US 8,526,885 B2Granted

Peer-to-peer host station

AssigneeApple Inc.

InventorsGloria Lin, Amir Mahmood Mikhak, Taido Lantz Nakajima, Sean Anthony Mayo, Michael Rosenblatt

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Abstract

A method and system is disclosed for allowing the sharing of one or more system resources between multiple devices. In one embodiment, a requesting device transmits a resource access request to a target device using a near-field communication (NFC) protocol. The target device responds by using the NFC connection to return a listing of resources available for sharing to the requesting device. The requesting device may select one or more of the available resources and establish an appropriate connection to access the selected resource or resources. In one embodiment, the requesting device may lack external network connectivity capabilities while the target device includes wi-fi connectivity as a shared resource. Accordingly, the requesting device may access external network of the target device via the target as a conduit.

Claims19

Dependent claims

An electronic device, comprising:

a communication interface adapted to provide a plurality of network connections for connecting the electronic device to a plurality of networks;
a storage device to store a connection profile identifying at least a portion of the network connections sharable with other devices;
a near field communication (NFC) interface adapted to communicate with another device over an NFC field;
and
a connection manager configured to
receive a host connection request from a secondary device via the NFC interface,
in response to the host connection request, display in a display of the electronic device a list of the plurality of network connections, each of the network connections is associated with a selection button to allow a user of the electronic device to select which of the network connections to be shared with the secondary device, wherein each of the network connections further includes:
a first selectable option to specify that the associated network connection is only for tunneling to allow the secondary device to access an external network through the electronic device, and
a second selectable option to specify that the associated network connection is for both tunneling and file sharing to allow the secondary device to access an external network through the electronic device and to access files stored in the electronic device,
generate a connection profile based on user selections of the network connections and their options,
transmit the connection profile containing identifying information identifying the sharable network connections of the connection profile to the secondary device via the NFC interface,
receive a selection from the secondary device via the NFC interface selecting one of the sharable network connections, and
establish the selected network connection with the secondary device via the NFC interface to allow the secondary device to access a corresponding network via the communication interface based on user selections specified in the connection profile.

10 more elements

A method for wireless communication, comprising:

detecting that a first device has been placed adjacent to a second device;
initiating an NFC communication path between the first and the second devices comprising:
displaying in a display of the first device a list of the plurality of network connections, each of the network connections is associated with a selection button to allow a user of the electronic device to select which of the network connections to be shared with the second device, wherein each of the network connections further includes:
a first selectable option to specify that the associated network connection is only for tunneling to allow the second device to access an external network through the first device, and
a second selectable option to specify that the associated network connection is for both tunneling and file sharing to allow the second device to access an external network through the first device and to access files stored in the first device;
generate a connection profile based on user selections of the network connections and their options;
transmitting the connection profile to the second device to allow a user of the second device to select one of the network connections;
receiving at the first device a network connection from the second device via the NFC communication path, the requested network connection is one of a plurality of sharable network connections offered by the first device;
granting the second device access to an allowed network connection selected from the sharable network connections of the first device via a host connection shared by both the first and second devices via the NFC communication path;
and
communicating between the second device and an external network across the allowed network connection via the host connection over the first device based on configuration specified and selected by the user of the second device in the connection profile, wherein the communicating is initiated by the secondary device.

8 more elements

A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for wireless communication, the method comprising:

detecting that a first device has been placed adjacent to a second device;
initiating an NFC communication path between the first and the second devices comprising:
displaying in a display of the first device a list of the plurality of network connections, each of the network connections is associated with a selection button to allow a user of the electronic device to select which of the network connections to be shared with the second device, wherein each of the network connections further includes:
a first selectable option to specify that the associated network connection is only for tunneling to allow the second device to access an external network through the first device, and
a second selectable option to specify that the associated network connection is for both tunneling and file sharing to allow the second device to access an external network through the first device and to access files stored in the first device;
generate a connection profile based on user selections of the network connections and their options;
transmitting the connection profile to the second device to allow a user of the second device to select one of the network connections;
receiving at the first device a network connection from the second device via the NFC communication path, the requested network connection is one of a plurality of sharable network connections offered by the first device;
granting the second device access to an allowed network connection selected from the sharable network connections of the first device via a host connection shared by both the first and second devices via the NFC communication path;
and
communicating between the second device and an external network across the allowed network connection via the host connection over the first device based on configuration specified and selected by the user of the second device in the connection profile, wherein the communicating is initiated by the secondary device.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/286,483Filed 30 Sep 2008
Published: US 2010/0081385 A11 Apr 2010
Granted: 3 Sep 2013
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

H04W 4/80
Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor: services using short range communication, e.g. near-field…
H04M 1/72412
By interfacing with external accessories: using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
H04W 76/12
Connection setup: setup of transport tunnels
H04M 2250/04
Details of telephonic subscriber devices: including near field communication means, e.g. RFID