U.S. patent application number 15/575912 was filed with the patent office on 2018-05-31 for method, apparatus and computer program product for service discovery proxy for wireless communication.
This patent application is currently assigned to Nokia Technologies Oy. The applicant listed for this patent is Nokia Technologies Oy. Invention is credited to Olli ALANEN, Mika KASSLIN, Jarkko KNECKT, Janne MARIN.
Application Number | 20180152828 15/575912 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 56113068 |
Filed Date | 2018-05-31 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180152828 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
KASSLIN; Mika ; et
al. |
May 31, 2018 |
METHOD, APPARATUS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR SERVICE
DISCOVERY PROXY FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
Abstract
A method comprises composing, by a wireless device in a wireless
network, a service ID indicating support for providing proxy
service discovery for other wireless devices operating in the
wireless network; and transmitting, by the wireless device, a
wireless service discovery frame to the wireless network, the
service discovery frame including the composed service ID.
Inventors: |
KASSLIN; Mika; (Espoo,
FI) ; ALANEN; Olli; (Vantaa, FI) ; MARIN;
Janne; (Espoo, FI) ; KNECKT; Jarkko; (Espoo,
FI) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Nokia Technologies Oy |
Espoo |
|
FI |
|
|
Assignee: |
Nokia Technologies Oy
Espoo
FI
|
Family ID: |
56113068 |
Appl. No.: |
15/575912 |
Filed: |
May 20, 2016 |
PCT Filed: |
May 20, 2016 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/US2016/033467 |
371 Date: |
November 21, 2017 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
14721317 |
May 26, 2015 |
9693217 |
|
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15575912 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 8/005 20130101;
H04L 67/303 20130101; H04W 88/182 20130101; H04L 67/16 20130101;
H04W 48/16 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 8/00 20090101
H04W008/00; H04W 48/16 20090101 H04W048/16; H04L 29/08 20060101
H04L029/08 |
Claims
1-34. (canceled)
35. A method comprising: receiving, by a proxy server wireless
device in a wireless network, from a proxy client wireless device
operating in the wireless network, a proxy registration request
message; registering, by the proxy server wireless device, the
proxy client wireless device operating in the wireless network, to
provide at least one of the services of a proxy publish service and
a proxy subscribe service for the proxy client wireless device; and
transmitting, by the proxy server wireless device, to the proxy
client wireless device operating in the wireless network, a
response message indicating initiation of proxy operation for the
proxy client wireless device, in response to the receiving of the
proxy registration request message; wherein the response message
requests the proxy client wireless device to transmit a proxy
status request message at least once per a status period.
36. The method of claim 35, further comprising: composing, by the
proxy server in the wireless network, a wireless service discovery
frame, the wireless service discovery frame including at least a
service ID indicating support for providing proxy service discovery
for other wireless devices operating in the wireless network and
one or more indications whether the proxy service discovery is
available for proxied publish services, proxied subscribe services,
or both; and transmitting, by the proxy server wireless device, the
composed wireless service discovery frame to the wireless
network.
37. The method of claim 36, wherein the wireless service discovery
frame includes a publish message indicating availability of proxy
service discovery that includes the composed service ID.
38. The method of claim 35, wherein the proxy registration request
message comprises a field that indicates minimum periodicity for
transmissions of proxied publish messages and/or proxied subscribe
messages.
39. The method of claim 35, wherein the proxy registration request
message is for indicating that either the proxy registration
request or a following message from the proxy client wireless
device operating in the wireless network, includes information on
services to be subscribed or published by the proxy server wireless
device as a proxy for the proxy client wireless device.
40. An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; at least one
memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and
the computer program code configured to, with the at least one
processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, by the
apparatus in a wireless network, from a proxy client wireless
device operating in the wireless network, a proxy registration
request message; registering, by the apparatus, the proxy client
wireless device operating in the wireless network, to provide at
least one of the services of a proxy publish service and a proxy
subscribe service for the proxy client wireless device; and
transmitting, by the apparatus, to the proxy client wireless device
operating in the wireless network, a response message indicating
initiation of proxy operation for the proxy client wireless device,
in response to the receiving of the proxy registration request
message; wherein the response message requests the proxy client
wireless device to transmit a proxy status request message at least
once per a status period.
41. The apparatus of claim 40, further comprising: the at least one
memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at
least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: composing, by
the apparatus in the wireless network, a wireless service discovery
frame, the wireless service discovery frame including at least a
service ID indicating support for providing proxy service discovery
for other wireless devices operating in the wireless network and
one or more indications whether the proxy service discovery is
available for proxied publish services, proxied subscribe services,
or both; and transmitting, by the apparatus, the composed wireless
service discovery frame to the wireless network.
42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the wireless service
discovery frame includes a publish message indicating availability
of proxy service discovery that includes the composed service
ID.
43. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the proxy registration
request message comprises a field that indicates minimum
periodicity for transmissions of proxied publish messages and/or
proxied subscribe messages.
44. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the proxy registration
request message is for indicating that either the proxy
registration request or a following message from the proxy client
wireless device operating in the wireless network, includes
information on services to be subscribed or published by the
apparatus as a proxy for the proxy client wireless device.
45. A method comprising: transmitting, by a proxy client wireless
device in a wireless network, to a proxy server wireless device
operating in the wireless network, a proxy registration request
message, the proxy registration request message causing the proxy
server wireless device to register operating in the wireless
network, to provide at least one of the services of a proxy publish
service and a proxy subscribe service for the proxy client wireless
device; and receiving, by the proxy client wireless device, from
the proxy server wireless device operating in the wireless network,
a response message indicating initiation of proxy operation for the
proxy client wireless device, in response to the receiving of the
proxy registration request message; wherein the response message
requests the proxy client wireless device to transmit a proxy
status request message at least once per a status period.
46. The method of claim 45, wherein the wireless service discovery
frame includes a publish message indicating availability of proxy
service discovery that includes the composed service ID.
47. The method of claim 45, wherein the proxy registration request
message comprises a field that indicates minimum periodicity for
transmissions of proxied publish messages and/or proxied subscribe
messages.
48. The method of claim 45, wherein the proxy registration request
message is for indicating that either the proxy registration
request or a following message from the proxy client wireless
device operating in the wireless network, includes information on
services to be subscribed or published by the proxy server wireless
device as a proxy for the proxy client wireless device.
49. An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; at least one
memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and
the computer program code configured to, with the at least one
processor, cause the apparatus at least to: transmit, by the
apparatus in a wireless network, to a proxy server wireless device
operating in the wireless network, a proxy registration request
message, the proxy registration request message causing the proxy
server wireless device to register operating in the wireless
network, to provide at least one of the services of a proxy publish
service and a proxy subscribe service for the apparatus; and
receiving, by the apparatus, from the proxy server wireless device
operating in the wireless network, a response message indicating
initiation of proxy operation for the apparatus, in response to the
receiving of the proxy registration request message; wherein the
response message requests the apparatus to transmit a proxy status
request message at least once per a status period.
50. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the wireless service
discovery frame includes a publish message indicating availability
of proxy service discovery that includes the composed service
ID.
51. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the proxy registration
request message comprises a field that indicates minimum
periodicity for transmissions of proxied publish messages and/or
proxied subscribe messages.
52. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the proxy registration
request message is for indicating that either the proxy
registration request or a following message from the apparatus
operating in the wireless network, includes information on services
to be subscribed or published by the proxy server wireless device
as a proxy for the apparatus.
Description
[0001] This international application is based on and claims
priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 14/721,317, filed May 26,
2015, entitled, "Method, Apparatus and Computer Program Product for
Service Discovery Proxy for Wireless Communication" of which the
entire contents is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD
[0002] The field of the invention relates to wireless short-range
communication and more particularly to a service discovery proxy
scheme for wireless environment.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Modern society has adopted, and is becoming reliant upon,
wireless communication devices for various purposes, such as,
connecting users of the wireless communication devices with other
users. Wireless communication devices can vary from battery powered
handheld devices to household and/or commercial devices utilizing
electrical network as a power source. Due to rapid development of
the wireless communication devices a number of areas capable of
enabling entirely new types of communication applications have
emerged.
[0004] Cellular networks facilitate communication over large
geographic areas. These network technologies have commonly been
divided by generations, starting in the late 1970s to early 1980s
with first generation (1G) analog cellular telephones that provided
baseline voice communications, to modern digital cellular
telephones. GSM is an example of a widely employed 2G digital
cellular network communicating in the 900 MHZ/1.8 GHZ bands in
Europe and at 850 MHz and 1.9 GHZ in the United States. While
long-range communication networks, such as GSM, are a well-accepted
means for transmitting and receiving data, due to cost, traffic and
legislative concerns, these networks may not be appropriate for all
data applications.
[0005] Short-range communication technologies provide communication
solutions that avoid some of the problems seen in large cellular
networks. Bluetooth.TM. is an example of a short-range wireless
technology quickly gaining acceptance in the marketplace. In
addition to Bluetooth.TM. other popular short-range communication
technologies include Bluetooth.TM. Low Energy, IEEE 802.11 wireless
local area network (WLAN), Wireless USB (WUSB), Ultra Wide-band
(UWB), ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4, IEEE 802.15.4a), and ultra-high
frequency radio frequency identification (UHF RFID) technologies.
All of these wireless communication technologies have features that
make them appropriate for various applications.
[0006] Applications for short-range wireless devices are evolving
to include awareness applications providing the device with an
awareness about the local network environment. Awareness
applications have the promise of extending business and social
networking by enabling users to share local contextual data in a
peer-to-peer fashion by using their mobile wireless devices. For
example, users may be able to share information in real-time for
local-area business networking, social networking, dating, personal
safety, advertising, publishing, and searching.
SUMMARY
[0007] Method, apparatus, and computer program product example
embodiments enable a service discovery proxy scheme for wireless
environment.
[0008] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
method comprises:
[0009] composing, by a wireless device in a wireless network, a
service ID indicating support for providing proxy service discovery
for other wireless devices operating in the wireless network;
and
[0010] transmitting, by the wireless device, a wireless service
discovery frame to the wireless network, the service discovery
frame including the composed service ID.
[0011] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
method comprises:
[0012] wherein the service discovery frame includes a publish
message indicating availability of proxy service discovery that
includes the composed service ID.
[0013] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
method comprises:
[0014] receiving, by the wireless device, from at least one of the
other wireless devices operating in the wireless network, a proxy
registration request message in response to the transmitting of the
wireless service discovery frame;
[0015] registering, by the wireless device, the at least one of the
other wireless devices operating in the wireless network, to
provide a proxy publish service for the at least one of the other
wireless devices; and
[0016] transmitting, by the wireless device, to the at least one of
the other wireless devices operating in the wireless network, a
response message indicating initiation of proxy operation for the
at least one of the other wireless devices, in response to the
receiving of the proxy registration request message.
[0017] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
method comprises:
[0018] wherein the proxy registration request message is for
indicating that either the proxy registration request or a
following message from the at least one of the other wireless
devices operating in the wireless network, includes information on
services to be subscribed or published by the wireless device as a
proxy for the at least one of the other wireless devices.
[0019] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
method comprises:
[0020] commencing, by the wireless device, at least one of
publishing and subscribing the services indicated by the proxy
registration request, wherein the at least one of publishing and
subscribing includes an indication that the at least one of
published and subscribed services is proxied on behalf of the at
least one of the other wireless devices operating in the wireless
network.
[0021] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
method comprises:
[0022] receiving, by a wireless device in a wireless network, a
wireless service discovery frame from another wireless device
operating in the wireless network, the service discovery frame
including a service ID indicating support by the other wireless
device for providing proxy service discovery for wireless devices
operating in the wireless network;
[0023] transmitting, by the wireless device, to the other wireless
device, a proxy registration request message in response to the
wireless service discovery frame; and
[0024] receiving, by the wireless device, a response message in
response to the proxy registration request message, indicating
registration of the wireless device by the other wireless device,
to provide a proxy service for the wireless device.
[0025] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
method comprises:
[0026] wherein the service discovery frame includes a publish
message indicating availability of proxy service discovery, which
includes the service ID.
[0027] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
method comprises:
[0028] wherein the proxy registration request message is a proxy
registration request indicating that either the proxy registration
request or a following message sent by the wireless device,
includes information on services to be subscribed or published by
the other wireless device as a proxy on behalf of the wireless
device.
[0029] According to an example embodiment of the invention, an
apparatus comprises:
[0030] at least one processor;
[0031] at least one memory including computer program code;
[0032] the at least one memory and the computer program code
configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus
at least to:
[0033] compose in a wireless network, a service ID indicating
support for providing proxy service discovery for other wireless
devices operating in the wireless network; and
[0034] transmit a wireless service discovery frame to the wireless
network, the service discovery frame including the composed service
ID.
[0035] According to an example embodiment of the invention, an
apparatus comprises:
[0036] wherein the service discovery frame includes a publish
message indicating availability of proxy service discovery that
includes the composed service ID.
