NAN data beacon

An apparatus, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• at least one processor in communication with the memory;
• wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
• receive, during a cluster base window, data beacons from one or more neighboring wireless stations, wherein at least one of the data beacons comprises a time stamp, an indication of a neighboring wireless station's role within a data cluster, and an indication of the neighboring wireless station's state within the data cluster;
• synchronize timing with at least one of the one or more neighboring wireless stations based at least in part on the received data beacons;
• generate a first data beacon comprising a time stamp, an indication of a device role within a data cluster, an indication of a device state within the data cluster, and a data cluster identifier corresponding to the data cluster;
• initiate, at a start of the subsequent cluster base window, a random back off timer;
• determine that a number of data beacons received during a time period of the random back off timer exceeds a threshold;
• determine that content of the first data beacon includes only synchronization information;
• and
• determine, based on the received data beacons and content of the first data beacon, to suppress transmission of the first data beacon in the subsequent cluster base window.

A non-transitory computer readable memory medium storing program instructions executable by a processor of a wireless device to:

• synchronize timing with a peer wireless device based at least in part on one or more synchronization beacons received from the peer wireless device during a discovery window of a cluster base schedule;
• generate a data beacon comprising a time stamp, an indication of a device role within a data cluster, an indication of a device state within the data cluster, and a data cluster identifier corresponding to the data cluster;
• initiate, at a start of a subsequent discovery window, a random back off timer;
• determine a number of data beacons received from the peer wireless device and/or one or more neighboring wireless devices during a time period of the random back off timer;
• compare the number to a threshold;
• and
• determine, based on the number exceeding the threshold, to suppress transmission of the data beacon to at least one neighboring wireless device during the subsequent discovery window.