SERVICE CONSTRAINT ADVERTISEMENT AND DISCOVERY

• US 20130322297A1
• Filed: 12/18/2012
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Dominguez, Charles F.
• Granted Patent: US 9,661,558 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/255
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Various embodiments for service constraint advertisement and discovery are provided. Each wireless device in a group of wireless devices can multicast a service advertisement frame to advertise a service provided, a discovery request frame to request for a service, a discovery response frame in response of a discovery request frame if the wireless device can provide the requested service, or a discovery proxy response frame in response of a discovery request frame if another wireless device can provide the requested service. The frames include information related to one or more services and capabilities, availability schedule, frequency band in use, and other information. This allows a new device joining the group to accomplish device discovery and service discovery at the same time. This Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for communicating between electronic devices, comprising:

in an advertiser device, performing operations for;

receiving a discovery request frame multicasted from a discoverer device, the discovery request frame including information indicative of a service requested by the discoverer device and information about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device includes at least one of:

a frequency band used by the discoverer device, one or more channels supported by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more channels preferred by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more transports used by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more capabilities of the discoverer device, or an availability schedule of the discoverer device for frame exchange.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more transports used by the discoverer device in accessing the service comprise one or more of an extended service set (ESS), an independent basic service set (iBSS), and Wi-Fi Direct.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the availability schedule of the discoverer device comprises one or more channels on which the discoverer device will be available for frame exchange, a duration for an availability window during which the discoverer device will be available on the one or more channels, a start time at which the availability window of the discoverer device starts, and a number of times the availability window of the discoverer device will repeat.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

in the advertiser device, performing operations for;

determining that the service requested by the discoverer device matches a service provided by the advertiser device;

generating a discovery response frame that includes information indicative of the service provided by the advertiser device and information about the advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the advertiser device and access the service provided by the advertiser device;

using the information from the discovery request frame about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device to configure the advertiser device for multicasting the discovery response frame; and

multicasting the discovery response frame.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the discovery response frame comprises generating the discovery response frame when at least one of the following is true:

at least a minimum amount of time remains in an availability schedule for the discoverer device on the one or more channels supported by the discoverer device; and

the discovery request frame was received at a data rate equal to or higher than a threshold data rate.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in the advertiser device, performing operations for;

caching the information included in the discovery request frame for a defined duration; and

during the defined duration;

determining that a remote advertiser device provides a service that matches the service requested based on cached information indicative of the service provided by the remote advertiser device and information about the remote advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the remote advertiser device and access the service on the remote advertiser device;

generating a discovery proxy response frame that includes the information indicative of the service provided by the remote advertiser device and information about the remote advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the remote advertiser device and access the service on the remote advertiser device;

using the information from the discovery request frame about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device to configure the advertiser device for multicasting the discovery proxy response frame; and

multicasting the discovery proxy response frame.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in the advertiser device, performing operations for;

caching the information about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device that is received in the discovery request frame; and

selecting an availability schedule for the advertiser device based at least in part on the cached information, wherein the availability schedule of the advertiser device comprises one or more channels on which the advertiser device will be available for frame exchange, a duration for an availability window during which the advertiser device will be available on the one or more channels, a start time at which the availability window of the advertiser device starts, and a number of times the availability window of the advertiser device will repeat.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in the advertiser device, performing operations of a discoverer device, comprising operations for;

receiving, from a software client executed in the advertiser device, a request for a service needed by the software client;

generating a discovery request frame that includes information indicative of the service requested by the advertiser device and information about the advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the advertiser device and provide the service to the advertiser device; and

multicasting the discovery request frame.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the information about the advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the advertiser device and provide the service to the advertiser device includes at least one of:

a frequency band used by the advertiser device, one or more channels supported by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more channels preferred by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more transports used by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more capabilities of the advertiser device, and an availability schedule of the advertiser device for frame exchange.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in the advertiser device performing operations for;

determining that information in a cache in the advertiser device that was received from another electronic device includes a service that matches the service; and

returning the information from the cache to the software client.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

in the advertiser device, performing operations for;

receiving, from a remove advertiser device, a multicasted discovery response frame, the discovery response frame including information indicative of a service provided by the remote advertiser device and information about the remote advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the remote advertiser device and access the service on the remote advertiser device; and

providing at least some of the information from the discovery response frame to the software client.

