Apparatus and method for providing application service based on area

A method of providing an application service based on an area, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a user equipment, a list of application services initially entering a service area of a small base station;
• selecting, by the user equipment, at least one application service from the received list of application services;
• downloading, by the user equipment, the at least one selected application service from an application service factory, wherein the at least one downloaded application service is stored;
• installing, by the user equipment, the at least one downloaded application service, wherein the user equipment transmits information about the user equipment that is detected entering or exiting the service area, stores an identifier and the information of the user equipment entering or exiting the small base station service area, and receives notification information from the small base station that an application service informed the user equipment;
• comparing, by the user equipment, the received list of application services to a stored list of application services in response to receiving the list of application services from the small cell when the user equipment re-enters the service area of the small cell;
• and
• automatically uninstalling, by the user equipment, a corresponding application service item when a deleted application service item is included according to a result of the comparison.

A small base station including a femtocell base station or a WiFi Access Point, the small base station comprising:

• a processor that comprises:
• a communication unit, to receive a list of application services from an Application Service Provisioning Server, select at least one application service from the received list, and download the at least one selected application service;
• a service controller to install the at least one downloaded application service, or uninstall an installed application service;
• a user equipment access detector to detect a user equipment entering or exiting a service area,
• wherein the user equipment compares the list of application services to a stored list of application services in response to receiving the list of application services, and if a deleted application service is included in the list of the application services, the user equipment automatically uninstalls the installed application service that corresponds to the deleted application service;
• and a memory that comprises:
• an application service database to store the at least one downloaded application service;
• a user equipment database to store an identifier of the user equipment entering or exiting the service area, and information about the user equipment entering or exiting the service area,
• wherein the small base station transmits the information about the user equipment entering or exiting the service area to the application service provisioning server, and receives notification information that the application service informs the user equipment.

An Application Service Provisioning Server for providing the application service based on a service area, the Application Service Provisioning Server comprising:

• a processor that comprises:
• an application service gateway configured to transmit a list of application services to a small base station, and information about at least one application service that the small base station selects based on the list;
• an application service factory configured to transmit an installation file of the at least one application service corresponding to the information;
• and
• an application service server configured to perform a logic of the application service selected and downloaded by the small base station, wherein the small base station stores the selected and downloaded application service, and uninstalls an installed application service,
• wherein the list of application services is transmitted to user equipment, and the user equipment compares the list of application services to a stored list of application services in response to receiving the list of application services, and if a deleted application service is included in the list of the application services, the user equipment automatically uninstalls the installed application service that corresponds to the deleted application service;
• wherein the user equipment is detected entering or exiting the service area by the small base station, the Application Service Provisioning Server receives, from the small base station, the information about the user equipment entering or exiting the service area, an identifier and the information of the user equipment entering or exiting the service area of the user equipment is stored, and notification information that the application service informs the user equipment is sent to the small base station.

A user equipment for entering or exiting a small cell service area, the user equipment comprising:

• a processor that comprises:
• a communication unit configured to communicate with a small base station, and receive information about the user equipment which is detected entering or exiting the small service area of small base station, wherein the information is received from the small base station and sent to an application service provisioning server, wherein the small base station installs a downloaded application service or uninstalls an installed application service;
• a controller configured to install, using an installation file for an application service that is stored in a memory unit, a corresponding application service, and uninstall an installed application service,
• wherein the user equipment receives notification information from the small base station that the application service informed the user equipment,
• wherein the user equipment:
• compares a list of application services to a stored list of application services in response to receiving the list of application services, and if a deleted application service is included in the list of the application services, the user equipment automatically uninstalls the installed application service that corresponds to the deleted application service,
• has an identifier and the information of the user equipment, entering or exiting the service area, which is stored, and
• is informed by the application service, and the notification information is sent to the small base station;
• and
• a memory unit configured to store the installation file for the application service received from the application service provisioning server.