System and method for managing roles in a peer-to-peer connection

1. A method comprising:

discovering, at a first electronic device, a second electronic device available for a peer-to-peer connection;

determining, for the first electronic device and prior to assuming a group role in the peer-to-peer connection, a group owner intent value based on an amount of power drawn by a hardware component running on the first electronic device over a given period of time;

receiving a group owner intent value for the second electronic device;

comparing the determined group owner intent value with the received group owner intent value for the second electronic device; and

assuming the group role in the peer-to-peer connection based on the comparing of the determined group owner intent value and the received group owner intent value for the second electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the group owner intent value is further based on whether the first electronic device is battery powered.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the group owner intent value is further based on whether the first electronic device is in a charging state.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the group owner intent value for the first electronic device is determined to have a maximum group owner intent value if the first electronic device is not battery powered, or if the first electronic device is battery powered and is in the charging state.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the group owner intent value is further based on a number of operations running on the first electronic device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the group owner intent value is further based on a number of processor cores of a multi-core processor of the first electronic device that are in use.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the group owner intent value comprises:

determining remaining battery power if the first electronic device is battery powered and not in a charging state; and

calculating the group owner intent value for the first electronic device based on the remaining battery power if the first electronic device is battery powered and not in a charging state.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein a client role is assumed in the peer-to-peer connection if the determined group owner intent value is less than the received group owner intent value for the second electronic device, and

wherein an owner role in the peer-to-peer connection is assumed if the determined group owner intent value is greater than the received group owner intent value for the second electronic device.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

applying a tie-breaker algorithm to determine the group role in the peer-to-peer connection if the determined group owner intent value is equal to the group owner intent value for the second electronic device.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying the second electronic device as a group client in the peer-to-peer connection if the determined group owner intent value is greater than the received group owner intent value for the second electronic device; and

identifying the second electronic device as a group owner in the peer-to-peer connection if the determined group owner intent value is less than the received group owner intent value for the second electronic device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein communication between the first electronic device and the second electronic device is based on Wi-Fi Direct.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the group owner intent value is further based on a number of applications running on the hardware component.

13. A device comprising:

at least one processor circuit configured to:

discover, at a first electronic device, a second electronic device available for a peer-to-peer connection;

determine a group owner intent value based on one or more power characteristics of the first electronic device, the one or more power characteristics comprising a number of processor cores of a multi-core processor of the first electronic device that are in use;

receive a group owner intent value for the second electronic device;

compare the determined group owner intent value with the received group owner intent value for the second electronic device;

assume a client role in the peer-to-peer connection if the determined group owner intent value is less than the received group owner intent value for the second electronic device;

assume an owner role in the peer-to-peer connection if the determined group owner intent value is greater than the received group owner intent value for the second electronic device; and

apply a tie-breaker algorithm to determine a group role in the peer-to-peer connection if the determined group owner intent value is equal to the group owner intent value for the second electronic device.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein one of the one or more power characteristics is an indication of whether the first electronic device is battery powered.

15. The device of claim 13 , wherein one of the one or more power characteristics is an indication of whether the first electronic device is in a charging state.

16. The device of claim 13 , wherein one of the one or more power characteristics is a number of applications that run on the first electronic device.

17. The device of claim 13 , wherein one of the one or more power characteristics of the first electronic device is a total number of processor cores in the first electronic device.

18. The device of claim 17 , wherein the total number of processor cores is greater than the number of processor cores in use.

19. A computer program product comprising instructions stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the instructions comprising:

instructions to discover, at a first electronic device, a second electronic device available for a peer-to-peer connection;

instructions to receive a group owner intent value for the second electronic device;

instructions to select a maximum group owner intent value for a group owner intent value for the first electronic device if the first electronic device is not battery powered;

instructions to determine if the first electronic device is in a charging state when the first electronic device is battery powered;

instructions to select the maximum group owner intent value for the group owner intent value for the first electronic device if the first electronic device is in the charging state;

instructions to determine remaining battery power if the first electronic device is battery powered and not in the charging state;

instructions to calculate a group owner intent value for the first electronic device based on the remaining battery power and a number of applications running on the first electronic device if the first electronic device is battery powered and not in the charging state;

instructions to designate the calculated group owner intent value for the first electronic device as the group owner intent value for the first electronic device if the first electronic device is battery powered and not in the charging state;

instructions to compare the group owner intent value for the first electronic device with the received group owner intent value for the second electronic device; and

instructions to assume a group role in the peer-to-peer connection based on the compare of the group owner intent value for the first electronic device and the received group owner intent value for the second electronic device.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the instructions to calculate the group owner intent value for the first electronic device based on the remaining battery power and the number of applications running on the first electronic device further comprise instructions to calculate, by the first electronic device, the group owner intent value for the first electronic device based on the remaining battery power, the number of applications running on the first electronic device, and an amount of power drawn by a number of processor cores of a multi-core processor of the first electronic device that are in use.