Establishing directed communication based upon physical interaction between two devices

• US 8,665,877 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2013
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Scenera Mobile Technologies LLC (Scenera Research LLC)
• Original Assignee: Scenera Mobile Technologies LLC (Scenera Research LLC)
• Inventors: Fry, Jared S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart, Mark
• Assistant Examiner(s): Crompton, Christopher R
• Application Number:
  US13/862,694
• Publication Number:
  US 20130231054A1
• Time in Patent Office: 323 Days
• Field of Search: 370/392
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5038 for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN]
• 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 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 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A method and system for establishing wireless communication with a device is provided. Aspects of an exemplary embodiment include detecting, at a first device, a physical interaction involving the first device and a second device. Further, the first device identifies a network address usable for establishing communication between the first device and the second device, the network address identified based on information associated with the detected physical interaction. Further, a role of the first device is determined, wherein the role of the first device is an initiator device. Further, based on the role of the first device as the initiator device, the network address is wirelessly provided to the second device. Further, content is wirelessly transferred between the first device and the second device using the network address.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program instructions for establishing communication with a device, the program instructions, when executed by a processor, for:

detecting, at a first device, a physical interaction between the first device and a second device;

obtaining, at the first device, a network address usable for establishing communication between the first device and the second device, the network address identified based on information associated with the detected physical interaction, wherein obtaining the network address includes a wireless communication of the network address involving the first device; and

automatically wirelessly transferring content between the first device and the second device using the network address.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein obtaining the network address includes generating the network address based on the information associated with the physical interaction.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein generating the network address is based on a tapping characteristic of the physical interaction.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the tapping characteristic of the physical interaction is a signature of a tapping sequence.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the information associated with the detected physical interaction includes at least one of timing information and acceleration information.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising program instructions for determining a role for the first device.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 wherein determining the role for the first device includes determining whether the first device is accelerated prior to the physical interaction.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising program instructions for using the network address in a virtual network layer that resides on top of an existing network infrastructure.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprising program instructions for using the network address in an application layer.

10. A method for establishing communication with a device, the method comprising:

detecting, at a first device, a physical interaction between the first device and a second device;

obtaining, at the first device, a network address usable for establishing communication between the first device and the second device, the network address identified based on information associated with the detected physical interaction, wherein obtaining the network address includes a wireless communication of the network address involving the first device; and

automatically wirelessly transferring content between the first device and the second device using the network address.

11. A network-enabled device comprising:

a motion detection module configured to detect a physical interaction between the network-enabled device and a second network-enabled device;

a processor configured to obtain a network address usable for establishing communication between the network-enabled device and the second network-enabled device, the network address obtained based on information associated with the detected physical interaction; and

a wireless communication transceiver configured to communicate the network address between the network-enabled device and the second network-enabled device and to automatically wirelessly transfer content between the network-enabled device and the second network-enabled device using the network address.

12. The network-enabled device of claim 11 further comprising an address generator configured to generate the network address based on the characteristics of the physical interaction signal.

13. The network-enabled device of claim 12 wherein the address generator is configured to generate the network address representative of a signature based on time between taps.

14. The network-enabled device of claim 11 wherein the network enabled device is configured to determine a role for the network-enabled device, wherein the roles include a responder that sends a message directed to the generated network address and an initiator that provides for assigning the network address to the network-enabled device for receiving a message directed to the network address.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program instructions for establishing communication with a device, the program instructions for:

detecting, at a first device, a physical interaction between the first device and a second device;

obtaining a network address usable for establishing communication between the first and second devices, the network address obtained based on information derived from the detected physical interaction;

providing for at least one of sending a message directed to the network address from the first device to the second device and assigning the network address to the first device for receiving a message directed to the network address;

wirelessly providing, by the first device, the network address to the second device; and

receiving the message from the second device, the message directed to the network address.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein obtaining the network address includes determining the network address based on a tapping characteristic of the physical interaction.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the tapping characteristic of the physical interaction is a signature of a tapping sequence.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein obtaining the network address includes:

sending a request for assignment of the network address based on information derived from the detected physical interaction to a server; and

receiving the network address from the server.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising program instructions for registering the network address with a network node to allow the second device to communicate with the first device using the registered network address.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising program instructions for using the network address in a virtual network layer that resides on top of an existing network infrastructure.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising program instructions for using the network address in an application layer.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising program instructions for using the network address as a network alias.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 further comprising program instructions for automatically transferring content between the first device and the second device in response to the detected physical interaction.

24. A method for establishing communication with a device, the method comprising:

detecting, at a first device, a physical interaction between the first device and a second device;

obtaining a network address usable for establishing communication between the first and second devices, the network address obtained based on information derived from the detected physical interaction;

providing for at least one of sending a message directed to the network address from the first device to the second device and assigning the network address to the first device for receiving a message directed to the network address;

wirelessly providing, by the first device, the network address to the second device; and

receiving the message from the second device, the message directed to the network address.

25. A network-enabled device comprising:

a communication transceiver for communicating over a network;

a motion detection module configured to detect, at a first device, a physical interaction between the first device and a second device;

a processor configured to;

obtain a network address usable for establishing communication between the first and second devices, the network address obtained based on information derived from the detected physical interaction;

provide for at least one of sending a message, via the communication transceiver, directed to the network address from the first device to the second device and assigning the network address to the first device for receiving a message directed to the network address;

wirelessly provide, by the first device, the network address to the second device; and

receive the message from the second device, the message directed to the network address.

26. The network-enabled device of claim 25 wherein the processor is configured to determine the network address based on a tapping characteristic of the physical interaction.

27. The network-enabled device of claim 26 wherein the tapping characteristic of the physical interaction is a signature of a tapping sequence.

28. The network-enabled device of claim 25 wherein the communication transceiver is configured to:

send a request for assignment of the network address based on the information derived from the detected physical interaction to a server; and

receive the network address from the server.

29. The network-enabled device of claim 25 wherein the processor is configured to register, via the communication transceiver, the network address with a network node to allow the second device to communicate with the first device using the registered network address.

30. The network-enabled device of claim 25 wherein the processor is configured to use the network address in a virtual network layer that resides on top of an existing network infrastructure.

31. The network-enabled device of claim 25 wherein the processor is configured use the network address in an application layer.

32. The network-enabled device of claim 25 wherein the processor is configured to use the network address as a network alias.

33. The network-enabled device of claim 25 wherein the processor is configured to automatically transfer content between the first device and the second device in response to the detected physical interaction.