[0037] According to an example embodiment of the invention, an
apparatus comprises:
[0038] the at least one memory and the computer program code
configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus
at least to:
[0039] receive from at least one of the other wireless devices
operating in the wireless network, a proxy registration request
message in response to the transmitting of the wireless service
discovery frame;
[0040] register the at least one of the other wireless devices
operating in the wireless network, to provide a proxy publish
service for the at least one of the other wireless devices; and
[0041] transmit to the at least one of the other wireless devices
operating in the wireless network, a response message indicating
initiation of proxy operation for the at least one of the other
wireless devices, in response to the receiving of the proxy
registration request message.
[0042] According to an example embodiment of the invention, an
apparatus comprises:
[0043] wherein the proxy registration request message is for
indicating that either the proxy registration request or a
following message from the at least one of the other wireless
devices operating in the wireless network, includes information on
services to be subscribed or published by the wireless device as a
proxy for the at least one of the other wireless devices.
[0044] According to an example embodiment of the invention, an
apparatus comprises:
[0045] the at least one memory and the computer program code
configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus
at least to:
[0046] commence at least one of publishing and subscribing the
services indicated by the proxy registration request, wherein the
at least one of publishing and subscribing includes an indication
that the at least one of published and subscribed services is
proxied on behalf of the at least one of the other wireless devices
operating in the wireless network.
[0047] According to an example embodiment of the invention, an
apparatus comprises:
[0048] at least one processor;
[0049] at least one memory including computer program code;
[0050] the at least one memory and the computer program code
configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus
at least to:
[0051] receive in a wireless network, a wireless service discovery
frame from another wireless device operating in the wireless
network, the service discovery frame including a service ID
indicating support by the other wireless device for providing proxy
service discovery for wireless devices operating in the wireless
network;
[0052] transmit to the other wireless device, a proxy registration
request message in response to the wireless service discovery
frame; and
[0053] receive a response message in response to the proxy
registration request message, indicating registration of the
wireless device by the other wireless device, to provide a proxy
service for the wireless device.
[0054] According to an example embodiment of the invention, an
apparatus comprises:
[0055] wherein the service discovery frame includes a publish
message indicating availability of proxy service discovery, which
includes the service ID.
[0056] According to an example embodiment of the invention, an
apparatus comprises:
[0057] wherein the proxy registration request message is a proxy
registration request indicating that either the proxy registration
request or a following message sent by the wireless device,
includes information on services to be subscribed or published by
the other wireless device as a proxy on behalf of the wireless
device.
[0058] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
computer program product comprises computer executable program code
recorded on a computer readable non-transitory storage medium, the
computer executable program code comprising:
[0059] code for composing, by a wireless device in a wireless
network, a service ID indicating support for providing proxy
service discovery for other wireless devices operating in the
wireless network; and
[0060] code for transmitting, by the wireless device, a wireless
service discovery frame to the wireless network, the service
discovery frame including the composed service ID.
[0061] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
computer program product comprises:
[0062] wherein the service discovery frame includes a publish
message indicating availability of proxy service discovery that
includes the composed service ID.
[0063] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
computer program product comprises:
[0064] code for receiving, by the wireless device, from at least
one of the other wireless devices operating in the wireless
network, a proxy registration request message in response to the
transmitting of the wireless service discovery frame;
[0065] code for registering, by the wireless device, the at least
one of the other wireless devices operating in the wireless
network, to provide a proxy publish service for the at least one of
the other wireless devices; and
[0066] code for transmitting, by the wireless device, to the at
least one of the other wireless devices operating in the wireless
network, a response message indicating initiation of proxy
operation for the at least one of the other wireless devices, in
response to the receiving of the proxy registration request
message.
[0067] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
computer program product comprises:
[0068] wherein the proxy registration request message is for
indicating that either the proxy registration request or a
following message from the at least one of the other wireless
devices operating in the wireless network, includes information on
services to be subscribed or published by the wireless device as a
proxy for the at least one of the other wireless devices.
[0069] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
computer program product comprises:
[0070] code for commencing, by the wireless device, at least one of
publishing and subscribing the services indicated by the proxy
registration request, wherein the at least one of publishing and
subscribing includes an indication that the at least one of
published and subscribed services is proxied on behalf of the at
least one of the other wireless devices operating in the wireless
network.
[0071] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
computer program product comprises computer executable program code
recorded on a computer readable non-transitory storage medium, the
computer executable program code comprising:
[0072] code for receiving, by a wireless device in a wireless
network, a wireless service discovery frame from another wireless
device operating in the wireless network, the service discovery
frame including a service ID indicating support by the other
wireless device for providing proxy service discovery for wireless
devices operating in the wireless network;
[0073] code for transmitting, by the wireless device, to the other
wireless device, a proxy registration request message in response
to the wireless service discovery frame; and
[0074] code for receiving, by the wireless device, a response
message in response to the proxy registration request message,
indicating registration of the wireless device by the other
wireless device, to provide a proxy service for the wireless
device.
[0075] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
computer program product comprises:
[0076] wherein the service discovery frame includes a publish
message indicating availability of proxy service discovery, which
includes the service ID.
[0077] According to an example embodiment of the invention, a
computer program product comprises:
[0078] wherein the proxy registration request message is a proxy
registration request indicating that either the proxy registration
request or a following message sent by the wireless device,
includes information on services to be subscribed or published by
the other wireless device as a proxy on behalf of the wireless
device.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0079] FIG. 1 illustrates an example network diagram of a proxy
server wireless device, a proxy client wireless device, and a third
wireless device that are operating in a neighbor awareness network
cluster. The proxy server has composed a service ID indicating
support for providing proxy service discovery for other wireless
devices operating in the neighbor awareness network. The proxy
server is shown transmitting a wireless service discovery frame to
the neighbor awareness network, the service discovery frame
including the composed service ID, in accordance with at least one
embodiment of the present invention.
[0080] FIG. 1A shows an example format of the wireless service
discovery frame, which is a publish message transmitted by the
proxy server, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the
present invention.
[0081] FIG. 2 illustrates the example network diagram of FIG. 1,
wherein the proxy client has received the wireless service
discovery frame from the proxy server, including the service ID
indicating support by the proxy server for providing proxy service
discovery for wireless devices operating in the neighbor awareness
network. The figure shows the proxy client transmitting to the
proxy server, a service discovery proxy registration request, in
response to the receiving of the wireless service discovery frame,
in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0082] FIG. 2A shows an example format of the service discovery
proxy registration request transmitted by the proxy client, in
accordance with at least one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0083] FIG. 3 illustrates the example network diagram of FIG. 1,
wherein the proxy server has received the service discovery proxy
registration request from the proxy client. The figure shows the
proxy server transmitting to the proxy client, a service discovery
proxy registration response, in response to the receiving of the
service discovery proxy registration request, in accordance with at
least one embodiment of the present invention.
[0084] FIG. 3A shows an example format of the service discovery
proxy registration response transmitted by the proxy server, in
accordance with at least one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0085] FIG. 4A shows an example format of a modified service
control field in the NAN service discovery message, with the
proxied publish and subscribe implemented, in accordance with at
least one embodiment of the present invention.
[0086] FIG. 4B shows an example format of proxy specific fields in
the Service Info field of a Service Descriptor attribute in the NAN
service discovery message, in accordance with at least one
embodiment of the present invention.
[0087] FIG. 5 shows an example format of a new NAN Service
Discovery Proxy attribute in the NAN service discovery message, in
accordance with at least one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0088] FIG. 6 shows an example signal sequence diagram for a
proxied solicited publish, in accordance with at least one
embodiment of the present invention.
[0089] FIG. 7 shows an example signal sequence diagram for a
proxied unsolicited publish, in accordance with at least one
embodiment of the present invention.
[0090] FIG. 8 shows an example signal sequence diagram for a
proxied passive subscribe, in accordance with at least one
embodiment of the present invention.
[0091] FIG. 9 shows an example signal sequence diagram for a
proxied active subscribe, in accordance with at least one
embodiment of the present invention.
[0092] FIG. 10 illustrates an example network diagram of the proxy
server and the proxy client. The proxy server is shown transmitting
a wireless service discovery frame and the proxy client receiving
the service discovery frame including the composed service ID, in
accordance with at least one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0093] FIG. 11A is an example flow diagram of operational steps in
the proxy server, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the
present invention.
[0094] FIG. 11B is an example flow diagram of operational steps in
the proxy client, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the
present invention.
[0095] FIG. 11C is an example flow diagram of operational steps in
the proxy server commencing at least one of publishing and
subscribing the services indicated by the proxy registration
request, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0096] FIG. 11D illustrates an example Discovery Window in 2.4 GHz,
within which is transmitted the NAN Service Discovery frame, in
accordance with an example embodiment of the invention.
[0097] FIG. 12 illustrates an example embodiment of the invention,
wherein examples of removable storage media are shown, based on
magnetic, electronic and/or optical technologies, such as magnetic
disks, optical disks, semiconductor memory circuit devices and
micro-SD memory cards (SD refers to the Secure Digital standard)
for storing data and/or computer program code as an example
computer program product, in accordance with an example embodiment
of the invention.
DISCUSSION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
[0098] This section is organized into the following topics:
[0099] A. WLAN Communication Technology
[0100] B. Awareness Network Technology
[0101] C. Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN)
[0102] D. Neighbor Awareness Networking Service Discovery Proxy
A. WLAN Communication Technology
[0103] The IEEE 802.11 standard specifies methods and techniques of
an exemplary wireless local area network (WLAN) operation. Examples
include the IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g wireless local area network
specifications, which have been a staple technology for traditional
WLAN applications in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. There are 14 channels
designated in the 2.4 GHz range spaced 5 MHz apart. The various
amendments to the IEEE 802.11 standard were consolidated for IEEE
802.11a, b, d, e, g, h, i, j, k, n, r, s, u, v, and z protocols,
into the base standard IEEE 802.11-2012, Wireless Medium Access
Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, February
2012. Since then, emerging broadband applications have stimulated
interest in developing very high-speed wireless networks for short
range communication, for example, the planned IEEE 802.11ac, and
the planned IEEE 802.11ad WLAN specifications that are to provide a
very high throughput in various frequency bands. Applications of
these IEEE 802.11 standards include products such as consumer
electronics, telephones, personal computers, and access points for
both for home and office.
1. IEEE 802.11 MAC Frames and Information Elements
[0104] There are three major types of medium access control (MAC)
frames in the IEEE 802.11 protocol: the management frame, the
control frame, and the data frame. Management frames provide
management services. Data frames carry payload data. Control frames
assist in the delivery of data frames. Each of these types of MAC
frame consists of a MAC header, a frame body, and a frame check
sequence (FCS). The header contains control information used for
defining the type of 802.11 MAC frame and providing information
necessary to process the MAC frame. The frame body contains the
data or information included in either management type or data type
frames. The frame check sequence is a value representing a cyclic
redundancy check (CRC) over all the fields of the MAC header and
the frame body field.
[0105] Management frames are used to provide management services
that may be specified by variable-length fields called information
elements included in the MAC frame body. An information element
includes three fields: its function is identified by an element ID
field, its size is provided by a length field, and the information
to deliver to the recipient is provided in a variable-length
information field.
2. IEEE 802.11 Beacon, Probe Request and Response
a. Beacon
[0106] The beacon frame is a management frame that is transmitted
periodically to allow wireless devices to locate and identify a
network. The beacon frame includes the fields: timestamp, beacon
interval, and capability information. The timestamp contains the
value of the device's synchronization timer at the time that the
frame was transmitted. The capability information field is a 16-bit
field that identifies the capabilities of the device. The
information elements in a beacon frame are the service set
identifier (SSID), the supported rates, one or more physical
parameter sets, an optional contention-free parameter set, and an
optional traffic indication map.
i. Infrastructure BSS Networks with an Access Point
[0107] In an Infrastructure BSS Networks with an Access Point,
beacon frames are used for enabling wireless devices to establish
and maintain orderly communications. The beacon frames are
transmitted by the Access Points at regular intervals and include a
frame header and a body with various information, including a
Service Set Identifier (SSID) identifying the name of a specific
WLAN and a beacon interval specifying the intended time interval
between two beacon transmissions. One important purpose of the
beacon frames is to inform the wireless devices about the presence
of an Access Point in the area. The access point in an
infrastructure basic service set (BSS) IEEE 802.11 WLAN network,
may be a central hub that relays all communication between the
mobile wireless devices (STAs) in an infrastructure BSS. If a STA
in an infrastructure BSS wishes to communicate a frame of data to a
second STA, the communication may take two hops. First, the
originating STA may transfer the frame to the AP. Second, the AP
may transfer the frame to the second STA. In an infrastructure BSS,
the AP may transmit beacons or respond to probes received from
STAs. After a possible authentication of a STA that may be
conducted by the AP, an association may occur between the AP and a
STA enabling data traffic to be exchanged with the AP. The Access
Point in an Infrastructure BSS may bridge traffic out of the BSS
onto a distribution network. STAs that are members of the BSS may
exchange packets with the AP.
ii. Ad Hoc IBSS Networks
[0108] The first ad hoc wireless device to become active
establishes an IBSS and starts sending beacons to inform the other
wireless devices about the presence of an ad hoc network in the
area. Other ad hoc wireless devices may join the network after
receiving a beacon and accepting the IBSS parameters, such as the
beacon interval, found in the beacon frame.
