Electronic device for performing cluster merging of NAN communication and operating method thereof

Abstract

An electronic device and an operation method of the electronic device according to various embodiments are provided. An electronic device includes communication circuitry and a processor operatively connected to the communication circuitry, where the processor is configured to: generate first configuration information relating to a scan to discover another cluster for clustering by an electronic device 600 included in a proximity aware network (NAN) cluster and a first external electronic device 803; controlling the communication circuit to transmit the first configuration information to the first external electronic device; controlling the communication circuit to perform a scan operation for discovering a signal broadcasted by an external electronic device belonging to another cluster based on the first configuration information; transmitting information related to the other cluster to the first external electronic device based on discovering the other cluster; and performing a series of operations for merging into another cluster, in which the first configuration information may be configured such that a point in time at which the electronic device performs the scan is different from a point in time at which the first external electronic device performs the scan. Other various embodiments are possible.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an electronic device and an operating method of the electronic device, and more particularly, to an electronic device for performing cluster merge of neighbor awareness networking (NAN) communication. Background Art

[0002] As various electronic devices become popular, the speed of wireless communications available for the various electronic devices has increased.

[0003] In addition, various types of proximity services using low-power discovery technologies have recently been developed. For example, proximity services (or proximity communication services) that enable nearby adjacent electronic devices to quickly exchange data via a proximity network have been developed. Proximity services may include low-power proximity services using Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacons, or low-power proximity services based on low-power short-range communication technologies (e.g., proximity awareness networks (NANs), Wi-Fi awareness) based on wireless local area networks (WLANs) (hereinafter referred to as "NANs").

[0004] The NAN-based low-power proximity service (hereinafter, referred to as "proximity service") refers to a service for a proximity network whose configuration and use are dynamically changed according to the movement of an electronic device, and a collection of electronic devices constituting the proximity network may be referred to as a cluster. In the proximity service, the electronic devices included in the cluster may send or receive a device discovery frame (SDF) (hereinafter referred to as "SDF") and a signal for discovery (e.g., a beacon) during the duration (or communication duration) in which the electronic devices are synchronized with each other. For example, at least one electronic device in the cluster may send a signal for notifying the existence of the cluster, and a new electronic device to join the cluster may receive the signal.

[0005] In order to reduce current consumption (or power consumption), the corresponding electronic devices in the cluster may have different activity durations in which the electronic devices can send or receive signals. In NAN communication, the activity duration in which a signal can be sent or received may be referred to as a discovery window (DW). In addition, the electronic devices included in the cluster may reduce current consumption by maintaining a low power state (e.g., a sleep state) outside the discovery duration. Research on methods for reducing current consumption in NAN communication is ongoing. Summary of the invention

[0006] Technical issues

[0007] The electronic device may send or receive data within the discovery window. The discovery window may be, for example, a duration in which the electronic device included in the NAN cluster is activated, and the electronic device may send and / or receive data in the discovery window. The electronic device included in the NAN cluster may perform scanning in intervals other than the discovery window at regular time periods to search for another cluster.

[0008] However, if the electronic device fails to search for another cluster when performing scanning, it may take a considerable amount of time until another cluster is found. In the case where the electronic device needs to perform a service by using another cluster, the service quality may be reduced, and further, a situation where the service cannot be performed may occur.

[0009] In addition, when the electronic device increases the duration of the scanning period, power consumption due to the increase in the duration of the scanning period may increase.

[0010] Technical tasks and advantages to be achieved in the present disclosure are not limited to the above-mentioned technical tasks and advantages, and other technical tasks and advantages not mentioned can be clearly understood based on the following description.

[0011] Solution to the problem

[0012] According to various example embodiments, an electronic device may include a communication circuit and a processor operably connected to the communication circuit, a memory storing instructions, which instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to: generate first configuration information related to scanning to search for a proximity awareness network (NAN) cluster to which the electronic device does not belong, control the communication circuit to send the first configuration information to a first external electronic device, the first external electronic device belonging to the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs, control the communication circuit to perform scanning based on the first configuration information to search for a NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong, wherein the first configuration information includes second information to enable the first external electronic device to perform scanning to search for the NAN cluster at a first time point different from a second time point, the first electronic device performs scanning to search for the NAN cluster at the second time point, and wherein the first information enables the first external electronic device to perform an operation for merging the discovered NAN cluster and the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs.

[0013] An operating method of an electronic device according to various example embodiments may include: generating first configuration information related to scanning to search for a proximity awareness network (NAN) cluster to which the electronic device does not belong; sending the first configuration information to a first external electronic device, the first external electronic device belonging to the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs; performing scanning to search for the NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong based on the first configuration information;

[0014] Based on discovering a NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong, first information is sent to a first external electronic device on the discovered NAN cluster, and an operation for merging the discovered NAN cluster and the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs is performed, and wherein the first configuration information includes second information to enable the first external electronic device to perform a scan to search for the NAN cluster at a first time point different from a second time point, and the first electronic device performs a scan to search for the NAN cluster at the second time point, and wherein the first information enables the first external electronic device to perform an operation for merging the discovered NAN cluster and the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs.

[0015] Advantageous Effects of the Invention

[0016] In the electronic device and the operating method of the electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, scanning can be performed using other electronic devices in the cluster. For example, the electronic device can configure the scanning interval of the electronic device to be different from the scanning interval of another electronic device. Therefore, if the electronic device fails to search for another cluster within the scanning interval, it can receive information of another cluster searched by another electronic device within the scanning interval. The electronic device can perform cluster merging based on the information of another cluster, thereby reducing the time required for cluster merging. In addition, the electronic device can maintain (or improve) the quality of service by fast cluster merging.

[0017] Effects obtainable in the present disclosure are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood from the following description by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device according to various embodiments;

[0019] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a proximity aware network (NAN) cluster according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating a protocol for transmission of signals of electronic devices included in a NAN cluster according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0021] Figure 4 is a diagram showing an example of data transmission or reception in a NAN cluster according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0022] Figure 5a is a diagram illustrating a first cluster and a second cluster according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0023] Figure 5b is a diagram showing an example in which a first cluster and a second cluster are merged according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0024] Figure 5c is a diagram showing an example in which electronic devices in a first cluster are merged into a second cluster according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0025] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0026] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment in which a first electronic device, a second electronic device, a third electronic device, and / or a fourth electronic device perform scanning to search for another cluster according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0027] Figure 8 is a diagram showing an example in which a first electronic device distributes scanning of a second electronic device and / or a third electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0028] Fig. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a first electronic device, a second electronic device, and / or a third electronic device allocating scanning according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0029] Fig.10 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a first electronic device changes a scan of a third electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0030] Fig.11 is a diagram illustrating an operating method of an electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0031] Fig.12 is a diagram illustrating an operating method of an electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0032] Fig.13 is a diagram illustrating an electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] Figure 1 1 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device 101 in a network environment 100 according to various embodiments. Figure 1, the electronic device 101 in the network environment 100 may communicate with the electronic device 102 via the first network 198 (e.g., a short-range wireless communication network), or communicate with at least one of the electronic device 104 or the server 108 via the second network 199 (e.g., a long-range wireless communication network). According to an embodiment, the electronic device 101 may communicate with the electronic device 104 via the server 108. According to an embodiment, the electronic device 101 may include a processor 120, a memory 130, an input module 150, a sound output module 155, a display module 160, an audio module 170, a sensor module 176, an interface 177, a connection terminal 178, a haptic module 179, a camera module 180, a power management module 188, a battery 189, a communication module 190, a user identification module (SIM) 196, or an antenna module 197. In some embodiments, at least one of the above components (e.g., the connection terminal 178) may be omitted from the electronic device 101, or one or more other components may be added to the electronic device 101. In some embodiments, some of the above-described components (eg, sensor module 176 , camera module 180 , or antenna module 197 ) may be implemented as a single integrated component (eg, display module 160 ) 11 .

[0034] The processor 120 may run, for example, software (e.g., program 140) to control at least one other component (e.g., hardware component or software component) of the electronic device 101 connected to the processor 120, and may perform various data processing or calculations. According to one embodiment, as at least part of the data processing or calculation, the processor 120 may store a command or data received from another component (e.g., sensor module 176 or communication module 190) in the volatile memory 132, process the command or data stored in the volatile memory 132, and store the resultant data in the non-volatile memory 134. According to an embodiment, the processor 120 may include a main processor 121 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) or an application processor (AP)) or an auxiliary processor 123 (e.g., a graphics processing unit (GPU), a neural processing unit (NPU), an image signal processor (ISP), a sensor hub processor, or a communication processor (CP)) that is independent of or combined with the main processor 121 in operation. For example, when the electronic device 101 includes a main processor 121 and an auxiliary processor 123, the auxiliary processor 123 may be adapted to consume less power than the main processor 121, or adapted to be dedicated to a specific function. The auxiliary processor 123 may be implemented separately from the main processor 121, or as part of the main processor 121.

[0035] When the main processor 121 is in an inactive (e.g., sleep) state, the auxiliary processor 123 (rather than the main processor 121) may control at least some of the functions or states related to at least one component among the components of the electronic device 1011 (e.g., the display module 160, the sensor module 176, or the communication module 190), or when the main processor 121 is in an active state (e.g., running an application), the auxiliary processor 123 may control at least some of the functions or states related to at least one component among the components of the electronic device 101 (e.g., the display module 160, the sensor module 176, or the communication module 190) together with the main processor 121. According to an embodiment, the auxiliary processor 123 (e.g., an image signal processor or a communication processor) may be implemented as part of another component (e.g., a camera module 180 or a communication module 190) that is functionally related to the auxiliary processor 123. According to an embodiment, the auxiliary processor 123 (e.g., a neural processing unit) may include a hardware structure dedicated to artificial intelligence model processing. The artificial intelligence model may be generated through machine learning. For example, such learning may be performed by the electronic device 101 where the artificial intelligence is executed or via a separate server (e.g., server 108). The learning algorithm may include, but is not limited to, supervised learning, unsupervised learning, semi-supervised learning, or reinforcement learning, for example. The artificial intelligence model may include multiple artificial neural network layers. The artificial neural network may be a deep neural network (DNN), a convolutional neural network (CNN), a recurrent neural network (RNN), a restricted Boltzmann machine (RBM), a deep belief network (DBN), a bidirectional recurrent deep neural network (BRDNN), or a deep Q network or a combination of two or more thereof, but is not limited thereto. Additionally or optionally, the artificial intelligence model may include a software structure in addition to a hardware structure.

[0036] The memory 130 may store various data used by at least one component of the electronic device 101 (e.g., the processor 120 or the sensor module 176). The various data may include, for example, software (e.g., the program 140) and input data or output data for commands related thereto. The memory 130 may include a volatile memory 132 or a nonvolatile memory 134.

[0037] The program 140 may be stored as software in the memory 130 , and may include, for example, an operating system (OS) 142 , middleware 144 , or applications 146 .

[0038] The input module 150 may receive commands or data to be used by other components (e.g., the processor 120) of the electronic device 101 from outside (e.g., a user) of the electronic device 101. The input module 150 may include, for example, a microphone, a mouse, a keyboard, a key (e.g., a button), or a digital pen (e.g., a stylus).

[0039] The sound output module 155 can output sound signals to the outside of the electronic device 101. The sound output module 155 may include, for example, a speaker or a receiver. The speaker can be used for general purposes such as playing multimedia or playing records. The receiver can be used to receive incoming calls. Depending on the embodiment, the receiver can be implemented as a separate part from the speaker, or as part of the speaker.

[0040] The display module 160 may visually provide information to the outside of the electronic device 101 (e.g., a user). The display device 160 may include, for example, a display, a holographic device, or a projector, and a control circuit for controlling a corresponding one of the display, the holographic device, and the projector. According to an embodiment, the display module 160 may include a touch sensor adapted to detect a touch or a pressure sensor adapted to measure the strength of a force caused by a touch.

[0041] The audio module 170 may convert sound into an electrical signal, or vice versa. According to an embodiment, the audio module 170 may obtain sound via the input module 150, or output sound via the sound output module 155 or an earphone of an external electronic device (e.g., electronic device 102) directly (e.g., wired) or wirelessly connected to the electronic device 101.

[0042] The sensor module 176 may detect an operating state (e.g., power or temperature) of the electronic device 101 or an environmental state (e.g., a state of a user) outside the electronic device 101, and then generate an electrical signal or a data value corresponding to the detected state. According to an embodiment, the sensor module 176 may include, for example, a gesture sensor, a gyro sensor, an atmospheric pressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a grip sensor, a proximity sensor, a color sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, a biometric sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, or an illumination sensor.

[0043] The interface 177 may support one or more specific protocols to be used to connect the electronic device 101 directly (e.g., wired) or wirelessly with an external electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102). According to an embodiment, the interface 177 may include, for example, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a secure digital (SD) card interface, or an audio interface.

[0044] The connection end 178 may include a connector, wherein the electronic device 101 can be physically connected to an external electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102) via the connector. According to an embodiment, the connection end 178 may include, for example, an HDMI connector, a USB connector, an SD card connector, or an audio connector (e.g., a headphone connector).

[0045] The haptic module 179 may convert the electric signal into mechanical stimulation (eg, vibration or motion) or electric stimulation that can be recognized by the user via his sense of touch or kinesthetic sense. According to an embodiment, the haptic module 179 may include, for example, a motor, a piezoelectric element, or an electric stimulator.

[0046] The camera module 180 may capture still images or moving images. According to an embodiment, the camera module 180 may include one or more lenses, an image sensor, an image signal processor, or a flash.

[0047] The power management module 188 may manage power supply to the electronic device 101. According to an embodiment, the power management module 188 may be implemented as, for example, at least a part of a power management integrated circuit (PMIC).

[0048] The battery 189 may power at least one component of the electronic device 101. According to an embodiment, the battery 189 may include, for example, a non-rechargeable primary battery, a rechargeable secondary battery, or a fuel cell.

[0049] The communication module 190 may support establishing a direct (e.g., wired) communication channel or a wireless communication channel between the electronic device 101 and an external electronic device (e.g., electronic device 102, electronic device 104, or server 108), and perform communication via the established communication channel. The communication module 190 may include one or more communication processors capable of operating independently from the processor 120 (e.g., an application processor (AP)) and supporting direct (e.g., wired) communication or wireless communication. According to an embodiment, the communication module 190 may include a wireless communication module 192 (e.g., a cellular communication module, a short-range wireless communication module, or a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) communication module) or a wired communication module 194 (e.g., a local area network (LAN) communication module or a power line communication (PLC) module). A corresponding one of these communication modules can communicate with an external electronic device via a first network 198 (e.g., a short-range communication network such as Bluetooth, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Direct, or Infrared Data Association (IrDA)) or a second network 199 (e.g., a long-range communication network such as a traditional cellular network, a 5G network, a next-generation communication network, an Internet network, or a computer network (e.g., a LAN or a wide area network (WAN))). These various types of communication modules may be implemented as a single component (e.g., a single chip), or may be implemented as multiple components separated from each other (e.g., multiple chips). The wireless communication module 192 may identify and authenticate the electronic device 101 in a communication network (such as the first network 198 or the second network 199) using user information (e.g., an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)) stored in the user identification module 196.

