WO2003067447A1

WO2003067447A1 - System and method for maintaining mobile network connection

Info

Publication number: WO2003067447A1
Application number: PCT/KR2002/000175
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jeung-Woo Jhwa; Byung-Ik Ahn; Seung-Joo Park; Seung-Hyouk Yim; Gap-Chun Back
Original assignee: Ktfreetel Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2002-02-06
Filing date: 2002-02-06
Publication date: 2003-08-14
Also published as: AU2002232275A1

Abstract

Disclosed is a mobile network connection maintaining system that includes a base station for communication with a mobile terminal including a network search function in a mobile region, a base station controller for controlling the base station, and a mobile switching center for processing calls of a mobile communication subscriber and performing additional services. A user service details database stores mobile network service use details of a subscriber. A keep-alive system (KAS) server monitors a request for connecting to the mobile network of the mobile communication service and a response to the request, stores final service details, and recovers the most recently accessed web site or menu on the basis of the stored final mobile network service details after the connection of the mobile communication terminal to the mobile network is terminated to let a user continuously use the mobile network.

Description

System and Method for Maintaining Mobile Network Connection

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a system and method for

maintaining mobile network connections. More specifically, the present

invention relates to a system and method for maintaining a user's mobile

network connections.

(b) Description of the Related Art

In general, the Internet is a network connected worldwide in order

to exchange information. In order to access information provided by the

Internet, a user must execute a client program referred to as a web

browser. In order to search for information on a web, a program of

searching information provided by a web server to the computer of the

user and displaying the searched information on a screen with characters

or graphics is required. Such a program is referred to as the web browser.

The web browser is software based on the Windows environment, and it

is a multimedia search program that supports images, sound files, and

moving pictures, as well as characters.

The web browser connects the user to the Internet, and various

web servers are also connected to the Internet. The web browser

connects to a specific web server by sending a specific command. The

web server uses a computer program such as the web browser connected to the Internet to transmit information to clients.

When the user is connected to the Internet, the user can search

various web sites that comprise web pages containing information on

specific themes or companies, in the form of characters and pictures. The

web pages are created in hypertext markup language (HTML), and have

unique uniform resource locators (URL).

The user can search for information from the Internet by inputting

the URL to the web browser. A web page has connection information (link

information) to other web pages, as well as characters and pictures.

Therefore, it is possible to request a specific web page. Also, the web

page can be provided in a predetermined form, to which the user can

input information.

When the user inputs information to the web page and transmits

the information to the web server, the web server can provide other

information according to the information input by the user.

The web browser can be executed when it is installed on a

computer directly connected to the Internet, and it can also be connected

through a wire/mobile telephone network on a portable apparatus such as

a portable telephone or a personal portable terminal.

In order to search for desired information by connecting to the

Internet through the wire/mobile telephone network, the user first makes a

telephone call to thus be connected to the Internet. The user requests a

desired web page and receives the web page on the portable apparatus, and then inputs desired information to the web page to search for

information. However, when it takes a long time to input the desired

information to the web page, it costs a lot to perform the above process

on the portable apparatus.

In the current hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) standard, the

connection is canceled right after the user accesses a specific URL. Therefore, new connection and cancellation cycles are repeated

whenever the user accesses a home page or other URLs, and overhead

is accordingly generated. Because the mobile Internet environment has a

lower speed and a longer delay time than the wire Internet, the overhead caused by connection and cancellation is large, which significantly affects communication performance. Although the recent specification (HTTP

1.1) of the HTTP supports keep-alive HTTP connections, it is an option and it is difficult to use as a consistent keep-alive method.

Also, in a conventional technology, when the user connects to the

Internet, the Internet is simply in a connection-ready state. It is not

possible to continuously use a previously used service. Currently, the browser has a history function, but the function is very restrictive such

that only the URL is memorized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for maintaining a user's mobile network connections in a mobile network

environment.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a system

for performing network connection and maintenance.

In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile

network connection maintaining method, comprising (a) when a mobile

network user requests a protocol for connecting to the network, checking user information to generate a registered user session and to output a

first session ID when the user is a registered user, and to generate a new user session and to output a second session ID when the user is a new

user, (b) processing a mobile network connection request according to

the protocol for connecting to the mobile network on the basis of the first or second session ID output in the step (a), (c) checking whether a corresponding user requests cancellation of the mobile network

connection, (d) terminating a session and storing a session ID and recent

service details in a user service details database (DB) when the user requests cancellation of the mobile network connection in the step (c),

and (e) returning to the step of processing the mobile network connection

request according to the protocol for connecting the mobile network of the

step (b) and storing the session ID and the recent service details in the

user service details DB when the user does not request cancellation of

the mobile network connection in the step (c).