[0109] Each wireless device that joins the ad hoc network may send
a beacon periodically if it doesn't hear a beacon from another
device within a short random delay period after the beacon is
supposed to be sent. If a wireless device doesn't hear a beacon
within the random delay period, then the wireless device assumes
that no other wireless devices are active in the ad hoc network and
a beacon needs to be sent.
[0110] A beacon signal is periodically transmitted from the ad hoc
network. The beacon frame is transmitted periodically and includes
the address of the sending device.
b. Probe Request
[0111] The probe request frame is a management frame that is
transmitted by a wireless device attempting to quickly locate a
wireless LAN. It may be used to locate independent basic service
sets (IBSSs), infrastructure basic service sets (BSSs) or mesh
basic service sets (MBSSs) only or any of them. It may be used to
locate a wireless LAN with a particular SSID or to locate any
wireless LAN. The probe request frame may contain a service
attribute request.
[0112] For active scans, the wireless device either broadcasts or
unicasts a probe request on the channel it is scanning. It may set
the SSID in the probe request to a wildcard SSID or to a specific
SSID value. It may set the BSSID in the probe request a wildcard
BSSID or to a specific BSSID value. With these options the wireless
device can look for any SSID or BSSID, any representative of a
specific SSID or a specific BSSID. The wireless device will add any
received beacons or probe responses to a cached basic service set
identifier (BSSID) scan list. For passive scans, the wireless
device does not send a probe request, but instead, listens on a
channel for a period of time and adds any received beacons or probe
responses to its cached BSSID scan list. The wireless device may
scan both infrastructure and ad hoc networks, regardless of the
current setting of its network mode. The wireless device may use
either the active or passive scanning methods, or a combination of
both scanning methods. The wireless device performs the scan across
all the frequency channels and bands that it supports. There are 14
channels designated in the 2.4 GHz range spaced 5 MHz apart.
i. Infrastructure BSS Networks with an Access Point
[0113] The wireless device may transmit a probe request and receive
a probe response from the access point AP in the BSS. The probe
request is transmitted by a wireless device to obtain information
from another station or access point. For example, a wireless
device may transmit a probe request to determine whether a certain
access point is available. In the infrastructure BSS, only the AP
responds to probe requests. The probe response sent back by the AP
contains a timestamp, beacon interval, and capability information.
It also includes the Service Set Identity (SSID) of the BSS,
supported rates, and PHY parameters. The wireless device STA may
learn that the access point AP will accept the STA's
credentials.
[0114] The rules applied by the scanning wireless device (i.e.
scanner) and the APs with active scanning are as follows: [0115] 1)
Scanner (for each channel to be scanned): [0116] a. Transmit a
probe request frame (or multiple of thereof) with the SSID and the
BSSID fields set as per the scan command; [0117] b. Reset
ProbeTimer to zero and start it upon the probe request
transmission; [0118] c. If nothing is detected (any signal with
high enough energy) on the channel before the ProbeTimer reaches
MinChannelTime (a.k.a Min_Probe_Response_Time), then go to scan the
next channel (if any), else when the ProbeTimer reaches
MaxChannelTime (i.e., Max_Probe_Response_Time), process all
received probe responses and go to scan the next channel (if any).
[0119] 2) APs: [0120] a. An AP shall respond with a probe response
only if: [0121] i. The Address 1 field in the probe request frame
is the broadcast address or the specific MAC address of the AP; and
[0122] ii. The SSID in the probe request is the wildcard SSID, the
SSID in the probe request is the specific SSID of the AP, or the
specific SSID of the AP is included in the SSID list element of the
probe request, or the Address 3 field in the probe request is the
wildcard BSSID or the BSSID of the AP. [0123] b. Some further
conditions may be set as well for the generation of a probe
response.
[0124] In general, the probe request transmitter specifies the
conditions that wireless devices need to meet in order to respond
to with a probe response. All wireless devices that fulfill the
condition try to send a probe response frame. The active scanning
mechanism defines the signaling.
ii. Ad Hoc IBSS Networks
[0125] The effect of receiving a probe request is to cause the
wireless device to respond with a probe response if the conditions
indicated in the probe request are met. When a wireless device
arrives within the communication range of any member of an ad hoc
network, its probe request frame inquiry signals are answered by a
member of the ad hoc network detecting the inquiry. A device in an
ad hoc network that broadcasted the latest beacon in the network
responds to the probe request frame inquiry signals with a probe
response containing the address of the responding device. The probe
response frame also includes the timestamp, beacon interval,
capability information, information elements of the SSID, supported
rates, one or more physical parameter sets, the optional
contention-free parameter set, and the optional ad hoc network
parameter set.
[0126] Once a device has performed an inquiry that results in one
or more ad hoc network descriptions, the device may choose to join
one of the ad hoc networks. The joining process may be a purely
local process that occurs entirely internal to the wireless device.
There may be no indication to the outside world that a device has
joined a particular ad hoc network. Joining an ad hoc network may
require that all of the wireless device's MAC and physical
parameters be synchronized with the desired ad hoc network. To do
this, the device may update its timer with the value of the timer
from the ad hoc network description, modified by adding the time
elapsed since the description was acquired. This will synchronize
the timer to the ad hoc network. The BSSID of the ad hoc network
may be adopted, as well as the parameters in the capability
information field. Once this process is complete, the wireless
device has joined the ad hoc network and is ready to begin
communicating with the devices in the ad hoc network.
c. Probe Response
[0127] The probe response sent back by a wireless device that met
the conditions set by the received probe request contains a
timestamp, beacon interval, and capability information. It also
includes the Service Set Identity (SSID) of the BSS, supported
rates, and PHY parameters.
[0128] According to an example embodiment, standard spacing
intervals are defined in the IEEE 802.11 specification, which delay
a station's access to the medium, between the end of the last
symbol of the previous frame and the beginning of the first symbol
of the next frame. The short interframe space (SIFS), the shortest
of the interframe spaces, may allow acknowledgement (ACK) frames
and clear to send (CTS) frames to have access to the medium before
others. The longer duration distributed coordination function (DCF)
interframe space (IFS) or DIFS interval may be used for
transmitting data frames and management frames.
[0129] According to an example embodiment, after the channel has
been released, IEEE 802.11 and before a probe response is
transmitted, wireless devices normally employ a spectrum sensing
capability during the SIFS interval or DIFS interval, to detect
whether the channel is busy. A carrier sensing scheme may be used
wherein a node wishing to transmit a probe response has to first
listen to the channel for a predetermined amount of time to
determine whether or not another node is transmitting on the
channel within the wireless range. If the channel is sensed to be
idle, then the node may be permitted to begin the transmission
process. If the channel is sensed to be busy, then the node may
delay its transmission of a probe response for a random period of
time called the backoff interval. In the DCF protocol used in IEEE
802.11 networks, the stations, on sensing a channel idle for DIFS
interval, may enter the backoff phase with a random value between 0
and CWmin. The backoff counter may be decremented from this
selected value as long as the channel is sensed idle for a
predetermined time interval. After every received frame one may
however wait for a DIFS before sensing the channel status and
resuming backoff counter update.
B. Awareness Network Technology
[0130] Applications for short-range wireless devices are evolving
to include awareness applications providing the device with an
awareness about the local network environment. A non-limiting
example awareness network architecture is the Nokia AwareNet
framework, a network of wireless mobile devices self-organizing to
support various applications, ranging from social networking to
service discovery. Awareness information may be shared by a
short-range wireless device sending an anonymous flooding message
that may include a query, over an ad hoc network. A neighboring
short-range wireless device may reply to the flooding message over
the ad hoc network with a response, such as a pointer to a
discovered location-based service.
[0131] Awareness information may include any information and/or
context about a local network environment as well as the users and
communication devices within the local network environment.
Wireless devices may continuously collect and exchange information
with other devices in a local network environment. Awareness
applications running on short-range wireless devices may create a
network for sharing awareness information, locate and organize
awareness information, form communities for sharing awareness
information, manage power consumption for devices engaged in
sharing awareness information, develop applications to take
advantage of the awareness information, and maintain the privacy
and anonymity of users sharing awareness information.
[0132] Awareness applications running on short-range wireless
devices, build upon a scheme in which every device is responsible
for participating in beaconing and all the other basic operations
that keep the ad hoc network in operation. An ad hoc network may be
designed to have one network identifier (NWID) that all of the
devices in the network share. The NWID may be announced in the
beacons transmitted by the devices. In the overall design, those
devices that operate under same NWID are driven to use a common and
shared schedule to allow for awareness information gathering among
all the devices within range. The determination of which schedule
is used by a device may be made by the network instance timer
value, and this timer value is communicated in beacons in the
timing synchronization function (TSF) value parameter. The devices
may be required to operate by assuming the oldest TSF value (i.e.
largest TSF value) contained in the received beacons that represent
the network with the NWID in which the devices are operating.
Alternatively the devices may be required to select the schedule
which to follow based on some other criteria than the TSF value.
Beacons may, as an example, contain some other information than the
TSF that is used by the devices to determine which schedule to
use.
[0133] When the radio and MAC of a wireless device transmits a
Beacon, the Beacon MAC-header contains device's own current TSF
value. The device may automatically transmit a reply message when
it receives a Beacon from another network, the reply message being
referred herein as a beacon response message. The beacon response
message contains the current TSF value of the replying network.
Alternatively the beacon response message may contain other
information that is used to determine which schedule to use.
[0134] Wireless devices form a network where all devices in
proximity may communicate with each other. When two or more groups
of devices forming two or more instances of the network come close
to each other, the two or more instances may merge to become one
network instance. Devices may make a merging or join decision to
change the instance autonomously based on the TSF information
collected from Beacons received during scan periods or based on the
TSF information collected from received beacon response messages. A
merging decision may be performed when a device receives a Beacon
or beacon response message with an older (greater) TSF value from
another wireless device. Alternatively a merging decision may be
done based on some other information available in a Beacon or
beacon response message from another wireless device. After the
merging decision has been performed by a device, the device moves
into the new network instance.
[0135] The awareness functionality in a short-range wireless device
may be divided between four layers in the awareness architecture.
The Awareness Layer and the Community Layer provide services for
applications, i.e. provide the awareness API. The approximate
functional split between the different layers is as follows.
Awareness Layer
[0136] According to an embodiment, Awareness Layer (AwL) has the
highest level of control of the awareness architecture. Example
services the AwL offers to the applications comprise Publish and
Subscribe. The Awareness Layer receives publish and subscribe
requests from applications and maps these into queries and query
responses that, in turn, are mapped as awareness messages, the
Network Layer PDU, that traverse from device to device. It also
maps the awareness messages received by the device, to the
application. The network layer does not appear as a data pipe for
applications. A single awareness message is self-contained and
short, the AwL compresses the messages in order for them to consume
as little resources as possible.
[0137] The Awareness Layer may comprise an internal storage of
awareness data items. Publishing an item normally means storing it
in this internal storage (passive publish). Such an item is visible
to other devices in the local vicinity and may be found using the
Subscribe service. It is also possible to use active publishing
that causes the Awareness Layer to issue a publish message that
propagates from device to device. It is the responsibility of the
AwL to decide whether a received message leads to the notification
of an application (filtering). Items may be marked to be visible to
only certain communities, so that they are visible only to searches
made by members of such a community.
[0138] The Subscribe request causes the Awareness Layer to issue
either a single or repetitive query message(s) that eventually
propagate to other devices in the local vicinity (by using the
functionality of lower awareness layers). When such a query message
reaches the AwL of a device that happens to possess a matching
information item, it responds with a reply message. The lower
layers of awareness architecture take care of the routing of such a
message back to the AwL of the querying device, which notifies the
application of the other device that issued the Subscribe
request.
Community Layer
[0139] The concept of communities has been integrally built into
awareness architecture. Awareness communication may be visible to
all the devices, or just to those that belong to a certain
community. Regardless of this visibility, all wireless devices take
part in the routing of messages. The role of the Community Layer
(CoL) is to implement the community visibility rules. Only those
messages that a certain device has visibility to (i.e. a device
belongs to the same community as the message) are passed to the
AwL. As an additional level of community privacy, messages are
encrypted by the Community Layer. To allow such message filtering
and encryption/decryption, the CoL stores the community credentials
for those communities to which the user of the device belongs. The
default awareness community (all local users) does not use any
credentials and therefore its messages simply pass through the
Community Layer.
[0140] According to an example embodiment, Awareness architecture
comprises three different kinds of communities: the default
awareness community, peer communities and personal communities.
Communities may also be categorized with their privacy. Messages of
public communities are transmitted as plain text whereas messages
of private communities are transmitted encrypted. The default
awareness community is the default community for all wireless
devices. Awareness community messages are not encrypted and every
node may send and receive awareness community messages (public
community). In a peer community all members are equal and every
member may receive all the community specific messages. A peer
community may be public, or it may be private meaning that
community messages are encrypted using a temporary key derived from
the community specific shared key. The encryption function may be
based on Advanced Encryption Standard, EAX mode (AES/EAX) with 128
bit keys. A personal community has a community owner that manages
the community. A non-owner community member may communicate with
the owner but not with other members of the community. A personal
community is private, meaning that community messages from the
owner to other members may be encrypted.
