WO2017115397A1

WO2017115397A1 - Method system and device for fast initial link setup in wireless peer to peer network

Info

Publication number: WO2017115397A1
Application number: PCT/JP2015/006496
Authority: WO
Inventors: Prakash CHAKI; Masato Yasuda; Gen Motoyoshi
Original assignee: NEC Corp
Current assignee: NEC Corp
Priority date: 2015-12-28
Filing date: 2015-12-28
Publication date: 2017-07-06
Anticipated expiration: 2018-06-28

Abstract

A method for fast initial link setup between first and second peer to peer (P2P) devices, includes the steps of: sharing information related to decision on role of operation between a first P2P device and a second P2P device, wherein each of the first and second P2P devices is capable of acting as any one of a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point and a WLAN station; deciding, based on the information shared, that one of the first and second P2P devices acts as WLAN access point and the other as WLAN station; and starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism between the first P2P device and the second P2P device which have their roles of operation as decided.

Description

METHOD SYSTEM AND DEVICE FOR FAST INITIAL LINK SETUP IN WIRELESS PEER TO PEER NETWORK

The present invention relates to wireless communication systems and particularly to a method, a system and a wireless communication device for fast initial link setup in wireless peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.

Background

The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ai (see NPL 1) is a recent standard for fast initial link setup (FILS) in wireless local area network (WLAN). The standard allows faster authentication and association between a WLAN Access Point (AP) and WLAN Station (STA) by reducing the number of handshakes conventionally required for authentication and association in WLAN dictated by IEEE 802.11i standard. The new 802.11ai standard targets to establish secure wireless communication link between AP and STA in less than 100 milliseconds by reducing the number of frame transmissions that are conventionally exchanged for 802.11i-based network authentication and association. Accordingly, IEEE 802.11ai standard is expected to offer tempting solutions to a wide range of applications where long connection establishment time is undesirable.

IEEE P802.11ai/D4.0, Part 11, "Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specifications: Fast Initial Link Setup", February 2015.

Summary

The 802.11ai-based authentication and association frames can be exchanged assuming that one of the devices is a WLAN AP and the other is a WLAN STA. In order to use the 802.11ai-based authentication and association mechanism in device-to-device communication, it is a technical problem to decide which device of a pair of devices functions as AP and which device functions as STA.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method, a system and a wireless communication device which can achieve the fast initial link setup (FILS) authentication and association mechanism between a pair of wireless communication devices. In addition to the objects mentioned, other obvious and apparent advantages of the invention will be reflected from the detailed specification and drawings.

According to the present invention, a method for fast initial link setup between first and second peer to peer (P2P) devices, includes the steps of: sharing information related to decision on role of operation between a first P2P device and a second P2P device, wherein each of the first and second P2P devices is capable of acting as any one of a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point and a WLAN station; deciding, based on the information shared, that one of the first and second P2P devices acts as WLAN access point and the other as WLAN station; and starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism between the first P2P device and the second P2P device which have activated their roles of operation as decided.
According to the present invention, a wireless P2P device includes: a first controller configured to send first information related to decision on role of operation to another wireless P2P device or a third entity and to receive second information related to decision on role of operation from the another wireless P2P device or the third entity; and a second controller configured to decide, based on the first and second information, that the wireless P2P device is to act as which one of WLAN access point and WLAN station before starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism with the another P2P device.
According to the present invention, a system for fast initial link setup between first and second peer to peer (P2P) devices, includes: the first P2P device and the second P2P device share information related to decision on role of operation, wherein each of the first and second P2P devices is capable of acting as any of wireless local area network (WLAN) access point and WLAN station; the first P2P device and the second P2P device decide, based on the information shared, which one of the first and second P2P devices acts as WLAN access point and which one as WLAN station, before starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism between the first P2P device and the second P2P device which have their roles of operation as decided.

According to the present invention, fast initial link setup of wireless communication link will be possible between a pair of wireless communication terminals. Thus, it will be possible to harness the benefits of fast initial link setup in device to device communication.

