Expedited handover between wireless carriers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016295487-A1
Application number	US-201514677856-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 2, 2015
Priority date	Apr 2, 2015
Publication date	Oct 6, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments are disclosed for handover between wireless carriers in multiple devices. In an example configuration, an in-vehicle computing system of a vehicle includes a first network interface configured to communicate over a first wireless carrier, a second network interface configured to communicate over a second wireless carrier, a processor configured to control communication via the first network and the second network, and a storage device storing instructions executable by the processor to connect to a computing device over the first wireless carrier. The instructions are further executable to send a select message to the computing device via a remote server, the select message identifying the second wireless carrier, receive a confirmation message from the computing device initiating communication over the second wireless carrier, and receive data from the computing device over the second wireless carrier.

First claim

1 . An in-vehicle computing system of a vehicle, the in-vehicle computing system comprising:
a first network interface configured to communicate over a first wireless carrier; a second network interface configured to communicate over a second wireless carrier; a processor configured to control communication via the first network and the second network; and a storage device storing instructions executable by the processor to:
connect to a computing device over the first wireless carrier;
send a select message to the computing device via a remote server, the select message identifying the second wireless carrier;
receive a confirmation message from the computing device initiating communication over the second wireless carrier; and
receive data from the computing device over the second wireless carrier.

2 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless carrier is a Near Field Communication (NFC) carrier, the select message is a NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) Handover Select message, and the remote server is a Simple NDEF Exchange Protocol (SNEP) server.

3 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 2 , wherein the second wireless carrier is a BLUETOOTH carrier.

4 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 2 , wherein the second wireless carrier is a WI-FI carrier.

5 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 2 , wherein the computing device is a mobile device located in the vehicle.

6 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 2 , wherein the instructions are further executable to initiate communication over the second carrier without sending a Handover Request NDEF message between the in-vehicle computing system and the computing device.

7 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 2 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to log an identifier of the SNEP server responsive to sending the select message.

8 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 2 , wherein the select message only identifies the second wireless carrier.

9 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 8 , wherein the select message includes a BLUETOOTH address for identifying the second wireless carrier.

10 . At a first device, a method of performing handover between the first device and a second device from a first wireless carrier to a second wireless carrier, the method comprising:
establishing communication with the second device over the first wireless carrier; determining an antenna strength of a radio antenna of the second device; responsive to determining that the antenna strength is above a threshold, reading an emulated tag including an indication of the second wireless carrier identifying the second wireless carrier; responsive to determining that the antenna strength is below a threshold, sending a select message to a SNEP server identifying the second wireless carrier; receiving a confirmation message from the second device initiating communication over the second wireless carrier; and receiving data from the second device over the second wireless carrier.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the first wireless carrier is an NFC carrier, the emulated tag is an emulated NFC tag, and the select message is a Handover Select NDEF message.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the second wireless carrier is a BLUETOOTH carrier.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the second wireless carrier is a WI-FI carrier.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising initiating communication over the second carrier without sending a Handover Request NDEF message between the in-vehicle computing system and the computing device.

15 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising logging an identifier of the handover server responsive to sending the first select message and logging an identifier of the SNEP server responsive to sending the second select message, the handover server being an NFC handover server.

16 . An in-vehicle computing system of a vehicle, the in-vehicle computing system comprising:
an NFC interface configured to communicate over an NFC carrier; a second network interface configured to communicate over a second wireless carrier, different from the NFC carrier; a processor configured to control communication via the NFC carrier and the second wireless carrier; and a storage device storing instructions executable by the processor to:
connect to a mobile computing device over NFC;
selectively perform an expedited handover based on device capabilities of the mobile computing device, wherein the expedited handover includes sending a Handover Select NDEF message to the mobile computing device via a SNEP server, the Handover Select NDEF message identifying the second wireless carrier, and logging an identifier of the SNEP server responsive to sending the Handover Select NDEF message;
receive a confirmation message from the mobile computing device initiating communication over the second wireless carrier; and
receive data from the mobile computing device over the second wireless carrier.

17 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 16 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to perform a negotiated handover responsive to determining that each of the in-vehicle computing system and the mobile computing device is an active NFC device that is equipped to connect to a Handover service, the negotiated handover comprising:
sending a Handover Request NDEF message from the in-vehicle computing system to the mobile computing device via an NFC handover server while the in-vehicle computing system is connected to the mobile computing device in a peer-to-peer NFC mode, the Handover Request NDEF message indicating one or more requested wireless carriers; logging an identifier of the NFC handover server responsive to sending the Handover Request NDEF message; and receiving a Handover Select NDEF message from the mobile device, the Handover Select NDEF message indicating one or more selected wireless carriers, the one or more selected wireless carriers being selected from the one or more requested wireless carriers.

18 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 16 , wherein the instructions are executable to send only a Handover Select NDEF message without sending or receiving a Handover Request NDEF message when selectively performing the expedited handover.

19 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 16 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
perform a static handover responsive to determining that one of the in-vehicle computing system and the mobile computing device is a passive NFC device, one of the in-vehicle computing system and the mobile computing device is an active NFC device, and a strength of an antenna of the active NFC device is above a threshold, the static handover including indicating the second wireless carrier in an NFC tag; and perform the expedited handover responsive to determining that one of the in-vehicle computing system and the mobile computing device is a passive NFC device, one of the in-vehicle computing system and the mobile computing device is an active NFC device, and a strength of an antenna of the active NFC device is below the threshold.

20 . The in-vehicle computing system of claim 16 , wherein the second carrier is one of a BLUETOOTH carrier and a WI-FI carrier.

Assignees

• Harman Int Ind

Inventors

• Pandit Sourabh Shyam

Classifications

• H04W4/80 Primary

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04W76/10

  Connection setup · CPC title

• H04W4/48

  for in-vehicle communication · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title