HK1194896B - Communication speed control system - Google Patents

Description

Communication speed control system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a communication speed control system, and more particularly to a technique for suppressing a communication speed between each of mobile phones and all of the mobile phones when an accumulated value of communication traffic from each of the mobile phones to a specific connection destination exceeds a certain limit.

Background

In recent years, smartphones, which are multifunctional mobile phones having a PDA function, have become widely used, and with increasing data traffic for each user, equipment upgrade of communication carriers (carriers) has begun to be delayed.

When using a smartphone, a user often enters a communication fee rating plan called "surf the month" and can view a Web site or a movie site without paying attention to the fee, which leads to an increase in data traffic.

On the other hand, it is also true that the personal difference is large in the amount of data traffic, and the outstanding utilization by some heavyweight users pushes up the entire traffic, and if the quota cost is increased for upgrading the equipment, unfairness occurs among users.

Therefore, in the carrier, a measure is taken to suppress the entire data traffic by individually adding band limitation to users who have performed extremely large data communication (see non-patent document 1).

Non-patent document 1: each キャリア position スマートフォン speed limit を compares to a minimum インターネット URL: http:// japan. cnet. com/mobile/35006197/ken Suo day: 2011 9 months and 1 day

Disclosure of Invention

By the above band limitation for individual users, data traffic due to heavy users can be suppressed reliably, and unfairness between users can be eliminated.

However, on the other hand, there is always a counterpart (Web site or the like) in communication, and since access to a specific Web site is extremely concentrated, even though the capacity of a communication carrier is greatly compressed, only a point where a user side is a limited target cannot be avoided.

For example, in the case of a video delivery site, a large number of users are obtained by providing a service for uploading a video photographed by a smartphone via a 3G line or streaming a video file stored on a server side to the smartphone via the 3G line, while a large amount of advertising fees are charged from a sponsor by setting an advertisement frame on a video playback screen.

In the case of a storage service site, a service is provided in which a file uploaded from a PC or the like to a server side is downloaded to a user's smartphone via a 3G line, or a photo image photographed by the smartphone is uploaded via a 3G line, and a fee (monthly fee or the like) is charged from each user as a cost.

Alternatively, in the case of a shopping site, catalog information of the product is transmitted to the smartphone via a 3G line, and when the order is established, a sales commission is charged by credit card settlement or the like.

That is, the important service site on the internet acquires a large number of users via a smartphone, and thus, although the value as an advertisement medium is high or gains such as a conference fee and a sales commission are acquired, it does not impose any cost burden on a communication carrier, and rather becomes a cause of equipment distress. In addition, since the equipment upgrade cost of the communications carrier is finally recovered by being transferred to the cost of each user, unfairness generally occurs between the user and the service provider.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object thereof is to provide a technique capable of indirectly prompting a communication carrier to pay a device use fee for an important connection destination of data communication using a mobile phone.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 1 provides a communication speed control system arranged between a plurality of service providing servers arranged on the internet and a plurality of mobile phones associated with a specific communication carrier, the communication speed control system including: a traffic storage unit for storing data traffic between each mobile phone and each service providing server one by one in association with the IP address of the service providing server; a limited object external storage unit registering an IP address of a specific service providing server as an external object in advance; a unit for extracting the IP address of the service providing server from the packet when the packet is exchanged between the specific service providing server and the specific mobile phone; means for calculating an accumulated data traffic amount associated with the extracted IP address with reference to the traffic storage means; means for checking whether or not the IP address is registered as a foreign object of the restricted object with reference to the foreign object storage means when the accumulated data traffic exceeds a predetermined threshold; a unit that determines that a band limitation is necessary when the accumulated data traffic volume regarding the IP address exceeds the threshold and the IP address is not registered as a restricted object in the restricted-object-outside storage unit, and determines that the band limitation is unnecessary when the accumulated data traffic volume is equal to or less than the threshold and when the IP address is outside the restricted object even if the accumulated data traffic volume exceeds the threshold; and a unit that transmits the packet to the destination at a normal communication speed when the band limitation is not necessary, and transmits the packet to the destination at a speed lower than normal when the band limitation is necessary.

