Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110058510 | Power Management Of A Radio Data Transceiver - Methods and apparatuses for operating a wireless mobile station configured to communicate with a wireless access point are described. A sleep state may be maintained in which a radio frequency (RF) radio in the wireless mobile station is in a low power state. The wireless station may use a plurality of sleep states, each with a different sleep timer period based upon recent network activity. In one embodiment, a device may have two sleep states with two sleep timers, and in another embodiment a device may have three sleep timers for three sleep states. The first sleep time may be started for a first sleep state and to determine when to awake the device to determine whether there is any network activity. The device then determines whether a first period of network inactivity has occurred and, if so, it starts a second sleep timer for a second sleep state in response to determining that the first period of network inactivity has occurred. The method can further include determining whether a second period of network inactivity has occurred and, in response to determining that a second period of network inactivity has occurred, the device starts a third sleep timer for a third sleep state | 03-10-2011 |
20110059779 | Power Management Of A Radio Data Transceiver - Methods and apparatuses for operating a wireless mobile station configured to communicate with a wireless access point are described. A first awake timer may be started in response to receiving a beacon signal from the wireless access point. The beacon signal may indicate that data is available or pending for the wireless mobile station. A second awake timer may be started in response to data received from the wireless access point. When the second awake timer expires, the wireless mobile station may return to the sleep state. In one embodiment, the first awake timer counts for a first period of time and the second awake timer counts for a second period of time which is shorter than the first period of time. The RF radio may be in a higher power state when the first and/or the second awake timers are counting. In one embodiment, the wireless mobile station and the wireless access points may be synchronized using target beacon transmission times of the beacon signal. | 03-10-2011 |
20110153773 | EFFICIENT SERVICE ADVERTISEMENT AND DISCOVERY IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKING ENVIRONMENT WITH COOPERATIVE ADVERTISEMENT - Operating conditions of a remote device and operating conditions of a local device are compared, where the local device and the remote device are located within a predetermined proximity of a wireless network. An advertisement request is transmitted from the local device to the remote device based on the comparison of the operating conditions of the local device and the remote device. The advertisement request includes information identifying one or more services advertised by the local device, whereby the remote device is configured to advertise the one or more services on behalf of the local device in the wireless network. | 06-23-2011 |
20110153789 | EFFICIENT SERVICE ADVERTISEMENT AND DISCOVERY IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKING ENVIRONMENT WITH DYNAMIC ADVERTISEMENT AND DISCOVERY PERIODS BASED ON OPERATING CONDITIONS - A local device is configured to monitor operating conditions coupled to a wireless network. An advertisement period is dynamically adjusted based on the operating conditions of the local device, where the advertisement period is dynamically adjusted based on at least one of a battery condition of the local device, a user behavior of the local device, network traffic condition, and a type of service to be advertised. The local device broadcasts a service advertisement in the wireless network according to the adjusted advertisement period, the service advertisement including one or more service IDs for identifying one or more services to be advertised from the local device. | 06-23-2011 |
20110153818 | EFFICIENT SERVICE ADVERTISEMENT AND DISCOVERY IN MULTIPLE WIRELESS NETWORKS - A local device broadcasts a first advertisement in a first wireless network via a first wireless interface, where the first advertisement includes one or more service identifiers (IDs) identifying one or more services being advertised and an availability schedule of the local device in the first wireless network. The local device broadcasts a second advertisement in a second wireless network via a second wireless interface. The local device scans in the first wireless network during an availability window of the availability schedule for a response to the first advertisement, where the broadcast of the second advertisement is disabled during the availability window. | 06-23-2011 |
20110154084 | EFFICIENT SERVICE ADVERTISEMENT AND DISCOVERY IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKING ENVIRONMENT - A local device broadcasts a service advertisement in a wireless network, where the service advertisement includes one or more service identifiers (IDs) identifying one or more services being advertised and an availability schedule of the local device. Optionally, the local device reduces power to at least a portion of the local device and wakes up at a time according to the availability schedule. The local device listens in the wireless network according to the availability schedule of the local device. In response to a service request received from a remote device during the availability window, the local device transmits a service response to the remote device. The service request includes one or more service IDs identifying one or more services being inquired by the remote device and the service response includes detailed information associated with one or more services identified by the one or more service IDs. | 06-23-2011 |