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a web browsing method for maintaining mobile network connections ,

comprising (a) checking whether a new mobile network connection is set,

(b) transmitting a protocol for connecting to the mobile network and

receiving a response according to the protocol when the new mobile

network connection is set in the step (a), (c) performing a process

according to the mobile network response received in the step (b), (d)

driving a mobile network keep-alive timer, (e) checking whether a protocol

for connecting to the new mobile network is input to thus check whether a

set time of the mobile network keep-alive timer has lapsed when the

protocol is input, (f) returning to the step (a) when it is determined in the

step (e) that the set time of the network keep-alive timer has lapsed, and

(g) stopping driving the network keep-alive timer and returning to the step

(b) when it is determined in the step (e) that the set time of the network

keep-alive timer has not lapsed.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a

mobile network connection maintaining system comprising a base station

for performing communication with a mobile communication terminal

comprising a network search function in a mobile region, a base station

controller for controlling the base station, and a mobile switching center

(MSC) for processing calls of a mobile communication subscriber and

performing additional services. The mobile network connection

maintaining system comprises a user service details database (DB) for

storing mobile network service use details of a subscriber; and a keep- alive system (KAS) server for monitoring a request for connecting to the

mobile network of the mobile communication service and a response to

the request, storing final service details, and recovering the most recently

accessed web site or menu on the basis of the stored final mobile

network service details after the connection of the mobile communication

terminal to the mobile network is terminated, to thus let a user

continuously use the mobile network.

According to the mobile network connection maintaining system

and method, it is possible to let the user consistently connect to the HTTP

in the mobile Internet environment and to trace the service use details of

the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and

constitute a part of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the

invention, and, together with the description, serve to explain the

principles of the invention:

FIG. 1 describes a mobile Internet keep-alive system according to

an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a mobile Internet keep-alive

method in a keep-alive system (KAS) server of FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a mobile Internet keep-alive method in a mobile communication terminal of FIG. 1

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, only the preferred

embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, simply by

way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by the inventor(s) of

carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of

modification in various obvious respects, all without departing from the

invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded

as illustrative in nature, and not restrictive.

FIG. 1 describes a mobile Internet keep-alive system according to

an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the mobile Internet keep-alive system

according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a mobile

communication terminal 100 having an Internet search function, a base

station 210, a base station controller 220, a mobile switching center

(MSC) 230, an inter-working function (IWF) server 240, a keep-alive

system (KAS) server 250, and a user service details database (DB) 260.

The mobile communication terminal 100 including the Internet

search function requests an Internet connection service and receives a

service in response to the request, the base station 210 performs

communication with the mobile communication terminal 100 in a mobile region, the base station controller 220 controls the base station, and the

MSC 230 processes the call of a mobile communication subscriber and

an additional service.

The IWF server 240, which can easily install further components,

performs the inter-working function between a personal communication

services (PCS) network and a conventional data network. That is, the

IWF server 240 checks packet data provided by the MSC 230. The IWF

server 240 controls audio data to be output to a common public switched telephone network (PSTN) via the MSC 230 in the case of call data, and

provides the data to the KAS server 250 in the case of other data.

The KAS server 250 checks data provided by the IWF server 240.

The KAS server 250 provides a corresponding service according to the HTTP request, stores the service details in the user service details DB 260, and terminates the corresponding service when the data provided by

the IWF server 240 is determined to be from a registered user. The KAS

server 250 refers to the user service details DB 260 and keeps the

currently connected HTTP alive when a request for connecting to the Internet is input by the corresponding user.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining a mobile Internet keep-alive

method using the KAS server of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGs. 1. and 2, when an HTTP request for connecting

to the Internet is output by the mobile communication terminal 100 of the

user (S110), the user service details DB 260 is referred to and the user information is searched (S120) to check whether the user is a registered

user (S130). At this time, the detected user information is a user ID, for

example, user information such as a mobile telephone number.

A registered user session is generated and a session ID is output

when it is determined in step S130 that the user is a registered user

(S132), and a new user session is generated and the session ID is output

when the user is determined to be a new user (S134).

The HTTP request of the user mobile communication terminal

100 is processed by accessing an internal or external service on the

basis of the session ID output in S132 or S134 (S140).

It is checked whether the user requests cancellation of the mobile

Internet connection (S150), and in the affirmative, the session is

terminated (S160) and the service details are stored in the user service

details DB 260 (S170).

When the user does not request cancellation of the mobile

Internet connection in S150, the process returns to S140 to repeat the

process of processing the HTTP request and to store the session ID and

recent service details in the user service details DB 260 (S170).

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a mobile Internet keep-alive

method in the mobile communication terminal of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGs. 1 and 3, after setting a new Internet connection

environment (S210), the HTTP request is transmitted to the mobile

communication network including the KAS server 250 (S220). The HTTP response provided from the mobile communication

network is received (S230) and the response is performed such that the

corresponding web page is displayed on the web browser (S240).

