Granted Patent B2

US 9,426,228 · App. 13/128,607 · Granted Aug 23, 2016

Abstract

Claims (66)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a reporting apparatus, a first service discovery message indicating that an offering apparatus has made a service available only to peer entities joined to a wireless network; and

in response to receiving the first message, transmitting, by the reporting apparatus, in a second service discovery message that is available to non-peer entities not joined to the wireless network, information about the services available from the offering apparatus and at least one of:

location information about the offering apparatus; and

link metric information about a path through the wireless network to the offering apparatus;

wherein the second discovery message includes an information element carrying the location information and the link metric information includes the number of hops from the reporting apparatus to the offering apparatus;

wherein the information about the services in the message comprises information selected from a set {device type, service type and device identifier}, where device type and device identifier are for the offering apparatus and service type is for the available service; and

wherein the message comprises:

the location information about the offering apparatus;

the link metric information about the path through the wireless network to the offering apparatus; and

information about the reporting apparatus, the information selected from the set {device type and device identifier} for the reporting apparatus and,

for the case where the apparatus also makes an additional service available to entities joined to the wireless network, the message further comprises service type for the additional service offered by the offering apparatus.

2. A method according claim 1 , wherein determining that an offering apparatus has made a service available is from a received message.

3. A method according to claim 2 , further comprising a probe request and receiving in response to the sent probe request a probe response that comprises the received message.

4. A method according to claim 2 , wherein the received message further comprises the location information about the offering apparatus.

5. A method according to claim 2 , wherein the message is received from an interim apparatus through which passes the path through the wireless network to the offering apparatus.

6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the message comprises:

information about each service made available to entities joined to the wireless network by each offering apparatus that is within the wireless network;

and at least one of:

location information about each of the offering apparatuses; and

link metric information about at least one path through the wireless network to each of the offering apparatuses.

7. The method according to claim 6 , executed by the reporting apparatus that is configured to send the message, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the reporting apparatus, at least one message that carries initial link metric information about at least one path through the wireless network to each of the offering apparatuses; and

updating, by the reporting apparatus, each of the initial link metric information to account for an added multi-hop through the apparatus or a reduced multi-hop due to presence of the apparatus in the at least one path;

wherein the link metric information that is placed in the message is the updated link metric information.

8. A method according to claim 1 in which the wireless network comprises a mesh or ad-hoc wireless local area network.

9. A memory storing a program of computer-readable instructions executable by a processor to perform actions comprising:

receiving, by a reporting apparatus, a first service discovery message indicating that an offering apparatus has made a service available only to peer entities joined to a wireless network; and

in response to receiving the first message, transmitting, by the reporting apparatus, in a second service discovery message that is available to non-peer entities not joined to the wireless network, information about the services available from the offering apparatus and at least one of:

location information about the offering apparatus; and

link metric information about a path through the wireless network to the offering apparatus;

wherein the second discovery message includes an information element carrying the location information and the link metric information includes the number of hops from the reporting apparatus to the offering apparatus;

wherein the information about the services in the message comprises information selected from a set {device type, service type and device identifier}, where device type and device identifier are for the offering apparatus and service type is for the available service; and

wherein the message comprises:

the location information about the offering apparatus;

the link metric information about the path through the wireless network to the offering apparatus; and

information about the reporting apparatus, the information selected from the set {device type and device identifier} for the reporting apparatus and

for the case where the apparatus also makes an additional service available to entities joined to the wireless network, the message further comprises service type for the additional service offered by the offering apparatus.

10. A memory according to claim 9 , wherein determining that an offering apparatus has made a service available is from a message received from the offering apparatus.

11. A reporting apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to receive a first service discovery message indicating that an offering apparatus has made a service available only to peer entities joined to a wireless network; and

a management entity configured to, in response to receiving the first service discovery message, transmitting in a second service discovery message that is available to non-peer entities not joined to the wireless network, information about the services available from the offering apparatus and at least one of:

location information about the offering apparatus; and

link metric information about a path through the wireless network to the offering apparatus;

wherein the second discovery message includes an information element carrying the location information and the link metric information includes the number of hops from the reporting apparatus to the offering apparatus;

wherein the information about the services in the message comprises information selected from a set {device type, service type and device identifier}, where device type and device identifier are for the offering apparatus and service type is for the available service; and

wherein the message comprises:

the location information about the offering apparatus;

the link metric information about the path through the wireless network to the offering apparatus; and

information about the reporting apparatus, the information selected from the set {device type and device identifier} for the reporting apparatus and,

for the case where the apparatus also makes an additional service available to entities joined to the wireless network, the message further comprises service type for the additional service offered by the offering apparatus.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to determine that the offering apparatus has made the service available from a message received at a receiver of the apparatus.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising a transmitter configured to send a probe request, and wherein the receiver is configured to receive a probe response which comprises the received message in response to the sent probe request.

14. An apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the received message further comprises the location information about the offering apparatus.

15. An apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the message is received from an interim apparatus through which passes the path through the wireless network to the offering apparatus.

16. An apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the message comprises:

information about each service made available to entities joined to the wireless network by each offering apparatus that is within the wireless network;

and at least one of:

location information about each of the offering apparatuses; and

link metric information about at least one path through the wireless network to each of the offering apparatuses.

17. An apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the apparatus comprises an apparatus which further comprises:

a transmitter configured to send the message;

a receiver configured to receive at least one message that carries initial link metric information about at least one path through the wireless network to each of the offering apparatuses; and

the processor configured to update each of the initial link metric information to account for an added multi-hop through the apparatus or a reduced multi-hop due to presence of the apparatus in the at least one path;

wherein the management entity is configured to place in the message the updated link metric information.

18. An apparatus according to claim 11 in which the wireless network comprises a mesh or ad-hoc wireless local area network.

Assignments (12)