20120117400 | EFFICIENT SERVICE ADVERTISEMENT AND DISCOVERY IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKING ENVIRONMENT - A local device broadcasts a service advertisement in a wireless network, where the service advertisement includes one or more service identifiers (IDs) identifying one or more services being advertised and an availability schedule of the local device. Optionally, the local device reduces power to at least a portion of the local device and wakes up at a time according to the availability schedule. The local device listens in the wireless network according to the availability schedule of the local device. In response to a service request received from a remote device during the availability window, the local device transmits a service response to the remote device. The service request includes one or more service IDs identifying one or more services being inquired by the remote device and the service response includes detailed information associated with one or more services identified by the one or more service IDs. | 05-10-2012 |
20120311176 | METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING TRANSPORT CHANNELS OF DEVICES - A first device and a second device communicate with each other using a first communications protocol over a first communications media. The first device detects a need to modify a communications bandwidth with the second device based on an operating condition of the first device at a point in time. The first device negotiates with the second device to identify a second communications protocol that is suitable for the operating condition based on a set of one or more rules associated with the first device. Both the first and second devices switch, without user intervention, from the first communications protocol to the second communications protocol to communicate with the second device using the second communications protocol over a second communications media. | 12-06-2012 |
20130122971 | POWER MANAGEMENT OF A RADIO DATA TRANSCEIVER - Methods and apparatuses for operating a wireless mobile station configured to communicate with a wireless access point are described. A first awake timer may be started in response to receiving a beacon signal from the wireless access point. The beacon signal may indicate that data is available or pending for the wireless mobile station. A second awake timer may be started in response to data received from the wireless access point. When the second awake timer expires, the wireless mobile station may return to the sleep state. In one embodiment, the first awake timer counts for a first period of time and the second awake timer counts for a second period of time which is shorter than the first period of time. The RF radio may be in a higher power state when the first and/or the second awake timers are counting. In one embodiment, the wireless mobile station and the wireless access points may be synchronized using target beacon transmission times of the beacon signal. | 05-16-2013 |
20130132500 | SELECTION OF A MASTER IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK ENVIRONMENT - A system, apparatus and method for selecting master devices in a peer-to-peer communication environment. Devices select a master to facilitate their synchronization, and rendezvous according to a schedule of availability windows broadcast by the master as part of periodic synchronization frames. Devices capable of serving as master advertise their selection metrics, which are converted into a master preference value by a selection algorithm applied uniformly by all devices in the environment. Individual devices may identify the best local master and synchronize to it, yielding a cluster of synchronized peers. Clusters may then be synchronized to masters at further range. Individual devices conserve power by being automatically synchronized instead of having to individually discover other devices and services, and can power off their radios without sacrificing discoverability. Synchronization and peer-to-peer communication as provided herein coexists with other device demands, such as Bluetooth® operations, infrastructure-based communications and so on. | 05-23-2013 |
20130132501 | SYNCHRONIZATION OF DEVICES IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK ENVIRONMENT - A system, apparatus and method for synchronizing devices in a peer-to-peer communication environment. Devices select a master to facilitate their synchronization, and rendezvous according to a schedule of availability windows broadcast by the master. Devices may attend some or all of the availability windows, during which they may send and receive unicast and/or multicast messages. Individual devices conserve power by being automatically synchronized instead of having to individually discover other devices and services, and can power off their radios without sacrificing discoverability. Synchronization and peer-to-peer communication as provided herein coexists with other device demands, such as Bluetooth® operations, infrastructure-based communications and so on. | 05-23-2013 |
20130141756 | AUTHENTICATING PRINTERS PRIOR TO PAIRING WITH PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES - The disclosed embodiments provide a system that facilitates the execution of a print job. During operation, the system receives, at a printer, a signal from a portable electronic device indicating the printer has been selected for the print job. Next, in response to the selection, the system generates an output that facilitates identification of the printer by a user of the portable electronic device. The system also provides a mechanism for confirming physical access to the printer by the user. Upon confirming the physical access to the printer by the user, the system establishes a direct connection between the portable electronic device and the printer, wherein the direct connection is subsequently used by the portable electronic device and the printer to perform the print job. | 06-06-2013 |
