Method, apparatus and computer program product for creating a wireless docking group

Abstract

Method, apparatus, and computer program product embodiments are disclosed to enable simplified configuring of a wireless docking group for wireless devices by allowing a wireless device to communicate its capabilities and characteristics of one or more wireless devices within a wireless docking group, using a new Wireless Docking Protocol, to a wireless docking station that will use that information and the Wireless Docking Protocol to define an optimal set of connections for wireless devices in the wireless docking group.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 forming a wireless communication link between a wireless docking station and a dockee device; 
 receiving, by the wireless docking station, from the dockee device through the wireless communication link, information about (i) the dockee device's capabilities and (ii) characteristics of one or more wireless devices within a wireless docking group, the dockee device different from the one or more wireless devices; 
 defining, by the wireless docking station, one or more optimal connections for the one or more of the wireless devices in the wireless docking group, based on the received information; and 
 transmitting, by the wireless docking station, to the dockee device through the wireless communication link, information to enable formation of the one or more optimal connections for the one or more wireless devices in the wireless docking group. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information about (i) the dockee device's capabilities and (ii) the characteristics of the one or more wireless devices is communicated using a docking protocol. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , which further comprises:
 joining, by the wireless docking station, an infrastructure network having an access point, using a first protocol stack and forming a peer-to-peer connection with the dockee device, using a second protocol stack. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , which further comprises: forming, by the wireless docking station, direct connections with at least one of the one or more wireless devices, based on the defined optimal connections. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication link with the dockee device is a Wi-Fi direct network. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication link with the dockee device is a Tunneled Direct Link Setup connection. 
     
     
       7. An apparatus, comprising:
 at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; 
 the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
 form a wireless communication link with a dockee device; 
 receive from the dockee device through the wireless communication link, information about (i) the dockee device's capabilities and (ii) characteristics of one or more wireless devices within a wireless docking group, the dockee device different from the one or more wireless devices; 
 define one or more optimal connections for the one or more of the wireless devices in the wireless docking group, based on the received information; and 
 transmit to the dockee device through the wireless communication link, information to enable formation of the one or more optimal connections for the one or more wireless devices in the wireless docking group. 
 
 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the information is communicated using a docking protocol. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of  claim 7 , which further comprises:
 the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: 
 join an infrastructure network having an access point, using a first protocol stack and form a peer-to-peer connection with the dockee device, using a second protocol stack. 
 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of  claim 7 , which further comprises: the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: form direct connections with at least one of the one or more wireless devices, based on the defined optimal connections. 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the wireless communication link with the dockee device is a Wi-Fi direct network. 
     
     
       12. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the wireless communication link with the dockee device is a Tunneled Direct Link Setup connection. 
     
     
       13. A computer program product comprising computer executable program code recorded on a computer readable, non-transitory storage medium, the computer executable program code, when executed by a computer processor, comprising:
 code for forming a wireless communication link between a wireless docking station and a dockee device; 
 code for receiving, by the wireless docking station, from the dockee device through the wireless communication link, information about (i) the dockee device's capabilities and (ii) characteristics of one or more wireless devices within a wireless docking group, the dockee device different from the one or more wireless devices; 
 code for defining, by the wireless docking station, one or more optimal connections for the one or more of the wireless devices in the wireless docking group, based on the received information; and 
 code for transmitting, by the wireless docking station, to the dockee device through the wireless communication link, information to enable formation of the one or more optimal connections for the one or more wireless devices in the wireless docking group. 
 
     
     
       14. A method, comprising:
 forming a wireless communication link between a wireless docking station and a dockee device; 
 transmitting, by the dockee device to the wireless docking station through the wireless communication link, information about (i) the dockee device's capabilities and (ii) characteristics of one or more wireless devices within a wireless docking group, the dockee device different from the one or more wireless devices; and 
 receiving, by the dockee device from the wireless docking station through the wireless communication link, information to enable formation of the one or more optimal connections for the one or more wireless devices in the wireless docking group. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the information about (i) the dockee device's capabilities and (ii) the characteristics of the one or more wireless devices is communicated using a docking protocol. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 forming, by the dockee device, one or more wireless connections with one or more other devices based on the received information. 
 
     
     
       17. An apparatus, comprising:
 at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; 
 the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
 form a wireless communication link between the apparatus and a wireless docking station; 
 transmit to the wireless docking station through the wireless communication link, information about (i) the apparatus' capabilities and (ii) characteristics of one or more wireless devices within a wireless docking group, the apparatus different from the one or more wireless devices; and 
 
 receive from the wireless docking station through the wireless communication link, information to enable formation of the one or more optimal connections for the one or more wireless devices in the wireless docking group. 
 
     
     
       18. The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the information about (i) the apparatus' capabilities and (ii) the characteristics of the one or more wireless devices is communicated using a docking protocol. 
     
     
       19. The apparatus of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: 
 form one or more wireless connections with one or more other devices based on the received information. 
 
     
     
       20. A computer program product comprising computer executable program code recorded on a computer readable, non-transitory storage medium, the computer executable program code, when executed by a computer processor, comprising:
 code for forming a wireless communication link between a wireless docking station and a dockee device; 
 code for transmitting, by the dockee device to the wireless docking station through the wireless communication link, information about (i) the dockee device's capabilities and (ii) characteristics of one or more wireless devices within a wireless docking group, the dockee device different from the one or more wireless devices; and 
 code for receiving, by the dockee device from the wireless docking station through the wireless communication link, information to enable formation of the one or more optimal connections for the one or more wireless devices in the wireless docking group. 
 
     
     
       21. A method comprising:
 receiving, by a wireless docking station, from a dockee device through a wireless communication link, information about (i) dockee device capabilities and (ii) characteristics of one or more wireless devices within a wireless docking group, the one or more wireless devices different from the dockee device;   defining, by the wireless docking station, one or more connections for the one or more wireless devices in the wireless docking group, based on the received information; and   transmitting, by the wireless docking station, to the dockee device through the wireless communication link, information to enable formation of the one or more connections for the one or more wireless devices in the wireless docking group.   
     
     
       22. The method of claim 21, wherein defining, by the wireless docking station, the one or more connections is based on a number of protocol stacks the dockee device has. 
     
     
       23. The method of claim 22, wherein defining, by the wireless docking station, the one or more connections is further based on whether the one or more wireless devices in the wireless docking group are directly coupled to the dockee device or directly coupled to an access point of a network.