Terminal supporting peer-to-peer communication, and communication and billing methods based on the same

Abstract

A terminal supporting peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, wherein a transceiver of the terminal is implemented to support P2P communication with an adjacent terminal in the same cell. Thus, when short-range communication is possible, the terminal performs P2P communication directly with the adjacent terminal, not via a base station. Consequently, when terminals use different mobile telecommunication service providers or there is no base station network, the terminals can be used for short-range communication. More particularly, when a receiving channel state becomes satisfactory while communication with an adjacent terminal is being performed via a base station, the terminal directly switches to a P2P communication mode and performs communication with the adjacent terminal. On the contrary, when the receiving channel state deteriorates while communication with the adjacent terminal is being performed in the P2P communication mode, the terminal directly switches to a base station communication mode and performs communication with the adjacent terminal.

1 . A communication method using a terminal supporting P2P communication, comprising the steps of:
 (a) performing, by a first terminal and a second terminal adjoining to each other and supporting P2P communication within the radius of the same cell, communication in one of a base station communication mode and a P2P communication mode;   (b) periodically measuring, by at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal, intensity of a received signal; and   (c) switching, by at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal, to one of the base station communication mode and the P2P communication mode according to the measured intensity of the received signal, and performing communication with a counterpart.   
   
   
       2 . The communication method of  claim 1 , wherein the P2P communication is one of half-duplex P2P communication and full-duplex P2P communication. 
   
   
       3 . The communication method of  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 when the first terminal supporting P2P communication is connected to a base station, registering the P2P communication mode of the first terminal in the base station; and   when the second terminal supporting P2P communication is connected to a base station, registering the P2P communication mode of the second terminal in the base station   
   
   
       4 . The communication method of  claim 1 , wherein the first or second terminal performs P2P communication using a scrambling code. 
   
   
       5 . The communication method of  claim 1 , wherein step (c) comprises the sub-steps of:
 determining, by at least one of the first terminal and the second terminal, whether or not the measured intensity of the received signal exceeds a threshold value;   when the measured intensity of the received signal exceeds the threshold value, determining that a receiving channel state is satisfactory, switching to the P2P communication mode, and performing P2P communication with a counterpart; and   when the measured intensity of the received signal is less than the threshold value, determining that the receiving channel state is poor, switching to the base station communication mode, and performing communication with the counterpart via a base station.   
   
   
       6 . The communication method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of performing, by the first or second terminal, power control using a closed-loop power control scheme in the P2P communication. 
   
   
       7 . A billing method based on a terminal supporting P2P communication, comprising the steps of:
 performing, by a first terminal and a second terminal adjoining to each other and supporting P2P communication within the radius of the same cell, communication in one of a base station communication mode and a P2P communication mode;   when the first terminal and the second terminal communicate with each other in the P2P communication mode, storing communication records of the first and second terminals;   when the communication modes of the first and second terminals are switched to the base station communication mode, transmitting the stored communication records to a base station; and   performing a billing process in response to the transmitted communication records.