to and from at least one neighboring master beacon and a beacon management server, Wherein the master beacon is configured to receive the master beacon from the neighboring master beacon or the beacon management server and to determine whether the master beacon stops performing the gateway beacon, And a control module for requesting to perform the gateway beacon with the neighbor master beacon or requesting the gateway beacon stop execution according to the result.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a beacon network system including at least one slave beacon connected to at least one slave beacon, First and second master beacons for checking current state information and transmitting the current state information to the beacon management server; And a beacon management server configured to determine a master beacon to serve as a gateway beacon when status information is received from the first and second master beacons, and then transmit information according to a determined result of the determined master beacon. have.

If it is determined that the first master beacon is serving as a gateway beacon and the second master beacon is more suitable for performing the gateway beacon as a result of determining the master beacon serving as the gateway beacon, Requesting the first master beacon to suspend the operation of the gateway beacon and requesting to perform the gateway beacon function by transmitting connection setting information for the first master beacon to the second master beacon.

According to the dynamic beacon network construction method and the apparatus and system for the dynamic beacon network construction of the present invention, a beacon device acting as a gateway can be dynamically changed according to network conditions to construct a beacon network.

In other words, if a beacon device acting as a gateway increases the number of beacons connected to the beacon, or if it is determined that an abnormality occurs in the communication state, the beacon device is stopped and connected to a beacon device acting as another optimal gateway By controlling the beacon device connected to itself to be connected to another optimal beacon device, it is possible to dynamically change the structure according to the network situation, thereby making it possible to construct a more efficient beacon network system.

In addition, various effects other than the above-described effects can be directly or implicitly disclosed in the detailed description according to the embodiment of the present invention to be described later.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing a dynamic beacon network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a master beacon according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a slave beacon according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG.
4 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a beacon management server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of constructing a dynamic beacon network according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of constructing a dynamic beacon network according to another embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a data flow chart for explaining a method of constructing a dynamic beacon network according to another embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a diagram illustrating an operating environment of a device supporting a dynamic beacon network construction method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a more complete understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

In the following description and the accompanying drawings, detailed description of well-known functions or constructions that may obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted. It should be noted that the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals as possible throughout the drawings.

The terms and words used in the following description and drawings are not to be construed in an ordinary sense or a dictionary, and the inventor can properly define his or her invention as a concept of a term to be described in the best way It should be construed as meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are merely the most preferred embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the technical ideas of the present invention are described. Therefore, It is to be understood that equivalents and modifications are possible.

Also, terms including ordinal numbers such as first, second, etc. are used to describe various elements, and are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one element from another, Not used. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the second component may be referred to as a first component, and similarly, the first component may also be referred to as a second component.

In addition, when referring to an element as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it means that it can be connected or connected logically or physically. In other words, it is to be understood that although an element may be directly connected or connected to another element, there may be other elements in between, or indirectly connected or connected.

Also, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It is also to be understood that the terms such as " comprising "or" having ", as used herein, are intended to specify the presence of stated features, integers, It should be understood that the foregoing does not preclude the presence or addition of other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof.

In addition, embodiments within the scope of the present invention include computer readable media having or carrying computer executable instructions or data structures stored in computer readable media. Such computer-readable media can be any available media that is accessible by a general purpose or special purpose computer system. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or in the form of computer- But is not limited to, a physical storage medium such as any other medium that can be used to store or communicate certain program code means of the general purpose or special purpose computer system, .

In the following description and claims, the term "network" is defined as one or more data links that enable electronic data to be transmitted between computer systems and / or modules. When the information is transmitted or provided to a computer system via a network or other (wired, wireless, or a combination of wired or wireless) communication connection, the connection may be understood as a computer-readable medium. Computer readable instructions include, for example, instructions and data that cause a general purpose computer system or special purpose computer system to perform a particular function or group of functions. The computer executable instructions may be binary, intermediate format instructions, such as, for example, assembly language, or even source code.

In addition, the invention may be practiced with other computer systems, including personal computers, laptop computers, handheld devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, a pager, and the like. < RTI ID = 0.0 > [0040] < / RTI > The invention may also be practiced in distributed systems environments where both local and remote computer systems linked by a combination of wired data links, wireless data links, or wired and wireless data links over a network perform tasks. In a distributed system environment, program modules may be located in local and remote memory storage devices.

In addition, the service using the beacon technology according to the present invention will be described based on a data communication technology based on a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) method.

While NFC is only available within a few tens of centimeters, the Bluetooth method can operate in the range of several tens of meters, and its application field is widely applied. In particular, Bluetooth does not need to be tagged like a NFC near a reader, so data can be transmitted only when the beacon is installed, and detailed data can be read and personalized in the building.

However, the beacon service in the present invention is not necessarily limited to BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) or Bluetooth, but may be implemented in a personal area network (PAN) system such as Zigbee, UWB (Ultra WideBand), ANT, Wi- Various local communication technologies are applicable.

Hereinafter, a method for constructing a dynamic beacon network, an apparatus and a system therefor will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the main configuration of a dynamic beacon network system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing a dynamic beacon network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring first to FIG. 1, a beacon network system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of beacons 200 and 300 for transmitting a beacon signal with a constant service coverage. Here, the plurality of beacons are composed of a master beacon 200 and a slave beacon according to their roles. Here, the master beacon 200 transmits and receives data through the BLE communication method with the slave beacon 300. However, the master beacon 200 is not limited thereto as described above, and can be applied to any of various PAN communication systems. The master beacon 200 and the beacon management server 400 can be interworked through the communication network 100. To this end, a plurality of master beacons 200 are connected to the communication network 100 through a nearby access point 500 .

The beacon network system of the present invention will be described in more detail. The communication network 100 is configured to support data transmission and reception between the terminal and the beacon management server 400 and between the master beacon 200 and the beacon management server 400. The communication network 100 may include Ethernet, ADSL, VDSL), Hybrid Fiber Coaxial Cable (HFC), Fiber to the Curb (FTTC), and Fiber To The Home (FTTH), or wireless LAN (WLAN), Wi- A wireless communication method such as Wibro, WiMAX, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) may be used.

