U.S. patent application number 14/915849 was filed with the patent office on 2016-07-14 for systems, methods, and devices for cellular network-assisted low cost opportunistic social networking.
The applicant listed for this patent is Intel IP Corporation. Invention is credited to Qian Li, Huaning Niu, Geng Wu.
Application Number | 20160205716 14/915849 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 52690831 |
Filed Date | 2016-07-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160205716 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wu; Geng ; et al. |
July 14, 2016 |
SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND DEVICES FOR CELLULAR NETWORK-ASSISTED LOW
COST OPPORTUNISTIC SOCIAL NETWORKING
Abstract
A communication method, the method comprising: establishing, by
a first devive, a wireless device-to-device connection; receiving,
by the first device, one or more core contents of a social network
via a wireless network; and transferring, by the first device, the
one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless
device-to-device connection.
Inventors: |
Wu; Geng; (Plano, TX)
; Li; Qian; (Hillsboro, OR) ; Niu; Huaning;
(Milpitas, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Intel IP Corporation |
Santa Clara |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
52690831 |
Appl. No.: |
14/915849 |
Filed: |
September 26, 2014 |
PCT Filed: |
September 26, 2014 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/US2014/057788 |
371 Date: |
March 1, 2016 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61883127 |
Sep 26, 2013 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
455/450 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 1/1854 20130101;
H04W 92/20 20130101; H04W 36/03 20180801; H04W 88/08 20130101; G06F
9/4856 20130101; H04W 24/04 20130101; H04W 40/24 20130101; H04L
5/0048 20130101; H04W 24/10 20130101; H04W 36/32 20130101; H04L
1/1607 20130101; H04W 84/12 20130101; H04W 72/042 20130101; H04W
76/18 20180201; H04L 5/001 20130101; H04L 5/0055 20130101; H04L
67/104 20130101; H04L 47/122 20130101; H04W 72/0453 20130101; H04L
5/0035 20130101; H04W 52/0274 20130101; H04W 76/27 20180201; H04L
1/12 20130101; H04L 47/12 20130101; H04W 8/005 20130101; H04W 28/02
20130101; H04W 76/14 20180201; H04W 40/22 20130101; Y02D 30/70
20200801; H04L 5/0037 20130101; Y02D 10/00 20180101; H04L 67/025
20130101; H04W 48/16 20130101; H04L 1/1887 20130101; H04W 76/38
20180201; H04W 72/0446 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 76/02 20060101
H04W076/02; H04W 40/22 20060101 H04W040/22; H04W 52/02 20060101
H04W052/02 |
Claims
1. A communication method, the method comprising: establishing, by
a first device, a wireless device-to-device connection; receiving,
by the first device, one or more core contents of a social network
via a wireless network; and transferring, by the first device, the
one or more core contents of the social network via the wireless
device-to-device connection.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving,
by a second device connected to the first device via the
device-to-device connection, the one or more core contents of the
social network from the first device.
3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: receiving,
by the second device, one or more individual contents of the social
network via the wireless network.
4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: receiving,
by the first device, one or more individual contents of the social
network via the wireless network; and transferring the one or more
individual contents of the social network from the first device to
the second device via the wireless device-to-device connection.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless network is
a cellular network or a wireless local area network (WLAN).
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless
device-to-device connection is a long term evolution (LTE)
device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device
connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN)
connection.
7. A communication device comprising: a radio unit configured to
connect the communication device to one or more devices; a
non-transitory computer readable storage device including
instructions stored thereon; one or more processor(s) to execute
the instructions stored on the storage device, causing the
communication device to perform operations of: establishing a
wireless device-to-device connection; receiving one or more core
contents of a social network via a wireless network; and
transferring the one or more core contents of the social network
via the wireless device-to-device connection.
8. The communication device according to claim 7, wherein the one
or more processor(s) execute instructions stored on the storage
device, causing the communication device to perform operations of:
receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via
the wireless network; and transferring the one or more individual
contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device
connection.
9. The communication device according to claim 7, wherein the
wireless network is a cellular network or a wireless local area
network (WLAN).
10. The communication device according to claim 7, wherein the
wireless device-to-device connection is a long term evolution (LTE)
device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device
connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN)
connection.
11. A communication device comprising: a radio unit configured to
connect the communication device to one or more devices; a
non-transitory computer readable storage device including
instructions stored thereon, one or more processor(s) to execute
the instructions stored on the storage device, causing the
communication device to perform operations of: establishing a
wireless device-to-device connection; receiving one or more core
contents of a social network via the wireless device-to-device
connection.