20130215757 | WIRELESS SCAN AND ADVERTISEMENT IN ELECTRONIC DEVICES - An electronic device performs a scan of each wireless channel in a sequence of wireless channels to detect advertising frames transmitted from other electronic devices. When performing the scan, the electronic device waits for a next transmit time. After the next transmit time, the electronic device configures the electronic device to monitor a next wireless channel from the sequence of wireless channels. The electronic device then monitors the next wireless channel for the advertising frames for a scanning time interval, wherein a duration of the scanning time interval is set in accordance with one or more transmit times used for transmitting advertising frames on the wireless channels in the sequence of wireless channels. When wireless channels from the sequence of wireless channels remain to be scanned, the electronic device returns to wait for a next transmit time. | 08-22-2013 |
20130225161 | SEAMLESS TRANSITION FROM CELLULAR TO Wi-Fi COMMUNICATION - An electronic device receives a list of available networks and associated access credentials via a cellular-telephone network. These available networks may be other than the cellular-telephone network and may use a communication technique other than a cellular-telephone communication technique, such as an IEEE 802.11 protocol. For example, a base station in the cellular-telephone network may track the location of the electronic device, and may provide the list to the electronic device when the cellular-telephone network performance is constrained or degraded. In response to receiving the list, the electronic device may select a network from the available networks based on a communication criterion, such as: proximity to the electronic device, a signal strength, security, and/or communication quality. Information specifying this selection may be provided via the cellular-telephone network, and then instructions that transition communication with the electronic device from the cellular-telephone network to the selected network may be received. | 08-29-2013 |
20130227647 | SHARED NETWORK ACCESS VIA A PEER-TO-PEER LINK - An electronic device receives a request for access to the infrastructure network (and, more generally, a ‘resource’) from the other electronic device via a peer-to-peer link. In response to the request, the electronic device determines that it has access to the infrastructure network, and provides a response to the other electronic device via the peer-to-peer link indicating that the electronic device has access to the infrastructure network. Then, the electronic device establishes secure communication with the other electronic device, and provides access information to the other electronic device via the peer-to-peer link using the secure communication. This access information facilitates access to the infrastructure network. | 08-29-2013 |
20130331098 | Automatically Determining and Alerting Users to Available Wireless Networks - Automatically determining and alerting a user to available wireless networks. Initially, the method may automatically determine that one or more wireless networks are available to a wireless device at a location. The method may determine if the wireless device has been present at the first location for more than a threshold amount of time, e.g., based on periodic determination of the available wireless networks to the wireless device. Based on the wireless device being present at the first location for more than the threshold amount of time, an alert may be automatically displayed to the user on a display of the wireless device. The alert may indicate at least one wireless network of the one or more wireless networks at the first location. The wireless device may connect to wireless network indicated by the alert in response to user input. | 12-12-2013 |
20130331101 | Automatically Modifying Wireless Network Connection Policies Based on User Activity Levels - Modifying network connection policies of a wireless device based on user activity levels. One or more activity indicators of the wireless device may be monitored. One or more criteria for wireless network blacklisting may be selected based on the one or more activity indicators. The criteria may include different types of connectivity problems. A wireless network may be detected. The wireless network may be monitored for connectivity problems. The wireless network may be blacklisted if connectivity problems meeting the selected criteria for wireless network blacklisting are determined to have occurred. | 12-12-2013 |
20130331118 | PERFORMING ENHANCED BACKGROUND LOCATION SCANS TO FACILITATE LOCATION-BASED GEO-FENCING - The disclosed embodiments facilitate location awareness in mobile computing devices while also reducing power consumption. A baseband processor performs background scanning of wireless networks, tracking the status of surrounding wireless networks while a primary application processor operates in a lower-power sleep state. Upon detecting a wireless network of interest, the baseband processor notifies (and wakes up) the application processor. The baseband processor can also be configured to track a subset of the wireless networks detected from previous scans to facilitate trajectory tracing. | 12-12-2013 |
20130343198 | BEACON FRAME MONITORING - Techniques are disclosed relating to reception of beacon frames. In one embodiment, an apparatus is disclosed that includes a radio circuit. The radio circuit is configured to determine an estimated time period during which the radio circuit will receive a next beacon frame from a wireless access point associated with a wireless channel. The estimated time period is determined relative to a clock of the radio circuit. The radio circuit is further configured to begin monitoring the wireless channel for the next beacon frame during the estimated time period. | 12-26-2013 |
