Management capabilities for a wireless docking experience

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9591554-B2
Application number	US-201414482649-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2014
Priority date	Sep 10, 2014
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

This document describes management capabilities for a wireless docking experience. A wireless dock is configured to connect to multiple peripheral devices, such as a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse. Mobile devices can connect to the wireless dock, via a short-range wireless connection, to utilize the multiple peripheral devices. When deployed with other wireless docks, the wireless dock can be configured to provide management information with a broadcast signal that is usable by the mobile devices to manage the wireless connection to, and experience with, the wireless dock. The management information can include one or more of a do-not-automatically-connect indicator, an in-use indicator, an Internet-available indicator, or a group identifier.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless dock, the wireless dock comprising:
peripheral ports to enable peripheral devices to connect to the wireless dock; and
a wireless transmitter configured to transmit broadcast signals to enable mobile devices to detect the wireless dock and establish a wireless connection with the wireless dock to use the connected peripheral devices, the wireless dock configured to provide management information with the broadcast signals that is detectable by the mobile devices during a scanning or discovery phase and is usable by the mobile devices to manage the wireless connection to, and experience with, the wireless dock, the management information provided with the broadcast signals transmitted by the wireless transmitter including a do-not-automatically-connect indicator which prevents mobile devices from automatically connecting to the wireless dock, an Internet-available indicator that indicates whether the wireless dock is connected to the internet, an in-use indicator if the wireless dock is currently being utilized by another mobile device, and a group identifier that associates the wireless dock with one or more other wireless docks that are configured with similar hardware capabilities.

2. The wireless dock as recited in claim 1 , wherein the in-use indicator prevents other mobile devices from connecting to the wireless dock.

3. The wireless dock as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wireless dock is located in close proximity to the one or more other wireless docks that are configured with similar hardware capabilities.

4. The wireless dock as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wireless connection comprises a WiGig wireless connection.

5. The wireless dock as recited in claim 1 , wherein the peripheral devices comprise one or more of a monitor, a keyboard, or a mouse.

6. The wireless dock as recited in claim 1 , wherein the group identifier causes mobile devices to provide a consistent wireless docking experience for wireless docks with the same group identifier.

7. The wireless dock as recited in claim 6 , wherein the providing the consistent wireless docking experience comprises applying the same settings and configurations when the mobile device is connected to the wireless docks with the same group identifier.

8. A method comprising:
scanning, using a short-range wireless radio system of a mobile device, for a wireless dock during a scanning or discovery phase;
detecting, with the short-range wireless radio system, two or more wireless docks;
receiving management information from each detected wireless dock via the short-range wireless radio system, the management information including a group identifier that indicates that each of the two or more detected wireless docks are configured with similar hardware capabilities and a do-not-automatically-connect indicator that prevents the mobile device from automatically connecting to the two or more detected wireless docks; and
causing display of a connection user interface to enable a manual selection of one of the two or more detected wireless docks.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the connection user interface includes a wireless dock identifier for each of the two or more detected wireless docks and a connection control, associated with each wireless dock identifier, the connection control selectable to establish a wireless connection with the associated wireless dock.

10. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the receiving the management information further comprises receiving an in-use indictor from at least one of the two or more detected wireless docks that is currently being used by a different mobile device, and wherein the method further comprises preventing the mobile device from connecting to the wireless dock that is currently being used by the different mobile device.

11. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the receiving the management information further comprises receiving an Internet-available indicator from at least one of the two or more detected wireless docks that includes an Internet connection, and wherein the method further comprises providing an Internet-available notification in the connection user interface that is associated with the wireless dock that includes the Internet connection.

12. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the group-identifier causes consistent wireless docking experience to be provided for each of the two or more detected wireless docks.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein the providing the consistent wireless docking experience comprises applying the same settings and configurations when the mobile device is connected to each of the detected wireless docks with the same group identifier.

14. The method as recited in claim 8 , wherein the short-range wireless radio system comprises a WiGig wireless connection.

15. A mobile device, comprising:
a short-wave wireless radio system configured to scan for and detect one or more wireless docks during a scanning or discovery phase;
a processing system to implement a connection manager that is executable and configured to:
receive management information from each of the detected wireless docks, the management information including at least a group identifier that associates at least one of the detected wireless docks with one or more other wireless docks that are configured with similar hardware capabilities and a do-not-automatically-connect indicator;
prevent the mobile device from automatically connecting to the detected wireless docks based on the do-not-automatically-connect indicator; and
cause display of a connection user interface that enables a manual selection of one of the detected wireless docks to form a wireless connection with the selected wireless dock.

16. The mobile device as recited in claim 15 , wherein the short-wave wireless radio system comprises a WiGig radio system.

17. The mobile device as recited in claim 15 , wherein the management information further includes an in-use indictor that is received from at least one of the detected wireless docks, and wherein the connection manager is further configured to provide a notification that the wireless dock is in use.

18. The mobile device as recited in claim 15 , wherein the connection manager is further configured to provide a consistent wireless docking experience for each detected wireless device with the same group identifier.

19. The mobile device as recited in claim 18 , wherein the connection manager provides a consistent wireless docking experience by applying the same settings and configurations when the mobile device is connected to each of the detected wireless docks with the same group identifier.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Baron Andrew Thomas
• Chang Chih-Chung
• Flannery Eliot John
• Nusca Gianluigi
• Venugopal Vineet

Classifications

• H04W4/80

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

• H04W4/06

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title

• H04W48/10 Primary

  using broadcasted information · CPC title

• H04W4/50 Primary

  Service provisioning or reconfiguring · CPC title

• H04W4/001

  Electricity · mapped topic