WIRELESS ACCESS POINT BEACON MESSAGING

• US 20100232337A1
• Filed: 03/11/2010
• Published: 09/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Hardie, Edward Thomas Lingham, Das, Saumitra Mohan
• Granted Patent: US 8,958,354 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to wireless communication of messages between a wireless access point and one or more mobile stations. Example embodiments may comprise wireless communication of messages of variable length partitioned among one or more beacon signals transmitted from the wireless access point.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

partitioning a message to be broadcast from a wireless access point into two or more message segments; and

transmitting one or more beacon signals from the wireless access point to one or more wireless terminals, wherein said one or more beacon signals individually comprise at least one of said two or more message segments, wherein said two or more message segments individually comprise prefix metadata to enable regeneration of the message, the prefix metadata comprising information indicating that the one or more beacon signals are not purposed for network association.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more beacon signals are individually associated with one or more service set identifiers (SSID) not used to associate clients with networks supported by the wireless access point.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a message segment associated with one of the one or more beacon signals is transmitted in a SSID field of the associated beacon signal.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said prefix metadata for said message segment associated with said one of the one or more beacon signals is transmitted in a basic service set identification (BSSID) field as part of the associated beacon signal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting said one or more beacon signals from the wireless access point comprises transmitting said one or more beacon signals in a manner compatible with at least one version of IEEE standard 802.11.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said two or more message segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating at least in part an order for assembling said two or more message segments into said message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one of said two or more message segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating a subject matter for the message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said message comprises a pointer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the pointer comprises a universal resource indicator (URI).

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said two or more message segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating a count of total beacon signals to form the message.

11. A method, comprising:

receiving one or more beacon signals from a wireless access point, said one or more beacon signals individually comprising one or more segments of a message, wherein said one or more segments individually comprise prefix metadata to enable regeneration of the message, the prefix metadata comprising information indicating that the one or more beacon signals are not purposed for network association; and

assembling said one or more segments to regenerate the message.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said one or more beacon signals are individually associated with one or more service set identifiers (SSID) not used to associate clients with networks supported by the wireless access point.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a segment associated with one of the one or more beacon signals is received in a SSID field of the associated beacon signal.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said prefix metadata for said segment associated with said one of the one or more beacon signals is received in a basic service set identification (BSSID) field of the associated beacon signal.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein said receiving said one or more beacon signals from the wireless access point comprises receiving said one or more beacon signals in a manner compatible with at least one version of IEEE standard 802.11.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of said one or more segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating at least in part an order for assembling said one or more segments into the message.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of said one or more segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating a subject matter for the message.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein said message comprises a pointer.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the pointer comprises a universal resource indicator (URI).

20. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of said one or more segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating a count of total beacon signals to form the message.

21. A mobile station, comprising:

a receiver circuit to receive one or more beacon signals from a wireless access point, said one or more beacon signals individually comprising at least one or more segments of a message, wherein said one or more segments individually comprise prefix metadata to enable regeneration of the message, the prefix metadata comprising information indicating that the one or more beacon signals are not purposed for network association; and

a processing unit to assemble said one or more segments to regenerate the message.

22. The mobile station of claim 21, wherein said one or more beacon signals are individually associated with one or more service set identifiers (SSID) not used to associate clients with networks supported by the wireless access point.

23. The mobile station of claim 22, the receiver circuit to receive a segment associated with one of the one or more beacon signals in a SSID field of the associated beacon signal.

24. The mobile station of claim 23, the receiver circuit to receive said prefix metadata for said segment associated with said one of the one or more beacon signals in a basic service set identification (BSSID) field of the associated beacon signal.

25. The mobile station of claim 21, said receiver circuit to receive said one or more beacon signals from the wireless access point by receiving said one or more beacon signals in a manner compatible with at least one version of IEEE standard 802.11.

26. The mobile station of claim 21, wherein at least one of said one or more segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating at least in part an order for assembling said one or more segments into the message.

27. The mobile station of claim 21, wherein at least one of said one or more segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating a subject matter for the message.

28. The mobile station of claim 21, wherein said message comprises a pointer.

29. The mobile station of claim 28, wherein the pointer comprises a universal resource indicator (URI).

30. The mobile station of claim 21, wherein at least one of said one or more segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating a count of total beacon signals to form the message.

31. An article, comprising:

a storage medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a computing platform to;

partition a message to be broadcast from the computing platform into two or more message segments; and

transmit one or more beacon signals from the computing platform to one or more wireless terminals, wherein said one or more beacon signals individually comprise at least one of said two or more message segments, wherein said message segments individually comprise prefix metadata to enable regeneration of the message, the prefix metadata comprising information indicating that the one or more beacon signals are not purposed for network association.

32. The article of claim 31, wherein said one or more beacon signals are individually associated with one or more service set identifiers (SSID) not used to associate clients with networks supported by the computing platform.

33. The article of claim 32, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to transmit a message segment associated with one of the one or more beacon signals in a SSID field of the associated beacon signal.

34. The article of claim 33, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to transmit said prefix metadata for said message segment associated with said one of the one or more beacon signals in a basic service set identification (BSSID) field of the associated beacon signal.

35. The article of claim 31, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the computing platform to transmit said one or more beacon signals from the computing platform in a manner compatible with at least one version of IEEE standard 802.11.

36. The article of claim 31, wherein at least one of said one or more message segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating at least in part an order for assembling said two or more message segments into a complete message.

37. The article of claim 36, wherein at least one of said two or more message segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating a subject matter for the complete message.

38. The article of claim 36, wherein said complete message comprises a pointer.

39. The article of claim 38, wherein the pointer comprises a universal resource indicator (URI).

40. The article of claim 36, wherein at least one of said two or more message segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating a count of total beacon signals to form the complete message.

41. An article, comprising:

a storage medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a mobile station to;

receive one or more beacon signals from a wireless access point, said one or more beacon signals individually comprising at least one of one or more segments of a message, wherein said one or more segments individually comprise prefix metadata to enable regeneration of the message, the prefix metadata comprising information indicating that the one or more beacon signals are not purposed for network association; and

assemble said one or more segments to regenerate the message.

42. The article of claim 41, wherein said one or more beacon signals are individually associated with one or more service set identifiers (SSID) not used to associate clients with networks supported by the wireless access point.

43. The article of claim 42, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the mobile station to receive a message segment associated with one of the one or more beacon signals in a SSID field of the associated beacon signal.

44. The article of claim 43, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the mobile station to receive said prefix metadata for said message segment associated with said one of the one or more beacon signals in a basic service set identification (BSSID) field of the associated beacon signal.

45. The article of claim 42, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the mobile station to receive said one or more beacon signals in a manner compatible with at least one version of IEEE standard 802.11.

46. The article of claim 41, wherein at least one of said one or more segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating at least in part an order for assembling said one or more segments into the message.

47. The article of claim 41, wherein at least one of said one or more segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating a subject matter for the message.

48. The article of claim 41, wherein said message comprises a pointer.

49. The article of claim 48, wherein the pointer comprises a universal resource indicator (URI).

50. The article of claim 41, wherein at least one of said one or more segments further comprises prefix metadata indicating a count of total beacon signals to form the message.