[0050] The wireless communication module 192 may support 5G networks after 4G networks and next generation communication technologies (e.g., new radio (NR) access technologies). NR access technologies may support enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communications (mMTC), or ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC). The wireless communication module 192 may support high frequency bands (e.g., millimeter wave bands) to achieve, for example, high data transmission rates. The wireless communication module 192 may support various technologies for ensuring performance on high frequency bands, such as, for example, beamforming, massive multiple input multiple output (massive MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, analog beamforming, or massive antennas. The wireless communication module 192 may support various requirements specified in the electronic device 101, an external electronic device (e.g., electronic device 104), or a network system (e.g., a second network 199). According to an embodiment, the wireless communication module 192 may support a peak data rate for implementing eMBB (e.g., 20 Gbps or greater), loss coverage for implementing mMTC (e.g., 164 dB or less), or U-plane delay for implementing URLLC (e.g., 0.5 ms or less for each of the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL), or 1 ms or less for a round trip).

[0051] The antenna module 197 may transmit or receive a signal or power to or from the outside of the electronic device 101 (e.g., an external electronic device). According to an embodiment, the antenna module 197 may include an antenna including a radiation element formed of a conductive material or a conductive pattern formed in or on a substrate (e.g., a printed circuit board (PCB)). According to an embodiment, the antenna module 197 may include a plurality of antennas (e.g., an array antenna). In this case, at least one antenna suitable for a communication scheme used in a communication network (such as the first network 198 or the second network 199) may be selected from the plurality of antennas by, for example, the communication module 190 (e.g., the wireless communication module 192). A signal or power may then be transmitted or received between the communication module 190 and the external electronic device via the selected at least one antenna. According to an embodiment, another component (e.g., a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC)) other than the radiation element may be additionally formed as a part of the antenna module 197.

[0052] According to various embodiments, the antenna module 197 may form a millimeter wave antenna module. According to an embodiment, the millimeter wave antenna module may include a printed circuit board, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), and a plurality of antennas (e.g., array antennas), wherein the RFIC is disposed on a first surface (e.g., bottom surface) of the printed circuit board, or adjacent to the first surface and capable of supporting a designated high frequency band (e.g., millimeter wave band), and the plurality of antennas are disposed on a second surface (e.g., top surface or side surface) of the printed circuit board, or adjacent to the second surface and capable of transmitting or receiving signals of the designated high frequency band.

[0053] At least some of the above components may be connected to each other via an inter-peripheral communication scheme (e.g., a bus, a general purpose input output (GPIO), a serial peripheral interface (SPI), or a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI)) and communicatively transfer signals (e.g., commands or data) therebetween.

[0054] According to an embodiment, a command or data may be sent or received between the electronic device 101 and the external electronic device 104 via the server 108 connected to the second network 199. Each of the electronic device 102 or the electronic device 104 may be a device of the same type as the electronic device 101, or a device of a different type from the electronic device 101. According to an embodiment, all or some operations to be executed in the electronic device 101 may be executed in one or more of the external electronic device 102, the external electronic device 104, or the server 108. For example, if the electronic device 101 should automatically execute a function or service or should execute a function or service in response to a request from a user or another device, the electronic device 101 may request the one or more external electronic devices to execute at least part of the function or service instead of executing the function or service, or the electronic device 101 may request the one or more external electronic devices to execute at least part of the function or service in addition to executing the function or service. The one or more external electronic devices receiving the request may execute at least part of the requested function or service, or execute another function or another service related to the request, and transmit the result of the execution to the electronic device 101. The electronic device 101 may provide the result as at least a partial reply to the request with or without further processing the result. To this end, cloud computing technology, distributed computing technology, mobile edge computing (MEC) technology, or client-server computing technology, for example, may be used. The electronic device 101 may use, for example, distributed computing or mobile edge computing to provide ultra-low latency services. In another embodiment, the external electronic device 104 may include an Internet of Things (IoT) device. The server 108 may be an intelligent server using machine learning and / or neural networks. According to an embodiment, the external electronic device 104 or the server 108 may be included in the second network 199. The electronic device 101 may be applied to intelligent services (e.g., smart homes, smart cities, smart cars, or healthcare) based on 5G communication technology or IoT-related technologies.

[0055] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a proximity aware network (NAN) cluster according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0056] For example, Figure 2 A configuration example of a proximity awareness network (NAN) cluster 200 for a proximity network according to various embodiments may be shown. In the following description, the cluster 200 may refer to a collection of electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240, wherein the proximity network is configured so that the corresponding electronic devices (or NAN devices) 210, 220, 230, and 240 (e.g., Figure 1For example, according to the NAN specification (or standard), the cluster 200 may be referred to as a NAN cluster.

[0057] Reference Figure 2 , the cluster 200 may include a plurality of electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240. The electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240 included in the cluster 200 may send or receive a beacon (or discovery beacon) and / or a service discovery frame (SDF) (hereinafter referred to as “SDF”) within a synchronization duration (or communication duration) (e.g., a discovery (or search) window (discovery window (DW))).

[0058] Clocks may be synchronized with each other in the electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240 in the cluster 200. For example, the electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240 may be synchronized with a clock of one electronic device (eg, the electronic device 210) and may exchange beacons and SDFs with each other in the same discovery window.

[0059] According to an embodiment, an electronic device supporting a NAN-based low-power short-range communication technology may broadcast a discovery signal (e.g., a beacon) for discovering different electronic devices in each preconfigured first period (e.g., approximately 100 milliseconds), and may perform scanning in each preconfigured second period (e.g., approximately 10 milliseconds) to receive a discovery signal broadcast from another electronic device.

[0060] The electronic device 210, 220, 230 or 240 may detect at least one other electronic device located around the electronic device based on the discovery signal received via scanning, and may perform NAN cluster synchronization with the detected at least one other electronic device. NAN cluster synchronization may include receiving time clock information of an electronic device representing a NAN cluster so that the electronic devices included in the NAN cluster send and / or receive data via the same channel and / or during the same time period.

[0061] For example, Figure 2 As shown, each of the multiple electronic devices 210, 220, 230 and 240 can send beacons and receive beacons from other electronic devices 210, 220, 230 and 240, so that a cluster 200 operating according to a synchronized clock can be formed, and the electronic devices 210, 220, 230 and 240 in the cluster 200 can perform NAN cluster synchronization.

[0062] NAN cluster synchronization may be performed based on a channel and time of an electronic device having the highest master preference in the cluster 200. For example, the electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240 formed via discovery in the cluster 200 may exchange signals related to master preference information indicating a preference for operating as an anchor master, and the electronic device having the highest master preference may be determined as the anchor master (or master device) via the exchanged signals.

[0063] The anchor master may refer to an electronic device that is a reference for time and channel synchronization of the electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240 in the cluster 200. The anchor master may be changed according to the master preference of the electronic device. Each of the electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240 synchronized in time and channel may send a beacon and an SDF within a discovery window (or discovery interval) that repeats according to a preconfigured period and receive beacons and SDFs from other electronic devices in the cluster 200. According to an embodiment, a beacon may be periodically sent or received in each discovery window in order to continuously maintain the time and channel synchronization of the electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240 in the cluster 200. The SDF may be sent or received in the discovery window as needed to provide services to the discovered electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240. According to an embodiment, an electronic device operating as an anchor master among the electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240 synchronized in time and channel may send a beacon in the interval between the discovery windows to detect a new electronic device.

[0064] Each of the electronic devices 210 , 220 , 230 , and 240 in the cluster 200 may reduce current consumption by operating in an active state only during a discovery window and operating in a low power state (eg, a sleep state) during the remaining interval outside the discovery window.

[0065] For example, the discovery window is a duration (eg, milliseconds) during which the electronic device is in an active state (or awake state) and consumes a large amount of current, while in intervals outside the discovery window, the electronic device is in a sleep state where low-power discovery may be possible.

[0066] The electronic devices 210 , 220 , 230 , and 240 in the cluster 200 may be simultaneously activated at a start time of a synchronization discovery window (eg, DWstart), and may be simultaneously switched to a sleep state at an end time of the discovery window (eg, DWend).

[0067] The electronic devices 210, 220, 230, and 240 included in the cluster 200 may use the following Figure 3 The protocol shown in is used to perform discovery, synchronization, and data exchange.

[0068] Figure 3 A diagram illustrating a protocol for transmission of signals of electronic devices included in a NAN cluster according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0069] For example, Figure 3 An exemplary diagram for discovering a window according to various embodiments may be shown. Figure 3 An example is described in which electronic devices included in one cluster transmit signals through a specific channel (for example, channel 6 (ch6)) based on the NAN standard.

[0070] Reference Figure 3 , the electronic devices included in one cluster may transmit the synchronization beacon 310 and the SDF 320 in a synchronization discovery window (DW) 325. The discovery beacon 330 may be transmitted by at least one electronic device in an interval 340 (e.g., an interval between discovery windows) other than the discovery window 325. According to an embodiment, the electronic device may transmit the synchronization beacon 310 and the SDF 320 based on competition. For example, the synchronization beacon 310 and the SDF 320 may be transmitted based on competition between respective electronic devices belonging to the cluster.

[0071] The discovery window 325 may be an interval in which the electronic device is activated from a sleep state as a power saving mode to a wake-up state for data exchange between the respective electronic devices. For example, the discovery window 325 may be divided into time units (TUs) of millisecond units. According to an embodiment, the discovery window 325 for transmission or reception of the synchronization beacon 310 and the SDF 320 may occupy 16 time units (16 TUs) and may have a cycle (or interval) repeated in 512 time units (512 TUs).

[0072] The discovery beacon 330 may indicate a signal transmitted to enable an electronic device that has not yet joined the cluster to discover the cluster. For example, the discovery beacon 330 is a signal for notifying the existence of the cluster, and an electronic device that has not participated in the cluster may perform passive scanning and receive the discovery beacon 330 to discover and join the cluster.

[0073] The discovery beacon 330 may include information necessary for synchronization with the cluster. For example, the discovery beacon 330 may include at least one of the following: a frame control (FC) field indicating a signal function (e.g., beacon), a broadcast address, a media access control (MAC) address of a transmitting electronic device, a cluster identifier (ID), a sequence control field, a timestamp of a beacon frame, a beacon interval indicating a transmission interval of the discovery beacon 330, and capability information of an electronic device that transmits the discovery beacon 330.

[0074] The discovery beacon 330 may include at least one neighboring network (or cluster) related information element. In an embodiment, the neighboring network related information may be referred to as attribute information.

[0075] The synchronization beacon 310 may indicate a signal for synchronization between electronic devices for maintaining synchronization in the cluster. The synchronization beacon 310 may be sent by a synchronization device between electronic devices in the cluster. For example, the synchronization device may include an anchor master electronic device, a master electronic device (master device), or a non-master synchronization device defined in the NAN standard.

[0076] The synchronization beacon 310 may include information necessary for synchronization of electronic devices within the cluster. For example, the synchronization beacon 310 may include at least one of the following: an FC field indicating a signal function (e.g., beacon), a broadcast address, a MAC address of a transmitting electronic device, a cluster identifier, a sequence control field, a timestamp of a beacon frame, a beacon interval indicating an interval between starting points of a discovery window 325, and capability information of the transmitting electronic device. According to an embodiment, the synchronization beacon 310 may include at least one neighboring network (or cluster) related information element. For example, neighboring network related information may include content for services provided via a neighboring network.

[0077] The SDF 320 may indicate a signal for data exchange via a neighboring network. According to an embodiment, the SDF 320 may indicate a vendor-specific public action frame and may include various fields. For example, the SDF 320 may include a category or action field and may include at least one piece of neighboring network related information.

[0078] The synchronization beacon 310, the SDF 320, and the discovery beacon 330 may include neighboring network related information. In an embodiment, the neighboring network related information may include an identifier indicating the type of information, an information length, and a body field including corresponding information. According to an embodiment, the corresponding information may include at least one of main indication information, cluster information, service identifier list information, service descriptor information, connection capability information, wireless LAN infrastructure information, peer-to-peer (P2P) operation information, independent basic service set (IBSS) information, mesh information, additional neighboring network service discovery information, further availability map information, country code information, ranging information, cluster discovery information, and vendor specific information.

[0079] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of data transmission or reception in a NAN cluster according to various embodiments.

[0080] For example, Figure 4An example is described in which the first electronic device 410, the second electronic device 420, and the third electronic device 430 form a cluster via a short-range wireless communication technology, and the respective electronic devices 410, 420, and 430 can transmit or receive beacons and / or SDFs between each other. According to an embodiment, Figure 4 An example may be provided in which the first electronic device 410 among the electronic devices 410 , 420 , and 430 included in the cluster serves as a master electronic device.

[0081] Reference Figure 4 , the first electronic device 410 may transmit a beacon and an SDF within the discovery window 450. The first electronic device 410 may broadcast a beacon and an SDF in the discovery window 450 that is repeated at every preconfigured interval (eg, interval 460).

[0082] The second electronic device 420 and the third electronic device 430 may receive the beacon and the SDF transmitted by the first electronic device 410. According to an embodiment, each of the second electronic device 420 and the third electronic device 430 may receive the beacon and the SDF broadcasted from the first electronic device 410 in each discovery window 450.

[0083] The beacon transmitted within the discovery window 450 may include a synchronization beacon, and may include information for maintaining synchronization between the electronic devices 410, 420, and 430. For example, the second electronic device 420 and / or the third electronic device 430 may perform NAN cluster synchronization based on the clock information of the first electronic device 410 operating as a master device, which is included in the beacon transmitted by the first electronic device 410. The second electronic device 420 and / or the third electronic device 430 may be synchronized so that the discovery window 450 may be activated at the same time.

[0084] In intervals other than the discovery window 450 (eg, interval 460), the electronic devices 410, 420, and 430 may maintain a sleep state to reduce current consumption. For example, the electronic devices 410, 420, and 430 may operate in an awake state only in the discovery window 450 interval based on synchronized clocks to reduce current consumption.

[0085] Figure 5a is a diagram illustrating a first cluster and a second cluster according to various embodiments.

[0086] Reference Figure 5a, the first cluster 510 may include a first electronic device 511, a second electronic device 512, a third electronic device 513, and / or a fourth electronic device 514. The electronic devices 511, 512, 513, and 514 included in the first cluster may operate according to a synchronized clock. The electronic devices 511, 512, 513, and 514 may be in a designated discovery window (e.g., Figure 4 Various signals (e.g., beacon signals and / or synchronization signals) are transmitted or received during an interval other than the discovery window 450. In order to perform cluster merging of the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 (which is a cluster other than the first cluster 510) in an interval other than the discovery window, the electronic devices 511, 512, 513, and 514 may scan for signals broadcasted by electronic devices (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) included in the second cluster 520.

[0087] Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 are merged is described, and for ease of description, a description is provided based on the first electronic device 511, but other electronic devices (e.g., the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, and / or the fourth electronic device 514) may perform the same operation.

[0088] When performing the scan, the first electronic device 511 may receive a signal (e.g., a synchronization beacon signal as a signal for synchronization of the second cluster 520, or a discovery signal as a signal for discovering another cluster) broadcasted by the electronic devices 521 and 522 of the second cluster 520. The first electronic device 511 may recognize the presence of the second cluster 520 based on information (e.g., attribute information of the second cluster 520) included in the signal transmitted by the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522.

[0089] The first electronic device 511 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520. The first electronic device 511 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on the attribute of the second cluster 520, the attribute of the second cluster 520 being included in the information included in the signal transmitted by the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522. For example, the first electronic device 511 may compare the cluster level of the first cluster 510 with the cluster level of the second cluster 520 included in the attribute of the second cluster 520, and may determine to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on recognizing that the cluster level of the second cluster 520 is greater than the cluster level of the first cluster 510. For another example, the first electronic device 511 may compare the cluster level of the first cluster 510 with the cluster level of the second cluster 520 included in the attribute of the second cluster 520, and may determine not to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on recognizing that the cluster level of the second cluster 520 is not greater than the cluster level of the first cluster 510.

