Activating a peer-to-peer communication channel

1. A computing system comprising:

a network interface controller configured to communicate over an infrastructure communication channel; and

a processor in communication with the network interface controller, the processor configured to:

identify a peer device that is addressable over the infrastructure communication channel and is associated with an inactive peer-to-peer communication channel; and

use the network interface controller to transmit a network packet over the infrastructure communication channel to the peer device causing an activation sequence of the inactive peer-to-peer communication channel to be initiated, and wherein an address of the peer device over the infrastructure communication channel is received in response to forming a connection with the peer device over the peer-to-peer communication channel.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the network packet is a magic packet comprising a media access control address of the peer device over the infrastructure channel, and the activation sequence comprises transitioning the peer device from a lower power state to a higher power state.

3. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the network packet comprises a command to remotely launch a software application that activates the peer-to-peer communication channel associated with the peer device.

4. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the inactive peer-to-peer communication channel associated with the peer device is a Wi-Fi Direct channel.

5. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein identifying the peer device comprises searching a data structure identifying most recently used peer devices.

6. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein identifying the peer device comprises identifying a device identifier associated with the infrastructure communication channel and the inactive peer-to-peer communication channel.

7. The computing system of claim 6 , wherein the device identifier is received in response to forming a connection with the peer device over the peer-to-peer communication channel.

8. The computing system of claim 6 , wherein identifying the device identifier associated with the infrastructure communication channel and the inactive peer-to-peer communication channel comprises accessing a remote directory accessible over the infrastructure communication channel.

9. A method of initiating peer-to-peer communications between a transmitting device and a receiving device over an inactive first communication channel, the method comprising:

determining an address associated with a second communication channel of the receiving device, wherein determining the address associated with the second communication channel of the receiving device comprises caching a device identifier associated with the receiving device when the first communication channel is active;

transmitting a packet addressed to the receiving device over the second communication channel to cause the receiving device to begin a sequence to activate the first communication channel; and

initiating communication over the first communication channel from the transmitting device to the receiving device at a different address associated with the first communication channel.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first communication channel is a Miracast channel and the second communication channel is an infrastructure IEEE 802.11 channel.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the transmitted packet comprises a command to a remote launch service executing on the receiving device.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the address associated with the second communication channel is a media access control address of the receiving device.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the transmitted packet is a magic packet comprising the media access control address of the receiving device, and the magic packet is configured to wake the receiving device.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the device identifier associated with the receiving device is received in response to a request to form a peer-to-peer connection between the transmitting device and the receiving device.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein initiating communication over the first communication channel from the transmitting device to the receiving device comprises sending a packet addressed to the different address over the first communication channel.

16. A method of initiating peer-to-peer communications between a transmitting device and a receiving device, the method comprising:

at the receiving device, receiving a remote-launch command from the transmitting device to activate a peer-to-peer communication channel, the remote-launch command addressed to an address of the receiving device associated with a communication channel different than the peer-to-peer communication channel;

in response to receiving the remote-launch command, enabling the receiving device to participate in a discovery protocol with the transmitting device to determine properties of the peer-to-peer communication channel;

at the receiving device, receiving a request from the transmitting device to form a connection over a peer-to-peer communication channel; and

transmitting a response to the request over the peer-to-peer communication channel, the response comprising a device identifier of the receiving device that is common to the peer-to-peer communication channel and the communication channel different than the peer-to-peer communication channel.

17. A method of initiating peer-to-peer communications between a transmitting device and a receiving device, the method comprising:

at the receiving device, receiving a remote-launch command from the transmitting device to activate a peer-to-peer communication channel, the remote-launch command addressed to an address of the receiving device associated with a communication channel different than the peer-to-peer communication channel;

in response to receiving the remote-launch command, enabling the receiving device to participate in a discovery protocol with the transmitting device to determine properties of the peer-to-peer communication channel;

at the receiving device, receiving a request from the transmitting device to form a connection over a peer-to-peer communication channel; and

transmitting a response to the request over the peer-to-peer communication channel, the response comprising the address of the receiving device associated with the communication channel different than the peer-to-peer communication channel.