Methods and Apparatus for Transmitting Service Information in a Neighborhood of Peer-to-Peer Communication Groups

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for transmitting service information in a neighborhood of peer-to-peer communication groups are disclosed. A peer-to-peer client device connects to a peer-to-peer communication group via a peer-to-peer group owner. The peer-to-peer client generates a service notification including a category and a sub-category and transmits the service notification to the first peer-to-peer group owner. The first peer-to-peer group owner then forwards the service notification (a) to a first group member that is associated with the category and the sub-category, and (b) to a second group member that is identified as a first bridge and is associated with the category.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for transmitting service information in a neighborhood of peer-to-peer communication groups, the method comprising:
 at a first peer-to-peer electronic device, wherein the neighborhood includes at least a first peer-to-peer communication group of electronic devices:
 communicatively coupling to the first peer-to-peer communication group via the first group owner electronic device of the first peer-to-peer communication group, wherein the first peer-to-peer communication group of electronic devices are coupled to a second peer-to-peer communication group of electronic device via a first bridge electronic device; 
 generating a service notification including a category and a sub-category related to a requested service, wherein the service notification is configured to solicit a response from client electronic devices, in the neighborhood, based on the category and the sub-category; 
 in accordance with a determination that the first bridge electronic device between the first and second peer-to-peer communication groups is associated with at least the category:
 transmitting the service notification from the first peer-to-peer electronic device to the first bridge electronic device via the first group owner electronic device; and 
 receiving a response message from the first bridge electronic device via the first group owner electronic device, wherein the response message includes addressing information indicating an address return path to the first peer-to-peer electronic device. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprises, for each member device in the first peer-to-peer communication group:
 in accordance with a determination that the respective member device is associated with both the category and the sub-category, forwarding the service notification to the respective member device in the first peer-to-peer communication group via the first group owner device.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first bridge electronic device is a group owner device of the second peer-to-peer communication group. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first bridge electronic device is configured to add the addressing information to the service notification, further comprising:
 in accordance with a determination that a neighboring group owner electronic device of the second peer-to-peer communication group is associated with at least the category in the service notification, forwarding the service notification to the neighboring group owner electronic device via the first bridge electronic device.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising, for each member device in the second peer-to-peer communication group:
 in accordance with a determination that the respective member device in the second peer-to-peer communication group is associated with both the category and the sub-category in the service notification, forwarding the service notification to the respective member device in the second peer-to-peer communication group via the neighboring group owner electronic device.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 forwarding the service notification to a second bridge electronic device to a third peer-to-peer communication group of electronic devices from the neighboring group owner electronic device, in accordance with a determination that the second bridge electronic device is associated with at least the category in the service notification.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the second bridge electronic device is coupled to the first peer-to-peer electronic device at least via the Internet or via the first and second peer-to-peer communication groups. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 removing by the neighboring group owner electronic device duplicate service notifications.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the service notification includes an action associated with at least one of the category and the subcategory. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the service notification includes a group identifier and a device identifier. 
     
     
         11 . An apparatus for transmitting service information in a neighborhood of peer-to-peer communication groups, wherein the neighborhood includes at least a first peer-to-peer communication group of electronic devices, the apparatus comprising:
 a plurality of radio frequency transceivers; and   at least one controller, operatively coupled to the plurality of radio frequency transceivers, the at least one controller being configured to, at a first peer-to-peer electronic device:
 communicatively couple to the first peer-to-peer communication group via the first group owner electronic device of the first peer-to-peer communication group, wherein the first peer-to-peer communication group of electronic devices are coupled to a second peer-to-peer communication group of electronic device via a first bridge electronic device; 
 generate a service notification including a category and a sub-category related to a requested service, wherein the service notification is configured to solicit a response from client electronic devices, in the neighborhood, based on the category and the sub-category; and 
 in accordance with a determination that the first bridge electronic device between the first and second peer-to-peer communication groups is associated with at least the category:
 transmit the service notification from the first peer-to-peer electronic device to the first bridge electronic device via the first group owner electronic device; and 
 receive a response message from the first bridge electronic device via the first group owner electronic device, wherein the response message includes addressing information indicating an address return path to the first peer-to-peer electronic device. 
 
   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one controller includes one or more of an application specific integrated circuit, a state machine, a field programmable gate array, and a digital signal processors. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the first bridge electronic device comprises a Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) Routing Bridge (RBridge) interface. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the first bridge electronic device is associated with the category when at least one member of the second peer-to-peer communication group of electronic devices is interested in or can provide the requested service in the category. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the first bridge electronic device is configured to add the addressing information to the service notification, and the at least one controller is further configured to:
 in accordance with a determination that a neighboring group owner electronic device of the second peer-to-peer communication group is associated with at least the category in the service notification, forward the service notification to the neighboring group owner electronic device via the first bridge electronic device.   
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors on a first peer-to-peer electronic device in a neighborhood of peer-to-peer communication groups including a first peer-to-peer communication group of electronic devices, cause the processors to perform operations comprising:
 communicatively coupling to the first peer-to-peer communication group via the first group owner electronic device of the first peer-to-peer communication group, wherein the first peer-to-peer communication group of electronic devices are coupled to a second peer-to-peer communication group of electronic device via a first bridge electronic device;   generating a service notification including a category and a sub-category related to a requested service, wherein the service notification is configured to solicit a response from client electronic devices, in the neighborhood, based on the category and the sub-category; and   in accordance with a determination that the first bridge electronic device between the first and second peer-to-peer communication groups is associated with at least the category:
 transmitting the service notification from the first peer-to-peer electronic device to the first bridge electronic device via the first group owner electronic device; and 
 receiving a response message from the first bridge electronic device via the first group owner electronic device, wherein the response message includes addressing information indicating an address return path to the first peer-to-peer electronic device. 
   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the category comprises an identifier of an executable application, and the sub-category comprises a title of the executable application. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions for communicatively coupling to the first peer-to-peer communication group of electronic devices include instructions for communicatively coupling to a Wi-Fi peer-to-peer communication group. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for:
 for each member device in the first peer-to-peer communication group and in accordance with a determination that the respective member device is associated with both the category and the sub-category, forwarding the service notification to the respective member device in the first peer-to-peer communication group via the first group owner device.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the first bridge electronic device is a group owner device of the second peer-to-peer communication group.