KR20050016890A - Distribution of user or terminal specific information in a local network - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of transmitting information between a plurality of devices is disclosed, the method comprising: transmitting information associated with the first terminal from a first terminal; Receiving the transmitted information at at least one second terminal; And selectively transmitting the information from the at least one second terminal.

Description

DISTRIBUTION OF USER OR TERMINAL SPECIFIC INFORMATION IN A LOCAL NETWORK

The present invention relates to the distribution of user or terminal specific information between devices capable of transmitting user or terminal specific information in the local area. The present invention particularly relates to, but is not limited to, setting up an ad hoc local network between such devices to facilitate local browsing.

People get information from their neighbors by their senses, such as their sight and hearing. In general, people cannot get any real-time information about their neighbors beyond the scope of the information provided by this sense.

Information networks are not optimized to provide local information efficiently, and it is difficult for people to access the information network as they travel. This is because information networks are not optimized to provide local information efficiently.

For example, when a person with a mobile phone or personal digital assistant (PDA) is on the move, there are limited ways to "push" information at a particular place. For example, advertisements may be "pushed" to the mobile phone. That is, for example, it can be transmitted to the receiver using SMS or WAP push function, where the receiving user does not need to take any action. Similarly, there are limited opportunities for users of mobile terminals to provide local service providers with information related to their interests or to access local bulletin boards.

Increasingly, mobile (and fixed) devices are equipped with near field communication means such as Bluetooth, WLAN, or infrared (IR), to avoid cable connections in local communication. These local links are particularly provided for local communication. However, the use of such near field communication links may require some technical capability from the user, who may not have this capability, or may not be willing to spend time implementing such a capability.

Thus, today, such near field communication links are not widely used. When such near field communication links are used, they are point-to-point between two devices, for example, between a laptop computer, cellular telephone, PDA, printer, Bluetooth access point, Bluetooth user device or digital camera. to-point) communication.

The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary implementation of the invention.

2 illustrates an example implementation of a device interface according to one embodiment of the invention.

3 shows an example of a proximity homepage.

4 shows method steps for performing an embodiment of the present invention.

5 shows method steps performed in an apparatus implementing one embodiment of the present invention.

6 illustrates the creation of an ad hoc network in accordance with the present invention.

7A, 7B and 7C illustrate examples of creation of other ad hoc networks in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

8A and 8B illustrate a local multimedia chat session in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

9 illustrates a local browser in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution to one or both of the above problems.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for transmitting information between a plurality of devices, the method comprising: transmitting information associated with the first terminal from a first terminal; Receiving the transmitted information at at least one second terminal; And selectively transmitting the information from the at least one second terminal.

The steps of transmitting the information preferably use a near field communication link. This local area communication link may be one of a Bluetooth link, an infrared link, or a WLAN link.

The method further comprises receiving at the at least one third terminal the information transmitted from the at least one second terminal. Information sent from the first terminal may be retransmitted by a limited number of additional terminals. The information may be transmitted according to a hop count from the first terminal. Upon receiving the transmitted information, the hop count can be decremented by one. If the hop count is not zero, the transmitted information may be retransmitted.

The transmitting of the information includes broadcasting the information from the source terminal to the destination terminal. Transmitting the information includes fetching information from the source terminal at the destination terminal.

Each terminal may include an information index for storing an index of information stored in the terminal, and upon receiving a transmission, this transmission is accepted depending on the information included in the transmission (which is not identified in the information index).

Each terminal includes an information index for storing an index of information transmitted by the terminal, wherein retransmission of the information is prevented depending on the information index indicating the previous transmission of the information.

The information index may include identifier and version information about the information. The information may be a proximity home page. Additional information related to this proximity homepage may be fetched from the associated user terminal. Additional information related to the near home page may be fetched from the Internet. The received information may be stored in the terminal memory.

The stored information can be removed from the device memory depending on the predefined parameters. The stored information may be removed from the device memory depending on the elapsed time after being stored, the elapsed time after being refreshed, the elapsed time after being accessed, or the elapsed time set in the stored proximity homepage.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a communication system comprising a plurality of terminals, wherein a first terminal transmits information associated with the first terminal, a second terminal receives the transmitted information, And the second terminal also optionally further transmits the information.

Each terminal may include a near field communication link for transmission and reception. This local area communication link may be one of a Bluetooth link, an infrared link, or a WLAN link. The communication system may include a third terminal for receiving the information from the second terminal.

