ROAMING GROUPS IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK

• US 20120239755A1
• Filed: 03/14/2011
• Published: 09/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Filgueiras, Henrique, Sankaranarayan, Mukund, Hassan, Amer A., Desai, Mitesh K., Elhaddad, Mahmoud S.
• Granted Patent: US 10,231,283 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40123 Interconnection of computers and peripherals printer information exchange with computer G06F3/1293
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 for selective distribution or broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A computing device that forms a group in accordance with a peer-to-peer protocol in which a device may be identified based on a credential of a user. The credential may be used to determine a unique identifier for the user such that the same identifier is used on any device operated by the same user. Such an identifier may be used in connection with a peer-to-peer protocol that supports persistent peer-to-peer groups. As a result, the unique identifier for the user may be retained by remote devices that have paired with any device operated by a particular user such that those remote devices may automatically establish a connection with any other device operated by the same user that similarly uses the same unique identifier for the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

with a wireless device associated with a user, communicating with a remote device to form a peer-to-peer group comprising at least the remote device, the wirelessly communicating comprising transmitting at least one message for forming the group containing an identifier of the user; and

storing information about the peer-to-peer group associated with the identifier of the user for subsequent use in reconnecting to the remote device in a peer-to-peer group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

storing the information comprises transmitting the information over a network for storage on a networked computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

with a second wireless device, accessing the stored information based on the identifier of the user from the networked computing device; and

with the information, configuring the second wireless device to form a second peer-to-peer group, the second peer-to-peer group comprising at least the remote device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the identifier of a user is a credential of the user for accessing a service on the networked computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprises at least a PIN associated with the remote device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

wirelessly communicating with the remote device to form the group comprises forming the group at a first time; and

the method further comprises, at a second time;

retrieving the stored information based on the identifier of the user; and

using the retrieved information to re-establish a peer-to-peer group with the remote device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the wireless device associated with the user is a first wireless device; and

re-establishing the peer-to-peer group comprises, with a second wireless device associated with the user, communicating with the remote device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

storing the information comprises transmitting the information over a network for storage on a networked computing device; and

retrieving the stored information based on the identifier of the user comprises using the identifier of the user as a credential to access the networked computing device.

9. A method comprising:

with a wireless device;

receiving a credential from a user of the wireless device;

based on the credential of the user, determining an identifier;

wirelessly communicating with a remote device to form a peer-to-peer group comprising at least the remote device and the first wireless device, the wirelessly communicating comprising transmitting at least one message for forming the group, each message of the at least one message containing the determined identifier in a portion (534) of the message identifying a device transmitting the message.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the wireless device is a first wireless device;

the method further comprises;

with a second wireless device;

wirelessly communicating with the remote device to form a peer-to-peer group comprising at least the remote device and the second device, the wirelessly communicating comprising transmitting at least one message for forming the group, each message of the at least one message containing, in the portion of the message, the determined identifier of the first wireless device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the peer-to-peer group is formed in accordance with a protocol that supports re-forming groups based on stored information; and

the wirelessly communicating, with the second wireless device, comprises communicating messages to re-form the group in accordance with the protocol.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

with the second wireless device;

receiving user input providing the identifier of the user; and

selecting information for use in formatting the portion of at least one message in accordance with the protocol, the selected information comprising the determined identifier of the first wireless device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

transmitting at least one message for forming the group comprises transmitting messages in accordance with Wi-Fi Direct protocol.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the portion of the message comprises a field providing an identifier of the group.

15. A computing device comprising:

a wireless transceiver;

at least one processor configure to;

control the wireless transceiver to exchange messages in accordance with a peer-to-peer protocol, the messages comprising at least one portion identifying a group of devices formed in accordance with the protocol; and

select a value for the at least one portion, the portion being selected, under a first condition, based on a user identifier and, under a second condition, based on a hardware identifier of the computing device.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the hardware identifier comprises a MAC address of the transceiver.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the user identifier comprises a user credential input by the user.

18. The computing device of claim 15, wherein:

the computing device further comprises computer storage media holding a profile store adapted to hold profiles of groups of which the computing device is a member; and

the messages in accordance with the peer-to-peer protocol comprise messages for re-forming a group based on a profile in the profile store.

19. The computing device of claim 15, wherein:

the messages in accordance with the peer-to-peer protocol comprise messages for forming a group, the group being identified based on an identifier of the computing device.

20. The computing device of claim 15, wherein:

the first condition comprises the computing device having used the user identifier to download from a networked computing device a profile for the group.