WO2004088526A1

WO2004088526A1 - Radio lan access service system and charging method for radio lan access service system

Info

Publication number: WO2004088526A1
Application number: PCT/JP2003/004068
Authority: WO
Inventors: Daisuke Shinomiya
Original assignee: Fujitsu Limited
Priority date: 2003-03-31
Filing date: 2003-03-31
Publication date: 2004-10-14
Also published as: JPWO2004088526A1; JP3964908B2

Abstract

A radio LAN access service system for providing a radio LAN access service without limiting users. A radio terminal is connected to the Internet through a radio LAN service network having an access point and an authentication server. The authentication server judges whether or not user registration of the radio terminal connected to the access point is present with reference to user registration data held by a database. If the user registration of the radio terminal is absence, the authentication server inquires the charging method from the radio terminal through a guest login processing section and authenticates the charging method reported from the radio terminal. If the charging method is authenticated, the authentication server connects the radio terminal to the Internet according to the authenticated charging method.

Description

Specification

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Billing method in wireless LAN access service system and wireless LAN access service system

Technical field

The present invention relates to a wireless LAN access service system, and more particularly, to a wireless LAN access service system that enables smooth billing processing. Conventional technology

In recent years, with the rapid spread of personal computers, the functions and performance of computers and networks themselves have been increasing. In particular, in Internet access, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and FTTH (Fiber To The Home) have spread as high-speed Internet access services, and the time to use the Internet has been increasing.

However, these high-speed Internet access services are fixed lines and cannot be used by users outside. Therefore, access services in stores and public areas are being developed using wireless LANs, which are rapidly spreading recently, as access lines. These services can be provided relatively easily by installing wireless LAN access points and are gradually increasing.

In general, these services are often provided by restaurants and other stores together with telecommunications carriers for the purpose of attracting customers, and end users are not charged by using infrastructure. This limits the area of use.

It is also possible to receive a roaming service that charges for the service only for users who have contracted with a specific service provider (see Patent Document 1). In many cases, the usable range is limited, for example, it can only be used.

(Patent Document 1)

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-125609 Summary of the Invention

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable smooth payment processing as a usage fee for a wireless LAN access service, thereby providing a wireless LAN access service without restricting users. .

A first aspect of the wireless LAN access service system according to the present invention that achieves the above object is to provide a wireless LAN access service for connecting a wireless terminal to the Internet through a wireless LAN network having an access point and an authentication server without restricting users. A service system, wherein the authentication server determines whether there is user registration of the wireless terminal connected to the access point based on user registration data stored in a database, and in a case where there is no user registration of the wireless terminal. The authentication server queries the wireless terminal for a billing method by the guest login processing unit, authenticates the billing method notified from the wireless terminal, and, when the billing method is authenticated, the authentication server Connecting the wireless terminal to the Internet according to the billing method provided It is characterized by the following.

Further, a second aspect of the wireless LAN access service system that achieves the above object of the present invention is that the authentication server comprises: a database for storing user registration data; a normal processing unit; and a guest login processing unit. The server determines the presence or absence of user registration of the wireless terminal connected to the access point based on the user registration data held in the database, and in the case of the user registration of the wireless terminal, The authentication server, as a proxy server, sends a message from the wireless terminal to an Internet service provider for which the wireless terminal is to be registered, and connects the wireless terminal to the Internet by the Internet service provider. And without the user registration of the wireless terminal. In this case, the authentication server queries the wireless terminal for a charging method by the guest login processing unit, authenticates the charging method notified from the wireless terminal, and, if the charging method is authenticated, The wireless terminal is connected to the Internet according to the charging method.

According to a third aspect of the wireless LAN access service system that achieves the above object of the present invention, in the second aspect, the charging method notified from the wireless terminal includes a credit card. In the case of payment by credit card, the guest login processing unit sends authentication information of the user of the wireless terminal to a corresponding credit company, and the credit company authenticates a charging method of the wireless terminal. It is characterized by having done.

According to a fourth aspect of the wireless LAN access service system that achieves the object of the present invention, in the second aspect, the authentication server further includes a confirmation processing unit, and a charging method notified from the wireless terminal is a prepaid method. In the case of payment by card, the authentication server compares the code value described in the prepaid card with the code value held in the confirmation processing unit, and performs authentication of the credit card. You.