A limited number of additional terminals may retransmit information received from the first terminal. Each terminal transmits information according to hop count.

Upon receiving the transmitted information, each terminal can decrease the hop count by one. If the hop count is not zero, each terminal can prevent retransmission of information. Each terminal can transmit information by broadcasting the information as a source terminal and receive the information as a destination terminal. Each terminal can fetch information as a destination terminal and send information as a source terminal.

Each terminal may include in its memory an information index for storing an index of information stored in the memory, and upon receipt of the transmission, such transmission depends on the information contained in this transmission (which is not identified in the information index). Is accepted.

Each terminal may include in its memory an information index for storing an index of information sent by the terminal, and retransmission of the information is prevented depending on the information index indicating the previous transmission of the information.

The information index may include an identifier and version information for the information. The information may be a proximity homepage.

Each terminal may fetch additional information related to the proximity homepage from the associated user terminal. Each user terminal may fetch additional information related to the proximity homepage from the Internet. Each terminal may include a memory for storing the received information.

Each terminal may remove the stored information from the device memory depending on the predefined parameters.

Each terminal may remove the stored information from the device memory depending on the elapsed time after being stored, the elapsed time after being refreshed, the elapsed time after being accessed, or the elapsed time set in the stored proximity homepage.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication terminal, comprising: transmitting means for transmitting information related to the terminal to other terminals, and receiving means for receiving information related to the other terminals from the other terminals. The terminal also selectively retransmits the received information.

The information transmitted by the terminal or received at the terminal may include an identification number of times the information can be retransmitted.

Upon receiving the information, the receiving means can decrease the value of the retransmission identification number.

Depending on the value of the retransmission identification number, the terminal can selectively retransmit the received information.

If the retransmission identification number is not zero, the terminal may retransmit the received information.

The present invention will now be described with reference to specific examples. However, the invention is not limited to being applicable only to the examples disclosed.

1 illustrates an exemplary manner in which the present invention can be advantageously used. Referring to FIG. 1, a number of mobile stations 2a to 2f, a portable computer 4, a desktop computer 6, an access point (AP) 8 and a personal portable terminal 10 are shown.

Each of the mobile stations 2a to 2f, the PDA 10 and the AP 8 are provided with means for RF communication with a wireless network such as, for example, a mobile wireless cellular communication network.

Each of the mobile stations 2a to 2f may comprise a mobile phone for communicating with a cellular communication system. Access point 8 may be a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point, such as an IEEE 802.11 access point.

In this example for explaining the present invention, it is assumed that each device has a short range communication link such as a Bluetooth interface, an infrared interface, or an IEEE 802.11 (WLAN) interface. The type of near field communication link is not critical to the present invention. However, as will be understood, in the following description, for any two devices to communicate, they must have compatible communication interfaces.

2 is a block diagram of a device such as a laptop computer 4 that includes a number of communication interfaces. Although not shown in FIG. 1, in FIG. 2, it is assumed that laptop computer 4 includes an RF communication interface for communicating with a wireless cellular communication network. 2, only elements of the device related to external communication are shown.

Referring to FIG. 2, the laptop computer 4 has three short range communication interfaces, namely a Bluetooth interface 20, an infrared interface 22 and a WLAN interface 24. This laptop also has a GSM / GPRS interface 26. Each interface is combined with respective input means 30a to 30d for receiving signals transmitted from the appropriate interface of the other device. Each interface is also coupled with respective output means 32a to 32d for transmitting signals to the appropriate interface of the other device. Each of the interfaces 20, 22, 24, and 26 is connected to the control block 34 of the laptop.

Since controlling the communication interfaces to send and receive signals is well known to those skilled in the art, this is not described in further detail here.

In order to explain an exemplary implementation of the invention with reference to FIG. 1, it is assumed that each of the illustrated devices is equipped with at least one of the near field communication interfaces 20, 22, 24. However, the present invention is not limited to these, and it will be apparent from the following description that each device may include any type of near field communication device.

Further, in the present invention, it is assumed that the "proximity homepage" is coupled to each device, which is specific to the device ("terminal proximity homepage") or to the user of the device ("user proximity homepage"). The home page specific to the user may still be considered as being associated with the device / terminal, since it is at least temporarily coupled with the device / terminal in use by the user.