[0090] The first electronic device 511 may transmit a signal (e.g., a beacon signal or a synchronization signal) including information of a cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520) other than the cluster (e.g., the first cluster 510) to which the first electronic device 511 currently belongs (e.g., the first cluster 510) to other electronic devices (e.g., the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, and / or the fourth electronic device 514) included in the first cluster 510 during a discovery window interval of the first cluster 510 based on the determination to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520. The other electronic devices 512, 513, and 514 may perform merging into (or joining) the second cluster 520 based on the information transmitted by the first electronic device 511.

[0091] Figure 5b is a diagram illustrating an example in which a first cluster and a second cluster are merged according to various embodiments.

[0092] Reference Figure 5b , included in the first cluster (e.g., Figure 5a The first electronic device 511 , the second electronic device 512 , the third electronic device 513 , and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in the first cluster 510 ) may be merged into the second cluster 520 .

[0093] The electronic devices 511, 512, 513, 514, 521, and 522 included in the second cluster 520 may operate according to the synchronized clock. The electronic devices 511, 512, 513, 514, 521, and 522 may be in a designated discovery window (eg, Figure 4 Various signals (eg, beacon signals and / or synchronization signals) are sent or received during a discovery window 450) interval.

[0094] Figure 5c is a diagram illustrating an example in which electronic devices in a first cluster are merged into a second cluster according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0095] Reference Figure 5c , a first electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The first electronic device 511 may be based on the first cluster (eg, Figure 5a For example, the first electronic device 511 may receive a signal transmitted by an external electronic device, or may be in the discovery window 532 (eg, Figure 4 The first electronic device 511 may not transmit and / or receive signals by operating in a low power state (e.g., a sleep state) during an interval 534 other than the discovery window 532. In order to discover a second cluster (e.g., Figure 5a In the second cluster 520 of the present invention, the first electronic device 511 may perform scanning during scanning intervals 531 and 533, which are intervals other than the discovery window 532. The duration of the scanning intervals 531 and 533 may be configured according to various schemes. The duration of the scanning intervals 531 and 533 may be configured in consideration of the period of the signal broadcast by the electronic device (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521) included in the second cluster 520. The first electronic device 511 may configure the duration of the scanning intervals 531 and 533 in order to receive the signal broadcast by the fifth electronic device 521. According to an embodiment, the duration of the scanning intervals 531 and 533 may be the same as the period of the signal broadcast by the fifth electronic device 521, or may be greater than the period of the broadcast signal by a specified duration (e.g., 10 ms). The first electronic device 511 may receive the signal broadcast by the electronic device (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521) included in the second cluster 520 while performing the scanning.

[0096] Reference Figure 5c , the fifth electronic device 521 may operate according to the synchronization clock of the second cluster 520. For example, the fifth electronic device 521 may receive a signal transmitted by an external electronic device, or may transmit a signal to the external electronic device during the discovery window 542. Signals 541, 543, 545, 547, and 549 transmitted by the fifth electronic device 521 during the discovery window 541 may include information of the second cluster 520 (e.g., attribute information of the second cluster). The fifth electronic device 521 may not transmit and / or receive a signal by operating in a low power state (e.g., a sleep state) during an interval 544 other than the discovery window 542.

[0097] During the scanning interval 531, the first electronic device 511 may not receive signals 541, 543, 545, 547, and 549 transmitted by the fifth electronic device 521. During the subsequent scanning interval 533, the first electronic device 511 may receive a signal 543 transmitted by the fifth electronic device 521, and may discover the second cluster 520.

[0098] The first electronic device 511 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520. The first electronic device 511 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on the attribute of the second cluster 520, which is included in the information included in the signal transmitted by the fifth electronic device 521. For example, the first electronic device 511 may compare the cluster level of the first cluster 510 with the cluster level of the second cluster 520 included in the attribute of the second cluster 520, and may determine to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on recognizing that the cluster level of the second cluster 520 is greater than the cluster level of the first cluster 510.

[0099] The first electronic device 511 may transmit a signal 535 (e.g., a beacon signal or a synchronization signal) including information of a cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520) other than the cluster (e.g., the first cluster 510) to which the first electronic device 511 currently belongs (e.g., the first cluster 510) as many times as a specified number (e.g., once) to other electronic devices (e.g., the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, and / or the fourth electronic device 514) included in the first cluster 510 based on the determination to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520, during the discovery window 532 interval of the first cluster 510. The specified number of times may be configured according to various schemes. Figure 5c The signal is shown to be broadcast once during one discovery window 532 interval, but the number of signal transmissions is not limited.

[0100] The first electronic device 511 may transmit a signal 535 including information of the second cluster 520, and then may perform a series of operations to synchronize with the second cluster 520. After synchronizing with the second cluster 520, the first electronic device 511 may operate according to the synchronization clock of the second cluster 520. The first electronic device 511 may receive a signal transmitted by an external electronic device, or may perform a series of operations to synchronize with the second cluster 520 in a discovery window 536 (e.g., Figure 4 The first electronic device 511 may send a signal to the external electronic device during the discovery window 537 interval of the second cluster 510. The start time, duration, and / or interval of the discovery window 536 may be the same as the start time, duration, and / or interval of the discovery window 542 of the second cluster 520. After synchronizing with the second cluster 520, the first electronic device 511 may not synchronize with the first cluster 510. According to an example, the first electronic device 511 may remain inactive during the discovery window 537 interval of the first cluster 510.

[0101] Reference Figure 5c , the first electronic device 511 may take a considerable time to find the second cluster 520. For example, if the first electronic device 511 fails to find the second cluster 520 during the scanning intervals 531 and 533, the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 cannot be merged, so that the latency of the service within the cluster may increase and / or the service quality may deteriorate. If the scanning intervals 531 and 533 increase, the power consumption of the first electronic device 511 may increase.

[0102] Hereinafter, a description will be provided of an embodiment in which electronic devices 511 , 512 , 513 , and 514 in a first cluster 510 cooperate to discover another cluster so as to reduce the time required for cluster merging.

[0103] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0104] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device 600 (eg, Figure 5a The first electronic device 511) may include a communication circuit 610 (eg, Figure 1 The wireless communication module 192) and the processor 620 (eg, Figure 1 processor 120).

[0105] The communication circuit 610 may include various circuit structures for modulation and / or demodulation of signals in the electronic device 600. For example, the communication circuit 610 may modulate a baseband signal into a radio frequency (RF) band signal so as to output the RF band signal through an antenna (not shown), or may demodulate an RF band signal received through the antenna into a baseband signal so as to transmit the baseband signal to the processor 620.

[0106] The communication circuit 610 may be connected via a NAN cluster (e.g., Figure 5a The first cluster 510) of the electronic devices uses a frequency band (eg, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and / or 6 GHz) to external electronic devices (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514) sends various data to or receives various data from the external electronic device.

[0107] The processor 620 may receive the information transmitted by the application processor (eg, Figure 1 The processor 120 of the present invention) receives the data sent by the processor 120, and generates a signal for transmitting the received data to an external electronic device (e.g., Figure 5a The processor 620 may be defined as a group including in a communication module (eg, Figure 1 According to an embodiment, the processor 620 may be configured to communicate with the wireless communication module 192 based on the communication processor of the application processor (e.g., Figure 1 The application processor 120 of the external electronic device 410 performs channel coding on data sent by the application processor 120 to generate (or create, produce or configure) a packet, and can identify whether at least a portion of the data sent by the external electronic device 410 has an error, or if an error occurs, error recovery (e.g., hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)) can be performed.

[0108] Based on the clusters (or networks) implemented in the Neighborhood Aware Network (NAN) scheme (e.g. Figure 5aThe processor 620 may perform synchronization with the NAN cluster by using NAN cluster information included in a signal broadcasted by an external electronic device 512, 513, or 514 included in the first cluster 510 of the present invention. Alternatively, the processor 620 may receive the NAN cluster information via a communication scheme other than the NAN-based communication scheme (e.g., short-range wireless communication including Bluetooth or Wi-Fi). For example, the processor 620 may send a message for discovering an external electronic device to be connected via Wi-Fi (e.g., Figure 5a The detection request signal of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in the embodiment of the present invention may be based on the detection request signal of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in the embodiment of the present invention, and may be based on the detection request signal of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in the embodiment of Figure 5a NAN cluster synchronization is performed based on the NAN cluster information included in the probe response message sent by the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in response to the probe request signal.

[0109] NAN cluster synchronization may include receiving an electronic device representing a NAN cluster (or a master device of a NAN cluster) (e.g., Figure 4 The processor 620 may receive time clock information of the first electronic device 410 of the NAN cluster so that the electronic devices included in the NAN cluster send and / or receive data on the same channel and / or during the same time. For example, the processor 620 may receive time clock information of the first electronic device 410 of the NAN cluster so that the electronic devices included in the NAN cluster send and / or receive data on the same channel and / or during the same time. Figure 5a The beacon broadcast by the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in the embodiment of the present invention may be based on the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a NAN cluster synchronization is performed based on the clock information of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514).

[0110] After the NAN cluster synchronization is completed, the processor 620 may activate the communication circuit 610 in each specified interval (e.g., the size of the discovery window of the interval having the first value), and may receive a message from an external electronic device (e.g., Figure 5a The data may be sent to the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in the system, or may be sent to an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514) in the embodiment sends data.

[0111] The processor 620 may perform a configuration related to scanning to search for another cluster for cluster merging after NAN cluster synchronization is completed or as part of NAN cluster synchronization. The other cluster may be a NAN cluster to which the electronic device 600 does not belong. Alternatively, the processor 620 may perform a configuration related to scanning to search for another cluster for cluster merging separately from the NAN cluster synchronization. The configuration of scanning may be performed by an electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 600, and Figure 5a The electronic device 600 may be initiated and executed by an electronic device supporting scanning among the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, and / or the fourth electronic device 514. For ease of description, a configuration in which the electronic device 600 performs scanning is described. The scanning may be performed together with an electronic device capable of searching for another cluster.

[0112] The processor 620 may determine the maximum number of electronic devices to perform scanning. The maximum number of electronic devices to perform scanning may be determined according to various schemes. The number of electronic devices to perform scanning may be determined according to the type of service performed by the electronic device 600. According to an embodiment, if the service performed by the electronic device 600 is a service requiring low latency, the processor 620 may increase the maximum number of electronic devices to perform scanning compared to a service that can be performed with relatively high latency.

[0113] The processor 620 may search for at least one external electronic device (eg, the second electronic device 512 , the third electronic device 513 , and / or the fourth electronic device 514 ) capable of supporting scanning to search for another cluster.

[0114] According to an embodiment, the processor 620 may control the communication circuit 610 to transmit a signal including the scanned identification information to search for another cluster.

[0115] An external electronic device (e.g., the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, and / or the fourth electronic device 514) that supports scanning (for ease of description, it is assumed that the second electronic device 512 supports scanning) among the external electronic devices may send a response message corresponding to the signal. The response message may be a signal for requesting configuration information related to scanning to search for another cluster. Alternatively, the response message may be a signal for requesting participation in scanning to search for the second cluster 520. Alternatively, the response message may be a signal for accepting participation in scanning to search for the second cluster 520 in response to the electronic device 600 sending a signal for requesting participation in scanning to search for the second cluster 520. Upon receiving the response message, when performing the configuration related to scanning, the processor 610 may perform the configuration related to scanning of the second electronic device 512, which includes the start time of scanning to be performed by the second electronic device 512, the duration of the scanning interval, and / or the scanning cycle, and may perform the configuration related to scanning of the electronic device 600, which includes the start time of scanning to be performed by the electronic device 600, the duration of the scanning interval, and / or the scanning cycle. Configuration information may be referred to as setup information or scan information.

[0116] The duration of the scanning interval of the electronic device 600 may be substantially the same as the duration of the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, and the scanning cycle of the electronic device 600 may be substantially the same as the scanning cycle of the second electronic device 512. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the scanning interval duration and / or cycle of the electronic device 600 and the second electronic device 512 may be configured according to various circumstances.

[0117] The processor 620 may perform configurations related to scanning so that the electronic device 600 and the second electronic device 512 may perform scanning at different times to search for another cluster. The processor 620 may perform configurations so that the interval of scanning to be performed by the electronic device 600 and the interval of scanning to be performed by the second electronic device 512 are different. For example, the processor 620 may configure the scanning interval of the electronic device 600 so that the electronic device 600 performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows. The processor 620 may configure the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 so that the second electronic device 512 performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0118] The processor 620 may perform configuration so that the start time of the scan to be performed by the electronic device 600 is different from the start time of the scan to be performed by the second electronic device 512. For example, the processor 620 may configure the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 so that the electronic device 600 performs the scan between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows. The processor 620 may configure the start time of the scan of the second electronic device 512 so that the second electronic device 512 performs the scan between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0119] When configuration is performed so that the scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 are different, the processor 620 can increase the reception probability of the signal broadcasted by the electronic device (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) included in the cluster other than the first cluster 510 (e.g., the second cluster 520) by configuring the scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 to be separated as far as possible in time. Alternatively, when configuration is performed so that the scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 are different, the processor 620 can reduce the time required to receive the signal broadcasted by the electronic device (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) included in another cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520) by configuring the scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 to be separated as far as possible in time. According to an embodiment, the processor 620 may configure the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 so that the second electronic device 512 performs scanning at substantially the same time point as a time point corresponding to a half of the scanning period of the electronic device 600 .

[0120] The processor 620 may generate (or create, produce, or configure) first configuration information associated with scanning to search for another cluster of the electronic device 600 and / or the second electronic device 512. The first configuration information may include a start time of scanning for the electronic device 600 and / or the second electronic device 512, an execution period of scanning, and / or a duration of a scanning interval.

[0121] The start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be defined in various ways. According to an embodiment, the start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be expressed in units of a discovery window. For example, the start time of the scan may be expressed such that the scan starts between the first discovery window DW0 and the second discovery window DW1, and the execution cycle may be expressed such that the scan is performed in every 16 discovery windows. The start time of the scan may be expressed in a bitmap manner.

[0122] The first configuration information may include information that enables the second electronic device 512 to perform scanning to search for another cluster at a time point different from the time point when the electronic device 600 performs scanning to search for another cluster. The information that enables the second electronic device 512 to perform scanning to search for another cluster at a time point different from the time point when the electronic device 600 performs scanning to search for another cluster may include a start time of scanning by the second electronic device 512, a scanning execution cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval.

[0123] The processor 620 may control the communication circuit 610 to transmit the first configuration information to the second electronic device 512. The first configuration information may be transmitted in various schemes. According to an embodiment, the first configuration information may be included in a publish message of a service discovery frame (SDF) defined in NAN so as to be transmitted, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0124] The processor 620 may receive a signal for requesting to participate in scanning to search for the second cluster 520, which is sent by the second electronic device 512, before transmitting a signal including identification information for scanning to search for another cluster. In response to receiving the signal for requesting to participate in scanning to search for the second cluster 520, which is sent by the second electronic device 512, the processor 620 may control the communication circuit 610 to send first configuration information associated with scanning to the second electronic device 512 to search for the second cluster 520. The first configuration information may include a start time of scanning, a scanning cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval of the electronic device 600. The processor 620 may receive an allocation request message for scanning sent by the second electronic device 512, and may configure a start time of scanning, a scanning cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval of the second electronic device 512. The processor 620 may control the communication circuit 610 to send the first configuration information including a start time of scanning, a scanning cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 to the second electronic device 512. If the processor 620 configures the start time, scanning cycle and / or duration of the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, the first configuration information received by the second electronic device 512 may not include the start time, scanning cycle and / or duration of the scanning interval of the electronic device 600.

