Personalized service providing system and profile information classifying and processing method thereof

The present invention relates to a personalized service providing system and a profile information classifying and processing method thereof. The system, linked to a plurality of subscriber stations to provide a personalized service to a subscriber station, classifies and processes profile information for the service. In the profile information classifying and processing method, a) subscriber profile information is generated, b) the subscriber profile information is classified into static profile information and dynamic profile information, and c) the dynamic profile information is selected from the subscriber station to manage the selected dynamic profile information and the static profile information is selected from the system to manage the selected static profile information. The the static and dynamic profile information is classified into public and private profile information to manage the classified static and dynamic profile information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2004-0108245 filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 17, 2004, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information classifying and service providing system, and more particularly, to a method for classifying and processing profile information and a personalized service providing system using the method.

(b) Description of the Related Art

In general, a customized service has been provided for a user when services based on available resources including predetermined contents are provided for the users through a network. The available resources are not randomly selected but are selected based on subscriber profile information to provide the customized service (i.e., a personalized service). Various methods for providing the personalized service have been studied, and in the methods, the service is generally formed based on the user profile information.

A prior art relating to the personalized service may be found in Korean Patent Publication No. 2003-0054104 entitled “Contents personalization method and apparatus by aggregating multiple profiles”. In this patent, a profile is provided including information about user preferences, terminal content display, content display conditions, and content developer's requirements, a standard for generating personalized contents is automatically generated by matching the profile information according to a predetermined standard, and the personalized contents are generated according to the generated standard to be provided to a user terminal.

In the prior arts, the personalized service is provided by using the profile information and available resources without considering a subscriber environment which is varied in real time.

That is, the personalized service is provided in a centralized method using the profile information of users registered in a system without considering the subscriber environment which is dynamically varied according to a place and a time. In addition, when the profile information relating to the user is provided to the system, the system uses the provided profile information and available resources according to a subscriber location, and provides a customized personal service to the subscriber.

However, the profile information underpinning the personalized service may vary depending on the subscriber environment. Accordingly, an optimum personalized service may not be provided to the subscriber when the subscriber profile information previously provided to the system is used without considering the changing subscriber profile information.

Accordingly, it is required to efficiently classify and manage the subscriber profile information so as to provide the optimum personalized service.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a method for efficiently classifying and processing subscriber profile information that varies according to time and location, and to provide an optimized service according to a subscriber environment by generating a subscriber-related service profile based on the subscriber information varying in real time, searching available resources based on the service profile, and using the searched resources.

In an exemplary method for classifying and processing the profile information for a personalized service in a system providing the service to a plurality of subscriber stations linked to the system through a network, a) subscriber profile information is generated, b) the subscriber profile information is classified into static profile information and dynamic profile information, and c) the dynamic profile information is selected from the subscriber station to manage the selected dynamic profile information and the static profile information is selected from the system to manage the selected static profile information, and the static and dynamic profile information is classified into public and private profile information to manage the classified static and dynamic profile information.

An exemplary system linked to a plurality of subscriber stations through a network to provide a personalized service to a plurality of subscriber stations according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an authentication unit, a profile generator, a resource manager, and a service provider. The authentication unit determines a location of the subscriber accessing the system through the network, and identifies the subscriber. The profile generator receives terminal profile information according to a subscriber's current situation from the subscriber station, and includes a storage module storing the system profile information provided for the respective subscribers. The resource manager manages and stores information on available resources to processed on a network. The service provider selects the available resource based on the applied service profile, and provides the personalized service to the subscriber station based on the selected available resources. In addition, the terminal profile information is classified into dynamic/public profile information and dynamic/private information, and the system profile information is static/public profile information and static/private profile information. In addition, the profile generator selects the system profile information from the storage module based on the identified subscriber information, combines the terminal profile information provided by the subscriber station and the system profile information, and generates the service profile.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, through an agent technology in a distributed environment, subscriber profile information is separately managed in a subscriber station and a system, the profile information is classified into static profile information which is not varied according to time and context and dynamic profile information that is varied according to time and context, and the static and dynamic profile information is classified into private and public information, and therefore a personalized service based on optimum profile information is provided according to a subscriber's establishment.