The proximity home page is similar to the Internet home page, but is preferably suitable for mobile phone handset display and can be stored in this handset. If the device is a computer, for example a computer 6, the proximity homepage may be a simplified version of the internet homepage.

3 shows an example of a proximity homepage and its structure. The homepage, indicated at 70, may include any general introduction text 82 or alternatively a main menu. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the home page also includes a user's photo 80 and links to Internet pages, a direct call link including the user's phone number, or links to other pages of the proximity home page. The same links 78 are included. Relevant homepages of the proximity homepage include a larger picture 72 of the user, a subpage (or subpages) 74 containing more information about the user, and a page 76 of the user's preferred links. Each relevant page is preferably accessible through links on the main homepage 70. Subpages are fetched individually by pointing to the appropriate subpage link.

The proximity home page is preferably organized in the form of a hypertext document containing some files. The size of the file is limited by the particular implementation. In a preferred embodiment, the size of the file is limited to 30 kilobytes.

As illustrated at 78 in FIG. 3, the pages may include links to the Internet. Internet pages are fetched by using an internet connection of a node (mobile terminal) via a cellular network, or by using a Bluetooth / WLAN access point, for example.

Proximity pages share personal end user profile data with other users; Commercial advertising; Or it can be used to share public (city, local authorities, etc.) information. More generally, the proximity homepage may be considered to be user information or terminal information. Specifically, in preferred embodiments of the present invention, the user or terminal information is information that the user of the terminal wants (or wishes to make) available to users of other terminals in the local area. This information is preferably local information.

An exemplary implementation of the invention is now described with reference to the scheme of FIG. 1 and the method steps of FIG. 4. 4 illustrates a case where near homepages are broadcast between terminals.

In this example, transmission originates from the mobile station 2b. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that by reading the description herein, simultaneous transmission can be made from any of the devices shown in FIG.

The mobile station 2b is coupled with a near homepage, for example a near homepage A. As the operation mode is enabled in the mobile station 2b, the proximity homepage A is automatically broadcast periodically from the mobile station 2b. This mode of operation may be selected by the user from a menu system provided on the display of the mobile station or set as the default mode of operation.

To illustrate this example, it is assumed that all devices in FIG. 1 enable this mode of operation.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the near home page A is broadcast on the near field communication interface of the mobile station 2b.

According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the proximity homepage A is broadcast according to the "hop count" set by the mobile station 2b. This hop count indicates the number of devices or terminals to which the near home page A can be transmitted, as described in more detail below. As will be described in more detail below, each device that receives a broadcast home page that is broadcast preferably "spreads" the home page between neighbors by broadcasting the home page itself. However, as will be described further below, the "spreading" of the adjacent homepage is preferably limited.

Broadcasting the first proximity homepage A from the mobile station 2b is represented by step 50 of FIG. For the purposes of this example, assume that the hop count is initially set to three. Although the hop count is set by the mobile station 2b, it is preferably a preconfigured system parameter.

All devices within the short range transmission range from the mobile station 2b receive the near homepage A as a compatible communication interface. Thus, the devices 2c, 8, 6 and 10 receive the near homepage A. Although the device 2a is in range, it does not receive a proximity homepage A because it does not include a compatible communication interface.

Thus, the broadcast by the mobile station 2a may be considered as "tier 1" of three hop broadcast. For example, with particular reference to mobile station 2c, and with reference to step 52 of FIG. 4, once a broadcast signal is received, the hop count associated with it is decremented by one because one hop is completed. .

In step 54, the mobile station 2c determines whether the hop count is zero. If the hop count is zero, all hops are complete, no further broadcast of the near homepage A is made, and the method ends at 68.

In this example, the method proceeds to step 56 because the hop count in step 54 is two. In step 56, the mobile station 2c broadcasts the near home page A on its near field communication link. In the example of FIG. 1, only the laptop 4 is in range and receives the proximity homepage A via its compatible communication interface. Although the mobile station 2b is also in range, it can ignore the broadcast signal by recognizing the proximity homepage A as previously broadcast from being stored in its proximity homepage index.

The proximity homepage index includes information identifying each proximity homepage and its version stored in the terminal. Version information may include, for example, a date and / or time stamp, and / or a rolling version number.

Step 58 shows the reception of the near home page A by the mobile station 2c. Mobile station 2c decrements the hop count of the received signal by one. The broadcast from the mobile station 2c to the laptop 4 may be considered "tier 2" of three hop broadcast.

