Methods to preemptively search and select lte-direct expressions for uninterrupted device-to-device communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016174273-A1
Application number	US-201414572345-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 16, 2014
Priority date	Dec 16, 2014
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The disclosure generally relates to preemptively searching and selecting LTE-Direct Expressions to maintain continuity in availing services via LTE-Direct and thereby support uninterrupted device-to-device (D2D) communication when a current LTE-Direct session experiences loss or degradation. For example, in various embodiments, a wireless device may establish a first D2D connection with a peer device to access a service shared at the peer device. The wireless device may further discover at least one alternate peer device sharing the service while the first D2D connection is active such that a second D2D connection with the at least one alternate peer device can be established in response to loss and/or degradation associated with the first D2D connection.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for uninterrupted device-to-device communication, comprising:
establishing a first device-to-device connection with a first peer device, wherein the first device-to-device connection is established to access a service shared by the first peer device; discovering at least one alternate peer device sharing the service shared by the first peer device while the first device-to-device connection is active; and establishing a second device-to-device connection with the at least one alternate peer device in response to loss or degradation of the first device-to-device connection.

2 . The method recited in claim 1 , wherein the second device-to-device connection is established prior to a discovery cycle immediately following the loss or degradation of the first device-to-device connection.

3 . The method recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
searching for the at least one alternate peer device in one or more discovery cycles after the first device-to-device connection is established and prior to loss or degradation of the first device-to-device connection.

4 . The method recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting degradation of the first device-to-device connection; and searching for the at least one alternate peer device in a discovery cycle immediately after detecting the degradation of the first device-to-device connection and prior to loss of the first device-to-device connection.

5 . The method recited in claim 1 , wherein the second device-to-device connection is established without conducting a search following the loss or degradation of the first device-to-device connection.

6 . The method recited in claim 1 , wherein the first device-to-device connection and the second device-to-device connection comprise LTE-Direct links.

7 . The method recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
triggering a search to discover the at least one alternate peer device in response to a received power on a downlink from the first peer device falling below a threshold value.

8 . The method recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
triggering a search to discover the at least one alternate peer device in response to a transmit power used on an uplink to the first peer device exceeding a threshold value.

9 . The method recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
triggering a search to discover the at least one alternate peer device in response to receiving a predefined number of negative acknowledgments from the first peer device.

10 . A wireless device, comprising:
one or more processors configured to establish a first device-to-device connection with a first peer device to access a service shared by the first peer device, discover at least one alternate peer device sharing the service shared by the first peer device while the first device-to-device connection is active, and establish a second device-to-device connection with the at least one alternate peer device in response to loss or degradation of the first device-to-device connection; and a memory coupled to the one or more processors.

11 . The wireless device recited in claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to establish the second device-to-device connection prior to a discovery cycle immediately following the loss or degradation of the first device-to-device connection.

12 . The wireless device recited in claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to search for the at least one alternate peer device in one or more discovery cycles after the first device-to-device connection is established and prior to loss or degradation of the first device-to-device connection.

13 . The wireless device recited in claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
detect degradation of the first device-to-device connection; and search for the at least one alternate peer device in a discovery cycle immediately after detecting the degradation of the first device-to-device connection and prior to loss of the first device-to-device connection.

14 . The wireless device recited in claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to establish the second device-to-device connection without conducting a search following the loss or degradation of the first device-to-device connection.

15 . The wireless device recited in claim 10 , wherein the first device-to-device connection and the second device-to-device connection comprise LTE-Direct links.

16 . The wireless device recited in claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
trigger a search to discover the at least one alternate peer device in response to a received power on a downlink from the first peer device falling below a threshold value.

17 . The wireless device recited in claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
trigger a search to discover the at least one alternate peer device in response to a transmit power used on an uplink to the first peer device exceeding a threshold value.

18 . The wireless device recited in claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
trigger a search to discover the at least one alternate peer device in response to receiving a predefined number of negative acknowledgments from the first peer device.

19 . A wireless device, comprising:
means for establishing a first device-to-device connection with a first peer device to access a service shared by the first peer device; means for discovering at least one alternate peer device sharing the service shared by the first peer device while the first device-to-device connection is active; and means for establishing a second device-to-device connection with the at least one alternate peer device in response to loss or degradation of the first device-to-device connection.

20 . The wireless device recited in claim 19 , further comprising:
means for searching for the at least one alternate peer device in one or more discovery cycles after the first device-to-device connection is established and prior to loss or degradation of the first device-to-device connection.

21 . The wireless device recited in claim 19 , further comprising:
means for detecting degradation of the first device-to-device connection; and means for searching for the at least one alternate peer device in a discovery cycle immediately after detecting the degradation of the first device-to-device connection and prior to loss of the first device-to-device connection.

22 . The wireless device recited in claim 19 , further comprising:
means for triggering a search to discover the at least one alternate peer device in response to a received power on a downlink from the first peer device falling below a threshold value.

23 . The wireless device recited in claim 19 , further comprising:
means for triggering a search to discover the at least one alternate peer device in response to a transmit power used on an uplink to the first peer device exceeding a threshold value.

24 . The wireless device recited in claim 19 , further comprising:
means for triggering a search to discover the at least one alternate peer device in response to receiving a predefined number of negative acknowledgments from the first peer device.

25 . A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions recorded thereon, wherein executing the com

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Ginnela Vani Chaitanya
• Kona Praveen Nagaraja

Classifications

• 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

• H04W76/14 Primary

  Direct-mode setup · CPC title

• H04W76/18

  Management of setup rejection or failure · CPC title