Traffic advertisement and scheduling in a neighbor aware network data link

• US 9,955,421 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2015
• Issued: 04/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Patil, Abhishek Pramod, Abraham, Santosh Paul, Raissinia, Alireza, Cherian, George
• Primary Examiner(s): Pancholi, Rina
• Application Number:
  US14/794,788
• Publication Number:
  US 20160014693A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,021 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1881 with schedule organisation, e.g. priority, sequence management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/065 using assembly or disassembly of packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method includes generating a service discovery frame at a first electronic device of a data link of a neighbor aware network (NAN). The service discovery frame may include an attribute identifying a subset of electronic devices of the data link as recipients of data from the first electronic device during a transmission window or identifying a time period corresponding to data announcements and timing information of data transmissions corresponding to the data link. The method further includes transmitting the service discovery frame to electronic devices other than the first electronic device.

Claims

1. A method of communicating between electronic devices, the method comprising:

synchronizing a clock at a first electronic device of a data link based on a synchronization operation associated with a first wireless network, the first wireless network associated with service discovery and synchronization within a neighbor aware network (NAN), wherein the NAN includes a first group of electronic devices associated with common discovery windows;

generating a service discovery frame at the first electronic device, wherein the service discovery frame includes an attribute identifying a subset of electronic devices of the data link as recipients of data via a second wireless network from the first electronic device during a transmission window or identifying a time period corresponding to data announcements and timing information of data transmissions via the second wireless network, wherein timing of the transmission window or the time period is determined based on the synchronized clock, wherein the second wireless network is associated with data sharing by at least one service corresponding to the data link, wherein the data link includes a second group of electronic devices associated with common paging windows, and wherein the first group of electronic devices includes the second group of electronic devices; and

transmitting the service discovery frame via the first wireless network to one or more electronic devices of the first group of electronic devices other than the first electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute is a service descriptor attribute, wherein a service response filter field of the service descriptor attribute identifies the subset of electronic devices of the data link as recipients of the data from the first electronic device during the transmission window, and wherein the service discovery frame is transmitted during a discovery window of the NAN.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting at least a portion of the data to a second electronic device of the data link via the second wireless network during the transmission window.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first electronic device is included in a second data link of the NAN, wherein the service discovery frame further includes a second service descriptor attribute, and wherein a second service response filter field of the second service descriptor attribute identifies a second subset of electronic devices of the second data link as recipients of second data.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising transmitting at least a portion of the second data to a third electronic device of the second data link via a third wireless network during the transmission window, wherein the third wireless network corresponds to the second data link, and wherein the second subset of electronic devices includes the third electronic device.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the service descriptor attribute indicates a data link attribute corresponding to the data link, and wherein the service descriptor attribute indicates a second attribute including a traffic indicator for the data link.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the service descriptor attribute indicates a traffic indicator that includes a Bloom filter.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the service response filter field identifies a Bloom filter that indicates the subset of electronic devices as recipients of the data, and wherein the Bloom filter is generated based on a set of hash functions indicated by a service response filter control field of the service response filter field.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after receiving an acknowledgement from a second electronic device responsive to the service discovery frame, transmitting a negative-acknowledgement (NACK) message to the second electronic device in response to the second electronic device failing to be a recipient of the data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute is descriptive of a service offered by the first electronic device via the data link, wherein the service discovery frame includes a second attribute descriptive of one or more features corresponding to the data link and defining one or more parameters of one or more communication windows corresponding to the data link, and wherein the attribute includes an indicator identifying the second attribute.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more communication windows include paging windows, transmission windows, or both, and wherein the indicator comprises a bitmap.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more features include a data link channel corresponding to the data link, a group identifier corresponding to the data link, the one or more communication windows corresponding to the data link, or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute includes a service identifier identifying a service offered by the first electronic device and a first instance identifier identifying a first instance of the service.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising transmitting a second service discovery frame via the first wireless network to the one or more electronic devices, wherein a second attribute of the second service discovery frame includes the service identifier and a second instance identifier identifying a second instance of the service.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute is a data link attribute corresponding to the data link, wherein a data link control field of the data link attribute identifies the time period and the timing information, and wherein the service discovery frame is transmitted to the one or more electronic devices during a discovery window.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a subset of bits of the data link control field identifies the time period as a first paging window included in the transmission window.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the timing information includes a duration of the first paging window.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the timing information indicates a number of paging windows that occur between two consecutive discovery windows of the NAN.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the timing information includes a duration of time that data recipient assignments identified in a service response filter field of a service descriptor attribute of the service discovery frame are repeated.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the data link attribute includes a field indicating a periodicity of transmission windows designated for multicast traffic.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the transmission window is designated for multicast traffic and not for paging.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the service discovery frame is transmitted during a discovery window corresponding to the NAN, and wherein at least a portion of the data is transmitted during the transmission window.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the discovery window includes a first time period designated for discovery and synchronization operations within the NAN, and wherein the transmission window includes a second time period designated for data communications within the data link.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the service discovery frame via the first wireless network to a second electronic device, the service discovery frame indicating a service offered by the first electronic device; and

