Method and apparatus for facilitating machine-type communication

• US 8,125,892 B1
• Filed: 07/12/2011
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Renesas Mobile Corporation (Renesas Electronics Corporation)
• Inventors: Jokimies, Matti Kullervo, Charbit, Gilles
• Primary Examiner(s): SINKANTARAKORN, PAWARIS
• Application Number:
  US13/180,737
• Time in Patent Office: 231 Days
• Field of Search: 370216-228, 370/312, 370328-338, 370/389, 370/390, 370/400, 370/401
• US Class Current: 370/216
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided to facilitate communications with MTC devices. An apparatus may include processing circuitry configured at least to receive a broadcasted triggering message and to determine whether the triggering message identifies a machine-type communication (MTC) gateway or another device within a capillary network supported by the MTC gateway. The processing circuitry may cause at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to a device within the capillary network in an instance in which the triggering message identifies the device within the capillary network. The processing circuitry may also be configured to determine an action requested by the triggering message in an instance in which the triggering message identifies the MTC gateway.

Claims

1. A network apparatus comprising a receiver and a processing system, the processing system being arranged to:

direct the receiver to wake up in accordance with a predefined schedule in order to receive a broadcasted triggering message;

receive said broadcasted triggering message via a network;

determine whether the triggering message identifies a machine type communication (MTC) gateway or another device within a capillary network supported by the MTC gateway;

cause at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to a device within the capillary network in an instance in which the triggering message identifies said another device within the capillary network;

determine an action requested by the triggering message in an instance in which the triggering message identifies the MTC gateway; and

permit the network apparatus to change roles between the MTC gateway and another device within the capillary network without affecting communication between the network and the network apparatus.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing system is further arranged to authenticate the triggering message based upon an authentication field of the triggering message.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing system is arranged to determine whether the triggering message identifies a MTC gateway or another device based upon an abbreviated device identity included within the triggering message, and wherein the abbreviated device identity uniquely identifies the MTC gateway or another device within a geographic area in which the MTC gateway operates but not outside of the geographic area.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing system is arranged to cause at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to a device within the capillary network by performing protocol and address mapping to protocols and addresses of the capillary network.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing system comprises processing circuitry.

6. A network apparatus comprising a receiver and a processing system, wherein the processing system is arranged to:

direct the receiver to wake up in accordance with a predefined schedule in order to receive a broadcasted triggering message;

receive said broadcasted triggering message;

determine whether the triggering message identifies a machine type communication (MTC) gateway or another device within a capillary network supported by the MTC gateway;

cause at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to a device within the capillary network in an instance in which the triggering message identifies said another device within the capillary network;

determine an action requested by the triggering message in an instance in which the triggering message identifies the MTC gateway;

determine whether an indication of a failure to receive is received from another MTC gateway in an instance in which the triggering message identifies the another MTC gateway; and

cause at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to the another MTC gateway in an instance in which the indication of a failure to receive is determined to have been received.

7. A method comprising:

directing a receiver of a network apparatus to wake up in accordance with a predefined schedule in order to receive a broadcasted triggering message;

receiving said broadcasted triggering message via the receiver from a network;

using a processing system to perform the steps of;

determining whether the triggering message identifies a machine type communication (MTC) gateway or another device within a capillary network supported by the MTC gateway;

causing at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to a device within the capillary network in an instance in which the triggering message identifies said another device within the capillary network; and

determining an action requested by the triggering message in an instance in which the triggering message identifies the MTC gateway; and

permitting the network apparatus to change roles between the MTC gateway and another device within the capillary network without affecting communication between the network and the network apparatus.

8. A method according to claim 7, further comprising using the processing system to authenticate the triggering message based upon an authentication field of the triggering message.

9. A method according to claim 7, wherein determining whether the triggering message identifies a MTC gateway or another device comprises determining whether the triggering message identifies a MTC gateway or another device based upon an abbreviated device identity included within the triggering message, and wherein the abbreviated device identity uniquely identifies the MTC gateway or another device within a geographic area in which the MTC gateway operates but not outside of the geographic area.

10. A method according to claim 7, wherein causing at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to a device within the capillary network comprises performing protocol and address mapping to protocols and addresses of the capillary network.

11. A method comprising:

directing a receiver of a network apparatus to wake up in accordance with a predefined schedule in order to receive a broadcasted triggering message;

receiving said broadcasted triggering message via the receiver;

using a processing system to perform the steps of;

determining whether the triggering message identifies a machine type communication (MTC) gateway or another device within a capillary network supported by the MTC gateway;

causing at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to a device within the capillary network in an instance in which the triggering message identifies said another device within the capillary network;

determining an action requested by the triggering message in an instance in which the triggering message identifies the MTC gateway;

determining whether an indication of a failure to receive is received from another MTC gateway in an instance in which the triggering message identifies the another MTC gateway; and

causing at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to the another MTC gateway in an instance in which the indication of a failure to receive is determined to have been received.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions thereon for execution on a computer system to implement a method comprising:

directing a receiver of a network apparatus to wake up in accordance with a predefined schedule in order to receive a broadcasted triggering message;

receiving said broadcasted triggering message via the receiver from a network;

using a processing system to perform the steps of;

determining whether the triggering message identifies a machine type communication (MTC) gateway or another device within a capillary network supported by the MTC gateway;

causing at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to a device within the capillary network in an instance in which the triggering message identifies said another device within the capillary network; and

determining an action requested by the triggering message in an instance in which the triggering message identifies the MTC gateway; and

permitting the network apparatus to change roles between the MTC gateway and another device within the capillary network without affecting communication between the network and the network apparatus.

13. A computer readable storage medium according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises using the processing system to authenticate the triggering message based upon an authentication field of the triggering message.

14. A computer readable storage medium according to claim 12, wherein determining whether the triggering message identifies a MTC gateway or another device comprises determining whether the triggering message identifies a MTC gateway or another device based upon an abbreviated device identity included within the triggering message, and wherein the abbreviated device identity uniquely identifies the MTC gateway or another device within a geographic area in which the MTC gateway operates but not outside of the geographic area.

15. A computer readable storage medium according to claim 12, wherein causing at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to a device within the capillary network comprises performing protocol and address mapping to protocols and addresses of the capillary network.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions thereon for execution on a computer system to implement a method comprising:

directing a receiver of a network apparatus to wake up in accordance with a predefined schedule in order to receive a broadcasted triggering message;

receiving said broadcasted triggering message via the receiver;

using a processing system to perform the steps of;

determining whether the triggering message identifies a machine type communication (MTC) gateway or another device within a capillary network supported by the MTC gateway;

causing at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to a device within the capillary network in an instance in which the triggering message identifies said another device within the capillary network; and

determining an action requested by the triggering message in an instance in which the triggering message identifies the MTC gateway; and

determining whether an indication of a failure to receive is received from another MTC gateway in an instance in which the triggering message identifies the another MTC gateway; and

causing at least a portion of the triggering message to be provided to the another MTC gateway in an instance in which the indication of a failure to receive is determined to have been received.