Systems and methods for pre-association discovery of services on a network

A wireless communications device configured to act as an access point in a wireless network, the device comprising:

• a memory configured to store one or more offered services, the offered services including services which are available through the access point;
• a receiver configured to:
• receive a service query from a wireless device, the service query multicast to a plurality of access points including the access point, the service query requesting information on one or more services offered on the network, and the service query comprising information indicating a number of similar service queries the wireless device has transmitted, as determined at the wireless device;
• determine a signal strength of a wireless connection to the wireless device, based at least in part on a signal strength of the received service query;
• determine whether the one or more services in the service query are included in the one or more offered services in the memory;
• compare the signal strength of the wireless connection to a threshold signal strength value, wherein the threshold signal strength value is dynamically determined based, at least in part, on the number of similar service queries the wireless device has transmitted, and wherein the threshold signal strength value is lowered or maintained for each subsequent received similar service query;
• and
• a transmitter configured to selectively respond to the service query from the wireless device based at least in part on the signal strength of the wireless connection as, compared to the threshold signal strength value and based on whether the one or more services in the service query are included in the one or more offered services in the memory.

A wireless communications device configured to act as an access point in a wireless network, the device comprising:

• means for storing one or more offered services in a memory, the offered services including services which are available through the access point;
• means for receiving a service query from a wireless device, the service query multicast to a plurality of access points including the access point, the service query requesting information on one or more services offered on the network, and the service query comprising information indicating a number of similar service queries the wireless device has transmitted, as determined at the wireless device;
• means for determining a signal strength of a wireless connection to the wireless device, based at least in part on the received service query;
• means for determining whether the one or more services in the service query are included in the one or more offered services in the memory;
• means for comparing the signal strength of the wireless connection to a threshold signal strength value, wherein the threshold signal strength value is based, at least in part, on the number of similar service queries the wireless device has transmitted, and wherein the threshold signal strength value is lowered or maintained for each subsequent received similar service query;
• and
• means for selectively responding to the service query from the wireless device based at least in part on the signal strength of the wireless connection as compared to the threshold signal strength value and based on whether the one or more services in the service query are included in the one or more offered services in the memory.

A non-transitory computer storage that stores executable program instructions that direct a wireless communications device to perform a process that comprises:

• storing one or more offered services in a memory, the offered services including services which are available through the access point;
• receiving a service query from a wireless device, the service query multicast to a plurality of access points including the access point, the service query requesting information on one or more services offered on the network, and the service query comprising information indicating a number of similar service queries the wireless device has transmitted, as determined at the wireless device;
• determining a signal strength of a wireless connection to the wireless device, based at least in part on the received service query;
• determining whether the one or more services in the service query are included in the one or more offered services in the memory;
• comparing the signal strength of the wireless connection to a threshold signal strength value, wherein the threshold signal strength value is dynamically determined based, at least in part, on the number of similar service queries the wireless device has transmitted, and wherein the threshold signal strength value is lowered or maintained for each subsequent received similar service query;
• and
• selectively responding to the service query from the wireless device based at least in part on the signal strength of the wireless connection as compared to the threshold signal strength value and based on whether the one or more services in the service query are included in the one or more offered services in the memory.