Network Layer
[0141] The Network Layer (NL) takes care of the local dissemination
of the awareness messages. This is accomplished by way of a
smart-flooding algorithm that attempts to adapt to the surrounding
device density. At high densities, very few devices participate in
the transmission of a given message. At low densities, all the
devices may retransmit each message (normal flooding). The
awareness network has a flat hierarchy; none of the devices may
assume any special roles. Thus, at high densities, all the devices
will transmit approximately the same amount of traffic (no
clustering). The Network layer may also take care of the routing of
the replies back to the device that issued the search. To this end,
it collects routing information from the messages that flow through
it. It also keeps track of all the neighbors and their approximate
distance. Normally, reply routing uses unicast transmissions,
whereas flooding messages are always broadcasted. All the messages
received by the Network Layer are passed to Community Layer in
order to check whether the message should be processed in the
AwL.
Link Layer
[0142] Link Layer performs the adaptation between the underlying
radio technology (e.g. IEEE 802.11 WLAN physical layer) and the
Network Layer. It maps the specific information of the radio
technology, such as radio identifiers and received signal
strengths, into technology neutral information used by the Network
Layer (NL). Multiple Link Layer instances may be used by the NL,
e.g. for simultaneous usage of different radio technologies.
[0143] The Link Layer may be divided into two sub layers: logical
link control (LLC) and media access control (MAC). LLC provides
radio technology agnostic service for the Network Layer. It hides
differences between radio technology specific MACs. LLC provides a
single service access point for the Network layer. LLC knows how to
map the generic provided service to the service provided by the
technology specific MACs. The LLC internal data structures include
the Neighbor Table that contains information of all the neighboring
devices that have been heard in the recent past.
[0144] The Link Layer tries to transmit data via the given medium
using the TransmitData functionality. Transmission may succeed or
it may fail. Internally the Link Layer may try transmissions
several times if a medium is temporarily busy. The Link Layer
passes all the messages it receives to the Network Layer. This also
includes unicast messages that are intended for other nodes.
[0145] The logical link control (LLC) is aware of radio technology
specific MACs. In case of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN MAC example, the LLC
does the following WLAN MAC specific actions: [0146] Control
(Reset, Configure) WLAN MAC. [0147] Decide when to merge WLAN
networks. [0148] Construct a message package to be sent to WLAN MAC
from outgoing messages. [0149] Select which messages are to be sent
and which are ignored immediately, e.g. if there are too many
messages to be sent. [0150] Extract incoming data messages
contained in reception reports. [0151] Update the Neighbor Table
when reception reports and scan reports are received.
[0152] Merging of WLAN networks may be the responsibility of the
logical link control (LLC). The LLC may determine when to merge two
WLAN network instances or beacon groups as a single larger network
instance or a beacon group. LLC may calculate an estimate of its
own WLAN network size. Estimation may be based on information
provided by the Network Layer, information found in the LLC
Neighbor Table and network size category shared by other nodes. A
network size category is calculated from an estimated network
size.
[0153] The IEEE 802.11 WLAN MAC awareness mode enables a wireless
device to use its power efficiently. In the awareness mode, the
WLAN radio is asleep most of the time, thus reducing power
consumption. Messages are transmitted and received in a batch mode,
i.e. LLC passes all the messages that the MAC is to transmit during
a single awake period, in a single package. The MAC passes all the
messages received during a single awake period in a single
reception report. The LLC collects messages to be transmitted in a
single package. When the MAC is awake, the LLC passes the package
to the MAC and it tries to transmit the messages. When the MAC is
about to go asleep, it sends a transmission report to the LLC
containing information about messages it has succeeded to transmit
and about messages it has failed to transmit. In addition MAC
passes a reception report to LLC. The report contains messages
received during the awake period.
[0154] According to an embodiment, the merging or joining process
is a purely local process that occurs entirely internally to the
wireless device. There is no indication to the outside world that a
device has joined a particular ad hoc network. Joining an ad hoc
network may require that all of the mobile device's MAC and
physical parameters be synchronized with the desired ad hoc
network. To do this, the device may update its timer with the TSF
value of the timer from the ad hoc network description, modified by
adding the time elapsed since the description was acquired. This
will synchronize the device's timer to the ad hoc network. The
BSSID of the ad hoc network may be adopted, as well as the
parameters in the capability information field. Once this process
is complete, the wireless device has joined the ad hoc network and
is ready to begin communicating with the wireless devices in the ad
hoc network.
[0155] The IEEE 802.11 WLAN MAC awareness mode provides the
following functionalities: [0156] Reset MAC. [0157] Configure MAC.
[0158] Join a WLAN network or create a new network. [0159] Join an
existing WLAN network (BSSID is known). [0160] Set a template for
beacon frames so that LLC parameters can be passed in WLAN beacon
frames. [0161] Try to transmit a set of messages. [0162] Receive a
set of incoming messages. [0163] Receive a set of WLAN scan
messages
Message Propagation
[0164] According to an embodiment, the propagation of an awareness
search message is conducted in the awareness architecture layers of
different devices. An application initiates a subscription in the
device by using the Subscribe service offered by the Awareness
Layer. The Awareness Layer realizes the subscription by sending a
query message to other devices. In all the devices the message goes
at least up to the Community Layer. However, only in those devices
that belong to the community to which the message was intended,
does the message proceed to the AwL. There is no need to have an
application present in the replying device. It is sufficient to
only have the awareness platform active.
C. Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN)
[0165] In accordance with an example embodiment, the invention may
be used in the logical architecture of the Neighbor Awareness
Networking (NAN) program being standardized by the Wi-Fi Alliance
(WFA). The program is publicly known as Wi-Fi Aware.TM..
[0166] A NAN Network operates in only one channel in the 2.4 GHz
frequency band and, optionally, in one channel in the 5 GHz
frequency band of the spectrum used by IEEE 802.11. The NAN Channel
in the 2.4 GHz frequency band shall be channel 6 (2.437 GHz).
[0167] A NAN Device is any device that implements the NAN protocol.
A NAN Cluster is a collection of NAN devices that are synchronized
to the same Discovery Window schedule. A NAN Device that creates a
NAN Cluster defines a series of discovery window starting times
exactly 512 TUs apart in the mandatory 2.4 GHz frequency band NAN
Channel. NAN Devices participating in the same NAN Cluster are
synchronized to a common clock.
NAN Synchronization Beacon
[0168] A NAN Synchronization Beacon is a modified IEEE 802.11
Beacon management frame transmitted inside NAN Discovery Windows
used for NAN timing synchronization. A TSF keeps the timers of all
NAN Devices in the same NAN Cluster synchronized. The TSF in a NAN
Cluster shall be implemented via a distributed algorithm that shall
be performed by all NAN Devices. Each NAN Device participating in a
NAN Cluster shall transmit NAN Beacon frames according to the
algorithm described in this clause.
[0169] A Discovery Window starts at each discovery window starting
time. The discovery window duration shall be 16 TUs. During a
discovery window, one or more NAN Devices transmit NAN
Synchronization Beacon frames such that all NAN Devices within the
NAN Cluster synchronize their clocks. A NAN Device transmits at
most one NAN Synchronization Beacon frame within one discovery
window.
NAN Service Discovery Frame
[0170] During a discovery window, one or more NAN Devices transmit
a NAN Service Discovery frame, which is a Vendor Specific Public
Action frame. The NAN Service Discovery Frame is an IEEE 802.11
management frame, transmitted by a NAN device in a NAN cluster. NAN
Service Discovery frames enable NAN Devices to look for services
from other NAN Devices and make services discoverable for other NAN
Devices. There are two NAN Service Discovery protocol messages
defined in the NAN Service Discovery Protocol:
[0171] 1. Publish message
[0172] 2. Subscribe message
[0173] The NAN Service Discovery protocol messages are carried in
Service Descriptor attributes that are carried in the NAN Service
Discovery frames. A NAN Device may use a NAN Service Discovery
frame to actively look for availability of a specific service. When
a NAN Device uses a Subscribe message, it asks for other NAN
Devices operating in the same NAN Cluster to transmit a Publish
message when response criteria are met. A NAN Device may use a
Publish message to make its service discoverable for other NAN
Devices operating in the same NAN Cluster in an unsolicited manner.
The Service Control field indicates if the Service Descriptor
attribute corresponds to Publish, Subscribe, or Follow-up function
and if other optional fields are present in the Service Descriptor
attribute such as Matching Filter, Service Response Filter, and
Service specific information.
[0174] The NAN Service Discovery Frame is an IEEE 802.11 management
frame that includes fields for Frame Control, Duration, Receive
address (NAN Network ID), Transmit address, Cluster ID, Sequence
Control, HT Control (presence indicated with the Frame Control),
the NAN Service Discovery Frame Body, and a cyclic redundancy code
(CRC). The NAN Service Discovery Frame Body includes NAN attributes
specifying, for example, service ID attributes and service
descriptor attributes. A service descriptor attribute may be used
in NAN Service Discovery Frame.
NAN Discovery Beacon Frames
[0175] Between discovery windows, one or more NAN Devices transmit
NAN Discovery Beacon frames to enable NAN Devices to discover a NAN
Cluster. Each NAN Device in a Master role shall transmit NAN
Discovery Beacon frames outside NAN Discovery Windows in order to
facilitate the discovery of the NAN Cluster. A NAN Discovery Beacon
is a modified IEEE 802.11 Beacon management frame transmitted
outside NAN Discovery Windows.
[0176] The NAN protocol stack in a NAN device is expected to
comprise of two components: 1) NAN Discovery Engine, 2) MAC with
NAN support. MAC with NAN support provides means for NAN devices to
synchronize in time and frequency to provide common availability
periods for service discovery frames from/to the NAN Discovery
Engine.
NAN Discovery Engine
[0177] The NAN Discovery Engine provides Publish and Subscribe
services to the applications for service discovery purposes.
[0178] Publishing is the ability to make application-selected
information about e.g. capabilities and services available for
other NAN devices that seek information with Subscribing, using
protocols and mechanisms certified by the Neighbor Awareness
Networking program. NAN devices that use Publishing may provide
published information in an unsolicited or solicited manner.
Publishing is defined for a Wi-Fi NAN as a mechanism for an
application on a NAN Device to make selected information about the
applications capabilities and services available to other NAN
devices.
[0179] Subscribing is the ability to discover information that has
been made available in other NAN devices with Publishing, using
protocols and mechanisms certified by the Neighbor Awareness
Networking program. NAN devices that use Subscribing may passively
listen for or actively seek published information. Subscribe is
defined for a Wi-Fi NAN as a mechanism for an application user to
gather selected types of information about capabilities and
services of other NAN devices.
[0180] An application may request Publish and Subscribe services to
run in a certain type of NAN network, in any type of NAN network,
or in all types of NAN networks. The NAN network type selection
determines whether the discovered Publish and Subscribe services
are intended to happen in isolated clusters, among the NAN devices
that are close by, or among all the NAN devices that are within
range of the NAN device. Network type selection, per NAN Discovery
Engine service, is reflected in the lower levels of the NAN stack,
handling the NAN network and cluster selection functions. When a
Publish/Subscribe service has been configured to run in one type of
network, corresponding functionality and discovery protocol message
exchanges are made to happen only in a network of the same type. As
discussed herein, the terms cell and cluster refer to the same
thing.
[0181] Publish and Subscribe services are expected to exploit a
discovery protocol that the NAN Discovery Engine implements and
which are designed for NAN. The protocol is expected to have three
different protocol messages: 1) Discovery query message, 2)
Discovery response message, and 3) Discovery announcement message.
The Subscribe service is expected to use the Discovery query
message to conduct active discovery. The Subscribe service may be
configured to operate in passive mode only. In this mode, no
Discovery query messages are transmitted, but one listens for
Discovery responses and Discovery announcement messages to find the
information sought. The Publishing service is expected to use the
Discovery response message and Discovery announcement message to
announce availability of application-selected information to
discovering devices. The Discovery response message is intended to
be used as a response to a received Discovery query that meets
response criteria. The Discovery announcement message is intended
to be used to implement unsolicited Publishing service.
[0182] A device, in which the Subscribe service has been activated
in active mode, transmits Discovery query messages to trigger
Publishing devices to transmit Discovery response messages. In
parallel, the Subscribing device monitors received Discovery
responses and Discovery announcement messages to determine the
availability of services and information being sought. Monitoring
is envisioned to be a continuous process that applies to all
Discovery response and Discovery announcement messages received
while the Subscribe service is active. With this approach, a
Subscribing device may gather valuable information from Discovery
responses and from Discovery announcement messages that are
independent from its own Discovery query message transmissions.
[0183] Each publish/service instance is given at least a service
name (UTF-8 string) which identifies the service/application and
which is used in the NAN Discovery Engine to generate a 6-octet
service identifier (SID) value using a specified hash function.
This SID is used as the primary matching criterion when looking for
specific services. Thus this SID is transmitted in each publish and
subscribe message to allow the message receiver to check whether a
match occurs or not. Each publish/service instance may also be
given further criteria for service discovery. This is called a
matching filter. If a matching filter is given, the NAN Discovery
Engine needs to use not only the SID for matching, but also the
matching filter information is used. The basic idea is that there
has to be a perfect match between both the SID and the matching
filter from a publisher and from a subscriber in order to have
success in discovery. Whenever a matching filter is given to the
NAN Discovery Engine for subscribe/publish purposes, this matching
filter is also carried along with the SID in subscribe/publish
messages.
