Providing talk burst assignment in group communication system supporting PTT service

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a PTT (Push to Talk) service, and more specifically, to a user terminal in a group communication system supporting a PTT service. Burst allocation method of traffic.

Background technique

PTT (Push to Talk) is a service used to support instant communication between two users, such as walkie-talkie services. When the user presses the PTT button of the PTT terminal, the PTT device can be used in one-to-one or one-to-one group (one-to-many) Way to communicate.

Generally, the PTT service system includes PTT terminals that support the PTT service, and a PTT server that controls the voice and data communication between the PTT terminals and controls the "right to speak" (or right to speak) process of each PTT terminal. In other words, a user who is granted the right to speak is said to be granted a "floor" or a "talk burst", and these expressions can be used interchangeably.

In this way, the right to talk (or burst of traffic) process involves the allocation of qualifications for sending data in half-duplex communication such as PTT services, and is used to prevent situations in which more than two users send data and conflict with each other . That is, the PTT device grants or denies the traffic burst request (or the floor request) from each user, so that only one user (PTT terminal) has the right to speak at a time and other users can only listen.

In the prior art PTT service system, when a user who wishes to obtain the speaking right presses the key of the PTT terminal to request the speaking right, if the speaking right has not been allocated to any PTT terminal, the PTT server sends a traffic burst grant message (speaking right grant Message) to the corresponding PTT terminal of the user. However, if the speaking right has been allocated to any PTT terminal, the PTT server sends a traffic burst rejection message (speaking right rejection message) to the corresponding PTT terminal of the user.

200510087574.8 The PTT terminal that receives the traffic burst grant message from the PTT server is allowed to send the voice and data input by the user to one or more other PTT terminals via the PTT server. The PTT terminal that receives the traffic burst rejection message from the PTT server outputs error information to notify the user that the traffic burst is rejected.

The user who confirmed the error message should then request the speaking right again by pressing the key of the PTT terminal after the speaking right of the other user is released.

In this way, in the existing traffic burst allocation method in the PTT service system, a user who wishes to obtain the right to speak requests a traffic burst by pressing the key of the PTT terminal. When another user already has the right to speak, the user must wait until the other user releases his right to speak, and thereafter can request the right to speak again by pressing the key of the PTT terminal.

In the prior art traffic burst allocation method in the PTT service system, when a user who owns the data to be sent requests the right to speak, the user may not have the right to speak because other users already have the right to speak. In addition, when the user does not press the PTT button at the appropriate time (that is, after other users release their right to speak), the user may lose the right to speak with other users, and other users may press the PTT terminal faster than the user. PTT button.

In addition, in the prior art traffic burst allocation method in the PTT service system, even if the user has the data that should be sent first, because the user loses the right to speak with other users or because other users already have the right to speak, it may Voice and data cannot be transmitted as quickly as possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The inventor of the present invention is aware of the shortcomings of the prior art. That is, when each user wants to use a group (point-to-multipoint) communication system such as a half-duplex communication system like Push-to-Talk (PTT) to talk to other users, the existing technology cannot sufficiently help multiple users to obtain speech right. Preferably, when more than one user wishes to obtain the right to speak and to obtain the right to speak (that is, the right to transmit), each transmits a transmission request (for example, a request to speak, a traffic burst request, etc.)

200510087574.8 At the first time, users should be assigned priorities so that they take turns speaking (ie, "speaking") according to the priority assigned to them, and considering granting or denying their transmission requests. Similarly, in the prior art, the user's floor request is sent to the server only every time the user presses the PTT button. In this way, if another user already has the transmission privilege (that is, the right to speak), the current user must press his PTT button again to resend his request to speak, and may need to repeat this process until the other user ends (that is, until Release the right to speak). Therefore, the inventor of the present invention provides a solution to the above-mentioned shortcomings.

In order to achieve the purpose of the present invention, a user terminal of a group communication system supporting half-duplex communication is provided. The user terminal includes: a transceiver, which transmits and receives communication signals; and a half-duplex function module, which is activated to allow transmission Voice and data and invalidate them to allow the reception of voice and data; a processor, which works in conjunction with a transceiver and half-duplex function module; and a storage medium, which contains instructions that can be executed by the processor to complete the following steps. In the case of selection, the half-duplex function is activated, and in response to the user pressing the button of the terminal, a request is sent to the server to obtain communication privileges. The feature is that the instruction is executed by the processor to cause the user terminal to further perform the steps: Keep pressing the button to resend the request to the server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The included drawings that provide a further understanding of the present invention are incorporated into and constitute a part of the present invention, illustrate the embodiments of the present invention and explain the principles of the present invention together with the description.