The communication speed control system according to claim 2 is the system according to claim 1, further comprising communication log collection means for storing the date and time when the packet was sent, the data traffic, and the IP address of the service providing server in the traffic storage means one by one.

According to the communication speed control system of the present invention, as for the service providing server exceeding the prescribed accumulated data traffic, as long as its IP address is not registered in the restricted-object external storage means, the communication speed with each mobile phone is suppressed.

As a result, the complaint from the mobile phone user is transferred to the service provider, and in order to reconcile the situation, even if the service provider is burdened with a predetermined cost, it is expected that the registration of the own company IP address to the restricted-target external storage unit is required.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a network structure of a communication carrier to which the present invention is applied.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a communication control system of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing processing steps in the band management apparatus.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing processing steps in the processing rule management apparatus.

(symbol description)

10: a smart phone; 12: the internet; 14: a service providing server; 16: a wireless base station; 28: an authentication information management device; 30: a processing rule management means; 32: a band management device; 34: a customer management system; 40: a communication control system; 42: a packet reading section; 44: a virus defense unit; 46: a packet sending unit; 48: a band control determination unit; 50: a communication log collection unit; 52: a processing rule checking section; 54: a processing rule management unit; 56: a traffic management unit; 58: a traffic storage unit; 60: an out-of-object storage is defined.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a network structure of a communication carrier formed between a smartphone 10 held by a user and various service providing servers 14 provided on the internet 12, and depicts a Radio base station 16, an RNC (Radio network controller/Radio network controller) 18, an SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node/packet access control Node) 20, an hlr (home Location register) 22, a GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node/relay packet switch) 24, a cdr (call Detail) 26, an authentication information management device 28, a processing rule management device (PCRF/Policy and Charging Rules Function) 30, a band management device (DPI/Deep packet inspection) 32, and a customer management system 34.

Here, if each user requests a connection to the service providing server 14 from a Web browser built in the smartphone 10, the connection reaches the SGSN20 via the wireless base station 16 and the RNC 18.

The SGSN20 checks the authentication information registered in the HLR22 and the SIM information transmitted from the smartphone 10, and determines the GGSN24 as the connection destination.

The GGSN24 assigns an IP address to the smartphone 10 and registers correspondence information of the IP address and the telephone number in the authentication information management apparatus 28.

Thereafter, communication with the target service providing server 14 is started via the band management device 32, and communication between the smartphone 10 and the service providing server 14 is managed using the IP address.

The processing rule management device 30 can check with the authentication information management device 28 to acquire the telephone number of the connection source (smartphone 10), and extract the attribute information of the user from the customer management system 34 based on the acquired telephone number.

The GGSN24 sequentially stores communication information (telephone number, transmission source IP address, transmission destination IP address, communication time, and the like) in the CDR 26.

Among the above-described components, the communication control system 40 of the present invention is configured by the processing rule management device 30 and the bandwidth management device 32.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configurations of the processing rule management device 30 and the band management device 32.

The bandwidth management device 32 includes at least a packet reading unit 42, a virus protection unit 44, a packet transmission unit 46, a bandwidth control determination unit 48, a communication log collection unit 50, and a processing rule checking unit 52. The packet reading unit 42, the virus protection unit 44, the packet transmission unit 46, the bandwidth control determination unit 48, the communication log collection unit 50, and the processing rule checking unit 52 are realized by the CPU of the bandwidth management device 32 executing necessary processing in accordance with a dedicated program.

The processing rule management device 30 includes at least a processing rule management unit 54, a traffic management unit 56, a traffic storage unit 58, and a restricted object external storage unit 60. The processing rule management unit 54 and the traffic management unit 56 are realized by the CPU of the processing rule management device 30 executing necessary processing in accordance with a dedicated program. The traffic storage unit 58 and the restricted object external storage unit 60 are provided in the memory of the process rule management device 30 or in an external storage device.

The processing steps in the system 40 are described below with reference to the flowcharts of fig. 3 and 4.

First, if the band management device 32 receives a packet transmitted from the smartphone 10 via the GGSN24 (S10 in fig. 3), the packet reader 42 reads not only the header of the packet but also the data portion (S11), and the virus check is performed in the virus protection unit 44 (S12).

