Hereinafter, a machine to machine communication environment in the present invention will be briefly described.
Machine to Machine (M2M) communication refers to communication between electronic devices in the literal sense of the word. In a broad sense, M2M communication means wired or wireless communication between electronic devices or communication between a human-controlled device and a machine. Recently, M2M communication has come to refer to wireless communication between electronic devices performed without human intervention.
In the early 1990s when the concept of M2M communication was first introduced, M2M communication was recognized as remote control, telematics, or so and a market derived therefrom was very limited. However, as M2M communication has rapidly developed in the past few years, a market for the same has vastly expanded, attracting worldwide attention. In particular, M2M communication has exerted an important influence on the field of fleet management in a Point Of Sales (POS) system and a security related application market, remote monitoring of machines or facilities, and smart meter for measuring operating time of mechanical construction equipment and automatically measuring consumption of heat or electricity. In the future, M2M communication will be extended to various applications in association with existing mobile communication, wireless high-speed Internet, and low-output communication solutions such as Wi-Fi and ZigBee. That is, M2M communication will evolve from Business to Business (B2B) markets to Business to Consumer (B2C) markets.
In the era of M2M communication, all machines equipped with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card can transmit and receive data so that the machines can be remotely managed and controlled. For example, M2M communication technology can be used for numerous machines and equipment such as automobiles, trucks, trains, containers, vending machines, gas tankers, etc. and the variety of applications thereof will continue to expand.
Conventionally, mobile stations were managed individually for one-to-one communication between a base station and a mobile station. On the assumption that numerous M2M devices communicate with the base station through one-to-one communication, network overload is likely to occur due to signaling generated between each of the M2M devices and the base station. As M2M communication rapidly spreads and expands as described above, an overhead problem may occur due to communication between the M2M devices or between the M2M devices and a base station.
In addition, as use of the M2M devices is activated, there is generated an environment in which general mobile stations and the M2M devices coexist. In a case in which the existing communication method is used without change, therefore, it may be necessary for the general mobile stations to decode all messages for the M2M devices.
In addition, in order to transmit multicast data for the M2M devices, the base station transmits a paging message to the M2M devices in a state of including an M2M group identifier and multicast related information in the paging message. In a case in which the M2M devices do not receive a MAP information element (IE) or an error occurs when a corresponding paging message is decoded, however, the M2M devices may not receive the multicast data.
In addition, in a case in which the M2M devices cannot receive a paging group identifier information message and/or a paging message due to change of a paging group to which the M2M devices belong, the M2M devices may not receive multicast data/unicast data.