Femtocell bridging in media local area networks

• US 9,125,234 B1
• Filed: 12/11/2012
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Breau, Jeremy R, Delker, Jason R
• Primary Examiner(s): Pezzlo, John
• Application Number:
  US13/711,544
• Time in Patent Office: 994 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/252, 370/329, 370/342, 370/442, 370/466
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/181 Transcoding devices; Rate adaptation devices

Abstract

A femtocell is provided. The femtocell comprises a processor, a memory, and a radio transceiver to communicate with a mobile communication device using a wireless cellular communication protocol and to communicate with the mobile communication device in a data session using one of evolution-data optimized (EV-DO), one times radio transmission technology (1x-RTT), high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), long-term evolution (LTE). The femtocell also comprises an application stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, receives simple service discovery protocol messages from a media local area network identifying content stored in the media local area network and provides information about the content to the mobile communication device.

Claims

1. A femtocell device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a radio transceiver to communicate with a mobile communication device using a wireless cellular communication protocol and to communicate with the mobile communication device in a data session using one of evolution-data optimized (EV-DO), one times radio transmission technology (1x-RTT), high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), long-term evolution (LTE);

an application stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, receives simple service discovery protocol messages from a media local area network identifying content stored in the media local area network and provides information about the content to the mobile communication device; and

a transcoder to transform the content stored in the media local area network from a first format to a second format, wherein the mobile communication device is able to play back the content in the second format.

2. The femtocell device of claim 1, wherein the content is from a device on the media local area network, and wherein the content is transmitted from the device to the femtocell device by the device pushing the content to the femtocell device upon the content becoming available on the device.

3. The femtocell device of claim 1, wherein the content is from a device on the media local area network, and wherein the content passes from the device to the femtocell device by the femtocell device pulling selected content from the device at the election of the femtocell device.

4. The femtocell device of claim 1, wherein the radio transceiver communicates with the mobile communication device using one of code division multiple access (CDMA), global system for mobile communication (GSM), long-term evolution (LTE), and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) wireless cellular communication protocol.

5. The femtocell device of claim 4, wherein the radio transceiver further communicates with a macrocell that provides access to a wireless cellular communication network.

6. The femtocell device of claim 1, wherein the mobile communication device is one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a notebook computer, and a media player.

7. The femtocell device of claim 1, wherein the simple service discovery protocol messages received from the media local area network are originated by a plurality of devices on the media local area network.

8. The femtocell device of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of devices on the media local area network is identified and wherein identification of each device comprises an indication of device type.

9. A femtocell device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a radio transceiver to communicate with a mobile communication device using a wireless cellular communication protocol and to communicate with the mobile communication device in a data session using one of evolution-data optimized (EV-DO), one times radio transmission technology (1x-RTT), high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), long-term evolution (LTE); and

an application stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, receives a message from the mobile communication device identifying content stored in the mobile communication device, stores an entry in the memory identifying the content and a reference for accessing the content, and multicasts a message identifying the content to a media local area network, wherein the content passes from the mobile communication device to the femtocell device by the femtocell device pulling selected content from the mobile communication device at the election of the femtocell device.

10. The femtocell device of claim 9, further comprising a transcoder to transform the content from a first format to a second format, wherein devices associated with the media local area network are able to play back content in the second format.

11. The femtocell device of claim 9, wherein the femtocell device at least one of locally and remotely stores the content received from the mobile communication device.

12. The femtocell device of claim 9, wherein a client application executing on the mobile communication device provides information to the femtocell device about available content stored on the mobile communication device.

13. The femtocell device of claim 9, wherein the application pulls and buffers the content from the mobile communication device in progressive uploads and streams the transcoded content to the media local area network one of immediately and upon demand at a later time.

14. The femtocell device of claim 9, wherein the application multicasts the message identifying the content to the media local area network using the simple service discovery protocol.

15. The femtocell device of claim 9, wherein the femtocell device builds a catalogue of available content stored in the mobile communication device for access by devices on the media local area network.

16. The femtocell device of claim 9, wherein the femtocell device builds a catalogue of available content stored in devices on the media local area network for access by the mobile communication device.

17. A femtocell device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a radio transceiver to communicate with a mobile communication device using a wireless cellular communication protocol and to communicate with the mobile communication device in a data session using one of evolution-data optimized (EV-DO), one times radio transmission technology (1x-RTT), high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), long-term evolution (LTE); and

an application stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, receives a first hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) message from the mobile communication device via the radio transceiver, transmits a second hypertext transport protocol message to the mobile communication device via the radio transceiver requesting the mobile communication device to request a web connection to one of a media local area network and the Internet, wherein the femtocell device builds a catalogue of available content stored in the mobile communication device for access by devices on the media local area network.

18. The femtocell device of claim 17, wherein the femtocell device builds a catalogue of available content stored in devices on the media local area network for access by the mobile communication device.

19. The femtocell device of claim 17, wherein a web browser executing on the mobile communication device displays and promotes selection of content listed in the catalogue.

20. The femtocell device of claim 17, wherein the application adapts content stored in devices on the media local area network for at least one of the processing capability, display resolution attributes, and native language specifications of the mobile communication device.