[0125] In the aforementioned embodiment, it has been described that the electronic device 600 performs the configuration related to scanning of the second electronic device 512 , but the second electronic device 512 which is not the electronic device 600 may perform the configuration related to scanning.

[0126] In response to receiving a signal sent by the second electronic device 512 for requesting to participate in scanning to search for the second cluster 520, the processor 620 may control the communication circuit 610 to send the first configuration information associated with scanning to the second electronic device 512 to search for the second cluster 520. The first configuration information may include the start time of the scanning of the electronic device 600, the duration of the scanning cycle and / or the scanning interval. The second electronic device 512 may configure the start time of the scanning of the second electronic device 512, the duration of the scanning cycle and / or the scanning interval so that the scanning interval of the electronic device 600 and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 do not overlap. The second electronic device 512 may send the second configuration information to the electronic device 600, and the second configuration information includes the start time of the scanning of the second electronic device 512, the duration of the scanning cycle and / or the scanning interval. The processor 620 may change (or update) the first configuration information based on the second configuration information. According to an embodiment, the processor 620 may change (or update) the first configuration information in a scheme of adding a start time of scanning, a scanning cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 included in the second configuration information to the first configuration information.

[0127] The second electronic device 512 having received the first configuration information may perform scanning to search for the second cluster 520 based on the start time of scanning, the execution cycle of scanning, and / or the duration of the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 included in the first configuration information.

[0128] The processor 620 may control the communication circuit 610 so that scanning is performed based on the first configuration information to search for the second cluster 520. The processor 620 may control the communication circuit 610 to receive the electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) broadcasts a signal.

[0129] When performing the scan, the processor 620 may receive a signal (e.g., a synchronization beacon signal as a signal for synchronization of the second cluster 520, or a discovery signal as a signal for discovering another cluster) broadcasted by the electronic devices 521 and 522 of the second cluster 520 via the communication circuit 610. The electronic device 600 may recognize the presence of the second cluster 520 based on information (e.g., attribute information of the second cluster 520) included in the signal transmitted by the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522. The processor 620 may receive information indicating that the second electronic device 512 has discovered the second cluster 520 from the second electronic device 512 via the communication circuit 610.

[0130] The processor 620 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520. The processor 620 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on the attribute of the second cluster 520 included in the information included in the signal transmitted by the fifth electronic device 522 and / or the sixth electronic device 512 or the attribute of the second cluster 520 included in the information transmitted by the second electronic device 512. For example, the processor 620 may compare the cluster level of the first cluster 510 with the cluster level of the second cluster 520 included in the attribute of the second cluster 520, and may determine to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on recognizing that the cluster level of the second cluster 520 is greater than the cluster level of the first cluster 510. For another example, the processor 620 may compare the cluster level of the first cluster 510 with the cluster level of the second cluster 520 included in the attribute of the second cluster 520, and may determine not to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on recognizing that the cluster level of the second cluster 520 is not greater than the cluster level of the first cluster 510.

[0131] The processor 620 may transmit information to other electronic devices (e.g., the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, and / or the fourth electronic device 514) included in the first cluster 510 based on the determination to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520, which may enable the operation for merging the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 to be performed. The processor 620 may transmit a signal (e.g., a beacon signal or a synchronization signal) including information (e.g., attribute information of the second cluster 520) of a cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520) other than the cluster (e.g., the first cluster 510) to which the first electronic device 600 currently belongs to, to other electronic devices (e.g., the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, and / or the fourth electronic device 514) included in the first cluster 510 during a discovery window interval of the first cluster 510. The other electronic devices 512, 513, and 514 may perform merging into (or joining) the second cluster 520 based on the information transmitted by the electronic device 600.

[0132] In the aforementioned embodiment, it has been described that the electronic device 600 and the second electronic device 512 perform scanning to search for the second cluster 520 , but other electronic devices may also participate in the scanning.

[0133] In response to receiving a signal sent by the third electronic device 513 for requesting to participate in scanning to search for the second cluster 520, the processor 620 may control the communication circuit 610 to send the first configuration information associated with scanning to the third electronic device 513 to search for the second cluster 520. The first configuration information may include the start time of scanning of the electronic device 600 and the second electronic device 512, the duration of the scanning cycle and / or the scanning interval. The processor 620 may receive the allocation request message for scanning sent by the third electronic device 513, and may configure the start time of scanning of the third electronic device 513, the duration of the scanning cycle and / or the scanning interval. The processor 620 may configure the start time of scanning of the third electronic device 513, the duration of the scanning cycle and / or the scanning interval so that the scanning interval of the electronic device 600, the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, and the scanning interval of the third electronic device 513 do not overlap. The processor 620 may control the communication circuit 610 to send the first configuration information to the third electronic device 513, where the first configuration information includes the start time of scanning, the duration of the scanning cycle and / or the scanning interval of the third electronic device 513. In an embodiment, the second electronic device 512 may receive the first configuration information including the start time of scanning, the duration of the scanning cycle and / or the scanning interval of the third electronic device 513 from the electronic device 600.

[0134] In response to receiving a signal sent by the third electronic device 513 for requesting to participate in scanning to search for the second cluster 520, the processor 620 may control the communication circuit 610 to send the first configuration information associated with scanning to the third electronic device 513 to search for the second cluster 520. The first configuration information may include the start time of scanning of the electronic device 600 and the second electronic device 512, the duration of the scanning cycle and / or the scanning interval. The third electronic device 513 may configure the start time of scanning of the third electronic device 513, the duration of the scanning cycle and / or the scanning interval so that the scanning interval of the electronic device 600, the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, and the scanning interval of the third electronic device 513 do not overlap. The third electronic device 513 may send third configuration information to the electronic device 600, the third configuration information including the start time of scanning of the third electronic device 513, the duration of the scanning cycle and / or the scanning interval. The processor 620 may change (or update) the first configuration information based on the third configuration information. According to an embodiment, the processor 620 may change (or update) the first configuration information in a scheme of adding a start time of scanning, a scanning cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval of the third electronic device 513 included in the third configuration information to the first configuration information.

[0135] Based on the above scheme, one or more electronic devices (e.g., the electronic device 600, the second electronic device 512, and / or the third electronic device 513) included in the first cluster 510 may perform scanning at different times to search for the second cluster 520. Therefore, even if one electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 600) fails to discover the second cluster 520 during the scanning interval, the second cluster 520 may be discovered by another electronic device (e.g., the second electronic device 512 and / or the third electronic device 513). Therefore, since the electronic device 600 may discover the second cluster 520 and / or perform merging even when a long scanning interval is not configured, a smooth NAN communication-based service may be performed even without increasing current consumption.

[0136] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment in which a first electronic device, a second electronic device, a third electronic device, and / or a fourth electronic device perform scanning to search for another cluster according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0137] Reference Figure 7 , a first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600) may be configured for use with an external electronic device (e.g., Figure 5a The start time, cycle and / or duration of the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514) that participates in the scanning to search for the second cluster (eg, Figure 5a The second cluster 520).

[0138] The first electronic device 600 may configure a period of scanning for searching the second cluster 520 to 16 discovery window intervals. The electronic devices 600, 512, 513, and 514 participating in the scanning may perform the scanning in every 16 discovery window intervals.

[0139] The first electronic device 600 may configure a scanning interval for searching the second cluster 520. According to an embodiment, the first electronic device 600 may configure the scanning interval to be shorter than the duration between discovery window intervals. The electronic devices 600, 512, 513, and 514 participating in the scanning may perform the scanning during the scanning interval having the configured duration.

[0140] The first electronic device 600 may determine the maximum number of electronic devices to perform scanning. The maximum number of electronic devices to perform scanning may be determined according to various schemes. The number of electronic devices to perform scanning may be determined according to the type of service performed by the first electronic device 600. According to an embodiment, if the service performed by the first electronic device 600 is a service requiring low latency, the first electronic device 600 may increase the maximum number of electronic devices to perform scanning compared to a service that can be performed with relatively high latency. Figure 7 In , a description is provided under the assumption that the maximum number is 4.

[0141] The first electronic device 600 may determine an interval to be scanned among the 16 discovery windows DW0 to DW15. Figure 5a The electronic devices in the second cluster 520 (eg, Figure 5a The first electronic device 600 may determine the scanning interval so that the scanning intervals of the electronic devices performing the scanning are separated from each other as much as possible. Figure 7 , the first electronic device 600 may determine an interval 721 between the first window DW0 711 and the second window DW1 712, an interval 731 between the fifth window DW4 713 and the sixth window DW5 714, an interval 741 between the ninth window DW8 715 and the tenth window DW9 716, and an interval 751 between the thirteenth window DW12 717 and the fourteenth window DW13 718 as intervals to be scanned.

[0142] The first electronic device 600 may configure the scanning interval 721 of the electronic device 600 such that scanning is performed between the first window DW0 711 and the second window DW1 712 among the 16 discovery windows DW0 to DW15 .

[0143] The first electronic device 600 may configure a start time of scanning of the second electronic device 512 based on receiving a signal transmitted by the second electronic device 512 for requesting participation in scanning to search for the second cluster 520 .

[0144] The first electronic device 600 may perform configuration so that a scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 600 and a scanning interval to be scanned by the second electronic device 512 are separated from each other as far in time as possible. The first electronic device 600 may configure a scanning interval 741 of the second electronic device 512 so that the second electronic device 512 may perform scanning between the ninth discovery window DW8 715 and the tenth discovery window DW9 712 among the 16 discovery windows DW0 to DW15.

[0145] The first electronic device 600 may configure a start time of scanning by the third electronic device 513 based on receiving a signal for requesting participation in scanning to search for the second cluster 520 transmitted by the third electronic device 513 .

[0146] The first electronic device 600 may configure the start time of scanning of the third electronic device 513 so that the scanning interval 721 to be scanned by the first electronic device 600, the scanning interval 741 to be scanned by the second electronic device 512, and the scanning interval to be scanned by the third electronic device 513 are separated from each other as far as possible in time. The first electronic device 600 may configure the scanning interval 731 of the third electronic device 513 so that the third electronic device 513 can perform scanning between the fifth discovery window DW4 713 and the sixth discovery window DW5 714 among the 16 discovery windows DW0 to DW15.

[0147] The first electronic device 600 may configure a start time of scanning of the fourth electronic device 514 based on receiving a signal for requesting participation in scanning to search for the second cluster 520 transmitted by the fourth electronic device 514 .

[0148] The first electronic device 600 may configure the scanning interval of the fourth electronic device 514 so that the scanning interval 721 to be scanned by the first electronic device 600, the scanning interval 741 to be scanned by the second electronic device 512, the scanning interval 731 to be scanned by the third electronic device 513, and the scanning interval of the fourth electronic device 514 are separated from each other as far as possible in time. The first electronic device 600 may configure the scanning interval 751 of the fourth electronic device 514 so that the fourth electronic device 514 can perform scanning between the thirteenth discovery window DW12 717 and the fourteenth discovery window DW13 718 among the 16 discovery windows DW0 to DW15.

[0149] Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a first electronic device allocates scanning of a second electronic device and / or a third electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0150] Reference Figure 8 , the first electronic device 801 (eg, Figure 6 electronic device 600), a second electronic device 803 (eg, Figure 5a 512) and / or a third electronic device 805 (eg, Figure 5a The third electronic device 513) may be included in the same cluster (eg, Figure 5a In the first cluster 510).

[0151] In operation 811, the first electronic device 801 may generate (or create, produce, or configure) a method for searching for another cluster (eg, Figure 5a The first configuration information of the second cluster 520).

[0152] The first configuration information may be generated at various times. The first electronic device 801 may be a master device of the first cluster 510, and may generate (or create, produce, or configure) the first configuration information when generating the first cluster 510 or when participating in the first cluster 510. The first electronic device 801 may be a non-master device of the first cluster 510, and may generate (or create, produce, or configure) the first configuration information when participating in the first cluster 510. The first electronic device 801 may generate (or create, produce, or configure) the first configuration information in various situations of requesting to search for another cluster 520.

[0153] The first configuration information may include a start time of scanning of the first electronic device 801 , an execution cycle of scanning, and / or a duration of a scanning interval.

[0154] The start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be defined in various ways. According to an embodiment, the start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be expressed in units of a discovery window. For example, the start time of the scan may be expressed so that the scan starts between the first discovery window DW0 and the second discovery window DW1, and the execution cycle may be expressed so that the scan is performed in every 16 discovery windows. The start time of the scan may be expressed in a bitmap manner.

[0155] In operation 812 , the second electronic device 803 may transmit a signal for requesting first configuration information to the first electronic device 801 .

[0156] In operation 813 , the first electronic device 801 may send first configuration information to the second electronic device 802 in response to receiving the request signal.

[0157] The first configuration information may be transmitted in various schemes. According to an embodiment, the first configuration information may be included in a release message of a service discovery frame (SDF) defined in NAN so as to be transmitted, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0158] In operation 814 , the second electronic device 803 may transmit a message for requesting allocation scanning to the first electronic device 801 .

[0159] Requesting allocation may include requesting allocation of a start time, a duration of a scanning cycle, and / or a scanning interval of a scan to be performed by the second electronic device 803. In operation 815, the first electronic device 801 may allocate scanning of the second electronic device 803, and may update the first configuration information based on the allocated scanning of the second electronic device 803.

[0160] The first electronic device 801 may receive the allocation request message for scanning transmitted by the second electronic device 803 , and may configure a start time of scanning, a scanning cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval of the second electronic device 803 .

[0161] The first electronic device 801 may perform configuration related to scanning so that the first electronic device 801 and the second electronic device 803 may perform scanning at different times to search for another cluster. The first electronic device 801 may perform configuration so that a scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 801 and a scanning interval to be scanned by the second electronic device 803 are different. For example, if the scanning interval of the first electronic device 801 is configured so that the first electronic device 801 performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among 16 discovery windows, the first electronic device 801 may configure the scanning interval of the second electronic device 803 so that the second electronic device 803 performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0162] The first electronic device 801 may perform configuration so that the start time of the scan to be performed by the first electronic device 801 is different from the start time of the scan to be performed by the second electronic device 803. For example, the first electronic device 801 may configure the start time of the scan of the electronic device 801 so that the first electronic device 801 performs the scan between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows. The first electronic device 801 may configure the start time of the scan of the second electronic device 803 so that the second electronic device 803 performs the scan between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0163] Alternatively, when configuration is performed so that a scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 801 and a scanning interval of the second electronic device 803 are different, the first electronic device 801 can increase the reception probability of a signal broadcasted by an electronic device (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) included in another cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520) by configuring the scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 801 and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 803 to be separated as far as possible in time. According to an embodiment, the first electronic device 801 can configure the scanning interval of the second electronic device 803 so that the second electronic device 803 performs scanning at a time point substantially the same as a time point corresponding to half of the scanning cycle of the first electronic device 801.

[0164] The first electronic device 801 may update the first configuration information so that the first configuration information includes information including a start time of scanning of the second electronic device 803 , an execution cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval.

[0165] Operation 812 of sending a signal for requesting the first configuration information and / or operation 813 of sending the first configuration information may be omitted. If operation 812 and / or operation 813 are omitted, the first electronic device 801 may allocate scanning of the second electronic device 803 and update the first configuration information in response to receiving an allocation request message sent by the second electronic device 803.

