Service notification on a low bluetooth layer

• US 7,151,764 B1
• Filed: 11/01/2001
• Issued: 12/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Laitinen, Timo M., Heinonen, Tomi
• Primary Examiner(s): Phunkulh, Bob A.
• Application Number:
  US09/985,192
• Time in Patent Office: 1,874 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/025 Indirect paging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/10 Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

A method is provided to minimize the protocol stacks needed for a short range wireless access point to rapidly communicate a message to a short range wireless mobile device and display it to the user. The short range wireless access point device stores an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message characterizing the service platform offerings. The APSI message has a unique message ID in its header. The user device'"'"'s transport protocol layer is modified to detect the unique message ID and load it into an APSI message buffer. The transport protocol layer passes the APSI message directly to the application layer, bypassing the middleware protocol layers. The method can be applied to communications between various types of wireless devices to enable rapid communication, such as between two mobile devices, between fixed and mobile devices, between short range devices or between long range devices.

Claims

1. A method in a wireless access point for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message to a wireless mobile device and display it to the user, comprising:

storing in a wireless access point device an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header;

sending from the wireless access point a first occurring packet containing information to alert a wireless mobile device that a following packet contains the APSI message and is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the wireless mobile device;

sending the APSI message from the access point to the mobile device; and

alerting a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to the application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers, by means of the unique message ID in the header of the APSI message.

2. The method in the wireless access point of claim 1,

wherein said APSI message contains fields for content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information and URL.

4. The method in the wireless access point of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication is Bluetooth communication.

5. The method in the wireless access point of claim 2, wherein said GUI layer in the mobile device loads the content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information and URL from the APSI message into a display buffer at the mobile device.

3. A method in a wireless access point for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message to a wireless mobile device and display it to the user, comprising:

storing in a wireless access point device an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header;

sending a paging packet from the access point device to a wireless mobile device, the paging packet including a class of device (CoD) field having a unique CoD value indicating that a next packet to be sent by the access point device is an APSI message;

sending the APSI message from the access point to the mobile device; and

alerting a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to the application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers, by means of the unique message ID in the header of the APSI message.

6. A method in a wireless access point for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message to a wireless mobile device and display it to the user, comprising:

storing in a wireless access point device an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header;

sending the APSI message from the access point to the mobile device; and

alerting a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to the application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers, by means of the unique message ID in the header of the APSI message;

wherein said APSI message contains fields for content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information and URL;

wherein said GUI layer in the mobile device loads the content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information and URL from the APSI message into a display buffer at the mobile device;

receiving a user input from the mobile device to establish a connection with the mobile device for a session with the service platform, in response to a display of the content to the user;

opening a channel with the mobile device;

sending a request to the service platform for registration of the mobile device to the service platform; and

conducting a session between the mobile device and the service platform.

7. A method in a wireless mobile device for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message received from a wireless access point device and display it to the user, comprising:

receiving from a wireless access point a first occurring packet containing information to alert a wireless mobile device that a following packet contains an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message and is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the wireless mobile device;

receiving the APSI message from the access point, said APSI message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header; and

using a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to a GUI application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers.

9. The method in the wireless mobile device of claim 7, wherein the wireless communication is Bluetooth communication.

10. The method in a wireless mobile device of claim 7,

wherein said APSI message contains fields for content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information, and URL.

11. The method in a wireless mobile device of claim 10, wherein said GUI layer loads the content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information, and URL from the APSI message into a display buffer.

13. The method in the wireless mobile device of claim 7, further comprising:

exchanging RF messages with a network transceiver coupled to the service platform.

8. A method in a wireless mobile device for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message received from a wireless access point device and display it to the user, comprising:

receiving a paging packet from an access point device, the paging packet including a class of device (CoD) field having a unique CoD value indicating that a next packet to be sent by the access point device is an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message;

receiving an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message from the access point, said APSI message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header; and

using a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to a GUI application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers.

12. A method in a wireless mobile device for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message received from a wireless access point device and display it to the user, comprising:

receiving an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message from an access point, said APSI message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header;

using a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to a GUI application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers;

wherein said APSI message contains fields for content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information, and URL;

wherein said GUI layer loads the content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information, and URL from the APSI message into a display buffer;

receiving a user input to the GUI layer to establish a connection with the access point for a session with the service platform, in response to a display of the content to the user;

opening a channel with the access point;

obtaining registration of the mobile device to the service platform via the access point; and

beginning a session between the mobile device and the service platform via the access point.