Next, the bandwidth control determination unit 48 determines the communication direction of the packet (S14).

In this case, since the communication direction is an upstream communication direction from the smartphone 10 to the service providing server 14 on the internet, the bandwidth control determination unit 48 extracts the destination IP address stored in the packet (S16).

Next, the bandwidth control determination unit 48 checks whether or not the bandwidth needs to be restricted for the transmission destination to the process rule management device 30 via the process rule checking unit 52 functioning as an interface (S20).

The processing rule management unit 54 that received the request (S40 in fig. 4) transmits the destination IP address to the traffic management unit 56, and acquires the accumulated traffic (S42).

That is, since the traffic storage unit 58 stores records of data items including at least IP addresses, communication start dates and times, communication end dates and times, and data traffic for each session unit, the traffic management unit 56 counts the data traffic for each domain level using the destination IP address as a key, and returns the total value (accumulated traffic) to the processing rule management unit 54.

Next, the processing rule management unit 54 determines whether or not the accumulated traffic volume exceeds a predetermined threshold (S44).

When the accumulated traffic volume exceeds the threshold value (S44/"yes"), the processing rule management unit 54 refers to the outside-of-restricted object storage unit 60 and determines whether or not the IP address is outside the restricted object (S46).

That is, the outside-restricted-object storage unit 60 is a storage unit in which the IP address of the service provider, which has made a device use fee contract with the communication provider in advance, is registered in advance, and when the destination IP address is registered outside the restricted object here (S46/"yes"), the processing rule management unit 54 generates a message "no band restriction is required" and returns the message to the band management device 32 (S48).

Even when the cumulative traffic volume of the destination IP addresses is equal to or less than the threshold value (S44/"no"), the processing rule management unit 54 generates a message "bandwidth restriction unnecessary" and returns the message to the bandwidth management device 32 (S48).

On the other hand, if the cumulative traffic volume of the destination IP address exceeds the threshold value and the IP address is not registered as a restricted object (S46/"no"), the processing rule management unit 54 generates a message "bandwidth restriction is necessary" and returns the message to the bandwidth management device 32 (S50).

The band control determination unit 48 (S22/"yes" in fig. 3) which has received the message "band needs to be limited" from the process rule management device 30 instructs the packet transmission unit 46 to transmit the packet at the limited communication speed.

The packet transmitting unit 46 that has received the command transmits the packet to the service providing server 14 as the transmission destination at a communication speed (for example, the upper limit of 192 Kbps) that is significantly slower than normal (S26).

On the other hand, when the message "band restriction is not necessary" is received from the processing rule management device 30 (S22/"no"), the band control determination unit 48 instructs the packet transmission unit 46 to transmit the packet at an unlimited speed. The packet transmission unit 46 that has received the command transmits the packet to the service providing server 14 at a normal communication speed (for example, best effort: 5.7 Mbps) (S24).

After the transmission of the packet is completed, the communication log collection unit 50 extracts the current communication log information (the source IP address, the destination IP address, the data traffic, the transmission date and time, and the like), and transmits the extracted information to the processing rule management device 30 via the processing rule checking unit 52 (S28).

The traffic management unit 56 having received this information (S52 in fig. 4) extracts the destination IP address, the data traffic amount, and the date and time from the traffic log, and stores them in the traffic storage unit 58 (S54).

Although the communication direction from the smartphone 10 to the service providing server 14 in the upstream direction has been described above, the bandwidth management apparatus 32 and the processing rule management apparatus 30 perform the same processing even in the case of the communication direction from the service providing server 14 to the smartphone 10 in the downstream direction (S14/downstream).

That is, the bandwidth control determination unit 48 extracts the source IP address stored in the packet (S18 in fig. 3), and checks whether or not the bandwidth needs to be restricted for the source to the processing rule management device 30 via the processing rule checking unit 52 (S20).

Upon receiving this, the processing rule management unit 54 (S40 in fig. 4) transmits the source IP address to the traffic management unit 56, and acquires the accumulated traffic (S42).