[0166] In operation 816 , the first electronic device 801 may transmit the updated first configuration information to the second electronic device 803 .

[0167] The second electronic device 803 may perform scanning to search for the second cluster 520 based on information about a scanning interval of the second electronic device 803 (eg, a start time of scanning, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of the scanning interval) included in the updated first configuration information.

[0168] In operation 817 , the third electronic device 805 may transmit a signal for requesting to participate in scanning to search for another cluster to the first electronic device 801 .

[0169] In operation 818 , the first electronic device 801 may transmit first configuration information to the third electronic device 803 in response to receiving the request signal.

[0170] The first configuration information may include a start time, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval for scanning of the first electronic device 801 and / or the second electronic device 803 .

[0171] If the first electronic device 801 broadcasts the first configuration information in operation 813, and the third electronic device 805 has previously received the first configuration information, operations 817 and 818 may be omitted.

[0172] In operation 819 , the third electronic device 805 may transmit a message for requesting allocation scanning to the first electronic device 801 .

[0173] Requesting allocation may include requesting allocation of a start time of a scan to be performed by the third electronic device 805 , a duration of a scan cycle, and / or a scan interval.

[0174] In operation 820 , the first electronic device 801 may allocate scanning of the third electronic device 805 , and may update the first configuration information based on the allocated scanning of the third electronic device 805 .

[0175] The first electronic device 801 may receive the allocation request message for scanning transmitted by the third electronic device 805 , and may configure a start time of scanning, a scanning cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval of the third electronic device 805 .

[0176] The first electronic device 801 may perform configuration related to scanning so that the first electronic device 801, the second electronic device 803, and the third electronic device 805 may perform scanning at different times to search for another cluster. The first electronic device 801 may perform configuration so that a scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 801, a scanning interval to be scanned by the second electronic device 803, and a scanning interval to be scanned by the third electronic device 805 are different. For example, if the scanning interval of the first electronic device 801 is configured so that the first electronic device 801 performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among 16 discovery windows, and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 803 is configured so that the second electronic device 803 performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, the first electronic device 801 may configure the scanning interval of the third electronic device 805 so that the third electronic device 805 performs scanning between the fifth discovery window and the sixth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0177] The first electronic device 801 may perform configuration so that the start time of the scan to be performed by the first electronic device 801, the start time of the scan to be performed by the second electronic device 803, and the start time of the scan to be performed by the third electronic device 805 are different. For example, if the start time of the scan of the first electronic device 801 is configured so that the first electronic device 801 performs the scan between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, and the start time of the scan of the second electronic device 803 is configured so that the second electronic device 803 performs the scan between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, the first electronic device 801 may configure the start time of the scan of the third electronic device 805 so that the third electronic device 805 performs the scan between the fifth discovery window and the sixth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0178] The first electronic device 801 may update the first configuration information so that the first configuration information includes information including a start time of scanning of the third electronic device 805 , an execution cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval.

[0179] In operation 821 , the first electronic device 801 may transmit updated first configuration information to the third electronic device 805 .

[0180] The first electronic device 801 may also send the updated first configuration information to another electronic device participating in the scan (e.g., the second electronic device 803). Alternatively, if the first configuration information is updated, the first electronic device 801 may broadcast the updated first configuration information to all electronic devices participating in the scan (e.g., the second electronic device 803 and the third electronic device 805).

[0181] The third electronic device 805 may perform scanning to search for the second cluster 520 based on information about a scanning interval of the third electronic device 805 (eg, a start time of scanning, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of the scanning interval) included in the updated first configuration information.

[0182] Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first electronic device, a second electronic device, and / or a third electronic device allocating scanning according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0183] Reference Fig. 9 , the first electronic device 901 (eg, Figure 6 electronic device 600), a second electronic device 903 (eg, Figure 5a ) and / or a third electronic device 905 (eg, Figure 5a The third electronic device 513) may be included in the same cluster (eg, Figure 5a In the first cluster 510).

[0184] In operation 911, the first electronic device 901 may generate (or create, produce, or configure) a method for searching for another cluster (eg, Figure 5a The first configuration information of the second cluster 520).

[0185] The first configuration information may include a start time of scanning of the first electronic device 901 , an execution cycle of scanning, and / or a duration of a scanning interval.

[0186] The start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be defined in various ways. According to an embodiment, the start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be expressed in units of a discovery window. For example, the start time of the scan may be expressed so that the scan starts between the first discovery window DW0 and the second discovery window DW1, and the execution cycle may be expressed so that the scan is performed in every 16 discovery windows. The start time of the scan may be expressed in a bitmap manner.

[0187] In operation 912 , the second electronic device 903 may transmit a signal for requesting first configuration information to the first electronic device 901 .

[0188] In operation 913 , the first electronic device 901 may transmit first configuration information to the second electronic device 902 in response to receiving the request signal.

[0189] The first configuration information may be transmitted in various schemes. According to an embodiment, the first configuration information may be included in a release message of a service discovery frame (SDF) defined in NAN so as to be transmitted, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0190] In operation 914 , the second electronic device 903 may allocate scanning of the second electronic device 803 based on the first configuration information.

[0191] The allocation of the scanning of the second electronic device 903 may include determining a start time of the scanning to be performed by the second electronic device 903 , a duration of a scanning cycle, and / or a scanning interval.

[0192] The second electronic device 903 may perform configuration related to scanning so that the first electronic device 901 and the second electronic device 903 may perform scanning at different times to search for another cluster. The second electronic device 903 may perform configuration so that a scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 901 and a scanning interval to be scanned by the second electronic device 903 are different. For example, if the scanning interval of the first electronic device 903 is configured so that the first electronic device 901 performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among 16 discovery windows, the second electronic device 903 may configure the scanning interval of the second electronic device 903 so that the second electronic device 903 performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0193] The second electronic device 903 may perform configuration so that the start time of the scan to be performed by the first electronic device 901 and the start time of the scan to be performed by the second electronic device 903 are different. For example, if the start time of the scan of the first electronic device 901 is configured so that the first electronic device 901 performs the scan between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, the second electronic device 903 may configure the start time of the scan of the second electronic device 903 so that the second electronic device 903 performs the scan between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0194] When configuration is performed so that a scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 901 and a scanning interval of the second electronic device 903 are different, the second electronic device 903 can increase the reception probability of a signal broadcasted by an electronic device (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) included in another cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520) by configuring the scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 901 and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 903 to be separated as far as possible in time. According to an embodiment, the second electronic device 903 can configure the scanning interval of the second electronic device 903 so that the second electronic device 903 performs scanning at a time point substantially the same as a time point corresponding to half of the scanning cycle of the first electronic device 901.

[0195] In operation 915 , the second electronic device 903 may send second configuration information to the first electronic device 901 .

[0196] The second configuration information may include information related to a scanning interval of the second electronic device 903 configured by the second electronic device 903 (eg, a start time of scanning of the second electronic device 903 , a duration of the scanning interval, and a scanning cycle of scanning).

[0197] The second electronic device 903 may perform scanning to search for the second cluster 520 based on information about a scanning interval of the second electronic device 903 (eg, a start time of scanning, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of the scanning interval).

[0198] In operation 916 , the first electronic device 901 may update the first configuration information based on the second configuration information.

[0199] The first electronic device 901 may update the first configuration information so that the first configuration information includes information including a start time of scanning of the second electronic device 903 , an execution cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval.

[0200] In operation 917 , the third electronic device 905 may transmit a signal for requesting first configuration information to the first electronic device 901 .

[0201] In operation 918 , the first electronic device 901 may transmit first configuration information to the third electronic device 905 in response to receiving the request signal.

[0202] The first configuration information may include a start time, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval for scanning of the first electronic device 901 and / or the second electronic device 903 .

[0203] If the second electronic device 903 broadcasts the second configuration information in operation 915, operation 917 and / or operation 918 may be omitted.

[0204] In operation 919 , the third electronic device 905 may allocate a scan of the third electronic device 905 .

[0205] The allocation of the scanning of the third electronic device 905 may include determining a start time of the scanning to be performed by the third electronic device 905 , a duration of a scanning cycle, and / or a scanning interval.

[0206] The third electronic device 905 can configure the start time of the scan, the scanning cycle and / or the duration of the scanning interval of the third electronic device 905 based on the start time of the scan, the scanning cycle and / or the duration of the scanning interval of the first electronic device 901 and / or the second electronic device 903 included in the first configuration information sent by the first electronic device 901.

[0207] The third electronic device 905 may perform configuration related to scanning so that the first electronic device 901, the second electronic device 903, and the third electronic device 905 may perform scanning at different times to search for another cluster. The third electronic device 905 may perform configuration so that a scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 901, a scanning interval to be scanned by the second electronic device 903, and a scanning interval to be scanned by the third electronic device 905 are different. For example, if the scanning interval of the first electronic device 901 is configured so that scanning is performed between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among 16 discovery windows, and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 903 is configured so that the second electronic device 903 performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, the third electronic device 905 may configure the scanning interval of the third electronic device 905 so that the third electronic device 905 performs scanning between the fifth discovery window and the sixth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0208] The third electronic device 905 may perform configuration so that the start time of the scan to be performed by the first electronic device 901, the start time of the scan to be performed by the second electronic device 903, and the start time of the scan to be performed by the third electronic device 905 are different. For example, if the start time of the scan of the first electronic device 901 is configured so that the first electronic device 901 performs the scan between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, and the start time of the scan of the second electronic device 903 is configured so that the second electronic device 903 performs the scan between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, the third electronic device 905 may configure the start time of the scan of the third electronic device 905 so that the third electronic device 905 performs the scan between the fifth discovery window and the sixth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0209] In operation 920 , the third electronic device 905 may transmit third configuration information to the first electronic device 901 .

[0210] The third configuration information may include information related to a scanning interval of the third electronic device 905 configured by the third electronic device 905 (eg, a start time of scanning of the third electronic device 905 , a duration of the scanning interval, and a scanning cycle of scanning).

[0211] The third electronic device 905 may perform scanning to search for the second cluster 520 based on information about a scanning interval of the third electronic device 905 (eg, a start time of scanning, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of the scanning interval).

[0212] In operation 921, the first electronic device 901 may update the first configuration information based on the third configuration information.

[0213] The first electronic device 901 may update the first configuration information so that the first configuration information includes information including a start time, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval for scanning of the third electronic device 905 .

[0214] Fig.10 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a first electronic device changes a scan of a third electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0215] Reference Fig.10 , the first electronic device 1001 (for example, Figure 6 electronic device 600), a second electronic device 1003 (eg, Figure 5a 512) and / or a third electronic device 1005 (eg, Figure 5a The third electronic device 513) may be included in the same cluster (eg, Figure 5a In the first cluster 510).

[0216] In operation 1011, the first electronic device 1001 may generate (or create, produce, or configure) a method for searching for another cluster (eg, Figure 5a The first configuration information of the second cluster 520).

[0217] The first configuration information may be generated at various times. The first electronic device 1001 may be a master device of the first cluster 510, and may generate (or create, produce, or configure) the first configuration information when generating the first cluster 510 or when participating in the first cluster 510. The first electronic device 1001 may be a non-master device of the first cluster 510, and may generate (or create, produce, or configure) the first configuration information when participating in the first cluster 510. The first electronic device 1001 may generate (or create, produce, or configure) the first configuration information in various situations in which a search for another cluster 520 is requested.

[0218] The first configuration information may include a start time of scanning of the first electronic device 1001 , an execution cycle of scanning, and / or a duration of a scanning interval.

[0219] The start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be defined in various ways. According to an embodiment, the start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be expressed in units of a discovery window. For example, the start time of the scan may be expressed such that the scan starts between the first discovery window DW0 and the second discovery window DW1, and the execution cycle may be expressed such that the scan is performed in every 16 discovery windows. The start time of the scan may be expressed in a bitmap manner.

[0220] In operation 1012 , the second electronic device 1003 may transmit a signal for requesting first configuration information to the first electronic device 1001 .

[0221] In operation 1013 , the third electronic device 1005 may transmit a signal for requesting first configuration information to the first electronic device 1001 .

[0222] In operation 1014 , the first electronic device 1001 may transmit first configuration information to the second electronic device 1003 in response to receiving a signal for requesting participation in scanning from the second electronic device 1003 .

[0223] The first configuration information may be transmitted in various schemes. According to an embodiment, the first configuration information may be included in a release message of a service discovery frame (SDF) defined in NAN so as to be transmitted, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0224] In operation 1015 , the first electronic device 1001 may transmit first configuration information to the third electronic device 1005 in response to receiving a signal for requesting participation in scanning from the third electronic device 1005 .

[0225] The first configuration information of operation 1014 and the first configuration information of operation 1015 may be the same.

[0226] In operation 1016 , the second electronic device 1003 may allocate scanning of the second electronic device 1003 based on the first configuration information.

[0227] The allocation of the scan of the second electronic device 1003 may include determining a start time, a scan cycle, and / or a duration of a scan interval for the scan to be performed by the second electronic device 1003 .

[0228] The second electronic device 1003 may perform configuration related to scanning so that the first electronic device 1001 and the second electronic device 1003 may perform scanning at different times to search for another cluster. The second electronic device 1003 may perform configuration so that a scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 1001 and a scanning interval to be scanned by the second electronic device 1003 are different. For example, if the scanning interval of the first electronic device 1001 is configured so that the first electronic device 1001 performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among 16 discovery windows, the second electronic device 1003 may configure the scanning interval of the second electronic device 1003 so that the second electronic device 1003 performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0229] The second electronic device 1003 may perform configuration so that the start time of the scan to be performed by the first electronic device 1001 and the start time of the scan to be performed by the second electronic device 1003 are different. For example, if the start time of the scan of the first electronic device 901 is configured so that the first electronic device 1001 performs the scan between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, the second electronic device 1003 may configure the start time of the scan of the second electronic device 1003 so that the second electronic device 1003 performs the scan between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0230] When configuration is performed so that the scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 1001 and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 1003 are different, the second electronic device 1003 can increase the reception probability of a signal broadcasted by an electronic device (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) included in another cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520) by configuring the scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 901 and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 1003 to be separated as far as possible in time. According to an embodiment, the second electronic device 1003 can configure the scanning interval of the second electronic device 1003 so that the second electronic device 1003 performs scanning at a time point substantially the same as a time point corresponding to half of the scanning cycle of the first electronic device 1001.

[0231] In operation 1017 , the third electronic device 1005 may allocate the scan of the third electronic device 1005 .

[0232] The first configuration information used by the third electronic device 1005 to allocate scanning of the third electronic device 1005 may be the same as the first configuration information used to allocate scanning of the second electronic device 1003. Therefore, the third electronic device 1005 may allocate the same scanning interval as that of the second electronic device 1003.

[0233] In operation 1018 , the second electronic device 1003 may send second configuration information to the first electronic device 1001 .

[0234] The second configuration information may include information related to a scanning interval of the second electronic device 903 configured by the second electronic device 903 (eg, a start time of scanning of the second electronic device 903 , a duration of the scanning interval, and a scanning cycle of scanning).

[0235] The second electronic device 1003 may perform scanning to search for the second cluster 520 based on information related to a scanning interval of the second electronic device 1003 (eg, a start time of scanning, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of the scanning interval).

[0236] The first electronic device 1001 may update the first configuration information based on the second configuration information.

[0237] The first electronic device 1001 may update the first configuration information so that the first configuration information includes information including a start time, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval for scanning of the second electronic device 1003 .

[0238] In operation 1019 , the third electronic device 1005 may transmit third configuration information to the first electronic device 1001 .