12. The communication device according to claim 11, wherein the one
or more processor(s) execute instructions stored on the storage
device, causing the communication device to perform operations of:
receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via
a wireless network.
13. The communication device according to claim 11, wherein the one
or more processor(s) execute instructions stored on the storage
device, causing the communication device to perform operations of:
receiving one or more individual contents of the social network via
the wireless device-to-device connection.
14. The communication device according to claim 12, wherein the
wireless network is a cellular network or a wireless local area
network (WLAN).
15. The communication device according to claim 11, wherein the
wireless device-to-device connection is a long term evolution (LTE)
device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device
connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN)
connection.
16. The communication device according to claim 11, further
comprising an acceleration component configured to download the one
or more core contents of the social network directly via the
wireless network upon selection of the acceleration component.
17. The device according to claim 11, further comprising a timer
configured to select the acceleration component after a
predetermined period of time.
18. The communication device according to claim 11, further
comprising a switching component to enable or disable the wireless
device-to-device connection.
19. The communication device according to claim 18, wherein the
switching component is configured to disable the wireless
device-to-device connection when a battery power threshold for a
battery in the device is reached.
20. A non-transitory computer readable storage device including
instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more
processor(s) of a device, cause the device to perform operations
of: establishing a wireless device-to-device connection; receiving
one or more core contents of a social network via a wireless
network; and transferring the one or more core contents of the
social network via the wireless device-to-device connection.
21. The storage device according to claim 20, further comprising
the operations of: receiving one or more individual contents of the
social network via the wireless network; and transferring the one
or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless
device-to-device connection.
22. The storage device according to claim 20, wherein the wireless
network is a cellular network or a wireless local area network
(WLAN).
23. The storage device according to claim 20, wherein the wireless
device-to-device connection is a long term evolution (LTE)
device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device
connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN)
connection.
24. A non-transitory computer readable storage device including
instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more
processor(s) of a device, cause the device to perform operations
of: establishing a wireless device-to-device connection; receiving
one or more core contents of a social network via the wireless
device-to-device connection.
25. (canceled)
26. (canceled)
27. (canceled)
28. (canceled)
29. The storage device according to claim 24, further comprising an
acceleration component configured to download the one or more core
contents of the social network directly via the wireless network
upon selection of the acceleration component.
30-38. (canceled)
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Patent Application Ser. No. 61/883,127, entitled "ADVANCED WIRELESS
COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNIQUES," filed on Sep. 26, 2013, the
disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] Embodiments described herein generally relate to systems,
methods, and devices for social networking.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Social networking and mobile communication propel the growth
of each other. The coupling of the two industries is ever
increasing. On the one hand, the demand on social networking
contributes to the rapid growth of mobile communication traffic and
triggers the populous of smart communication devices. On the other
hand, improvement in mobile communication service quality makes
social networking more accessible with good user experience. It is
therefore of high interests for the two industries to make joint
efforts towards providing universally wireless connected social
networking service with good quality of service, user experience
and system efficiency.
[0004] As social networking services require universal user
coverage, always-on connection and frequent timely content updates,
key challenges in supporting social networking type communication
include (1) costs (e.g., cost of using wireless communication
service, cost of smart devices), (2) energy consumption (e.g.,
device battery life) and (3) user experience (e.g., timely content
update, high speed uploading/downloading).
[0005] The current efforts in attempting to address the above
challenges are either conducted by social networking service
provider or communication infrastructure/device vendor. For
example, Facebook tries to address the problem by improving its
data center efficiency and mobile apps. The proposed solutions,
however, either rely on information technology or communication
technology. There is a lack of an efficient system-wide
solution.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication system,
according to one or more example embodiments;
[0007] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a communication system,
according to one or more example embodiments;
[0008] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a communication device,
according to one or more example embodiments;
[0009] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a communication method,
according to one or more example embodiments; and
[0010] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a communication method,
according to one or more example embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0011] The following description with reference to the accompanying
drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of
embodiments of the disclosure as defined by the claims and their
equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that
understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.
Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that
various changes and modifications of the embodiments described
herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of
the disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions
and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.
[0012] The terms used in the following description and claims are
not limited to their dictionary meanings, but, are merely used to
enable a clear and consistent understanding of the disclosure.
Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that
the following description of embodiments of the present disclosure
is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose
of limiting the disclosure as defined by the appended claims and
their equivalents.
[0013] It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an,"
and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly
dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to "a component
surface" includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.
[0014] Hereinafter, the term "substantially" means that the recited
characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly,
but that deviations or variations, including for example,
tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and
other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in
amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was
intended to provide.
