Method, apparatus, and computer program product for wireless network discovery through passive and active scanning

1. A method, comprising:

determining, at a wireless device, whether to perform passive or active scanning;

transmitting a wireless generic advertisement service request specifying one or more required characteristics of a transmitting device, if the determination is to perform active scanning;

passively listening for one or more wireless generic advertisement service responses sent to a broadcast address by one or more wireless devices, the responses including one or more required characteristics of a passive listening device, if the determination is to perform passive scanning; and

receiving one or more wireless generic advertisement service responses sent to a broadcast address by one or more wireless devices having the characteristics specified in the transmitted request;

wherein said determining further comprises:

creating a random value;

comparing the random value with a selection value; and

choosing whether to perform passive or active scanning based on the comparison of the random value with the selection value.

2. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

determine whether to perform passive or active scanning;

transmit a wireless generic advertisement service request specifying one or more required characteristics of a transmitting device, if the determination is to perform active scanning;

passively listen for one or more wireless generic advertisement service responses sent to a broadcast address by one or more wireless devices, the responses including one or more required characteristics of a passive listening device, if the determination is to perform passive scanning; and

receive one or more wireless generic advertisement service responses sent to a broadcast address by one or more wireless devices having the characteristics specified in the transmitted request;

wherein said determining further comprises:

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

create a random value;

compare the random value with a selection value; and

choose whether to perform passive or active scanning based on the comparison of the random value with the selection value.

3. A method, comprising:

determining, at a wireless device, whether to perform passive or active scanning;

transmitting a wireless generic advertisement service request specifying one or more required characteristics of a transmitting device, if the determination is to perform active scanning;

passively listening for one or more wireless generic advertisement service responses sent to a broadcast address by one or more wireless devices, the responses including one or more required characteristics of a passive listening device, if the determination is to perform passive scanning;

receiving one or more wireless generic advertisement service responses sent to a broadcast address by one or more wireless devices having the characteristics specified in the transmitted request;

creating a random value with a random value a random number generator y=R(x)mod z, with R being the random number generator with a seed value input x, and z an integer;

performing active scanning when the random number y compares with a selection value; and

if the random number y is not equal to the selection value, then performing passive scanning for all other values of the random number.

4. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

determine whether to perform passive or active scanning;

transmit a wireless generic advertisement service request specifying one or more required characteristics of a transmitting device, if the determination is to perform active scanning;

passively listen for one or more wireless generic advertisement service responses sent to a broadcast address by one or more wireless devices, the responses including one or more required characteristics of a passive listening device, if the determination is to perform passive scanning;

receive one or more wireless generic advertisement service responses sent to a broadcast address by one or more wireless devices having the characteristics specified in the transmitted request;

create a random value with a random value a random number generator y=R(x)mod z, with R being the random number generator with a seed value input x, and z an integer;

perform active scanning when the random number y compares with a selection value; and

if the random number y is not equal to the selection value, then perform passive scanning for all other values of the random number.

5. A computer program product comprising computer executable program code recorded on a computer readable, non-transitory storage medium, the computer executable program code, when executed by a computer processor, comprising:

code for determining, at a wireless device, whether to perform passive or active scanning;

code for transmitting a wireless generic advertisement service request specifying one or more required characteristics of a transmitting device, if the determination is to perform active scanning;

code for passively listening for one or more wireless generic advertisement service responses sent to a broadcast address by one or more wireless devices, the responses including one or more required characteristics of a passive listening device, if the determination is to perform passive scanning;

code for receiving one or more wireless generic advertisement service responses sent to a broadcast address by one or more wireless devices having the characteristics specified in the transmitted request;

code for creating a random value with a random value a random number generator y=R(x)mod z, with R being the random number generator with a seed value input x, and z an integer;

code for performing active scanning when the random number y compares with a selection value; and

code for if the random number y is not equal to the selection value, then performing passive scanning for all other values of the random number.