The subscriber profile information may include the static profile information including name and social security number, and the dynamic profile information may include current address, phone number, and location (i.e., whether the subscriber is in a room alone, a meeting room, or a public place). In addition, the subscriber profile information may include private profile information relating to privacy, feeling, and so on, and the private profile information may be temporarily released to the public according to a user request. Since the private profile information including the subscriber's feeling is temporarily converted into the public profile information when the subscriber feels depression and is unwilling to receive a contact, more accurate information may be provided to a system providing the personalized service.

In further detail, the subscriber profile information is classified into the dynamic/static and the private/public information, the subscriber profile information is separately provided to agents in a subscriber station and a system, and a customized service may be provided through a profile negotiation between the two agents. That is, a service profile which is a basic source for providing the personalized service is generated. When the profile negotiation is performed, the subscriber profile information (hereinafter, referred to as terminal profile information) provided from the subscriber station to the system is filtered by using a dynamic profile filter so as to transmit information satisfying predetermined conditions.

Based on the classified profile information, profiles separately stored in the subscriber station and the system, rather than subscriber profiles concentrated on the system, are processed by an interworking operation between the agents in the system and the subscriber station, and a subscriber related profile for providing a new service in real time (hereinafter, referred to as a service profile) is generated. Based on the service profile, available resources are found in a subscriber environment, an appropriate available resource for the service profile is searched from the found available resources, and a predetermined service is provided based on the appropriate available resources for the service profile.

As described, according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the user profile information for the personalized service is efficiently classified and separately provided to the agents in the subscriber station and the system, and the service profile according to the subscriber environment is generated in real time through the negotiation between the agents, and therefore the personalized service optimized according to the subscriber environment may be provided. The available resource includes data and contents for configuring a service provided through a network, and the service provided to the subscriber includes various services to be provided through the network.

A configuration and an operation of a system realizing the method for classifying and processing the profile information for the personalized service according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described.

FIG. 1shows a diagram for representing the configuration of the system realizing the method for classifying and processing the profile information for the personalized service according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 2shows a configuration of a subscriber station according to the exemplary embodiment.

The system realizing the method for classifying and processing the profile information for the personalized service according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention (hereinafter, referred to as an information classifying and service providing system) is linked to a subscriber station300through a network200. For convenience of description, subscriber stations310,320, and 3N (N=30, 40, 50, . . . ) will be referred to as the subscriber station300.

The information classifying and service providing system100includes a profile generator11functioning as a system agent for negotiating with a terminal agent installed in the subscriber station300and generating a service profile, a service provider12functioning as a service agent for providing a personalized service based on the service profile, an authentication unit13sensing the subscriber station and registering a subscriber to the service provider12through an authentication process, and a resource manager14functioning as a resource management agent for managing information on available resources around the sensed subscriber.

The profile generator11further includes an information storage module111storing profile information previously provided for each subscriber, and generates a service profile based on the stored profile information and profile information provided by interworking with the subscriber station300. The profile information stored in the information storage module111may be referred to as “system profile information”, which is static profile information.

Accordingly, static/public profile information and static/private profile information as the system profile information are respectively stored in the information storage module111of the profile generator11. However, the static profile information may be temporarily or permanently varied in a profile varying process through an authentication process for the subscriber station300, and the variation may be performed according to a request and a control of the terminal agent of the subscriber station300.

Based on the service profile, the service provider12selects an optimized resource for the subscriber from the resources provided by the resource manager14, and provides the optimized resource (i.e., a service) to the subscriber station.

The authentication unit13includes an authentication information module131storing information for performing authentication for each subscriber, and performs the authentication operation based on information provided by the sensed subscriber station and information stored in the authentication information unit. The authentication unit13provides identification information for the authenticated subscriber station300(e.g., an identification (ID) for each subscriber) to the service provider12, and registers the subscriber station300on the service provider12.

