Adjacency-bound service discovery

摘要

Scheme and apparatus (10) for distinguishing services offered by a service-providing device in adjacency of the apparatus (10) from services offered by a service-providing device not being in the apparatus' adjacency. All devices - including the apparatus - are part of a wireless local network. The apparatus (10) maintains a record with information about services and associated identifiers as well as a list of identifiers about the service-providing devices. The associated identifiers and the list of identifiers are compared to determine an associated service as being in adjacency of the apparatus if it is rendered by a service-providing device being listed in the list of identifiers. An associated service is determined as not being in adjacency of the apparatus if it is rendered by a service-providing device not being listed in the list of identifiers. The apparatus (10) comprises a network interface (25) for wireless communication with the service-providing devices, and a service discovery module (11) which maintains the record with information services and associated identifiers. <IMAGE>