KR20130127826A

KR20130127826A - System for managing applications of m2m device using ota

Info

Publication number: KR20130127826A
Application number: KR1020120051621A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 김상수
Original assignee: 엠디에스테크놀로지 주식회사
Priority date: 2012-05-15
Filing date: 2012-05-15
Publication date: 2013-11-25

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for managing applications in an M2M terminal using an over-the-air (OTA) technology, and has an objective in managing, i.e., installing, updating, or deleting applications in an external M2M or a modular M2M terminal. To attain this objective, the system of the present invention comprises: an M2M server which manages information about terminals including operation status of all terminals; an M2M terminal which performs management of applications in a terminal and version management of the applications through periodical communications with a server; an application management unit, as a module operating within the M2M server, which manages information and version of the applications and manages information about applications in each terminal; and an update management unit which operates within the M2M terminal, checks an update of the applications in the terminal through communications with the M2M server, and controls an update request and acceptance.

Description

Application program management system of M2M terminal using OTA {SYSTEM FOR MANAGING APPLICATIONS OF M2M DEVICE USING OTA}

The present invention relates to an application management system of an M2M terminal using OTC, and more particularly, to an external Machine to Machine (M2M, hereinafter, 'M2M') or a modular M2M using an over-the-air (OTA). The present invention relates to a system that can manage application programs, such as installing, updating, and deleting applications in a terminal.

Most M2M terminals released recently have pre-installed applications. This is because existing terminals only perform simple tasks and play a role through embedded applications, and no upgrade process is required.

In addition, even though the upgrade process is performed by directly accessing the terminal, the individual terminals can be upgraded directly or the terminal can be upgraded by gathering the terminals in one place. This approach has the disadvantage of lowering the availability of the terminal and costly maintenance.

Recently, devices such as smartphones provide services through a network for the convenience of updating, or wirelessly using OTA. However, there is no case of installing and upgrading an M2M application through a network. have.

Over-the-Air (OTA) is a standard established for transmitting and receiving system registration information in wireless communication systems. It can be used to remotely issue commands, correct minor failures, upgrade existing programs, or It is possible to install a program.

Thus, in the present invention, to improve the availability and flexibility of the M2M terminal, it is to propose a method for installing and operating the M2M application program using the OTA.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, to manage the application program such as installing / updating / deleting the application in the external M2M or modular M2M terminal using OTA (Over-the-Air) The purpose is.

Accordingly, the M2M terminal may manage an application through a wireless network, thereby providing convenience for installation and management of the application. If the server that manages the terminals needs to be modified for the application, the OTA can be used to apply the modifications to the application.In this process, additional update procedures (direct connection to the terminal / terminal collection) can be applied. Can be omitted. In addition, when the terminal itself periodically communicates with the server and the change of the application is confirmed, it is possible to request the server to update and update the application in the terminal.

The present invention for achieving the technical problem relates to an application management system of an M2M terminal using OTT, M2M server for managing information about the terminal including the operating state of the entire terminal; An M2M terminal for performing application program management through management of application programs in the terminal and periodic communication with a server; A module operating in the M2M server, the application manager managing information and version management of the application program and information on the application program of each terminal; And an update manager which operates in the M2M terminal, checks an update of an application program of the terminal through communication with the M2M server, and controls an update request and acceptance. .

According to the present invention as described above, if the M2M application program is managed wirelessly, and the installation / update / deletion of the application program is free, the following effects can be obtained.

1. The service type of M2M terminal can be expanded. Specifically, the existing M2M terminal did not have an environment capable of performing only a specially defined service application program and operating other service applications arbitrarily. However, if an application program can be freely installed, updated, or deleted using OTA, the application range of the terminal can be greatly increased.

2. It is easy to troubleshoot the M2M terminal. Specifically, the existing M2M terminal, when there is an error in the application program, to solve the problem, the whole system had to be updated. The update had to be done locally, and maintenance was expensive. However, if the present invention is applied, the modification to the problematic application can be remotely handled, and the probability of success and update time can be greatly reduced, thereby greatly reducing the cost of trouble handling and updating.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of the application management system of the M2M terminal using OTC in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 2 is a block diagram showing a method for managing an application program between the M2M server and the M2M terminal according to the present invention, an example showing a process of checking and updating the version of the application of the M2M terminal in the M2M server.
Figure 3 is an exemplary view showing a process of confirming the version of the application, and updating through the communication with the M2M server in the M2M terminal according to the present invention.

