Methods and apparatus for opportunistic scheduling of peer to peer links in wide area network
US9585176B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 17, 2012 |
| Grant date | Feb 28, 2017 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 18, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04W72/04
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method, a computer program product, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus determines an availability of a wireless wide area network (WWAN) subframe, and utilizes the WWAN subframe for peer-to-peer communication when the WWAN subframe is available. Accordingly, peer mobile terminals or devices may establish direct peer-to-peer links for communicating small amounts of information without affecting the quality of existing WWAN communications. In the wireless wide area network (WWAN) scenario, communication between mobile terminals is facilitated through uplink/downlink channels between the mobile terminals and a base station (i.e., WWAN link). Therefore, for various types of applications, an efficient means of communicating a small amount of information frequently is provided that does not require large amounts of signaling overhead.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.