System and method for enabling radio operations on a wireless computing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9277347-B2
Application number	US-201414245768-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2014
Priority date	Sep 23, 2005
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide for a wireless computing device that comprises a set of one or more radio components to transmit and receive wireless communications on the device. Additionally, the wireless computing device includes processing and memory resources that individually or in combination provide multiple wireless applications, a radio object, and an arbitration component. The multiple wireless applications are each capable of generating a user-interface for enabling user-input in connection with wireless activities performed with that wireless application. The radio object interfaces the multiple applications with the set of one or more radio components. The arbitration component is configured to arbitrate at least one of (i) requests made by each of the wireless applications to the radio object for access to one or more of the radio components in the set, or (ii) responses from the radio object to requests made by each of the wireless applications.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing device, comprising:
a first radio device to transmit and receive wireless communications;
one or more processing resources; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processing resources, cause the computing device to:
execute multiple applications that are operable by a user of the computing device;
arbitrate requests made by the multiple applications for access to the first radio device; and
arbitrate responses from the first radio device to the requests made by the multiple applications.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processing resources comprise:
a processor to execute the multiple applications; and
an arbitration component to arbitrate the requests.

3. The computing device of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processing resources further comprise:
a radio object to interface between the multiple applications and the first radio device.

4. The computing device of claim 2 , wherein the arbitration component is independent of an operating system of the computing device.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , further comprising a second radio device to transmit and receive wireless communications, wherein execution of the instructions to arbitrate the requests causes the computing device to select either the first radio device or the second radio device to receive the requests.

6. The computing device of claim 5 , wherein selection of either the first radio device or the second radio device is based on network availability for types of wireless communications provided by the first radio device and the second radio device.

7. The computing device of claim 5 , wherein selection of either the first radio device or the second radio device is based on signal strengths of networks associated with the first radio device and the second radio device.

8. The computing device of claim 5 , wherein selection of either the first radio device or the second radio device is based on preferences designated by the user.

9. The computing device of claim 5 , wherein the first radio device includes components to transmit and receive wireless communications according to a first communication protocol, and the second radio device includes components to transmit and receive wireless communications using a second communication protocol that is different from the first communication protocol.

10. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the first and second communication protocols are selected from a group comprising (i) wireless fidelity (WiFi), (ii) Bluetooth, (iii) code division multiple access (CDMA), (iv) global system for cellular technology (GSM), and (v) time division multiple access (TDMA) protocols.

11. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the multiple applications include applications selected from a group comprising (i) an email application, (ii) a web browsing application, (iii) a short message service (SMS) application, (iv) a multimedia message service (MMS) application, and (v) a phone application.

12. A method for enabling radio operations on a computing device including a first radio device to transmit and receive wireless communications, the method being performed by one or more processing resources of the computing device and comprising:
executing multiple applications that are operable by a user of the computing device;
arbitrating requests made by the multiple applications for access to the first radio device; and
arbitrating responses from the first radio device to the requests made by the multiple applications.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processing resources comprise:
a processor to execute the multiple applications; and
an arbitration component to arbitrate the requests.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processing resources further comprise:
a radio object to interface between the multiple applications and the first radio device.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the arbitration component is independent of an operating system of the computing device.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the computing device further includes a second radio device to transmit and receive wireless communications, and wherein the method further comprises:
selecting either the first radio device or the second radio device to receive the requests.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein selection of either the first radio device or the second radio device is based on network availability for types of wireless communications provided by the first radio device and the second radio device.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein selection of either the first radio device or the second radio device is based on signal strengths of networks associated with the first radio device and the second radio device.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein selection of either the first radio device or the second radio device is based on preferences designated by the user.

20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the multiple applications include applications selected from a group comprising (i) an email application, (ii) a web browsing application, (iii) a short message service (SMS) application, (iv) a multimedia message service (MMS) application, and (v) a phone application.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processing resources of a computing device that includes a first radio device to transmit and receive wireless communications, cause the computing device to:
execute multiple applications that are operable by a user of the computing device;
arbitrate requests made by the multiple applications for access to the first radio device; and
arbitrate responses from the first radio device to the requests made by the multiple applications.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the one or more processing resources comprise:
a processor to execute the multiple applications; and
an arbitration component to arbitrate the requests.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the one or more processing resources further comprise:
a radio object to interface between the multiple applications and the first radio device.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22 , wherein the arbitration component is independent of an operating system of the computing device.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the computing device further includes a second radio device to transmit and receive wireless communications, and wherein execution of the instructions to arbitrate the requests causes the computing device to select either the first radio device or the second radio device to receive the requests.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein selection of either the first radio device or the second radio device is based on network availability for types of wireless communications provided by the first radio device and the second radio device.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein selection of either the first radio device or the second radio device is based on signal strengths of networks associated with the first radio device and the second radio device.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein s

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Prasad Srikiran
• Mathias Arun
• Ang Darren
• Schmidt Thomas

Classifications

• H04W4/00

  Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor · CPC title

• H04L67/04 Primary

  specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability · CPC title

• H04W4/60 Primary

  Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits · CPC title

• H04W80/12

  Application layer protocols, e.g. WAP [Wireless Application Protocol] · CPC title

• H04W88/06

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title