13. A method for communicating between electronic devices, comprising:

in a discoverer device, performing operations for;

receiving, from a software client executed in the discoverer device, a request for a service needed by the software client;

generating a discovery request frame that includes information indicative of the service requested by the discoverer device and information about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device; and

multicasting the discovery request frame

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the information about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device includes at least one of:

a frequency band used by the discoverer device, one or more channels supported by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more channels preferred by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more transports used by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more capabilities of the discoverer device, or an availability schedule of the discoverer device for frame exchange.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more transports used by the discoverer device in accessing the service comprise one or more of an extended service set (ESS), an independent basic service set (iBSS), and Wi-Fi Direct.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the availability schedule of the discoverer device comprises one or more channels on which the discoverer device will be available for frame exchange, a duration for an availability window during which the discoverer device will be available on the one or more channels, a start time at which the availability window of the discoverer device starts, and a number of times the availability window of the discoverer device will repeat.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

in the discoverer device, performing operations for;

receiving a discovery response frame from an advertiser device that includes information indicative of the service provided by the advertiser device and information about the advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the advertiser device and access the service provided by the advertiser device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the information about the advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the advertiser device and provide the service to the advertiser device includes at least one of:

a frequency band used by the advertiser device, one or more channels supported by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more channels preferred by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more transports used by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more capabilities of the advertiser device, and an availability schedule of the advertiser device for frame exchange.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

providing at least some of the information from the discovery response frame to the software client.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein

in the discoverer device, performing operations for:

receiving a proxy discovery response frame from an advertiser device that includes information indicative of the service provided by a remote advertiser device and information about the remote advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the remote advertiser device and access the service on the remote advertiser device.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the information about the remote advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the remote advertiser device and provide the service to the remote advertiser device includes at least one of:

a frequency band used by the remote advertiser device, one or more channels supported by the remote advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more channels preferred by the remote advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more transports used by the remote advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more capabilities of the remote advertiser device, and an availability schedule of the remote advertiser device for frame exchange.

22. An advertiser device, comprising:

a processing unit configured to perform computational operations in the advertiser device;

a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions and data to be used by the processing unit for performing computational operations;

wherein the processing unit is configured to;

receive a discovery request frame multicasted from a discoverer device, the discovery request frame including information indicative of a service requested by the discoverer device and information about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device.

23. The advertiser device of claim 22, wherein the information about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device includes at least one of:

a frequency band used by the discoverer device, one or more channels supported by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more channels preferred by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more transports used by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more capabilities of the discoverer device, or an availability schedule of the discoverer device for frame exchange.

24. The advertiser device of claim 23, wherein the one or more transports used by the discoverer device in accessing the service comprise one or more of an extended service set (ESS), an independent basic service set (iBSS), and Wi-Fi Direct.

25. The advertiser device of claim 23, wherein the availability schedule of the discoverer device comprises one or more channels on which the discoverer device will be available for frame exchange, a duration for an availability window during which the discoverer device will be available on the one or more channels, a start time at which the availability window of the discoverer device starts, and a number of times the availability window of the discoverer device will repeat.

26. The advertiser device of claim 23, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

determine that the service requested by the discoverer device matches a service provided by the advertiser device;

generate a discovery response frame that includes information indicative of the service provided by the advertiser device and information about the advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the advertiser device and access the service provided by the advertiser device;

use the information from the discovery request frame about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device to configure the advertiser device for multicasting the discovery response frame; and

multicast the discovery response frame.

27. The advertiser device of claim 26, wherein generating the discovery response frame comprises generating the discovery response frame when at least one of the following is true:

at least a minimum amount of time remains in an availability schedule for the discoverer device on the one or more channels supported by the discoverer device; and

the discovery request frame was received at a data rate equal to or higher than a threshold data rate.

28. The advertiser device of claim 22, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

cache the information included in the discovery request frame for a defined duration; and

during the defined duration;

determine that a remote advertiser device provides a service that matches the service requested based on cached information indicative of the service provided by the remote advertiser device and information about the remote advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the remote advertiser device and access the service on the remote advertiser device;

generate a discovery proxy response frame that includes the information indicative of the service provided by the remote advertiser device and information about the remote advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the remote advertiser device and access the service on the remote advertiser device;

use the information from the discovery request frame about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device to configure the advertiser device for multicasting the discovery proxy response frame; and

multicast the discovery proxy response frame.