The resource manager14manages information on the available resources around the sensed subscriber station, and provides the information to the service provider12. Various methods may be used to manage the available resource information. For example, a service location protocol (SLP) which is an existing standardized protocol may be used, and a list of the available resources may be previously stored in an extensible markup language (XML) format. In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the resource manager14has a function for establishing a resource type, and available resource information is stored in the XML script format in a method or a standard selected by the resource type establishment. The stored available resource information is transmitted to the service provider12, and is used as data for providing the personalized service to the subscriber with the service profile.

In addition, the service profile generated by the profile generator11is formed in the XML format. Basically, the profile information is previously stored in the information storage module111of the profile generator11(the profile information provided when the subscriber subscribes to the information classifying and service providing system), a new value and additional profile information about the existing profile information are managed by the terminal agent installed in the subscriber station300, and the information is used to generate the service profile.

As shown inFIG. 2, the subscriber station300linked to the information classifying and service providing system100through the network200includes a terminal controller31, a signal transmitting and receiving device32, and a user interface device33.

The terminal controller31includes a profile information processor311functioning as a terminal agent for generating subscriber profile information and providing the information to the system100, a plurality of sensors312sensing various types of information on the subscriber station or various types of information on the subscriber, and a storage unit313storing the information about the subscriber.

The profile information processor311generates the terminal profile information which is the subscriber profile information based on predetermined information provided through the user interface device33and/or predetermined subscriber information provided by the sensors312, and cooperates and negotiates with the profile generator11of the system100based on the terminal profile information so as to generate a service profile. More specifically, the profile information processor311classifies and manages the terminal profile information by using a predetermined key, and stores the terminal profile information in the storage unit313as necessary so as to manage the information. Accordingly, as shown inFIG. 2, the profile information processor311includes a profile filter311afor filtering the terminal profile information according to a predetermined condition, an information classifying module311bfor classifying and processing the filtered terminal profile information, and a processing module311cfor negotiating with the profile generator which is an agent of the system based on the classified terminal profile information so as to generate the service profile. The profile filter311awhich is a group of filters varies values of the plurality of profile information, the values satisfying a predetermined condition.

In addition, the profile information processor311provides the subscriber information stored in the storage unit313to the authentication unit13of the system100so as to perform authentication and registration of the subscriber station.

The storage unit313stores the subscriber information, and the subscriber information includes a subscriber ID used for registering the subscriber on the system100, subscription information including a password, an identification number provided to the subscriber station, and terminal capacities.

In addition, the profile information measured by the sensor312is classified by the profile information processor311to be stored. The terminal profile information classified and stored in the subscriber station300is the dynamic profile information varying according to environments including subscriber's feeling/context, time, and location, and the dynamic terminal profile information may be classified into dynamic/public profile information and dynamic/private profile information.

The sensor312includes a plurality of sensors including a location determining sensor for communicating with an external device to measure a location of the subscriber station (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS), or a location determining device), a health determining sensor for determining a subscriber's health, an environment determining sensor for determining environmental factors including temperature and humidity around the subscriber station, a speed measuring sensor for measuring an accelerated velocity according to the movement of the subscriber station, and a biometric sensor for measuring biometric information about fingerprints and the iris.

As described, the information measured by the respective sensors may be classified, processed, and filtered by the profile information processor311to be provided to the system100, and therefore the system may provide the personalized service to the respective subscribers based on the subscriber's mood, location, time, and requirements in a predetermined environment.

The terminal controller31according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention including the profile information processor311, the storage unit313, and the sensors312may further includes a plurality of modules for transmitting/receiving data to/from the system100through the network200, and processing the data. The modules are well known to those skilled in the art, and therefore a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The signal transmitting and receiving device32includes a transmitter321for transmitting a signal, and a receiver322for receiving the signal. The transmitter321processes a modulated and encoded signal and transmits the signal over the air.

The signal transmitting and receiving device32and user interface device33are well known to those skilled in the art, and therefore a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

An interworking environment between the terminal agent (the profile information processor) installed in the subscriber station300and the system agent (the profile generator) installed in the system100is shown inFIG. 3.FIG. 3schematically shows the agent-based interworking environment for the personalized service. As shown inFIG. 3, profile negotiation and profile variation processes may be performed by the interworking operation between the terminal agent of the subscriber station300and the system agent of the system100.