In addition, the communication network 100 may include a plurality of access networks (not shown) and a core network (not shown), and may include an external network such as an Internet network (not shown). Here, the access network (not shown) is an access network that performs wired / wireless communication between a terminal (not shown) or the master beacon 200 and the beacon management server 400, and may include at least one access point apparatus 500 have. Herein, the access point 500 includes a plurality of base stations such as a base station (BS), a base transceiver station (BTS), a node B, and an eNodeB, a base station controller (BSC) And can be implemented with the same base station controller. Also, as described above, the digital signal processing unit and the radio signal processing unit integrally implemented in the base station are divided into digital units (hereinafter, referred to as DUs and radio units (RUs) A plurality of RUs (not shown) may be installed in a plurality of areas, and a plurality of RUs (not shown) may be connected to a centralized DU (not shown) (Not shown) may be connected to the communication network 100 through the access point 500 directly to access the beacon management server 400 . For example, the terminal scans and detects a beacon signal from the master beacon 200 or the slave beacon 300, checks beacon identification information from the detected beacon signal, The beacon management server 400 transmits the content corresponding to the beacon identification information to the communication network 100 and the access point 500 through the communication network 100 via the communication network 500. [ The terminal can receive the signal.

In addition, a core network (not shown) constituting a mobile network together with an access network (not shown) performs a role of connecting an access network (not shown) and an external network (not shown), for example, an Internet network (not shown).

As described above, the core network (not shown) is a network system that performs main functions for mobile communication services such as mobility control and switching between access networks (not shown), and includes a circuit switching or a packet exchange and manages and controls the packet flow in the mobile network. The core network (not shown) manages inter-frequency mobility and plays a role for interworking with traffic in an access network (not shown) and a core network (not shown) and other networks such as the Internet It is possible. Such a core network (not shown) may further include an SGW (Serving Gate Way), a PGW (PDN GateWay), an MSC (Mobile Switching Center), a HLR (Home Location Register), a MME (Mobile Mobility Entity) .

The Internet network (not shown) refers to a public network, that is, a public network, in which information is exchanged according to the TCP / IP protocol. The internet network is connected to the terminal, The information provided to the beacon management server 400 may be provided to the beacon management server 400 via a core network (not shown) and an access network (not shown) Or may be provided as a terminal (not shown). However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the beacon management server 400 may be implemented integrally with a core network (not shown).

In addition to the above-described communication methods, other widely known or later-developed communication methods may be included.

The beacons 200 and 300 transmit a beacon signal using short-range wireless communication, scan the beacon signal, and provide a designated service to a connected terminal. Here, the beacons 200 and 300 may preferably transmit a beacon signal according to a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication protocol. In addition, the beacon apparatus 200 is installed in a room such as a store, and can transmit a beacon signal within a certain radius from 5 cm to 49 m. The beacons 200 and 300 include a firmware program for processing and managing information (for example, advertisement, location-based service, etc.) to be served by the beacons. The firmware program includes information necessary for driving the beacons 200 and 300, and the firmware program at this time can be managed or updated by the beacon management server 400. [

The beacons 200 and 300 periodically transmit the beacon signal into the service coverage. Here, the beacon signal may include beacon identification information such as identification information or location information allocated to the beacons 200 and 300, and the beacon identification information is a criterion for the terminal to receive the beacon service.

The beacons 200 and 300 of the present invention may include a communication module for transmitting a beacon signal to a terminal located within a predetermined service coverage and a master beacon 200 and a slave beacon 300 that can transmit beacon signals to a certain service coverage and can be connected to the master beacon 200.

In particular, in the present invention, the master beacon 200 is connected to the slave beacon 300 through a local area network (PAN) to manage the slave beacon 300, and transmits a certain command message or a request message to the slave beacon 300 And controls the slave beacon 300.

In this case, one master beacon 200 does not necessarily manage one slave beacon 300, it can manage a plurality of slave beacons 300, and can control other master beacons 200 and a local area network (PAN) Lt; / RTI > The master beacon 200 may be controlled by the beacon management server 400 through the communication network 100.

In the present invention, the slave beacon 300 is connected to the master beacon 200 through a LAN, and is controlled by the master beacon 200.

Here, the master beacon 200 and the slave beacon 300 may be connected through pairing and bonding, and the master beacon 200 periodically transmits / receives to maintain connection with the slave beacon 300 The signal recognition rate of the slave beacon 300 can be measured. On the other hand, the signal recognition rate is a rate at which the signal of the slave beacon periodically transmitted for a predetermined period of time is detected at a predetermined signal intensity or more.

In addition, the slave beacon 300 may be connected to the beacon management server 400 according to the control of the master beacon, or may be connected to the system by request or by changing the master beacon depending on the situation. The master beacon 200 may be connected to the communication network 100 through the access point 500 and may transmit and receive information to and from the beacon management server 400 via the communication network 100.

In this beacon network system, the master beacon 200 of the present invention can be selectively connected to the access point apparatus 500 as needed. In other words, the master beacon 200 of the present invention includes a communication module that can be connected to the communication network 100 via the access point 500. However, according to the predefined setting or network conditions, But may be connected to other master beacons, such as slave beacons 300. [ In the figure, the first master beacon 200a and the second master beacon 200b are connected to the communication network 100 via the access point apparatus 500. [ The first master beacon 200a and the second master beacon 200b may transmit information to the beacon management server 400 at any time and may receive information from the beacon management server 400 at any time.

The third master beacon 200c manages the connected slave beacons 300 and is connected to the communication network 1000 via the access point 500. The third master beacon 200c is a master beacon, 1 master beacon 200a so that the third master beacon 200c can receive the information conveyed by the beacon management server 400 under the control of the first master beacon 200a, The third master beacon 200c connected to the first master beacon 200a may be configured to be directly connected to the access point 500. In this case,

As such, the master beacon operating as a gateway described herein is currently connected to the communication network 100 through the access point 500, such as the first master beacon 200a, and is simultaneously connected to one or more master beacons and slave beacons Means a beacon device.

