Communication method for machine-type-communication and equipment thereof

• US 9,743,216 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2010
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales DIS France SA
• Original Assignee: Gemalto SA (Thales SA)
• Inventors: Du, Hongfei, Chen, Yu
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHAW, ROBERT A
• Application Number:
  US13/520,310
• Publication Number:
  US 20120317242A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,786 Days
• Field of Search: 709219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

The present invention discloses a communication method for machine-type-communication (MTC) between a MTC server and MTC equipments, which comprises: the MTC server broadcasts a target content related to an application, receives availability information related to the target content from candidate MTC equipments which satisfy the target content, selects any one or more MTC equipments from the candidate MTC equipments based on the availability information, establishes a session connection with each of the selected MTC equipments, and receives content uploaded by the selected MTC equipments. The invention furthermore discloses a communication method for MTC between the MTC equipments and the MTC server, and discloses the corresponding MTC server and the MTC equipment.

Claims

1. A communication method for machine-type communication (MTC) between an MTC server and MTC equipments, comprising:

broadcasting a target content request related to an application by the MTC server;

receiving, by the MTC server, availability information related to the target content from only those candidate MTC equipments which satisfy the target content request;

selecting any one or more MTC equipments from the candidate MTC equipments based on the availability information;

establishing a session connection with each of the selected MTC equipments;

receiving contents uploaded by the selected MTC equipments;

determining, by the MTC server, that it is needed to establish a new session connection when the content uploaded by any one of the selected MTC equipments does not satisfy the target content request, or upon receiving, during the content upload, unavailability notification from any one of the selected MTC equipments that does not satisfy the target content request; and

when the MTC server determines that it is needed to establish a new session connection;

releasing the current session connection with any MTC equipments determined to need a new session connection and executing the broadcasting step to the session connection establishment step.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of selecting any one or more MTC equipments from the candidate MTC equipments based on the availability information comprises:

comparing the availability information of the candidate MTC equipments with each other; and

selecting the best MTC equipment according to a requirement of the application.

3. A communication method for machine-type communication (MTC) between an MTC equipment and an MTC server, comprising:

receiving, by the MTC equipment, a target content request related to an application broadcasted by the MTC server;

determining whether the MTC equipment satisfies the target content request;

sending availability information related to the target content to the MTC server when the MTC equipment satisfies the target content request;

establishing a session connection with the MTC server in response to a session connection request from the MTC server;

uploading content onto the MTC server;

during the uploading of the content onto the MTC server, determining whether the MTC equipment satisfies the target content request; and

notifying the MTC server of information indicating that the MTC equipment is unavailable when the MTC equipment does not satisfy the target content request.

4. A machine-type communication (MTC) server for MTC, comprising one or more processors including:

broadcasting module configured to broadcast a target content request related to an application;

reception module configured to receive availability information related to the target content from candidate MTC equipments which satisfy the target content request;

selection module configured to select any one or more MTC equipments from the candidate MTC equipments based on the availability information; and

connection establishment module configured to establish a session connection with each of the selected MTC equipments;

wherein the reception module is further configured to receive content uploaded by the selected MTC equipments upon the establishment of the session connection;

determination module configured to determine whether it is needed to establish a new session connection;

wherein the determination module comprises;

a check unit configured to check whether the content uploaded by each of the selected MTC equipments satisfies the target content;

a monitoring unit configured to monitor whether information is received from any one of the selected MTC equipments indicating that the MTC equipment is unavailable;

a determination unit which determines that it is needed to establish a new session connection when the check units checks that the content uploaded by any one of the selected MTC equipments does not satisfy the target content request or if the monitoring units monitors receives the unavailability information.

5. The MTC server according to claim 4, wherein the selection module comprises:

comparison unit configured to compare the availability information of the candidate MTC equipments with each other; and

selection unit configured to select the best MTC equipment according to requirements of the application.

7. A communication system for machine-type communication (MTC), comprising:

the MTC server according to claim 4; and

at least one MTC equipment according to claim 6.

6. A machine-type communication (MTC) equipment for MTC, comprising one or more processors including:

reception module configured to receive a target content request related to an application broadcasted by the MTC server;

determination module configured to determine whether the MTC equipment satisfies the target content request;

sending module configured to send availability information related to the target content to the MTC server if the MTC equipment satisfies the target content request; and

connection establishment module configured to establish a session connection with the MTC server in response to a session connection request from the MTC server;

wherein the sending module is further configured to upload content onto the MTC server upon the establishment of the session connection;

wherein the determination module is further configured to determine whether the MTC equipment satisfies the target content request during the uploading of the content onto the MTC server; and

wherein the MTC equipment further comprises;

notification module configured to notify the MTC server of information indicating that the MTC equipment is unavailable if the determination module determines that the MTC equipment does not satisfy the target content request.