[0184] Additionally, each publish/service instance may be given
service specific information that is not used in discovery, itself,
and not in matching, but it is information that is communicated to
the service/application layer in case of a SID/matching_filter
match. Thus, this information is also carried in publish and
subscribe messages to peer devices.
[0185] Both publish and subscribe messages are carried over the air
in the form of a Service Descriptor Attribute. Each attribute
represents one publish or subscribe instance and contains at least
a SID and optionally matching filter and service specific
information. Service Descriptor Attributes are carried in NAN
Service Discovery Frames, which are vendor specific public action
frames. A very limited amount of service discovery information may
also be carried in NAN Beacon frames that may contain some of the
NAN attributes in NAN information element (IE). One such an
attribute is Service ID attribute that may contain a variable
number of SIDs that may be set to indicate a selected set of
published services. NAN Beacons and Service ID attributes within
them may not be used for subscribe purposes, but one may indicate
only published services and their SIDs.
MAC with NAN Support
[0186] The MAC is responsible for acquiring and maintaining time
and frequency synchronization among devices that are close by, so
that the devices are available for discovery protocol message
exchange in same channel at same time. Synchronization happens
through dedicated synchronization frames that are transmitted by so
called master devices (on default) at the beginning of the
availability periods. Sync frames are transmitted periodically in
certain channels. Periodicity and channel usage is determined by
sync frame parameters. Each device needs to be capable of acting as
a master device and each device is expected to determine for each
availability period whether it is a master device or not. This
determination is done through a master election algorithm. The
synchronization frames determine the schedule (time and frequency)
of both the synchronization frame transmissions and the
availability periods or discovery windows.
[0187] A NAN network is comprised of a set of NAN devices that
operate under a common network identifier (NAN ID) and that share
common sync frame and discovery window parameters. A NAN network
comprises of one or more NAN clusters. Each NAN cluster may be a
contention group or beacon group and may be considered a local
representation of a NAN network. A NAN cluster is comprised of a
set of NAN devices that operate in a NAN network with one NAN ID
and which are synchronized with respect to both the sync frame
transmissions and the discovery windows. In order for NAN devices
to form a NAN cluster, at least some of them need to be within
range of each other. The NAN ID is carried at least in
synchronization frames that may be of a beacon frame format. Each
beacon contains a NAN ID field that is used in a NAN device
receiving a beacon, to determine, as an example, whether the beacon
is from a NAN network in which the NAN device is operating and from
what type of NAN network the beacon was transmitted. In one
embodiment of the invention, the NAN ID is a numerical value that
is indicated with a 6-octet field in beacons or in synchronization
frames used in the NAN networks, to provide basic synchronization
within NAN clusters. In one embodiment of the invention, there is
no NAN cluster identifier that would be carried in beacon frames,
but NAN cells are differentiated with different schedules
especially from perspective of sync frame (beacon) schedule.
[0188] The NAN Discovery Engine leverages a variant of the Wi-Fi
MAC which has features that have been specifically developed to
allow low power discovery directly between devices within range.
This MAC with NAN support provides synchronization in addition to
frame transmit and receive services. The objective of the
synchronization is to make all the NAN devices within range
available for service discovery exchange at same time on same
frequency channel. The synchronization builds upon Beacon frame
transmissions in which all the NAN devices are involved. Beacon
frames are transmitted periodically and they serve also as NAN
network instance identifiers for devices that look for NAN network
instances (NAN cluster is a NAN network instance). A NAN device
which looks for a NAN network instance uses traditional Wi-Fi
passive scanning by listening for Beacon frames from NAN devices.
Typically a NAN device performs passive scanning once in 10-20
seconds and each scan lasts 200-300 ms each. Once a NAN device
finds out one or more NAN network instances, it selects the
instance to which it synchronizes and starts operating in.
[0189] A NAN Concurrent Device is a NAN Device that is capable of
operating in a NAN network and other types of Wi-Fi networks, such
as WLAN infrastructure, IBSS, and Wi-Fi Direct.
Basic Principles of NAN Operations
[0190] Upon activating the NAN functions in a device, the device
first looks for a NAN network by means of passive discovery. The
NAN functions are activated by an application in the device
requesting either the Subscribe or the Publish service to be
activated, when there is no service active in the NAN Discovery
Engine. [0191] a) On default there is at least one NAN ID that is
determined in a NAN specification and the NAN device looks for such
a network and its clusters. [0192] Joining a NAN network/NAN
cluster: If the device finds at least one NAN cluster that the
device may join, the device selects a cluster and joins it. If the
device finds no NAN cluster that the device may join, the device
establishes a NAN cluster of its own. An application may have also
requested the Publish service to be activated in a passive mode. In
such case the device doesn't ever establish a NAN cluster, but it
only operates in NAN clusters that have been established by others.
[0193] a) A NAN device may join a NAN cluster when the following
criterion is met: [0194] 1. The device receives at least one sync
frame from the cluster with signal level exceeding a pre-determined
threshold RSSI_C (e.g. -50 dBm). [0195] Upon joining a NAN cluster
a NAN device synchronizes itself both to the sync frame
transmission and discovery window schedule of the cluster. [0196]
a) Additionally, the device is responsible for running the master
election algorithm to determine whether it is a master device that
is responsible for transmitting a sync frame. [0197] Once in a NAN
cluster, a NAN device may continue operating in it, as long as one
of the following criteria is met: [0198] a) The device receives at
least one sync frame from the cluster with signal level exceeding a
pre-determined threshold RSSI_C (e.g. -50 dBm). [0199] b) The
device operates as a master device transmitting sync frames. [0200]
When operating in a NAN cluster, a NAN device is responsible for
maintaining both the base clock of the cluster by transmitting sync
frames as needed and the discovery window schedule of the cluster.
[0201] Additionally, a NAN device is responsible for conducting
passive discovery once a while to figure out whether there are
other NAN clusters within range that that the device should
consider joining. [0202] a) When a NAN device detects a sync frame
of a NAN cluster different from the one in which the device
operates, but both the clusters belong to the NAN network the
device operates in, and the sync frame is received with signal
level exceeding a pre-determined threshold RSSI_C (e.g. -50 dBm),
the device proceeds as follows: [0203] 1. If the sync frame from
the foreign cluster contains parameter values that indicate
preference of the foreign cluster over one's own cluster, the
device moves its operations to the foreign cluster. [0204] 2.
Otherwise the device continues its operations in the current
cluster.
Neighbor Awareness Networking Network
[0204] [0205] A NAN network is comprised of a set of NAN devices
that operate under a common network identifier (NAN ID) and that
share common sync frame and discovery window parameters. [0206] A
NAN network is comprised of one or more NAN clusters. [0207] In
accordance with an example embodiment of the invention, two NAN
network types are defined: [0208] a) Network of synchronized
clusters. [0209] b) Network of isolated clusters. [0210] Network
identifier (NAN ID) depends on the network type. [0211] a) In a
preferred implementation the NAN specification determines at least
two NAN ID values and for each ID value the specification also
determines the network type. [0212] The network type determines
whether discovery window schedules are aligned across cluster
borders (network of synchronized clusters) or whether discovery
window schedules are local to the cluster with the objective to
especially keep adjacent/overlapping clusters unsynchronized from
the perspective of discovery windows. [0213] a) In a network of
synchronized clusters, the objective is to maximize use of one and
same discovery window schedule. [0214] b) In a network of isolated
clusters, the objective is to keep the clusters operating with
their own discovery window schedules, so that only those devices
that operate in same cluster are available for NAN discovery frames
at a same time, in a same channel.
Cluster
[0215] A set of NAN devices that operate in a NAN network with one
NAN ID and that are synchronized with respect to both the sync
frame transmissions and the discovery windows form a NAN
cluster.
[0216] In order for NAN devices to form a NAN cluster, at least
some of them need to be within range of each other.
[0217] Synchronization within a NAN cluster means that the devices
share the burden of sync frame transmission and are available
simultaneously for NAN discovery during discovery windows.
[0218] Depending on whether a cluster belongs to a network of
synchronized clusters or to a network of isolated clusters, the NAN
devices moving from a cluster to another have certain obligations
that are discussed in more detail later.
Sync Frames
[0219] Sync frames form the basis of time and frequency
synchronization in the NAN network. All the NAN devices are
responsible for participating in sync frame transmission, as per
master role selection rules.
[0220] Sync frames are transmitted as per sync frame parameters
that determine how often and in which channel(s) the frames are
transmitted.
[0221] Sync frames provide a base clock for NAN devices and the
base clock is used as the reference when specifying the discovery
window schedule.
[0222] The base clock builds upon the time synchronization function
(TSF) that is used in WLAN, and each sync frame is expected to
contain a TSF timestamp value indicator.
[0223] A sync frame may be realized as a Beacon frame.
Discovery Window
[0224] A discovery window is a time period during which NAN devices
are available for NAN discovery frame exchange.
[0225] Discovery windows happen as per discovery window parameters
that determine how often and in which channel(s) the windows
happen.
[0226] Discovery window schedule builds upon the information
available in sync frames.
[0227] Discovery window schedule may be NAN cluster specific or
same across NAN cluster borders depending on the NAN network
type.
[0228] Both NAN Synchronization Beacons and NAN Service Discovery
Frames are transmitted during Discovery Windows. The time and
channel on which NAN Devices converge is called Discovery Window.
Each discovery windows is 16 TUs (1.024 ms) long and time
difference between start times of two consecutive DWs is 512 TUs.
The assumption is that only NAN Discovery Beacons are transmitted
outside the DWs.
[0229] Discovery Windows shall happen in the 2.4 GHz and
specifically in channel 6. NAN Devices may also use the 5 GHz for
NAN operation. If they do so, they schedule separate discovery
windows for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The 2.4 GHz DW schedule is, however,
the basis of 5 GHz discovery window schedule. 5 GHz discovery
windows will be equal in size with the ones in 2.4 GHz and in both
bands the discovery window period is 512 TUs. The first discovery
window in 5 GHz band is in offset of 128 TUs from the first
discovery window in the 2.4 GHz band.
[0230] A NAN network comprises all NAN Devices that share a common
set of NAN parameters that include: the time period between
consecutive DWs, the time duration of the DWs, the beacon interval,
and NAN channel(s). A NAN Cluster is a collection of NAN devices
that share a common set of NAN parameters and are synchronized to
the same DW schedule. A NAN Cluster is identified with the NAN
Cluster identifier (ID). NAN devices that are part of the same NAN
Cluster participate in the NAN Master selection procedure. That
means in practice that each NAN device that operates in a NAN
Cluster is responsible for participating in beaconing in the NAN
Cluster.
Device Operations in a NAN Network
[0231] Upon activating the NAN in a device, the device first looks
for a NAN network by means of passive discovery.
[0232] On default, there is one default NAN ID that is determined
in a NAN specification and the NAN device looks for such a network
and its clusters.
[0233] Joining a NAN network/NAN cluster:
[0234] If the device finds at least one NAN cluster that the device
may join, the device selects a cluster and joins it.
[0235] If the device finds no NAN cluster that the device may join,
the device establishes a NAN cluster of its own. If the NAN
Discovery Engine has been requested to activate the Subscribe
service in a passive mode, the device may also decide not to
establish a NAN cluster of its own, but it only operates in NAN
clusters it discovers.
[0236] When a NAN device operates in a NAN cluster, it periodically
conducts passive discovery to find out whether other NAN clusters
of the NAN network in which the device operates, are available.
Joining a NAN Cluster
[0237] A NAN device may join a NAN cluster when the following
criterion is met: [0238] The device receives at least one sync
frame from the cluster with signal level exceeding a pre-determined
threshold RSSI_C (e.g. -50 dBm).
[0239] Upon joining a NAN cluster, a NAN device synchronizes itself
both to the sync frame transmission and discovery window schedule
of the cluster.
[0240] Additionally, the device is responsible for running the
master election algorithm to determine whether it is a master
device that is responsible for transmitting a sync frame.
Operating in a NAN Cluster
[0241] A NAN device may continue operating in a NAN cluster as long
as one of the following criteria is met: [0242] The device receives
at least one sync frame from the cluster with signal level
exceeding a pre-determined threshold RSSI_C (e.g. -50 dBm). [0243]
The device operates as a master device transmitting sync
frames.
[0244] When operating in a NAN cluster, a NAN device is responsible
for maintaining both the base clock of the cluster by transmitting
sync frames as needed, and the discovery window schedule of the
cluster.
Master Election
[0245] In accordance with an example embodiment of the invention, a
node, device, or STA may operate in one of two roles: As a Master
Sync STA, it competes with other Master STAs to transmit a Beacon.
As a Non-Master Sync STA, it does not compete to transmit a Beacon.
The Master Sync STA role may be determined by the Master Election
Algorithm for Neighbor Awareness Networking. Every node, device, or
STA of an ad hoc network may need to be able to operate in both
roles and the Master Election Algorithm may need to be run by every
node, device, or STA once in a while or periodically.
[0246] A NAN device that operates in a NAN cluster may need to be
responsible for determining for each discovery window, as per the
master election algorithm, whether it is a master device.