In this beacon network architecture, the first master beacon 200a, which currently serves as a gateway beacon, shares state information between adjacent master beacons. In other words, the first master beacon 200a can transmit signals within a certain radius according to a Wi-Fi communication protocol or other communication protocol corresponding thereto. And can receive the response from the second master beacon 200b and the third master beacon 200c, which are other master beacons. The first master beacon 200a may determine whether the first master beacon 200a is suitable for the role of the gateway beacon and may continuously perform the role of the gateway beacon if the role is determined to be appropriate. On the other hand, if it is determined that the role is not suitable, the master beacon to be a gateway beacon may be determined, and then the master beacon may be requested to perform the role of a gateway beacon. This determination may be performed in all the master beacons 200. The first master beacon 200a currently executing the gateway beacon may be the second master beacon 200b, the third master beacon 200c, The gateway beacon may be suspended depending on the location of the gateway beacon.

In the above example, if it is determined that the number of slave beacons connected to the first master beacon 200a is greater than that of the first master beacon 200a, the second master beacon 200b suitable for performing the role of a gateway beacon serves as a gateway beacon So that the slave beacon 300 connected to it can be connected to the second master beacon 200b from the first master beacon 200a. At this time, the third master beacon 200c connected to the first master beacon 200a may be disconnected from the first master beacon 200a to operate as an independent gateway beacon, It may be connected continuously.

In this manner, master beacons 200 to serve as gateway beacons are selected according to the determination between the master beacons 200, and the connection of the slave beacons 300 is controlled by the selected master beacons 200, The network structure can be dynamically reformed.

The beacon network system according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a terminal (not shown), and a terminal (not shown) may be located within a certain radius of the master beacon 200 or the slave beacon 300 , And can scan and receive the transmitted beacon signal. Here, a terminal (not shown) refers to a user apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving various data via the communication network 100 according to a user's operation. Such a terminal may transmit voice or data through the communication network 100 and transmit and receive information to and from the beacon management server 400 via the communication network 100, Based communication. ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 > A terminal (not shown) of the present invention may include a memory for storing programs and protocols for transmitting and receiving beacon signals, and a microprocessor for executing and controlling various programs.

The terminal (not shown) of the present invention first accesses an application providing apparatus (not shown) such as an app store connected to the communication network 100, receives a beacon signal from the app store, You can receive and install the beacon service app that shows. At this time, the terminal (not shown) of the present invention can execute the beacon service app and scan the fixed coverage to check the beacon signal. Then, the beacon management server 400 extracts the beacon identification information from the identified beacon signal, and transmits the content mapped to the beacon identification information (for example, a discount coupon or a membership card benefit Etc.) can be received and output. The terminal (not shown) of the present invention can be implemented in various forms. For example, the terminal (not shown) described herein may be a mobile terminal such as a smart phone, a tablet PC, a PDA (personal digital assistant), a portable multimedia player (PMP) Of course, fixed terminals such as smart TVs, desktop computers, etc. may be used.

Also, the terminal (not shown) of the present invention can not enumerate all of the variations of the portable apparatus according to the convergence trend of the digital apparatus, but a unit of the same level as the above- (Not shown) according to an embodiment of the present invention, and any device capable of downloading and installing a beacon service app according to the present invention can be used as a terminal (not shown) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The beacon management server 400 manages a plurality of beacons 200 and 300, is requested to provide a service from a terminal (not shown), and can provide information corresponding to the service. In particular, the beacon management server 400 according to an embodiment of the present invention receives the beacon identification information from the terminal (not shown) and stores the mapped content corresponding to the beacon identification information (for example, a discount coupon or a membership card Benefit, etc.) and provide it to a terminal (not shown). In addition, the beacon management server 400 of the present invention may interwork with an administrator terminal or perform a role of receiving contents to be mapped to beacon identification information in cooperation with a server of an administrator and managing the contents.

In addition, the beacon management server 400 of the present invention may receive status information from a plurality of master beacons 200, and may select a beacon device to operate as a gateway beacon among a plurality of master beacons according to status information.

The main configuration and operation method of each device according to the present invention will be described later, and a processor mounted in each device according to an embodiment of the present invention can process a program command for executing the method according to the present invention. In one implementation, the processor may be a single-threaded processor, and in other embodiments, the processor may be a multithreaded processor. Further, the processor is capable of processing instructions stored on a memory or storage device.

In addition, the beacon management server 400 according to the embodiment of the present invention has the same hardware configuration as that of a typical Web server or a network server. However, the software includes a program module implemented through a language such as C, C ++, Java, Visual Basic, Visual C, or the like.

On the other hand, the memory mounted on each device of the present invention stores information in the device. In one implementation, the memory is a computer-readable medium. In one implementation, the memory may be a volatile memory unit, and in other embodiments, the memory may be a non-volatile memory unit. In one implementation, the storage device is a computer-readable medium. In various different implementations, the storage device may comprise, for example, a hard disk device, an optical disk device, or any other mass storage device.

Hereinafter, the main configuration and operation method of the master beacon 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a master beacon according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a master beacon 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a communication module 230, a control module 250, and a storage module 210.

Here, 'module' is a component that performs a predetermined function, and may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. For example, the 'module' may refer to a program module, which may be software components executed by a processor to perform certain functions, object-oriented software components, class components, Data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, data structures, and the like, such as, for example, , And variables. In addition, the functions provided in the components and 'modules' may be combined into a smaller number of components and '~ modules' or further separated into additional components and 'modules'.

First, the communication module 230 may include a first communication module 231 and a second communication module 233. Here, the first communication module 231 transmits a beacon signal within a certain radius, and scans the transmitted beacon signal to transmit / receive information to / from one or more connected terminals (not shown). At this time, the first communication module 231 can transmit / receive information according to a PAN (Personal Area Network) communication protocol such as a Bluetooth communication protocol, and can transmit / receive information according to another communication protocol corresponding thereto. In addition, the first communication module 231 of the present invention supports transmission and reception of information with a slave beacon 300 located within a certain radius. The slave beacon 300 may be directly connected to the master beacon 200 according to the user's control at the initial setting, or may be connected using a beacon signal transmitted / received according to the Bluetooth communication protocol.

