Proxy Connection Suitability Metric for Mobile Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Small mobile devices, such as smart watches and music players, often lack the power or hardware resources for effective network connectivity to wireless network infrastructure, especially when in motion, leading to unreliable and inefficient communication.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where client devices with limited wireless capabilities can connect to host devices with wide area network access, using a suitability metric based on speed, bearing, and connection properties to determine optimal proxy connections, enabling data transfer through LAN connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If small mobile devices attempt direct wireless network connectivity, then network access capability is improved, but power consumption and hardware requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a host device as an intermediary between the client device and the wireless network. The host device performs scanning, authentication, and network communication, while the client device only needs to maintain a local connection to the host. This mediator approach enables network access for resource-constrained devices without requiring them to handle the complex and power-intensive tasks of direct network connectivity.
2Reliability
If small mobile devices implement full network connectivity hardware, then network access reliability is improved, but device size and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The host device serves as a capability provider that compensates for the client device's hardware limitations. By offloading network protocol handling, authentication, and wireless communication tasks to the host device, the system enables reliable network connectivity for small devices without requiring them to incorporate complex network hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The host device performs multiple functions including wireless network scanning, authentication, data transfer management, and local connection maintenance. This multi-functional host device enables various client devices with different capability levels to access the network through a single versatile intermediary, reducing the need for each client to have specialized hardware.
3Reliability
If client devices continuously scan for network connections, then connection reliability is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The host device assumes the responsibility of continuous network scanning and connection management. The client device only needs to periodically check for the host's availability through low-power local communication protocols. This division of labor maintains connection reliability while dramatically reducing the power consumption requirements for the client device.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of continuous scanning, the system uses periodic check-ins between client and host devices. The client device can use intermittent low-power communication to verify host availability and initiate data transfers only when needed, rather than maintaining constant active scanning connections.
Data Source
AI summary
A client device and a host device may create a local connection for providing wide area network access, such as Internet access, to the client device. In some embodiments, the client device may have limited network capabilities and may not be able to access the Internet without the host device. The client device may provide its speed and direction in a message to potential host devices. A host device may calculate a suitability metric, based on the speed and direction of the client as well as connection properties of the networks, which indicates an ability for the host device to connect the client device to the Internet. The host device may provide the suitability metric within a connection request to the client device. Based on the suitability metric and/or other factors, the client device and the host device may establish the local connection.