APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR ACCELERATION INITIATED ASSOCIATION

• US 20090024770A1
• Filed: 07/19/2007
• Published: 01/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zawacki, Jennifer Greenwood, Dubs, Justin Tyler, Thrasher, James Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 7,769,927 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/912 Packet communications

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for acceleration initiated association. A peripheral knock module receives a first knock command from a first accelerometer of a peripheral device. The first knock command comprises a plurality of peripheral time stamps for a plurality of peripheral device accelerations. A peripheral identifier module creates a peripheral identifier comprising time interval values of time intervals between the peripheral time stamps. A broadcast module broadcasts a discovery signal with a signal identifier that comprises the peripheral identifier.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having a:

computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to;

receive a first knock command from a first accelerometer of a peripheral device, the first knock command comprising a plurality of peripheral time stamps for a plurality of peripheral device accelerations;

create a peripheral identifier comprising time interval values of time intervals between the peripheral time stamps; and

broadcast a discovery signal with a signal identifier that comprises the peripheral identifier.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer readable code is further configured to cause the computer to:

receive a second knock command from a second accelerometer of a host device, the second knock command comprising a plurality of host time stamps for a plurality of host device accelerations;

create a peripheral identifier template comprising time interval value ranges based on time intervals between the host time stamps;

search for the discovery signal in response to the second knock command; and

establish a paired association between the host and the peripheral device if the peripheral identifier is within the ranges of the peripheral identifier template.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the first knock command and the second knock command are unified by striking the peripheral device against the host device, thereby causing concurrent first and second knock commands.

4. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the computer readable code is further configured to cause the computer to stop receiving knock commands after no knock command is received for a termination time interval.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the termination time interval is in the range of one to three seconds.

6. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the computer readable code is further configured to cause the computer to stop the broadcast of the discovery signal and reset the signal identifier to an original name if the host device does not establish the paired relationship within a time out time interval.

7. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the discovery signal and the paired association employ a BLUETOOTH®

communications protocol.

8. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the discovery signal and the paired relationship employ a communications protocol selected from a Universal Serial Bus communications protocol, an infrared communications protocol, and an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 communications protocol.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the peripheral identifier comprises a hash of the peripheral time interval values.

10. An apparatus to initiate association, the apparatus comprising:

a peripheral knock module configured to receive a first knock command from a first accelerometer of a peripheral device, the first knock command comprising a plurality of peripheral time stamps for a plurality of peripheral device accelerations;

a peripheral identifier module configured to create a peripheral identifier comprising time interval values of time intervals between the peripheral time stamps; and

a broadcast module configured to broadcast a discovery signal with a signal identifier that comprises the peripheral identifier.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a host knock module configured to receive a second knock command from a second accelerometer of a host device, the second knock command comprising a plurality of host time stamps for a plurality of host device accelerations;

a peripheral template module configured to create a peripheral identifier template comprising time interval value ranges based on time intervals between the host time stamps;

a search module configured to search for the discovery signal in response to the second knock command; and

an association module configured to establish a paired association between the host and the peripheral device if the peripheral identifier is within the ranges of the peripheral identifier template.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the search module is further configured to stop receiving knock commands after no knock command is received for a termination time interval.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the search module is further configured to stop the broadcast of the discovery signal and reset the signal identifier to an original name if the host device does not establish the paired relationship within a time out time interval.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the time out interval is in the range of two to five seconds.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the peripheral identifier comprises a hash of the peripheral time interval values.

16. A system to initiate association, the system comprising:

a peripheral device comprising

a first accelerometer;

a peripheral knock module configured to receive a first knock command from the first accelerometer, the first knock command comprising a plurality of peripheral time stamps for a plurality of peripheral device accelerations;

a peripheral identifier module configured to create a peripheral identifier comprising time interval values of time intervals between the peripheral time stamps;

a broadcast module configured to broadcast a discovery signal with a signal identifier that comprises the peripheral identifier;

a host device comprising

a second accelerometer;

a host knock module configured to receive a second knock command from the second accelerometer, the second knock command comprising a plurality of host time stamps for a plurality of host device accelerations;

a peripheral template module configured to create a peripheral identifier template comprising time interval value ranges based on time intervals between the host time stamps;

a search module configured to search for the discovery signal in response to the second knock command; and

an association module configured to establish a paired association between the host and the peripheral device if the peripheral identifier is within the ranges of the peripheral identifier template.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the discovery signal and the paired association employ a BLUETOOTH®

communications protocol.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the discovery signal and the paired relationship employ an IEEE 802.11 communications protocol.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the host device is a laptop computer.

20. A method for deploying computer infrastructure, comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing the following:

receiving a first knock command from a first accelerometer of a peripheral device, the first knock command comprising a plurality of peripheral time stamps for a plurality of peripheral device accelerations;

creating a peripheral identifier comprising time interval values of time intervals between the peripheral time stamps;

broadcasting a discovery signal with a signal identifier that comprises the peripheral identifier;

receiving a second knock command from a second accelerometer of a host device, the second knock command comprising a plurality of host time stamps for a plurality of host device accelerations;

creating a peripheral identifier template comprising time interval value ranges based on time intervals between the host time stamps;

searching for the discovery signal in response to the second knock command; and

establishing a paired association between the host and the peripheral device if the peripheral identifier is within the ranges of the peripheral identifier template.