MOBILE PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS

• US 20070270139A1
• Filed: 05/19/2006
• Published: 11/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snaptrack Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: JENDBRO, Magnus, CAMP, William O.
• Granted Patent: US 7,904,078 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/422.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

Mobile terminals may connect to one another of dynamically formed local networks to exchange certain files, such as bandwidth intensive files. Licensing or payment information for these files may be exchanged via a wide-area network, such as the cellular network to which the mobile terminals normally connect. In one embodiment, a mobile terminal includes logic to join a local network in response to the mobile terminal coming into range of the local network; logic to request a file from the local network; logic to receive the file from the local network when the file is available from another mobile terminal in the local network; and logic to exchange payment or license information for the file over a cellular network.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

logic to join a local network in response to the mobile terminal coming into range of the local network;

logic to request a file from the local network;

logic to receive the file from the local network when the file is available from another mobile terminal in the local network; and

logic to exchange payment or license information for the file over a cellular network.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the logic to join a local network further includes:

logic to store identifiers for a predefined group of mobile terminals;

logic to receive location information from the mobile terminals in the predefined group of mobile terminals; and

logic to determine whether to join the local network based on the received location information.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein the location information is received over the cellular network.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the logic to join the local network includes logic to receive broadcasts from other mobile terminals requesting to join a local network.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further comprising:

logic to receive the file from the cellular network when the file is not available from another mobile terminal connected to the local network.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the local network is an ad-hoc network that is dynamically formed between mobile terminals in the cellular network.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the logic to join the local network includes logic to provide Bluetooth connectivity.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the file is a multi-media file.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the local network is a higher bandwidth network than the cellular network.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the logic to receive the file from the local network includes logic to receive a portion of the file from a first mobile terminal in the local network and to receive a second portion of the file from a second mobile terminal in the local network.

11. A system comprising:

a cellular network; and

a first mobile terminal including;

a first radio transceiver for connecting to the cellular network,

a second radio transceiver for connecting to a local network formed of other mobile terminals,

logic to exchange files with the other mobile terminals via the second radio transceiver, when the other mobile terminals are available, and to receive files from the cellular network when the other mobile terminals are not available.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the local network formed of other mobile terminals is formed from a predetermined group of mobile terminals that continuously, periodically, or asynchronously update other mobile terminals in the group with location information.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the first mobile terminal further includes:

logic to exchange payment or licensing information with the cellular network when the files exchanged with the other mobile terminals require payment or a license.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the local network is a peer-to-peer network.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the local peer-to-peer network is an ad-hoc network that is dynamically formed between mobile terminals in the cellular network.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the logic to exchange files with the other mobile terminals includes:

logic to exchange files with the other mobile terminals when the other mobile terminals are separated from the first mobile terminal by at least two hops in the local network.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the second radio transceiver implements a Bluetooth connection.

18. A method comprising:

connecting to a local peer-to-peer network;

receiving a first file over the peer-to-peer network; and

exchanging payment or license information for the first file over a wide area network.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the wide area network is a cellular network.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the local peer-to-peer network is an ad-hoc network that is dynamically formed between mobile terminals in the cellular network.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving the first file over the peer-to-peer network further includes:

determining whether the first file is available on the peer-to-peer network;

receiving the first file over the peer-to-peer network when the first file is determined to be available on the peer-to-peer network; and

receiving the first file over the wide area network when the first file is not available on the peer-to-peer network.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the local peer-to-peer network is a network of mobile terminals and receiving the first file over the peer-to-peer network further includes:

receiving the first file at a first mobile terminal from a second mobile terminal, the second mobile terminal being separated from the first mobile terminal by at least two hops in the peer-to-peer network.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the local peer-to-peer network is formed via Bluetooth connections and the wide area network is formed as a cellular telephone network.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the first file is a multi-media file.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the local peer-to-peer network is a higher bandwidth network than the wide area network.

26. A method comprising:

dynamically forming a local network of mobile terminals;

exchanging files over the local network when the files are available in the local network;

receiving the files from a cellular network when the files are not available on the local network; and

exchanging payment or license information for the files over the cellular network when the files are exchanged over the local network.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

exchanging payment or license information for the files over the cellular network when the files are received over the cellular network.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the local network is a peer-to-peer ad-hoc network that is dynamically formed between mobile terminals in the cellular network.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the ad-hoc network includes at least some mobile terminals separated from each other by multiple hops in the ad-hoc network.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the local network is formed via Bluetooth connections.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the files are multi-media files.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein the local network is a higher bandwidth network than the cellular network.