In the drawings: FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing sequential steps in a first embodiment of a traffic burst allocation method according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing sequential steps in a traffic burst allocation method according to the present invention; A flowchart of sequential steps in the second embodiment of the burst allocation method; and FIG. 3 depicts a group communication system showing a server and a single user terminal according to the present invention, although multiple user terminals may be used.

200510087574.8 First Embodiment Hereinafter, some preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, some known functions or structures are not described in detail, because this will obscure the present invention in unnecessary details. Several exemplary embodiments of the present invention that can be used alone or in any combination to implement traffic burst allocation will be described in detail below.

Push-to-talk, usually omitted as PTT, is a conversation method of a half-duplex communication line, which allows voice communication to be sent by pressing a button and allowing voice communication to be received when the button is released. Such a PTT feature is implemented in recent mobile terminals (eg, mobile phones, cell phones, wireless devices, etc.), which allows the mobile terminal to be used as a digital two-way radio (eg, walkie-talkie) in a push-to-talk operation. Each time one person can speak by pressing the PTT button and one or more other people can listen immediately. Some PTT schemes are based on 2.5G packet switching networks (for example, CDMA, GPRS, etc.), and use special protocols, namely, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and RTP (Real Time Transport Protocol). These specific versions of PTT are called "Push to Talk over Cellular" (or cellular buttons) and are usually omitted as PoC.

As the cellular communication network continues to develop and is suitable for the transmission of various types of data (voice, image, audio, video, multimedia, etc.), various Internet access technologies are used. An example is the Internet Protocol (IP), which is a data-oriented protocol used by source and destination hosts to communicate data via a packet-switched network (for example, the Internet), and examples include IPv4, IPv6, and so on.

Among the various features of PTT (including a special form of PTT called PoC), the floor control process involving the server (for example, the PTT server) and the client (for example, the PTT client) will be considered below. Specifically, the server can be considered as a centralized point for granting "speaking rights" to PTT users who wish to speak to the speaking group. That is, the user can "get the right to speak" and speak to other users who can only listen to it during this period. The client includes various mechanisms that facilitate the allocation of priority rights necessary in granting users to speak.

200510087574.8 When multiple users send transmission requests (for example, requests for the right to speak, traffic burst requests, etc.) to obtain the right to speak (to talk to other users), they should be allocated by considering granting or denying their transmission requests. Priority allows users to speak in turn. For example, priority can be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. For each transmission request from each client, the server can grant or deny each request based on the communication environment or other factors.

In the present invention, traffic burst allocation can also be referred to as obtaining the right to speak (or right to speak) or obtaining permission to send (access request). A user who is granted the right to speak is said to be granted a "speaking right" or a "traffic burst" granted, and these expressions can be used interchangeably.

In the traffic burst allocation method according to the present invention, when a user requests the right to talk (burst of traffic), if another user already has the right to talk (burst of traffic) and therefore cannot be granted the users traffic For burst requests, the priority of the corresponding PTT terminal is increased (increased) based on the length of time during which the user presses the PTT button, and the PTT terminal with the highest priority is given the right to speak. Here, if the user releases the PTT key of the PTT terminal whose traffic burst request is rejected, the priority of the corresponding PTT terminal is initialized, for example, to the value "0".

In the PTT service system according to the present invention, if the traffic burst request is rejected so that the PTT terminal does not obtain the right to speak, the priority can be increased (increased) in the PTT server or in the PTT terminal itself.

The PTT service system according to the present invention includes a PTT terminal with a PTT button and a PTT server, and the PTT server is used to determine the priority of the traffic burst request of the PTT terminal and allocate the speaking right to the PTT terminal with the highest priority. Here, the priority can be counted in the PTT server or the PTT terminal itself.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart showing sequential steps in the first embodiment of the traffic burst allocation method according to the present invention, in which the traffic burst allocation method by which the PTT server counts priority is explained. Here, it can be understood that such a counting process can be implemented through a timer or counter mechanism.

200510087574.8 When the user presses the PTT button (Sil), the PTT terminal recognizes the PTT button in the pressed state and sends a traffic burst request (speaking right request) message to the PTT server (S12).