A Sync Frame from a Foreign Cluster
[0247] When a NAN device detects a sync frame of a NAN cluster
different from the one in which the device operates, but both the
clusters belong to the NAN network the device operates in, and the
sync frame is received with signal level exceeding a pre-determined
threshold RSSI_C (e.g. -50 dBm), the device proceeds as follows:
[0248] If the timestamp (e.g. TSF value) in the sync frame from the
foreign cluster is larger than the time in one's own cluster, the
device moves its operations to the foreign cluster. [0249]
Alternatively some other information in the sync frame from the
foreign cluster is analyzed to determine whether the device moves
its operations to the foreign cluster. [0250] Otherwise the device
continues its operations in the current cluster.
Moving Operations to a New Cluster
[0251] When a NAN device operates in a network of synchronized
clusters, it shall do as follows when moving its operations to a
new cluster upon detecting the existence of the new cluster through
passive discovery:
[0252] a) If the device is a master device in the current/old
cluster, the rules are as follows: [0253] The device transmits as a
master device in the current/old cluster at least one sync frame
that contains information about the new cluster. This includes
information at least about TSF value and discovery window schedule
of the new cluster. [0254] Once the device has transmitted at least
one sync frame in the current/old cluster with information about
the new cluster, it shall start operating in the new cluster and
ceases all the operations in the old cluster.
[0255] b) If the device is a non-master device in the current/old
cluster, the rules are as follows: [0256] The device shall start
operating in the new cluster and ceases all the operations in the
old cluster.
[0257] When a NAN device operates in a network of isolated
clusters, it shall do as follows when moving its operations to a
new cluster:
[0258] a) Regardless of whether the device is a master or a
non-master device in the current/old cluster, the device shall
start operating in the new cluster and ceases all the operations in
the old cluster.
Aligning Discovery Window Schedules
[0259] When a NAN device operates in a network of synchronized
clusters, it shall do as follows upon detecting the existence of
the new cluster from a received sync frame that contains
information about the new cluster and the new cluster is indicated
to be the one whose discovery window is to be used:
[0260] a) If the device is a master device in the current/old
cluster, the rules are as follows: [0261] The device may transmit
as a master device in the current/old cluster at least one sync
frame that contains information about the new cluster. [0262] The
device starts using the discovery window schedule of the new
cluster. [0263] The device may activate passive discovery to find
out whether it can detect the new cluster and whether it can
receive sync frames from the new cluster with high enough signal
level in order to synchronize from perspective of sync frame
transmissions.
[0264] b) If the device is a non-master device in the current/old
cluster, the rules are as follows: [0265] The device starts using
the discovery window schedule of the new cluster. [0266] The device
may activate passive discovery to find out whether it can detect
the new cluster and whether it can receive sync frames from the new
cluster with high enough signal level in order to synchronize from
perspective of sync frame transmissions.
D. Neighbor Awareness Networking Service Discovery Proxy
[0267] In accordance with an example embodiment, the invention may
be used in the logical architecture of Neighbor Awareness
Networking (NAN).
[0268] In an example embodiment of the invention, the NAN service
discovery proxy functionality is implemented as a NAN service.
[0269] In an example embodiment of the invention, enhancements to
the NAN specific signaling allow discovery of NAN service discovery
proxy server.
[0270] In an example embodiment of the invention, enhancements to
the NAN specific signaling allow registration of a service
publish/subscribe to a proxy server.
[0271] In an example embodiment of the invention, enhancements to
the NAN specific signaling allow management of a proxied service
publish/subscribe in a proxy server.
[0272] In an example embodiment of the invention, enhancements to
the NAN specific signaling allow information exchange on proxied
service publish/subscribe.
[0273] In an example embodiment of the invention, proxying
comprises devices in three different roles: NAN2 proxy server, NAN2
proxy client, and a 3rd NAN2 device. The NAN2 proxy client is a
NAN2 device aiming to save some battery by delegating away some of
its service discovery functionality. The NAN2 proxy server may be a
mains powered NAN2 device, which is willing to operate as a proxy
server, to help NAN2 proxy clients to save some power. The 3rd NAN2
device, in this case, is the device that operates the same service
as the NAN2 proxy client and who should discover the NAN2 proxy
client's service through the NAN2 proxy server. The NAN2 proxy
client may use a NAN2 proxy server for publish and/or subscribe as
applicable and as available in the NAN2 proxy servers in
proximity.
1) Proxy Server Discovery
[0274] There are several different options how a NAN2 proxy server
can make itself available and discoverable. The most logical
approaches are as follows:
[0275] a) Extension of NAN Connection Capability Attribute
[0276] b) Extension of NAN Beacons
[0277] c) Definition of a new NAN Attribute
[0278] d) Implementation of the NAN service discovery proxy as a
NAN service (preferred)
[0279] An example embodiment of the invention is to specify the
proxying as a NAN service. A reserved service name, allocated by
Wi-Fi Alliance, is used (e.g. org.wi-fi.aware.sdproxy) and the
service should be running on the NAN stack, instead of forwarding
the information outside the stack. With this approach a NAN2 device
that offers NAN2 proxy server capability/support/service for use by
NAN2 proxy clients publishes the service. In other words, the
device makes its NAN discovery engine to publish the proxy service
like any other service either in solicited or unsolicited manner,
or using the both publish types simultaneously. The service
discovery frame that carries a publish message with the Service ID
corresponding to the service name reserved for the NAN service
discovery proxy should include:
[0280] a) Service Descriptor, and
[0281] b) Further Availability Map (FAV)
[0282] FIG. 1 illustrates an example network diagram of a proxy
server wireless device A2, a proxy client wireless device A1, and a
third wireless device A3 that are operating in a neighbor awareness
network cluster 100. The proxy server has composed a service ID
indicating support for providing proxy service discovery for other
wireless devices operating in the neighbor awareness network. The
proxy server is shown transmitting a wireless service discovery
frame 101 to the neighbor awareness network, the service discovery
frame including the composed service ID, in accordance with at
least one embodiment of the present invention. The service
discovery frame 101 may include a publish message that includes the
service ID.
[0283] FIG. 1A shows an example format of the wireless service
discovery frame 101, which is a publish message transmitted by the
proxy server A2, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the
present invention. The Service Descriptor shown in the figure,
provides details of the proxy service available. It contains, as an
example, the following indicators:
[0284] a) A field that indicates whether the proxy server is
available for proxied publishes or for proxied subscribes or for
both.
[0285] a. As an example, two bit field can be used for this purpose
where one of the bits is used to indicate availability of proxied
publish and the other bit is use to indicate availability of
proxied subscribe. Value `1` may be used to indicate that the
proxied publish/subscribe is available and value `0` may be used to
indicate that it is not available.
[0286] b. Note: In an example embodiment, a proxy server supports
proxied publish, and proxied subscribe is optional to support.
Proxied publish doesn't necessarily require a proxy server to do
anything else except transmit publish messages on behalf of the
proxy client, either in solicited or unsolicited manner. Proxied
subscribe, on default, may require the proxy server to store
discovery results. Some proxy servers may not be ready to do this
and thus proxied subscribe may be made optional to support.
[0287] b) A field that indicates what type of proxied publish is
available in the proxy server.
[0288] a. Two bit sub-field, one bit to indicate support (`0` not
supported, `1` supported) for solicited publish, another bit to
indicate support (`0` not supported, `1` supported) for unsolicited
publish.
[0289] b. One bit sub-field to indicate whether the proxy server
may gather information about detected NAN subscribes that match the
proxied publish for the proxy client to retrieve. If set to `1`,
the proxy server is able to gather information about detected NAN
subscribes. If set to `0`, the proxy server is not able to gather
information about detected NAN subscribes, but just transmits
proxied publish messages on behalf of the proxy client.
[0290] c) A field that indicates what type of proxied subscribe is
available in the proxy server.
[0291] a. Two sub-bit field, one bit to indicate support (`0` not
supported, `1` supported) for active, another bit to indicate
support (`0` not supported, `1` supported) for passive publish.
[0292] b. One bit sub-field to indicate whether the proxy server
may gather information about detected NAN publishes that match the
proxied subscribe for the proxy client to retrieve. If set to `1`,
the proxy server is able to gather information about detected NAN
publishes. If set to `0`, the proxy server is not able to gather
information about detected NAN publishes, but just transmits
proxied subscribe messages on behalf of the proxy client.
[0293] d) A field that indicates maximum time-to-live for the
proxied publish/subscribe
[0294] a. A one octet field, as an example, which indicates how
long at maximum the proxy server may keep on running proxied
publish/subscribe without any message exchange with a proxy client.
The preferred solution is to have the field to indicate the time as
a number of consecutive NAN discovery windows.
[0295] e) A field that indicates minimum periodicity for
transmissions of publish/subscribe messages related to the proxied
publish/subscribe.
[0296] a. A one octet field, as an example, which indicates whether
the proxy server may transmit publish/subscribe messages for
proxied publish/subscribe in every NAN discovery window, in every
second DW, every fourth DW, every eighth DW, etc.
[0297] f) A field that indicates whether the proxy server is
available to operate for proxying in every NAN discovery window or
only during some of the discovery windows
[0298] a. A one octet field, as an example, which indicates whether
the proxy server is available to operate for proxied
publish/subscribe in every NAN discovery window or in a fraction of
the NAN discovery windows (e.g. every second NAN discovery window,
every fourth DW, etc.)
[0299] The Further Availability Map (FAV) describes the time and
frequency when the NAN2 proxy server is available for NAN2 proxy
clients for any of the proxy session management related
communication (i.e. registration, keep alive messaging,
deregistration, etc. as specified hereafter). Another embodiment
may be to allow NAN2 proxy clients to register their services
during the discovery windows (DW), but the DW should be protected
from excess usage to leave enough room for the real discovery.
2) Proxy Session Management
[0300] Proxy session management refers to means that are used by
proxy server/client to a) register a service publish/subscribe to a
proxy server, b) maintain registration, and c) deregister proxied
publish/subscribe from proxy server.
[0301] In the registration a proxy session will be formed by
request from a proxy client. Once established, a proxy session is
maintained by the proxy client until the session is torn down
either on request or automatically e.g. upon expiry of the session
timeout.
[0302] A dedicated protocol will be used for proxy session
management and the preferred approach is to have the protocol
designed using the NAN follow-up messages as the basis. The
preferred approach is to have these messages transmitted during
time periods and in channels that the proxy server indicates
available for proxy session management communication. The NAN
Further Availability window (FAV) may be used for the purpose.
[0303] The follow-up messages are carried in the NAN service
discovery frames and they were originally designed to be carried
between service/application layers of two peer NAN devices once the
devices have completed NAN service discovery successfully. A NAN
service discovery frame that contains a follow-up message is a
unicast frame with the Service ID and the Instance ID fields
carrying values that identify the service and the service instance
to which the message is targeted.
[0304] In the case of NAN proxy session management protocol, the
Service ID is set to the value that corresponds to the service name
assigned and allocated for the NAN service discovery proxy (e.g.
org.wi-fi.aware.sdproxy). The Instance ID is used as specified in
the NAN specification and will be set to the value indicating the
peer device's NAN service discovery proxy instance to which the
follow-up message is targeted and it is obtained from the publish
message 101 received from the proxy server A2. The Service Info
field that per the NAN specification carries service/application
specific information will be designed to contain information that
relates to the proxy session management. Thus the Service Info
field contains all the detailed information one needs to carry in
NAN proxy session management protocol messages while the Service ID
field serves as a kind of protocol identifier in follow-up messages
that are exchanged between service layers of two NAN service
discovery proxy devices. First few fields of the Service Info field
are expected to contain a generic proxy session management message
header that will contain, as an example, a field which is used to
indicate whether the message contains a proxy registration request
or a proxy registration response. The following sub-sections
describe each dedicated message type more in details with the
assumption that the message header contains information that
identifies the message.
2.1) Proxy Session Registration
[0305] Once a proxy client A1 discovers an available proxy server
through normal NAN service discovery, it may request the server to
perform service publish/subscribe on its behalf. As a requestor it
acts like a service/application layer in a device requesting
publish/subscribe service from the NAN discovery engine in the
device. This time the request is just from a device to another and
between two instances of the NAN service discovery proxy
layers.
[0306] FIG. 2 illustrates the example network diagram of FIG. 1,
wherein the proxy client A1 has received the wireless service
discovery frame 101 from the proxy server A2, including the service
ID indicating support by the proxy server for providing proxy
service discovery for wireless devices operating in the neighbor
awareness network. The figure shows the proxy client A1
transmitting to the proxy server A2, a service discovery proxy
registration request 102, in response to the receiving of the
wireless service discovery frame 101, in accordance with at least
one embodiment of the present invention. The service discovery
proxy registration request 102 indicates that either the proxy
registration request 102 or a following message from the proxy
client A1, includes information on services to be subscribed or
published by the proxy server A2 for the proxy client A1.