14. A method to enable a wireless access point to rapidly communicate a message to a wireless mobile device and display it to the user, comprising:

receiving in a wireless access point, a wireless packet from a mobile wireless device;

determining whether a corresponding Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message is stored in the access point describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header;

immediately sending the APSI message to the mobile device, if the message is found in the access point;

alerting a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to the application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers, by means of the unique message ID in the header of the APSI message;

alternately determining there is no corresponding APSI message stored in the access point and in response, sending a server notification message to a server to access content information;

receiving the content information from the server for a new APSI message; and

sending the new APSI message to the mobile wireless device.

15. The method of claim 14, which further comprises:

said server notification message including the mobile device'"'"'s address and class of device, plus optional ambient information such as the time of day, local weather, or geographic coordinates.

16. The method of claim 14, which further comprises:

said server using information in the server notification message for an appropriate query to access the content information.

17. The method of claim 14, which further comprises:

said content information including content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information, and URL.

18. A wireless access point to enable reducing the protocol stacks needed in a wireless mobile device so as to rapidly communicate a message to the mobile device and display it to the user, comprising:

a cache in a wireless access point device for storing an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header; and

a transmitter in the access point for sending the APSI message from the access point to a wireless mobile device;

said transmitter sending a first occurring packet containing information to alert the wireless mobile device that a following packet contains the APSI message and is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the wireless mobile device;

said APSI message alerting a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to an application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers.

19. The wireless access point of claim 18, wherein said APSI message contains fields for content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information, and URL.

21. The wireless access point of claim 18, wherein the wireless communication is Bluetooth communication.

20. A wireless access point to enable reducing the protocol stacks needed in a wireless mobile device so as to rapidly communicate a message to the mobile device and display it to the user, comprising:

a cache in a wireless access point device for storing an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header; and

a transmitter in the access point for sending the APSI message from the access point to a wireless mobile device;

said APSI message alerting a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to an application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers;

said transmitter sending a paging packet from the access point device to the wireless mobile device, the paging packet including a class of device (CoD) field having a unique CoD value indicating that a next packet to be sent by the access point device is the APSI message;

said paging packet alerting the mobile device that the next packet to be received from the access point will be the APSI message, by means of the unique CoD value in the paging packet.

22. A wireless mobile device for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message received from a wireless access point device and display it to the user, comprising:

a message buffer in a wireless mobile device for receiving an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message from a wireless access point, said APSI message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header;

said message buffer receiving from the wireless access point a first occurring packet containing information to alert the wireless mobile device that a following packet contains an APSI message and is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the wireless mobile device; and

a transport protocol layer in the wireless mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to an upper application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers.

24. The wireless mobile device of claim 22, wherein said APSI message contains fields for content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information, and URL.

25. The wireless mobile device of claim 22, wherein the wireless communication is Bluetooth communication.

26. The wireless mobile device of claim 22, further comprising:

means for exchanging RF messages with a network transceiver coupled to the service platform.

23. A wireless mobile device for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message received from a wireless access point device and display it to the user, comprising:

a message buffer in a wireless mobile device for receiving an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message from a wireless access point, said APSI message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header;

a transport protocol layer in the wireless mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to an upper application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers; and

a packet buffer in the wireless mobile device for receiving a paging packet from the wireless access point device, the paging packet including a field having a unique value indicating that a next packet to be sent by the access point device will be the Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message.

27. A computer program product to enable a wireless mobile device to reduce the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message received from a wireless access point device and display it to the user, comprising:

a computer readable medium;

program code in said computer readable medium for receiving from a wireless access point a first occurring packet containing information to alert a wireless mobile device that a following packet contains an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message and is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the wireless mobile device;

program code in said computer readable medium for receiving the APSI message from the wireless access point, said APSI message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header; and

program code in said computer readable medium for using a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to a GUI application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers.

29. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein said APSI message contains fields for content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information, and URL.

30. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the wireless communication is Bluetooth communication.

31. The computer program product of claim 27, further comprising:

program code in said computer readable medium for exchanging RF messages with a network transceiver coupled to the platform.

28. A computer program product to enable a wireless mobile device to reduce the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message received from a wireless access point device and display it to the user, comprising:

a computer readable medium;

program code in said computer readable medium for receiving an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message from a wireless access point, said APSI message describing offerings of a service platform coupled to the access point device, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header;

program code in said computer readable medium for using a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to a GUI application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers; and

program code in said computer readable medium for receiving a paging packet from the wireless access point device, the paging packet including a class of device (CoD) field having a unique CoD value indicating that a next packet to be sent by the access point device will be the Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message.