The features of the present invention will become more apparent from embodiments of the present invention described with reference to the following drawings. '' Brief description of the drawing

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an authentication sequence when the 802, IX protocol is applied to a wireless LAN.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a network to which the wireless LAN access service system of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a sequence flow chart showing a processing procedure for realizing the wireless LAN access service system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of an EAP message-related process in the authentication server 103.

Figure 5 is the format of EAP itself.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a new code in the format of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the definition of the charging method.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of the EAP message-related processing of the wireless terminal. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Here, as an example, the present invention provides an ITU (International Telecommunications Union) presented 802.1X + EAP Performs authentication and accounting based on the protocol. Therefore, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, an outline of the above-described 802.1X + EAP protocol will be described before describing the embodiments.

When the 802.IX protocol is applied to a wireless LAN, authentication is performed between wireless terminal 1, access point 2, and authentication server 3 in the sequence shown in Fig. 1. In the example of Fig. 1, for simplicity, the EAP—MD5 protocol, which is one of the recommendations for authentication and uses MD5 (Message Digest 5), a message compression encryption method, is used. The processing in this case will be described.

[Start of E APO L]

In FIG. 1, when requesting the start of the authentication procedure from the wireless terminal 1 (step S21-1), a start (EAP0L-Start) packet is transmitted to the access point 2 in the wireless section. This procedure is specified as an option in the 802.1X protocol.

[Notification of ID]

The access point 2 that has received the start (EAP0L-Start) packet transmits a response message (EAP-Request / Identity) to the wireless terminal 1 (step S2-2). Upon receiving the response message (EAP-Request / Identity), the wireless terminal 1 transmits an acknowledgment message (EAP-Response / Identity) in response to the response message (Step S2-3).

After that, the access point 2 only bridges the communication between the authentication server 3 and the wireless terminal 1 and does not participate in the authentication process. Therefore, the confirmation message (EAP-Response / Identity) from the wireless terminal 1 is transmitted to the remote authentication dial 'in' user service (Radius: Remote Authentication Dial in User; service). / EAP-Message) to the authentication server 3 (step S2-4).

[Authentication]

Upon receiving the authentication request message (Radius-Access-Request / EAP-Message), the authentication server 3 sends an access confirmation message (Access-Challenge / EAP-Message) to the wireless terminal 1 to perform authentication (step S 2—5). This access confirmation message notifies the wireless terminal 1 to be authenticated which method is to be used, and the processing thereafter differs depending on the authentication method. Upon receiving this message, the wireless terminal 1 transmits its own password (step S2-6).

[Notification of authentication result]

Next, the authentication server 3 that has received the password from the wireless terminal 1 performs authentication using the user's ID / password, and transmits the result (step S2-7). If the authentication results in success, send an Accept message; otherwise, send a Reject message.

[Key Notification]

When the access from the wireless terminal 1 is permitted as a result of the authentication, the encryption key is transmitted from the access point 2 to the wireless terminal 1 for use in the wireless section (step S218). Such processing is also specified as an option in the 802.IX protocol.

FIG. 2 is an example of a network configuration to which the wireless LAN access service system of the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 2, ISP database server 101 is connected to the Internet 100 via an ISP (Internet service provider) network 111, and is connected to a credit company network 111. The credit company data server 102 is connected via. A user using the wireless terminal 105 can be configured as described in I.

Manages the ISP network 1 1 1 to access the SP database server 1 1 1 The power to be a contractor with the ISP, or the network of a credit company

A contractor with a credit company that manages 1 1 2

The wireless access point 104 is a wireless LA managed by an authentication server 103 functioning as a proxy server for the ISP database server 101.

Connected to N access service network 113.

In such a configuration, a procedure for realizing the wireless LAN access service system according to the present invention for connecting the wireless terminal 105 to the Internet 100 via the wireless access point 104 will be described below. I do. The processing sequence between the wireless terminal 105 and the access point 104 is the same for the 802.1X + EAP protocol processing shown in Fig. 1, and the notification of the user authentication (Identity) to the authentication server 103 is performed. (Step S2-4).

