Encoding beacon signals to provide identification in peer-to-peer communication

摘要

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate encoding and/or decoding signals utilized to identify a wireless terminal during peer discovery interval(s). Substantially any type of function that constrains encoding and/or decoding within a peer-to-peer network may be utilized. For example, a reversible function may be employed that enables a receiving peer to discern an identifier of a transmitting peer over a series of peer discovery intervals. Pursuant to another example, an irreversible function may be utilized whereby a receiving peer may be unable to decipher the identifier of the transmitting peer from a received signal; however, expected signal formats of buddy peers may be compared to the received signal to determine a presence of one of the buddy peers in a vicinity.

主权项

1. A method of operating a communication device in a peer-to-peer network, comprising:
receiving a first peer discovery signal in a first peer discovery interval of a series of peer discovery intervals occurring in said peer-to-peer network, wherein the first peer discovery signal is generated by a first wireless terminal using a predetermined hash function; generating an expected signal using a known identifier from a stored list of known identifiers based on the predetermined hash function which uses as inputs said known identifier and a hash function input value corresponding to the first peer discovery interval in which the first peer discovery signal was received, said hash function input value varying as a function of time between successive peer discovery intervals; and generating a first value which is a probability that a wireless terminal corresponding to the known identifier used to generate the expected signal is present in a vicinity of the communication device, said generating a first value including comparing the received first peer discovery signal with the generated expected signal to determine a presence of the first wireless terminal corresponding to the known identifier in a vicinity.