32. A computer program product to enable a wireless mobile device to reduce the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message received from a wireless access point device and display it to the user, comprising:

a computer readable medium;

program code in said computer readable medium for receiving from a wireless access point a first occurring packet containing information to alert a wireless mobile device that a following packet contains an Access Point Service Indicator (APSI) message and is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the wireless mobile device;

program code in said computer readable medium representing the APSI message containing fields for content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information, and URL describing service offerings, the APSI message having a unique message ID in its header; and

program code in said computer readable medium for using a transport protocol layer in the mobile device to pass said APSI message directly to an application layer in the mobile device, without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers.

33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the wireless communication is Bluetooth communication.

34. A method in a RF communication network for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message between at least two RF capable nodes, comprising:

storing in at least one of the nodes a message having a unique ID in its header;

sending from the at least one of the nodes a first occurring message containing information to alert at least one other node that a following message having the unique ID is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the at least one other node;

sending said message having the unique ID to the at least one other node; and

alerting a transport protocol layer in the receiving node to pass said message having the unique ID directly to an application group layer without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers, by means of the unique message ID in the header of said sent message.

35. The method in the RF communication of claim 34, wherein said message contains fields for content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information and URL.

37. The method in the RF communication of claim 34, wherein the RF communication is Bluetooth communication.

38. The method in the RF communication of claim 34, which further comprises:

exchanging RF messages with a network transceiver coupled to a network.

39. The method in the RF communication of claim 34, wherein a GUI layer in the receiving node loads the content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information and URL from the message into a display buffer at the receiving node.

36. A method in a RF communication network for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message between at least two RF capable nodes, comprising:

storing in at least one of the nodes a message having a unique ID in its header;

sending a paging packet from the sending node to the receiving node, the paging packet including a class of device (CoD) field having a unique CoD value indicating that a next packet to be sent by the sending node is a message having a unique ID;

sending said message having the unique ID to at least one other node; and

alerting a transport protocol layer in the receiving node to pass said message having the unique ID directly to an application group layer without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers, by means of the unique message ID in the header of said sent message.

40. A computer program product for enabling reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate between at least two RF capable nodes, comprising:

a computer readable medium;

program code in said computer readable medium for forming a header including a unique message ID for alerting a transport protocol layer of the receiver node to pass the message directly to an application group layer without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers;

program code in said computer readable medium for forming a body including at least one part of the group consisting of content, title, bitmap, soft key selection items, location information, service type information and URL; and

program code in said computer readable medium for transmitting said unique message after transmission of a first occurring message containing information to alert a receiver that a following message having the unique ID is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the receiver.

41. A communications device in an RF communication network for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message between at least two RF capable nodes, comprising:

a memory in the communications device for storing a message having a unique ID in its header; and

a transmitter in the communications device coupled to the memory for sending a first occurring message containing information to alert at least one other node that a following message having the unique ID is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the at least one other node;

said transmitter sending said message having the unique ID to the at least one other node to alert a transport protocol layer in the receiving node to pass said message having the unique ID directly to an application group layer without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers, by means of the unique message ID in the header.

42. A communications device in an RF communication network for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message between at least two RF capable nodes, comprising:

a receiver in the communications device for receiving a first occurring message containing information that a following message that will have a unique ID is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the communications device;

a memory in the communications device coupled to the receiver for storing the message having the unique ID in its header; and

a processor in the communications device coupled to the memory for alerting a transport protocol layer in the communications device to pass said message having the unique ID directly to an application group layer without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers, by means of the unique message ID in the header.

43. A computer program product for a communications device in an RF communication network for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message between at least two RF capable nodes, comprising:

a computer readable medium;

program code in said computer readable medium for storing a message having a unique ID in its header;

program code in said computer readable medium for sending a first occurring message containing information to alert at least one other node that a following message having the unique ID is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the at least one other node; and

program code in said computer readable medium for sending said message having the unique ID to the at least one other node to alert a transport protocol layer in the receiving node to pass said message having the unique ID directly to an application group layer without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers, by means of the unique message ID in the header.

44. A computer program product for a communications device in an RF communication network for reducing the protocol stacks needed to rapidly communicate a message between at least two RF capable nodes, comprising:

a computer readable medium;

program code in said computer readable medium for receiving a first occurring message containing information that a following message that will have a unique ID is qualified to bypass intervening protocol layers beneath an application layer in the communications device;

program code in said computer readable medium for receiving the message having the unique ID in its header; and

program code in said computer readable medium for alerting a transport protocol layer in the communications device to pass said message having the unique ID directly to an application group layer without needing to construct or pass through intervening layers, by means of the unique message ID in the header.