Infrastructure devices in peer-to-peer environments

• US 8,954,502 B1
• Filed: 08/06/2010
• Issued: 02/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell International Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Kopikare, Milind, Wagholikar, Sarang Shrikrishna, Banerjea, Raja
• Primary Examiner(s): Pollack, Melvin H
• Application Number:
  US12/852,307
• Time in Patent Office: 1,649 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1051 Group master selection mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70

Abstract

A first message is received that includes a value indicative of a first timeout interval associated with configuring a second device to operate as a peer-to-peer (P2P) group owner or a P2P client in a P2P wireless network. A second timeout interval is determined based at least on the first timeout interval, and it is determined whether the second timeout interval expired. It is determined whether a second message is received from the second device prior to the second timeout interval expiring, and it is determined that a P2P connection with the second device failed based on a determination that the second message was not received from the second device prior to the second timeout interval expiring.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, using a transceiver of a first device, a first message including a value indicative of a first timeout interval, wherein the first timeout interval is indicative of a time required for configuring a second device to operate as one of a peer-to-peer (P2P) group owner or a P2P client in a P2P wireless network, and wherein the configuring of the second device includes downloading, to the second device from a host computing device in which the second device is included, a set of machine readable instructions executable to operate the second device as the one of the P2P group owner or the P2P client;

determining a value of a second timeout interval based at least on the first timeout interval;

determining whether the second timeout interval expired;

determining whether a second message is received from the second device prior to the second timeout interval expiring; and

determining that a P2P connection with the second device failed based on determining that the second message was not received from the second device prior to the second timeout interval expiring.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the first message further includes receiving a value indicative of a third timeout interval, the third timeout interval indicative of a time required for configuring the second device to operate as the other one of the P2P owner or the P2P client, and

wherein the first timeout interval is one of the third timeout interval and the fourth timeout interval.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the second device is the P2P group owner or the P2P client;

wherein the first timeout interval is indicative of a time required for configuring the second device to operate as the P2P group owner if it is determined that the second device is the P2P group owner; and

wherein the first timeout interval is indicative of a time required for configuring the second device to operate as the P2P client if it is determined that the second device is the P2P client.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the host computing device is a first host computing device and the set of machine readable instructions is a first set of machine readable instructions,

determining the value of the second timeout interval comprises determining a maximum of (i) the value of the first timeout interval and (ii) a value of a fourth timeout interval indicative of a time required for configuring the first device to operate as the P2P group owner or the P2P client, and

the configuring of the first device to operate as the P2P group owner or the P2P client includes downloading, to the first device from a second host computing device in which the first device is included, a second set of machine readable instructions executable to operate the first device as the P2P group owner or the P2P client.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the fourth timeout interval is indicative of a time required for configuring the first device to operate as the P2P client if it is determined that the second device is the P2P group owner;

and

wherein the fourth timeout interval is indicative of a time required for configuring the first device to operate as the P2P group owner if it is determined that the second device is the P2P client.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining whether the first device is the P2P group owner or the P2P client.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, using the transceiver of the first device, a value from the second device indicating a preference of the second device to be the P2P group owner;

wherein determining whether the first device is the P2P group owner or the P2P client is based on the value indicating the preference of the second device to be the P2P group owner; and

wherein determining whether the second device is the P2P group owner or the P2P client is based on the value indicating the preference of the second device to be the P2P group owner.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting, using the transceiver of the first device, a value to the second device indicating a preference of the first device to be the P2P group owner;

wherein determining whether the first device is the P2P group owner or the P2P client is based on the value indicating the preference of the first device to be the P2P group owner; and

wherein determining whether the second device is the P2P group owner or the P2P client is based on the value indicating the preference of the first device to be the P2P group owner.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining whether the second timeout interval expired a determined number of times when it is determined that the second message from the second device was not received prior to the second timeout interval expiring a first time;

wherein determining that the P2P connection with the second device failed is based on determining that the second message from the second device was not received prior to the second timeout interval expiring the determined number of times.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second message comprises a message associated with authentication.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver;

a processor configured to;

determine a value of a first timeout interval, the first timeout interval indicative of a time required for configuring a device separate from the apparatus to operate as a peer-to-peer (P2P) group owner or a P2P client in a P2P wireless network based on a first message received by the transceiver from the device separate from the apparatus, the configuring of the device including downloading, from a host computing device in which the device is included, a set of machine readable instructions executable to operate the device as the P2P group owner or the P2P client,

determine a value of a second timeout interval based at least on the first timeout interval,

determine whether the second timeout interval expired,

determine whether the transceiver received a second message from the device separate from the apparatus prior the second timeout interval expiring, and

determine that a P2P connection with the device separate from the apparatus failed based on determining that the second message from the device separate from the apparatus was not received prior to the second timeout interval expiring.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to determine the value of the first timeout interval based on at least one of:

an indication in the first message of a value of a third timeout interval indicative of a time required for configuring the device separate from the apparatus to operate as the P2P group owner, or

an indication in the first message of a value of a fourth timeout interval indicative of a time required for configuring the device separate from the apparatus to operate as the P2P client.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the device separate from the apparatus is the P2P group owner or the P2P client;