In step 60, the laptop 4 determines whether the hop count is zero. Since the hop count is one, the method proceeds to step 62.

In step 62, the laptop 4 broadcasts the near home page A on its local area communication link. In the example of FIG. 1, this broadcast signal is received by mobile stations 2d and 2e via compatible near field communication interfaces.

This broadcast signal is also received by the mobile station 2c, but it does not take any reactive action because it recognizes the identity of the proximity homepage A as being in its active proximity homepage index. Preferably, each device or terminal may have a proximity homepage index. This proximity homepage index is used to maintain a list of all nearby homepages active on the device and thus can be used to avoid any duplicate broadcasting.

Step 64 shows the reception of the near home page A by the mobile station 2d. The mobile station 2d decrements the hop count of the received signal by one. The broadcast from laptop 4 to mobile stations 2d and 2e may be considered "tier 3" of three hop broadcast.

In step 66, the mobile station 2d determines whether or not the hop count is zero. In the present example, since the hop count is zero, the method ends at step 68. Steps 64 and 66 are similarly performed for mobile station 2e.

In general, for all devices in tier n of n hop broadcast, no additional broadcast is made.

Thus, according to the present invention, as described above, each user preferably receives the proximity homepages of all nearby users, and the pages can be browsed offline by the browser of the user's device.

Using hopping, it is possible to establish connections beyond the physical limitations of a particular local area communication interface. Thus, limited short-range communication technology can be established, for example for hundreds of meters, for communications over tens of meters.

Note that the near home page may be hopped between devices using other near field communication interfaces. For example, the laptop 4 may receive a broadcast signal from the mobile station 2c via a Bluetooth communication interface, but may transmit to the mobile station 2d via an infrared interface, and may transmit to the mobile station 2e via a WLAN interface. Can be.

Although the present invention is described in connection with embodiments in which near homepages are transmitted from terminals, the present invention is not limited only to this configuration. In an alternative configuration, the receiving terminal can determine which files (ie, near homepages) are transferred between the terminals (or nodes). This is especially the case when data is transmitted by point-to-point between two nodes, rather than by general broadcasting.

The determination of whether to transfer the files is preferably made by the "receiving" terminal using information from the list of proximity pages received from which neighbors, and using any information contained in the proximity pages already received. . This principle is called the "sucking" or "fetching" principle, where the terminal itself determines which pages to get from its neighbors. The list of proximity pages provided by the transmitting terminal preferably includes the exact identifier of the proximity page and the version information of the proximity page (ie date / time stamp or rolling version information).

In general, the transfer of pages between nodes is based on the following principle:

1. In a first possible implementation, the terminal (or node) broadcasts its pages in its local area, and all neighbors listen to all possible broadcasts. Each terminal or node then collects different near homepages from other broadcast signals. In general, in this broadcast scheme, no feedback is provided to the broadcast node as to whether the transmission was successful. The success of the transmission is ensured by repeating the transmission at certain intervals. However, one possible disadvantage with this transmission technique is that transmissions can be unnecessarily repeated, especially in static situations.

2. In a second possible implementation, terminals or nodes exchange their near homepages via point-to-point connections using ordinary point-to-point protocols. In order to eliminate unnecessary transfer of pages, the above-described "circling" principle can be applied. This implementation may result in several transmission sessions of the same close home page, but does not cause repetitive transmission in static situations.

3. In a third possible implementation, the elements of the first and second implementations are combined. One embodiment is based on a second implementation, where terminals or nodes are added that intercept communications between other terminals and collect from these communications a list of nearby homepages and related homepages they do not have. . This implementation can minimize all transmissions.

Other possible implementations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Next, with respect to any of the devices of FIG. 1, another particular embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 5 illustrates a main routine that features delivery of proximity homepages in a network. Updating of nearby homepages is also delivered according to the main routine.

Following the start step 90, in step 92 the device determines whether there are any new neighbors in it. This is determined by receiving broadcast messages from neighbors.

If new neighbors are detected, at step 94, the device sends all page information notes associated with its proximity home page to the new neighbors. The device also requests a list of proximity pages from the new neighbors.

If no new neighbors are detected in step 92, then in step 96 it is determined whether any page information notes have been received from any existing neighbors. If any such notes have been received, in step 98 new pages associated with these notes are fetched from the associated neighbors. In step 100, the page information notes detected in step 96 are sent to all neighbors, assuming that no hop count has been exceeded for any of these neighbors.

