Extending access to a device in a limited connectivity network to devices residing outside the limited connectivity network

• US 20050058144A1
• Filed: 10/29/2004
• Published: 03/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Arun Ayyagari, Salim S. Abiezzi, Timothy M. Moore, William Michael Zintel
• Inventors: Moore, Timothy M., Ayyagari, Arun, AbiEzzi, Salim S., Zintel, William Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,733,885 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4557 Directories for hybrid networks, e.g. including telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/169 Special adaptations of TCP, UDP or IP for interworking of IP based networks with other networks protocols for interworking, protocol conversion H04L69/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/26 Cell enhancers or enhancement, e.g. for tunnels, building shadow
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/22 with access to wired networks

Abstract

The invention makes possible remote control of devices in a piconet by remote users communicating over the Internet and the like by providing a proxy-bridge device. The proxy-bridge device is a bridge for sending packets to and from between an external device and a device in the piconet. Moreover, the proxy-bridge device also serves as a proxy for the external device to devices in the piconet and as a proxy for devices in the piconet accessing an external device. The proxy-bridge wireless device'"'"'s protocol stack allows communications with the piconet devices within the piconet. In addition, the protocol stack allows an application to communicate with a remote device e.g., via the Internet Protocol. Thus, the proxy-bridge device, using two protocols, enables remote users discover the presence of a service offered by a device in a piconet as a logical embedded device within the proxy-bridge device and vice-versa.

Claims

1. A proxy-bridge device for extending access to a device in a piconet by an external device residing outside the piconet, the proxy-bridge device comprising:

a piconet protocol compliant stack for handling communications between proxy-bridge device and the device in the piconet;

an external device compatible stack for handling communications between the proxy-bridge device and the external device; and

a database associating an identifier of the piconet device with an external device compatible identifier employable by the external device for addressing the piconet device.

2. The proxy-bridge device of claim 1 further having a universal plug and play component associated with the piconet protocol compliant stack and the external device compatible stack.

3. The proxy-bridge device of claim 2 wherein the universal plug and play component includes functionality for sending a service discovery request from the piconet device to the external device and sending a response to the service discovery request from the external device with a description of at least one service available in the piconet.

4. The proxy-bridge device of claim 1 wherein the proxy-bridge device is a master device in the piconet and the piconet device is a slave in the piconet.

5. The proxy-bridge device of claim 1 wherein the piconet protocol compliant stack conforms to BT specifications thereby enabling the proxy-bridge device to inter-operate with other BT devices.

6. A method, comprising:

receiving a discovery of service request from a requesting device;

transmitting the discovery of service request to one or more remote devices;

receiving data from the one or more remote devices indicating whether a requested service is available;

if the requested service is available from the one or more remote devices, transmitting data to the requesting device indicating that the requested service is available; and

if the requested service is not available from the one or more remote devices, indicating to the requesting device that the service is unavailable.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

determining if the requested service is available locally; and

if the requested service is available locally, transmitting data to the requesting device that the requested service is available.

8. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising utilizing Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) functionality to identify the one or more remote devices.

9. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising utilizing UPnP functionality to identify the requesting device.

10. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the requesting device is a wireless device.

11. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the requesting device is a BT device.

12. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the requesting device is a device in a piconet.

13. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the requesting device cannot directly communicate with the one or more remote devices.

14. A method, comprising:

receiving a service request from a remote device;

determining to which of one or more network devices the service request is directed;

transmit the service request to the appropriate network device; and

wherein the remote device is unable to communicate directly with the one or more network devices.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, further comprising utilizing UPnP functionality in the determining step.

16. The method as recited in claim 14, further comprising:

receiving service data from the network device to which the service request was forwarded;

determining which of one or more remote devices initiated the service request; and

transmitting the service data to the remote device that initiated the service request.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising utilizing UPnP functionality in the step of determining which of one or more remote device initiated the service request.

18. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the network device is a piconet device.

19. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the network device is a BT device.

20. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the network device is a wireless device.

21. One or more computer-readable media containing executable instructions that, when executed, implement the following method:

identifying one or more network devices;

identifying one or more remote devices that cannot communicate directly with the one or more network devices;

receiving a request from a network device for a particular service;

determining if a remote device supports the particular service;

if a remote device supports the particular service, indicating to the requesting network device that the service is available; and

if a remote device does not support the particular service, indicating to the requesting network device that the service is unavailable.

22. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 21, wherein the communication with remote devices is transparent to the network devices.

23. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 21, further comprising identifying one or more remote devices.

24. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, wherein the identifying is accomplished utilizing UPnP functionality.

25. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 21, further comprising:

utilizing a remote device compliant stack to communicate with the remote device;

utilizing a network device compliant stack to communicate with the network devices; and

wherein the remote device compliant stack and the network device compliant stack utilizing different protocols.

26. One or more computer-readable media containing executable instructions that, when executed, perform the following method:

receiving a service request from a remote device, the service request being directed to a network device with which the remote device is unable to communicate directly;

determining an appropriate network device to which the service request is directed; and

forwarding the service request to the appropriate network device.

27. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 26, wherein the determining step further comprises:

determining if the service request identifies an IP address;

if the service request identifies an IP address, identifying the appropriate network device by identifying a network device identifier that corresponds to the IP address and processing the request utilizing a TCP/IP protocol stack; and

if the service request does not identify an IP address, processing the request utilizing a BT protocol stack.

28. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 27, wherein the processing the request utilizing a BT protocol stack further comprises utilizing UPnP functionality.

29. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 26, further comprising:

receiving service data from the network device; and

if the service request identifies an IP address, forwarding the service data to the remote device in the form of a response of an embedded device.