29. The advertiser device of claim 22, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

cache the information about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device that is received in the discovery request frame; and

select an availability schedule for the advertiser device based at least in part on the cached information, wherein the availability schedule of the advertiser device comprises one or more channels on which the advertiser device will be available for frame exchange, a duration for an availability window during which the advertiser device will be available on the one or more channels, a start time at which the availability window of the advertiser device starts, and a number of times the availability window of the advertiser device will repeat.

30. The advertiser device of claim 22, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

perform operations of a discoverer device, comprising;

receiving, from a software client executed in the advertiser device, a request for a service needed by the software client;

generating a discovery request frame that includes information indicative of the service requested by the advertiser device and information about the advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the advertiser device and provide the service to the advertiser device; and

multicasting the discovery request frame.

31. The advertiser device of claim 30, wherein the information about the advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the advertiser device and provide the service to the advertiser device includes at least one of:

a frequency band used by the advertiser device, one or more channels supported by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more channels preferred by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more transports used by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more capabilities of the advertiser device, and an availability schedule of the advertiser device for frame exchange.

32. The advertiser device of claim 30, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

determine that information in a cache in the advertiser device that was received from another electronic device includes a service that matches the service; and

return the information from the cache to the software client.

33. The advertiser device of claim 30, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

receive, from a remove advertiser device, a multicasted discovery response frame, the discovery response frame including information indicative of a service provided by the remote advertiser device and information about the remote advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the remote advertiser device and access the service on the remote advertiser device; and

provide at least some of the information from the discovery response frame to the software client.

34. A discoverer device, comprising:

a processing unit configured to perform computational operations in the advertiser device;

a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions and data to be used by the processing unit for performing computational operations;

wherein the processing unit is configured to;

receive, from a software client executed in the discoverer device, a request for a service needed by the software client;

generate a discovery request frame that includes information indicative of the service requested by the discoverer device and information about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device; and

multicast the discovery request frame

35. The discoverer device of claim 34, wherein the information about the discoverer device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the discoverer device and provide the service to the discoverer device includes at least one of:

a frequency band used by the discoverer device, one or more channels supported by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more channels preferred by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more transports used by the discoverer device in accessing the service, one or more capabilities of the discoverer device, or an availability schedule of the discoverer device for frame exchange.

36. The discoverer device of claim 35, wherein the one or more transports used by the discoverer device in accessing the service comprise one or more of an extended service set (ESS), an independent basic service set (iBSS), and Wi-Fi Direct.

37. The discoverer device of claim 35, wherein the availability schedule of the discoverer device comprises one or more channels on which the discoverer device will be available for frame exchange, a duration for an availability window during which the discoverer device will be available on the one or more channels, a start time at which the availability window of the discoverer device starts, and a number of times the availability window of the discoverer device will repeat.

38. The discoverer device of claim 34, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

receive, from an advertiser device, a discovery response frame that includes information indicative of the service provided by the advertiser device and information about the advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the advertiser device and access the service provided by the advertiser device.

39. The discoverer device of claim 38, wherein the information about the advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the advertiser device and provide the service to the advertiser device includes at least one of:

a frequency band used by the advertiser device, one or more channels supported by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more channels preferred by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more transports used by the advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more capabilities of the advertiser device, and an availability schedule of the advertiser device for frame exchange.

40. The discoverer device of claim 38, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

provide at least some of the information from the discovery response frame to the software client.

41. The discoverer device of claim 34, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

receive, from an advertiser device, a discovery proxy response frame that includes information indicative of the service provided by a remote advertiser device and information about the remote advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the remote advertiser device and access the service on the remote advertiser device, wherein the remote advertiser device is a different device than the advertiser device.

42. The discoverer device of claim 41, wherein the information about the remote advertiser device that can be used by other electronic devices to communicate with the remote advertiser device and provide the service to the remote advertiser device includes at least one of:

a frequency band used by the remote advertiser device, one or more channels supported by the remote advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more channels preferred by the remote advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more transports used by the remote advertiser device in accessing the service, one or more capabilities of the remote advertiser device, and an availability schedule of the remote advertiser device for frame exchange.