If it is determined in step 96 that no page information notes have been received from neighbors, then the device determines in step 102 whether its own home page has changed. If so, in step 104, updated page information is sent to all neighbors. If no changes have been made, the routine returns to step 92. After each of the steps 94, 100, and 104, the routine returns to step 92.

As described above, at step 92, the device also requests a list of proximity pages from any new neighbor node. Delivery of pages from neighboring nodes is preferably implemented as background communication.

After receiving a list of proximity pages from all neighbors, the node (device) requests proximity pages that it does not have in its own memory. Proximity pages are requested from the node with the shortest hop count for the source of the proximity page.

When a node updates its own proximity page, or downloads a new proximity page from another node, it updates the proximity page index. A node (device) can request a proximity page from its neighbor nodes.

Preferably, a technique is provided for removing pages from the proximity homepage index of the device. This can be done based on time. For example, if a particular page has not been updated for any given amount of time, it may be deleted. This can also be done based on the fact that once the memory is full, any new pages that are downloaded automatically delete the oldest pages. The user can mark certain pages as protected to prevent deletion or overwriting.

If some pages contain location and / or movement information, and the device knows its own location and / or movement information, this information can be used to determine whether the page should be deleted. For example, pages associated with devices / applications that are not in a predefined proximity, eg, 500 meters radius, may be removed from the index of the pages. The predefined proximity area may be a system parameter. Pages associated with fixed stations in the near area can be stored for longer periods of time because their associated likelihood is higher than pages associated with mobile nodes.

As described in the above embodiments, the location / movement information may also be used in making a decision whether to fetch pages. For example, fast moving or "too far" pages cannot be fetched because they may not contain relevant information about the proximity area. This principle can also save unnecessary transmissions.

System designers can optimize the fetching and removal of parameters for optimal purposes. Other possible implementations of the fetching and elimination principles will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Referring again to FIG. 1, by utilizing the present invention, although some of the devices 6, 8, 10, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e and 4 are outside of the short range communication link to each other, such devices You can see that an ad hoc network is created between them. In such an ad hoc network, each device forming a network mode only knows its immediate neighbor. No device knows the topology of the entire network.

Implementing an ad hoc network in this manner is shown in FIG. 6. As can be seen, the hop begins at device 110. Based on the three-hop implementation, a network covering area 112 is created. An ad hoc network is preferably created using Bluetooth radio for the terminals. Proximity homepages are automatically multicast up to n-hop proximity in an ad hoc network. Each terminal in the ad hoc network receives all neighbor homepages from the n-hop environment.

If all the devices are Bluetooth devices, they can organize themselves into a Piconet network.

7A illustrates local browsing implemented with a three-hop mesh network, where information is transmitted as a broadcast to all neighboring nodes. Master nodes (m, n) are nodes that transmit information to the network. Client (c) receives information on the first tier (m1, n1), the second tier (m2, n2) and the third tier (m3, n3) hops. The n-hop coverage areas of the masters (m, n) achieved are shown in circled and uncircled letters.

7B shows local browsing implemented with a four-hop scatternet. In scatternet, information is not transmitted to all neighboring nodes in broadcast form, but only to a limited number of clients within each piconet. In addition, the master nodes m, n represent information, i.e., nodes that generate the master's proximity home page to the network, which information is received by the clients c. Clients c circled over letters receive the information transmitted by the master n, and clients c circled over the letters receive the information transmitted by the master m. .

7C shows a Bluetooth scatternet. As can be seen, the Bluetooth scatternet consists of 12 piconets, each piconet having a master and at least one slave, some slaves being slaves of multiple piconets, and some slaves serving as masters of other piconets. do. This type of scatternet is well known to experts in the Bluetooth environment.

Thus, the present invention enables, for example, cellular telephones, PDAs, access points or other devices with Bluetooth capability to form an ad hoc browsing network. In addition, any other form of ad hoc wireless communication may be used. The modes of the network can be mobile or fixed, or a combination thereof.

In order to be able to control and / or limit the amount of communication traffic, it is desirable to limit the size of nearby homepages.

Preferably, limiting or optimizing hop counts avoids blocking of the network and provides mobile devices with adequate battery life. The system saves battery operating modes by " prefering " nodes attached to power supplies in transmitting near homepages.

The invention can be implemented in any device or terminal using suitable software. For example, the present invention can be implemented in Bluetooth capable mobile phones using Symbian's application software.