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the EAP message-related processing in the authentication server 103. Upon receiving the notification of the user authentication (Identity) (step S2-4), the authentication server 103 determines the type of the message in the message determination unit 41. Then, if the message is a connection request, it refers to the ISP list database 42 and determines whether or not there is a realm (Realm) of the user authentication (Identity) described by the user name @ Realm. Judge.

If there is an ISP list database 4 2, it operates as a proxy that forwards to the ISF authentication server 101 corresponding to the user authentication realm. Send a message to The normal processing unit 44 generates an EAP message by the message processing unit 45 and sends it to the corresponding ISP server 101. Thereafter, communication is performed between the wireless terminal 105 and the ISP server via the access point 104.

Next, a feature of the present invention is as follows. In the authentication process in the message discriminating unit 41, when there is no one corresponding to the realm of the user authentication (Identity) in the ISP list database 42, Will be described below.

FIG. 4 is a sequence flow showing the procedure of such processing.

[Request billing method information] (Fig. 41)

If there is no corresponding realm for user authentication in the ISP list database 42, the authentication process is treated as a process for guest login, and the received EAP message is sent to the guest login process unit 43.

The guest login processing unit 43 instructs the message generation unit 45 to generate a message and to transmit the message to the user, that is, the wireless terminal 105 in order to request the user for a charging method and the information.

The EAP message transmitted to and received from the wireless terminal 105 uses the format shown in FIGS. Figure 5 shows the format of EAP itself. As shown in Fig. 5 (A), it has a code, an identifier, a packet length, and a data part. As shown in Fig. 5 (B), this has a charging method type, a data length, and a charging method information section.

Further, in FIG. 5 (A), as shown in FIG. 6, the code information includes a new code ([5. Guest-Request], [o. Guest-Response], [7. Guest-Accept], [8. [5. Guest-Request] is used to issue a request to the authentication user to inform the user of the billing method and information. [6 Guest-Response] is a response to [5 Guest-Request] and is used to notify the billing method and its information. Figure 5 (B)) does not exist.

[Notification of billing method information] (Fig. 3 Π)

The wireless terminal 105 that has received the [5. Guest-Request] message notifies the user of the billing method and its information as shown in Fig. 7 using the [6. Guest-Response] message. .

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of the EAP message-related processing of the wireless terminal 105. Except for the [5. Guest-Request] message in the message discriminating unit 51, the normal processing unit 54 processes it. If the message discriminating unit 51 determines that the message is a [5. Guest-Request] message, the message generating unit 52 generates a [6. Guest-Response] message and sends an instruction to transmit it.

The message generating unit 52 inquires the information storage unit 53 to receive the set charging method and related information, and generates and transmits a [6. Guest-Response] message. At this time, if the information is not set in the information storage section 53, an instruction is issued to the data input section 55, a dialog is displayed on the screen, and the user inputs the billing method and the information.

The accounting method is specified in the accounting method type field of the data section (see Fig. 5 (b)). Select [1. Prepaid card] or [2. Credit card] as the billing method type value (see Fig. 7).

When adding a new billing method other than [1. Prepaid card] or [2. Credit card], for example, Web money, etc., add the type value.

The message generation unit 52 stores the message billing method information unit (see Fig. 5 (b)) Depending on the billing method type value, "1" indicates the code value described on the prepaid card, and "2" indicates the name, expiration date and number of the credit card company and card holder that can be used. Set in the charging method information section and send the message.

[Result notification] (Fig. 3H)

Upon receiving the [6. Guest-Response] message, the authentication server 103 checks the billing method type value and inquires the confirmation processing unit 46 whether the information is correct. That is, when the message discriminating unit 41 confirms that [6. Guest-Response], the guest login processing unit 43 sends a message to the confirmation processing unit 46 to perform the confirmation process. Ask for confirmation.

In the confirmation processing unit 46, when a credit card is used, the authentication server 103 notifies the information to the credit card company 102 and inquires whether it is correct. Inquiries to the credit card company may use SSL that is commonly used in Internet shopping, or use other methods pre-arranged between the wireless LAN access service provider and the card company It is also possible.

When a prepaid card is used, the code value of the prepaid card is determined by the confirmation processing unit 46 to determine whether or not the card is a genuine card.

