Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080279128 | Simultaneous wireless support in software defined radio - A system and method for providing the ability to discover the capabilities of a user's computer to determine whether it is capable of supporting more than one wireless protocol simultaneously is provided. A computing device's capabilities (including, for example, hardware and/or software capabilities) is checked to determine if it supports at least two specific wireless protocols and checking a computing device's capabilities (including, for example, hardware and/or software capabilities) is checked to determine if it supports both wireless protocols simultaneously. The techniques for determining the computing device's compatibility may include comparing lists of protocol requirements to lists of system capabilities and/or generating test signals by the system according to the protocol. | 11-13-2008 |
20090029691 | Base station initiated proximity service discovery and connection establishment - The normal roles of wireless stations and wireless access points in initiating the establishment of wireless connections may be reversed without the need for changes in the network interfaces for either the station or access point device. This capability may be used to allow wireless devices acting as access points, but on which service clients operate, to initiate the establishment of a connection with a station, on which a wireless service provider operates. Discovery of services between wireless devices can be provided prior to establishing a connection between the devices. A service client device providing access point functionality may broadcast an invitation for service advertisements and then receive service advertisements from relevant service providers acting as wireless stations. An information element may be included as part of periodically broadcast administrative messages to wirelessly convey an invitation for service advertisements. In response to a service advertisement, the access point may send to the wireless station an invitation to connect, prompting the wireless station to begin to establish a connection according to a wireless communication protocol. | 01-29-2009 |
20090029728 | Base station initiated proximity service discovery and connection establishment - The normal roles of wireless stations and wireless access points in initiating the establishment of wireless connections may be reversed without the need for changes in the network interfaces for either the station or access point device. This capability may be used to allow wireless devices acting as access points, but on which service clients operate, to initiate the establishment of a connection with a station, on which a wireless service provider operates. Discovery of services between wireless devices can be provided prior to establishing a connection between the devices. A service client device providing access point functionality may broadcast an invitation for service advertisements and then receive service advertisements from relevant service providers acting as wireless stations. An information element may be included as part of periodically broadcast administrative messages to wirelessly convey an invitation for service advertisements. In response to a service advertisement, the access point may send to the wireless station an invitation to connect, prompting the wireless station to begin to establish a connection according to a wireless communication protocol. | 01-29-2009 |
20090093956 | Transmitting location data in wireless networks - A wireless access point in a wireless network that may be adapted to transmit location data indicating its location to other devices within range, including other wireless access points and client devices. In some embodiments of the invention, the location data may be embedded in a control message or announcement transmission transmitted by the wireless access point, or other message conventionally used to broadcast network characteristics necessary for a client device to establish a connection to the wireless access point. In terms of the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) layered model of a network, layer 2 control messages, including beacons, probe responses, or other suitable transmissions may be used for control messages or announcement transmissions. The other wireless access points and client devices may receive the location data broadcast by the wireless access point without establishing a connection to the client device. Devices receiving the location data may use the received location data to determine their own locations, and may provide the determined locations to consumers of location data. | 04-09-2009 |
20090094111 | Advertising framework for wireless networks - An advertising framework for transmitting advertisements from wireless access points to client devices that need not be connected to the wireless access point. The client device can display the advertisements on a user interface of the client device. Such advertisements may be transmitted, for example, as part of a control message transmitted by a wireless access point of a wireless network, or other message conventionally used to broadcast network characteristics necessary for a client device to establish a connection to the wireless access point. In terms of the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) layered model of a network, layer 2 control messages, including announcement transmissions such as beacons, may be used for control messages. | 04-09-2009 |
20090154432 | COMPUTER RADIO WITH PRE-DEFINED CONFIGURATION SET - A computer with a software defined radio that can be configured based on a wireless technology specification. The computer may negotiate with a second computer that also includes a software defined radio to define a set of wireless technology specifications and trigger events indicating when each of the wireless technology specifications is to be used. As the computers communicate, if a trigger event occurs, both computers may reconfigure their software defined radios using a different specification in the set. By appropriately defining the wireless technology specifications in the set and the trigger events, the computers can operate with configurations that allow communication despite events that might otherwise disrupt communication between the computers. | 06-18-2009 |
