Neighbor Awareness Networking Datapath

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016165653-A1
Application number	US-201514960488-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 7, 2015
Priority date	Dec 8, 2014
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

In one set of embodiments, one or more client stations operate to configure Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN)—direct communication with neighboring client stations, i.e., direct communication between the client stations without utilizing an intermediate access point. Embodiments of the disclosure relate to NAN datapath scheduling and NAN pre-datapath operation setup and scheduling. The NAN datapath embodiments described herein provide a mechanism through which devices can communicate and provide services. Aspects of the datapath development include datapath scheduling, including datapath setup and scheduling attributes, as well as pre-datapath operation triggering and scheduling. Scheduling may include determination of a type of datapath, including paging and synchronized datapaths. NAN data cluster base schedules may be scheduled as equal-sets or subsets of datapath schedules. The datapath model may be implemented for unicast and multicast communication between client stations.

First claim

1 . A client station, comprising:
at least one antenna; at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna and configured to perform Wi-Fi communication with a Wi-Fi access point; at least one processor coupled to the at least one radio, wherein the client station is configured to perform voice and/or data communications; wherein the client station is configured to:
detect a first neighboring client station that is configured to perform Wi-Fi communication;
establish, via negotiation, a first datapath and a first datapath schedule with the first neighboring client station;
detect a second neighboring client station that is configured to perform Wi-Fi communication; and
establish, via negotiation, a second datapath and a second datapath schedule.

2 . The client station of claim 1 ,
wherein the client station is further configured to establish, via negotiation, a first base schedule for a data cluster with the first neighboring client station.

3 . The client station of claim 2 ,
wherein the client station is further configured to establish, via negotiation, a second base schedule for the data cluster with the second neighboring client station, wherein the second data path schedule is a superset of the second base schedule, and wherein the second base schedule is a subset of the first base schedule.

4 . The client station of claim 1 ,
wherein to establish the first datapath, the client station is further configured to:
exchange one or more service discovery frames with the first neighboring client station.

5 . The client station of claim 4 ,
wherein a service discovery frame comprises one or more of:
service identification list;
service information;
further availability;
capabilities and operations;
security session information; and
a preferred datapath channel list.

6 . The client station of claim 4 ,
wherein the client station is further configured to:
schedule a future time and channel with the first neighboring client station to exchange at least a portion of the one or more service discovery frames.

7 . The client station of claim 1 ,
wherein the first datapath schedule specifies both times and channels for the client station and the first neighboring client station to meet for peer to peer communications; and wherein the second datapath schedule specifies both times and channels for the client station and the second neighboring client station to meet for peer to peer communications.

8 . The client station of claim 7 ,
wherein the first datapath schedule further specifies times for the client station and the first neighboring client station to visit one or more additional channels.

9 . An apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
detect a neighboring client station that is configured to perform Wi-Fi communication in a first discovery window;
arrange a negotiation window with the neighboring client station; and
perform setup with the neighboring client station using the negotiation window to configure direct Wi-Fi communications with the neighboring client station without involving a Wi-Fi access point.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 ,
wherein the apparatus is further configured to coordinate resource allocation with the neighboring client station.

11 . The apparatus of claim 9 ,
wherein the apparatus is further configured to:
detect another neighboring client station that is configured to perform Wi-Fi communication in a second discovery window;
arrange another negotiation window with the other neighboring client station;
perform setup with the other neighboring client station using the other negotiation window to configure direct Wi-Fi communications with the other neighboring client station without involving a Wi-Fi access point; and
coordinate resource allocation with the neighboring client station and the other neighboring client station.

12 . The apparatus of claim 9 ,
wherein the negotiation window is scheduled to occur adjacent to the first discovery window.

13 . The apparatus of claim 9 ,
wherein the apparatus is further configured to arrange a further availability window with the neighboring client station, wherein the further availability window is used to coordinate communication with the neighboring client station.

14 . A non-transitory computer readable memory medium storing program instructions executable by a processor of a client station to:
receive a first message from a neighboring client station indicating availability of one or more services; in response to receiving the first message, send a second message to the neighboring client station requesting a connection to the neighboring client station; and receive a third message from the neighboring client station confirming the connection request.

15 . The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 14 ,
wherein the program instructions are further executable to:
send a message to the neighboring client station prior receiving the first message requesting the one or more services.

16 . The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 15 ,
wherein the message comprises one or more attributes indicating the request for the one or more services.

17 . The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 14 ,
wherein the first message comprises one or more attributes that describe the one or more services.

18 . The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 14 ,
wherein the second message comprises one or more attributes that define a neighbor awareness networking datapath session.

19 . The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 14 ,
wherein the third message comprise one or more attributes that confirm a neighbor awareness networking datapath session and an address of the neighboring client station.

20 . The non-transitory computer readable memory medium of claim 19 ,
wherein the third message further comprises a schedule for the neighbor awareness networking datapath session.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Liu Yong
• Hartman Christiaan A
• Borges Daniel R
• Heerboth Peter N
• Kurian Lawrie
• Yong Su Khiong
• Rajagopalan Anand
• Balasubramaniyan Saravanan
• Haque Tashbeeb
• Wolf Andreas
• Li Guoqing
• Zukerman Lilach
• Shani Oren

Classifications

• H04W72/12

  Wireless traffic scheduling · CPC title

• H04W76/14 Primary

  Direct-mode setup · CPC title

• H04L67/104

  Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks · CPC title

• H04W8/005 Primary

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

• H04W76/023 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic