Method and apparatus for utilizing bluetooth for WLAN service authentication and discovery

[0001] 1. Field of Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for a device having wireless connectivity to determine the availability of Internet Protocol (IP) service in a network; and more particularly, for a Bluetooth-enabled device to determine the availability of IP service in a wireless local area network (WLAN) service usage.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] In the prior art, some services, like a display remote from a keyboard or loudspeakers remote from a laptop, have very localized wireless connectivity. In an environment where multiple wireless systems exist in a network, the discovery of available services is typically difficult if the coverage of such a network is large. This is particularly true in a WLAN. Bluetooth (BT) wireless connectivity protocol provides for coverage of one device, but its range is presently limited to a radius of about 10-100 meters.

[0005] As a technology, a WLAN does not provide services capable of application layer service discovery. However, the BT wireless connectivity protocol has this functionality, and the typical BT wireless connection between a phone and either a laptop or headset is a very straightforward and common service. Document no. WO/0145319 provides one known example of a BT link arrangement, and describes a situation where a first short-range link (e.g RFID) is used for identification and authentication when entering a second short range link (e.g. BT). The reader is also referred to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/660,544 (Nokia Reference no. NC28897), where through a first short-range link (of first type) it is determined whether a remote device is capable of supporting a second short-range link (of second type). Also information is exchanged via the first link to establish the second link. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/660,544 covers a situation where radio parameters are exchanged over the first link, which is BT-enabled.

[0006] In a case where a WLAN is utilized to transfer high quality audio or video from a terminal to a receiving end, the capabilities of both parties need to be negotiated. If the office environment consists of 100 WLAN terminals, it is difficult to choose the proper receiving end. The service discovery in a static or non ad hoc network is also difficult and the WLAN does not provide applicable means for that. Also, in a situation where the receiving end has access to the WLAN through an Access Point, it is problematic to determine its location.

[0007] Finally, the bandwidth of a BT network is very limited and therefore transfer of high quality real time audio or video utilizing the BT network is not practical.

[0008] The basic idea of the present invention is to combine the usage of the BT service discovery to WLAN service usage. The invention provides a method for discovering IP-services reachable via some IP-network. According to the present invention, for example, a BT-enabled device can use the Service Discovery Application Profile (SDAP) to discover another BT-enabled device capable of being connected to the Internet through a WLAN, Ethernet, or other suitable network. In order to implement the present invention, a BT connection and a generic IP connection between a client and the device providing the IP-services are all that is needed. The SDAP will provide the BT-enabled device with the service IP address and port numbers for connection to the Internet. The present invention provides for sharing information about available services (from a device offering service to possible host devices). Information may be provided, e.g. the IP address of a serving device, so that the BT-enabled device can be used via the WLAN/LAN to access the IP services available in a network. In particular, parameters exchanged may include those needed for the ‘IP-service’ (i.e. URL plus the name of the service or some other free format text field), so that the terminal may connect to the service via WLAN (or any other IP-access).

[0009] For example, in the proximity of a service, BT is used to negotiate the authorization and authentication of the IP service, for example by using BT to negotiate parameters needed to establish a wireless WLAN connection. Mainly, IP addresses and ports of a proximity service are announced to a wireless BT and WLAN-enabled device. After the BT service discovery (and negotiation), the BT-enabled device is able to start transferring data between the proximity service by using the WLAN. The proximity services include a remote screen, display, loudspeakers, etc.

[0010] This method to uniquely combine the BT's SDAP to WLAN service usage is the main thrust of the present invention. After receiving the service information, the BT-enabled device will access the IP service. The BT-enabled device mobile may include a mobile phone, a mobile terminal, user equipment, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a desktop computer, etc.

[0011] This procedure can be further enhanced by using the Generic Access Profile (GAP) functionality with BT. The GAP will be utilized to authorize the mobile device to use the IP service.

[0012] One advantage of the present invention is that it removes the need for a proximity WLAN service discovery and authentication of parties, because BT has these features built-in.

[0013] Another advantage of the present invention is that it also works in certain scenarios where a WLAN based discovery would otherwise fail. For example, one such case is where the service user is connected via WLAN, but the device hosting the service is not. The host device still has LAN (wire Ethernet) and BT connectivity. In this case, scanning for WLAN devices in close proximity would not result in finding all nearby services.

[0014] In summary, the present invention provides a new and unique method and apparatus for a device having wireless connectivity to determine the availability of Internet Protocol (IP) service in a network, including a wireless local area network (WLAN), local area network (LAN), Ethernet or other suitable Internet access point, wherein the device broadcasts a wireless protocol service discovery query requesting information about the IP service available in the network and waits for a reply from another device having wireless connectivity in the network.

[0015] Moreover, the device includes a wireless protocol service discovery query module that broadcasts the wireless protocol service discovery query and waits for the reply from the other device. The scope of the invention also includes a network having such devices having the features described above, as well as a computer program product with a program code that is stored on a machine readable carrier, for carrying out the steps according to the aforementioned method when the computer program is run in a processor module of the first device.

[0021] FIG. 1 shows a network generally indicated as 10 having a first BT-enabled device 12 that broadcasts a wireless protocol service discovery query requesting information IP service usage available via WLAN, LAN, Ethernet or other suitable internet access point in the network, and also having second or third BT-enabled devices 14, 16 supporting IP service usage via the same. In one case, the second BT-enabled device 14 may reply to the first BT-enabled device 12 and support the IP service usage for the same. In another second case, the second BT-enabled device 14 may reply to the first BT-enabled device 12 and provide information about the third device that can support the IP service usage for the first BT-enabled device 12. The scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to which device 14, 16 replies and/or supports the IP service usage for the first BT-enabled device 12.

