Neighbor awareness networking datapath—base scheduling, scheduler rank, and further service discovery

US10212574B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Apple Inc. · US

Inventors

• Yong Liu · Campbell, US
• Christiaan A. Hartman · San Jose, US
• Daniel R. Borges · San Francisco, US
• Peter N. Heerboth · Cupertino, US
• Lawrie Kurian · San Jose, US
• Su Khiong Yong · Palo Alto, US
• Anand Rajagopalan · Saratoga, US
• Saravanan Balasubramaniyan · Los Gatos, US
• Tashbeeb Haque · San Francisco, US
• Andreas Wolf · Munich, DE
• Guoqing Li · Campbell, US
• Lilach Zukerman · Even Yehuda, IL
• Oren Shani · Saratoga, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 18, 2016
• Grant date: Feb 19, 2019
• Expiry date: Mar 18, 2036

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04W92/18
• WIPO field: Digital communication
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

In some embodiments, one or more wireless stations operate to configure Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN)—direct communication between neighboring wireless stations, e.g., without utilizing an intermediate access point. Embodiments of the disclosure relate to NAN datapath configuration. The NAN datapath embodiments described herein provide a mechanism through which devices can communicate and provide services. Aspects of the datapath development include datapath scheduling, including datapath setup and scheduling attributes, scheduler rank management, and further NAN discovery. The datapath model may be implemented for unicast and multicast communication between wireless stations.