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US 8,411,662 B1Granted
Beacon based proximity services
AssigneePico Mobile Networks, Inc.
InventorsSaran Saund, Paul A. Lambert
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention includes additional uses for the SSID of the IEEE 802.11 beacon to include reliable and secure capability encoding. The SSID in the system can be controlled by applications and transmitted with periodic broadcasting or point to point communication, so interoperable communication of application or user preferences/capabilities/membership can be transmitted and quickly determined by peers.
Claims17
A system comprising:
- a plurality of wireless devices configured for wireless communication in a wireless network, wherein the wireless network is compliant with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard,
- wherein a beacon is respectively transmittable by each of the plurality of wireless devices, wherein the beacon contains a service set identifier (SSID) that
- i) identifies the wireless network, and
- ii) is encoded to include a capability or a preference of the wireless device transmitting the beacon, and
- wherein in response to a first wireless device of the plurality of wireless devices receiving a beacon containing the service set identifier (SSID) from a second wireless device of the plurality of wireless devices, the first wireless device transmits the service set identifier (SSID) to a central server,
- wherein, responsive to receiving the service set identifier (SSID), the central server is configured to
- i) decode the service set identifier (SSID) to retrieve the capability or the preference of the second wireless device as encoded into the service set identifier (SSID), and
- ii) transmit, to the first wireless device, the capability or the preference of the second wireless device.
5 more elements
A system comprising:
- N wireless devices configured for communication in a wireless network, wherein the wireless network is compliant with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, wherein N is an integer greater than 1,
- wherein a first wireless device of the N wireless devices is configured to transmit a beacon, wherein the beacon includes a service set identifier (SSID) that
- i) identifies the wireless network, and
- ii) is encoded to include a capability or a preference of the first wireless device,
- wherein, in response to a second wireless device of the N wireless devices receiving the beacon containing the service set identifier (SSID) from the first wireless device, the second wireless device is configured to transmit the service set identifier (SSID) to a central server, and
- wherein, responsive to receiving the service set identifier (SSID) from the second wireless device, the central server is configured to
- i) decode the service set identifier (SSID) to retrieve the capability or the preference of the first wireless device as encoded into the service set identifier (SSID), and
- ii) transmit, to the second wireless device, the capability or the preference of the first wireless device.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving, at a first wireless device, a beacon transmitted from a second wireless device, wherein the beacon is transmitted from the second wireless device to the first wireless device through a wireless network that is compliant with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, and wherein the beacon is encoded to include a capability or a preference of the second wireless device;
- transmitting the service set identifier (SSID) from the first wireless device to a central server, wherein the service set identifier (SSID) is decodable by the central server to retrieve the capability or the reference of the second wireless device as encoded into the service set identifier (SSID);
- and
- subsequent to transmitting the service set service set identifier (SSID) from the first wireless device to a central server, receiving, at the first wireless device, the capability or the preference of the second wireless device from the central server.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.