[0015] The terms "communication station", "station", "handheld
device", "communication device", "wireless device" and "user
equipment" (UE), as used herein, refer to a wireless communication
device such as a cellular telephone, smartphone, tablet, netbook,
wireless terminal, laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a
femtocell, High Data Rate (HDR) subscriber station, access point,
access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS)
device. The device may be either mobile or stationary.
[0016] The term "access point" (AP) as used herein may be a fixed
station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node,
a base station or some other similar terminology known in the art.
An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, a user
equipment (UE), a wireless communication device or some other
similar terminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein
generally pertain to wireless networks.
[0017] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide numerous
technical effects and unobvious solutions over conventional
solutions. For example, some embodiments provide, for example, a
cellular network-assisted very low-cost opportunistic social
networking system, which may involve a social networking service
provider, a network infrastructure vendor, and a communication
device vendor. According to one example embodiment cellular air
time may be used for notifications/updates, low cost Wi-Fi may be
used for individual media uploading/downloading, and one or more
device-to-device (D2D) connections may be used for content
distribution (e.g. media, ads, apps).
[0018] According to one or more example embodiments,
Device-to-device (D2D) communication may enable direct
communication between nearby mobiles using next-generation cellular
networks. It may facilitate the interoperability between critical
public safety networks and ubiquitous commercial networks based on
e.g. LTE. In principle, exploiting direct communication between
nearby communication devices may improve spectrum utilization,
overall throughput, and energy efficiency, while enabling new
peer-to-peer and location-based applications and services.
D2D-enabled LTE devices can have the potential to become
competitive for fallback public safety networks that must function
when cellular networks are not available or fail.
[0019] It was found that D2D mobiles enjoy much higher data rates
than regular cellular mobiles due to the short range of
communications. Cellular mobiles may also benefit from D2D as D2D
can help offload traffic from congested cellular networks. From a
coverage perspective, we revealed an interesting tradeoff between
D2D spectrum access and mode selection: as more potential D2D
mobiles use direct communication mode, the network should actually
make less spectrum available to them to limit their
interference.
[0020] A D2D-enabled cellular network may be created where downlink
resources are either partitioned or shared between D2D and downlink
cellular transmissions. To maximize the total throughput, D2D links
with more traffic to transmit should be more aggressive in their
spectrum access, despite the interference this generates to the
rest of the network. In a heavily loaded network, the total
throughput benefits from offloading local traffic to D2D mode, as
D2D communication only requires "1" hop while relaying via a BS
requires "2" hops. The choice of dedicated and shared approaches
depends on the D2D traffic and the resource partition in dedicated
networks. The dedicated approach may achieve larger throughput in a
network with many short-range D2D links and optimal resource
partition.
[0021] Referring to FIG. 1, an example illustrative embodiment of a
system 100 including a communication device cluster is depicted and
generally designated 150. The communication device cluster 150 can
include two or more communication devices 102. In at least one
embodiment, the communication device cluster 150 can use Bluetooth
communication, device-to-device (D2D) LTE communication, social
Wi-Fi communication, Wi-Fi Direct, or Neighbor-Awareness Networking
(NAN) protocols, or can be a subset of a NAN cluster.
[0022] Although the communication device cluster 150 is illustrated
as including four communication devices in FIG. 1, the
communication device cluster 150 may include more than four devices
or fewer than four devices. The communication devices of the
communication device cluster 150 may be configured to communicate
wirelessly according to one or more wireless communication
protocols. For example, the communication devices 102 of the
communication device cluster 150 may send and receive discovery
messages, such as beacons in connection with an Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 or Wi-Fi
Alliance protocol. The Wi-Fi Alliance is currently in development
of two different certifications, one of which is Neighbor Awareness
Networking (NAN) certification addressing low power device and
service discovery over Wi-Fi.
[0023] In this context, a protocol may refer to parameters used to
communicate, such as a channel on which communications occur,
timing of communications (e.g., timing of discovery intervals),
etc. In another example, the communication devices of the
communication device cluster 150 may also communicate data, such as
data associated with a particular application that is common to
each communication device of the communication device cluster
150.