Specific features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description based on the accompanying drawings. It is to be noted that the detailed description of known functions and constructions related to the present invention is omitted when it is determined that the gist of the present invention may be unnecessarily blurred.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An application program management system of an M2M terminal using OT according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of the application management system (S) of the M2M terminal using the OTI according to the present invention, as shown, M2M server (①), the application program management unit (②), the wireless communication network (③) , An M2M terminal ④, an application program ⑤, and an update management unit ⑥.

The M2M server (1) manages information on the terminal, such as the operation state of all the terminals.

Application program management unit (②) is a module that operates in the M2M server (①), and manages the information and version management and information about the application program for each terminal.

Wireless communication network (③) is used for control and management of application programs by OTA without separate wire connection.

The M2M terminal ④ performs application program management through management of application programs in the terminal and periodic communication with a server.

The application program ⑤ means an application program operating in the M2M terminal ④, and each application program includes information on a current version.

The update manager ⑥ operates in the M2M terminal ④ and checks the update of the application program of the terminal through communication with the M2M server ①, and controls the update request and acceptance.

The wireless communication network, item 3, is not a subject of the present invention and provides a service using an existing 3G communication network.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a method for managing an application program between the M2M server (1) and the M2M terminal (4) according to the present invention, and the M2M terminal (4) in the M2M server (1) managing the M2M terminal (4). The process of checking and updating the version of the application (⑤) is illustrated.

The M2M server (①) stores the information about the application as a database and inputs and modifies the information using the API provided by the application manager (②).

On the other hand, the method of updating the application program is made as follows.

1. The new version application program is registered in the application management unit (②) in the M2M server (①).

2. Application management unit (②) checks the version information of the application.

3. Check the application version information of the terminal and the current terminal with the corresponding application in the terminal application database.

4. If the application version newly registered in the M2M server (①) is higher than the application version of the terminal, and transmits the application update command to the corresponding M2M terminal (④) through the wireless network.

5. The update manager ⑥ of the M2M terminal ④ checks the update command and determines whether the terminal can be updated.

6. Request an application update from the server, if available.

7. Transfer application data from M2M server (①).

8. Receive application program data from M2M terminal (④).

9. After completing data reception at M2M terminal (④), transmit update completion message to server.

10. Update the terminal application program version information in the application management unit (②) of the M2M server (①).

The above process is basically done every time an application is updated on the server, but it is possible to define when to update arbitrarily (for example, check at midnight every day).

The process of updating through the communication with the M2M server (①) in the M2M terminal (④) is shown in Figure 3 and the overall flow is as follows.

1. The update management unit (⑥) of the M2M terminal (④) checks the information on the version of the application installed in the terminal and the application version in the server according to the determined policy.

2. An update needed situation occurs when the application version on the server is high.

3. The update management unit (⑥) of the M2M terminal (④) checks the current state of the terminal and, if it is possible to update the update request to the server.

4. M2M server (①) confirms the request of the terminal and then sends data.

5. Receive application program data from M2M terminal (④).

6. Update the terminal application program version information in the application management unit (②) of the M2M server (①).

Through the above process, the application program in the terminal can be managed over the air (OTA). In order to manage the version information for the application program of the terminal, the server sends a request to the terminal according to an arbitrarily changeable policy, and grasps the status of the current application program by receiving a response. In addition, the update time can be set arbitrarily, and it is possible to set an update policy for each environment. In addition to the update, the installation and removal of the application goes through the same process as above, and the management of the application can be performed by performing each operation instead of the update.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that numerous changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention. Accordingly, all such appropriate modifications and changes, and equivalents thereof, should be regarded as within the scope of the present invention.

S: Application program management system of M2M terminal using OTI
①: M2M Server ②: Application Program Manager
③: wireless communication network ④: M2M terminal
⑤: application program ⑥: update management unit

Claims

In the application management system of the M2M terminal using OT,
An M2M server managing information on a terminal including operating states of all terminals;
An M2M terminal for performing application program management through management of application programs in the terminal and periodic communication with a server;
A module operating in the M2M server, the application manager managing information and version management of the application program and information on the application program of each terminal; And
An update manager which operates in the M2M terminal, checks an update of an application program of the terminal through communication with the M2M server, and controls an update request and acceptance; Application management system of the M2M terminal using OTC including a.

The method of claim 1,
The M2M server and M2M terminal,
Application management system of the M2M terminal using OTC, characterized in that using the OTA (Over-the-Air) to communicate.

The method of claim 1,
Application management of the M2M terminal using OTC, characterized in that the M2M server to store the database information about the application program, the input and modification of the information is performed using the API provided by the application management unit system.