System and Method for Sense-Areas for Ad-Hoc Networking

• US 20080227392A1
• Filed: 01/11/2005
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Leurs, Nathalie Dorothee Pieternel, Van De Meulenhof, Dennis
• Application Number:
  US10/585,788
• Publication Number:
  US 20080227392A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/10 Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A method and system are provided for electronic devices (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) in a home network to have a sense area (310) for detecting one another. This sense area (310) eliminates participation of outsiders in a home network (100, 300, 400, 500, 600). To allow sense areas that are particular (110) to a given device type, in an alternative embodiment, the size and shape of the particularized (110) sense areas can be made to depend on device characteristics, such as portability, and the sensitivity of the device can be adjusted to meet device requirements. Devices (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) are placed near to one another to form a network and if no device is sensed communication and display of one another'"'"'s user interfaces is optionally disabled so others cannot see the device, e.g., when the device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) is removed from its home network (100, 300, 400, 500, 600).

Claims

1. A method for implementing a sense-area (110, 310) of a plurality of devices (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) with respect to one another, comprising the steps of:

defining the sense area (110, 310) of a device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) of said plurality as a coverage area having the device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) within said coverage and in which coverage area the device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) is visible to an other device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) of said plurality; and

limiting the visibility of the device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) to the other device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) according to whether or not the other device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) is within said coverage area.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

detecting the presence of an other device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) according to the presence of a key in a received signal, and

the device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) making itself visible by including a key in a transmitted signal.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of depending on whether or not an other device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) is detected within the sense area (110, 310), respectively enabling and disabling at least one of communication and use of the other device'"'"'s user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the defining step further comprises the step of defining the sense area (110, 310) coverage of each device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) of said plurality as at least one of a predetermined fixed shape and area.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said predetermined fixed are includes a maximum dimension of less than or equal to 10 cm.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said defining step further comprises the step of defining the area and shape of said sense area (110, 310) according to a portability characteristic of the device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i).

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said are increases in a manner that is inversely proportional to an ease of carrying portability characteristic of the device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) such that the less portable the device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) the larger the area and the more portable the smaller the area.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing each device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) of said plurality with at least one of a transmit power and a receive sensitivity.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of setting at least one of said transmit power and said receive sensitivity is set to a predetermined fixed value.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

providing a networking environment in which said plurality of devices (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) participate; and

adjusting at least one of said transmit power and said receive sensitivity according to the provided networking environment.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the networking environment is at least one of Bluetooth short, Bluetooth long, and IEEE 802.11a/b/g.

12. A method for enabling communication between a plurality of devices (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) comprising the steps of:

providing each device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) of the plurality with a sense area (110, 310) implemented according to the method of claim 1; and

placing each device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) of the plurality within the provided sense area (110, 310) of every other device.

13. A system that provides a device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) with a sense-area (110, 310) having a shape and size, comprising:

a transceiver 202 coupled to an antenna (201) to transmit and receive signals to and from other devices (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) within the sense area;

a detection logic module (203) configured to—

i. detect a device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) within the sense area (110, 310) from a signal received by the transceiver (202); and

ii. transmit a signal via the transceiver (202) to make itself visible to any other device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) within the sense area (110, 310);

a memory (204) coupled to the detection logic module (203) that stores detected device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) information; and

a storage (205) coupled to the detection logic module (203) that provides persistent storage of device-specific (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) settings.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the device-specific (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) settings comprise at least one of an area of the sense-area (110, 310), a shape of the sense-area (110, 310), a maximum dimension of the sense-area (110, 310), transmit power level, receive sensitivity, standard device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) types for detection and their capabilities, display icons corresponding to data stored in the storage.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the detection logic module (203) is further configured to—

iii. detect a device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) according to the presence of a key in a received signal, and

iv. make itself visible by including a key in the transmitted signal.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein a maximum dimension of the sense area (110, 310) is a predetermined fixed value.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said predetermined fixed value is less than or equal to 10 cm.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein said maximum dimension is determined according to a portability characteristic of the device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i).

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said portability characteristic is ease of carrying and said maximum dimension varies in a manner that is inversely proportional to said portability characteristic such that the less portable the device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) the larger the maximum dimension and the more portable the smaller the maximum dimension.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein said detection logic module (203) is further configured to control at least one of a transmit power and a receive sensitivity.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein at least one of said transmit power and said receive sensitivity is set to a predetermined fixed value by said detection logic module (203) for the control thereof.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein said detection logic module (203) is further configured to adjust at least one of said transmit power and said receive sensitivity according to a networking environment (100, 300, 400, 500, 600) in which the device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) participates.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the networking environment (100, 300, 400, 500, 600) is at least one of Bluetooth short, Bluetooth long, and IEEE 802.11 a/b/g.

24. The system of claim 16, wherein the detection logic module (203) is further configured to:

v. depending on whether or not an other device (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) is detected within the sense area (110, 310), respectively enable and disable, at least one of communication and use of the other device'"'"'s (10i, 30i, 40i, 50i, 60i) user interface.