In creating the ad hoc network described above, the present invention can advantageously be used for "super distribution". The distribution of media (eg, music, newspapers, books, games, etc.) using Bluetooth access points is efficient and fast. However, its usefulness is limited due to the small coverage area. The local browsing technology enabled by the present invention makes it possible to advertise the access point with the help of proximity pages delivered around by those passing by the access point. The person interested in the access point then accesses the access point to directly access the services it provides. Advertisements of adjacent homepages may be delivered over several hops, but media distribution is preferably limited to a single hop, ie direct connection at the access point. Thus, the hop count can vary depending on the type of information, and a single implementation can support multiple simultaneous hop counts.

More generally, the ad hoc network formed by the present invention is used to guide other access points, eg stores, to possible customers.

Another advantageous application of the present invention is the local multimedia chat shown by the examples of FIGS. 8A and 8B. Local browsing techniques can be used to deliver chat messages nearby. Local chat messages can be text only or multimedia messages. Referring to FIG. 8A, when new messages are received from the vicinity, messages 120 are rolled onto the display. Reference numeral 122 denotes an attachment such as, for example, a jpeg photo attachment or a music clip. 8B shows the photo attachment opened in response to the selection of the attachment. The user can type his own message in the designated portion 124 of the display, which is then sent to the user's vicinity.

Such multimedia chat may utilize an integrated camera and microphone.

In a particular preferred embodiment, the local browser of the multimedia phone may include a "network neighbor display" showing, for example, all users in the proximity area. This is illustrated by FIG. 9. 9 shows an example display 130 showing the geographic layout of ad hoc users. This display depends on the devices that support the position data. Alternatively, users of the network can be represented as a list. By clicking on the selected user, his proximity homepage can be downloaded and displayed on the browser. In a preferred embodiment, browsing of the homepages is from the memory of the terminals and no time consuming download from the network or other nodes is required. As shown by display 130, the display represents the movement characteristics of the users. Three mobile users 132, 134, 136 are displayed, and three fixed terminals 138, 140, 142 are displayed. Terminal 142 is highlighted because it represents a user of a device that includes local browser 130.

In summary, the information of the proximity homepage may typically include the same type of information as the World Wide Web pages, and may include, but is not limited to, the user's name, address, location, description, and photo. Do). The proximity page advantageously includes links to any information on the Internet or devices that form an ad hoc network. Links pointing to devices in an ad hoc network can be browsed within the ad hoc network. Links pointing to the Internet are browsed to other services, for example GPRS or access services.

The present invention provides many advantages. People can gain information about each other and about their surroundings, such as information about local services, and the ability to browse neighbors, things, and services. With the present invention, users can locate nearby targets of interest.

The distribution of traffic of proximity pages is minimized using the “fetching” principle described in FIG. 5, for example, where new proximity homepages are fetched from that neighboring node based on the list of proximity homepages received from the neighboring node. The new proximity homepage may be fetched after receiving information that such a new homepage exists or even simply after the user wants to review a particular proximity homepage. This kind of "fetching" principle is beneficial in terms of power usage, since the amount of data transmitted as background traffic can be optimized compared to the transmission of broadcast type, which is important for mobile terminals using limited power supplies. Do.

Following this principle, the home pages of nodes in n-hop proximity can always be obtained from the neighbor next door. Since no routing is required, the overhead is low. Since no multi-hop connections are needed to get the pages, this results in speeding up the data.

Thus far, the present invention has been described with reference to non-limiting examples. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited by these examples. In particular, the present invention is not limited to any particular type of near field communication. Also, the term base is not limited to a specific transmission range. The term base is intended to refer to communications transmitted independently of a supporting network (eg, a mobile communication network), preferably based on being made directly between devices in the local area.