A method for providing the personalized service according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described based on the above configuration.

Firstly, a method for classifying and processing the profile information according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the profile information is formed in the XML language format to facilitate extension and application, and corresponding profile information is arranged with reference to tag names. However, the profile information is not limited to the XML language format but covers various language formats.

FIG. 4shows a diagram for representing a profile classification standard and a profile classification method according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

A subscriber profile tag SubscriberProfile is provided to the subscriber profile information, and the subscriber profile information is managed. As shown inFIG. 4, a subscriber information tag SubscriberInfo t2, a static profile tag StaticProfile t3, and a dynamic profile tag DynamicProfile t4as sub-tags are provided under the subscriber profile tag t1.

The subscriber information tag t2may include operator information for providing a service, subscriber information, and key values (ID and password) for authenticating the subscriber.

A public tag Public and a private tag Private are respectively provided under the static profile tag t3and the dynamic profile tag t4, and thereunder, various subscriber profile information is stored.

In addition, the terminal profile information stored and managed by the subscriber station300includes the subscriber information tag t2and the dynamic profile tag t4, and the public and private profile tags are included under the dynamic profile tag t4. The subscriber communicates with the profile information processor311(terminal agent) through the user interface device33, and may dynamically modify various information in the dynamic profile tag t4.

The terminal profile information may include an alarm flag tag AlarmFlag, a location tag Location, and a feeling tag Feelingas shown inFIG. 4.

The alarm flag tag is to notify the system not to provide a service to the subscriber when it is not urgent, and the location tag is to manage a subscriber's location by the subscriber so that subscriber location information may not be used by the system according to a subscriber's request. The feeling tag classified as the private information is to represent a current subscriber feeling. When the feeling tag is converted as the private information to be transmitted to the profile generator11(the system agent), the profile generator11generates the service profile based on the feeling information to control the service provider12(the service agent) to provide an appropriate personalized service regarding the subscriber's feeling to the subscriber. The feeling tag is provided to a subscriber area, that is, the feeling tag is processed as the terminal profile information to provide more choices to the subscriber. Accordingly, the subscriber may receive the personalized service based on the profile information provided by the subscriber in real time rather than the personalized service provided by the system.

In addition, the system profile information stored and managed by the system100includes the subscriber information tag t2and the static profile tag t3, and the public and private profile tags are provided under the static profile tag t2. This classification may be varied by the subscriber.

A value of the static profile tag t3corresponding to the system profile information is stored in the system as an initial subscriber information type established when the subscriber initially subscribes to a service. The value may be modified by the subscriber. For example, the value of the static profile tag t3may be modified after the subscriber is authenticated by the system100through the profile information processor311of the subscriber station300.

A process for providing the personalized service to subscribers based on the profile information classified as above will now be described.

FIG. 5shows a diagram for representing relations for varying the profile information by the interworking operation between the subscriber station300and the system100and providing the personalized service based on the varied profile information, andFIG. 6shows a flowchart for representing a process for providing the personalized service.

As shown inFIG. 5, the personalized service is provided by the profile information processor311functioning as the terminal agent of the subscriber station300, the profile generator11functioning as the system agent of the system100, the service provider12functioning as the service agent, and/or the authentication unit13functioning as a registration agent (not shown).

As shown inFIG. 6, the authentication unit13of the system100senses the sensor312installed in the subscriber station300, interworks with the profile information processor311of the subscriber station300, and receives the subscriber information and the subscriber station location information in step S100.

That is, the sensor312of the subscriber station300communicates with an externally installed device, generates current subscriber station location information, and transmits the current subscriber station location information to the authentication unit13of an access network through the signal transmitting and receiving device32. According to a signal transmitted by the sensor312of the subscriber station300, the authentication unit13senses the subscriber station300and acknowledges a location of the subscriber station. In addition, the profile information processor311of the subscriber station300leads the subscriber information (e.g., the subscriber identification number or the terminal identification number) stored in the storage unit313, and provides the subscriber information to the authentication unit13. The authentication unit13identifies a subscriber of the sensed subscriber station based on the subscriber information provided by the subscriber station300. In addition, an access point of the subscriber station is acknowledged based on the information. For example, the access point may be found by the SIP server when a session initiation protocol (SIP) uniform resource identifier (URI) registered on an additional SIP server and the subscriber station having the SIP uniform resource locator (URL) is accessed.

