Wireless communication device, program, and wireless communication system

• US 9,559,853 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2012
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Sato, Masanori, Itoh, Katsutoshi, Yamaura, Tomoya, Suzuki, Hideyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Bengzon, Greg C
• Application Number:
  US13/350,054
• Publication Number:
  US 20120191780A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,845 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0212 managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

There is provided a wireless communication device including a wireless communication unit, a communication control unit configured to control a process of detecting a nearby wireless communication device by the wireless communication unit, a connection process to the nearby wireless communication device detected in the detection process, and communication of content data with the nearby wireless communication device connected in the connection process, and a storage unit that stores content data. The communication control unit, on the basis of information received from the nearby wireless communication device in the detection process, determines if one of the content data in the storage unit or content data in the nearby wireless communication device has been updated relative to the other, and controls the connection process performed when the update is determined.

Claims

1. A wireless communication device comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium configured to store content data including a previous attribute information described in an attribute of previous content data; and

circuitry configured to

control a process of detecting a nearby wireless communication device, a connection process to the nearby wireless communication device detected in the detection process, and communication of content data including a current attribute information with the nearby wireless communication device connected in the connection process, wherein the attribute information contains an identifier and an update time of the content data,

compare the previous attribute information with the current attribute information,

determine one of the content data in the storage medium or content data in the nearby wireless communication device has been updated relative to the other when the previous attribute information and the current attribute information do not match, and

control the connection process performed for sharing of content data with the nearby wireless communication device when the update is determined,

wherein the attribute information is communicated using an extension field of a Service Discovery Query in procedures of Service Discovery defined in Wi-Fi Direct, and

wherein the detection process is started at a timing specified by a user.

2. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to hash attribute information of the content data stored in the storage medium, wherein

the attribute information received from the nearby wireless communication device in the detection process has been hashed, and

the presence or absence of an update is determined by comparing the hashed attribute information received in the detection process with the hashed attribute information.

3. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein

the storage medium further stores history information indicating the last point in time when content data was communicated with the nearby wireless communication device, and

the circuitry is further configured to identify the nearby wireless communication device from a device ID included in the information received in the detection process, and determine if the content data in the storage medium has been updated since the last point in time concerning the nearby wireless communication device indicated by the history information.

4. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein

the circuitry is further configured to, when the presence of an update has been determined, initiate a transmission to the nearby wireless communication device of update notification information indicating the presence of the update, and control the connection process in accordance with a connection request transmitted from the nearby wireless communication device based on reception of the update notification information.

5. The wireless communication device according to claim 4, wherein the update notification information is communicated using an extension field of a Service_Discovery_Query in procedures of Service_Discovery defined in Wi-Fi Direct.

6. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein

the circuitry is further configured to, when the presence of an update has been determined, initiate a transmission of a connection request to the nearby wireless communication device, and control the connection process started upon transmission of the connection request.

7. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein

the wireless communication device operates as a master device of a wireless network, and

the circuitry is further configured to, when the presence of an update has been determined, initiate a request for the nearby wireless communication device to join the wireless network.

8. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to, when the presence of an update has been determined, initiate a notification to the user of the update, wherein the connection process is controlled in accordance with a check operation of the user performed in response to the notification of the update.

9. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, wherein the detection process is started in accordance with an instruction of a user to start the detection process.

10. The wireless communication device according to claim 9, wherein the detection process is started at predetermined intervals.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a program, which when executed by a computer causes the computer to execute a method, the method comprising:

controlling a process of detecting a nearby wireless communication device;

controlling a connection process to the nearby wireless communication device detected in the detection process;

controlling communication of content data including a current attribute information with the nearby wireless communication device connected in the connection process, wherein the attribute information contains an identifier and an update time of the content data; and

storing content data including a previous attribute information described in an attribute of previous content data,

wherein the previous attribute information is compared with the current attribute information, one of the stored content data or content data in the nearby wireless communication device is determined to have been updated relative to the other when the previous attribute information and the current attribute information do not match, and the connection process is controlled to be performed for sharing of content data with the nearby wireless communication device when the update is determined,

wherein the attribute information is communicated using an extension field of a Service Discovery Query in procedures of Service Discovery defined in Wi-Fi Direct, and

wherein the detection process is started at a timing specified by a user.

12. A wireless communication system comprising:

a first wireless communication device; and

a second wireless communication device, the second wireless communication device including

a computer-readable storage medium configured to store content data including a previous attribute information described in an attribute of previous content data; and

circuitry configured to

control a process of detecting the first wireless communication device, a connection process to the first wireless communication device detected in the detection process, and communication of content data including a current attribute information with the first wireless communication device connected in the connection process, wherein the attribute information contains an identifier and an update time of the content data,

compare the previous attribute information with the current attribute information,

determine one of the content data in the storage medium or content data in the first wireless communication device has been updated relative to the other when the previous attribute information and the current attribute information do not match, and

control the connection process performed for sharing of content data with the first wireless communication device when the update is determined,

wherein the attribute information is communicated using an extension field of a Service Discovery Query in procedures of Service Discovery defined in Wi-Fi Direct, and

wherein the detection process is started at a timing specified by a user.

13. A wireless communication device comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium configured to store content data including a previous attribute information described in an attribute of previous content data; and

circuitry configured to

control a process of detecting a nearby wireless communication device, a connection process to the nearby wireless communication device detected in the detection process, and communication of content data including a current attribute information with the nearby wireless communication device connected in the connection process, wherein the attribute information contains an identifier and an update time of the content data,

receive, on the basis of the current attribute information transmitted to the nearby wireless communication device detected in the detection process, the previous attribute information described in payload information of the transmitted information and indicating or representative of an update having occurred from the nearby wireless communication device, and

control the connection process performed for sharing of content data with the nearby wireless communication device when one of the content data in the storage medium or content data in the nearby wireless communication device has been updated relative to the other when the current attribute information and the previous attribute information do not match,

wherein the attribute information is communicated using an extension field of a Service Discovery Query in procedures of Service Discovery defined in Wi-Fi Direct, and

wherein the detection process is started at a timing specified by a user.