The PTT server that receives the traffic burst request message determines whether the traffic burst has been allocated to another user (S13). If the traffic burst is not allocated to any other user, the PTT server sends a traffic burst grant (speaking right) The grant) message is sent to the corresponding PTT terminal of the user and the traffic burst is allocated to the PTT terminal (S14).

However, if it is determined that the traffic burst has been assigned to another user, the PTT server sends a traffic burst rejection (speaking right rejection) message to the corresponding PTT terminal to notify that the traffic burst cannot be assigned to it, and the PTT The server then increases (increases) the priority of the traffic burst of the PTT terminal by one step (level) (S15). That is, you can continue to increase the priority to the next higher priority level. However, it is understandable that the priority level can be increased in multiple levels if necessary. For example, when the user keeps pressing the PTT key, the current priority level can be increased in single-step increments within the first 3 seconds, and thereafter, the current priority level can be increased in two or more step increments to increase over time. Increase the probability that the user obtains the right to speak.

The PTT terminal receiving the traffic burst rejection message notifies the user that the traffic burst has been rejected (S16). This notification can be realized by audio, video, tactile means or any combination thereof, such as outputting an error message on the display screen of the PTT terminal. The user who confirms the error message decides whether to maintain or release the traffic burst request state (S17). That is, the user can either cancel his request for speaking right by releasing the PTT button, or keep his speaking right request by continuing to press the PTT button .

When the user keeps the PTT button pressed to maintain the traffic burst request state, the PTT terminal resends the traffic burst request message to the PTT server after a specific time (S12). That is, when the PTT button is kept pressed, the PTT terminal Resend the traffic burst request message periodically.

200510087574.8 No. Here, the time period of such retransmission can be changed by, for example, the PTT terminal itself or the reception instruction from the PTT server. That is, the time period of retransmission may be relatively short (for example, 1 second) or relatively long (for example, 3 seconds). A shorter period may be advantageous because it will allow the user to quickly obtain his right to speak, but the frequent transmission of traffic burst requests can lead to high consumption of unneeded wireless resources and battery energy. A relatively long period may be beneficial for reducing the use of wireless resources and conserving battery energy, but the user may experience a delay in obtaining his right to speak.

A combination of short and long time periods can also be used during the duration of the individual traffic burst request (that is, when the user keeps pressing the PTT key). For example, during the first 5 seconds when the user keeps pressing the PTT button, the traffic burst message can be resent every 0.5 second (that is, ten resends during the 5 second period), and if the user is after the first 5 seconds Keep pressing the PTT button, and the traffic burst message will be resent every 2 seconds. In this way, retransmissions can be performed relatively frequently initially, and retransmissions can be performed at a lower frequency later. Therefore, the resending can be changed as needed.

If the user has a traffic burst, the PTT server again increases (increases) the priority of the corresponding PTT terminal (S13 and S15). That is, when the user continues to press the PTT key, the PTT terminal periodically sends a traffic burst request message Sent to the PTT server, and whenever the traffic burst request is rejected, the PTT server increases (improves) the priority of the corresponding PTT terminal by one step.

However, when the user who has confirmed the traffic burst rejection message releases the pressed PTT key to release the traffic burst request (S18), the PTT terminal sends a traffic burst request deletion message to the PTT server (S19), and The PTT server initializes the priority of the corresponding PTT terminal to "0" (S20). That is, the PTT terminal is initialized to have a zero priority level.

Fig. 2 shows a second embodiment of a method for traffic burst allocation according to the present invention

200510087574.8 The flow chart of the second sequential steps, which is a traffic burst allocation method for the case where the PTT terminal calculates the priority of its traffic burst.

When the user requests a traffic burst by pressing the PTT button (S41), the PTT terminal sends a traffic burst request message to the PTT server (S42) ο The PTT server that receives the traffic burst request message confirms whether the traffic burst It has been allocated to another user (S43), and if the traffic burst is not allocated, the PTT server sends a traffic burst grant message to the corresponding PTT terminal (S44). If the traffic burst is granted, the PTT server sends a traffic burst rejection message to the corresponding PTT terminal (S45).

The PTT terminal receiving the traffic burst rejection message outputs an error message to notify the user that the traffic burst has been rejected, and the priority for the traffic burst is increased (increased) by one step (S46)_O The user who has confirmed the error message determines whether to maintain or release the traffic burst request state (S47) to maintain or release the pressed state of the PTT key.

