Methods of discovering devices for network formation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9456331-B2
Application number	US-201414465997-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2014
Priority date	Aug 22, 2014
Publication date	Sep 27, 2016
Grant date	Sep 27, 2016

Abstract

Disclosed are methods and systems for broadcasting and scanning for a service simultaneously. The present disclosure provides a solution for devices utilizing Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of discovering and connecting devices to form a network, the method comprising:
temporarily renaming a first device, by a wireless personal area network (WPAN) module executed on the first device, with a temporary device name in a WPAN name field of the first device;
making, by the WPAN module, the first device discoverable based on the temporary device name;
performing, by the WPAN module, a WPAN scan for nearby devices that have the same temporary device name;
based on the WPAN scan, finding, by the WPAN module, one or more of the nearby devices with the same temporary device name;
saving, by the WPAN module, MAC addresses of the one or more of the nearby devices found with the same temporary device name;
changing, by the WPAN module, the temporary device name in the WPAN name field of the first device to another device name; and
connecting, by a Wi-Fi module executed on the first device, the first device to a second device to form the network, the second device being one of the one or more of the nearby devices found with the same temporary device name.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MAC addresses comprise WPAN MAC addresses.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MAC addresses are saved in a network list.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the another device name is an original device name of the first device.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the another device name and the original device name are different.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
enabling, by the WPAN module, a WPAN protocol for the first device prior to making the first device discoverable.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
disabling, by the WPAN module, the WPAN protocol for the first device after saving the MAC addresses of the one or more of the nearby devices found with the same temporary device name.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the WPAN module, a password for communicating with the second device.

9. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
processing, by the Wi-Fi module executed on the first device, a network list of WPAN MAC addresses saved as a result of performing the WPAN scan;
determining, by the Wi-Fi module, a lowest WPAN MAC address in the network list;
if the first device is determined to have the lowest WPAN MAC address, enabling, by the Wi-Fi module, a Wi-Fi infrastructure mode for the first device; and
if the first device is determined to not have the lowest WPAN MAC address, enabling, by the Wi-Fi module, a Wi-Fi client mode for the first device.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein if the first device is enabled in the Wi-Fi client mode, performing, by the Wi-Fi module, a Wi-Fi scan for the second device, the second device being enabled in the Wi-Fi infrastructure mode.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
based on the Wi-Fi scan, connecting, by the Wi-Fi module, to the second device enabled in the Wi-Fi infrastructure mode.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein connecting to the second device enabled in the Wi-Fi infrastructure mode comprises providing a password to connect to the second device, the password being previously received by the first device.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein if the first device is enabled in the Wi-Fi infrastructure mode, the first device comprises a mobile hotspot.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
naming, by the Wi-Fi module, the mobile hotspot with a given name.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the given name is the same as the temporary device name in the WPAN name field of the first device during the temporary renaming of the first device.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein a WPAN protocol is disabled for the first device prior to processing the network list of WPAN MAC addresses.

17. A method for discovering and connecting to a network, the method comprising:
performing a wireless personal area network (WPAN) discovery process, wherein the discovery process includes:
renaming a first device, by a WPAN module executed on the first device, with a temporary device name in a WPAN name field of the first device;
renaming a second device, by a WPAN module executed on the second device, with the temporary device name in a WPAN name field of the second device;
making, by the WPAN modules executed on the respective first and second devices, the first device and the second device discoverable based on the temporary device name;
performing, by the WPAN modules executed on the respective first and second devices, a WPAN scan for nearby devices that have the same temporary device name;
based on the WPAN scan, finding, by the WPAN modules executed on the respective first and second devices, one or more of the nearby devices with the same temporary device name; and
saving, by the WPAN modules executed on the respective first and second devices, WPAN MAC addresses of the one or more of the nearby devices found with the same temporary device name in a network list; and

performing a Wi-Fi connection process, wherein the connection process includes:
processing the network list of WPAN MAC addresses by each of a plurality of devices having access to the network list;
determining, by each of the plurality of devices, a lowest WPAN MAC address in the network list;
enabling, by a device in the plurality of devices that have the lowest WPAN MAC address, a Wi-Fi infrastructure mode for the device; and
enabling, by all other devices in the plurality of devices, a Wi-Fi client mode for the all other devices; and

connecting to the device enabled in the Wi-Fi infrastructure mode by the all other devices enabled in the Wi-Fi client mode.

18. A device comprising:
a processor configured to cause a wireless personal area network (WPAN) module to:
temporarily rename the device with a temporary device name in a WPAN name field of the device;
make the device discoverable based on the temporary device name;
perform a WPAN scan for nearby devices that have the same temporary device name;
based on the WPAN scan, find one or more of the nearby devices with the same temporary device name;
save MAC addresses of the one or more of the nearby devices found with the same temporary device name; and
change the temporary device name in the WPAN name field of the device to another device name; and

the processor configured to cause a Wi-Fi module to:
connect the device to another device to form a network, the another device being one of the one or more of the nearby devices found with the same temporary device name.

Assignees

• Google Technology Holdings LLC

Inventors

• Rayanki Sreenivasulu
• Lokre Himanshu R
• Lu Yuangliang
• Reddy Nitya K
• Vissa Sudhir C

Classifications

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W76/021

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W8/005 Primary

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

• H04L2101/622

  Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses · CPC title