The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others, and the apparatus embodying features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts that are adapted to affect such steps, all is exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a wireless local area network (WLAN) to which any exemplary embodiment of the present invention is applicable. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a node included in the WLAN as shown in Fig. 2. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing a procedure for deciding the role of operation of P2P device followed by fast initial link setup (FILS) based authentication and association according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing a first example of the procedure as shown in Fig. 3. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a first example of decision method for deciding the role of operation of P2P device in the procedure as shown in Fig. 3. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a second example of decision method for deciding the role of operation of P2P device in the procedure as shown in Fig. 3. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a third example of decision method for deciding the role of operation of P2P device in the procedure as shown in Fig. 3. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing a second example of the procedure as shown in Fig. 3. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing a third example of the procedure as shown in Fig. 3. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing a procedure for deciding the role of operation of P2P device followed by fast initial link setup (FILS) based authentication and association according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing a first example of the procedure as shown in Fig. 10. FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram showing a second example of the procedure as shown in Fig. 10. FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram showing a third example of the procedure as shown in Fig. 10. FIG. 14 is a sequence diagram showing a fourth example of the procedure as shown in Fig. 10. FIG. 15 is a sequence diagram showing a procedure for deciding the role of operation of P2P device followed by fast initial link setup (FILS) based authentication and association according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 16 is a sequence diagram showing a procedure for deciding the role of operation of P2P device followed by fast initial link setup (FILS) based authentication and association according to a fourth exemplary embodiment.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration". Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

1. Outline of exemplary embodiments
The conventional technical problems as discussed above can be solved by one or more variants of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a procedure of fast initial link setup (FILS) authentication and association can be used in device-to-device communication assuming that the devices are capable of playing the roles of both WLAN-AP (WLAN Access Point) and WLAN-STA (WLAN Station), as required. Such an embodiment may not require Internet connection and may enable the device functioning as WLAN-STA to connect to the device acting as WLAN-AP on a peer to peer basis. The device functioning as WLAN-AP may perform at least one or more functions of a conventional WLAN-AP as defined in the IEEE 802.11 series of standards for wireless local area networking, including but not limited to, authenticating another non-AP STA device and enabling the non-AP STA device to associate with the device functioning as WLAN-AP.

The first and the second wireless P2P devices are assumed to be compliant with the 802.11ai based FILS method for establishing a wireless communication link between them. The FILS authentication mechanism and FILS association mechanism according to the IEEE 802.11ai standard for fast initial link setup are used between the device that functions as WLAN-AP and the device that functions as WLAN-STA.

Each of the first and the second wireless P2P devices is capable of operating as AP or STA as required. Accordingly, prior to starting the 802.11ai-based authentication and association handshakes, it is necessary to decide on which one of a pair of wireless P2P devices will function as WLAN-AP and which one will function as WLAN-STA.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, a decision is made to choose a device that functions as AP and to choose a device that functions as STA between a first device and a second device right before starting the 802.11 FILS based authentication and association, so as to enable the first and second devices to perform the 802.11ai FILS based authentication and association. Accordingly, even if no initial state of AP or STA is assumed at a device, but once they come in each other communication range or wish to communicate with each other, may share some information prior to 802.11ai FILS authentication and association so as to decide which device acts as AP and which device acts as STA allowing the following steps of 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. The information sharing can be made by a negotiation to decide on the role of operation (AP or STA) of a peer device. Thus by performing such a negotiation in real time before starting the 802.11ai based FILS authentication and association, it is possible to harness the benefits of the 802.11ai FILS in device-to-device communication.

1.1) How to decide between AP and STA
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method for deciding the role of operation (AP or STA) of a peer to peer (P2P) device prior to starting 802.11ai FILS authentication and association is introduced. This can be done by at least one of a first P2P device and second P2P device sharing information for deciding which device acts as AP or STA prior to starting 802.11ai FILS based authentication and association. More specifically, either the first P2P device shares the information with the second P2P device, or the second P2P device shares the information with the first P2P device, or both the first P2P device and second P2P device share the information with each other, prior to FILS authentication and association. The information may be sent by transmission of at least one frame in unicast, multicast or broadcast fashion between the first P2P device and the second P2P device. For example, the information may be a parameter, including but not limited to, a numerical value, a medium access control (MAC) address of the first or second wireless P2P device, a flag bit etc.

<Decision method 1>
As an example, the information shared between the first P2P device and the second P2P device to decide the role of operation (AP or STA) prior to 802.11ai FILS authentication and association may be at least one of a character, string or a numerical value. For example, without loss of generality, it can be a real number chosen between a minimum limit and a maximum limit. The first device may choose a numerical value from a range between the minimum and maximum limits and share it with the second device. Similarly, the second device may share a numerical value chosen from a range between the minimum and maximum limits and share it with the first device. The first P2P device and the second P2P device may arrive to a decision as to who will assume the role of AP and STA by comparing numerical values shared by the first P2P device and the second P2P device, respectively.