20090156129 | SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO ARCHITECTURE - A computing device with a software defined radio. The software defined radio has an architecture with separate components to provide control functions and data processing functions. The control components configure the data processing components so that the software defined radio provides desired operating characteristics. To facilitate programming the software defined radio to communicate according to one or more wireless technologies, the computing device may include a library of wireless technology specifications. By accessing a technology specification in the library, the control components can determine an appropriate configuration of the data processing components for a selected wireless technology. The data processing components may be hardware or software and, if hardware and software components are available to perform a data processing function, the control components may select between the hardware and software components depending on throughput, processor loading or other criteria. | 06-18-2009 |
20090175182 | Differentiated service transmission parameters adaptation - Systems and methods are provided for transmitting data on a wireless network. Some embodiments provide a technique whereby a type is determined for the transmission, at least one metric is determined for the transmission based at least in part on the transmission type and/or an indication of conditions on the channel on which the transmission is to be performed, at least one transmission parameter to be used in performing the transmission is selected to optimize the at least one metric, and the data is transmitted in accordance with the at least one transmission parameter. | 07-09-2009 |
20090190535 | ORTHOGONAL FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS WITH CARRIER SENSE - A communication system in which an access point and one or more devices communicating through the access point adaptively apply Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA). The access point may assign orthogonal subcarriers to devices as in conventional OFDMA, but the access point senses activity on the subcarriers and selects subcarriers without activity for assignment. In an alternative approach, a device that is configured for OFDMA communication may receive a channel assignment from a device that does not support OFDMA. The OFDMA-capable device may use only a portion of the subcarriers in the assigned channel, which may be communicated to the non-OFDMA device. During the non-OFDMA device may then ignore unused subcarriers in error detection and correction to avoid incorrectly classifying communications as erroneous. Information about OFDMA capabilities, subcarrier assignments and subcarriers in use may be communicated as information elements in network control communications, such as beacons and probe messages. | 07-30-2009 |
20090214036 | AUTHENTICATION MECHANISMS FOR WIRELESS NETWORKS - Security techniques and security mechanisms for wireless networks that transmit content such as advertisements. According to exemplary techniques, control messages comprising unrequested content (e.g., advertisement data) may be transmitted in response to a request from a client device, while in other exemplary techniques the control messages may be transmitted without any request from a client device. In some exemplary implementations, security mechanisms such as public key cryptography algorithms may be used to secure transmissions. In some of these techniques which implement public key cryptography, a user may be required to retrieve a public key from a source other than the wireless access point transmitting encrypted advertisements (e.g., a sign or terminal in a commercial entity transmitting such advertisements, or from a web service), such that the user may confirm that the encrypted content is from a source matching the retrieved public key and thus confirm the authenticity of a wireless access point. | 08-27-2009 |
20090254924 | OPERATING SYSTEM INTERFACES FOR VIRTUAL WIFI AND SOFTAP CAPABLE DRIVERS - Some embodiments of the invention provide an interface between programmed instructions (e.g., an operating system) and a miniport driver configured to communicate with radio hardware on a computer. The interface may include components operable to invoke various wireless connectivity-related functionality implemented by the radio hardware and/or miniport driver. The functionality may, for example, include a capability whereby the computer may maintain simultaneous connections on a plurality of wireless networks using a single radio, and/or a capability whereby the computer may function as an access point for a wireless network. | 10-08-2009 |
20090290520 | WIRELESS NETWORK HOST IN SILENT MODE - An access point that implements operating modes in which beacons may be selectively disabled. Beacons may be disabled when no device is actively associated through the access point. Beacons may be enabled in response to one or more triggers, which may include events such as a client forming an association through the access point following a probe request message identifying the access point. In addition, active beaconing may be triggered by user input or may occur during periodic brief intervals that allow client devices to discover the network identifier for the access point. Selective control of beaconing may lead to more effective wireless communication, particularly in areas where users congregate with computers implementing soft APs for personal networks. | 11-26-2009 |
20100115278 | SUPPORT OF MULTIPLE PRE-SHARED KEYS IN ACCESS POINT - A method of operating an access point (AP) configured to support multiple pre-shared keys at a given time to authenticate its associated client devices. Each client device associated with the AP is provisioned with a key. To authenticate the client device tat attempts to connect to the AP, the AP determines which pre-shared key (PSK) of the multiple supported pre-shared keys (PSKs). if any, matches information including the key received from the client device. When the information matches, the client device is allowed to connect to the AP. Provisioning the AP with multiple PSKs allows selectively disconnecting associated client devices from the AP. The AP may be configured to support PSKs of different lifetime and complexity. Removing a PSK of the multiple PSKs supported by the AP and disconnecting a client device that uses this PSK does not disconnect other client devices using different keys to access the AP. | 05-06-2010 |