[0024] As illustrated in FIG. 1, system 100 may include a core
network 124 and an access network 126 including the communication
device cluster 150, among other things. As illustrated in the core
network 124, an example social networking service provider may
segregate its social networking content into two or more classes in
support of the very low end devices. For example, one or more
social networking content servers 112 may segregate the social
networking content into core contents 114, and individual content
116, for example. Upon segregation, core contents 114 may be
time-stamped or sequence numbered to ease distribution of content
through the network. Core contents 114 may be distributed through
Wi-Fi, device-to-device communication, or free cellular air time
(e.g. paid by ads), individual contents 116 may be distributed
through a cellular network, and media contents may be distributed
through WiFi/small cells, for example. According to one example
embodiment, the social networking service provider may maximize its
"core content" by moving most of the core functionality of the app
into core content 114. Since a social networking service provider
may want to generate additional revenue by selling ads, the low/no
cost way for content distribution may be attractive to any social
networking service provider.
[0025] One or more communication devices 102 may be connected to a
cellular network 122, such as for example, a LTE, 4G, 3G, or 2G
network, which may be provided by a network service provider. One
or more communication devices may be able to connect to base
station 108 through the cellular network 122, for example. On the
network infrastructure side, base station 108 may cache social
networking service provider's core content 114 and/or individual
content 116, and keep them updated from time to time. This may need
base station 108 to have storage capabilities. According to one
example embodiment, the base station 108 may include one or more
storage devices or servers 110, which may serve as local cache for
example, for storing social networking service provider's core
content 114 and/or individual content 116.
[0026] Similarly, the one or more communication devices 102 may be
connected to an access point (AP) 104 via a wireless local area
network (WLAN), for example, which may be provided by a network
service provider. On the network infrastructure side, access point
104 may also cache social networking service provider's core
content 114 and/or individual content 116, and keep them updated
from time to time. This may need access point 104 to have storage
capabilities. According to one example embodiment, the access point
104 may include one or more storage devices or servers 106, which
may serve as local cache for example, for storing social networking
service provider's core content 114 and/or individual content
116.
[0027] Dotted lines 120 may represent distribution of individual
content 116, for example, and solid lines 118 may represent
distribution of core contents 114, for example. On the user
equipment (UE) or communication device side, the one or more
communication devices 102 may support one or more functions
including Wi-Fi and cellular air interface, and include a
reasonable local cache size. Because social networking type
communication is not relatively media intensive, the add-on cache
may not be a cost burden to the end user.
[0028] Turning now to FIG. 2, shown is a system 200 for low cost
opportunistic social networking, according to one or more example
embodiments of the present disclosure. The system 200 may include a
first device 202 which may be configured to establish a wireless
device-to-device connection 206 with a second device 204. The first
device 200 may receive one or more core contents 208, 210 of a
social network via a wireless network, for example the cellular
network or Wi-Fi network described above. Core contents may
include, for example, the social networking app, the basic user
interface including features from the app 208 and other elements,
such as for example, banner ads 210, which may be sponsored by
advertisers, for example. Additionally, the first device 200 may
receive one or more individual contents 212 of the social network
via a wireless network, for example the cellular network or Wi-Fi
network described above. Individual contents 212 may include, for
example, user information including user profile picture, name,
location, and other user specific information, for example, posts
posted by the user's social network friends. According to one
example embodiment, first device 202 may transfer the one or more
core contents of the social network via the wireless
device-to-device connection 206 to the second device 204. Using the
existing D2D connection, device 204 may be able to side-load core
contents 216, 218 of the social network, without the need to
connect to the cellular network or the WLAN. Side-loading may refer
to a process of transferring data between two or more local
devices, for example.
[0029] The second device 204 may receive one or more individual
contents 214 of the social network via the wireless network. In
another embodiment, the first device 202 may receive one or more
individual contents 214 of the social network via the wireless
network, and transfer the one or more individual contents 214 of
the social network to the second device 204 via the wireless
device-to-device connection 206. The wireless network may be a
cellular network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN) as
described above. The wireless device-to-device connection may be a
long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth
device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness
networking (NAN) connection, for example.
[0030] According to one or more example embodiments, communication
devices 202 and 204 may include an acceleration button to enable a
user to override the default opportunistic networking operation
described above. For example, when the acceleration button is
pushed, all data transfer can go through the cellular link,
however, the user may have to pay for the cellular traffic. In
another example embodiment, communication devices 202 and 204 may
include a side-loading timer. For example, if there is no
opportunity for side-loading using the D2D connection for a
predefined period of time, then the communication device 204 may
directly download either full or selected core contents 216, 218.
Additionally, communication devices 202 and 204 may include a
switch to disable side-loading using D2D to preserve battery life.
In one example embodiment, the communication devices 202 and 204
may set a battery power threshold, below which the communication
device 202, 204 may stop D2D communication. Although the present
disclosure describes various features with respect to buttons and
switches above, it may be understood by one of skill in the art
that such buttons and switches may be virtual in nature, and may be
implemented using a software program, for example.