For example, if the numerical value shared by the first P2P device is greater than the numerical value shared by the second P2P device, then the first P2P device may be chosen to operate as AP in the following 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. The present invention does not restrict the number of frames to be transferred between the first P2P device and the second P2P device prior to starting 802.11ai FILS authentication and association to arrive to the decision of which device of the first P2P device and second P2P device assumes the role of AP or STA.

If the numerical value shared by the first P2P device is equal to the numerical value shared by the second P2P device, then the decision to decide the role of operation (AP or STA) may be taken by a flag bit. For example, a device which is one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device that that has sent a first frame may have a flag bit set to 1. Alternatively, a device which is one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device that has sent a second frame may have a flag bit set to 0. Thus, if the numerical value of the first P2P device exactly matches with that of the second P2P device, then the flag bit may be compared to decide who becomes AP for the following 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. For example, the device having a flag bit set to 1 may become AP or vise-versa. In another example, if the numerical value of the first P2P device exactly matches with that of the second device, then it is possible for the first P2P device and the second P2P device to start the process of deciding the role of operation (AP or STA) all over again by sharing new numerical values.

<Decision method 2>
According to another variant, the information shared between the first P2P device and the second P2P device to decide the role of operation (AP or STA) prior to 802.11ai FILS may be a Medium Access Control (MAC) address of the corresponding device. The first device may share its own MAC address with the second device. Similarly, the second device may share its own MAC address with the first device. The first P2P device and the second P2P device may arrive to a decision as to who will assume the role of AP and STA by comparing the MAC addresses of the first P2P device and the second P2P device. For example, if the MAC address of the first P2P device is greater than the MAC address of the second P2P device, then the first P2P device may be chosen to operate as AP and the second P2P device may be chosen to operate as STA in the following 802.11ai FILS authentication and association, or vice-versa.

<Decision method 3>
There can be many other variants of the method to make a decision on which device of a first P2P device and second P2P device assumes what role of operation (AP or STA) for the following 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. Some variants may use various combinations, in part or whole, of the methods disclosed above.

For example, it is possible that if the numerical value shared by the first P2P device exactly matches with the numerical value shared by the second P2P device, a decision on role of operation (AP or STA) may be taken by comparing the MAC addresses of the two P2P devices such that one of first P2P device and the second P2P device that has higher MAC address is chosen to function as AP or vice-versa.

In another variant, a first P2P device may skip the process of sharing information with a second P2P device to make the decision on role of AP or STA prior to starting 802.11ai authentication and association. In such a case, the first device may autonomously assume the role of AP and start transmitting beacons. The second P2P device may assume the role of STA, following which the first P2P device and the second P2P device may engage in 802.11ai FILS based authentication and association.

1.2) Decision by third entity
Further, in another variant, at least one of a first P2P device and a second P2P device may communicate with a third entity to decide its role of operation (AP or STA) prior to starting 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. Such a third entity can be, including but not limited to, at least one of a network configuration server or a third P2P device or a WLAN AP. The third entity may be capable of making a decision on the role of operation of the first P2P device and the second P2P device. In the communication between the third entity and at least one of the first P2P device and second P2P device, at least one of a request and a response regarding role of operation (AP or STA) may be exchanged. After that, the first P2P device and the second P2P device may assume their corresponding role as instructed by the third entity and start the mechanism of 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. The communication interface used by at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device to communicate with the third entity may be different from the communication interface used for 802.11ai FILS authentication and association between the first P2P device and the second P2P device. The communication interface used for communication with the third entity may be a physical or virtual interface.

A cellular communication link can be used by the first P2P device to communicate with a network configuration server and receive an instruction about its role of operation (AP or STA) from the network configuration server. Similarly, the second P2P device may also communicate with the network configuration server using a cellular communication link and receives an instruction about its role of operation (AP or STA) from the network configuration server. The network configuration server which acts as the third entity may decide on the role of operation of a requesting device (here, first P2P device and second P2P device) according to, including but not limited to, any variant of the methods discussed above. For example, the network configuration server may compare numerical values or MAC addresses included in request messages received respectively from the first P2P device and second P2P device. The network configuration server may then make a decision on the role of operation (AP or STA) of the first P2P device and the second P2P device and send the decision result to the first P2P device and the second P2P device in a response message. After receiving the response message from the network configuration server, the first P2P device and the second P2P device may start their respective roles of operation (AP or STA). After that, the first P2P device and second P2P device may start 802.11ai FILS authentication and association using another communication interface which may be a WLAN interface supporting 802.11ai capabilities.

Alternatively, a WLAN (Wi-Fi Infrastructure mode, IBSS or Wi-Fi Direct) can be used for the first P2P device and the second P2P device to communicate with the third entity using. In one variant, a single Wi-Fi interface may be used for both of the following communications: (a) communication between third entity and first or second P2P device regarding decision on role of operation, (b) communication between first P2P device and second P2P device according to 802.11ai FILS. This may be achieved in a time division manner. For example, the first or second P2P device may send a request to decide its role of operation to the third entity using Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi Infrastructure mode, IBSS or Wi-Fi Direct). The third entity may make a decision and send the response to the first and second P2P device using Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi Infrastructure mode, IBSS or Wi-Fi Direct). After receiving the response from the third entity, the first and second P2P devices may use the same interface for 802.11ai FILS authentication and association among themselves. In another variant, the first device may use a first WLAN interface for communicating with the third entity regarding decision on role of operation (AP or STA) and a second WLAN interface for communicating with the second P2P device regarding 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. In some variants, the first and second communication interfaces of the first P2P device may be a physical interface or a virtual interface.

1.3) Interface for decision making
A first P2P device and a second P2P device may be equipped with at least two communication interfaces (physical or virtual communication device). The first and second P2P device may communicate with each other regarding decision on role of operation (AP or STA) using a first communication interface. For example, the first communication interface can employ a Bluetooth (Trade Mark) interface or a LTE Direct interface. After sharing necessary information on decision of role of operation (AP or STA), the first and second P2P device can activate their decided roles and can use a second communication interface to exchange information regarding 802.11ai FILS authentication and association.

1.4) Advantageous Effects
As described before, IEEE 802.11ai is a standard for fast initial link setup by ensuring that authentication and association processes are accomplished in fewer frame exchanges between an Access Point (AP) and a station (STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN). In sharp contrast to the large number of frames exchanged between a supplicant (STA) and an authenticator (AP) in the phases of authentication and association as dictated in the 802.11i standard, 802.11ai reduces the number of frames exchanged in the phases of authentication and association. Thus a STA may connect to an AP in very less time which allows it to access any desired service without any unnecessary delay. In highly delay-sensitive applications like message exchange between moving vehicles approaching towards each other on roads at high speed, the 802.11ai standard offers exciting solutions as otherwise a longer delay in connection establishment may potentially lead to a missed opportunity of communication. However, 802.11ai standard based Fast Initial Link Setup (FILS) assumes that one of the devices functions as WLAN AP and the other device acts as WLAN STA before starting the authentication and association processes. Thus, it will be impossible to perform 802.11ai-based FILS if, for instance, both the devices operate as AP.

In wireless networks in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 series of standard for WLAN, a device may discover another device by mechanisms including active scanning and passive scanning. In the method of active scanning, a first scanning device may proactively send scanning request (may also be referred as Probe Request) following which a second device that receives the scanning request may send a scanning response (may also be referred as Probe Response), thus enabling the first device to discover the second device. In a passive scanning method, a first device may listen to at least one channel to receive beacon frames from an AP so as to be able to discover the AP.

In wireless networks, a first device and a second device may exchange Generic Advertisement Service (GAS) protocol frames prior to authentication or association for exchanging pre-association information. For example, in Wi-Fi P2P (also referred to as Wi-Fi Direct), a Service Discovery Query which uses a GAS Initial Request Action frame and a Service Discovery Response which uses a GAS Initial Response Action frame may be exchanged prior to authentication and association. In Wi-Fi P2P, a Provisioning Discovery Request may also be used between a first device and a second device prior to starting authentication and association.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the information for deciding the role of AP and STA between a first P2P device and a second P2P device as discussed before may be shared by using at least one of Probe Request, Probe Response, Beacon, Service Discovery Query, Service Discovery Response, Provisioning Discovery Request and Provisioning Discovery Response. Apart from the frames named here, any other pre-association discovery frame may be used for exchanging the information related to decision on the role of operation of first P2P device and second P2P device. In an example, the above-mentioned information may be put in a Vendor Specific Content of at least one of these frames. However, the present disclosure does not restrict the usage of any other frame for sharing the information related to deciding the role of operation (AP or STA) for the first P2P device and second P2P device.