[0239] The third configuration information may include information related to a scanning interval of the third electronic device 1005 configured by the third electronic device 1005 (eg, a start time of scanning of the third electronic device 1005 , a duration of the scanning interval, and a scanning cycle of scanning).

[0240] The first electronic device 1001 may receive the third configuration information, and may recognize that the start time of scanning by the third electronic device 1005 is the same as the start time of scanning by the second electronic device 1003 (or the scanning interval of the third electronic device 1005 overlaps with the scanning interval of the second electronic device 1003 ).

[0241] In operation 1020 , the first electronic device 1001 may transmit a message for requesting a change in a scan time of the third electronic device 1005 to the third electronic device 1005 .

[0242] According to an embodiment, the message for requesting change of the scanning time of the third electronic device 1005 may include information including a start time, an execution cycle and / or a duration of a scanning interval for scanning of the first electronic device 1001 and / or the second electronic device 1003 .

[0243] The third electronic device 1005 may receive the message and reallocate scanning of the third electronic device 1005 based on the start time, execution cycle, and / or duration of the scanning interval for scanning of the first electronic device 1001 and / or the second electronic device 1003 included in the message.

[0244] The third electronic device 1005 may perform configuration related to scanning so that the first electronic device 1001, the second electronic device 1003, and the third electronic device 1005 may perform scanning at different times to search for another cluster. The third electronic device 1005 may perform configuration so that a scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device 1001, a scanning interval to be scanned by the second electronic device 1003, and a scanning interval to be scanned by the third electronic device 1005 are different.

[0245] Fig.11 is a diagram illustrating an operating method of an electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0246] Reference Fig.11 In operation 1110, an electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600 or Figure 5a The first electronic device 511) may generate (or create, produce, or configure) first configuration information related to scanning to search for another cluster (eg, Figure 5a The second cluster 520).

[0247] The processor 600 may search for at least one external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514) to search for another cluster.

[0248] According to an embodiment, the electronic device 600 may control the communication circuit 610 to transmit a signal including the scanned identification information to search for another cluster.

[0249] External electronic devices (e.g. Figure 5aAn external electronic device that supports scanning (for ease of description, it is assumed that the second electronic device 512 supports scanning) among the second electronic device 512 and / or the third electronic device 513) can send a response message corresponding to the signal. The response message can be a signal for requesting participation in scanning to search for the second cluster 520. Upon receiving the response message from the second electronic device 512, when performing a configuration related to scanning, the electronic device 600 can perform a configuration related to scanning of the second electronic device 512, which includes the start time of scanning to be performed by the second electronic device 512, the duration of the scanning interval and / or the scanning cycle, and can perform a configuration related to scanning of the electronic device 600, which includes the start time of scanning to be performed by the electronic device 600, the duration of the scanning interval and / or the scanning cycle.

[0250] The electronic device 600 may perform configuration related to scanning so that the electronic device 600 and the second electronic device 512 may perform scanning at different times to search for another cluster. The electronic device 600 may perform configuration so that a scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and a scanning interval to be scanned by the second electronic device 512 are different. For example, the electronic device 600 may configure the scanning interval of the electronic device 600 so that the electronic device 600 performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows. The electronic device 600 may configure the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 so that the second electronic device 512 performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0251] The electronic device 600 may perform configuration so that the start time of the scan to be performed by the electronic device 600 and the start time of the scan to be performed by the second electronic device 512 are different. For example, the electronic device 600 may configure the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 so that the electronic device 600 performs the scan between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows. The electronic device 600 may configure the start time of the scan of the second electronic device 512 so that the second electronic device 512 performs the scan between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0252] When configuration is performed so that a scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and a scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 are different, the electronic device 600 can increase the reception probability of a signal broadcasted by an electronic device (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) included in another cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520) by configuring the scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 to be separated as far as possible in time. According to an embodiment, the electronic device 600 can configure the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512 so that the second electronic device 512 performs scanning at a time point substantially the same as a time point corresponding to half of the scanning cycle of the electronic device 600.

[0253] The electronic device 600 may generate (or create, produce, or configure) first configuration information associated with scanning to search for another cluster for the electronic device 600 and / or the second electronic device 512. The first configuration information may include a start time of scanning of the electronic device 600 and / or the second electronic device 512, an execution period of scanning, and / or a duration of a scanning interval.

[0254] In operation 1120, the electronic device 600 may transmit the first configuration information to an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The electronic device 600 may control the communication circuit 610 to transmit the first configuration information to the second electronic device 512. The first configuration information may be transmitted in various schemes. According to an embodiment, the first configuration information may be included in a release message of a service discovery frame (SDF) defined in NAN so as to be transmitted, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0255] In operation 1130 , the electronic device 600 may perform scanning to search for a signal broadcasted by an external electronic device belonging to another cluster 520 based on the first configuration information.

[0256] When performing the scan, the electronic device 600 may receive a signal (e.g., a synchronization beacon signal as a signal for synchronization of the second cluster 520, or a discovery signal as a signal for discovering another cluster) broadcasted by the electronic devices 521 and 522 of the second cluster 520. The electronic device 600 may recognize the presence of the second cluster 520 based on information (e.g., attribute information of the second cluster 520) included in the signal transmitted by the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522. The electronic device 600 may receive information indicating that the second electronic device 512 has discovered the second cluster 520 from the second electronic device 512.

[0257] The electronic device 600 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520. The electronic device 600 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on the attribute of the second cluster 520 included in the information transmitted by the fifth electronic device 522 and / or the sixth electronic device 512, or the attribute of the second cluster 520 included in the information transmitted by the second electronic device 512. For example, the electronic device 600 may compare the cluster level of the first cluster 510 with the cluster level of the second cluster 520 included in the attribute of the second cluster 520, and may determine to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on recognizing that the cluster level of the second cluster 520 is greater than the cluster level of the first cluster 510. For another example, the electronic device 600 may compare the cluster level of the first cluster 510 with the cluster level of the second cluster 520 included in the attribute of the second cluster 520, and may determine not to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on recognizing that the cluster level of the second cluster 520 is not greater than the cluster level of the first cluster 510.

[0258] In operation 1140 , the electronic device 600 may transmit information related to the another cluster 520 to the external electronic device 512 , and perform a series of operations for merging into the another cluster 520 .

[0259] The electronic device 600 may transmit a signal (e.g., a beacon signal or a synchronization signal) including information of a cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520) other than the cluster (e.g., the first cluster 510) to which the first electronic device 600 currently belongs (e.g., the first cluster 510) to other electronic devices (e.g., the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, and / or the fourth electronic device 514) included in the first cluster 510 during the discovery window interval of the first cluster 510 based on the determination to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520. The other electronic devices 512, 513, and 514 may perform merging into (or joining) the second cluster 520 based on the information transmitted by the electronic device 600.

[0260] Fig.12 is a diagram illustrating an operating method of an electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0261] Reference Fig.12 In operation 1210, an electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600 or Figure 5a The first electronic device 511) may generate (or create, produce, or configure) first configuration information related to scanning to search for another cluster (eg, Figure 5a The second cluster 520).

[0262] The first configuration information may be generated at various times. The electronic device 600 may be a master device of the first cluster 510, and may generate (or create, produce, or configure) the first configuration information when generating the first cluster 510 or when participating in the first cluster 510. The electronic device 600 may be a non-master device of the first cluster 510, and may generate (or create, produce, or configure) the first configuration information when participating in the first cluster 510. The electronic device 600 may generate (or create, produce, or configure) the first configuration information in various situations of requesting to search for another cluster 520.

[0263] The first configuration information may include a start time of scanning of the electronic device 600 , an execution cycle of scanning, and / or a duration of a scanning interval.

[0264] The start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be defined in various ways. According to an embodiment, the start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be expressed in units of a discovery window. For example, the start time of the scan may be expressed so that the scan starts between the first discovery window DW0 and the second discovery window DW1, and the execution cycle may be expressed so that the scan is performed in every 16 discovery windows. The start time of the scan may be expressed in a bitmap manner.

[0265] External electronic devices (e.g. Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514) may send a signal for requesting the first configuration information to the electronic device 600.

[0266] In operation 1220, the electronic device 600 may respond to receiving a signal from an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The first configuration information is sent to an external electronic device (eg, a second electronic device 512, a third electronic device 513, or a fourth electronic device 514) to request the first configuration information. Figure 5a The first configuration information may be transmitted in various schemes. According to an embodiment, the first configuration information may be included in a release message of a service discovery frame (SDF) defined in NAN so as to be transmitted, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0267] The electronic device 600 may distribute external electronic devices (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514) may be scanned, and may be based on the assigned external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The first configuration information is updated by scanning the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514.

[0268] The electronic device 600 may receive a signal from an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The allocation request message for scanning is sent by the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514, and may be directed to an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514) configures the start time of the scan, the scan cycle and / or the duration of the scan interval.

[0269] The electronic device 600 may perform configurations related to scanning so that the electronic device 600 and an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 may perform scanning at different times to search for another cluster. The electronic device 600 may perform configuration so that the scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and the scanning interval to be scanned by the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514) is different. For example, if the scanning interval of the electronic device 600 is configured so that the electronic device 600 performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, the electronic device 600 may configure the external electronic device (e.g., Figure 5a The scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514) is such that the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514) performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0270] The electronic device 600 may perform configuration so that the start time of the scan to be performed by the electronic device 600 and the start time of the scan to be performed by the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The start time of the scan performed by the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 is different. For example, the electronic device 600 can configure the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 so that the electronic device 600 performs the scan between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows. The electronic device 600 can configure the external electronic device (for example, Figure 5a The start time of scanning of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514) is determined so that the external electronic device (for example, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514) performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0271] When the configuration is performed so that the scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a When the scanning intervals of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 are different, the electronic device 600 can configure the scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The scanning intervals of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514) of the cluster 600 are separated as far as possible in time to increase the reception probability of the signal broadcasted by the electronic device (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) included in another cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520). According to an embodiment, the electronic device 600 may configure the external electronic device (e.g., Figure 5a The scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514) is such that the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512 , the third electronic device 513 , or the fourth electronic device 514 ) performs scanning at a time point substantially the same as a time point corresponding to half of the scanning period of the electronic device 600 .

[0272] The electronic device 600 may update the first configuration information so that the first configuration information includes a configuration information for an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The information of the start time, execution cycle and / or duration of the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514 is provided.

[0273] In the above description, it is described that the electronic device 600 allocates the scan, but based on the first configuration information, not only the electronic device 600 but also an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514) can also be assigned to scan.

[0274] External electronic devices (e.g. Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 may allocate the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514).

[0275] External electronic devices (e.g. Figure 5a The allocation of scanning of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514) may include determining the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5aThe start time, scanning cycle and / or duration of the scanning interval of the scanning performed by the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514).

[0276] External electronic devices (e.g. Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 may perform configurations related to scanning so that the electronic device 600 and the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 may perform scanning at different times to search for another cluster. Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 of the embodiment may perform configuration so that the scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and the scanning interval to be scanned by the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514) is different. For example, if the scanning interval of the electronic device 600 is configured so that the electronic device 600 performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, the external electronic device (e.g., Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 may be configured with an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514) is such that the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514) performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0277] External electronic devices (e.g. Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 of the electronic device 600 may perform configuration so that the start time of the scan to be performed by the electronic device 600 and the start time of the scan to be performed by the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The start time of the scan performed by the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 is different. For example, if the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 is configured so that the electronic device 600 performs the scan between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, the second electronic device 901 can configure the external electronic device (for example, Figure 5a The start time of scanning of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514) is determined so that the external electronic device (for example, Figure 5aThe second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514) performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0278] When the configuration is performed so that the scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a When the scanning intervals of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514 are different, the external electronic device (for example, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514) can be scanned by configuring the scanning interval to be scanned by the electronic device 600 and the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The scanning intervals of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514) of the external electronic device 510 are separated as far as possible in time to increase the reception probability of the signal broadcasted by the electronic device (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) included in another cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520). According to an embodiment, the external electronic device (e.g., Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 may be configured with an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514) is such that the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512 , the third electronic device 513 , or the fourth electronic device 514 ) performs scanning at a time point substantially the same as a time point corresponding to half of the scanning period of the electronic device 600 .

[0279] External electronic devices (e.g. Figure 5a The second electronic device 512 , the third electronic device 513 , or the fourth electronic device 514 ) may send the second configuration information to the electronic device 600 .

[0280] The second configuration information may include information provided by an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514) is configured to communicate with an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The information related to the scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514 (for example, the external electronic device (for example, Figure 5a The first electronic device 512, the second electronic device 513 or the fourth electronic device 514) includes a scanning start time, a scanning interval duration and a scanning cycle).

[0281] External electronic devices (e.g. Figure 5aThe second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 may be based on the communication with the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The scanning is performed to search for the second cluster 520 based on information about a scanning interval of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, or the fourth electronic device 514 (eg, a start time of the scanning, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of the scanning interval).

[0282] The electronic device 600 may update the first configuration information based on the second configuration information.

[0283] In operation 1230 , the electronic device 600 may perform scanning to search for a signal broadcasted by an external electronic device belonging to another cluster 520 based on the first configuration information.

[0284] When performing the scan, the electronic device 600 may receive a signal (e.g., a synchronization beacon signal as a signal for synchronization of the second cluster 520, or a discovery signal as a signal for discovering another cluster) broadcasted by the electronic devices 521 and 522 of the second cluster 520. The electronic device 600 may recognize the presence of the second cluster 520 based on information (e.g., attribute information of the second cluster 520) included in the signal transmitted by the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522. The electronic device 600 may receive information indicating that the second electronic device 512 has discovered the second cluster 520 from the second electronic device 512.

[0285] The electronic device 600 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520. The electronic device 600 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on the attribute of the second cluster 520 included in the information transmitted by the fifth electronic device 522 and / or the sixth electronic device 512, or the attribute of the second cluster 520 included in the information transmitted by the second electronic device 512. For example, the electronic device 600 may compare the cluster level of the first cluster 510 with the cluster level of the second cluster 520 included in the attribute of the second cluster 520, and may determine to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on recognizing that the cluster level of the second cluster 520 is greater than the cluster level of the first cluster 510. For another example, the electronic device 600 may compare the cluster level of the first cluster 510 with the cluster level of the second cluster 520 included in the attribute of the second cluster 520, and may determine not to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on recognizing that the cluster level of the second cluster 520 is not greater than the cluster level of the first cluster 510.

[0286] In operation 1240 , the electronic device 600 may transmit information related to the another cluster 520 to the external electronic device 512 and perform a series of operations for merging into the another cluster 520 .

[0287] The electronic device 600 may transmit a signal (e.g., a beacon signal or a synchronization signal) including information of a cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520) other than the cluster (e.g., the first cluster 510) to which the first electronic device 600 currently belongs (e.g., the first cluster 510) to other electronic devices (e.g., the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513, and / or the fourth electronic device 514) included in the first cluster 510 during the discovery window interval of the first cluster 510 based on the determination to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520. The other electronic devices 512, 513, and 514 may perform merging into (or joining) the second cluster 520 based on the information transmitted by the electronic device 600.

[0288] Fig.13 is a diagram illustrating an electronic device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0289] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device 1300 (eg, Figure 8 The second electronic device 803, Fig. 9 The second electronic device 903 and Fig.10 The second electronic device 1003 may include a communication circuit 1310 (eg, Figure 1 The wireless communication module 192) and the processor 1320 (eg, Figure 1 processor 120).

