Power efficient wireless network detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9838979-B2
Application number	US-80549207-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2007
Priority date	May 22, 2006
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

A wireless network system can be provided with a one-way communication link for communicating a beacon signal between beacon circuitries of two electronic devices. According to information stored in the beacon signal, the device that receives the beacon signal can activate a primary communication circuitry to enable communication of primary communication data signals with a primary communication circuitry of the device that transmitted the beacon signal. The beacon circuitries of the two devices may require less power than the primary communication circuitries of the two devices.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a first device to wirelessly interoperate with a second device, the second device transmitting a beacon signal according to a beacon protocol, the method comprising:
sniffing for the beacon signal with the first device using beacon reception circuitry according to the beacon protocol, the beacon signal including an identification portion with connection information for connecting to the second device and a configuration portion with configuration information;
processing the configuration portion of the sniffed beacon signal with the first device to determine the last time the second device was updated with new information;
based on the determined last time of the processed beacon signal, enabling the first device to communicate with the second device according to a normal protocol, wherein the first device is enabled to communicate with the second device according to the normal protocol if the determined last time of the processed beacon signal is more recent than a user determined time preference; and
receiving, at the first device, a first primary data signal according to the normal protocol from the second device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting the beacon signal includes transmitting the beacon signal via a one-way beacon-band link.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
after enabling the first device to communicate with the second device according to the normal protocol, transmitting a second primary data signal from the first device to the second device according to the normal protocol via a main-band link.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing the sniffed beacon signal with the first device includes displaying to a user of the first device, information related to the determined last time.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
periodically powering up the beacon reception circuitry for sniffing for the beacon signal; and
periodically powering down the beacon reception circuitry for reducing the power used by the first device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beacon protocol is out-of-band with the normal protocol.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beacon protocol is in-band with the normal protocol.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beacon protocol has a lower bandwidth than the normal protocol.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beacon protocol requires less power than the normal protocol.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beacon protocol is the same protocol as the normal protocol.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the enabling the first device to communicate with the second device according to the normal protocol comprises powering up communication circuitry of the first device, and wherein the first device requires the communication circuitry to communicate with the second device according to the normal protocol.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determined last time enables the first device to determine a specific configuration of the second device.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether or not to enable the first device to communicate with the second device according to the normal protocol by determining whether the determined last time of the processed beacon signal is more recent than the user determined time preference, and
wherein the first primary data signal is received when the first device is enabled to communicate with the second device according to the normal protocol.

14. The method of claim 2 , wherein the sniffing for the beacon signal includes sniffing for the beacon signal on the one-way beacon-band link.

15. The method of claim 3 , wherein the main-band link is a two-way link.

16. The method of claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises: receiving the second primary data signal with the second device according to the normal protocol via a main-band link.

17. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first primary data signal is received over the one-way beacon-band link.

18. The method of claim 3 , wherein the transmitting the second primary data signal comprises transmitting the second primary data signal using primary data transmission circuitry, and wherein the beacon reception circuitry requires less power than the primary data transmission circuitry.

19. The method of claim 3 , wherein the transmitting the second primary data signal comprises transmitting the second primary data signal using primary data transmission circuitry, and wherein the enabling the first device to communicate with the second device according to the normal protocol comprises powering up the primary data transmission circuitry.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:
after receiving the second primary data signal, processing the second primary data signal with the second device; and
based on the processed second primary data signal, transmitting the first primary data signal from the second device according to the normal protocol via the main-band link.

21. The method of claim 19 , wherein the method further comprises:
powering down the beacon reception circuitry after enabling the first device to communicate with the second device according to a normal protocol;
after communication of data by the primary data transmission circuitry, powering down the primary data transmission circuitry; and
after powering down the primary data transmission circuitry, powering up the beacon reception circuitry.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting the beacon signal comprises transmitting the beacon signal using beacon transmission circuitry, wherein the transmitting the first primary data signal comprises transmitting the first primary data signal using primary data transmission circuitry, and wherein the beacon transmission circuitry and the primary data transmission circuitry share a common transmitter.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting the beacon signal comprises transmitting the beacon signal using beacon transmission circuitry, wherein the transmitting the first primary data signal comprises transmitting the first primary data signal using primary data transmission circuitry, and wherein the beacon transmission circuitry and the primary data transmission circuitry share a common transceiver.

24. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises receiving the first primary data signal with the first device using primary data reception circuitry, and wherein the beacon reception circuitry and the primary data reception circuitry share a common receiver.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises receiving the first primary data signal with the first device using primary data reception circuitry, and wherein the beacon reception circuitry and the primary data reception circuitry share a common transceiver.

26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises receiving the first primary data signal with the first device using primary data reception circuitry, and wherein the beacon reception circuitry requires less power than the primary data reception circuitry.

27. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises receiving the first primary data signal with the first device using primary data reception circuitry, and wherein the enabling the first device to communicate

Assignees

• Dorogusker Jesse Lee
• Fadell Anthony
• Borchers Robert Edward
• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Dorogusker Jesse Lee
• Fadell Anthony
• Borchers Robert Edward

Classifications

• Y02B60/1235

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F13/364

  using independent requests or grants, e.g. using separated request and grant lines · CPC title

• H04W52/32 Primary

  TPC of broadcast or control channels · CPC title

• Y02B60/1228

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F13/385

  for adaptation of a particular data processing system to different peripheral devices · CPC title