Apparatus, system, and method for acceleration initiated association

• US 7,769,927 B2
• Filed: 07/19/2007
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zawacki, Jennifer Greenwood, Dubs, Justin Tyler, Thrasher, James Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsai; Henry W. H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mamo; Elias
• Application Number:
  US11/780,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20090024770A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,111 Days
• Field of Search: 710/58, 340/10.42, 370/912
• US Class Current: 710/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/912 Packet communications

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for acceleration initiated association. A peripheral knock module receives a first knock command from a first accelerometer of a peripheral device. The first knock command comprises a plurality of peripheral time stamps for a plurality of peripheral device accelerations. A peripheral identifier module creates a peripheral identifier comprising time interval values of time intervals between the peripheral time stamps. A broadcast module broadcasts a discovery signal with a signal identifier that comprises the peripheral identifier.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium storing a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

receive a first knock command from a peripheral device having a first accelerometer, the first knock command comprising a plurality of peripheral time stamps for a plurality of accelerations of the peripheral device;

create a peripheral identifier comprising time interval values of time intervals between the peripheral time stamps of the first knock command;

broadcast a discovery signal with a signal identifier that comprises the peripheral identifier;

receive a peripheral identifier template comprising time interval value ranges based on time intervals of a second knock command; and

establish a paired association with the peripheral device if the peripheral identifier is within the ranges of the peripheral identifier template.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, the computer readable program further causing the computer to:

receive the second knock command from a host device having a second accelerometer, the second knock command comprising a plurality of host time stamps for a plurality of accelerations of the host device;

create the peripheral identifier template; and

search for the discovery signal in response to the second knock command.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the first knock command and the second knock command are unified by striking the peripheral device against the host device, thereby causing concurrent first and second knock commands.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 2, the computer readable program further causing the computer to stop receiving knock commands after no knock command is received for a termination time interval.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the termination time interval is in the range of one to three seconds.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 2, the computer readable program further causing the computer to stop the broadcast of the discovery signal and reset the signal identifier to an original name if the host device does not establish the paired relationship within a time out time interval.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the discovery signal and the paired association employ a BLUETOOTH®

communications protocol.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the discovery signal and the paired relationship employ a communications protocol selected from a Universal Serial Bus communications protocol, an infrared communications protocol, and an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 communications protocol.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the peripheral identifier comprises a hash of the peripheral time interval values.

10. An apparatus to initiate association, the apparatus comprising:

a first computer readable medium storing a first computer readable program;

a first processor executing the first computer readable program, the first computer readable program comprising

a peripheral knock module receiving a first knock command from a peripheral device having a first accelerometer, the first knock command comprising a plurality of peripheral time stamps for a plurality of accelerations of the peripheral device;

a peripheral identifier module creating a peripheral identifier comprising time interval values of time intervals between the peripheral time stamps of the first knock command;

a broadcast module broadcasting a discovery signal with a signal identifier that comprises the peripheral identifier;

the broadcast module receiving a peripheral identifier template comprising time interval value ranges based on time intervals of a second knock command; and

an association module establishing a paired association with the peripheral device if the peripheral identifier is within the ranges of the peripheral identifier template.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a second computer readable medium storing a second computer readable program;

a second processor executing the second computer readable program, the second computer readable program comprising;

a host knock module receiving the second knock command from a host device having a second accelerometer, the second knock command comprising a plurality of host time stamps for a plurality of accelerations of the host device;

a peripheral template module creating the peripheral identifier template; and

a search module searching for the discovery signal in response to the second knock command.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, the search module further stopping receiving knock commands after no knock command is received for a termination time interval.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, the search module further stopping the broadcast of the discovery signal and resetting the signal identifier to an original name if the host device does not establish the paired relationship within a time out time interval.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the time out interval is in the range of two to five seconds.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the peripheral identifier comprises a hash of the peripheral time interval values.

16. A system to initiate association, the system comprising:

a peripheral device comprising

a first accelerometer;

a first computer readable medium storing a first computer readable program;

a first processor executing the first computer readable program, the first computer readable program comprising

a peripheral knock module receiving a first knock command from the first accelerometer, the first knock command comprising a plurality of peripheral time stamps for a plurality of accelerations of the peripheral device;

a peripheral identifier module creating a peripheral identifier comprising time interval values of time intervals between the peripheral time stamps of the first knock command;

a broadcast module configured to broadcast a discovery signal with a signal identifier that comprises the peripheral identifier;

a host device comprising

a second accelerometer;

a second computer readable medium storing a second computer readable program;

a second processor executing the second computer readable program, the second computer readable program comprising

a host knock module receiving a second knock command from the second accelerometer, the second knock command comprising a plurality of host time stamps for a plurality of accelerations of the host device;

a peripheral template module creating a peripheral identifier template comprising time interval value ranges based on time intervals between the host time stamps of the second knock command;

a search module searching for the discovery signal in response to the second knock command; and

an association module establishing a paired association between the host and the peripheral device if the peripheral identifier is within the ranges of the peripheral identifier template.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the discovery signal and the paired association employ a BLUETOOTH®

communications protocol.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the discovery signal and the paired relationship employ an IEEE 802.11 communications protocol.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the host device is a laptop computer.

20. A method for deploying computer infrastructure, comprising integrating a computer-readable medium storing a computer readable program into a computing system, wherein the computer readable program when executed by the computing system performs the following:

receiving a first knock command from a peripheral device having a first accelerometer, the first knock command comprising a plurality of peripheral time stamps for a plurality of accelerations of the peripheral device;

creating a peripheral identifier comprising time interval values of time intervals between the peripheral time stamps of the first knock command;

broadcasting a discovery signal with a signal identifier that comprises the peripheral identifier;

receiving a second knock command from a host device having a second accelerometer, the second knock command comprising a plurality of host time stamps for a plurality of accelerations of the host device;

creating a peripheral identifier template comprising time interval value ranges based on time intervals between the host time stamps of the second knock command;

searching for the discovery signal in response to the second knock command;

receiving the peripheral identifier template; and

establishing a paired association between the host and the peripheral device if the peripheral identifier is within the ranges of the peripheral identifier template.