SERVICE DISCOVERY IN A WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20100322213A1
• Filed: 06/23/2009
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Liu, Huaiyu, Gong, Michelle X., Meylemans, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 8,768,323 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information

Abstract

Embodiments of service discovery in a wireless network involve an Access Point (AP) proxy service to represent service providers. The AP manages service provider information, which is provided in response to service requests from service consumers. The AP proxy capability is advertised as a broadcast message in the wireless network.

Claims

1. A method performed by a processing unit for discovery in a wireless communication network, comprising:

receiving a registration request from a service provider;

storing a set of information for the service provider in a memory storage unit; and

transmitting an indication of the service provider to at least one service consumer in the wireless communication network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a service request from a service consumer, the service request including requested service information;

retrieving at least a portion of the set of information stored in the memory storage unit; and

sending a service response to the service consumer identifying the service provider, the service response including a plurality of information elements.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

matching the requested service information to information stored in the memory storage unit; and

retrieving the at least a portion of the set of information containing information matching the requested service information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the service response includes a plurality of information elements.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein to transmit the indication is further to advertise the indication of the service provider to devices in the wireless communication network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a probe request from a service consumer; and

transmitting the indication of the service provider as a probe response to the service consumer.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the at least one processing unit to transmit a proxy service capability to service providers in the wireless communication network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network supports Wi-Fi communication, and wherein the memory storage unit stores a plurality of sets of information corresponding to a plurality of service providers.

9. A method in a wireless communication network, comprising

sending a service request to a device, the device acting as a proxy for a plurality of service providers;

receiving information for at least one of the plurality of service providers from the device; and

accessing the at least one of the plurality of service providers using the information.

10. The method as in claim 9, wherein the wireless communication network supports Wi-Fi communications, the wireless communication network is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and the method further comprising receiving an advertisement for a service offered by the at least one of the plurality of service providers, wherein the advertisement is from the device.

11. The method as in claim 9, further comprising sending a registrations request to the device to register as a service provider using the device as a proxy.

12. An apparatus, comprising:

a communication module to send and receive wireless communication signals within a wireless communication network;

a proxy processing module to provide access point services within the wireless communication network, and to receive service provider information from a plurality of service providers associated with the apparatus; and

a memory storage unit to store the service provider information for the plurality of service providers,

wherein the communication module is to transmit an indication of the service provider information to at least one service consumer in the wireless communication network.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus supports a wireless communication protocol for Wi-Fi communications.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the proxy processing module is further to transmit a proxy advertisement within the wireless communication network.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the service provider information is received as an information element including a service provider identifier, a service type identifier, and access information for the service provider.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the proxy processing module is further to transmit service provider information for the plurality of service providers within the wireless communication network.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the proxy processing module is further to retrieve service provider information in response to a service request from a service consumer in the wireless communication network.

18. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when implemented by one or more machines, cause the one or more machines to:

receive a registration request from a service provider;

store a set of information for the service provider in a memory storage unit; and

transmit an indication of the service provider to at least one service consumer in a wireless communication network.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein to transmit the indication is further to transmit an information element identifying one of:

a type of service offered by the service provider; and

access information for the service provider.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions to:

receive a de-registration request from the service provider; and

remove the set of information from the memory storage unit.