When the user continues to press the PTT key to maintain the traffic burst request state, the PTT terminal sends the traffic burst request message together with the priority of the corresponding PTT terminal to the PTT server after a certain period of time (S49).

If the traffic burst has been allocated to another PTT terminal, the PTT server that has received the priority of the PTT terminal and the traffic burst request message sends the traffic burst rejection message to the corresponding PTT terminal (S43 and S45) o The PTT terminal receiving the traffic burst rejection message outputs an error message and at the same time increases (increases) its traffic burst priority by one step (S46). However, if the traffic burst is not allocated to other PTT terminals, the PTT server allocates the traffic burst to the PTT terminal (S44).

That is, when the user continues to press the PTT key, the PTT terminal periodically sends a traffic burst request message and priority to the PTT server. Whenever the PTT server rejects the traffic burst

200510087574.8 is the first request, the PTT terminal increases (improves) its traffic burst priority by one step.

However, if the user who has confirmed the traffic burst rejection message releases the pressed state of the PTT button to release the traffic burst request (S49), the priority stored in the PTT terminal itself is initialized to "0" and no longer Send a traffic burst request message (S50).

In the PTT service system according to the present invention, because the PTT server first (initially) assigns the traffic burst to the PTT terminal with the highest priority, the user who has the urgent data to be sent can keep the PTT button pressed The state thus increases (upgrades) his priority to obtain a traffic burst.

As described so far, in the traffic burst allocation method in the PTT service system according to the present invention, since the traffic burst priority of the PTT terminal is increased (increased) in a time-dependent manner during the user pressing the PTT key, And the traffic burst is allocated according to the priority. Even if the traffic burst has been assigned to another user or the user does not press the PTT button at the appropriate time to lose his/her traffic burst to other users, the user can still Get traffic bursts quickly.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a traffic burst distribution method in a PTT (Push to Talk) service system, which is used to provide priority based on the time the user keeps pressing the PTT button and to allocate traffic bursts according to the priority. hair.

In order to achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as specifically and broadly described herein, a PTT service system including one or more PTT terminals and a PTT server is provided for controlling each PTT terminal. A traffic burst allocation method for bursts of traffic, by which the PTT server allocates the traffic bursts to PTT terminals with high priority regarding the traffic bursts.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the traffic burst allocation method in the PTT service system includes: if the PTT server receives a traffic burst request message from a specific PTT terminal, judging whether the traffic burst is allocated to the corresponding PTT Terminal; when it judges not to divide the traffic burst

200510087574. 8 When the corresponding PTT terminal is allocated to the corresponding PTT terminal, the PTT server will increase the traffic burst priority of the PTT terminal by one step, and send a traffic burst rejection message from the PTT server to the PTT terminal; through the received traffic burst rejection message The PTT terminal monitors the pressing state of the PTT button; and if the PTT button continues to be pressed for a period of time, the traffic burst request message is resent from the PTT terminal to the PTT server.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the traffic burst allocation method in the PTT service system includes: if the PTT server receives a traffic burst request message from one or more PTT terminals, judging whether the traffic burst has been allocated to Other PTT terminals; if it is determined that the traffic burst has not been assigned, confirm the priority of the PTT terminal; assign the traffic burst to the PTT terminal with the highest priority and upgrade the priority of the remaining PTT terminals by one step; and if the PTT server Receive a traffic burst request deletion message from the PTT terminal, and initialize the priority of the corresponding PTT terminal.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the traffic burst allocation method in the PTT service system includes: if the PTT server receives a traffic burst request message from a specific PTT terminal, determining whether to allocate the traffic burst to the corresponding PTT Terminal; if it is determined that the traffic burst is not allocated to it, send a traffic burst rejection message from the PTT server to the PTT terminal; upgrade the priority of the traffic burst and monitor the PTT terminal that received the traffic burst rejection message PTT key pressed state; and if you continue to press the PTT key for a period of time, the traffic burst request message and the priority of the corresponding PTT terminal are re-sent from the PTT terminal to the PTT server.

The present invention can be embodied as software, hardware or a combination of both. For example, the traffic burst allocation method according to the present invention can be specifically implemented as codes or commands in a software program, which can be stored in a storage medium (such as internal memory of a user terminal, flash memory, etc.) and can be executed by a processor (such as The microprocessor in the user terminal) executes.