The second communication module 233 is connected to the access point 500 and transmits and receives information to and from the beacon management server 400 via the communication network 100. The second communication module 233 is connected to the WLAN Wireless LAN, Wi-Fi, WiBro, WiMAX, and HSDPA, but the present invention is not limited thereto. It can transmit and receive information using wired communication methods such as Ethernet, xDSL (ADSL, VDSL), HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coaxial Cable), FTTC (Fiber to the Curb) and FTTH (Fiber To The Home) , And may transmit and receive information according to other communication protocols corresponding thereto.

The control module 250 performs overall control of the beacon device 200 and includes at least one processor including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) / MPU (Micro Processing Unit) and at least one memory loading data (For example, a register and / or a RAM (Random Access Memory)) to be loaded and a bus (BUS) for inputting / outputting at least one or more data to / from the processor and the memory. And may include predetermined program routines or program data that are loaded into the execution memory from a predetermined recording medium to perform functions defined in the master beacon 200 in software and are processed by the processor have. In other words, in order to process the dynamic beacon network construction method according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to determine, as functions of the control module 250, components that can be processed by software among functions provided in the beacon apparatus 200 .

The control module 250 of the present invention is functionally connected to at least one component provided to support the dynamic beacon network construction method according to an embodiment of the present invention. That is, the control module 250 is functionally connected to the communication module 230 and the storage module 210, and controls the flow of signals for supplying power and performing functions to the respective components.

In addition, the control module 250 periodically transmits a beacon signal in a predetermined service coverage through the first communication module 231 of the communication module 230, and transmits a beacon signal to the terminal (not shown) or the slave beacon 300 To control the entire process for providing the service designated by the terminal (not shown). For example, the terminal (not shown) may receive the content corresponding to the beacon signal through the beacon management server 400, but the beacon device 200 may provide the content to the terminal For this, the control module 250 of the present invention can support the process of providing corresponding contents to the connected terminal (not shown).

In particular, the control module 250 according to an embodiment of the present invention may determine whether to perform the role of the gateway beacon. To this end, the control module 250 of the present invention may perform a status check function 251 and a connection control function 252. The status check function 251 checks whether the gateway beacon can be continuously performed or not if the neighboring master beacon environment is superior to the gateway beacon if it is performing the role of the gateway beacon. do.

When a response to the beacon signal transmitted within a certain radius is received from the slave beacon 300 through the first communication module 231 of the communication module 230, And can control the connection. The connection control function 252 is a process of connecting to the beacon management server 400 through the second communication module 231 of the communication module 230 or a process of being connected to another master beacon 200 or transmitting / And so on. In particular, the connection control function 252 of the present invention may detect the presence of other neighboring master beacons within a certain radius, and may share state information between neighboring master beacons. Here, the status information is confirmed through the status check function 251 and may include information on the number of beacon devices currently connected, the number of terminals, the connection status between the access point devices 500, the resource environment, and the like. The connection control function 252 may determine a master beacon to serve as a gateway beacon according to the status information or request that the master beacon be controlled so that the gateway beacon is dynamically changed and set. The connection control function 252 may also transmit status information to the beacon management server 400 and may operate as a gateway beacon according to an instruction from the beacon management server 400. [

The storage module 210 may temporarily store various data generated during the execution of the application program, including an application program required for the functional operation according to the embodiment of the present invention. In particular, the storage module 210 according to the embodiment of the present invention can store and manage content to be provided to a terminal (not shown). The storage unit 210 may include a program area and a data area. The program area stores and manages the information necessary for operating the beacon device 200. The data area is an area in which data generated according to use of the master beacon 200 is stored, for example, information on a connected terminal (not shown) may be stored.

The storage module 210 may be a flash memory, a hard disk, a multimedia card micro-type memory (e.g., SD or XD memory), a RAM, a ROM ROM), and the like.

Thus, the main components of the master beacon 200 have been described with reference to FIG. However, not all of the components shown in FIG. 2 are essential components, and the master beacon 200 may be implemented by more components than the illustrated components, and the master beacon 200 ) May be implemented.

It should also be appreciated that the location of the major components of the master beacon 200 shown in FIG. 2 may be varied for convenience or for other reasons.

Hereinafter, the main configuration and operation method of the slave beacon 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a slave beacon according to an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG.

1 and 3, a slave beacon 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a storage module 310, a communication module 330, and a control module 350.

Here, 'module' is a component that performs a predetermined function, and may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. For example, the 'module' may refer to a program module, which may be software components executed by a processor to perform certain functions, object-oriented software components, class components, Data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, data structures, and the like, such as, for example, , And variables. In addition, the functions provided in the components and 'modules' may be combined into a smaller number of components and '~ modules' or further separated into additional components and 'modules'.

First, the storage module 310 is a device for storing data. The storage module 310 includes a main storage device and an auxiliary storage device, and stores an application program required for the functional operation of the slave beacon 300. The storage module 310 may include a program area and a data area. Here, when the slave beacon 300 activates each function corresponding to the request of the user, the slave beacon 300 executes the corresponding application programs under the control of the control module 350 to provide each function.

The communication module 330 is for periodically or non-periodically transmitting / receiving signals and various data for maintaining a wireless connection with the master beacon 200. Also, the communication module 330 can perform PAN (Personal Area Network) communication including Bluetooth.

The control module 350 may be a process device that drives each configuration.

The control module 350 controls the overall operation of the slave beacon 300. In particular, the control module 350 may receive a beacon signal transmitted by the master beacon 200 through the communication module 330. [ And transmit a response to the beacon signal to the master beacon 200. The control module 350 may support a connection process with the master beacon 200 by receiving a connection request signal from the master beacon 200 or transmitting a connection request through the communication module 330. In addition, the master beacon 200 to be connected can be changed dynamically according to the state between the master beacons 200. The master beacon 200b may be connected to the second master beacon 200b or may be connected to the third master beacon 200c according to the setting between the master beacons 200 even if the first master beacon 200a is currently connected to the first master beacon 200a.