[0290] The communication circuit 1310 may include various circuit structures for modulation and / or demodulation of signals in the electronic device 1300. For example, the communication circuit 1310 may modulate a baseband signal into a radio frequency (RF) band signal so as to output the RF band signal through an antenna (not shown), or may demodulate an RF band signal received through the antenna into a baseband signal so as to transmit the baseband signal to the processor 1320.

[0291] The communication circuit 1310 may be connected via a NAN cluster (e.g., Figure 5a The first cluster 510) of the electronic devices uses a frequency band (eg, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and / or 6 GHz) to external electronic devices (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514) sends various data to or receives various data from the external electronic device.

[0292] The processor 1320 may receive the information transmitted by the application processor (eg, Figure 1 The processor 120) sends the data, and generates a signal for transmitting the received data to an external electronic device (e.g., Figure 5aThe processor 1320 may be defined as a group including a second electronic device 512, a third electronic device 513 and / or a fourth electronic device 514. Figure 1 According to an embodiment, the processor 1320 can be configured to communicate with the wireless communication module 192 based on the communication processor of the application processor (e.g., Figure 1 The application processor 120 of the external electronic device 410 performs channel coding on data sent by the application processor 120 to generate (or create, produce or configure) a packet, and can identify whether at least a portion of the data sent by the external electronic device 410 has an error, or if an error occurs, error recovery (e.g., hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)) can be performed.

[0293] Based on the clusters (or networks) implemented in the Neighborhood Aware Network (NAN) scheme (e.g. Figure 5a The processor 1320 may receive the NAN cluster information included in a signal broadcasted by an external electronic device 512, 513, or 514 included in the first cluster 510 of the present invention, and may perform synchronization with the NAN cluster. Alternatively, the processor 1320 may receive the NAN cluster information via a communication scheme other than the NAN-based communication scheme (e.g., short-range wireless communication including Bluetooth or Wi-Fi). For example, the processor 1320 may send a message for discovering an external electronic device to be connected via Wi-Fi (e.g., Figure 5a The detection request signal of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in the embodiment of the present invention may be based on the detection request signal of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in the embodiment of the present invention, and may be based on the detection request signal of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in the embodiment of Figure 5a NAN cluster synchronization is performed based on the NAN cluster information included in the probe response message sent by the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in response to the probe request signal.

[0294] NAN cluster synchronization may include receiving an electronic device representing a NAN cluster (or a master device of a NAN cluster) (e.g., Figure 4 The processor 1320 may receive clock information of the first electronic device 410 of the NAN cluster, so that the electronic devices included in the NAN cluster send and / or receive data on the same channel and / or during the same time. For example, the processor 1320 may receive clock information of the first electronic device 410 of the NAN cluster, so that the electronic devices included in the NAN cluster send and / or receive data on the same channel and / or during the same time. Figure 5a The beacon broadcast by the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in the embodiment of the present invention may be based on the external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a NAN cluster synchronization is performed based on the clock information of the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514).

[0295] After the NAN cluster synchronization is completed, the processor 1320 may activate the communication circuit 1310 in each designated interval (e.g., the size of the discovery window of the interval having the first value), and may receive a message from an external electronic device (e.g., Figure 5a The data may be sent to the second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514 in the system, or may be sent to an external electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The second electronic device 512, the third electronic device 513 and / or the fourth electronic device 514) in the embodiment sends data.

[0296] After participating in the NAN cluster, the processor 1320 may participate in scanning to search for the second cluster 520 for various reasons. Based on the electronic device 1300 being configured to perform scanning to search for the second cluster 520, the processor 1320 may participate in scanning to search for the second cluster 520. Alternatively, the processor 1320 may participate in scanning to search for the second cluster 520 based on identifying the first electronic device (e.g., Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The signal broadcast by the first electronic device 1001 includes identification information of scanning to search for another cluster 520 to participate in scanning to search for the second cluster 520 .

[0297] As part of the operation of participating in the scan to search for the second cluster 520, the processor 1320 may send a signal to the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) sends a response message corresponding to a signal including the scanned identification information to search for another cluster 520.

[0298] The response message may be a signal for requesting the first configuration information related to scanning to search for another cluster. Alternatively, the response message may be a signal for requesting participation in scanning to search for the second cluster 520. Alternatively, the response message may be a signal for accepting participation in scanning to search for the second cluster 520 in response to the electronic device 600 sending a signal for requesting participation in scanning to search for the second cluster 520.

[0299] When receiving the response message, the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10The first electronic device 1001) can send first configuration information.

[0300] The first configuration information may include the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The start time of a scan of the first electronic device 1001), the execution cycle of the scan and / or the duration of a scanning interval.

[0301] The start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be defined in various ways. According to an embodiment, the start time, execution cycle and / or interval duration of the scan may be expressed in units of a discovery window. For example, the start time of the scan may be expressed so that the scan starts between the first discovery window DW0 and the second discovery window DW1, and the execution cycle may be expressed so that the scan is performed in every 16 discovery windows. The start time of the scan may be expressed in a bitmap manner.

[0302] The first configuration information may be transmitted in various schemes. According to an embodiment, the first configuration information may be included in a release message of a service discovery frame (SDF) defined in NAN so as to be transmitted, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0303] Based on the first configuration information, the processor 1320 can identify the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 Information related to a scan performed by the first electronic device 1001).

[0304] The processor 1320 may allocate scanning of the electronic device 1300 based on the first configuration information.

[0305] Allocation of scans by the electronic device 1300 may include determining a start time of a scan to be performed by the electronic device 1300 , a duration of a scan cycle, and / or a scan interval.

[0306] The processor 1320 may execute configurations related to scanning so that the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10The first electronic device 1001) and the electronic device 1300 may perform scanning to search for another cluster at different times. The processor 1320 may execute configuration so that the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10 The scanning interval of the first electronic device 1001) scanning is different from the scanning interval of the second electronic device 903. For example, if the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10 The scanning interval of the first electronic device 1001 is configured so that the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10 If the first electronic device 1001) performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, the processor 1320 can configure the scanning interval of the electronic device 1300 so that the electronic device 1300 performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0307] The processor 1320 may execute configuration so that the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The start time of the scan performed by the first electronic device 1001 and the start time of the scan to be performed by the electronic device 1300 are different. For example, if the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10 The start time of scanning of the first electronic device 1001) is configured so that the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10If the first electronic device 1001) performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, the processor 1320 can configure the start time of the scanning of the electronic device 1300 so that the electronic device 1300 performs scanning between the eighth discovery window and the ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0308] When the configuration is performed so that the first electronic device (for example, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The scanning interval of the first electronic device 1001) scanning and the scanning interval of the second electronic device 903 are different, the processor 1320 can configure the scanning interval to be scanned by the first electronic device (for example, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The scanning interval of the electronic device 1300 scanned by the first electronic device 1001) and the scanning interval of the electronic device 1300 are separated as far as possible in time to increase the reception probability of the signal broadcasted by the electronic devices (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) included in another cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520). According to an embodiment, the processor 1320 may configure the scanning interval of the electronic device 1300 so that the electronic device 1300 receives the signal broadcasted by the electronic device (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) when the electronic device 1300 is connected to the first electronic device (e.g., Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The scanning is performed at substantially the same time point as half of the scanning cycle of the first electronic device 1001 .

[0309] After receiving the first configuration information, the processor 1320 may send a first configuration information to the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) sends an allocation request message for requesting the allocation of a scan of the electronic device 1300.

[0310] Requesting allocation may include requesting allocation of a start time of scanning to be performed by the second electronic device 803 , a duration of a scanning cycle, and / or a scanning interval.

[0311] The first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) may allocate the scan of the electronic device 1300, and may update the first configuration information based on the allocated scan of the electronic device 1300.

[0312] The first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) may receive an allocation request message for scanning sent by the electronic device 1300, and may configure a start time of scanning, a scanning cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval for the electronic device 1300.

[0313] The first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) may perform configuration related to scanning so that the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) and the electronic device 1300 may perform scanning to search for another cluster at different times. Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) may perform configuration so that the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The scanning interval of the first electronic device 1001) is different from the scanning interval of the electronic device 1300. For example, if the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The scanning interval of the first electronic device 1001 is configured so that the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows, then the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) may configure a scanning interval of the electronic device 1300 so that the electronic device 1300 performs scanning between an eighth discovery window and a ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0314] The first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) may perform configuration so that the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10 The start time of the scan performed by the first electronic device 1001 and the start time of the scan to be performed by the electronic device 1300 are different. Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) may configure the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10 The start time of scanning of the first electronic device 1001) is set so that the first electronic device (for example, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) performs scanning between the zeroth discovery window and the first discovery window among the 16 discovery windows. The first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901, or Fig.10The first electronic device 1001) may configure a start time of scanning of the electronic device 1300 so that the electronic device 1300 performs scanning between an eighth discovery window and a ninth discovery window among the 16 discovery windows.

[0315] When the configuration is performed so that the first electronic device (for example, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 When the scanning interval of the first electronic device 1001) is different from the scanning interval of the electronic device 1300, the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001 may be configured to be used by the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The scanning interval of the first electronic device 1001) scanning and the scanning interval of the electronic device 1300 are separated as far as possible in time to increase the reception probability of the signal broadcasted by the electronic devices (e.g., the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) included in another cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520). According to an embodiment, the first electronic device (e.g., Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) can configure the scanning interval of the electronic device 1300 so that the electronic device 1300 scans the corresponding first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The scanning is performed at substantially the same time point as half of the scanning cycle of the first electronic device 1001 .

[0316] The first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10The first electronic device 1001) may update the first configuration information so that the first configuration information includes information including a start time, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of a scanning interval for the electronic device 1300.

[0317] The first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001) can send updated first configuration information to the electronic device 1300.

[0318] The processor 1320 may perform scanning to search for the second cluster 520 based on information related to the scanning interval of the electronic device 1300 (eg, a start time of scanning, an execution cycle, and / or a duration of the scanning interval) included in the updated first configuration information.

[0319] The processor 1320 may control the communication circuit 1310 so that scanning is performed based on the first configuration information to search for the second cluster 520. The processor 1320 may control the communication circuit 1310 to receive the electronic device (eg, Figure 5a The fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522) broadcasts a signal.

[0320] When performing the scan, the processor 1320 may receive a signal (e.g., a synchronization beacon signal as a signal for synchronization of the second cluster 520, or a discovery signal as a signal for discovering another cluster) broadcasted by the electronic devices 521 and 522 of the second cluster 520 via the communication circuit 1310. The electronic device 600 may recognize the presence of the second cluster 520 based on information (e.g., attribute information of the second cluster 520) included in the signal transmitted by the fifth electronic device 521 and / or the sixth electronic device 522. The processor 1320 may receive information indicating that the second electronic device 512 has discovered the second cluster 520 from the second electronic device 512 via the communication circuit 1310.

[0321] The processor 1320 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520. The processor 1320 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on the attribute of the second cluster 520 included in the information included in the signal transmitted by the fifth electronic device 522 and / or the sixth electronic device 512, or included in the information transmitted by the first electronic device (e.g., Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10The processor 1320 may determine whether to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on the attributes of the second cluster 520 in the information sent by the first electronic device 1001). For example, the processor 1320 may compare the cluster level of the first cluster 510 with the cluster level of the second cluster 520 included in the attributes of the second cluster 520, and may determine to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on identifying that the cluster level of the second cluster 520 is greater than the cluster level of the first cluster 510. For another example, the processor 1320 may compare the cluster level of the first cluster 510 with the cluster level of the second cluster 520 included in the attributes of the second cluster 520, and may determine not to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520 based on identifying that the cluster level of the second cluster 520 is not greater than the cluster level of the first cluster 510.

[0322] The processor 1320 may, based on the determination to merge the first cluster 510 and the second cluster 520, send a message to other electronic devices (eg, the first electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600, Figure 8 The first electronic device 801, Fig. 9 The first electronic device 901 or Fig.10 The first electronic device 1001, the third electronic device 513, and / or the fourth electronic device 514 of the electronic device 1300 may transmit a signal (e.g., a beacon signal or a synchronization signal) including information of a cluster (e.g., the second cluster 520) other than the cluster (e.g., the first cluster 510) to which the electronic device 1300 currently belongs (e.g., the attribute information of the second cluster 520). The other electronic devices 511, 513, and 514 may perform merging into (or joining) the second cluster 520 based on the information transmitted by the electronic device 1300.

[0323] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, an electronic device (eg, Figure 6 The electronic device 600 may include a communication circuit 610 and a processor 620 operably connected to the communication circuit 610, wherein the processor 620 is configured to: generate first configuration information related to scanning to search for another cluster for cluster merging by the electronic device 600 included in a proximity awareness network (NAN) cluster and the first external electronic device 803, control the communication circuit 610 to send the first configuration information to the first external electronic device 803, control the communication circuit 610 to perform scanning based on the first configuration information to search for a signal broadcast by an external electronic device belonging to another cluster, based on the discovery of the other cluster, send information about the other cluster to the first external electronic device 803, and perform a series of operations for merging into the other cluster, wherein the first configuration information is configured so that a time point at which the electronic device 600 performs the scanning and a time point at which the first external electronic device 803 performs the scanning are different.

[0324] In the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor 620 may be configured to receive a signal from the first external electronic device 803 indicating that the first external electronic device 803 has discovered another cluster, and perform a series of operations for merging into the other cluster based on information about the other cluster included in the signal indicating the discovery of the other cluster.

[0325] In the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the first configuration information may include a start time of scanning of the electronic device 600 , a duration of a scanning interval of the electronic device 600 , and / or a scanning cycle of the electronic device 600 .

[0326] In the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor 620 may be configured to generate first configuration information such that scanning of the first external electronic device 803 is performed at substantially the same time point as a time point corresponding to half of a scanning period of the electronic device 600 .

[0327] In the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor 620 may be configured to: receive a signal for requesting the transmission of first configuration information, which is sent by the first external electronic device 803; in response to receiving the signal for requesting the transmission of the first configuration information, send the first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 to the first external electronic device 803; and based on the first external electronic device 803 having requested to allocate the scan of the first external electronic device 803, send the first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the first external electronic device 803, the duration of the scan interval of the first external electronic device 803 and / or the scan cycle of the first external electronic device 803 to the first external electronic device 803.

[0328] In the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor 620 may be configured to: receive a signal for requesting the transmission of first configuration information, which is sent by a first external electronic device 803; in response to receiving the signal for requesting the transmission of the first configuration information, send first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 to the first external electronic device 803; receive second configuration information including the start time of the scan of the first external electronic device 803 configured by the first external electronic device 803, the duration of the scan interval of the first external electronic device 803 and / or the scan cycle of the first external electronic device 803; and update the first configuration information based on the received second configuration information.

[0329] In the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor 620 may be configured to: based on identifying that the second external electronic device 805 included in the cluster participates in scanning to search for a signal broadcast by an external electronic device belonging to another cluster, update first configuration information related to a cluster merge to be performed by the first external electronic device 803, the second external electronic device 805, and the electronic device 600, and control the communication circuit 610 to send the first configuration information to the second external electronic device 805, wherein the first configuration information is configured so that the time point at which the electronic device 600 performs the scan, the time point at which the first external electronic device 803 performs the scan, and the time point at which the second external electronic device 805 performs the scan are different.

[0330] In the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor 620 may be configured to: receive a signal for requesting the transmission of first configuration information, which is sent by the second external electronic device 805; in response to receiving the signal for requesting the transmission of the first configuration information, send the first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 and the start time of the scan of the first external electronic device 803 to the second external electronic device 805; and in response to the second external electronic device 805 having requested to allocate the scan of the second external electronic device 805, send the first configuration information to the second external electronic device 805, the first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the second external electronic device 805, the duration of the scan interval of the second external electronic device 805 and / or the scan cycle of the second external electronic device 805.

