Methods and appartus for transmitting data between different peer-to-peer communication groups

A method of transmitting data between different peer-to-peer communication groups, the method comprising:

• determining if a wireless device is simultaneously connected to a plurality of peer-to-peer communication groups;
• instantiating a first bridge interface to transmit data between each peer-to-peer communication group in the plurality of peer-to-peer communication groups if the wireless device is simultaneously connected to the plurality of peer-to-peer communication groups, the first bridge interface being at the wireless device;
• determining if the wireless device is simultaneously connected to at least one peer-to-peer communication device and an access point;
• determining if the access point includes a second bridge interface;
• and
• instantiating the first bridge interface to transmit data between the at least one peer-to-peer communication device and the access point if (i) the wireless device is simultaneously connected to the least one peer-to-peer communication device and the access point, and (ii) the access point does not include the second bridge interface.

An apparatus for transmitting data between different peer-to-peer communication groups, the apparatus comprising:

• a radio frequency transceiver;
• and
• a controller, operatively coupled to the radio frequency receiver, the controller being structured to:
• connect to a first peer-to-peer communication group via a first peer-to-peer group owner;
• connect to a second different peer-to-peer communication group via a second peer-to-peer group owner;
• dynamically determine to instantiate a bridge interface to transmit data between the first peer-to-peer communication group and the second peer-to-peer communication group;
• and
• filter peer-to-peer traffic between the first peer-to-peer communication group and the second peer-to-peer communication group based on a class of traffic.

A method of transmitting data between different peer-to-peer communication groups, the method comprising:

• broadcasting a message indicative of a peer-to-peer group owner functionality from an access point;
• instantiating a bridge interface to transmit data between a first wireless device and a network infrastructure, wherein the first wireless device is a member of a peer-to-peer communication group;
• and
• filtering peer-to-peer traffic from a second different wireless device not directly associated with the access point.

A method of transmitting data between different Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communication groups, the method comprising:

• determining if a wireless device is simultaneously connected to a plurality of Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communication groups, wherein a plurality of devices in the plurality of Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communication groups are each members of the same Internet Protocol (IP) subnet;
• instantiating a first bridge interface to transmit data between each Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communication group in the plurality of Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communication groups if the wireless device is simultaneously connected to the plurality of Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communication groups, the first bridge interface being at the wireless device, the first bridge interface being a first Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) Routing Bridge (RBridge) interface;
• determining if the wireless device is simultaneously connected to at least one Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communication device and an access point, wherein the access point is assigned at least two Internet Protocol (IP) addresses;
• determining if the access point includes a second bridge interface, the second bridge interface being a second Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) Routing Bridge (RBridge) interface;
• instantiating the first bridge interface to transmit data between the at least one Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communication device and the access point if (i) the wireless device is simultaneously connected to the least one Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communication device and the access point, and (ii) the access point does not include the second bridge interface;
• and
• instantiating the second bridge interface to transmit data between the wireless device and a network infrastructure if (i) the wireless device is simultaneously connected to the least one Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communication device and the access point, and (ii) the access point includes the second bridge interface.