Next, the processing rule management unit 54 transmits a message of "band restriction unnecessary" or "band restriction necessary" to the band management apparatus (S48 or S50) depending on whether the accumulated traffic exceeds a predetermined threshold (S44) and, when the accumulated traffic exceeds the threshold, depending on whether the transmission source IP address is outside the restriction target (S46).

Then, the band control determination unit 48 that received the text message "band restriction is necessary" from the processing rule management device 30 (S22/"yes" in fig. 3) instructs the packet transmission unit 46 to transmit the packet at the restricted communication speed, and the packet transmission unit 46 transmits the packet to the smartphone 10 at an extremely slow communication speed (for example, at the upper limit of 192 Kbps) (S26).

On the other hand, when the message "no band restriction is required" is received from the processing rule management device 30 (S22/"no"), the band control determination unit 48 instructs the packet transmission unit 46 to transmit the packet at an unlimited speed, and the packet transmission unit 46 transmits the packet to the smartphone 10 at a normal communication speed (e.g., best effort: 7.2 Mbps) (S24).

After the completion of the transmission of the packet, the communication log collection unit 50 extracts the current communication log information (the source IP address, the destination IP address, the data traffic, the transmission date and time, and the like) and transmits the extracted information to the processing rule management device 30 via the processing rule checking unit 52 (S28).

Upon receiving this, the traffic management unit 56 (S52 in fig. 4) extracts the source IP address, the data traffic, and the date and time from the traffic log, and stores them in the traffic storage unit 58 (S54).

As described above, according to the communication control system 40 of the present invention, since the communication speed between the service providing server 14 and each smartphone 10, which exceeds the predetermined accumulated communication volume, is extremely suppressed by the packet transmission unit 46 of the bandwidth management device 32, the complaint from the user is shifted to the service provider.

In contrast, since the service provider registers the IP address of the own company server in the restricted-target external storage unit 60, it is expected that a contract for a device use fee or the like will be made with the communication provider.

In addition, if the large service provider side is burdened with a part of the equipment upgrade cost in this way, the cost setting of the terminal user can be reduced accordingly.

In fig. 1, a 3G network is illustrated as a network configuration of a communication carrier, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and can be applied to a network configuration such as lte (long Term evolution), adsl (asymmetric Digital Subscriber line), or dial-up.

In the above, the example in which the communication speed control system 40 is configured by the processing rule management device 30 and the bandwidth management device 32 has been described, but the hardware configuration is not limited to this, and the communication control system 40 may be configured by 1 device, or may be configured by 3 or more devices connected via a network.

Claims (2)

1. A communication speed control system arranged between a plurality of service providing servers arranged on the Internet and a plurality of mobile phones associated with a specific communication carrier, comprising:

a traffic storage unit for storing data traffic between each mobile phone and each service providing server one by one in association with the IP address of the service providing server;

an IP address of a specific service providing server is registered in advance as a storage unit outside a restricted object;

a unit for extracting the IP address of the service providing server from the packet when the packet is exchanged between the specific service providing server and the specific mobile phone;

means for calculating an accumulated data traffic amount associated with the extracted IP address with reference to the traffic storage means;

means for checking whether or not the IP address is registered as a foreign object of the restricted object with reference to the foreign object storage means when the accumulated data traffic exceeds a predetermined threshold;

a unit that determines that a band limitation is required toward the service providing server corresponding to the IP address if the accumulated data traffic volume related to the IP address exceeds the threshold and the IP address is not registered as a restricted object in the restricted-object storage unit, and determines that the band limitation is not required toward the service providing server if the accumulated data traffic volume is equal to or less than the threshold and if the accumulated data traffic volume exceeds the threshold but the IP address is outside the restricted object; and

and a unit configured to transmit the packet to the destination at a normal communication speed when the bandwidth limitation is not required for the service providing server, and transmit the packet to the destination at a speed lower than normal when the bandwidth limitation is required for the service providing server.

2. The communication speed control system according to claim 1, characterized by comprising:

and a communication log collection unit that stores the date and time when the packet was sent, the data traffic, and the IP address of the service providing server in the traffic storage unit one by one.