20100157960 | WIRELESS ACCESS POINT SUPPORTING CONTROL BY MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS - A computing device configurable as a wireless network access point that can be controlled from multiple applications. The computing device provides an interface through which applications may input commands to change the state of the access point. The interface responds to these commands and other events, such as association or disassociation of a wireless client, in a manner that does not disrupt the applications or devices using the access point. To determine an appropriate response to any event, the interface may maintain state information, including a count of the number of applications and/or wireless devices that have taken action indicating an operating state of the wireless access point. | 06-24-2010 |
20110064012 | WIRELESS SUPPORT FOR PORTABLE MEDIA PLAYER DEVICES - A portable media player device is capable of operating in a wireless network. The wireless portable media player device can bootstrap and synchronize with an ad hoc network with low power consumption. Neighbor portable media player devices in an ad hoc network can be discovered by the wireless portable media player device. The portable media player device can establish and terminate connections to neighbor portable media player devices. The portable media player device can transfer data in a high speed data transfer mode or a power save data transfer mode, while concurrently permitting discovery by other devices. The portable media player device operates in a power save mode during an inactive portion of a periodic discovery interval. | 03-17-2011 |
20110105094 | LOCATION INTEGRATION IN SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO - A computing device having a software defined radio (SDR) wireless network interface is automatically configured to support a wireless service in response to a request from the user to access the service. The computing device may determine the appropriate profile and obtain it by querying a remote database. The query may indicate the computing device's current location, though location information may alternatively be determined by a server coupled to the database. The communication profile is downloaded from the remote database using an existing or available network connection. The software defined radio is configured with the communication profile and is used to access an available wireless service. Content obtained from the wireless service is presented through a user interface of the computing device. | 05-05-2011 |
20110142014 | REMOTE WIRELESS SERVICE INVOCATION WITH EFFICIENT POWER USE ON TARGET WIRELESS DEVICE - A protocol for operation of wireless devices enables a wireless device to remotely and securely invoke a service on a target wireless device without requiring the user of the target wireless device to take any action and without requiring the target wireless device to use power unnecessarily. Mutual authentication is executed while the target wireless device remains in a low power discoverable mode. The discoverable mode includes discovery windows separated by inactive windows when the radio of the target wireless device is powered down. | 06-16-2011 |
20120014363 | SIMULTANEOUS WIRELESS SUPPORT IN SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO - A system and method for providing the ability to discover the capabilities of a user's computer to determine whether it is capable of supporting more than one wireless protocol simultaneously is provided. A computing device's capabilities (including, for example, hardware and/or software capabilities) is checked to determine if it supports at least two specific wireless protocols and checking a computing device's capabilities (including, for example, hardware and/or software capabilities) is checked to determine if it supports both wireless protocols simultaneously. The techniques for determining the computing device's compatibility may include comparing lists of protocol requirements to lists of system capabilities and/or generating test signals by the system according to the protocol. | 01-19-2012 |
20120022948 | ADVERTISING FRAMEWORK FOR WIRELESS NETWORKS - Discovery of services between devices is provided prior to establishing a connection between devices, including wireless-enabled devices or devices that are communicatively coupled to wireless access points or other wireless communication devices. Discovering services prior to establishing a connection may facilitate finding a desired service. The services that may be discovered may be, for example, print services, camera services, PDA services or any other suitable services. Services may be discovered using 802.11, Bluetooth, UWB or any other suitable wireless technology. A graphical user interface is provided that enables a user to select a desired service. | 01-26-2012 |
20130155980 | ORTHOGONAL FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS WITH CARRIER SENSE - A communication system in which an access point and one or more devices communicating through the access point adaptively apply Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA). The access point may assign orthogonal subcarriers to devices as in conventional OFDMA, but the access point senses activity on the subcarriers and selects subcarriers without activity for assignment. In an alternative approach, a device that is configured for OFDMA communication may receive a channel assignment from a device that does not support OFDMA. The OFDMA-capable device may use only a portion of the subcarriers in the assigned channel, which may be communicated to the non-OFDMA device. During the non-OFDMA device may then ignore unused subcarriers in error detection and correction to avoid incorrectly classifying communications as erroneous. Information about OFDMA capabilities, subcarrier assignments and subcarriers in use may be communicated as information elements in network control communications, such as beacons and probe messages. | 06-20-2013 |