# US 10,455,632 B2 · Dynamic identification of network connection preferences > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,455,632 B2 - Document ID: US10455632B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/426,928 - Filed: 2017-02-07 - Published: 2018-05-31 - Granted: 2019-10-22 - Earliest claimed: 2016-11-30 - Assignees: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC - Applicants: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC - Inventors: Drew Baron; Vishal Mhatre; Yatharth Gupta; Gianluigi Nusca - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10455632B2 ## CPC - H04W 76/14: Direct-mode setup - H04W 8/005: {Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals} - H04W 48/16: Discovering, processing access restriction or access information - H04W 48/12: using downlink control channel - H04W 88/08: Access point devices - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract Methods and apparatus are disclosed for device discovery, pairing, and transmission of audio and video media, using preference data shared between a media sender/source node and a media receiver/sink node. In some examples of the disclosed technology, a sink node sends, via a peer-to-peer wireless communication path, a discovery message to a source node comprising a preference indication including an indication of a first one of two communication paths to use for the establishing a connection. The sink node receives a request to establish a connection between the sink node and the source node based on the indicated preference. Based on the received request, the sink node establishes a connection between the sink node and the source node. A selected communication path (e.g., peer-to-peer wireless or wireless infrastructure) can be indicated as preferred, along with additional parameters for the media connection. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method comprising: with a sink node adapted to receive data via a wireless peer-to-peer communication path: via the peer-to-peer wireless communication path, sending a discovery message to a source node comprising a preference indication including an indication of a first one of two communication paths to use for establishing a connection; receiving a request to establish a connection between the sink node and the source node, the request being based on the indicated preference; and based on the received request, establishing a connection between the sink node and the source node. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the two communication paths comprise a wireless infrastructure connection from the source node to a wireless access point and a peer-to-peer wireless communication path. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the discovery message is sent via a third communication path that is not either one of the two communication paths. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the preference indication is selected based on a quality measurement for one or more of the communication paths. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the peer-to-peer wireless communication path comprises WiFi Direct, Bluetooth, or near field communication. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the sending the discovery message comprises the sink node sending beacon messages comprising the indicated preference. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the indicated preference is selected based on past usage of the sink node or the source node. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the indicated preference is selected based on whether the source node is determined to be associated with a trusted device. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: with the source node: receiving the discovery message from the sink node; based on the preference indication, sending the request to establish the connection; and sending one or more of the following to the sink node via the first communication path: video stream data, audio stream data, or user interface data. ### Claim 10 A method comprising: with a sink node connected to a video display, transmitting a connection preference to a source node via wireless communication, the connection preference indicating which of a plurality of communication paths are preferred for sending video from the source node to the sink node; establishing a pairing connection for receiving video data from the source node via wireless communication, wherein at least one property of the pairing connection is selected based on the transmitted connection preference; and receiving video data from the source node using the established pairing connection and displaying the video data with the video display. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the communication paths include at least one or more of the following: a peer-to-peer wireless communication path, an infrastructure wireless path, an optical path, a near field communication path, or an audio path. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the connection preference is encoded in an information element sent in a peer-to-peer or mDNS packet. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the connection preference is encoded in a broadcast message transmitted by the sink node. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, further comprising: determining whether the source node is assigned to a privileged group of users, wherein the connection preference is based on the determining. ### Claim 15 A system, comprising: (1) a source node, comprising: a wireless network interface, a video encoder configured to transmit encoded video via the wireless network interface, memory, and a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the source node memory that when executed cause the source node to perform a method of transmitting video, the source node instructions comprising: instructions to receive preference data from a sink node encoded in a peer-to-peer protocol with the wireless network interface; instructions to send a request to establish a connection to the sink node, the request being based at least in part on the preference data, and instructions to establish a connection between the source node and the sink node; and (2) the sink node, comprising: a wireless network interface configured to receive data from the source node wireless network interface encoded according to the peer-to-peer protocol, a display interface, a video decoder configured to decode video received from the source node and transmit the decoded video to the sink node display interface, memory, and a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in the sink node memory that when executed cause the sink node to perform a method of displaying video, the sink node instructions comprising: instructions to evaluate two or more communication paths to the source node, the preference data including information to establish a connection to the sink node via each of the two or more communication paths, and instructions to send the preference data to the source node. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, further comprising a display coupled to the sink node display interface, wherein the sink node instructions further comprise: instructions to evaluate configuration data stored in the sink node memory and select the preference data based on the configuration data. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, further comprising: a wireless access point coupled to the sink node via a wired network connection, wherein peer-to-peer protocol communication is sent directly to a sink node wireless network interface.