If the authentication server 103 can confirm by the confirmation processing unit 46 that payment can be made in the manner requested by the user as described above, the guest login processing unit 43 sends a message to the message generation unit 45. Instructs to send a guest authentication (7. Guest-Accept) message if confirmed and a guest reject (8. Guest-Reject) message if payment is not possible. As a result, the message generator 45 generates the instructed message and transmits it to the wireless terminal 105.

If the guest authentication is confirmed, the authentication server 103 becomes the ISP and connects the wireless terminal 1 to the Internet 100. Industrial applicability

According to the present invention, as described above with reference to the drawings, Users other than the mobile ISP can use the wireless LAN access service.

Also, by using the mechanism of the present invention, the business operator can provide a wireless LAN access service that can be used without regard to whether the user is in a wireless LAN access service area affiliated with his / her ISP. Can be.

From this point, according to the present invention, in the wireless LAN access service, it is easy to develop a business in which charging is performed when an access line is provided, and a user can use the wireless LAN access service without having to worry about an area that he or she can use. Therefore, it is possible to expand wireless LAN access services.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. A wireless LAN access service system for connecting a wireless terminal to the Internet via a wireless LAN network having an access point and an authentication server without restricting users,

The authentication server, based on user registration data stored in a database, determines whether or not there is user registration of the wireless terminal connected to the access point.If there is no user registration of the wireless terminal, the authentication server: The guest login processing unit inquires the wireless terminal of a charging method, authenticates a charging method notified from the wireless terminal, and, if the charging method is authenticated, according to the authenticated charging method, A wireless LAN access service system, wherein a wireless terminal is connected to the Internet.

2. A wireless LAN access service system,

The authentication server includes a database for storing user registration data, a normal processing unit, and a guest login processing unit,

The authentication server determines, based on user registration data stored in the database, whether or not there is user registration of the wireless terminal connected to the access point. If there is user registration of the wireless terminal, the normal processing unit The authentication server as a proxy server sends a message from the wireless terminal to an Internet service provider for user registration of the wireless terminal, and the Internet service of the wireless terminal Make a connection to

When there is no user registration of the wireless terminal, the authentication server queries the wireless terminal for a charging method by the guest login processing unit, authenticates a charging method notified from the wireless terminal, and performs a charging method. Is authenticated, the wireless terminal is connected to the Internet according to the authenticated charging method.

A wireless LAN access service system, characterized in that: '

3. In Claim 2, When the charging method notified from the wireless terminal is payment by credit, the guest account processing unit sends authentication information of the user of the wireless terminal to a corresponding credit company; A wireless LAN access service system, characterized in that a terminal billing method is authenticated.

4. In Claim 2,

The authentication server further includes a confirmation processing unit, and when the billing method notified from the wireless terminal is payment using a prepaid card, the authentication server converts the code value described in the prepaid card into the code value. A wireless LAN access service system, wherein the credit card is authenticated by comparing with a code value held in a confirmation processing unit.

5. A charging method in a wireless LAN access service system that connects a wireless terminal to the Internet through an access point and a wireless LAN network having an authentication server,

The authentication server determines whether there is user registration of the wireless terminal connected to the access point,

If there is user registration of the wireless terminal, the authentication server acts as a proxy server to send a message from the wireless terminal to an Internet service provider to be registered by the wireless terminal, and the Internet server Making a connection to the Internet of the wireless terminal by a mouth binder,

If there is no user registration of the wireless terminal, the authentication server queries the wireless terminal for a charging method, authenticates the charging method notified from the wireless terminal, and, if the charging method is authenticated, the authentication Connect the wireless terminal to the Internet according to the billing method provided

A charging method in a wireless LAN access service system, characterized in that:

6. In Claim 5,

When the charging method notified from the wireless terminal is payment by credit, A charging method in a wireless LAN access service system, wherein authentication information of a user of the wireless terminal is sent to a corresponding credit company, and the credit company authenticates a charging method of the wireless terminal.

7. In Claim 5,

When the accounting method notified from the wireless terminal is payment by a prepaid card, the authentication server compares the code value written on the prepaid card with a code value previously held, and A billing method in a wireless LAN access service system, comprising performing card authentication.