The present invention provides a method for processing multiple users in a group communication system, which includes: detecting a time duration during which a user continuously activates a half-duplex function; assigning priority to the user according to the detected time duration; and The assigned priority is granted to the user to transmit

200510087574.8 No. Privilege.

Here, the half-duplex function may be a push-to-talk function, and the assigned priority may increase as the detected time duration increases. Likewise, the transmission privilege can provide the user with the right to speak with other users, and the transmission privilege can be granted on the basis of receiving one or more transmission requests sent to the server during the detected time duration. The transmission privilege can be a speech right request, a speech right request, or a traffic burst request, and the transmission request can be re-sent to the server in a periodic manner.

3, the present invention provides a server (320) of a group communication system (300) supporting half-duplex communication. The server (320) includes: a transceiver (323) that sends and receives communication signals; a processor (321) , Which cooperates with the transceiver; and a storage medium (324), which contains instructions (325, 326, 327) that can be executed by the processor to complete the following steps: the detection time duration during the continuous activation of the half-duplex function by the user, according to The detected time duration is assigned a priority to the user, and the user is granted transmission privileges according to the assigned priority.

Similarly, referring to FIG. 3, the present invention provides a user terminal (310) of a group communication system (300) supporting half-duplex communication. The user terminal (310) includes: a transceiver (313), which transmits and receives communication signals; The duplex function module (312) is activated to allow the transmission of voice and data and is deactivated to allow the reception of voice and data; the processor (311), which cooperates with the transceiver and the half-duplex function module; and the storage medium (314) ), which contains instructions (315, 316) that can be executed by the processor to complete the following steps: activate the half-duplex function on the selection made by the user, based on the time duration of the user's continuous activation of the half-duplex function detected by the server And based on the priority assigned by the server according to the detected time duration, send one or more requests to the server to obtain the right to speak, and send data to other users if the server grants the transmission privilege.

The feature of the present invention is suitable for group (point-to-multipoint) communication, such as half-duplex communication like PTT (a kind of Po C, PTT), which allows to activate the feature (for example, by pressing

200510087574.8 Send voice and data communication in the case of the first button, select soft key, etc. and allow to receive voice and data communication in the case of prohibited features (for example, release button, deselect soft key, etc.).

In addition, it can be clearly understood that the teachings and opinions of the present invention are also applicable and are intended to be applied to the so-called Push-To-x (PTx) technology, because PTx is an enhancement of PT and PoC technology. Here, PTx refers to not only An enhanced version of PTT that supports voice communications and supports various types of multimedia applications (for example, photos, ringtones, games, text, SMS, MMS, etc.). An example of PTx is the so-called "PTT" that allows users to participate in multi-user video conferences. Push button browsing (PTV) technology. When using mobile or wireless devices, we hope that PTx will change the way we communicate. The so-called "push button interface can be the main tool for connecting multiple users. That is, the user's contact list (for example, The so-called "partner table") can be the starting point of the communication experience between the center and the user. By selecting the "Push-To-x" function, the user will be able to initiate various types of applications and communication sessions, including PTT, video conferencing, and sending Photos, and ordinary calls that are not mentioned. Each users presence status ("attendance") will be an important component of the user's contact list handover. That is, when the user activates the PTx function, based on their presence status, their The performance of mobile terminals or devices, the interoperability of their networks, etc., the contact list containing each individual ("partner") can display each contact as a list of options. Here, the user can use audio, video, and / Or tactile reminder or notification Handover with his mobile terminal or wireless device.

Regarding the terminology used here, it should be noted that PTT is also referred to as "P2T", and PTx is also referred to as "P2x", and PTV is also referred to as "P2V". Other similar abbreviations or acronyms are also used to refer to various "key press" technologies that are currently developed and newly developed in the near future.

Since the present invention can include communication via Internet access (for example, VoIP), the features of the present invention are also intended to be applicable to enhanced Internet access services, such as the so-called "Broadband Convergence Network (BcN)", which is expected to provide 50 ~100Mbps Internet access service, which is about 50 times faster than conventional broadband services.

200510087574.8 First, since the present invention can be implemented in several ways without departing from its spirit and essential characteristics, it should also be understood that the above embodiments are not limited by any of the foregoing details, unless otherwise specified, should also be defined in the appended claims It is interpreted broadly within its spirit and scope, and therefore it is intended that all changes and modifications within the scope of the claims or the equivalents of these scopes are included by the appended claims.

200510087574.8