TECHNIQUES FOR ENERGY EFFICIENT WIFI NEIGHBOR AWARENESS NETWORK OPERATION

• US 20150319675A1
• Filed: 09/23/2014
• Published: 11/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Park, Minyoung, Qi, Emily H., Yellepeddy, Venkatakrishna
• Granted Patent: US 9,386,512 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Various embodiments are generally directed to an apparatus, method and other techniques for performing neighbor awareness network (NAN) discovery operations to discover a NAN cluster comprising one or more devices synchronized to a discovery window. In some embodiments, the NAN discovery operation may include communicating a cluster discovery message to join the NAN cluster, waiting a first time period for a response to the cluster discovery message, and joining the NAN cluster based on information in the response to synchronize to the discovery window when the response is received within the first time period. Various embodiments may also include disabling, by the processing circuitry, one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations if the response is not received within the first time period.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory;

processing circuitry;

a neighbor awareness network (NAN) discovery module for execution on the processing circuitry to perform NAN discovery operations to discover a NAN cluster comprising one or more devices synchronized to a discovery window, the NAN discovery operations to;

communicate a cluster discovery message to join the NAN cluster;

determine whether a response to the cluster discovery message is received within a first time period; and

join the NAN cluster based on information in the response to synchronize to the discovery window when the response is received within the first time period; and

a discovery power module for execution on the processing circuitry to disable one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations when the response is not received within the first time period.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the cluster discovery message comprising at least a NAN identification to identify the NAN cluster;

and

the NAN discovery module to receive the response from an infrastructure device in the NAN cluster identified by the NAN identification.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the response comprising at least one of a synchronization beacon message, a discovery beacon message, and a probe response.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising:

an infrastructure discovery module for execution on the processing circuitry to determine whether the NAN cluster is an infrastructure environment comprising at least one infrastructure device; and

the discovery power module to disable the one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations if the NAN cluster is not an infrastructure environment comprising at least one infrastructure device.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, the infrastructure discovery module to perform a scanning procedure to detect one or more infrastructure devices;

and

the discovery power module to disable the one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations if at least one infrastructure device does not respond within a second time period during the scanning procedure.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising:

the discovery power module to disable the one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations on the apparatus when the apparatus operates as a master for longer than a third time period.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising:

one or more input/output (I/O);

a transceiver; and

an antenna coupled with the transceiver.

8. An article comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing a plurality of instructions that when executed enable a computing device to:

perform neighbor awareness network (NAN) discovery operations to discover a NAN cluster comprising one or more devices synchronized to a discovery window, the NAN discovery operations that when executed enable the computing device to;

communicate a cluster discovery message to join the NAN cluster;

determine whether a response to the cluster discovery message is received within a first time period; and

join the NAN cluster based on information in the response to synchronize to the discovery window when the response is received within the first time period; and

disable one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations when the response is not received within the first time period.

9. The article of claim 8, the cluster discovery message comprising at least a NAN identification to identify the NAN cluster, and the article comprising instructions that when executed enable the computing device to receive the response from an infrastructure device in the NAN cluster identified by the NAN identification.

10. The article of claim 8, the response comprising at least one of a synchronization beacon message, a discovery beacon message, and a probe response.

11. The article of claim 8, comprising instructions that when executed enable the computing device to:

determine whether the NAN cluster is an infrastructure environment comprising at least one infrastructure device; and

disable the one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations if the NAN cluster is not an infrastructure environment comprising at least one infrastructure device.

12. The article of claim 11, comprising instructions that when executed enable the computing device to:

perform a scanning procedure to detect one or more infrastructure devices; and

disable the one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations when at least one infrastructure device does not respond within a second time period during the scanning procedure.

13. The article of claim 8, comprising instructions that when executed enable the computing device to disable the one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations on the computing device if the computing device operates as a master for longer than a third time period.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

performing, by processing circuitry, neighbor awareness network (NAN) discovery operations to discover a NAN cluster comprising one or more devices synchronized to a discovery window, the NAN discovery operations comprising;

communicating a cluster discovery message to join the NAN cluster;

determining whether a response to the cluster discovery message is received within a first time period; and

joining the NAN cluster based on information in the response to synchronize to the discovery window when the response is received within the first time period; and

the computer-implemented method comprising disabling, by the processing circuitry, one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations when the response is not received within the first time period.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, the cluster discovery message comprising at least a NAN identification to identify the NAN cluster;

and

the computer-implemented method comprising receiving the response from an infrastructure device in the NAN cluster identified by the NAN identification.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, the response comprising at least one of a synchronization beacon message, a discovery beacon message, and a probe response.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, comprising:

determining whether the NAN cluster is an infrastructure environment comprising at least one infrastructure device; and

disabling, by the processing circuitry, the one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations if the NAN cluster is not an infrastructure environment comprising at least one infrastructure device.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, the determining comprising performing a scanning procedure to detect one or more infrastructure devices;

and

disabling, by the processing circuitry, the one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations when at least one infrastructure device does not respond within a second time period during the scanning procedure.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, comprising:

disabling, by the processing circuitry, the one or more operations to perform the NAN discovery operations on a device when the device operates as a master device for longer than a third time period.

20. An apparatus comprising:

a memory;

processing circuitry; and

a neighbor awareness network (NAN) discovery module for execution on the processing circuitry to;

receive a cluster discovery message comprising a neighbor awareness network (NAN) identification to discover a NAN cluster comprising one or more devices synchronized to a discovery window,

determine whether a device receiving the cluster discovery message is an infrastructure device in the NAN cluster identified by the NAN identification, and

communicate a response to the cluster discovery message if the device receiving the cluster discovery message is an infrastructure devices in the NAN cluster identified by the cluster discovery message.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, the NAN discovery module to determine whether the response is communicated within a discovery window and cancel a next scheduled synchronization beacon if the response is communicated within the discovery window.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, the NAN discovery module to determine whether the response is communicated prior to a scheduled discovery beacon, and communicate the scheduled discovery beacon within a certain amount of time after communicating the response.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, comprising:

at least one input/output (I/O) device;

a transceiver; and

an antenna coupled with the transceiver.

24. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by processing circuitry, a cluster discovery message comprising a neighbor awareness network (NAN) identification to discover a NAN cluster comprising one or more devices synchronized to a discovery window;

determining, by the processing circuitry, whether a device receiving the cluster discovery message is an infrastructure device in the NAN cluster identified by the NAN identification; and

communicating, by the processing circuitry, a response to the cluster discovery message if the device receiving the cluster discovery message is an infrastructure devices in the NAN cluster identified by the cluster discovery message.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 24, comprising:

determining whether the response is communicated within a discovery window; and

canceling a next scheduled synchronization beacon if the response is communicated within the discovery window.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 24, comprising:

determining whether the response is communicated prior to a scheduled discovery beacon; and

communicating the scheduled discovery beacon within a certain amount of time after communicating the response.