Apparatus and method for estimating device availability

摘要

A method and apparatus for estimating device availability in a pervasive peer to peer environment is presented. The method and apparatus include a linear estimation approach and a bin estimation approach, where the bin estimation approach may include enhanced bin estimation or adaptive bin estimation. A central node queries available contacted devices and builds a history of times and availability indications for the contacted device, and subsequently computes an availability probability curve based on assumptions regarding the availability indications and the time since the last received availability indication.