Claims (45)

In the method for transmitting information between a plurality of devices, Transmitting information associated with the first terminal from a first terminal; Receiving the transmitted information at at least one second terminal; And Selectively transmitting said information from said at least one second terminal. The method of claim 1, Transmitting the information comprises using a near field communication link. The method of claim 2, And said short range communication link is one of a Bluetooth link, an infrared link, or a WLAN link. The method of claim 1, Receiving information transmitted from the at least one second terminal at at least one third terminal. The method of claim 1, Information transmitted from the first terminal is retransmitted by a limited number of other terminals. The method of claim 1, And wherein the information is transmitted from the first terminal according to a hop count. The method of claim 6, And upon receipt of the transmitted information, the hop count is reduced by one. The method of claim 7, wherein And wherein the transmitted information is transmitted when the hop count is not zero. The method of claim 1, And transmitting the information comprises broadcasting the information from a source terminal to a destination terminal. The method of claim 1, Transmitting the information comprises fetching information from a source terminal at a destination terminal. The method of claim 1, Each terminal includes an information index for storing an index of information stored in the terminal, and upon receiving a transmission, the transmission is accepted depending on the information contained in the transmission, which is not identified in the information index. And transmitting information between the plurality of devices. The method of claim 1, Each terminal includes an information index for storing an index of information stored in the terminal, and retransmission of the information is prevented depending on an information index indicating a previous transmission of the information. How to. The method of claim 11, And the information index includes an identifier and version information for the information. The method of claim 12, And the information index includes an identifier and version information for the information. The method of claim 1, And the information is a proximity homepage. The method of claim 15, And additional information related to the proximity homepage is fetched from a related user terminal. The method of claim 16, The additional information related to the near homepage is fetched from the Internet. The method of claim 1, And the received information is stored in a memory of the terminal. The method of claim 18, And said stored information is removed from the device memory in dependence on predefined parameters. The method of claim 19, The stored information is removed from the device memory depending on the elapsed time after being stored, the elapsed time after being refreshed, the elapsed time after being accessed, or the elapsed time set in the stored proximity homepage. How to. In a communication system including a plurality of terminals, A first terminal for transmitting information related to itself; And And a second terminal for receiving the transmitted information and selectively further transmitting the information. The method of claim 21, Wherein each terminal comprises a short range communication link for transmission and reception. The method of claim 22, And the short range communication link is one of a brutus link, an infrared link, or a WLAN link. The method of claim 21, And a third terminal for receiving the information from the second terminal. The method of claim 21, And a plurality of additional terminals retransmitting information received from the first terminal. The method of claim 21, And each terminal transmits information according to a hop count. The method of claim 26, Each terminal includes a plurality of terminals, characterized in that for reducing the hop count by one when receiving the transmitted information. The method of claim 27, And if the hop count is not zero, each terminal prevents retransmission of the information. The method of claim 21, Wherein each terminal transmits the information by broadcasting the information as a source terminal, and receives the information as a destination terminal. The method of claim 21, And each terminal fetches information as a destination terminal and transmits the information as a source terminal. The method of claim 21, Each terminal includes an information index in its memory for storing an index of information stored in the memory, and upon receiving a transmission, the transmission is not included in the transmission, which is not identified in the information index. A communication system comprising a plurality of terminals, characterized in that it is accepted depending on. The method of claim 21, Wherein each terminal includes an information index in its memory for storing an index of information transmitted by the terminal, and retransmission of the information is prevented depending on the information index indicating a previous transmission of the information. A communication system comprising a plurality of terminals. The method of claim 31, wherein The information index includes a plurality of terminals, characterized in that including the identifier and version information for the information. The method of claim 32, The information index includes a plurality of terminals, characterized in that including the identifier and version information for the information. The method of claim 21, And the information is a proximity homepage. 36. The method of claim 35 wherein And each terminal fetches additional information related to the proximity homepage from an associated user terminal. The method of claim 36, Wherein each user terminal fetches additional information related to the proximity homepage from the Internet. The method of claim 20, Wherein each terminal comprises a memory for storing received information. The method of claim 38, Wherein each terminal removes stored information from the device memory in dependence on predefined parameters. The method of claim 39, The terminals may be configured to remove the stored information from the device memory depending on the elapsed time after being stored, the elapsed time after being refreshed, the elapsed time after being accessed, or the elapsed time set in the stored proximity homepage. Including a communication system. In a communication terminal, Transmitting means for transmitting information associated with the terminal to other terminals; And Receiving means for receiving information related to the other terminals from the other terminals; The terminal also selectively retransmits the received information. 42. The method of claim 41 wherein And the information transmitted by or received by the terminal comprises an identification number of times the information can be retransmitted. The method of claim 42, And upon receiving the information, the receiving means reduces the retransmission identification number. The method of claim 43, And the terminal selectively retransmits the received information depending on the value of the retransmission identification number. The method of claim 44, And if the retransmission identification number is not zero, the terminal retransmits the received information.