Methods and apparatus for obtaining a service

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for obtaining a service is provided. Information about an external device is received at a terminal from the external device. It is determined whether the external device has been registered based on the information about the external device. Service information associated with the external device is provided when at least the external device has been registered.

1 . A method for obtaining a service comprising the steps of:
 receiving information about an external device at a terminal from the external device;   determining whether the external device has been registered based on the information about the external device; and   providing service information associated with the external device when at least the external device has been registered.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the external device comprises an Access Point (AP). 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the information about the external device comprises at least one of a Service Set IDentifier (SSID) and a Media Access Control (MAC) address. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information of the external device comprises address information of the external device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the external device has been registered comprises:
 transmitting the information about the external device from the terminal to a server; and   receiving service information associated with the external device from the server, when it is determined by the server that the external device has been registered based on the information about the external device.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein transmitting the information about the external device to the server comprises transmitting the information about the external device to the server through the external device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the service information associated with the external device is address information of a server that provides a service associated with the external device. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the external device has been registered is based on the information about the external device and previously stored external device information. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 requesting the external device or a server to provide the service information associated with the external device when the external device has been registered; and   receiving the service information associated with the external device from the external device or the server.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the previously stored external device information comprises information about previously accessed external devices. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing the service information associated with the external device comprises outputting the service information associated with the external device on a display. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein outputting the service information associated with the external device comprises:
 mapping an IDentifier (ID) of the external device to the service information associated with the external device; and   outputting the ID of the external device on the display.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein outputting the service information associated with the external device comprises:
 filtering the service information associated with the external device according to previously stored user information; and   outputting the filtered service information associated with the external device.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein outputting the service information associated with the external device comprises:
 filtering the service information associated with the external device according to a strength of a signal received from the external device; and   outputting the filtered service information associated with the external device.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 accessing a server that provides a service associated with the external device, according to the provided service information associated with the external device; and   receiving the service from the server that provides the service associated with the external device.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising providing an interface that displays the service received from the server. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein transmitting the received information about the external device to the server comprises transmitting the information about the external device and information about at least one of the terminal and a user of the terminal to the server. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising filtering the information about the external device when the information about the external device does not meet a prescribed scheme. 
     
     
         19 . A method for obtaining a service comprising the steps of:
 receiving information about an external device from a terminal, wherein the information about the external device was received at the terminal from the external device;   determining whether the external device has been registered based on the information about the external device; and   providing service information associated with the external device to the terminal when at least the external device has been registered.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein determining whether the external device has been registered comprises:
 comparing the information about the external device with previously stored external device information; and   determining that the external device has been registered when the received information about the external device is identical to the previously stored external device information.   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein providing the service information associated with the external device comprises extracting the service information associated with the external device from service information matched to the previously stored external device information and providing the service information associated with the external device to the terminal. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the external device is an Access Point (AP). 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the information of the external device comprises at least one of a Service Set IDentifier (SSID) and a Media Access Control (MAC) address. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the information of the external device comprises address information of the external device. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising providing a service associated with the external device to the terminal upon receiving a selection signal with respect to the transmitted service information associated with the external device from the terminal. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein providing the service information associated with the external device comprises:
 filtering the service information associated with the external device according to previously stored user information of the terminal; and   providing the filtered service information associated with the external device to the terminal.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein receiving the information about the external device comprises receiving the information about the external device and information about at least one of the terminal and a user of the terminal. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising storing access history information of the terminal and use history information of a service associated with the external device. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 receiving zone information about the external device from the terminal;   determining whether the zone information is the same as set zone information; and   providing the service information related to the external device to the terminal, when it is determined that the zone information is the same as the set zone information.   
     
     
         30 . An apparatus for obtaining a service comprising:
 a receiving unit for receiving information about an external device from the external device; and   a controller for determining whether the external device has been registered based on the information about the external device, and providing service information associated with the external device when at least the external device has been registered.   
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , further comprising a transmitting unit for transmitting the information about the external device to a server,
 wherein the receiving unit receives service information associated with the external device from the server when the server determines that the external device has been registered based on the information about the external device.   
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 30 , further comprising an output unit, wherein the controller outputs the service information associated with the external device. 
     