[0031] According to one or more example embodiments, the user of
the communication device 202, 204 may have an option to select
different level of user experience. For example, the user may opt
to have just text portions of the core content and/or individual
content to be side-loaded using the D2D connection. In other
embodiments, the user may opt for rich media to be side-loaded, or
a combination thereof. According to one example embodiment, the
users may be awarded, for example, in terms of credits or priority
or more bandwidth, for motivating the user to share core contents
and/or individual contents using D2D. As described above, the
wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may
be a network (WLAN) as described above. The wireless
device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE)
device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device
connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN)
connection, for example.
[0032] Turning now to FIG. 3, shown is a schematic block diagram of
a wireless communication device 300 in accordance with one or more
example embodiments of the present disclosure. The communication
device 300 may include at least one processor circuit, for example,
having one or more processor(s) 302 and one or more memories 306,
both of which may be coupled to a local interface 304. The
communication device 300 may include a cellular interface (or
device) 312 such as, e.g., an LTE interface (or device) and one or
more wireless interfaces (or devices) 314 including, e.g.,
Bluetooth interface (or device), all of which may be coupled to the
local interface 304. The cellular interface (or device) 312 may
include processing circuitry for supporting cellular communications
such as, e.g., LTE, 2G, 3G, 4G, WiMAX, WCDMA, HSDPA, WLAN or other
wireless communication protocols. The wireless interface(s) (or
device(s)) 314 include processing circuitry for supporting wireless
communications such as, e.g., Bluetooth (Bluetooth), IEEE
802.11a/b/g/n, near field communication (NFC), global positioning
system (GPS)/global navigation satellite system (GNSS), neighbor
awareness networking (NaN) and/or other wireless communication
protocols.
[0033] In various embodiments, the processing circuitry is
implemented as at least a portion of a microprocessor. The
processing circuitry may be implemented using one or more circuits,
one or more microprocessors, application specific integrated
circuits, dedicated hardware, digital signal processors,
microcomputers, central processing units, field programmable gate
arrays, programmable logic devices, state machines, or any
combination thereof. In yet other embodiments, the processing
circuitry may include one or more software modules executable
within one or more processing circuits. The processing circuitry
may further include memory configured to store instructions and/or
code that causes the processing circuitry to execute data
communication functions. In some cases, portions of the cellular
interface (or device) 312 and/or wireless interface(s) (or
device(s)) 314 may be implemented by processor 302 via local
interface 304. The local interface 304 may include, for example, a
data bus with an accompanying address/control bus or other bus
structure as can be appreciated.
[0034] Stored in the memory 306 are both data and several
components that are executable by the processor 302 and/or by
processing circuitry of the cellular interface (or device) 312
and/or wireless interface(s) (or device(s)) 314. In particular,
stored in the memory 306 and executable by the processor 302 may be
a set of instructions, for example, executable by the processors
302 to communicate with one or more devices, and one or more
applications 310, for example, a communication device social
networking application. In addition, an operating system may be
stored in the memory 306 and executable by the processor 302. In
some embodiments, the cellular interface (or device) 312 and/or
wireless interface(s) (or device(s)) 314 may include memory for
storing the instructions 308. In some cases, the processor 302 and
memory 306 may be integrated as a system-on-a-chip.
[0035] It is understood that there may be other applications that
are stored in the memory and are executable by the processor 302,
the cellular interface (or device) 312 and/or wireless interface(s)
(or device(s)) 314 as can be appreciated. A number of software
components may be stored in the memory and executable by the
processor 302, the cellular interface (or device) 312 and/or
wireless interface(s) (or device(s)) 314. In this respect, the term
"executable" means a program file that is in a form that can
ultimately be run by the processor 302, the cellular interface (or
device) 312 and/or wireless interface(s) (or device(s)) 314.
Examples of executable programs may be, for example, a compiled
program that can be translated into machine code in a format that
can be loaded into a random access portion of the memory 306 and
run by the processor 302, source code that may be expressed in
proper format such as object code that is capable of being loaded
into a random access portion of the memory 306 and executed by the
processor 302, or source code that may be interpreted by another
executable program to generate instructions in a random access
portion of the memory 306 to be executed by the processor 302, etc.
An executable program may be stored in any portion or component of
the memory including, for example, random access memory (RAM),
read-only memory (ROM), hard drive, solid-state drive, USB flash
drive, memory card, optical disc such as compact disc (CD) or
digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, magnetic tape, or other
memory components.
[0036] The memory is defined herein as including both volatile and
nonvolatile memory and data storage components. Volatile components
are those that do not retain data values upon loss of power.