The main configuration and operation method of the slave beacon 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

Hereinafter, the main configuration and operation method of the beacon management server 400 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

4 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a beacon management server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 and 4, the beacon management server 400 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a server communication module 410, a server control module 420, and a server storage module 430 .

The server communication module 410 is for transmitting / receiving data to / from the master beacon 200 and the terminal through the communication network 100. The server communication module 410 includes RF transmitting means for up-converting and amplifying the frequency of the transmitted signal, RF receiving means for low-noise amplifying the received signal and down-converting the frequency of the received signal, And data processing means for processing the data. The server communication module 410 may include at least one of a wireless communication module (not shown) and a wired communication module (not shown).

When the beacon management server 400 uses wireless communication, the wireless communication module transmits either one of a wireless network communication module, a wireless LAN communication module, and a wireless fan communication module Data to / from the master beacon 200 and the terminal (not shown).

Here, the server communication module 430 may be a communication module that uses a wireless communication method such as WLAN (Wireless LAN), Wi-Fi, Wibro, WiMAX, HSDPA (Fiber to the Curb), FTTH (Fiber To The Home), and the like. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. Or the like may be used.

The server control module 420 may be a process device that drives each configuration of the beacon management server 400. The server control module 420 controls the overall operation process of the beacon management server 400. For example, the server control module 420 receives a connection cancellation request message from the first master beacon 200a to disconnect from the slave beacon 300 Upon receiving the information, the information stored in the server storage module 430 may be utilized to search for an alternative master beacon to manage the slave beacons 300 instead of the first master beacons 200a. In addition, the server control module 420 of the present invention manages information on the master beacon 200 serving as a current gateway beacon, and when status information is received from a plurality of master beacons 200, A master beacon that acts as a beacon may be determined, and the master beacon may be requested to perform the role of a gateway beacon, or the master beacon performing a role of an existing gateway beacon may be requested to stop performing the role.

The server storage module 430 is a device for storing data, and includes a main storage device and an auxiliary storage device, and stores an application program required for functional operation of the beacon management server 400. [ The server storage module 430 may include a program area and a data area. Here, when the beacon management server 400 activates each function according to a request from the user, the beacon management server 400 executes the corresponding application programs under the control of the server control module 420 to provide each function. In particular, the storage module 430 of the beacon management server 400 according to the present invention can store location information, wireless network connection information, and the like where each master beacon 200 and the slave beacon 300 are installed. The wireless network connection information includes information on the slave beacon 300 managed by each master beacon 200 and connection relationship information and signal transmission power intensity information of each master beacon 200 and each slave beacon 300 . ≪ / RTI >

Hereinafter, a method of establishing a dynamic beacon network according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of constructing a dynamic beacon network according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Prior to description with reference to FIGS. 1 and 5, it is assumed that the first master beacon 200a is a master beacon currently serving as a gateway beacon in FIG. 1 for convenience of explanation. Herein, the first master beacon 200a is connected to the communication network 100 through the access point 500 and is connected to one or more master beacons and slave beacons, Master beacons 200b which are currently connected to the communication network 100 through the access point apparatus 500 and can be connected to one or more master beacons and slave beacons are connected to a master Beacon means.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the process of determining the role of a gateway beacon by a general master beacon other than a master beacon serving as a gateway beacon will be mainly described.

For example, the second master beacon 200b checks the current state (S101) and shares the adjacent master beacon status information (S103). Here, the status information may include information on the number of currently connected beacon devices, the number of terminals, the connection status between the access point devices 500, the resource environment, and the like. The status information at this time can be transmitted through another communication module such as a Wi-Fi communication protocol, not a communication module that transmits a beacon signal. That is, in order to transmit / receive information between the master beacons 200, the slave beacons 300 share information according to the corresponding communication protocols so that only the master beacons 200 can transmit / receive information, do.

The second master beacon 200b may compare the received status information with the status information of the second master beacon 200b to determine whether or not it is suitable for the gateway beacon (S105). For example, if the first master beacon 200a located within a predetermined radius is determined to have a shortage of available resources due to a large number of currently connected beacon nodes, the first master beacon 200a, which is an adjacent master beacon, It is requested to stop the beacon function (S107).

At this time, the first master beacon 200a requested to stop the role of the gateway beacon can determine whether the request of the second master beacon 200b is valid, , Or may transmit a rejection response to the second master beacon 200b.

The second master beacon 200b can act as a gateway beacon when an acceptance response is received from the first master beacon 200a (S109). The acceptance response from the first master beacon 200a, which is the existing gateway beacon, may be omitted in some cases.

In addition, the second master beacon 200b may receive the connection setup information for the connected beacon device from the first master beacon 200a and may be connected to all or a part of the beacon device, 200a are connected in a slave beacon state, information on another beacon device connected to the first master beacon 200a is also received and maintained in connection with the beacon device.

In addition, the first master beacon 200a may be connected to the second master beacon 200b to provide information about the second master beacon 200b to the second master beacon 200b.

Hereinafter, a method for constructing a dynamic beacon network according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of constructing a dynamic beacon network according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Prior to description with reference to FIGS. 1 and 6, it is assumed that the first master beacon 200a is a master beacon currently serving as a gateway beacon in FIG. 1 for convenience of explanation. Herein, the first master beacon 200a is connected to the communication network 100 through the access point 500 and is connected to one or more master beacons and slave beacons, Master beacons 200b which are currently connected to the communication network 100 through the access point apparatus 500 and can be connected to one or more master beacons and slave beacons are connected to a master Beacon means.

In addition, in another embodiment of the present invention, the process of determining the role of the gateway beacon by the master beacon serving as the gateway beacon will be mainly described.

For example, the second master beacon 200b currently acting as a gateway beacon confirms the current state (S201) and shares the neighbor master beacon state information (S103). Here, the status information may include information on the number of currently connected beacon devices, the number of terminals, the connection status between the access point devices 500, the resource environment, and the like. The status information at this time can be transmitted through another communication module such as a Wi-Fi communication protocol, not a communication module that transmits a beacon signal. That is, in order to transmit / receive information between the master beacons 200, the slave beacons 300 share information according to the corresponding communication protocols so that only the master beacons 200 can transmit / receive information, do.