20140059369 | EFFICIENT SERVICE ADVERTISEMENT AND DISCOVERY IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKING ENVIRONMENT - A local device broadcasts a service advertisement in a wireless network, where the service advertisement includes one or more service identifiers (IDs) identifying one or more services being advertised and an availability schedule of the local device. Optionally, the local device reduces power to at least a portion of the local device and wakes up at a time according to the availability schedule. The local device listens in the wireless network according to the availability schedule of the local device. In response to a service request received from a remote device during the availability window, the local device transmits a service response to the remote device. The service request includes one or more service IDs identifying one or more services being inquired by the remote device and the service response includes detailed information associated with one or more services identified by the one or more service IDs. | 02-27-2014 |
20140068727 | WI-FI CREDENTIAL SHARING USING IMAGES - In order to facilitate access to a wireless network, access information (and, more generally, credentials) may be provided to an electronic device via an image. In particular, the electronic device may capture an image that includes a representation of the access information. For example, the electronic device may scan a two-dimensional representation of the access information, such as a Quick Response (QR) code. Then, the electronic device may analyze the image to extract the access information. Next, the access information may be used to access the wireless network. This communication technique allows a user of the electronic device to access the wireless network with less effort, thereby improving the user's experience. | 03-06-2014 |
20140105084 | APPLICATION-AWARE RADIO POWER SAVING - In order to facilitate reduced power consumption of an electronic device (such as a smartphone) when communicating with another electronic device (such as an access point) in a wireless network, the electronic device may change a wake policy based on the applications executing on the electronic device. In particular, the electronic device may monitor a subset of the applications currently executed by a processor in the electronic device, where the subset can include zero or more of the applications. Based on the subset, the wake policy of an interface circuit in the electronic device may be changed. This wake policy may specify a frequency of wake ups to receive information from the other electronic device and/or monitoring of unicast or multicast bits in a Traffic Indication Map element. In this way, the time that the electronic device is in the active mode can be reduced, thereby reducing power consumption. | 04-17-2014 |
20140105086 | MOTION-BASED ADAPTIVE SCANNING - In order to facilitate reduced power consumption of an electronic device (such as a smartphone) when communicating with another electronic device (such as an access point) in a wireless network, the electronic device may change a frequency of network scans performed by an interface circuit in the electronic device based on a motion profile of the electronic device. In particular, the electronic device may determine the motion profile based on spatial information, such as: acceleration data, orientation data, Global Positioning System data and/or data from the wireless network. Then, the electronic device may change the frequency of the network scans performed by the interface circuit based on the motion profile. In this way, the frequency of the network scans can be reduced when the electronic device is stationary or moving rapidly (such as when a user of the electronic device is driving in a car). | 04-17-2014 |
20140105195 | DETECTING NEIGHBORING ACCESS POINTS IN A NETWORK - An electronic device, e.g., a mobile device, having access to a wireless network roams from one access point (AP) to another using access point detection based on location and learning. A learning scheme may modify a list of nearby access points determined based on location to identify neighboring access points where roaming is possible. The identified neighboring access points where roaming is possible may be ordered based on roaming history, such as the frequency of the roams to a particular AP. The roaming history may be maintained on a per client basis or aggregated across all clients using an AP. | 04-17-2014 |
20140153049 | AUTHENTICATING PRINTERS PRIOR TO PAIRING WITH PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICES - The disclosed embodiments provide a system that facilitates the execution of a print job. During operation, the system receives, at a printer, a signal from a portable electronic device indicating the printer has been selected for the print job. Next, in response to the selection, the system generates an output that facilitates identification of the printer by a user of the portable electronic device. The system also provides a mechanism for confirming physical access to the printer by the user. Upon confirming the physical access to the printer by the user, the system establishes a connection between the portable electronic device and the printer, wherein the connection is subsequently used by the portable electronic device and the printer to perform the print job. | 06-05-2014 |
20140269404 | DETERMINING THE RELIABILITY OF COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND AN ACCESS POINT - A method and system are described for determining the reliability of the communications between a portable electronic device and an access point (AP) before associating with the AP. In the described embodiments, a first probe request frame is transmitted to the AP at a first data rate, and a first probe response frame is received from the AP, wherein the first probe response frame is responsive to the first probe request frame. Then, a second probe request frame is transmitted to the AP at a second data rate, wherein the first data rate is lower than the second data rate. Then, the portable electronic device determines if a second probe response frame is received from the AP, wherein the second probe response frame is responsive to the second probe request frame. The portable electronic device then determines the reliability of the communications between the portable electronic device and the AP. | 09-18-2014 |