METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACCESSING BASE STATION BY SERVICE

• US 20150173045A1
• Filed: 12/10/2014
• Published: 06/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Lee, Seung-Hwan, Song, Jae Su
• Granted Patent: US 9,584,649 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72448 with means for adapting the functionality of the device according to specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• 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

A method and apparatus for a terminal to access a base station in a heterogeneous environment are provided. The terminal acquires RAT (Radio Access Technology) selection criteria based on reference information. Then, the terminal selects, for each service, at least one of multiple transceivers that provide access to the base station according to the RAT selection criteria, and provides the corresponding service by accessing the base station through the selected transceiver.

Claims

1. A method for a terminal to access a base station in a heterogeneous network environment, the method comprising:

acquiring RAT (Radio Access Technology) selection criteria based on reference information;

selecting, for each service available on the terminal, at least one of multiple transceivers that provide access to the base station according to the RAT selection criteria; and

providing the corresponding service by accessing the base station through the selected transceiver.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference information comprises at least one of QoE (Quality of Experience) information, service category, time, and location.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the QoE (Quality of Experience) information comprises QoS (Quality of Service), which describes technical performance factors including at least one of data rate, delay, packet loss, and jitter, and QoP (Quality of Perception), which describes non-technical performance factors.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the reference information further comprises information user-related or surrounding environment-related information, and the user-related or surrounding environment-related information comprises at least one of the following:

terminal location information, time information, space information, input from functional modules of the terminal, input from a network, direct input form the user, an ID defined during the stage of development of a service application (app), an ID assigned by an app provider'"'"'s site, an ID arbitrarily allocated to the terminal when downloading and installing an app, input from other service apps, and terminal system information.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring service classification criteria; and

classifying services available on the terminal into service groups according to the service classification criteria, and

in the selecting of a transceiver, at least one of the multiple transceivers that provide access to the base station is selected for each service group according to the RAT selection criteria.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, in the selecting of a transceiver, a transceiver preset for each service group is selected for access to the base station according to the RAT selection criteria.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the service classification criteria and the RAT selection criteria are the same.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing of a service comprises:

if the service is an app-based service, downloading and installing the app on the terminal or activating the existing app previously installed on the terminal when a condition for app installation or activation occurs; and

when a condition for app deletion or deactivation occurs after the installation or activation of the app, deleting the app installed on the terminal or deactivating the activated app.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the condition for app installation or activation and the condition for app deletion or deactivation comprises at least either location or time.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, in the activating, if the terminal is in a location included in the condition for app installation or activation or the current time corresponds to a time included in the condition for app installation or activation, the app is downloaded and installed on the terminal, or the existing app is activated, and in the deactivating, if the terminal is in a location included in the condition for app deletion or deactivation or the current time corresponds to a time included in the condition for app deletion or deactivation, the app is installed on the terminal is deleted, or the activated app is deactivated.

11. A method for a terminal to access a base station in a heterogeneous network environment, the method comprising:

acquiring service classification criteria based on reference information;

classifying services available on the terminal into service groups according to the service criteria;

selecting at least one transceiver preset for each service group; and

accessing the base station through the selected transceiver and providing the corresponding service.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the reference information comprises at least one of QoE (Quality of Experience) information, service category, time, and location.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the reference information further comprises user-related or surrounding environment-related information, and the user-related or surrounding environment-related information comprises at least one of the following:

terminal location information, time information, space information, input from functional modules of the terminal, input from a network, direct input form the user, an ID defined during the stage of development of a service application (app), an ID assigned by an app provider'"'"'s site, an ID arbitrarily allocated to the terminal when downloading and installing an app, input from other service apps, and terminal system information.

14. An apparatus for a terminal to access a base station in a heterogeneous network environment, the apparatus comprising:

a reference information processor that provides RAT (Radio Access Technology) selection criteria and service classification criteria based on reference information;

a service classifier that classifies a plurality of services available on the terminal into service groups based on the service classification standard;

a plurality of transceivers that provide access to the base station according to different RATs; and

an RAT selector that selects at least one of the transceivers for each service group according to the RAT selection criteria.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the reference information comprises at least one of QoE (Quality of Experience) information, service category, time, and location.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the reference information further comprises user-related or surrounding environment-related information, and

the user-related or surrounding environment-related information comprises at least one of the following:

terminal location information, time information, space information, input from functional modules of the terminal, input from a network, direct input form the user, an ID defined during the stage of development of a service application (app), an ID assigned by an app provider'"'"'s site, an ID arbitrarily allocated to the terminal when downloading and installing an app, input from other service apps, and terminal system information.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the QoE (Quality of Experience) information comprises QoS (Quality of Service), which describes technical performance factors including at least one of data rate, delay, packet loss, and jitter, and QoP (Quality of Perception), which describes non-technical performance factors.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the reference information processor comprises:

an information storage unit that stores the reference information;

a user interface that receives output values related to the user'"'"'s response action; and

a quality information measurement unit that processes the output values through a preset measurement algorithm to produce QoE (Quality of Experience) information and store the same in the information storage unit.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the information storage unit stores information measured by sensors installed on the terminal as raw data and uses the same as the reference information.