METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING SERVICES TO A GEOGRAPHIC AREA

• US 20150111516A1
• Filed: 10/23/2013
• Published: 04/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: MAY, PHILIP E., SCHUETTE, MICHAEL A., PEARCE, MICHAEL D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,332,413 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing a service at an incident scene is provided herein. During operation, a device will enter a geographic area (e.g., an incident scene), join a local-area network (LAN), and determine what services are presently being offered by other devices on the LAN. From a list of services deployed on the device, a determination is then made as to what services the device will run, and those services are then offered to all devices on the LAN.

Claims

1. A method for a device to offer a particular service to a Local Area Network (LAN), the method comprising the steps of:

determining a set of services deployed on the device;

determining a number (T) of devices within the LAN running and offering the particular service;

determining a number (C) of devices within the LAN that are capable of running and offering the particular service, but currently are not; and

determining whether to start, cease, or continue to offer the particular service to devices on the LAN based on T and C.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the particular service is started by the device only when U<

X, where U is a total number of services running on the device, and X is a total number of services that could run simultaneously on the device and the device is currently not running and offering the service.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the particular service is started by the device only when i<

=PStart and U<

X, where I is a random number i, 0<

i<

=1, PStart=(R−

T)/C, R is a desired degree of replication for the particular service.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the particular service is ceased if i<

=PStop, where PStop=(T−

R)/T and the device is currently running the service.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the LAN comprises a LAN associated with a public-safety incident scene.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining T and C comprises the step of determining T and C with via over-the-air messages transmitted from the devices.

7. A device comprising:

a receiver receiving information from devices on a local-area network (LAN); and

logic circuitry;

determining a set of services deployed on the device;

from the received information, determining a number (T) of devices within the LAN running and offering the particular service, determining a number (C) of devices within the LAN that are capable of running and offering the particular service, but currently are not; and

determining whether to start, cease, or continue to offer the particular service to devices on the LAN based on T and C.

8. The device of claim 7 wherein the particular service is started by the logic circuitry only when U<

X, where U is a total number of services running on the device, and X is a total number of services that could run simultaneously on the device and the device is currently not running and offering the service.

9. The device of claim 8 wherein the particular service is started by the logic circuitry only when i<

=PStart and U<

X, where I is a random number i, 0<

i<

=1, PStart=(R−

T)/C, R is a desired degree of replication for the particular service.

10. The device of claim 8 wherein the particular service is ceased if i<

=PStop, where PStop=(T−

R)/T and the device is currently running the service.

11. The device of claim 7 wherein the LAN comprises a LAN associated with a public-safety incident scene.

12. The device of claim 7 wherein receiver receives T and C via over-the-air messages transmitted from the devices.