Nonvolatile components are those that retain data upon a loss of
power. Thus, the memory 806 may include, for example, random access
memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard disk drives, solid-state
drives, USB flash drives, memory cards accessed via a memory card
reader, floppy disks accessed via an associated floppy disk drive,
optical discs accessed via an optical disc drive, magnetic tapes
accessed via an appropriate tape drive, and/or other memory
components, or a combination of any two or more of these memory
components. In addition, the RAM may include, for example, static
random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM),
or magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and other such devices. The
ROM may include, for example, a programmable read-only memory
(PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an
electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or
other like memory device.
[0037] Also, the processor 302 may represent multiple processors
302 and the memory 306 may represent multiple memories 306 that
operate in parallel processing circuits, respectively. In such a
case, the local interface 304 may be an appropriate network that
facilitates communication between any two of the multiple
processors 302, between any processor 302 and any of the memories
306, or between any two of the memories 306, etc. The local
interface 304 may include additional systems designed to coordinate
this communication, including, for example, performing load
balancing. The processor 302 may be of electrical or of some other
available construction.
[0038] Although the instructions 308, and other various systems
described herein may be embodied in software or code executed by
general purpose hardware, as an alternative the same may also be
embodied in dedicated hardware or a combination of software/general
purpose hardware and dedicated hardware. If embodied in dedicated
hardware, each can be implemented as a circuit or state machine
that employs any one of or a combination of a number of
technologies. These technologies may include, but are not limited
to, discrete logic circuits having logic gates for implementing
various logic functions upon an application of one or more data
signals, application specific integrated circuits having
appropriate logic gates, or other components, etc. Such
technologies are generally well known by those skilled in the art
and, consequently, are not described in detail herein.
[0039] Based on the foregoing it should be apparent that the
exemplary embodiments of this disclosure provide a method,
apparatus and computer program(s) to provide enhanced in-device
coexistence for a user device that operates with a cellular
network, such as the LTE network.
[0040] Included herein is a set of logic flows representative of
example methodologies for performing novel aspects of the disclosed
architecture. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the
one or more methodologies shown herein are shown and described as a
series of acts, those skilled in the art will understand and
appreciate that the methodologies are not limited by the order of
acts. Some acts may, in accordance therewith, occur in a different
order and/or concurrently with other acts from that shown and
described herein. For example, those skilled in the art will
understand and appreciate that a methodology could alternatively be
represented as a series of interrelated states or events, such as
in a state diagram. Moreover, not all acts illustrated in a
methodology may be required for a novel implementation.
[0041] A logic flow may be implemented in software, firmware,
and/or hardware. In software and firmware embodiments, a logic flow
may be implemented by computer executable instructions stored on at
least one non-transitory computer readable medium or machine
readable medium, such as an optical, magnetic or semiconductor
storage. The embodiments are not limited in this context.
[0042] Also, any logic or application described herein, including
the instructions 308 that includes software or code can be embodied
in any non-transitory computer-readable medium for use by or in
connection with an instruction execution system such as, for
example, a processor 302 in a computer system or other system. In
this sense, the logic may include, for example, statements
including instructions and declarations that can be fetched from
the computer-readable medium and executed by the instruction
execution system. In the context of the present disclosure, a
"computer-readable medium" can be any medium that can contain,
store, or maintain the logic or application described herein for
use by or in connection with the instruction execution system.
[0043] The computer-readable medium can include any one of many
physical media such as, for example, magnetic, optical, or
semiconductor media. More specific examples of a suitable
computer-readable medium would include, but are not limited to,
magnetic tapes, magnetic floppy diskettes, magnetic hard drives,
memory cards, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, or optical
discs. Also, the computer-readable medium may be a random access
memory (RAM) including, for example, static random access memory
(SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magnetic random
access memory (MRAM). In addition, the computer-readable medium may
be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory
(PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an
electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or
other type of memory device.
[0044] It should be appreciated that the example device 300 shown
in the block diagram of FIG. 3 may represent one functionally
descriptive example of many potential implementations. Accordingly,
division, omission or inclusion of block functions depicted in the
accompanying figures does not infer that the hardware components,
circuits, software and/or elements for implementing these functions
would be necessarily divided, omitted, or included in the
embodiments.
[0045] Moving now to FIG. 4, one example embodiment is a
communication method 400 between two or more communication devices.