The first master beacon 200a may transmit its status information to another master beacon 200 and receive status information from another master beacon 200 through a sharing process.

The first master beacon 200a determines whether there is an adjacent master beacon suitable for the gateway beacon using the shared state information (S205).

If it is determined that the second master beacon 200b is suitable as a gateway beacon, the first master beacon 200a may request the second master beacon 200b to serve as a gateway beacon. In other words, if the first master beacon 200a has a large number of nodes of the beacon device currently connected and the available resources are insufficient, there is no beacon device currently connected, but a second master beacon 200b ) As a gateway beacon (S207).

When the acceptance response is received from the second master beacon 200b (S209), the second master beacon 200b replaces the beacon device connected to the first master beacon 200a in place of the first master beacon 200a The first master beacon 200a stops acting as a gateway beacon (S211) and may be connected to the second master beacon 200b (S213), which is a neighbor master beacon. At this time, the first master beacon 200a may not be directly connected to the access point 500 but may be connected to the second master beacon 200b like a slave beacon. The first master beacon 200a may be directly connected to the access point 500, Some or all of the slave beacons 300 may be connected to the second master beacon 200b. That is, the slave beacon 300 connected to the master beacon 300, and controls the slave beacon 300 to be connected to the second master beacon 200b.

In addition, a third master beacon 200c acting as a slave beacon connected to the first master can request a connection to the second master beacon 200b, request to operate as a master beacon, or maintain a connection between the master beacons have. That is, when the first master beacon 200a of the present invention stops acting as a gateway beacon, the first master beacon 200a may not only disconnect the beacon from all the beacons, but may also disconnect only some beacons.

If the first master beacon 200a determines that the performance of the third master beacon 200c is better than the second master beacon 200b as a result of the determination of the neighbor master beacon 200b, The third master beacon 200c may perform a role of a gateway beacon by changing the mode to the gateway beacon operation in the slave beacon operation.

Hereinafter, a method of constructing a dynamic beacon network according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described.

7 is a data flow chart for explaining a method of constructing a dynamic beacon network according to another embodiment of the present invention.

7, a method of constructing a dynamic beacon network according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to a process in which a beacon suitable for a gateway beacon is determined by the beacon management server 200c. In addition, for convenience of explanation, the first master beacon 200a is a master beacon currently serving as a gateway beacon.

That is, the first master beacon 200a is acting as a gateway beacon (S501), and is connected to at least one slave beacon 300. [ Also, the first master beacon 200a is connected to the third master beacon 200c, which is another master beacon. In this state, the current state is confirmed (S503). The step of confirming the current state may be performed at a predetermined periodic step.

Likewise, the second master beacon 200b also checks the current state (S503). On the other hand, since the third master beacon 200c is currently operated as a slave beacon and can not communicate with the beacon management server 400, the third master beacon 200c may not check the status information. On the other hand, since status information can be transmitted to the beacon management server 400 through the first master beacon 200a connected to the first master beacon 200a, status information can be checked according to the implementation method.

The master beacon 200 having the status information confirmed transmits the status information to the beacon management server 400 (S505 to S507). The beacon management server 400 may determine a suitable master beacon by using the state information received from each master beacon 200 (S509).

For example, if it is determined that the first master beacon 200a is performing the current gateway beacon operation, but the second master beacon 200b is suitable for the beacon management server 400, the beacon management server 400 transmits the gateway beacon 200a to the first master beacon 200a (S511), and may request the second master beacon 200b to act as a gateway beacon (S513). At this time, since the beacon management server 400 knows information on the beacon device connected to the first master beacon 200a, the beacon management server 400 notifies the first master beacon 200a of the connection with the beacon device, To be connected to the second master beacon 200b while maintaining the current connection, and the like, and transmit the corresponding information to the second master beacon 200b.

Since the first master beacon 200a receiving the request from the beacon management server 400 is a request from the beacon management server 400, the first master beacon 200a can stop the role of the gateway beacon immediately without determining whether to accept it (S515). At this time, if the beacon management server 400 keeps connection with all the beacons and receives the connection setup information to connect to the second master beacon 200b, the second master beacon 200b (S519), and establish a connection between the second master beacons (200b) (S521).

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, if the beacon device acting as a gateway increases the number of beacon devices connected thereto or if it is determined that an abnormality occurs in the communication state, The beacon device connected to the beacon device or the beacon device connected to the beacon device is controlled to be connected to the other optimal beacon device, so that the structure can be changed dynamically according to the network situation, thereby making it possible to construct a more efficient beacon network system.

As described above, the dynamic beacon network construction method according to the embodiment of the present invention may be provided in the form of a computer readable medium suitable for storing computer program instructions and data. A program recorded on a recording medium for implementing a dynamic beacon network establishing method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes at least one slave beacon and at least one neighboring master beacon and beacon management server A method of establishing a dynamic beacon in a master beacon capable of transmitting and receiving information and acting as a gateway beacon, the method comprising: checking current state information of a master beacon; Determining whether to perform the beacon, and requesting the gateway beacon to perform the gateway beacon or stopping the gateway beacon according to the determination result.

At this time, the program recorded on the recording medium can be read and installed in the computer and executed, thereby executing the above-described functions.

In order to allow a computer to read a program recorded on a recording medium and to execute functions implemented by the program, the above-mentioned program may be stored in a computer-readable medium such as C, C ++, JAVA, machine language, and the like.

The code may include a function code related to a function or the like that defines the functions described above and may include an execution procedure related control code necessary for the processor of the computer to execute the functions described above according to a predetermined procedure. In addition, such code may further include memory reference related code as to what additional information or media needed to cause the processor of the computer to execute the aforementioned functions should be referenced at any location (address) of the internal or external memory of the computer . In addition, when a processor of a computer needs to communicate with any other computer or server that is remote to execute the above-described functions, the code may be stored in a memory of the computer using a communication module of the computer, It may further include a communication-related code such as how to communicate with another computer or a server, and what information or media should be transmitted or received during communication.