wherein the value of the first timeout interval is equivalent to the value of the third timeout interval if it is determined that the device separate from the apparatus is the P2P group owner; and

wherein the value of the first timeout interval is equivalent to the value of the fourth timeout interval if it is determined that the device separate from the apparatus is the P2P group owner.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein:

the host computing device is a first host computing device and the set of machine readable instructions is a first set of machine readable instructions, and

the processor is configured to;

determine a maximum of (i) the value of the first time out interval and (ii) a value of a fifth timeout interval indicative of a time required for configuring the apparatus to operate as the P2P group owner or the P2P client, the configuring of the apparatus including downloading, to the apparatus from a second host computing device in which the apparatus is included, a second set of machine readable instructions executable to operate the apparatus as the P2P group owner or the P2P client, and

determine the value of the second timeout interval based on the maximum of (i) the value of the first time out interval and (ii) the value of the fifth timeout interval.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the value of the fifth timeout interval is equivalent to a value of a sixth timeout interval indicative of configuring the apparatus to operate as the P2P client if it is determined that the device separate from the apparatus is the P2P group owner;

and

wherein the value of the fifth timeout interval is equivalent to a value of a seventh timeout interval indicative of configuring the apparatus to operate as the P2P group owner if it is determined that the device separate from the apparatus is the P2P client.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the apparatus is the P2P group owner or the P2P client.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is configured to:

determine a value indicating a preference of the device separate from the apparatus to be the P2P group owner based on data received from the device separate from the apparatus via the transceiver;

determine whether the apparatus is the P2P group owner or the P2P client based on the value indicating the preference of the device separate from the apparatus to be the P2P group owner; and

determine whether the device separate from the apparatus is the P2P group owner or the P2P client based on the value indicating the preference of the device separate from the apparatus to be the P2P group owner.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured to:

cause the transceiver to transmit a value to the device separate from the apparatus indicating a preference of the apparatus to be the P2P group owner;

determine whether the apparatus is the P2P group owner or the P2P client based on the value indicating the preference of the apparatus to be the P2P group owner; and

determine whether the device separate from the apparatus is the P2P group owner or the P2P client based on the value indicating the preference of the apparatus to be the P2P group owner.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured to:

determine whether the second timeout interval expired a determined number of times when it is determined that the second message from the device separate from the apparatus was not received prior to the second timeout interval expiring a first time;

determine that the P2P connection with the device separate from the apparatus failed based on determining that the message from the device separate from the apparatus was not received prior to the second timeout interval expiring the determined number of times.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a memory coupled to the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to execute machine readable instructions stored in the memory.

21. A computer readable storage medium storing machine readable instructions that, when executed by a processor of first device, cause the processor to:

determine a value of a first timeout interval, the first timeout interval indicative of a time required for configuring a second device to operate as a peer-to-peer (P2P) group owner or a P2P client in a P2P wireless network based on a first message received by a transceiver of the first device from the second device, and the configuring of the second device including downloading, from a host device in which the second device is included, a set of machine readable instructions executable to operate the second device as the P2P group owner or as the P2P client;

determine a value of a second timeout interval based at least on the first timeout interval;

determine whether the second timeout interval expired;

determine whether the transceiver received a second message from the second device prior the second timeout interval expiring; and

determine that a P2P connection with the second device failed based on determining that the second message from the second device was not received prior to the second timeout interval expiring.

22. A method, comprising:

executing a first set of machine readable instructions stored in a memory of a wireless network adaptor of a host computing device using a processor of the wireless network adaptor to communicate over an infrastructure wireless local area network (WLAN) via an access point of the infrastructure WLAN;

executing a second set of machine readable instructions stored in the memory of the wireless network adaptor using the processor of the wireless network adaptor to a peer-to-peer (P2P) group owner negotiation with another P2P device via a P2P wireless network;

wherein the first set of machine readable instructions and the second set of machine readable instructions are stored in the memory of the wireless network adaptor simultaneously;

executing the second set of machine readable instructions stored in the memory of the wireless network adaptor using the processor of the wireless network adaptor to determine an identity of the wireless network adaptor as a P2P group owner or a P2P client;

downloading a third set of machine readable instructions from a memory of the host computing device to the memory of the wireless network adaptor, wherein the third set of machine readable instructions, when executed by the processor of the wireless network adaptor, cause the wireless network adaptor to operate as the determined identity; and

reconfiguring, using the downloaded third set of machine readable instructions, the wireless network adaptor to operate in the P2P wireless network according to the determined identity.

23. An apparatus included in a host computing device, the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver;

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory;

wherein machine readable instructions stored in the memory, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

cause the transceiver to communicate with an access point of an infrastructure wireless local area network (WLAN);

cause the transceiver to transmit messages to a device separate from the apparatus, the messages corresponding to a peer-to-peer (P2P) group owner negotiation;

determine an identity of the apparatus as a P2P group owner or a P2P client;

based on the determined identity of the apparatus, download a set of machine readable instructions from a memory of the host computing device to the memory of the apparatus, the set of machine readable instructions to cause the apparatus to operate as the determined identity; and

reconfigure, using the downloaded set of machine readable instructions, the apparatus to operate in a P2P wireless network according to the determined identity.