Methods, Devices, and Computer Program Products For Facilitating Device-to-Device Communication Among Wireless Communication Devices

• US 20150078301A1
• Filed: 09/18/2014
• Published: 03/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: TOTH, Stefan Karl, Gustafsson, Roland, Rydnell, Gunnar
• Granted Patent: US 9,596,709 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• 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 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 for selective distribution or broadcast

Abstract

A method, device, and computer program product for facilitating device-to-device, D2D, communication among wireless communication devices, WCDs, is provided. The device is a first WCD that receives a wireless packet broadcasted by a second WCD. The wireless packet has one or more of i) a group identifier that identifies a group to which the second WCD belongs and ii) an application identifier that identifies an application which generated at least part of the wireless packet. The first WCD extracts from the wireless packet one or more of the group identifier and the application identifier. The first WCD determines whether to discard the wireless packet based on the one or more of the group identifier and the application identifier extracted from the wireless packet.

Claims

1. A method for processing wireless packets received at a first wireless communication device, WCD, the method comprising:

the first WCD receiving a wireless packet broadcasted by a second WCD, the wireless packet having one or more of i) a group identifier that identifies a group to which the second WCD belongs and ii) an application identifier that identifies an application which generated at least part of the wireless packet;

the first WCD extracting from the wireless packet one or more of the group identifier and the application identifier;

the first WCD determining whether to discard the wireless packet based on the one or more of the group identifier and the application identifier extracted from the wireless packet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first WCD stores subscription information that identifies at least one of i) an application stored on the first WCD and configured to communicate with other WCDs, and ii) a group of WCDs to which the first WCD belongs, and wherein determining whether to discard the wireless packet comprises determining whether the stored subscription information matches at least one of the group identifier and the application identifier.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first WCD extracts the group identifier and the application identifier, and wherein determining whether to discard the wireless packet comprises determining whether the stored subscription information matches the group identifier and the application identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the group identifier is shared by at least two different groups of WCDs and the application identifier is unique among all applications that are configured run on the first WCD.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of applications are stored on the first WCD, wherein the first WCD extracts the application identifier from the wireless packet, and wherein the method further comprises the first WCD routing the wireless packet to one of the plurality of applications corresponding to the extracted application identifier in response to the first WCD determining not to discard the wireless packet.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the wireless packet further includes a routing control field that indicates whether the wireless packet is to be routed to at least one of:

i) the application corresponding to the application identifier, ii) a control application, and iii) a relay node that relays the wireless packet to a base station, wherein the first WCD extracts the routing control field and the routing is based on the routing control field and the application identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the wireless packet is encrypted, wherein the first WCD extracts the group identifier, and wherein the method further comprises the first WCD decrypting the encrypted portion of the wireless packet based on the extracted group identifier in response to the first WCD determining not to discard the wireless packet.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein decrypting the encrypted portion comprises determining a decryption key based on the group identifier.

21. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to claim 1.

9. A method for broadcasting wireless packets by a second wireless communication device, WCD, comprising:

an application running on the WCD generating application data to be communicated to the same application on one or more other WCDs, wherein the WCD and the one or more other WCDs (104, 105) belong to a group used for device-to-device communication;

the WCD determining a group identifier corresponding to the group;

the WCD determining an application identifier corresponding to the application;

the WCD generating a wireless packet that includes the group identifier, the application identifier, and the application data; and

the WCD broadcasting the wireless packet.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein generating the wireless packet comprises encrypting the application data based on the group identifier.

22. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to claim 9.

11. A first wireless communication device, WCD, comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive a wireless packet broadcasted by a second WCD, the wireless packet having one or more of i) a group identifier that identifies a group to which the second WCD belongs and ii) an application identifier that identifies an application which generated at least part of the wireless packet; and

one more processors configured to;

extract from the wireless packet one or more of the group identifier and the application identifier, and

determine whether to discard the wireless packet based on the one or more of the group identifier and the application identifier extracted from the wireless packet.

12. The first WCD of claim 11, further comprising a storage device that stores subscription information that identifies at least one of i) an application stored on the WCD and configured to communicate with other WCDs, and ii) a group of WCDs to which the WCD belongs, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine whether to discard the wireless packet by determining whether the stored subscription information matches at least one of the group identifier and the application identifier.

13. The first WCD of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are configured to extract the group identifier and the application identifier and to determine whether to discard the wireless packet by determining whether the stored subscription information matches the group identifier and the application identifier.

14. The first WCD of claim 11, wherein the group identifier is shared by at least two different groups of WCDs and the application identifier is unique among all applications that are configured run on the WCD.

15. The first WCD of claim 11, wherein a plurality of applications are stored on the WCD, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to extract the application identifier from the wireless packet and to route the wireless packet to one of the plurality of applications corresponding to the extracted application identifier in response to a determination not to discard the wireless packet.

16. The first WCD of claim 15, wherein the wireless packet further includes a routing control field that indicates whether the wireless packet is to be routed to at least one of:

i) the application corresponding to the application identifier, ii) a control application, and iii) a relay node that relays the wireless packet to a base station, wherein the one or more processors are configured to extract the routing control field and to route the wireless packet based on the routing control field and the application identifier.

17. The first WCD of claim 11, wherein at least a portion of the wireless packet is encrypted, wherein the one or more processors are configured to extract the group identifier and to decrypt the encrypted portion of the wireless packet based on the extracted group identifier in response to the determination not to discard the wireless packet.

18. The first WCD of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are configured to decrypt the encrypted portion by determining a decryption key based on the group identifier.

19. A second wireless communication device, WCD, comprising:

one or more processors configured to;

run an application on the WCD to generate application data to be communicated to the same application on one or more other WCDs, wherein the WCD and the one or more other WCDs (104, 105) belong to a group used for device-to-device communication,

determine a group identifier corresponding to the group,

determine an application identifier corresponding to the application, and

generate a wireless packet that includes the group identifier, the application identifier, and the application data; and

a transceiver configured to transmit the wireless packet.

20. The second WCD of claim 19, wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate the wireless packet by encrypting the application data based on the group identifier.