Discovery for neighbor awareness networking

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12413951-B2
Application number	US-202217807498-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2022
Priority date	Jul 23, 2021
Publication date	Sep 9, 2025
Grant date	Sep 9, 2025

Abstract

Some aspects of this disclosure are directed to implementing a discovery procedure including one or more of single channel publish phases, multi-channel publish phases, and single channel subscribe phases. For example, a method includes determining, by a publisher device, a first time period for a single channel publish phase and determining, by the publisher device, a second time period for a multi-channel publish phase. The method further includes transmitting, by the publisher device, one or more frames during at least one of the first time period of the single channel publish phase or the second time period of the multi-channel publish phase. The method further includes receiving, by the publisher device, a service specific message from a subscriber device during the at least one of the first time period of the single channel publish phase or the second time period of the multi-channel publish phase.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a transceiver configured to communicate with a second electronic device; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to:
determine a first time period for a single channel publish phase;
determine a second time period for a multi-channel publish phase, wherein the multi-channel publish phase is separate from the single channel publish phase and wherein the first time period is different from the second time period;
transmit, using the transceiver, one or more frames during at least one of the first time period of the single channel publish phase or the second time period of the multi-channel publish phase; and
receive, using the transceiver, a service specific message from the second electronic device during the at least one of the first time period of the single channel publish phase or the second time period of the multi-channel publish phase.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the first time period and the second time period, at least pseudo-randomly, from a range of time periods.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
transmit, using the transceiver, a first set of frames during the first time period of the single channel publish phase;
transmit, using the transceiver, a second set of frames during the second time period of the multi-channel publish phase;
determine a third time period for the single channel publish phase and a fourth time period for the multi-channel publish phase;
transmit, using the transceiver, a third set of frames during the third time period of the single channel publish phase; and
transmit, using the transceiver, a fourth set of frames during the fourth time period of the multi-channel publish phase.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to transmit the one or more frames over a first channel during the first time period of the single channel publish phase.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to transmit the one or more frames over a plurality of channels during the second time period of the multi-channel publish phase, wherein the plurality of channels is selected from a list of channels.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive a discovery trigger signal before determining the first time period and the second time period.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more frames comprise one or more broadcast Neighbor Awareness Networking Service Discovery Frames (NAN SDF).

8. A method, comprising:
determining, by a publisher device, a first time period for a single channel publish phase;
determining, by the publisher device, a second time period for a multi-channel publish phase, wherein the multi-channel publish phase is separate from the single channel publish phase and wherein the first time period is different from the second time period;
transmitting, by the publisher device, one or more frames during at least one of the first time period of the single channel publish phase or the second time period of the multi-channel publish phase; and
receiving, by the publisher device, a service specific message from a subscriber device during the at least one of the first time period of the single channel publish phase or the second time period of the multi-channel publish phase.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the first time period and the second time period comprises determining the first time period and the second time period, at least pseudo-randomly, from a range of time periods.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
transmitting, by the publisher device, a first set of frames during the first time period of the single channel publish phase;
transmitting, by the publisher device, a second set of frames during the second time period of the multi-channel publish phase;
determining a third time period for the single channel publish phase and a fourth time period for the multi-channel publish phase;
transmitting, by the publisher device, a third set of frames during the third time period of the single channel publish phase; and
transmitting, by the publisher device, a fourth set of frames during the fourth time period of the multi-channel publish phase.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining a first channel for the single channel publish phase; and
transmitting the one or more frames over the first channel during the first time period of the single channel publish phase.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining one or more channels for the multi-channel publish phase from a list of channels; and
transmitting the one or more frames over the one or more channels during the second time period of the multi-channel publish phase.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
receiving a discovery trigger signal before determining the first time period and the second time period.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more frames comprise one or more broadcast Neighbor Awareness Networking Service Discovery Frames (NAN SDF).

15. An electronic device, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to:
determine a first time period for a single channel publish phase of a discovery procedure;
determine a second time period for a multi-channel publish phase of the discovery procedure, wherein the multi-channel publish phase is separate from the single channel publish phase; and
iterate between the single channel publish phase and the multi-channel publish phase for discovering one or more subscriber devices.

16. The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the first time period and the second time period, at least pseudo-randomly, from a range of time periods and wherein the first time period is different from the second time period.

17. The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the single channel publish phase is associated with a first channel and the multi-channel publish phase is associated with a plurality of channels.

18. The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein the processor is further configured to divide the second time period between the plurality of channels of the multi-channel publish phase.

19. The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to transmit a first set of one or more frames on a first channel during the single channel publish phase and transmit a second set of one or more frames on a plurality of channels during the multi-channel publish phase.

20. The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to recursively iterate between the single channel publish phase and the multi-channel publish phase until the discovery procedure is terminated.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Borges Daniel R
• Verma Lochan
• Yong Su Khiong
• Liu Yong

Classifications

• H04W48/16

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title

• H04W48/10

  using broadcasted information · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W8/005 Primary

  Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals · CPC title