[0022] Moreover, the invention is described by way of example using the BT wireless connectivity protocol, although the scope of the invention is intended to include one or more other types of wireless connectivity protocols. The BT-enabled devices 12, 14, 16 may be a mobile terminal, a mobile phone, user equipment, as well as a laptop, notebook computer, desktop computer, etc., having wireless connectivity, which are all known in the art. The network may also include one or more other BT-enabled devices, and/or non-BT-enabled devices which are not shown or described since they do not form part of the underlying invention.

[0023] In operation, the reply from the BT-enabled device 14 or 16 may include information about an IP address of a serving device to be used via the network. The BT-enabled devices may exchange information needed for the IP service, including a URL plus the name of a service or some other free format text field, so that the first device may connect to the IP service via the network.

[0024] It is important to note that, in addition to the standard BT attributes used to describe services such as “Service Name” and “Service Description”, a new field may be created called, for example, “Related URL”. This would basically be a new Bluetooth Service Attribute type, for which clients will search during the discovery process according to the present invention. Once the ‘Related URL’ is acquired over Bluetooth, the client is ready to start using the service over the generic IP Network. (One example of how the invention can be used to deploy services includes the following: This URL (as defined in RFCs 1738 and 1808), in addition to network address and protocol information, can contain a session-key that can be used by the device providing the service to associate IP and BT connections.)

[0025] After receiving information from the BT-enabled device 14 or 16, the BT-enabled device 12 may be coupled to the IP service via the network.

[0026] The BT-enabled devices 14 or 16 may provide protocol identifiers, IP addresses, ports and optional service specific parameters of a proximity server to the device 12. After receiving the protocol identifiers, IP addresses, ports and optional service specific parameters of the proximity server, the BT-enabled device 12 may start a transfer of data between the proximity server via the WLAN, LAN, Ethernet or other suitable Internet access point in the network. The proximity services may include a remote screen, a display, loudspeakers or other suitable device accessible as an IP-service.

[0027] FIG. 2 shows steps related to coupling the BT-enabled mobile device 12 to the available proximity service. First, the mobile device 12 broadcasts a wireless protocol service discovery query (SDAP start) requesting information about the IP service available in the network and waits for a reply, initiating an exchange of SDAP messages informing the mobile device 12 of the capabilities of the BT-enabled service. Next, in order to utilize the proximity services of the BT-enabled service by using the WLAN, the BT-enabled mobile device 12 provides a service query (IP) to the WLAN access point, which provides a service response (IP).

[0028] FIG. 3 shows steps related to coupling the BT-enabled mobile device 12 to the available proximity service similar to FIG. 2, only enhanced with mobile device authorization via BT. As shown, after the exchange of SDAP messages, the mobile device 12 provides a Generic Access Profile (GAP) start message, initiating an exchange of GAP messages that authenticate and authorize the mobile device 12 to use the BT-enabled services.

[0029] FIG. 4 shows, by way of example, a BT-enabled device 20 similar to devices 12, 14, 16 shown in FIG. 1, according to the present invention. The BT-enabled device 20 may include a wireless IP Service discovery query module 22, a wireless IP Service discovery reply module 24, a wireless connectivity module 26, an IP module 28, other device modules 32 known in the art, as well as a control processor 30 for handling the control of the same. In operation, in the first BT-enabled device 12, the wireless IP Service discovery query module 22 would broadcast a wireless protocol service discovery query requesting information about the IP service available in the network and wait for a reply from another BT-enabled device having wireless connectivity in the network. In the second BT-enabled device 14 or 16 (FIG. 1), the wireless IP Service discovery reply module 24 would respond to the wireless protocol service discovery query and provide the reply containing information about the IP service available in the network, consistent with that discussed above. The wireless connectivity protocol module 26 handles all other functionality related to the Bluetooth connection that is known in the art, including the GAP functionality discussed above. The IP service module 28 handles the IP service functionality related to the IP service available in the network that is known in the art, consistent with that discussed above, including connecting to the IP related services. The other device modules 32 may include other modules typically in the device that are known in the art but do not necessarily form part of the basic invention disclosed herein, including a keyboard module, a display module, input/output modules, etc. Finally, the control processor module 32 handles the functionality related to the control of the overall device that is known in the art, including controlling the functionality of modules 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 consistent with that discussed above. Finally, the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to performing any of the aforementioned functionality in any one of the aforementioned modules. Embodiments are envisioned in which the aforementioned functionality is performed in one or more of the aforementioned modules. The scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to how or where the aforementioned functionality is implemented.

[0030] The functionality of the modules 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 and/or 32 may be implemented alone or in combination using hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. In a typical software implementation, the modules 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 and/or 32 would be one or more microprocessor-based architectures having a microprocessor, a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), input/output devices and control, data and address buses connecting the same. A person skilled in the art of programming would be able to program such a microprocessor-based implementation to perform the functionality described herein without undue experimentation. The scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to any particular implementation using technology known or later developed in the future.

[0031] The scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to any specific kind of receiving node, user equipment, mobile terminal, phone or devices, and many different mobile terminals or device, including laptop or notebook computers, are envisioned that may contain the fundamental features of the present invention described herein.

[0032] Accordingly, the invention comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth.

[0033] It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, and those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.