[0307] FIG. 2A shows an example format of the service discovery
proxy registration request 102 transmitted by the proxy client A1,
in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0308] The request 102 should in general contain all the same
information a service/application layer provides to the NAN
discovery engine in a device when requesting publish/subscribe to
be activated. In this case a proxy client forms a follow-up message
that contains the following information in the Service Info field
and transmits it to the selected proxy server device to request
publish/subscribe session registration:
[0309] a) Indication of whether the request applies to a service
publish or to a service subscribe
[0310] b) Service ID (or corresponding service name)
(mandatory)
[0311] c) Matching_filter_tx (optional) [0312] May contain further
conditions beyond the Service ID that are transmitted in
publish/subscribe messages from the proxy server on the proxied
service publish/subscribe
[0313] d) Matching_filter_rx (optional) [0314] May be used to set
additional conditions for triggered publish/subscribe message
transmission in a proxy server beyond the Service ID
[0315] e) Service_specific_info (optional) [0316] May contain
service specific information that the proxy server transmits in
publish/subscribe messages on the proxy service
publish/subscribe
[0317] f) Configuration parameters of the proxied service publish
(mandatory when request is on publish, otherwise not present)
[0318] Publish type: unsolicited transmissions only, solicited
transmissions only, or both unsolicited and solicited transmissions
[0319] Solicited transmission type: Whether the solicited
transmissions are unicast or multicast [0320] Announcement period:
Recommended periodicity of unsolicited transmissions [0321] Time to
live: Indicates how long the proxied publish is requested to be
valid and active in the proxy server.
[0322] g) Configuration parameters of the proxied service subscribe
(mandatory when request is on subscribe, otherwise not present)
[0323] Subscribe type: active or passive [0324] Query period:
Recommended periodicity of subscribe message transmissions [0325]
Time to live: Indicates how long the proxied subscribe is requested
to be valid and active in the proxy server.
[0326] h) Information about availability of the proxy client
(mandatory) [0327] Indicates when the proxy client device will be
available e.g. for direct NAN service discovery. This can be
indicated as a NAN discovery window number, as a reference to the
last or next NAN discovery window or as a reference to the
synchronization timer value that is used in the present NAN
cluster. Can be also set to a value that indicates "unknown
availability" with which the proxy client indicates, as an example,
that it is not available for any subsequent NAN service discoveries
in any of the NAN DWs.
[0328] i) Information gathering state (mandatory) [0329] Indicates
whether the proxy server is requested to gather and store
information on detected subscribes/publishes that match the proxied
publish/subscribe. Set to `1` to request the proxy server to gather
the information and set `0` when the proxy server doesn't have to
gather/store any of the information but it's enough to transmit
publish/subscribe messages on behalf of the proxy client. Another
option is to declare another FAV window to indicate when the client
is available.
[0330] FIG. 2 illustrates an example design in which selected
information is carried in NAN attributes. As an example, one could
use the Service Descriptor attribute to carry information on
proxied service publish/subscribe. A Service Descriptor attribute
could be used, as an example, to indicate the Service ID, the
matching filters and service info. Additionally, one could include
some other NAN attributes like NAN connection capability attribute,
P2P operation attribute, and NAN data link attribute to indicate
the proxy client availability outside the NAN discovery
windows.
[0331] Alternatively, registration process may comprise of two
phases with their own session management messages: a) session
setup, b) information update. When such a design is applied, in the
first phase a proxy client simply sets up a proxy session without
giving any of the proxied service publish/subscribe information.
During the information update phase the proxy client provides to
the proxy server up to date information on the proxied service
publish/subscribe. The proxy client may update the information at
any time while the session is valid and alive, and multiple
respective session management messages may be transmitted to the
proxy server.
[0332] Upon receiving a Service Discovery Proxy Registration
Request message, a NAN2 proxy server makes a decision on whether to
accept it or not. The decision is signaled back with a Service
Discovery Proxy Registration Response message. The request may also
be acknowledged with a MAC ACK.
[0333] FIG. 3 illustrates the example network diagram of FIG. 1,
wherein the proxy server A2 has received the service discovery
proxy registration request 102 from the proxy client A1. The figure
shows the proxy server A2 transmitting to the proxy client A1, a
service discovery proxy registration response 103, in response to
the receiving of the service discovery proxy registration request
102, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0334] FIG. 3A shows an example format of the service discovery
proxy registration response 103 transmitted by the proxy server A2,
in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present
invention.
[0335] The Service Discovery Proxy Registration Response message
includes the following information:
[0336] a) Decision (accept/reject) (mandatory)
[0337] b) In case of rejection, the message may include the reason
and proposed new set of parameters. (optional) [0338] As an
example, the proxy server may be forced to reject the request
because the requested announcement/query period or the time to live
is not acceptable. The server may use these fields to give guidance
to the proxy client on parameter values with which a request could
be acceptable.
[0339] c) Session identifier (mandatory if session accepted) [0340]
Proxy server specific unique identifier for the proxied service
publish/subscribe session. To be used throughout the lifetime of
the session in all the session management messages.
[0341] d) Session maintenance parameters (mandatory) [0342] Keep
alive message period [0343] Indicates how often the proxy client
needs to be in contact with the proxy server to maintain the
session alive. More on this topic below where the session
maintenance is described in more details. [0344] Information
gathering period [0345] Indicates how often the proxy server
expects the proxy client to be available for possible information
about the session. More on this topic below where the session
maintenance is described in more details. [0346] This information
is valid only if the proxy server is requested to gather and store
information about detected publish/subscribe messages that match
the proxied subscribe/publish
[0347] The response message is carried in a follow-up message that
has the structure similar to the request message. An example
structure of such a response message is provided in FIG. 3A.
[0348] Upon receiving a Service Discovery Proxy Registration
Response frame, the NAN2 proxy client checks if the request was
accepted and if yes, the requested sleep cycle may be started
(section 3 below). If not, a new modified request may be sent e.g.
with modified parameters if such feedback was provided by the proxy
server. The request may also be acknowledged with a MAC ACK.
[0349] The proxy server A2 then commences at least one of
publishing and subscribing the services indicated by the proxy
registration request 102, wherein the at least one of publishing
and subscribing includes an indication that the at least one of
published and subscribed services is proxied on behalf of the proxy
client A1.
2.2 Proxy Session Maintenance
[0350] Upon successfully registering a service publish/subscribe to
a proxy server a proxy session is established and the proxy client
is responsible for maintaining the session. In the session
management the proxy server and the proxy client exchange specific
proxy session management messages that are used to keep the session
alive, to provide information the proxy server has gathered on
publish/subscribe that match the proxied subscribe/publish, and to
close the session gracefully.
[0351] The messages are built upon the same principles as the
registration request/response messages described above. In other
words, the messages are carried in NAN follow-up messages with the
Service ID set to a value corresponding to the service name
assigned for the NAN service discovery proxy service and the
Service Info field containing all the session management specific
information starting with the message header indicating, as an
example, the message type. In this phase the messages contain
always the session identifier that the proxy server allocated to
the session and provide in the response message described
above.
2.2.1 Session Keep Alive
[0352] A proxy client needs to be available for successful message
exchange with the proxy client to maintain the session alive. The
proxy client needs to complete a successful session management
protocol message exchange at least once per the keep alive message
period indicated by the proxy server. The design may require time
between two successive successful message exchanges to be less than
the keep alive message period. The design may allow either the
proxy client or the proxy server to send a keep alive message or
the initiator role may be specified to be in one device only, e.g.
in the proxy server.
[0353] The session keep alive message doesn't need to contain any
other information in the Service Info field but just the session
identifier.
[0354] If the proxy client fails to successfully exchange session
management messages in time with the proxy server, the session is
deemed terminated and the session expires without any further
signaling.
2.2.2 Session Information
[0355] Proxy session management may provide means for a proxy
client to obtain and receive information on its proxy sessions. The
proxy server may, as an example, provide results of proxied service
subscribe. The proxy server may indicate for each proxied service
subscribe/publish how many service publishes/subscribes that match
with the service subscribe/publish have been detected and any
detailed information on them. Any of this type of information may
be valuable especially in case of proxied service subscribe e.g. to
determine whether to perform direct NAN service discovery and
possibly with which device and at what time. In case of proxied
service publish the information may be used on the other hand to
activate normal NAN publish or to adjust parameters of an existing
normal NAN publish instance.
[0356] In the preferred approach this signaling happens between the
proxy server and the proxy client outside the NAN DWs during the
time periods outside the DWs that the proxy server has allocated
for any of the proxy management signaling, and the messages build
upon the principles described earlier (i.e. follow-up message based
protocol messages in which most of the message content is carried
in the Service Info field).
[0357] Regardless of the message structure, a proxy server may
request the proxy client to obtain the latest information at least
once per the status/performance period that the server indicated in
the Service Discovery Proxy Registration Response message. A proxy
client may request such information by transmitting a Service
Discovery Proxy Status Request message. The request message doesn't
have to contain any other information but the message type in the
message header and the session identifier. A response message (e.g.
Service Discovery Proxy Status Response) that may be transmitted by
the proxy client either on request or autonomously to the proxy
client should contain the following information in the Service Info
field:
[0358] a) Number of detected matching publishes/subscribes [0359]
Indicates how many publishes/subscribes that meet the proxied
service subscribe/publish conditions have been detected since the
previous status report
[0360] b) Information on the detected matching publish/subscribe
[0361] Interface address used in the detected publish/subscribe
[0362] Service information available in the detected
publish/subscribe
[0363] An alternative approach is to have the proxy server to store
all the publish/subscribe messages that it detects and that match
the proxied service subscribe/publish and provide those messages to
the proxy client whenever the proxy client is available. The proxy
server may use one of the Proxied Publish or Proxied Subscribe
messages specified in the next section to transmit the
publish/subscribe messages it has stored. In such a case the
Proxied Publish/Subscribe message needs to contain address of the
3.sup.rd device instead of the proxy client device and no
information on proxy client availability is carried in the
message.
3) Proxied Service Publish and Subscribe from a Proxy Server
[0364] During a proxy session, the NAN2 proxy server acts on behalf
of the NAN2 proxy client, based on the NAN2 proxy client
availability cycle and based on the other information from the
proxy client in the registration. In the DWs, during which the
proxy client is available, the NAN2 proxy server should not act as
a NAN2 proxy server for the proxy client, except in case a proxy
were to be used as a range extender (which is not a primary purpose
of a NAN2 proxy).
[0365] New type of signaling is needed for NAN service discovery
messages that a proxy server sends on behalf of a proxy client for
proxied publish/subscribe. Let's call them Proxied Publish and
Proxied Subscribe messages. These messages are preferably such that
legacy NAN devices (Wi-Fi Aware Release 1/NAN Release 1 devices) do
not interpret them as normal NAN publish or subscribe messages.
Legacy NAN devices may assume that a publish/subscribe message
transmitted by a NAN device relates to the service indicated by the
Service ID in the message and available in the NAN device. Thus it
may, as an example, proceed directly to follow-up messaging with
the NAN device using the address in the transmit address field of
the received publish/subscribe message. But if the message is from
a proxy server, this is not possible but the publish/subscribe
message related to a proxied service publish/subscribe needs to be
understood to origin from another device, not from the proxy
server.
[0366] The preferred approach is to define a new NAN service
discovery message type in addition to publish, subscribe and
follow-up messages. The Service Control field within the Service
Descriptor attribute contains a two bit field that currently is
used to indicate whether the attribute carries publish, subscribe
or follow-up message. Fourth value (`11`) is reserved and in the
preferred design it is used to indicate Proxied message type.
Whenever a legacy NAN device receives such an attribute it discards
the attribute and its content but a NAN2 device (Wi-Fi Aware
Release 2 device) would interpret that as an indication of proxied
publish/subscribe message. A proxied message would need also some
new information fields like:
[0367] a) Message type [0368] One octet field, as an example, that
indicates whether the proxied message is of publish (`0`) or
subscribe (`1`) type
[0369] b) Interface address of the NAN2 proxy client [0370] Six
octet field that indicates the MAC address of the proxy client
[0371] c) Availability information of the NAN2 proxy client [0372]
Two octet field, as an example, that indicates the NAN DW during
which the proxy client related to the proxied publish/subscribe is
available. In the preferred design the field indicates the number
of DWs before the DW before the proxy client is available.
Alternatively the field or a FAV may be used to indicate the DW
during which the proxy client is available as an absolute TSF
value. [0373] A field that is present if the NAN2 proxy client is
available in another NAN cluster than in which the proxied message
is transmitted and that indicates in which NAN cluster the client
operates.
[0374] FIG. 4A shows an example format of a modified service
control field in the NAN service discovery message, with the
proxied publish and subscribe implemented, in accordance with at
least one embodiment of the present invention.
[0375] FIG. 4B shows an example format of proxy specific fields in
the Service Info field of a Service Descriptor attribute in the NAN
service discovery message, in accordance with at least one
embodiment of the present invention.
[0376] FIGS. 4A and 4B show modifications to the Service Descriptor
attribute (left) and to the Service Control field (right) carried
in the updated Service Descriptor attribute. With this approach
both the Proxied Publish and the Proxied Subscribe message would be
entirely new type of messages that would be carried in NAN SDFs
with the Service Control Field within the Service Descriptor
attribute set to indicate the new message type and the Service Info
field within the same Service Descriptor attribute containing
information elements/fields that carry details of the proxied
service subscribe/publish which can't be transmitted in the other
fields of the attribute.
