ENHANCED NOTIFICATION MECHANISM FOR BROADCAST NETWORKS USING BIT-MAP VECTORS

• US 20100003914A1
• Filed: 07/07/2008
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: LEE, Jangwon, CHEN, An Mei
• Granted Patent: US 8,554,131 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/25 Arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1877 Measures taken prior to transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, systems and computer program products are defined for enhancing the delivery of overhead notifications in a broadcast network, in particular a broadcast network suitable for wireless device implementation. The broadcast-receiving devices only receive new notification messages, as opposed to receiving all of the currently active notification messages. This is achieved by broadcasting a listing of the currently active notifications versions and having the devices compare the currently active notification versions to the locally stored version(s) to determine which version or versions require capturing. In those aspects in which the broadcast-receiving device is a battery powered wireless device, battery power consumption is minimized because the device only captures active notification messages not currently in device memory, as opposed to all of the currently active notifications.

Claims

1. A method for acquiring notifications in a broadcast network, the method comprising:

receiving a broadcast message that indicates active notification versions;

determining if one or more of the active notification versions indicated in the broadcast message requires capturing;

capturing one or more broadcasted notifications messages associated with each of the one or more active notification versions if the determination results in requiring capture; and

storing at least a portion of the one or more captured notification messages in memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the broadcast message further comprises listening to a primary channel of a common overhead service within the broadcast network to receive a primary message that indicates the active notification versions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the broadcast message further comprises receiving the broadcast message that includes a bit map vector, wherein each bit in the bit map vector maps to a notification version.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving the broadcast message that includes the bit map vector further comprises receiving the broadcast message that includes the bit map vector, wherein each set bit in the bit map vector maps to an active notification version.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if one or more of the active notification versions requires capturing further comprises comparing a local version identifier to identifiers associated with the active notification versions.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein comparing a local version identifier to identifiers associated with the active notification versions further comprises comparing a local version number to numbers associated with the active notification versions.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining if one or more of the active notification versions require capturing further comprises determining if any of the numbers associated with the active notification versions are higher than the local version number.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising updating the local version identifier to reflect an identifier associated with a highest sequenced active notification version determined to require capture.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein updating the local version identifier further comprises updating the local version identifier after all of the active notification versions determined to require capture have been captured.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing one or more broadcasted notification messages associated with each of the one or more active notification versions further comprises tuning to a notification channel to capture the one or more notification messages associated with each of the one or more active notification versions determined to require capturing.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing one or more broadcasted notification messages associated with each of the one or more active notification versions further comprises determining the number of notification messages in an active notification version based on an indicator in the notification message.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein capturing one or more broadcast notification messages further comprises re-initiating the capture of the one or more broadcast messages following an interruption of the capture, wherein only the active notification versions not captured in total prior to the interruption require capture after re-initiating the capture.

13. At least one processor configured to acquire notifications in a broadcast network, the processor comprising:

a first module for receiving a broadcast message that indicates active notification versions;

a second module for determining if one or more of the active notification versions indicated in the broadcast message requires capturing;

a third module for capturing one or more broadcasted notifications messages associated with each of the one or more active notification versions if the determination results in requiring capture; and

a fourth module for storing at least a portion of the one or more captured notification messages in memory.

14. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

at least one instruction for causing a computer to receive a broadcast message that indicates active notification versions;

at least one instruction for causing the computer to determining if one or more of the active notification versions indicated in the broadcast message requires capturing;

at least one instruction for causing the computer to capture one or more broadcasted notifications messages associated with each of the one or more active notification versions if the determination results in requiring capture; and

at least one instruction for causing the computer to store at least a portion of the one or more captured notifications messages in memory

15. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a broadcast message that indicates active notification versions;

means for determining if one or more of the active notification versions indicated in the broadcast message requires capturing;

means for capturing one or more notifications messages associated with each of the one or more active notification versions if the determination results in requiring capture; and

means for storing at least a portion of the one or more captured notification messages in memory.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

a computer platform including a processor and memory in communication with the processor;

one or more local notification versions stored in the memory, wherein each local notification version comprises one or more notification messages;

a broadcast network module stored in the memory and in communication with the processor, wherein the module is operable to receive a broadcast message that indicates active notification versions; and

notification version comparison logic stored in the memory and in communication with the processor, wherein the logic is operable to determine if one or more of the active notification versions indicated in the broadcast message requires capturing,

wherein the module is further operable to capture and store in the memory one or more notifications messages associated with each of the one or more active notification versions if the logic determines that capture is required.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the broadcast network module is further operable to periodically tune to a primary channel of a common overhead service to listen for a primary broadcast message that indicates the active notification versions.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the broadcast network module is further operable to receive the broadcast message that includes a bit map vector, wherein each bit in the bit map vector maps to a notification version.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the broadcast network module is further operable to receive the broadcast message that includes the bit map vector, wherein each set bit in the bit map vector maps to an active notification version.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the broadcast network module comprises the notification version comparison logic.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the notification version comparison logic is further operable to compare identifiers associated with the one or more local notification versions to identifiers associated with the active notification versions indicated in the broadcast message.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the notification version comparison logic is further operable to compare a highest numbered local notification version with numbers associated with the active notification versions indicated in the broadcast message.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the notification version comparison logic is further operable to determine if any of the numbers associated with the active notification versions indicated in the broadcast message are higher than the highest numbered local notification version.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a local version management module operable to update the local version identifier to reflect an identifier associated with a highest sequenced active notification version determined to require capture.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the local version management module is further operable to update the local version identifier after all of the active notification versions determined to require capture have been captured.

26. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the broadcast network module is further operable to tune to a notification channel to capture the one or more notifications associated with each of the one or more active notification versions determined to require capturing.

27. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the broadcast network module is further operable to determine the number of notifications in an active notification version determined to require capturing based on an indicator in the notification message.

28. A method for generation and communication of notification messages in a broadcast network, the method comprising:

generating a primary message that indicates a first set of active notification versions;

broadcasting the primary message across a primary channel; and

broadcasting the first set of active notification versions across a notification channel, wherein each notification version includes one or more notification messages.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein generating the primary message further comprises generating the primary message that includes a bit map vector, wherein each bit in the bit map vector maps to a notification version.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein generating the primary message that includes the bit map vector further comprising setting a bit in the bit map vector to indicate each of the active notification versions.

31. The method of claim 28, further comprising merging notification messages associated with a first active notification version into a most current notification version if a version identifier associated with the first active notification version is not capable of being indicated in the bit map vector due to bit map size limitations.

32. The method of claim 28, further comprising generating a most current notification version.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein generating the primary message further comprises generating the primary message that indicates a second set of active notification versions including the most current notification version.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein generating the primary message further comprises generating the primary message that includes a bit map vector, wherein each bit in the bit map vector maps to a notification version, each set bit in the bit map vector maps to an active notification version and a most significant bit in the bit map vector is set to indicate that the most current notification version is an active notification version.

35. The method of claim 32, further comprising broadcasting the second set of active notification versions across the notification channel in place of the first set of active notifications.

36. The method of claim 28, wherein broadcasting the first set of active notification versions across a notification channel further comprises broadcasting the first set of active notification versions, each version including one or more notification messages, wherein each notification message indicates the number of notifications in the corresponding notification version.

37. The method of claim 28, wherein broadcasting the first set of active notification versions further comprises varying a rate at which each active notification version is broadcasted relative to an age of each active notification version.

38. The method of claim 28, wherein broadcasting the active notification versions further comprises broadcasting later-in-time active notification versions more frequently than previous-in-time active notification versions.

39. At least one processor configured to generate and communicate notification messages in a broadcast network, the processor comprising:

a first module for generating a primary message that indicates a set of active notification versions;

a second module for broadcasting the primary message across a primary channel; and

a third module for broadcasting the set of active notification versions across a notification channel, wherein each notification version includes one or more notification messages.

40. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

at least one instruction for causing a computer to generate a primary message that indicates a set of active notification versions;

at least one instruction for causing the computer to broadcast the primary message across a primary channel; and

at least one instruction for causing the computer to broadcast the set of active notification versions across a notification channel, wherein each notification version includes one or more notification messages

41. An apparatus, comprising:

means for generating a primary message that indicates a set of active notification versions;

means for broadcasting the primary message across a primary channel; and

means for broadcasting the set of active notification versions across a notification channel, wherein each notification version includes one or more notification messages.

42. An apparatus, comprising:

a computer platform including a processor and memory in communication with the processor;

a broadcast notification module stored in the memory and in communication with the processor, including a primary message generator operable to generate a primary message that indicates a first set of active notification versions; and

a broadcast module operable for broadcasting the primary message across a primary channel and for broadcasting the first set of active notification versions across a notification channel, wherein each notification version includes one or more notification messages.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the primary message generator is further operable to generate the primary message that includes a bit map vector, wherein each bit in the bit map vector maps to a notification version.

44. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the primary message generator is further operable to set a bit in the bit map vector to indicate each of the active notification versions.

45. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the primary message generator is further operable to merge notification messages associated with a first active notification version into a most current notification version if a version identifier associated with the first active notification version is not capable of being indicated in the bit map vector due to bit map size limitations.

46. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the broadcast notification module further comprises a notification message generator operable to generate notifications, wherein one or more generated notifications provide for a most current notification version.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the primary message generator is further operable to generate the primary message that indicates a second set of active notification versions including the most current notification version.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the primary message generator is further operable to generate the primary message that includes a bit map vector, wherein each bit in the bit map vector maps to a notification version, each set bit in the bit map vector maps to an active notification version and a most significant bit is set in the bit map vector to indicate that the most current notification version is an active notification version.

49. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the broadcast module is further operable to broadcast the active notification versions, each version including one or more notification messages, wherein each notification message indicates the number of notifications in the corresponding notification version.

50. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the broadcast module is further operable to vary a rate at which each active notification version is broadcasted relative to an age of each active notification version.

51. The apparatus of claim 50, wherein the broadcast module is further operable to broadcast later-in-time active notification versions more frequently than previous-in-time active notification versions.