The method may include the operation 401 of establishing, by a
first device, a wireless device-to-device connection with a second
device. It should be noted, however, that the incoming content may
trigger the D2D connection with the assistance of the
infrastructure network in some cases, for example. The method may
also include the operation 402 of receiving, by the first device,
one or more core contents of a social network via a wireless
network. The method may also include the operation 403 of
transferring, by the first device, the one or more core contents of
the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection to
the second device, for example. The method may also include
receiving, by the second device connected to the first device via
the device-to-device connection, the one or more core contents of
the social network from the first device. The method may also
include receiving, by the second device, one or more individual
contents of the social network directly via the wireless network.
According to one example embodiment, the method may include
receiving, by the first device, one or more individual contents of
the social network via the wireless network, and transferring the
one or more individual contents of the social network from the
first device to the second device via the wireless device-to-device
connection. As described in the above example embodiments, the
wireless network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may
be a network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may
be a long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a
Bluetooth device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness
networking (NAN) connection.
[0046] FIG. 5 illustrates operations involved in another example
communication method 500 between two or more communication devices.
According to one or more example embodiments, these communication
devices may include an acceleration button to enable a user to
override the default opportunistic networking operation described
above. For example, when the acceleration button is pushed, all
data transfer can go through the cellular link, however, the user
may have to pay for the cellular traffic. For example, in operation
501 the first device may establish a wireless device-to-device
connection. In operation 502, the first device may check to see if
the user has selected acceleration. If the acceleration mode is
selected, then the device may receive one or more core contents of
the social network directly from a wireless network in operation
503. However, if the acceleration mode is not selected by the user,
then the device may receive one or more core contents of the social
network via a wireless D2D connection, for example. The wireless
network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a
network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a
long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth
device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness
networking (NAN) connection.
[0047] In another example embodiment, communication devices may
include a side-loading timer. For example, if there is no
opportunity for side-loading using the D2D connection for a
predefined period of time, then the communication device may
directly download either full or selected core contents.
Additionally, communication devices may include a switch to disable
side-loading using D2D to preserve battery life. In one example
embodiment, the communication devices may set a battery power
threshold, below which the communication device may stop D2D
communication. Although the present disclosure describes various
features with respect to buttons and switches above, it may be
understood by one of skill in the art that such buttons and
switches may be virtual in nature, and may be implemented using a
software program, for example.
[0048] Although the flowchart of FIGS. 4 and 5 show a specific
order of execution, it is understood that the order of execution
may differ from that which is depicted. For example, the order of
execution of two or more blocks may be scrambled relative to the
order shown. Also, two or more blocks shown in succession in FIGS.
4 and 5 may be executed concurrently or with partial concurrence.
Further, in some embodiments, one or more of the blocks shown in
FIGS. 4 and 5 may be skipped or omitted. In addition, any number of
counters, state variables, warning semaphores, or messages might be
added to the logical flow described herein, for purposes of
enhanced utility, accounting, performance measurement, or providing
troubleshooting aids, etc. It is understood that all such
variations are within the scope of the present disclosure.
[0049] Some examples may be described using the expression "in one
example" or "an example" along with their derivatives. These terms
mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic
described in connection with the example is included in at least
one example. The appearances of the phrase "in one example" in
various places in the specification are not necessarily all
referring to the same example.
[0050] Some examples may be described using the expression
"coupled", "connected", or "capable of being coupled" along with
their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as
synonyms for each other. For example, descriptions using the terms
"connected" and/or "coupled" may indicate that two or more elements
are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The
term "coupled," however, may also mean that two or more elements
are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still co-operate
or interact with each other.
[0051] It is emphasized that the Abstract of the disclosure is
provided will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of
the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding
that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning
of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description,
it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a
single example for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This
method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an
intention that the claimed examples require more features than are
expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims
reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of
a single disclosed example. Thus the following claims are hereby
incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim
standing on its own as a separate example. In the appended claims,
the terms "including" and "in which" are used as the plain-English
equivalents of the respective terms "including" and "wherein,"
respectively. Moreover, the terms "first," "second," "third," and
so forth, are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose
numerical requirements on their objects.
[0052] Although the subject matter has been described in language
specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is
to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended
claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts
described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described
above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the
claims.
[0053] While there have been shown, described and pointed out,
fundamental novel features of the disclosure as applied to the
exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various
omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of
devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those
skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the
disclosure. Moreover, it is expressly intended that all
combinations of those elements and/or method operations, which
perform substantially the same function in substantially the same
way to achieve the same results, are within the scope of the
disclosure. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures
and/or elements and/or method operations shown and/or described in
connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the disclosure
may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or
suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice.
It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by
the scope of the claims appended hereto.