receiving an acknowledgement via the first wireless network from the second electronic device.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the synchronization operation comprises receiving a synchronization beacon from an electronic device of the NAN via the first wireless network, and wherein the clock is synchronized based on the synchronization beacon.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to synchronizing the clock, performing one or more association operations at the first electronic device with respect to an electronic device of the NAN to cause the first electronic device to join the NAN.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wireless network comprises a first wireless channel corresponding to the NAN, and wherein the second wireless network comprises a second wireless channel corresponding to the data link.

28. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions executable by the processor to perform operations comprising;

synchronizing a clock at a first electronic device of a data link based on a synchronization operation associated with a first wireless network, the first wireless network associated with service discovery and synchronization within a neighbor aware network (NAN), wherein the NAN includes a first group of electronic devices associated with common discovery windows;

generating a service discovery frame at the first electronic device, wherein the service discovery frame includes an attribute identifying a subset of electronic devices of the data link as recipients of data via a second wireless network from the first electronic device during a transmission window or identifying a time period corresponding to data announcements and timing information of data transmissions via the second wireless network, wherein timing of the transmission window or the time period is determined based on the synchronized clock, wherein the second wireless network is associated with data sharing by at least one service corresponding to the data link, wherein the data link includes a second group of electronic devices associated with common paging windows, and wherein the first group of electronic devices includes the second group of electronic devices; and

transmitting the service discovery frame via the first wireless network to one or more electronic devices of the first group of electronic devices other than the first electronic device.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the attribute is a service descriptor attribute, wherein a service response filter field of the service descriptor attribute identifies the subset of electronic devices of the data link as recipients of the data from the first electronic device during the transmission window, and wherein the service discovery frame is transmitted during a discovery window of the NAN.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting at least a portion of the data to a second electronic device of the data link via the second wireless network during the transmission window.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the first electronic device is included in a second data link of the NAN, wherein the service discovery frame further includes a second service descriptor attribute, and wherein a second service response filter field of the second service descriptor attribute identifies a second subset of electronic devices of the second data link as recipients of second data.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting at least a portion of the second data to a third electronic device of the second data link via a third wireless network during the transmission window, wherein the third wireless network corresponds to the second data link, and wherein the second subset of electronic devices includes the third electronic device.

33. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the service descriptor attribute indicates a data link attribute corresponding to the data link, and wherein the service descriptor attribute indicates a second attribute including a traffic indication map (TIM) for the data link.

34. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the service response filter field identifies a Bloom filter that indicates the subset of electronic devices as recipients of the data, and wherein a size of the Bloom filter is based on a target false positive percentage corresponding to the Bloom filter.

35. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the operations further comprise, after receiving an acknowledgement from a second electronic device responsive to the service discovery frame, transmitting a negative-acknowledgement (NACK) message to the second electronic device in response to the second electronic device failing to be a recipient of the data.

36. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the attribute is descriptive of a service offered by the first electronic device via the data link, wherein the service discovery frame includes a second attribute descriptive of one or more features corresponding to the data link and defining one or more parameters of one or more communication windows corresponding to the data link, and wherein the attribute includes an indicator identifying the second attribute.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the one or more communication windows include paging windows, transmission windows, or both.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the one or more features include a data link channel corresponding to the data link, a group identifier corresponding to the data link, the one or more communication windows corresponding to the data link, or a combination thereof.

39. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the indicator comprises a bitmap.

40. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein a group of bits of a control field of the second attribute defines the one or more parameters.

41. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting a second service discovery frame via the first wireless network to the one or more electronic devices, wherein the attribute includes a service identifier identifying a service offered by the first electronic device and a first instance identifier identifying a first instance of the service, and wherein a second attribute of the second service discovery frame includes the service identifier and a second instance identifier identifying a second instance of the service.

42. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the attribute is a data link attribute corresponding to the data link, wherein a data link control field of the data link attribute identifies the time period and the timing information, and wherein the service discovery frame is transmitted to the one or more electronic devices during a discovery window.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein a subset of bits of the data link control field identifies the time period as one of a first paging window included in the transmission window.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the timing information includes a duration of the first paging window.

45. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the timing information indicates a number of paging windows that occur between two consecutive discovery windows of the NAN.

46. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the timing information includes a duration of time that data recipient assignments identified in a service response filter field of a service descriptor attribute of the service discovery frame are repeated.

47. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the data link attribute includes a field indicating a periodicity of transmission windows designated for multicast traffic.

48. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising:

a transmitter configured to transmit the service discovery frame via the first wireless network to the electronic devices; and

a receiver configured to receive an acknowledgement frame via the first wireless network from a second electronic device responsive to transmission of the service discovery frame.

49. An apparatus comprising:

means for synchronizing a clock at a first electronic device of a data link based on a synchronization operation associated with a first wireless network, the first wireless network associated with service discovery and synchronization within a neighbor aware network (NAN), wherein the NAN includes a first group of electronic devices associated with common discovery windows;

means for generating a service discovery frame at the first electronic device, wherein the service discovery frame includes an attribute identifying a subset of electronic devices of the data link as recipients of data via a second wireless network from the first electronic device during a transmission window or identifying a time period corresponding to data announcements and timing information of data transmissions via the second wireless network, wherein timing of the transmission window or the time period is determined based on the synchronized clock, wherein the second wireless network is associated with data sharing by at least one service corresponding to the data link, wherein the data link includes a second group of electronic devices associated with common paging windows, and wherein the first group of electronic devices includes the second group of electronic devices; and

means for transmitting the service discovery frame via the first wireless network to one or more electronic devices of the first group of electronic devices other than the first electronic device.

50. The apparatus of claim 49, further comprising means for receiving an acknowledgement message from a second electronic device of the data link, wherein the acknowledgement message indicates a request for at least a portion of the data.

51. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

synchronize a clock at a first electronic device of a data link based on a synchronization operation associated with a first wireless network, the first wireless network associated with service discovery and synchronization within a neighbor aware network (NAN), wherein the NAN includes a first group of electronic devices associated with common discovery windows;

generate a service discovery frame at the first electronic device, wherein the service discovery frame includes an attribute identifying a subset of electronic devices of the data link as recipients of data via a second wireless network from the first electronic device during a transmission window or identifying a time period corresponding to data announcements and timing information of data transmissions via the second wireless network, wherein timing of the transmission window or the time period is determined based on the synchronized clock, wherein the second wireless network is associated with data sharing by at least one service corresponding to the data link, wherein the data link includes a second group of electronic devices associated with common paging windows, and wherein the first group of electronic devices includes the second group of electronic devices; and

transmit the service discovery frame via the first wireless network to one or more electronic devices of the first group of electronic devices other than the first electronic device.

52. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 51, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to transmit at least a portion of the data to the subset of electronic devices via the second wireless network.