An Internet keep-alive timer included in a web browsing program

according to the present invention is driven (S250) to check whether a

new HTTP request is input (S260). Here, the set time of the driven

Internet keep-alive timer is preferably 30 seconds.

When the new HTTP request is input in S260, it is determined

whether the set time of the Internet keep-alive timer has lapsed (S270).

When it is determined that the time has lapsed, the process returns to

S210. When it is determined that the time has not lapsed, the process

returns to S220 after stopping the Internet keep-alive timer (S280).

As mentioned above, according to the present invention, the KAS

server for managing a continuous HTTP connection between the mobile

communication terminal including the web browsing function and the web

server, that is, the mobile Internet and the wire Internet, is formed to keep

the HTTP connection alive. During the operation, the entire HTTP request

of the user is transmitted to the KAS server. The KAS server

communicates with the web server designated by the HTTP request,

receives the HTTP response, and transmits the HTTP response to the

mobile communication terminal. At this time, because the KAS server

does not cancel the connection according to the termination of the

response, the user does not have to set and cancel the HTTP connection when the user accesses a new site or a new URL.

Also, the KAS server, which is an intermediate system,

continuously monitors the request and the response of the user, and

stores the final service details in memory. Accordingly, it is possible to

continuously use the mobile Internet service by recovering the position of

the web site or the menu that is recently or most recently accessed after

the Internet connection is intentionally or abnormally terminated by the user.

Also, when the user re-connects to the mobile Internet, it is possible to let the user select whether to re-connect to the mobile Internet

service or to connect to a new service.

While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred

embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the

disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and

scope of the appended claims.

As mentioned above, according to the present invention, it is

possible to let the user consistently connect to the Internet by forming a

system for managing a protocol for continuous Internet connection

between the mobile communication terminal of the user and the web

server, that is, between the mobile Internet and the wire Internet in the

mobile Internet environment. Also, it is possible to trace the service use details of the user in

the mobile Internet environment because the service use details of the

user are stored in the user service details DB.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A mobile network connection maintaining method, comprising:

(a) when a mobile network user requests a protocol for

connecting to the network, checking user information to generate a

registered user session and to output a first session identification (ID)

when the user is a registered user, and to generate a new user session

and to output a second session ID when the user is a new user;

(b) processing a mobile network connection request according to

the protocol for connecting to the mobile network on the basis of the first or second session ID output in the step (a);

(c) checking whether a corresponding user requests cancellation of the mobile network connection;

(d) terminating a session and storing a session ID and recent

service details in user service details when the user requests cancellation of the mobile network connection in the step (c); and

(e) returning to the step of processing the mobile network connection request according to the protocol for connecting the mobile

network of the step (b) and storing the session ID and the recent service

details in the user service details when the user does not request

cancellation of the mobile network connection in the step (c).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user information is

checked on the basis of the information stored in the user service details in the step (a).

3. A web browsing method for maintaining mobile network

connections, comprising:

(a) checking whether a new mobile network connection is set;

(b) transmitting a protocol for connecting to the mobile network,

and receiving a response according to the protocol when the new mobile

network connection is set in the step (a);

(c) performing a process according to the mobile network

response received in the step (b);

(d) driving a mobile network keep-alive timer;

(e) determining whether a protocol for connecting to the new

mobile network is input and checking whether a set time of the mobile

network keep-alive timer has lapsed when the protocol is input;

^' (f) returning to the step (a) when it is determined in the step (e)

that the set time of the network keep-alive timer has lapsed; and

(g) stopping driving of the network keep-alive timer and returning

to the step (b) when it is determined in the step (e) that the set time of the

network keep-alive timer has not lapsed.

4. The method of claim 1 or 3, wherein the protocol for

connecting the mobile network is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP).

5. A mobile network connection maintaining system comprising a

base station for performing communication with a mobile communication

terminal comprising an network search function in a mobile region, a base

station controller for controlling the base station, and a mobile switching

center (MSC) for processing calls of a mobile communication subscriber

and performing additional services, the mobile network keep-alive system

comprising:

a user service details database (DB) for storing mobile network

service use details of a subscriber; and a keep-alive system (KAS) server for monitoring a request for

connecting to the mobile network of the mobile communication service and a response to the request, storing final service details, and recovering the most recently accessed web site or menu on the basis of

the stored final mobile network service details after the connection of the mobile communication terminal to the mobile network is terminated, to

thus let a user continuously use the mobile network.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the keep-alive server lets the

user of the mobile communication terminal select whether to re-connect

to a previous service or to connect to a new service when the user re¬

connects to the mobile network.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the termination of connection to the mobile network is either intentional termination of connection to the

mobile network by the user or abnormal termination of connection to the

mobile network by the user.