Terminal supporting peer-to-peer communication, and communication and billing methods based on the same

• US 20070129076A1
• Filed: 09/11/2006
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Cho, Sung, Kim, Byung, Park, Seong
• Granted Patent: US 7,734,292 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/436
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Provided are a terminal supporting peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, a communication method using the terminal, and a billing method based on the terminal. A transceiver of the terminal is implemented to support P2P communication with an adjacent terminal in the same cell. Thus, when short-range communication is possible, the terminal performs P2P communication directly with the adjacent terminal, not via a base station. Consequently, when terminals use different mobile telecommunication service providers or there is no base station network, the terminals can be used for short-range communication. When a receiving channel state becomes satisfactory while communication with an adjacent terminal is being performed via a base station, the terminal switches to a P2P communication mode and performs communication with the adjacent terminal. On the contrary, when the receiving channel state deteriorates while communication with the adjacent terminal is being performed in the P2P communication mode, the terminal switches to a base station communication mode and performs communication with the adjacent terminal. Therefore, it is possible to use the terminal for short-range communication without attaching an additional short-range communication module to the terminal.

Claims

1. A terminal supporting peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, comprising:

a transmission module for modulating and spreading transmission data, and outputting the transmission data as a transmission signal;

a reception module for receiving a downlink signal from a base station or a P2P signal from an adjacent terminal, de-spreading and demodulating the received signal, and outputting it as received data;

a receive channel measurer for measuring intensity of the received signal using an averaging process; and

a communication mode controller for controlling handover between a base station communication mode and a P2P communication mode according to the intensity of the received signal measured by the receiving channel measurer.

2. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the reception module comprises:

a wireless receiver for receiving a wireless signal from the base station or the adjacent terminal;

an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for receiving an analog signal from the wireless receiver, converting the received analog signal into a digital signal, and outputting the digital signal; and

a demodulator for demodulating the digital signal output from the ADC,

wherein the wireless receiver comprises;

a downlink signal receiver for receiving the downlink signal from the base station; and

a P2P signal receiver for receiving the P2P signal from the adjacent terminal, and

the demodulator comprises;

a downlink signal demodulator for demodulating the downlink signal from the base station; and

a P2P signal demodulator for demodulating the P2P signal from the adjacent terminal.

3. The terminal of claim 2, further comprising a self-interference eliminator for eliminating the influence of interference caused by a transmission signal from the received signal input to the demodulator.

4. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the communication mode controller controls the terminal to perform P2P communication with the adjacent terminal when the intensity of the received signal measured by the receiving channel measurer exceeds a threshold value, and to communicate with the adjacent terminal via the base station in the base station communication mode when the intensity of the received signal measured by the receiving channel measurer is less than the threshold value.

5. A communication method using a terminal supporting P2P communication, comprising the steps of:

(a) performing, by a first terminal and a second terminal adjoining to each other and supporting P2P communication within the radius of the same cell, communication in one of a base station communication mode and a P2P communication mode;

(b) periodically measuring, by at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal, intensity of a received signal; and

(c) switching, by at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal, to one of the base station communication mode and the P2P communication mode according to the measured intensity of the received signal, and performing communication with a counterpart.

6. The communication method of claim 5, wherein the P2P communication is one of half-duplex P2P communication and full-duplex P2P communication.

7. The communication method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

when the first terminal supporting P2P communication is connected to a base station, registering the P2P communication mode of the first terminal in the base station; and

when the second terminal supporting P2P communication is connected to a base station, registering the P2P communication mode of the second terminal in the base station

8. The communication method of claim 5, wherein the first or second terminal performs P2P communication using a scrambling code.

9. The communication method of claim 5, wherein step (c) comprises the sub-steps of:

determining, by at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal, whether or not the measured intensity of the received signal exceeds a threshold value;

when the measured intensity of the received signal exceeds the threshold value, determining that a receiving channel state is satisfactory, switching to the P2P communication mode, and performing P2P communication with a counterpart; and

when the measured intensity of the received signal is less than the threshold value, determining that the receiving channel state is poor, switching to the base station communication mode, and performing communication with the counterpart via a base station.

10. The communication method of claim 5, further comprising the step of performing, by the first or second terminal, power control using a closed-loop power control scheme in the P2P communication.

11. A billing method based on a terminal supporting P2P communication, comprising the steps of:

performing, by a first terminal and a second terminal adjoining to each other and supporting P2P communication within the radius of the same cell, communication in one of a base station communication mode and a P2P communication mode;

when the first terminal and the second terminal communicate with each other in the P2P communication mode, storing communication records of the first and second terminals;

when the communication modes of the first and second terminals are switched to the base station communication mode, transmitting the stored communication records to a base station; and

performing a billing process in response to the transmitted communication records.