     
         33 . A server for obtaining a service comprising:
 a receiving unit for receiving information about an external device from a terminal, wherein the information about the external device was received from the external device at the terminal;   a determining unit for determining whether the external device has been registered based on the information about the external device; and   a transmitting unit for providing service information associated with the external device to the terminal when at least the external device has been registered.   
     
     
         34 . The server of  claim 33 , further comprising a database for storing the information about the external device,
 wherein the determining unit compares the information about the external device with previously stored external device information and determines that the external device has been registered when the information about the external device is identical to the previously stored external device information.   
     
     
         35 . The server of  claim 34 , further comprising a control unit for extracting the service information associated with the external device from service information matched to the previously stored external device information and providing the service information associated with the external device to the terminal, when the external device has been registered. 
     
     
         36 . An article of manufacture for obtaining a service comprising a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:
 receiving information about an external device at a terminal from the external device;   determining whether the external device has been registered based on the information about the external device; and   providing service information associated with the external device when at least the external device has been registered.   
     
     
         37 . An article of manufacture for obtaining a service comprising a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:
 receiving information about an external device from a terminal, wherein the information about the external device was received at the terminal from the external device;   determining whether the external device has been registered based on the information about the external device; and   providing service information associated with the external device to the terminal when at least the external device has been registered.   
     
     
         38 . A service method comprising:
 receiving, from a terminal, unique information and zone information about at least one nearby external device, which has been received by the terminal;   determining whether the received zone information is the same as set zone information; and   providing service information related to the external device to the terminal, when it is determined that the zone information is the same as the set zone information.   
     
     
         39 . The service method of  claim 38 , further comprising:
 setting zone information,   wherein the setting zone information comprises;   receiving, from a terminal, a check request for unique information and zone information about at least one nearby external device, which has been received by the terminal;   checking the zone information based on the unique information;   transmitting the checked zone information to the terminal;   receiving confirmation regarding the transmitted zone information from the terminal; and   setting the confirmed zone information as set zone information.   
     
     
         40 . The service method of  claim 38 , wherein the external device is an access point (AP), and
 the unique information is a media access control (MAC) address of the AP.   
     
     
         41 . The service method of  claim 38 , further comprising:
 determining, based on the unique information, whether the external device has been registered,   wherein the determining whether the received zone information is the same as set zone information comprises determining whether the received zone information is the same as the set zone information, when it is determined that the external device has been registered.   
     
     
         42 . The service method of  claim 38 , wherein the providing service information related to the at least one external device to the terminal, when it is determined that the zone information is the same as the set zone information comprises:
 determining, based on the unique information, whether the external device has been registered, when it is determined that the zone information is the same as the set zone information; and   providing the service information related to the external device to the terminal when it is determined that the external device has been registered.   
     
     
         43 . A service server comprising:
 a receiving unit for receiving, from a terminal, unique information and zone information about at least one nearby external device, which has been received by the terminal;   a determining unit for determining whether the received zone information is the same as set zone information; and   a control unit for providing service information related to the external device to the terminal, when it is determined that the zone information is the same as the set zone information.   
     
     
         44 . The service server of  claim 43 , further comprising a transmitting unit for transmitting checked zone information to the terminal;
 wherein the receiving unit receives, from a terminal, a check request for unique information and zone information about at least one nearby external device, which has been received by the terminal, and receives confirmation regarding the transmitted zone information from the terminal,   the determining unit checks the zone information based on the unique information, and   the control unit sets the confirmed zone information as set zone information.   
     
     
         45 . The service server of  claim 43 , wherein the at least one external device is an access point (AP), and
 the unique information device is a media access control (MAC) address of the AP.   
     
     
         46 . The service server of  claim 43 , wherein the determining unit determines, based on the unique information, whether the external device has been registered, and determines whether the received zone information is the same as the set zone information, when it is determined that the external device has been registered. 
     
     
         47 . The service server of  claim 43 , wherein, the determining unit determines, based on the unique information, whether the external device has been registered, when it is determined that the zone information is the same as the set zone information, and
 the control unit provides the service information related to the external device to the terminal when it is determined that the external device has been registered.   
     
     
         48 . A computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing a service method, the service method comprising:
 receiving, from a terminal, unique information and zone information about at least one nearby external device, which has been received by the terminal;   determining whether the received zone information is the same as set zone information; and   providing service information related to the external device to the terminal, when it is determined that the zone information is the same as the set zone information.