[0377] FIG. 5 shows an example format of a new NAN Service
Discovery Proxy attribute in the NAN service discovery message, in
accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention.
This embodiment leaves the Service Descriptor attribute and the
Service Control Field within it untouched and define a new
attribute for proxy related signaling. A new attribute (e.g.
Service Discovery Proxy attribute) would need to contain the proxy
client interface address and information about the proxy client
availability. Example format of such a new attribute is as shown in
FIG. 5. With this approach both the Proxied Publish and the Proxied
Subscribe message would be extended legacy publish and subscribe
messages respectively. They both would be carried in NAN SDFs with
the Service Control Field within the Service Descriptor attribute
set to indicate either publish or subscribe message type as
applicable and a new attribute like the NAN Service Discovery Proxy
attribute to carry detailed information about the proxied service
publish/subscribe.
[0378] When this approach is used also the legacy NAN devices may
receive the proxied information, except the information in the new
attribute. Therefore legacy devices may get awareness on existence
of certain proxied service, through the NAN2 proxy server, but they
may not be able to perform follow-up signaling without conducting
NAN service discovery first.
4) Example Signaling Diagrams
[0379] Example signaling diagrams are presented below in the
following four figures. Each of these present a case where proxy
client first registers to the server a service publish or a service
subscribe and then goes to doze/absent. During the absence, a
3.sup.rd device conducts NAN service discovery on the corresponding
service and it is responsibility of the proxy server to deal the
case so that the proxy client and any 3.sup.rd device have
possibility to e.g. perform follow-up once the proxy client comes
back from the absence.
[0380] Notes: A) All the signaling between the proxy client and the
proxy server shown in the figures happen outside the NAN DWs during
time periods allocated by the proxy server for the proxy management
communication. B) All the signaling between the proxy server and
the 3.sup.rd device illustrated in the figures is to happen during
the NAN DWs.
[0381] FIG. 6 shows an example signal sequence diagram for a
proxied solicited publish, in accordance with at least one
embodiment of the present invention. First, a proxy client asks a
proxy server that it has earlier detected to be available to
perform solicited publish by issuing a proxy registration request.
Upon receiving a positive acknowledgement from the proxy server the
proxy client may enter into the doze state for some NAN DWs while
the proxy server publishes on the client's behalf. Upon receiving a
subscribe message 104 that meets the trigger conditions set to the
proxied publish, the proxy server transmits a Proxied Publish 105.
The Proxy Server should not be triggered by a subscribe message
from a legacy NAN device but the Proxied Publish message should be
triggered only upon reception of a subscribe message from a NAN2
device.
[0382] If the proxy session involves information gathering, the
proxy server stores at least selected information related to the
subscribe message that triggered transmission of the Proxied
Publish message. In one implementation the proxy server may store
the whole subscribe message that it later on transmits to the proxy
client. The diagram closes with the proxy client obtaining session
information from the proxy server. In the diagram the proxy client
requests the information 106 and the proxy server replies with a
message 107 that contains the requested information. The reply
message may be, as an example, of the format used with the Proxied
Subscribe message specified earlier. Alternatively, it may of a
follow-up message format that contains the required information in
the Service Info field.
[0383] FIG. 7 shows an example signal sequence diagram for a
proxied unsolicited publish 105', in accordance with at least one
embodiment of the present invention. Once the proxy client has
successfully registered an unsolicited publish session with a proxy
server, the proxy server starts publishing per the request. It may
also gather information on the session as requested (e.g. number of
detected 3.sup.rd devices that subscribe on the published service
and content of the related subscribed messages received). The
diagram closes with the proxy client obtaining session information
from the proxy server with the means similar discussed above on
FIG. 6.
[0384] FIG. 8 illustrates an example case of proxied passive
subscribe. In this case the proxy server needs to gather
information on publishes 108 that match with the registered
subscribe and the proxy client is expected to get that information
from the proxy server for any further actions.
[0385] FIG. 9 illustrates an example case of proxied active
subscribe. In this case the proxy server transmits Proxied
Subscribe messages 109 to trigger transmission of Proxied Publish
messages 109' from NAN2 capable 3.sup.rd devices. The proxy server
may need to gather information 109'' about detected publishes that
match the registered subscribe. The proxy server should consider
both the legacy publish messages and the Proxied Publish messages
and provide information to the proxy client on them as
required.
[0386] FIG. 10 illustrates an example network diagram of the proxy
server A2 and the proxy client A1, which are operating in a
neighbor awareness network cluster 100. The proxy server A2 is
shown transmitting a wireless service discovery frame 101 and the
proxy client A1 receiving the service discovery frame including the
composed service ID, in accordance with at least one embodiment of
the present invention.
[0387] In an example embodiment of the invention, the proxy server
A2 and the proxy client A1 may include a processor 520 that
includes a single core or multi-core central processing unit (CPU)
560 and 561, a random access memory (RAM) 562, a read only memory
(ROM) 564, and interface circuits 566 to interface with the radio
transceiver 508. The proxy server A2 and the proxy client A1 may
each further include a battery and other power sources, key pad,
touch screen, display, microphone, speakers, ear pieces, camera or
other imaging devices, etc. The RAM 562 and ROM 564 may be
removable memory devices 700 shown in FIG. 12, such as smart cards,
SIMs, WIMs, semiconductor memories such as RAM, ROM, PROMS, flash
memory devices, etc. according to an embodiment of the present
invention. According to an example embodiment of the invention, the
proxy server A2 and the proxy client A1, each include the awareness
protocol stack 502.
[0388] In an example embodiment of the invention, the awareness
protocol stack 502 may include the NAN discovery engine 505 and the
NAN MAC 510. In an example embodiment of the invention, the
awareness protocol stack 502 may include an Awareness Layer,
Community Layer, Network Layer, and Link Layer. In an example
embodiment of the invention, the awareness protocol stack 502 may
include the IEEE 802.11 protocol stack 515.
[0389] In an example embodiment of the invention, the processor
520, protocol stack 502 and/or application program 500 may be
embodied as program logic stored in the RAM 562 and/or ROM 564 in
the form of sequences of programmed instructions which, when
executed in the CPUs 560 and/or 561, carry out the functions of the
disclosed embodiments. The program logic may be delivered to the
writeable RAM, PROMS, flash memory devices, etc. 562 of the proxy
server A2 and the proxy client A1 from a computer program product
or article of manufacture in the form of computer-usable media such
as resident memory devices, smart cards or other removable memory
devices, as illustrated in FIG. 12. Alternately, they may be
embodied as integrated circuit logic in the form of programmed
logic arrays or custom designed application specific integrated
circuits (ASIC). The radio 508 in the each of the proxy server A2
and the proxy client A1 may be separate transceiver circuits or
alternately, the radio 508 may be a single radio module capable of
handling one or multiple channels in a high speed, time and
frequency multiplexed manner in response to the processor 520. The
program code for instructing the apparatus to perform its various
operations may be stored in computer readable media, for example
magnetic disks, CD ROMS, or flash memory devices. The program code
may be downloaded from such computer readable media to be stored
for example in the RAM 562 or programmable ROM 564 of the proxy
server A2 and the proxy client A1 for execution of the program code
for example by the CPUs 560 and/or 561. Removable storage media 700
are shown in FIG. 12.
[0390] FIG. 11A is an example flow diagram 600 of operational steps
in proxy server A2, in accordance with at least one embodiment of
the present invention. The steps of the flow diagram represent
computer code instructions stored in the RAM and/or ROM memory,
which when executed by the central processing units (CPU), carry
out the functions of the example embodiments of the invention. The
steps may be carried out in another order than shown and individual
steps may be combined or separated into component steps. The flow
diagram has the following steps:
[0391] Step 602: composing, by a wireless device in a wireless
network, a service ID indicating support for providing proxy
service discovery for other wireless devices operating in the
wireless network; and
[0392] Step 604: transmitting, by the wireless device, a wireless
service discovery frame to the wireless network, the service
discovery frame including the composed service ID.
[0393] FIG. 11B is an example flow diagram 650 of operational steps
in proxy client A1, in accordance with at least one embodiment of
the present invention. The steps of the flow diagram represent
computer code instructions stored in the RAM and/or ROM memory,
which when executed by the central processing units (CPU), carry
out the functions of the example embodiments of the invention. The
steps may be carried out in another order than shown and individual
steps may be combined or separated into component steps. The flow
diagram has the following steps:
[0394] Step 652: receiving, by a wireless device in a wireless
network, a wireless service discovery frame from another wireless
device operating in the wireless network, the service discovery
frame including a service ID indicating support by the other
wireless device for providing proxy service discovery for wireless
devices operating in the wireless network;
[0395] Step 654: transmitting, by the wireless device, to the other
wireless device, a proxy registration request message in response
to the wireless service discovery frame; and
[0396] Step 656: receiving, by the wireless device, a response
message in response to the proxy registration request message,
indicating registration of the wireless device by the other
wireless device, to provide a proxy service for the wireless
device.
[0397] FIG. 11C is an example flow diagram 670 of operational steps
in the proxy server commencing at least one of publishing and
subscribing the services indicated by the proxy registration
request, in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present
invention. The steps of the flow diagram represent computer code
instructions stored in the RAM and/or ROM memory, which when
executed by the central processing units (CPU), carry out the
functions of the example embodiments of the invention. The steps
may be carried out in another order than shown and individual steps
may be combined or separated into component steps. The flow diagram
has the following steps:
[0398] Step 672: composing, by a wireless device in a wireless
network, a service ID indicating support for providing proxy
service discovery for other wireless devices operating in the
wireless network;
[0399] Step 674: transmitting, by the wireless device, a wireless
service discovery frame to the wireless network, the service
discovery frame including the composed service ID;
[0400] Step 676: receiving, by the wireless device, from at least
one of the other wireless devices operating in the wireless
network, a request message in response to the transmitting of the
wireless service discovery frame, the request message being a proxy
registration request indicating that either the proxy registration
request or a following message from the at least one of the other
wireless devices operating in the wireless network, includes
information on services to be subscribed or published by the
wireless device for the at least one of the other wireless
devices;
[0401] Step 678: registering, by the wireless device, the at least
one of the other wireless devices operating in the wireless
network, to provide a proxy service for the at least one of the
other wireless devices;
[0402] Step 680: transmitting, by the wireless device, to the at
least one of the other wireless devices operating in the wireless
network, a response message in response to the receiving of the
request message; and
[0403] Step 682: commencing, by the wireless device, at least one
of publishing and subscribing the services indicated by the proxy
registration request, wherein the at least one of publishing and
subscribing includes an indication that the at least one of
published and subscribed services is proxied on behalf of the at
least one of the other wireless devices operating in the wireless
network.
[0404] FIG. 11D illustrates an example Discovery Window 115 in 2.4
GHz, within which is transmitted the NAN Service Discovery frame
101, in accordance with an example embodiment of the invention.
[0405] During a discovery window 115, one or more NAN Devices
transmit a NAN Service Discovery frame 101, which is a Vendor
Specific Public Action frame. The NAN Service Discovery Frame 101
is an IEEE 802.11 management frame, transmitted by a NAN device in
a NAN cluster. NAN Service Discovery frames 101 enable NAN Devices
to look for services from other NAN Devices and make services
discoverable for other NAN Devices. There are three NAN Service
Discovery protocol messages defined in the NAN Service Discovery
Protocol:
[0406] 1. Publish message
[0407] 2. Subscribe message
[0408] 3. Follow-up message
[0409] The NAN Service Discovery protocol messages are carried in
Service Descriptor attributes that are carried in the NAN Service
Discovery frames 101. A NAN Device may use a NAN Service Discovery
frame 101 to actively look for availability of a specific service.
When a NAN Device uses a Subscribe message, it asks for other NAN
Devices operating in the same NAN Cluster to transmit a Publish
message when response criteria are met. A NAN Device may use a
Publish message to make its service discoverable for other NAN
Devices operating in the same NAN Cluster in an unsolicited manner.
The Service Control field indicates if the Service Descriptor
attribute corresponds to Publish, Subscribe, or Follow-up function
and if other optional fields are present in the Service Descriptor
attribute such as Matching Filter, Service Response Filter, and
Service specific information.
[0410] FIG. 12 illustrates an example embodiment of the invention,
wherein examples of removable storage media 700 are shown, based on
magnetic, electronic and/or optical technologies, such as magnetic
disks, optical disks, semiconductor memory circuit devices and
micro-SD memory cards (SD refers to the Secure Digital standard)
for storing data and/or computer program code as an example
computer program product, in accordance with an example embodiment
of the invention.
[0411] Embodiments of the invention provide power savings for NAN2
devices that may use proxy servers for publish/subscribe:
[0412] a) The low power device does not need to awake for NAN
service discovery as often as if there would be no proxy server
available
[0413] b) The discovery of available services is faster for the low
power devices, i.e. the services are discovered with less effort
because one is expected to receive required information from a
proxy server without need to wait for information from individual
devices.
[0414] Embodiments of the invention provide new functionality to
advertise and discover services and/or distribute application
information.
[0415] Although specific example embodiments have been disclosed, a
person skilled in the art will understand that changes can be made
to the specific example embodiments without departing from the
spirit and scope of the invention.
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