[0331] In the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor 620 may be configured to generate first configuration information so that the second external electronic device 805 performs scanning between the start time of scanning of the electronic device 600 and the start time of scanning of the first external electronic device 803 .

[0332] In the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor 620 may be configured to: receive a signal for requesting the transmission of first configuration information for the second external electronic device 805, send first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 to the second external electronic device 805 in response to receiving the signal for requesting the transmission of the first configuration information, receive third configuration information including the start time of the scan of the second external electronic device 805 configured by the second external electronic device 805, the duration of the scan interval of the second external electronic device 805 and / or the scan cycle of the second external electronic device 805, and based on identifying that the start time of the scan of the first external electronic device 803 is the same as the start time of the scan of the second external electronic device 805, send a message to the second external electronic device 805 for requesting to change the start time of the scan of the second external electronic device 805.

[0333] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the operating method of the electronic device 600 may include: generating first configuration information related to scanning by the electronic device 600 and the first external electronic device 803 included in a proximity awareness network (NAN) cluster to search for another cluster, sending the first configuration information to the first external electronic device 803, performing scanning based on the first configuration information to search for signals broadcast by external electronic devices belonging to another cluster, sending information about the other cluster to the first external electronic device 803 based on the discovery of the other cluster, and performing a series of operations for merging into the other cluster, wherein the configuration is configured so that the time point when the electronic device 600 performs the scanning is different from the moment when the first external electronic device 803 performs the scanning.

[0334] The operating method of the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may also include: receiving a signal from the first external electronic device 803 indicating that the first external electronic device 803 has discovered another cluster, and performing a series of operations for merging into the other cluster based on information about the other cluster included in the signal indicating the discovery of the other cluster.

[0335] In the operating method of the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the first configuration information may include a start time of scanning of the electronic device 600 , a duration of a scanning interval of the electronic device 600 , and / or a scanning cycle of the electronic device 600 .

[0336] In the operating method of the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, generating the first configuration information may include: generating configuration information so that scanning of the first external electronic device 803 is performed at a time point substantially the same as a time point corresponding to half of a scanning cycle of the electronic device 600.

[0337] The operating method of the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may also include: receiving a signal for requesting the transmission of first configuration information, which is sent by the first external electronic device 803, in response to receiving the signal for requesting the transmission of the first configuration information, sending the first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 to the first external electronic device 803, and based on the first external electronic device 803 having requested to allocate the scan of the first external electronic device, sending the first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the first external electronic device 803, the duration of the scan interval of the first external electronic device 803 and / or the scan cycle of the first external electronic device 803 to the first external electronic device 803.

[0338] The operating method of the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may also include: receiving a signal for requesting the transmission of first configuration information, which is sent by the first external electronic device 803; in response to receiving the signal for requesting the transmission of the first configuration information, sending first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 to the first external electronic device 803; receiving second configuration information including the start time of the scan of the first external electronic device 803 configured by the first external electronic device 803, the duration of the scan interval of the first external electronic device 803 and / or the scan cycle of the first external electronic device 803; and updating the first configuration information based on the received second configuration information.

[0339] The operating method of the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may also include: based on identifying that the second external electronic device 805 included in the cluster participates in scanning to search for a signal broadcast by an external electronic device belonging to another cluster, updating first configuration information related to a cluster merging to be performed by the first external electronic device 803, the second external electronic device 805 and the electronic device 600, and sending the first configuration information to the second external electronic device 805, wherein the first configuration information is configured so that the time point at which the electronic device 600 performs the scan, the time point at which the first external electronic device 803 performs the scan, and the time point at which the second external electronic device 805 performs the scan are different.

[0340] The operating method of the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may also include: receiving a signal for requesting the transmission of first configuration information, which is sent by the second external electronic device 805, in response to receiving the signal for requesting the transmission of the first configuration information, sending the first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 and the start time of the scan of the first external electronic device 803 to the second external electronic device 805, and in response to the second external electronic device 805 having requested to allocate the scan of the second external electronic device 805, sending the first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the second external electronic device 805, the duration of the scan interval of the second external electronic device 805 and / or the duration of the scan interval of the second external electronic device 805 to the second external electronic device 805.

[0341] In the operating method of the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, generating the first configuration information may include: generating the first configuration information so that the second external electronic device 805 performs scanning between the start time of the scanning of the electronic device 600 and the start time of the scanning of the first external electronic device 803.

[0342] The operating method of the electronic device 600 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may also include: receiving a signal for requesting the transmission of first configuration information for the second external electronic device 805, sending first configuration information including the start time of the scan of the electronic device 600 to the second external electronic device 805 in response to receiving the signal for requesting the transmission of the first configuration information, receiving third configuration information including the start time of the scan of the second external electronic device 805 configured by the second external electronic device 805, the duration of the scan interval of the second external electronic device 805 and / or the scan cycle of the second external electronic device 805, and based on identifying that the start time of the scan of the first external electronic device 803 is the same as the start time of the scan of the second external electronic device 805, sending a message to the second external electronic device 805 for requesting to change the start time of the scan of the second external electronic device 805.

[0343] The electronic device according to various embodiments may be one of various types of electronic devices. The electronic device may include, for example, a portable communication device (e.g., a smart phone), a computer device, a portable multimedia device, a portable medical device, a camera, a wearable device, or a household appliance. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronic device is not limited to those electronic devices described above.

[0344] It should be understood that the various embodiments of the present disclosure and the terms used therein are not intended to limit the technical features set forth herein to specific embodiments, but include various changes, equivalent forms or alternative forms for the corresponding embodiments. For the description of the accompanying drawings, similar reference numerals may be used to refer to similar or related elements. It will be understood that the nouns in the singular form corresponding to the term may include one or more things unless the relevant context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, each of the phrases such as "A or B", "at least one of A and B", "at least one of A or B", "A, B or C", "at least one of A, B and C" and "at least one of A, B or C" may include any one or all possible combinations of the items listed together with the corresponding one of the multiple phrases. As used herein, terms such as "1st" and "2nd" or "first" and "second" may be used to simply distinguish the corresponding component from another component, and do not limit the component in other aspects (e.g., importance or order). It will be understood that if an element (e.g., a first element) is referred to as being “coupled with another element (e.g., the second element)”, “coupled to another element (e.g., the second element)”, “connected with another element (e.g., the second element)”, or “connected to another element (e.g., the second element)” with or without the terms “operably” or “communicatively” being used, it means that the element may be directly (e.g., wired) connected to the other element, wirelessly connected to the other element, or connected to the other element via a third element.

[0345] As used in connection with various embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "module" may include a unit implemented in hardware, software, or firmware, and may be used interchangeably with other terms (e.g., "logic," "logic block," "portion," or "circuit"). A module may be a single integrated component adapted to perform one or more functions or a minimum unit or portion of the single integrated component. For example, according to an embodiment, a module may be implemented in the form of an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

[0346] The various embodiments described herein may be implemented as software (e.g., program 140) including one or more instructions stored in a storage medium (e.g., internal memory 136 or external memory 138) that can be read by a machine (e.g., electronic device 101). For example, under the control of a processor, a processor (e.g., processor 120) of the machine (e.g., electronic device 101) may call at least one of the one or more instructions stored in the storage medium and execute the at least one instruction with or without the use of one or more other components. This enables the machine to operate to perform at least one function according to the at least one instruction called. The one or more instructions may include code generated by a compiler or code that can be executed by an interpreter. The machine-readable storage medium may be provided in the form of a non-transitory storage medium. Among them, the term "non-transitory" only means that the storage medium is a tangible device and does not include signals (e.g., electromagnetic waves), but the term does not distinguish between data being semi-permanently stored in the storage medium and data being temporarily stored in the storage medium.

[0347] According to an embodiment, the method according to various embodiments of the present disclosure may be included and provided in a computer program product. The computer program product may be traded between a seller and a buyer as a product. The computer program product may be released in the form of a machine-readable storage medium (e.g., a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM)), or may be downloaded via an application store (e.g., Play Store TM ) the computer program product may be published (e.g., downloaded or uploaded) online, or the computer program product may be distributed (e.g., downloaded or uploaded) directly between two user devices (e.g., smart phones). If published online, at least part of the computer program product may be temporarily generated, or at least part of the computer program product may be at least temporarily stored in a machine-readable storage medium (such as a memory of a manufacturer's server, a server of an application store, or a forwarding server).

[0348] According to various embodiments, each of the above-mentioned components (e.g., a module or a program) may include a single entity or multiple entities, and some of the multiple entities may be separately arranged in different components. According to various embodiments, one or more of the above-mentioned components may be omitted, or one or more other components may be added. Alternatively or additionally, multiple components (e.g., a module or a program) may be integrated into a single component. In this case, according to various embodiments, the integrated component may still perform the one or more functions of each of the multiple components in the same or similar manner as a corresponding one of the multiple components performing one or more functions before integration. According to various embodiments, the operations performed by a module, a program or another component may be performed sequentially, in parallel, repeatedly or in a heuristic manner, or one or more of the operations may be run or omitted in a different order, or one or more other operations may be added.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising: Communication circuits; and a processor operably connected to the communication circuit, and A memory storing instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the electronic device to: generating first configuration information related to scanning to search for a proximity awareness network (NAN) cluster to which the electronic device does not belong; controlling the communication circuit to send first configuration information to a first external electronic device, the first external electronic device belonging to the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs; Controlling the communication circuit to perform scanning based on the first configuration information to search for a NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong; as well as Based on discovering a NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong, controlling the communication circuit to transmit first information about the discovered NAN cluster to the first external electronic device, and controlling the communication circuit to perform an operation for merging the discovered NAN cluster with the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs, wherein the first configuration information includes second information that enables the first external electronic device to perform scanning to search for NAN clusters at a first time point, the first time point being different from a second time point at which the electronic device performs scanning to search for NAN clusters, and The first information enables the first external electronic device to perform an operation for merging the discovered NAN cluster and the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: The memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to: receiving, in a case where the first external electronic device discovers a NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong before the electronic device discovers the NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong by searching at a first time point as indicated by the first configuration information, a signal indicating that the first external electronic device has discovered the NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong from the first external electronic device; as well as An operation for merging the discovered NAN cluster and the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs is performed based on third information about the discovered NAN cluster included in the signal indicating that the first external electronic device has discovered a NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong.

3. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: The first configuration information includes a start time of scanning of the electronic device, a duration of a scanning interval of the electronic device and / or a scanning cycle of the electronic device.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: The electronic device performs scanning at a second time point substantially the same as a time point corresponding to a half of a scanning period of the first external electronic device.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: The memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to: receiving a signal for requesting transmission of first configuration information from the first external electronic device; in response to receiving a signal for requesting transmission of first configuration information, transmitting first configuration information including a start time of scanning of the electronic device to the first external electronic device; as well as In response to a request by the first external electronic device to allocate scanning of the first external electronic device, first configuration information is sent to the first external electronic device, the first configuration information including a start time of scanning of the first external electronic device, a duration of a scanning interval of the first external electronic device and / or a scanning cycle of the first external electronic device.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: The memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to: receiving a signal for requesting transmission of first configuration information from the first external electronic device; in response to receiving a signal for requesting transmission of first configuration information, transmitting first configuration information including a start time of scanning of the electronic device to the first external electronic device; receiving second configuration information, the second configuration information including a start time of scanning of the first external electronic device, a duration of a scanning interval of the first external electronic device, and / or a scanning cycle of the first external electronic device configured by the first external electronic device; as well as The first configuration information is updated based on the received second configuration information.

7. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: The memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to: updating first configuration information related to cluster merging performed by the first external electronic device, the second external electronic device, and the electronic device based on recognizing that the second external electronic device included in the cluster participates in scanning to search for a NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong; as well as controlling the communication circuit to send the first configuration information to the second external electronic device, The second time point at which the electronic device performs scanning, the first time point at which the first external electronic device performs scanning, and the third time point at which the second external electronic device performs scanning are different.

8. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein: The memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to: receiving a signal for requesting transmission of first configuration information from the second external electronic device; In response to receiving a signal for requesting transmission of first configuration information, transmitting first configuration information including a start time of scanning of the electronic device and a start time of scanning of the first external electronic device to the second external electronic device; as well as In response to the second external electronic device having requested to allocate the scanning of the second external electronic device, first configuration information is sent to the second external electronic device, the first configuration information including the start time of the scanning of the second external electronic device, the duration of the scanning interval of the second external electronic device and / or the scanning cycle of the second external electronic device.

9. The electronic device according to claim 8, wherein: The memory further stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to generate first configuration information so that the second external electronic device performs scanning between a start time of scanning by the electronic device and a start time of scanning by the first external electronic device.

10. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein: The memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to: receiving a signal requesting transmission of first configuration information from the second external electronic device; in response to receiving a signal for requesting transmission of first configuration information, transmitting the first configuration information including a start time of scanning of the electronic device to the second external electronic device; receiving third configuration information, the third configuration information including a start time of scanning of the second external electronic device, a duration of a scanning interval of the second external electronic device, and / or a scanning cycle of the second external electronic device configured by the second external electronic device; as well as Based on recognizing that the start time of the scanning of the first external electronic device and the start time of the scanning of the second external electronic device are the same, a message for requesting to change the start time of the scanning of the second external electronic device is transmitted to the second external electronic device.

11. An operating method of an electronic device, the operating method comprising: generating first configuration information related to scanning to search for a proximity awareness network (NAN) cluster to which the electronic device does not belong; sending first configuration information to a first external electronic device, the first external electronic device belonging to the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs; performing a scan based on the first configuration information to search for a NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong; as well as based on discovering a NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong, transmitting first information about the discovered NAN cluster to the first external electronic device, and performing an operation for merging the discovered NAN cluster with the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs, wherein the first configuration information includes second information that enables the first external electronic device to perform scanning to search for NAN clusters at a first time point, the first time point being different from a second time point at which the electronic device performs scanning to search for NAN clusters, and The first information enables the first external electronic device to perform an operation for merging the discovered NAN cluster and the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs.

12. The operating method according to claim 11, further comprising: receiving, in a case where the first external electronic device discovers a NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong before the electronic device discovers the NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong by searching at a first time point as indicated by the first configuration information, a signal indicating that the first external electronic device has discovered the NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong from the first external electronic device; as well as An operation for merging the discovered NAN cluster and the NAN cluster to which the electronic device belongs is performed based on third information about the discovered NAN cluster included in the signal indicating that the first external electronic device has discovered a NAN cluster to which the electronic device does not belong.

13. The operating method according to claim 11, wherein: The first configuration information includes a start time of scanning of the electronic device, a duration of a scanning interval of the electronic device and / or a scanning cycle of the electronic device.

14. The operating method according to claim 11, wherein: The first configuration information includes second information to enable the first external electronic device to perform scanning at a second time point substantially the same as a time point corresponding to a half of a scanning period of the first external electronic device.

15. The operating method according to claim 11, further comprising: receiving a signal for requesting transmission of first configuration information from the first external electronic device; in response to receiving a signal for requesting transmission of first configuration information, transmitting first configuration information including a start time of scanning of the electronic device to the first external electronic device; as well as In response to the first external electronic device having requested to allocate the scanning of the first external electronic device, first configuration information is sent to the first external electronic device, the first configuration information including the start time of the scanning of the first external electronic device, the duration of the scanning interval of the first external electronic device and / or the scanning cycle of the first external electronic device.

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