Open mobile business supporting system and method

• US 8,230,040 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2008
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: KT Corporation
• Original Assignee: KT Corporation
• Inventors: Choi, Byoung-Cheol, Kim, Jae-Sung, Jeon, Seog-Cheon, Kim, Min, Won, Yoo-Hoon
• Primary Examiner(s): RECEK, JASON D
• Application Number:
  US12/114,690
• Publication Number:
  US 20090248475A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,544 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 705/8, 705/34
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/325 using wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

An open mobile business supporting method and system are disclosed for effectively supporting various business models desired by a contents/service provider by providing single interface that can integrally use various resources of a mobile communication system. Low-level functions, which can be grouped as a unit function and performed in a mobile communication system, are selected among service logics of a CP/SP and defined as biz logic. The biz logic is performed according to a request of CP/SP by cooperating with a mobile communication system and various legacy systems. The result of performing the biz logic is returned to the CP/SP.

Claims

1. An open mobile business supporting method for supporting a mobile service of a content provider/service provider (CP/SP), the method comprising:

setting up, at a mobile communication system, a plurality of sets of low-level functions as a plurality of biz logics, respectively, wherein each of the biz logics comprises a plurality of low-level functions which form a unit function, wherein the biz logics are defined based on frequency of use and reusability of a communication procedure performed between the CP/SP and a mobile terminal, and wherein the mobile communication system assists the CP/SP in providing a mobile service to the mobile terminal;

receiving, at the mobile communication system, a request to perform one of the biz logics from the CP/SP;

performing, at the mobile communication system, the requested biz logic through cooperating with at least one of legacy systems of the mobile communication system; and

returning, at the mobile communication system, the result of the performed biz logic to the CP/SP,

wherein the setting up comprises;

setting up at least one of first biz objects that provides an input to a corresponding legacy system of the mobile communication system and receives a result thereof, and at least one of second biz objects that determines a next process based on the result received from the legacy system; and

forming a biz template that expresses a flow of the biz logic by arranging at least one of the first biz objects and/or at least one of the second biz objects according to a processing order and setting up information about input/output values.

2. The open mobile business supporting method according to claim 1, wherein each of the biz logics is setup to start at the CP/SP, to be performed through cooperating with a legacy system of a mobile communication system, and to end in the CP/SP.

3. The open mobile business supporting method according to claim 1, wherein the request from the CP/SP is received or the result is returned to the CP/SP by setting up an application program interface (API) per the setup business logic, calling the API function, and returning the result thereof.

4. The open mobile business supporting method according to claim 1, wherein the biz template comprises at least one of properties of biz objects included in a biz logic to embody, an order of performing the biz objects, expression of conditional branch, input parameter information for performing biz objects, a method of processing data, output parameter information exposed after performing a biz template, and time-out setup information.

5. The open mobile business supporting method according to claim 4, wherein the biz object comprises a first biz object performed through cooperating with a legacy system and a second biz object performing a comparison and determination process using the result of performing the first biz object.

6. The open mobile business supporting method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to perform a predetermined biz object from a predetermined legacy system of a mobile communication system;

performing the requested biz object through cooperating with a corresponding legacy system corresponding to the requested biz object; and

transferring a result of the performed biz object to the corresponding legacy system.

7. The open mobile business supporting method according to claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether predetermined billing conditions are satisfied or not when the biz logic or the biz objects are performed, and collecting billing information and transmitting the collected billing information to a billing legacy system of a mobile communication system if the billing conditions are satisfied.

8. The open mobile business supporting method according to claim 1, wherein the biz logics comprise at least one of the following:

a user authentication process, a terminal authentication process, a data downloading process, a data transforming process and a billing process.

9. The open mobile business supporting method according to claim 1, wherein the legacy system comprises at least one of the following:

a service platform device, an infrastructure system and a network configuration device.

10. The open mobile business supporting method according to claim 9, wherein the service platform device comprises at least one of i) a message platform unit, ii) a location based service platform (LBSP) unit, and a download platform unit, wherein infrastructure system comprises at least one of i) a CP/SP management unit, ii) a terminal information management unit and iii) an authentication unit, and wherein the network configuration device comprises at least one of i) a short message service center (SMSC) unit and ii) a cell broadcasting service center (CBSC) unit.

11. The open mobile business supporting method according to claim 1, wherein each set of the low-level functions is performed by the same legacy system of the mobile communication system.

12. An open mobile business supporting system for supporting a mobile service of a content provider/service provider (CP/SP), the supporting system comprising:

a business logic processing device configured to store, manage, and perform a plurality of biz templates each of which comprises a plurality of biz objects arranged in a predetermined order, wherein each of the biz templates is a standardized biz logic that is defined by selecting low-level functions which can be grouped as a unit function and performed in a mobile communication system, wherein the biz logics are defined based on frequency of use and reusability of a communication procedure performed between the CP/SP and a mobile terminal, wherein the mobile communication system is configured to assist the CP/SP in providing a mobile service to a mobile terminal, and wherein each of the biz objects either provides an input to a corresponding legacy system of the mobile communication system and receives a result thereof or performs a comparison and determination operation on the result received from the legacy system;

an open interface processing device configured to receive a request to perform one of the biz logics from the CP/SP, request the business logic processing device to perform the requested biz logic, receive the result of the request, and transfer the received result to the CP/SP; and

a legacy cooperation processing device configured to relay a request from a predetermined legacy system and return the result to the predetermined legacy system.

13. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 12, further comprising a memory based database (MMDB) configured to manage a request of a biz template, a result of performing a biz object/biz template, and a state thereof, wherein the business logic is configured to perform the biz template with reference to the MMDB and record the state thereof if the open interface processing unit records the requested biz template to the MMDB.

14. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 12, further comprising a repository database (DB) configured to store and manage information of a CP/SP, and service and contents information.

15. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 12, further comprising an infra channel providing unit configured to receive a request to perform a biz object from a legacy system of a mobile communication system, perform the biz object by cooperating with another legacy system through the legacy cooperation processing unit, and transfer the result to a corresponding legacy system.

16. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 15, further comprising a billing processing unit configured to collect billing logs generated by performing a biz template at the business logic processing unit or by performing a biz object in the infra channel providing unit, process the collected billing logs, and transfer the processed billing log to the billing legacy system.

17. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 15, further comprising an operating and managing unit configured to collect log information of the open mobile business supporting system and monitoring malfunctioning and performing information.

18. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 15, further comprising a web service providing unit configured to register a CP/SP or a manager through a web site, and inquire and monitor statistic data for performing an open mobile business service.

19. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 15, further comprising a message transferring unit that includes a plurality of message queues configured to store a request message, a result returning message, and a report message exchanged among the open interface processing unit, the business logic processing unit, and the legacy cooperation processing unit,

wherein the open interface processing unit, the business logic processing unit, and the legacy cooperation processing unit are configured to transfer signals by writing and reading a request message, a result returning message, and a report message to/from a predetermined message queue in the message transferring unit.

20. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 19, wherein the message transferring unit includes:

at least one of first message queues for the open interface processing unit to record a request message and for the business logic processing unit to read the response message;

at least one of second message queues set up per a legacy cooperation processing unit for the business logic processing unit to record a request message and for a corresponding legacy cooperation processing unit to read the request message,

at least one of third message queues for the legacy cooperation processing unit to record a response message, and for the business logic processing unit to the response message;

at least one of fourth queues for the legacy cooperation processing unit to record a report message from a legacy system, and for the business logic processing unit to read the recorded report message; and

at least one of fifth message queues for the business logic processing unit to record a result message, and for the open interface processing unit to read the result message.

21. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 20, wherein the first to fifth message queues are identified by a system name that transmits a stored message, a system name that receives the stored message, a message type denoting whether a stored message is a response message, a request message, or a report message, and an identification value set by a domain or an input/output processor (IOP).

22. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 20, further comprising a report open interface (ROI) processing unit configured to receive the report message from the business logic processing unit, and provide the received report message to a CP/SP system.

23. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 22, wherein the report open interface (ROI) comprises:

a message queues (MQ) adaptor configured to receive the report message from the business logic processing unit through a message queue;

a message analyzer configured to receive the report message from the MQ adaptor and transform the received report message to a class structure to be recognized internally;

a message builder configured to receive the report message from the message analyzer, and transform the received report message to be usable in a server contents/service providing system; and

a report sender configured to receive the report message from the message builder and transfer the report message to the server contents/service providing system.

24. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 23, wherein the report open interface (ROI) further comprises:

a log manager configured to create a log according to a log level, search a log of each internal configuration module, and provide the searched log to an operating and managing unit; and

a configuration manager configured to manage system environment or log generation period.

25. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 24, wherein the report open interface (ROI) further comprises a report manager configured to receive the report message from the message builder and transmit the received report message to the report sender so as to transmit the received report message to the server contents/service providing system.

26. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 25, further comprising a confirm database server configured to store the report message and session information transmitted to a server client/server, wherein the business logic processing unit is configured to obtain the report message from the confirm database server and provide the obtained report message to a CP/SP system when the CP/SP system requests the report message.

27. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 26, wherein the report message is stored and managed to be related to a unique session key generated to identify each business logic of the client CP/SP in the open interface processing unit.

28. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 26, wherein the report open interface (ROI) processing unit further comprises a scheduler configured to manage report information in the confirm database according to a predetermined period.

29. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 28, wherein the report open interface (ROI) processing unit further comprises a confirm database server manager configured to store report message and session information provided from the business logic processing unit to the confirm data server and manage the stored report message and session information.

30. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 23, wherein a request message configured to process business logic transmitted from the CP/SP system to the open interface processing unit comprises an IP address and port information to transmit the report message.

31. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 12, wherein the biz logics comprise at least one of the following:

a user authentication process, a terminal authentication process, a data downloading process, a data transforming process and a billing process.

32. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 12, wherein the legacy system comprises at least one of the following:

a service platform device, an infrastructure system and a network configuration device.

33. The open mobile business supporting method according to claim 32, wherein the service platform device comprises at least one of i) a message platform unit, ii) a location based service platform (LBSP) unit, and a download platform unit, wherein infrastructure system comprises at least one of i) a CP/SP management unit, ii) a terminal information management unit and iii) an authentication unit, and wherein the network configuration device comprises at least one of i) a short message service center (SMSC) unit and ii) a cell broadcasting service center (CBSC) unit.

34. The open mobile business supporting system according to claim 12, wherein the selected low-level functions are performed by the same legacy system of the mobile communication system.