The authentication unit13interworks with the profile generator11to perform a subscriber registration process in step S200. The authentication unit13compares the subscriber information with the information stored in the authentication information module131, performs the authentication of the subscriber, provides the subscriber identification information used for performing the registration for using the service of the system100to the profile generator11(the system agent) when the authentication is finished, and registers the subscriber. In addition, the authentication unit13provides information on the access point of the subscriber station300to the profile generator11.

When the subscriber authentication and registration is finished, the profile generator11(the system agent) negotiates with the profile information processor311(the terminal agent) by using the access point of the subscriber station300, and generates a service profile in step S300.

In further detail, the profile filter311aof the profile information processor311of the subscriber station300filters the information provided by the sensor312or the user interface device33, and the information classifying module311bof the profile information processor311classifies the terminal profile information into the static/public profile information and static private profile information. The processing module311ctransmits the filtered and classified terminal profile information to the profile generator11of the system100through the transmitting and receiving device32.

The profile generator11(the system agent) generates the service profile by combining the subscriber profile information (i.e., the system profile information) selected from the information storage module111based on the terminal profile information and the subscriber identification information transmitted from the authentication unit13. That is, the profile generator11combines the previously stored service profile information and the terminal profile information additionally provided from the subscriber station300, and generates the service profile according to the dynamically varying current subscriber environment. Accordingly, the system profile information may be varied according to the terminal profile information.

FIG. 7shows a diagram of a configuration of the generated service profile.

As shown inFIG. 7, the service profile finally generated through the profile negotiation between the terminal agent and the system agent includes a subscriber service profile tag SubscriberServiceProfile st1, a subscriber information tag SubscriberInfo st2, and a profile information tag ProfileInfo st3that are provided under the subscriber service profile tag SubscriberServiceProfile st1, and the profile information selected by the negotiation is arranged under the profile information tag st3. The information is inputted to the service provider12(the service agent) and is used as information for providing the personalized service to the subscriber.

The generated service profile is transmitted to the service provider12(the service agent), and at this time, the access point information of a corresponding subscriber station300is also transmitted in step S400. While the access point information is not additionally defined in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, standardized information such as the SIP URI may be used.

To generate the personalized service, the service provider12receiving the service profile interworks with the resource manager14and receives available information in step S500. A service to be provided to the subscriber is formed by using the transmitted available information in step S600, and the transmitted available information may be formed in the XML format. The formed service may be a web-based service, and may be formed in a list of links of a corresponding service. In addition, the service may be formed in a script for directly controlling the selected available resources by using an additional protocol.

The service information generated by the service provider12is provided to the subscriber station300, and the profile information processor311of the subscriber station300provides corresponding information to the subscriber through the user interface device33in step S700.

In an integrated environment including a wired communication domain, a circuit and packet based wireless communication domain, and a next generation IP-based All IP domain, the exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be applied to an environment including networks performing various communication services in order to provide a ubiquitous service and an environment in which subscribers of corresponding domains are cooperated with each other to support mobility between networks while providing separated services.

According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the subscriber profile information varying depending on the time and location may be efficiently classified and processed.

In addition, the subscriber profile information is separately stored and managed by the subscriber station and the system, and therefore the optimum service profile may be provided by negotiating and combining the separately provided subscriber profile information. The personalized service may be provided by using the agent in a distributed environment, and therefore the optimum personalized service may be provided by using intellectual functions of the subscriber station.

In addition, the subscriber profile information is provided not only to the system but also to the subscriber station to be managed, so that the subscriber may manage the profile information relating to the subscriber. Accordingly, the personalized service may be provided according to more realistic environment of the subscriber.

Therefore, the appropriate service according to the subscriber environment may be provided by using arbitrary resources in a ubiquitous service environment.