Such computer-readable media suitable for storing computer program instructions and data include, for example, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape, compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) Optical media such as a DVD (Digital Video Disk), a magneto-optical medium such as a floppy disk, and a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM , Random Access Memory), flash memory, EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), and EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM). The processor and memory may be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuits.

The computer readable recording medium may also be distributed over a networked computer system so that computer readable code can be stored and executed in a distributed manner. The functional program for implementing the present invention and the related code and code segment may be implemented by programmers in the technical field of the present invention in consideration of the system environment of the computer that reads the recording medium and executes the program, Or may be easily modified or modified by the user.

Each step according to embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by a computer-executable instruction and executed by a computing system. As used herein, a "computing system" is defined as one or more software modules, one or more hardware modules, or a combination thereof that operate in conjunction with performing an operation on electronic data. For example, the definition of a computer system includes a software module such as a personal computer's operating system and a hardware component of a personal computer. The physical layout of the module is not important. The computer system may include one or more computers connected through a network.

Likewise, a computing system may be implemented in a single physical device in which an internal module, such as a memory and a processor, operates in conjunction with performing an operation on the electronic data.

That is, an apparatus supporting the dynamic beacon network construction method according to the present invention can be implemented to perform the above-described embodiments based on the computing system described below.

8 is a diagram illustrating an operating environment of a device supporting a dynamic beacon network construction method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 8 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment in which the invention may be implemented. Although not required, the invention may be described in connection with computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer system. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The computer executable instructions, associated data structures, and program modules illustrate examples of program code means for carrying out the acts of the invention disclosed herein.

8, an exemplary computing system embodying the present invention includes a processing unit 11, a system memory 12, and various system components including the system memory 12 connected to the processing unit 11 And a system bus 10 for communicating with the system.

The processing unit 11 may execute computer-executable instructions designed to implement the features of the present invention.

The system bus 10 may be any of several types of bus structures including a local bus, a peripheral bus, and a memory bus or memory controller using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory 12 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12a and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 12b. A basic input / output system (BIOS) 13a, containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between components within a computing system, such as during start-up, may generally be stored in ROM 12a.

The computing system may include storage means, for example, a hard disk drive 15 that reads information from, or writes information to, the hard disk, reads information from, or writes information to, And an optical disk drive 17 that reads information from, or writes information to, an optical disk such as, for example, a CD-ROM or other optical media . The hard disk drive 15, the magnetic disk drive 16 and the optical disk drive 17 are connected by a hard disk drive interface 18, a magnetic disk drive-interface 19 and an optical drive interface 20, respectively, And is connected to the bus 10.

Further, the computing system may further include an external memory 21 as a storage means. The external memory 21 may be connected to the system bus 10 through an input /

The above-described drives and their associated computer-readable media readable and writable by the drives provide non-volatile storage of computer-executable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data. The exemplary environment described herein illustrates a hard disk 15, magnetic disk 16 and optical disk 17, but may also include magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, DVDs, Bernoulli cartridges, RAMs Other types of computer readable media for storing data, including ROM, ROM, etc., may be used.

Includes one or more program modules including an operating system 13b, one or more application programs 13c, other program modules 13d, and program data 13c that are loaded and executed by the processing unit 11 The program code means may be stored in the hard disk 15, the magnetic disk 16, the optical disk 17, the ROM 12a or the RAM 12b.

In addition, the computing system may receive commands and information from a user through other input devices 22 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a microphone, a joystick, a game pad, a scanner, These input devices 22 may be connected to the processing unit 11 via an input / output interface 24 connected to the system bus 10. The input / output interface 24 may be, for example, a serial interface such as a serial port interface, a PS / 2 interface, a parallel port interface, a USB interface, an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 interface (i.e., FireWire interface) Any of a variety of different interfaces can be represented logically, or even combinations of different interfaces can be represented logically.

In addition, the computing system to which the present invention is applied may further include a display device 26 such as a monitor or LCD or an audio device 27 such as a speaker or microphone, which may be connected via a video / audio interface 25 And is connected to the system bus 10. For example, other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers, may also be connected to the computer system 420. The video / audio interface unit 25 may include a high definition multimedia interface (HDMI), a graphics device interface (GDI), or the like.

Further, the computing system embodying the invention is connectable to a network such as, for example, an office-wide or enterprise-wide computer network, a home network, an intranet, and / or the Internet. The computer system may exchange data with external sources such as, for example, a remote computer system, a remote application, and / or a remote database.

To this end, a computing system to which the present invention is applied includes a network interface 27 for receiving data from an external source and / or for transmitting data to an external source.

In the present invention, such a computing system can transmit and receive information to and from a remote device via the network interface 27. [ For example, when the computing system refers to the terminal 100, it can transmit and receive information to and from the messenger service device 200 via the network interface 27. [ On the other hand, when the computing system refers to the messenger service apparatus 200, information can be exchanged with the terminal 100 through the network interface 27. The network interface 27 may be represented by a logical combination of one or more software and / or hardware modules, such as, for example, a network interface card and a corresponding Network Driver Interface Specification ("NDIS") stack.

Likewise, the computer system receives data from an external source via the input / output interface 24 or transmits data to an external source. Output interface 24 may be coupled to a modem 23 (e.g., a standard modem, a cable modem, or a digital subscriber line (" DSL ") modem) Lt; / RTI > and / or transmit data to an external source.

Although FIG. 8 shows an operating environment suitable for the present invention, the principles of the present invention may be employed with any system that can implement the principles of the present invention, with appropriate modifications if necessary. The environment shown in Figure 8 is illustrative only and does not represent a small portion of the very diverse environment in which the principles of the present invention may be implemented.

In addition, various information generated when the messenger program and the messenger program of the present invention are executed can be stored and accessed on any computer-readable medium related to the computing system as shown in FIG. For example, a portion of these program modules and a portion of the associated program data may be stored in the system memory 12, such as in the operating system 13b, the application program 13c, the program module 13d, and / (13e).

