System and method for enabling radio operations on a wireless computing device

• US 20070073887A1
• Filed: 12/12/2005
• Published: 03/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Schmidt, Thomas, Prasad, Srikiran, Mathias, Arun, Ang, Darren
• Granted Patent: US 7,675,933 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/12 Application layer protocols, e.g. WAP [Wireless Application Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide for a wireless computing device that comprises a set of one or more radio components to transmit and receive wireless communications on the device. Additionally, the wireless computing device includes processing and memory resources that individually or in combination provide multiple wireless applications, a radio object, and an arbitration component. The multiple wireless applications are each capable of generating a user-interface for enabling user-input in connection with wireless activities performed with that wireless application. The radio object interfaces the multiple applications with the set of one or more radio components. The arbitration component is configured to arbitrate at least one of (i) requests made by each of the wireless applications to the radio object for access to one or more of the radio components in the set, or (ii) responses from the radio object to requests made by each of the wireless applications.

Claims

1. A wireless computing comprising:

a set of one or more radio components to transmit and receive wireless communications on the device;

processing and memory resources that, in combination or individually, provide logic and programming, wherein the logic and programming comprises;

multiple wireless applications, wherein each wireless application is capable of generating a user-interface for enabling user-input in connection with wireless activities performed with that wireless application;

a radio object that interfaces the multiple applications with the set of one or more radio components;

an arbitration component that arbitrates at least one of (i) requests made by each of the wireless applications to the radio object for access to one or more of the radio components in the set, or (ii) responses from the radio object to requests made by each of the wireless applications.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the arbitration component enables requests from two or more of the wireless applications to be handled asynchronously by the radio object.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the arbitration component forwards requests from the wireless applications to the radio object using messages.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein at least some of the wireless applications communicate with the radio object using messages.

5. The device of claim 3, wherein at least some of the wireless applications communicate with the radio object using function calls, and wherein the processing and memory resources, in combination or individually, provide an interface that converts each function call to a corresponding message.

6. The device of claim 4, wherein each message includes version information about the wireless application form which the message originates.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the set of one or more radio components includes components for sending and receiving data wirelessly using a given wireless communication medium and protocol.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the given wireless communication medium and protocol corresponds to a wireless communication medium and protocol selected from a group consisting of (i) wireless fidelity (WiFi), (ii) Bluetooth, (iii) code division multiplex (CDMA), (iv) global system for cellular technology (GSM), and time division multiplex (TDMA).

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the multiple wireless applications include applications selected from a group consisting of (i) a wireless email application, (ii) a web browsing application, (iii) a short message service (SMS) application, (iv) a multimedia message service (MMS) application, and (v) a voice data application.

10. A wireless computing device comprising:

a plurality of radio modules, wherein each radio module includes one or more components for performing at least one of transmitting and receiving wireless data in a corresponding wireless communication medium and under a corresponding protocol;

processing and memory resources that provide logic and programming comprising;

a wireless application for enabling a particular type of wireless communication using anyone of the plurality of radio modules;

a plurality of radio objects, wherein each radio object is configured to process a request for a communication of the particular type using a radio module in the plurality of radio modules that corresponds to that radio object; and

a manager configured to select one of the plurality of radio modules is to handle the communication.

11. The wireless computing device of claim 10, wherein the manager is configured to select one of the plurality of radio modules based at least in part on one or more factors determined at the time of the request.

12. The wireless computing device of claim 10, wherein the manager is configured to select one of the plurality of radio modules based at least in part on a determination of which radio module in the plurality of radio modules have has better communication reception at the time the request is made.

13. The wireless computing device of claim 10, wherein the manager is configured to select one of the plurality of radio modules based at least in part on a determination of which radio module in the plurality of radio modules is capable of providing a communication session least expensively.

14. The wireless computing device of claim 10, wherein the wireless communication application corresponds to a wireless application selected from a group consisting of (i) a text messaging application, (ii) an image messaging application, (iii) a voice exchange application.

15. The wireless computing device of claim 10, wherein at least one of the radio modules corresponds to a wireless fidelity (WiFi) module or a Bluetooth module.

16. The wireless computing device of claim 15, wherein at least one of the radio modules corresponds to a code division multiplex (CDMA) module, global system for cellular technology (GSM) module, or time division multiplex (TDMA) module.

17. A radio system for a wireless computing device, the radio system, comprising:

one or more radio object components, wherein each radio object component includes instructions for handling communication requests originating from at least one corresponding wireless communication application for use by a radio module of the wireless computing device;

an operating system abstraction comprising instructions for interfacing each of the one or more radio object components with an operating system of the wireless computing device; and

a hardware interface that is configured to interface each of the one or more radio object components with device hardware on the wireless computing device;

wherein the one or more radio object components are configured to be independent of the operating system abstraction and the hardware interface.

18. The radio system of claim 17, wherein the one or more radio object components include at least a first radio object for a text messaging application.

19. The radio system of claim 17, wherein the one or more radio object components include at least a first radio object for a voice exchange session.

20. The radio system of claim 17, wherein the operating system abstraction is independent of a type of device.

21. The radio system of claim 17, wherein the hardware interface is independent of a type of the operating system.

22. A method for enabling wireless communications, the method comprising:

receiving a request for use of a radio hardware module from one of a plurality of applications that can make requests for the radio hardware module, wherein use of the radio hardware module includes transmitting a wireless communication; and

arbitrating the request from one of a plurality of requests from the plurality of applications, for use of the radio hardware module.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein arbitrating the request from one of a plurality of requests from the plurality of applications includes messaging the request.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein receiving a request includes receiving a message containing the request.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the method further comprises using information contained in the message to identify a version of the application