Examples
[0054] One example is a communication method including
establishing, by a first device, a wireless device-to-device
connection, receiving, by the first device, one or more core
contents of a social network via a wireless network, and
transferring, by the first device, the one or more core contents of
the social network via the wireless device-to-device connection.
The method may also include receiving, by a second device connected
to the first device via the device-to-device connection, the one or
more core contents of the social network from the first device. The
method may also include receiving, by the second device, one or
more individual contents of the social network via the wireless
network. The method may also include receiving, by the first
device, one or more individual contents of the social network via
the wireless network, and transferring the one or more individual
contents of the social network from the first device to the second
device via the wireless device-to-device connection. The wireless
network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a
network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a
long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth
device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness
networking (NAN) connection.
[0055] Another example is a communication device including a radio
unit configured to connect the device to one or more devices, a
non-transitory computer readable storage device including
instructions stored thereon, one or more processor(s) to execute
the instructions stored on the storage device, causing the device
to perform operations of establishing a wireless device-to-device
connection, receiving one or more core contents of a social network
via a wireless network, and transferring the one or more core
contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device
connection. The operations may also include receiving one or more
individual contents of the social network via the wireless network,
and transferring the one or more individual contents of the social
network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The wireless
network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a
network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a
long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth
device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness
networking (NAN) connection.
[0056] Another example is a communication device including a radio
unit configured to connect the device to one or more devices, a
non-transitory computer readable storage device including
instructions stored thereon, one or more processor(s) to execute
the instructions stored on the storage device, causing the device
to perform operations of establishing a wireless device-to-device
connection, receiving one or more core contents of a social network
via the wireless device-to-device connection. The operations may
also include receiving one or more individual contents of the
social network via a wireless network. The operations may also
include receiving one or more individual contents of the social
network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The wireless
network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a
network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a
long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth
device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness
networking (NAN) connection. The device may also include an
acceleration component configured to download the one or more core
contents of the social network directly via the wireless network
upon selection of the acceleration component. The device may also
include a timer configured to select the acceleration component
after a predetermined period of time. The device may also include a
switching component to enable or disable the wireless
device-to-device connection. The switching component may be
configured to disable the wireless device-to-device connection when
a battery power threshold for a battery in the device may be
reached.
[0057] Another example is a non-transitory computer readable
storage device including instructions stored thereon, which when
executed by one or more processor(s) of a device, cause the device
to perform operations of establishing a wireless device-to-device
connection, receiving one or more core contents of a social network
via a wireless network, and transferring the one or more core
contents of the social network via the wireless device-to-device
connection. The operations may also include receiving one or more
individual contents of the social network via the wireless network,
and transferring the one or more individual contents of the social
network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The wireless
network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a
network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a
long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth
device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness
networking (NAN) connection.
[0058] Another example is a non-transitory computer readable
storage device including instructions stored thereon, which when
executed by one or more processor(s) of a device, cause the device
to perform operations of establishing a wireless device-to-device
connection, receiving one or more core contents of a social network
via the wireless device-to-device connection. The operations may
also include receiving one or more individual contents of the
social network via a wireless network. The operations may also
include receiving one or more individual contents of the social
network via the wireless device-to-device connection. The wireless
network may be a cellular network or a wireless local may be a
network (WLAN). The wireless device-to-device connection may be a
long term evolution (LTE) device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth
device-to-device connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness
networking (NAN) connection. The instructions may also include an
acceleration component configured to download the one or more core
contents of the social network directly via the wireless network
upon selection of the acceleration component. The instructions may
also include a timer configured to select the acceleration
component after a predetermined period of time. The instructions
may also a switching component to enable or disable the wireless
device-to-device connection. The switching component may be
configured to disable the wireless device-to-device connection when
a battery power threshold for a battery in the device may be
reached.
[0059] Another example is a system for communication including a
first device for establishing a wireless device-to-device
connection, wherein the first device receives one or more core
contents of a social network via a wireless network, and transfers
the one or more core contents of the social network via the
wireless device-to-device connection. The system may also include a
second device, connected to the first device via the
device-to-device connection, for receiving the one or more core
contents of the social network from the first device. The second
device may receive one or more individual contents of the social
network via the wireless network. The first device may receive one
or more individual contents of the social network via the wireless
network, and transfers the one or more individual contents of the
social network to the second device via the wireless
device-to-device connection. The wireless network may be a cellular
network or a wireless local may be a network (WLAN). The wireless
device-to-device connection may be a long term evolution (LTE)
device-to-device connection, a Bluetooth device-to-device
connection or a Wi-Fi neighbor awareness networking (NAN)
connection.
* * * * *