Further, when a mass storage device such as a hard disk is connected to the computing system, such program modules and related program data may be stored in the mass storage device. In a networked environment, program modules associated with the present invention, or portions thereof, may be coupled to remote computer systems, such as beacon devices 200, 300 and beacons, connected via a modem 23 or network interface 25 of the input / Such as a system memory associated with the computing system of the management server 400, and / or a mass storage device. The execution of such a module can be performed in a distributed environment as described above.

As described above, the present specification contains details of a number of specific implementations, but they should not be construed as being limitations on the scope of any invention or claimability, but rather on the particular embodiment of a particular invention But should be understood as an explanation of the features. Certain features described herein in the context of separate embodiments may be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments, either individually or in any suitable subcombination. Further, although the features may operate in a particular combination and may be initially described as so claimed, one or more features from the claimed combination may in some cases be excluded from the combination, Or a variant of a subcombination.

Likewise, although the operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, it should be understood that such operations must be performed in that particular order or sequential order shown to achieve the desired result, or that all illustrated operations should be performed. In certain cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, the separation of the various system components of the above-described embodiments should not be understood as requiring such separation in all embodiments, and the described program components and systems will generally be integrated together into a single software product or packaged into multiple software products It should be understood.

Certain embodiments of the subject matter described herein have been described. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. For example, the operations recited in the claims may be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results. By way of example, the process illustrated in the accompanying drawings does not necessarily require that particular illustrated or sequential order to obtain the desired results. In certain implementations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous.

The description sets forth the best mode of the invention, and is provided to illustrate the invention and to enable those skilled in the art to make and use the invention. The written description is not intended to limit the invention to the specific terminology presented. Thus, while the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the above examples, those skilled in the art will be able to make adaptations, modifications, and variations on these examples without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited by the described embodiments but should be defined by the claims.

The present invention relates to a dynamic beacon network construction method, and more particularly, to a dynamic beacon network construction method capable of dynamically changing a beacon device acting as a gateway according to network conditions, and a device and a system therefor.

According to the present invention, if a beacon device acting as a gateway increases the number of beacons connected to the beacon, or if it is determined that an abnormality occurs in a communication state, the beacon device stops serving as a gateway and performs a function as another optimal gateway By controlling the connected or connected beacon device to be connected to another optimal beacon device, it is possible to dynamically change the structure according to the network situation, thereby making it possible to construct a more efficient beacon network system.

Accordingly, the present invention can contribute to the development of the beacon service industry. In addition, the present invention is industrially applicable because it is not only possible to market or operate, but can be practically and practically carried out.

100: communication network 200: master beacon
300: Slave beacon 400: Service server

Claims (12)

A method for establishing a dynamic beacon in a master beacon, the master beacon being connected to at least one slave beacon to control the slave beacon, to transmit and receive information to and from at least one neighboring master beacon and beacon management server,
Confirming current state information of the master beacon;
Determining whether the master beacon performs a gateway beacon between neighboring master beacons using the status information; And
Requesting to perform a gateway beacon or stopping a gateway beacon according to the determination result;
The method comprising the steps of: The method according to claim 1,
The state information
The number of beacons, the number of connected beacons, the number of terminals, the connection state between access points, and the information about the resource environment. The method according to claim 1,
The step of determining whether to perform the gateway beacon includes:
Transmitting the current state information to the at least one neighboring master beacon;
Receiving status information from the neighboring master beacon; And
Comparing the current status information with status information of the received neighboring master beacon to determine whether to perform a gateway beacon;
The method comprising the steps of: The method according to claim 1,
The step of determining whether to perform the gateway beacon includes:
Transmitting the current status information to the beacon management server; And
Determining whether to perform the gateway beacon according to the control of the beacon management server;
The method comprising the steps of: The method according to claim 1,
If the master beacon is currently performing a gateway beacon,
The requesting step
If it is determined that the neighboring master beacon is suitable for the gateway beacon,
After the requesting step,
Stopping performing the role of the gateway beacon;
Further comprising the step of: The method according to claim 1,
If the master beacon does not currently perform the gateway beacon,
The requesting step
If it is determined that the neighboring master beacon is not suitable as a gateway beacon,
After the requesting step,
Performing a gateway beacon;
Further comprising the step of: A method for establishing a dynamic beacon in a master beacon, the master beacon being connected to at least one slave beacon to control the slave beacon, to transmit and receive information to and from at least one neighboring master beacon and beacon management server,
Receiving the master beacon from the neighbor master beacon or the gateway beacon disable request from the beacon management server; And
Determining whether the master beacon is to stop performing the gateway beacon and requesting to perform a gateway beacon or stopping the gateway beacon according to a result of the determination;
The method comprising the steps of: A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing the dynamic beacon network construction method according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A master beacon connected to at least one slave beacon to control the slave beacon, to transmit and receive information to at least one neighbor master beacon and a beacon management server, and to operate as a gateway beacon,
The master beacon
A control module for determining whether to perform a gateway beacon between neighboring master beacons using the status information, requesting to perform a gateway beacon with the neighboring master beacon or requesting to stop performing a gateway beacon according to a result of the determination, ;
And a master beacon. A master beacon connected to at least one slave beacon to control the slave beacon, to transmit and receive information to at least one neighbor master beacon and a beacon management server, and to operate as a gateway beacon,
The master beacon
The master beacon receives a gateway beacon execution stop request from the neighbor master beacon or the beacon management server, determines whether the master beacon is to stop performing the gateway beacon, Or to suspend the operation of the gateway beacon;
And a master beacon. First and second masters connected to at least one slave beacon to control the slave beacon, to transmit and receive information to and from at least one neighbor master beacon and beacon management server, Beacon; And
A beacon management server for determining a master beacon to be a gateway beacon when the status information is received from the first and second master beacons, and then transmitting information according to a determined result of the determined master beacon;
The beacon network system comprising: 12. The method of claim 11,
The beacon management server
If it is determined that the first master beacon is serving as a gateway beacon and that the second master beacon is more suitable for performing the role of the gateway beacon as a result of determining the master beacon serving as the gateway beacon, Requesting to stop performing a beacon role, and requesting to perform a role of a gateway beacon by transmitting connection setting information for the first master beacon to the second master beacon.

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