Methods and apparatus for acquiring and using multiple connection identifiers
First Claim
1. A method of operating a first peer communications device to communicate with a second peer communications device, in a system supporting multiple peer to peer connections, the method comprising:
- monitoring, by the first peer communications device, a connection identifier broadcast interval to identify unused connection identifiers of a set of connection identifiers associated with one or more symbols and tones for peer to peer connections, each connection identifier in the set of connection identifiers for identifying a peer to peer connection between the first and the second peer communications devices;
transmitting, by the first peer communications device, a set of available and unused connection identifiers from the identified unused connection identifiers for peer to peer connections to the second peer communications device; and
receiving, by the first peer communications device, from the second peer communications device a subset of said transmitted set of available and unused connection identifiers, said subset of connection identifiers including identifiers to be used for peer to peer connection between said first and second peer communications devices.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus related to a peer to peer wireless communications system supporting the association of multiple connection identifiers with a single connection between a pair of wireless terminals are described. A differentiated quality of service is supported by assigning different numbers of connection identifiers to different connections. The number of connection identifiers assigned to a wireless terminal pair for a connection is a function of one of: data rate, priority information, and quality of service information. Being allocated a higher number of connection identifiers results in being allocated a higher number of traffic transmission request resources, thus increasing the likelihood that the connection is permitted to use a traffic transmission segment. The allocation of connection identifiers is performed in a distributed manner in which handshake signaling occurs between a wireless terminal pair seeking to establish a connection, e.g., as part of a multi-step paging scheme.
49 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A method of operating a first peer communications device to communicate with a second peer communications device, in a system supporting multiple peer to peer connections, the method comprising:
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monitoring, by the first peer communications device, a connection identifier broadcast interval to identify unused connection identifiers of a set of connection identifiers associated with one or more symbols and tones for peer to peer connections, each connection identifier in the set of connection identifiers for identifying a peer to peer connection between the first and the second peer communications devices; transmitting, by the first peer communications device, a set of available and unused connection identifiers from the identified unused connection identifiers for peer to peer connections to the second peer communications device; and receiving, by the first peer communications device, from the second peer communications device a subset of said transmitted set of available and unused connection identifiers, said subset of connection identifiers including identifiers to be used for peer to peer connection between said first and second peer communications devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of operating a first communications device to communicate with a second device, in a system supporting multiple communications connections, the method comprising:
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monitoring a connection identifier broadcast interval to identify unused connection identifiers; transmitting a set of available connection identifiers from the identified unused connection identifiers to the second device; receiving from the second device a subset of said transmitted set of available connection identifiers, said subset of connection identifiers including identifiers to be used for a communications connection between said first and second devices, wherein said received subset includes multiple connection identifiers corresponding to a single communications link between said first and second devices; and transmitting a traffic transmission request to the second device using the highest priority traffic transmission resource which corresponds to one of said received subset of multiple connection identifiers, wherein different traffic transmission resources are associated with different connection identifiers, the different traffic transmission resources having different priorities. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A first peer communications device comprising:
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a connection identifier monitoring module configured to monitor a connection identifier broadcast interval to identify unused connection identifiers of a set of connection identifiers associated with one or more symbols and tones for peer to peer connections, each connection identifier in the set of connection identifiers for identifying a peer to peer connection between two peer communications devices; a connection availability signal generation module configured to generate a signal conveying information identifying a set of available and unused connection identifiers for peer to peer connections; a wireless transmitter module configured to transmit said generated signal conveying information identifying a set of available and unused connection identifiers for peer to peer connections to a second peer communications device; and a wireless receiver module configured to receive from the second peer communications device information indicating a subset of said transmitted set of available and unused connection identifiers, said subset of connection identifiers including identifiers to be used for a peer to peer connection between said first and second peer communications devices. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A first communications device comprising:
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a connection availability signal generation module configured to generate a signal conveying information identifying a set of available connection identifiers; a wireless transmitter module configured to transmit said generated signal conveying information identifying a set of available connection identifiers to a second device; a wireless receiver module configured to receive from the second device information indicating a subset of said transmitted set of available connection identifiers, said subset of connection identifiers including identifiers to be used for a communications connection between said first and second devices, wherein said subset includes multiple connection identifiers corresponding to a single communications link between said first and second devices; a connection identifier monitoring module configured to detect signals received during a connection identifier broadcast interval and for determining unused connection identifiers, said set of available connection identifiers including connection identifiers indicated by signals received during said connection identifier broadcast interval to be unused connection identifiers; a memory and wherein the memory includes information associating different traffic transmission resources with different connection identifiers, the different traffic transmission resources having different priorities; a traffic transmission request signal generation module configured to generate a traffic transmission request to the second device; a resource selection module configured to use the highest priority traffic transmission resource which corresponds to one of said received subset of multiple connection identifiers; and wherein the wireless transmitter module is also configured to transmit the generated traffic transmission request signal to the second device using the selected highest priority traffic transmission resource. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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26. A first peer communications device comprising:
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connection identifier monitoring means for monitoring a connection identifier broadcast interval to identify unused connection identifiers of a set of connection identifiers associated with one or more symbols and tones for peer to peer connections, each connection identifier in the set of connection identifiers for identifying a peer to peer connection between two peer communications devices; connection availability signal generation means for generating a signal conveying information identifying a set of available and unused connection identifiers for peer to peer connections; wireless transmitter means for transmitting said generated signal conveying information identifying a set of available and unused connection identifiers for peer to peer connections to a second peer communications device; and wireless receiver means for receiving from the second peer communications device information indicating a subset of said transmitted set of available and unused connection identifiers for peer to peer connections, said subset of connection identifiers including identifiers to be used for a peer to peer connection between said first and second peer communications devices. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A computer program product, comprising:
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non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising; code for causing at least one computer in a first peer communications device to monitor a connection identifier broadcast interval to identify unused connection identifiers of a set of connection identifiers associated with one or more symbols and tones for peer to peer connections, each connection identifier in the set of connection identifiers for identifying a peer to peer connection between two peer communications devices; code for causing the at least one computer in said first peer communications device to transmit a set of available and unused connection identifiers from the identified unused connection identifiers for peer to peer connections to a second peer communications device; and code for causing the at least one computer in said first peer communications device to receive from the second peer communications device a subset of said transmitted set of available and unused connection identifiers for peer to peer connections, said subset of connection identifiers including identifiers to be used for a peer to peer connection between said first and second peer communications devices. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. An apparatus for use in a first peer communications device comprising:
a processor configured to; monitor a connection identifier broadcast interval to identify unused connection identifiers of a set of connection identifiers associated with one or more symbols and tones for peer to peer connections, each connection identifier in the set of connection identifiers for identifying a peer to peer connection between two peer communications devices; transmit a set of available and unused connection identifiers from the identified unused connection identifiers for peer to peer connections to a second peer communications device; and receive from the second peer communications device a subset of said transmitted set of available and unused connection identifiers for peer to peer connections, said subset of connection identifiers including identifiers to be used for a peer to peer connection between said first and second peer communications devices. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
Specification