Augmenting reality using a small cell

• US 9,781,246 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2015
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Das, Soumya, Park, Edwin Chongwoo
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, CONGVAN
• Application Number:
  US14/839,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20170064066A1
• Time in Patent Office: 767 Days
• Field of Search: 455418-420, 455448
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A small cell may include a base station that may be co-located with an edge computing device. The edge computing device may be integrated within a small cell base station or be a physically separate module communicatively coupled to and in close proximity with the small cell base station that provides edge computing resources at the small cell. The edge computing device may communicate with input/output devices that are in hyper proximity to the small cell base station. The input/output devices may be capable of sensing aspects of the environment (e.g., via microphones, light sensors, cameras, thermometers, etc.) and providing a stimulus to an individual within hyper proximity to the input-output devices. The stimulus may be in response to or based on the environmental information gathered by the input-output devices.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

determining, at an edge computing device, a physical operating context of a mobile device in a small cell based at least in part on a mobile device triggered input to a base station in the small cell, the determined physical operating context comprising a location of the mobile device within the small cell, wherein the base station is co-located with the edge computing device, and wherein the mobile device is in wireless communication with the edge computing device via the wireless resources of the base station; and

controlling, by the edge computing device, an output device to provide a stimulus to a user of the mobile device based at least in part on the determined physical operating context.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the output device is further based at least in part on a request for content made by the mobile device in the small cell, the method further comprising:

scanning a content of the request for content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling the output device comprises:

controlling a display based at least in part on a proximity of the mobile device to the display.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the physical operating context of the mobile device comprises:

gathering sensor data from a sensor in the small cell; and

analyzing the sensor data to determine the physical operating context of the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the sensor is one or more of a microphone, a temperature sensor, a light sensor, or a camera.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

annotating data content based at least in part on the determined physical operating context; and

transmitting the annotated data content to the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein annotating the data content comprises annotating the data content with advertising.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the output device comprises a display, one or more lights, an array of lights, a sign, or a printer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

wireless communication resources of the base station are housed in a first module; and

the edge computing device is housed in a second module in communication with and co-located with the first module.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the small cell comprises a wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceiver and a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the small cell is one of a picocell, a femtocell, a microcell, or a Wi-Fi access point.

11. An apparatus for wireless communication at a wireless device, comprising:

means for determining, at an edge computing device, a physical operating context of a mobile device in a small cell based at least in part on a mobile device triggered input to a base station in the small cell, the determined physical operating context comprising a location of the mobile device within the small cell, wherein the base station is co-located with the edge computing device, and wherein the mobile device is in wireless communication with the edge computing device via the wireless resources of the base station; and

means for controlling, by the edge computing device, an output device to provide a stimulus to a user of the mobile device based at least in part on the determined physical operating context.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for controlling the output device is further based at least in part on a request for content made by the mobile device in the small cell, the apparatus further comprising:

means for scanning a content of the request for content.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for controlling the output device comprises:

means for controlling a display based at least in part on a proximity of the mobile device to the display.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for determining the physical operating context of the mobile device comprises:

means for gathering sensor data from a sensor in the small cell; and

the apparatus further comprising;

means for analyzing the sensor data to determine the physical operating context of the mobile device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the sensor is one or more of a microphone, a temperature sensor, a light sensor, or a camera.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

means for annotating data content based at least in part on the determined physical operating context; and

means for transmitting the annotated data content to the mobile device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

means for annotating the data content comprises annotating the data content with advertising.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the output device comprises a display, one or more lights, an array of lights, a sign, or a printer.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein wireless communication resources of the base station are housed in a first module and the edge computing device is housed in a second module in communication with and co-located with the first module.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the small cell comprises a wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceiver and a wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver.

30. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the small cell is one of a picocell, a femtocell, a microcell, or a Wi-Fi access point.

21. An apparatus for communication at a wireless device, comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to;

determine, at an edge computing device, a physical operating context of a mobile device in a small cell based at least in part on a mobile device triggered input to a base station in the small cell, the determined physical operating context comprising a location of the mobile device within the small cell, wherein the base station is co-located with an edge computing device, and wherein the mobile device is in wireless communication with the edge computing device via the wireless resources of the base station; and

control, by the edge computing device, an output device to provide a stimulus to a user of the mobile device based at least in part on the determined physical operating context.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the instructions to control the output device are further based at least in part on a request for content made by the mobile device in the small cell, and wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:

scan a content of the request for content.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the instructions to control the output device comprise instructions to:

control a display based at least in part on a proximity of the mobile device to the display.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the instructions to determine the physical operating context of the mobile device comprise instructions to:

gather sensor data from a sensor in the small cell; and

analyze the sensor data to determine the physical operating context of the mobile device.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to:

annotate data content based at least in part on the determined physical operating context; and

transmit the annotated data content to the mobile device.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for communication at a wireless device, the code comprising instructions executable to:

determine, at an edge computing device, a physical operating context of a mobile device in a small cell based at least in part on a mobile device triggered input to a base station in the small cell, the determined physical operating context comprising a location of the mobile device within the small cell, wherein the base station is co-located with the edge computing device, and wherein the mobile device is in wireless communication with the edge computing device via the wireless resources of the base station; and

control, by the edge computing device, an output device to provide a stimulus to a user of the mobile device based at least in part on the determined physical operating context.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the instructions to control the output device is further based at least in part on a request for content made by the mobile device in the small cell, and wherein the instructions are further executable to:

scan a content of the request for content.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the instructions are further executable to:

gather sensor data from a sensor in the small cell; and

analyze the sensor data to determine the physical operating context of the mobile device.