In peer to peer communication using WLAN, a peer device can be enabled to function as AP or STA, as the need might be. For example, using software like hostapd, it is possible for a device to operate as an AP. Using a software like wpa_supplicant, it is possible for a device to operate as STA. Thus by use of such softwares, a same device may be capable of both the roles of operation (AP and STA) as and when needed. In this disclosure, the method for automatically deciding the role of operation (AP or STA) is introduced which allows a device to run an appropriate software to activate the AP or STA mode of operation. Once a first device activates as AP and a second device activates as STA, they can proceed to start the 802.11ai FILS authentication and association mechanism. This will enable fast WLAN connection establishment between at least two P2P devices. Thus it will be possible that the first P2P device and the second P2P device activates mutually exclusive roles of operation (AP or STA) and start 802.11ai FILS authentication and association.

2. Exemplary embodiments
Hereinafter, several exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described according to IEEE 802.11ai specification as an example. The exemplary embodiments are discussed in its complete details with accompanying figures and finally explained with an exemplary scenario. The embodiments described herein are only illustrative of some specific representations of the invention acknowledging the fact that the inventive concepts can be embodied in a wide variety of contexts. Thus the exemplary embodiments do not limit the scope of the disclosure.

2.1) System configuration
Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary WLAN 10, in which a node 101 operates as an Access Point (AP) and other nodes 102-104 operate as associated Stations (STAs), respectively. The AP node 101 may or may not be connected to a distribution system. The tasks performed by the AP node 101 may include at least authenticating the STAs so that the STAs can associate to the AP and form a WLAN.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of a device (node 200) used to perform communications in a Peer to Peer (P2P) group according to one or more embodiments of the present invention. The node 200 represents any one of the nodes 102-104 which have the same configuration but may be capable of operating as AP or STA. In various implementations, the device or node 200 may be a personal computing device (e.g., smart phone, computing tablet, personal computer, laptop, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), etc.) capable of Peer to Peer communication.

Referring to Fig. 2, the node 200 includes the following functionalities: a radio system 201, a user controller 202, a processor 203 and a memory 204. The radio system 201 includes a Wi-Fi Direct communication function. The user controller 202 controls a peer to peer connection procedure such as discovering another device, a procedure of deciding the role of operation (AP or STA) of operation, authentication, association etc. The processor 203 can execute the operating system and applications stored in the memory 204 or a separate storage device such as a semiconductor memory according to the present example. The applications stored in the memory 204 implements various functions including controlling an information exchange prior to 802.11ai FILS authentication and association, which will be described later.

The memory 204 may include a system memory component (e.g, RAM), a static storage component (e.g., ROM), and/or a disk drive. The node 200 performs specific operations by processor 203 and other components by executing one or more sequences of instructions contained in the system memory component. Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer to any medium that participates in providing instructions to processor 203 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. In various implementations, non-volatile media includes optical, or magnetic disks, or solid-state drives, volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as system memory component, and transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, including wires that comprise bus. In one example, the logic is encoded in non-transitory computer readable medium. In one example, transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio wave, optical, and infrared data communications.

Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example, floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, Compact Disc (CD) Read-Only Memory (ROM), any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, Random-Access Memory (RAM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer is adapted to read.

2.2) First exemplary embodiment
Referring to Figs. 3-9, an operation of two P2P devices according to the present exemplary embodiment will be described hereinafter.

As shown in Fig. 3, the two P2P devices (P2P Device A and P2P Device B) share information related to making a decision on their role of operation (AP or STA) in the stage of authentication and association (Operation S301). The decision on whether to operate as AP or STA is made at P2P Device A and P2P Device B, respectively (Operation S302 and Operation S303), followed by the P2P Devices A and B activating their corresponding roles of operation (AP or STA). The AP and STA then perform 802.11ai Fast Initial Link Setup (FILS)-based authentication and association (Operation S304). The operation S304 may also include steps for IP address assignment to the STA by the AP. Thus, a WLAN communication link is established between the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B (operation S305).

The operation performed in operation S304 may be according to the 802.11ai FILS authentication and association mechanism as specified in NPL1. In one example, the P2P Device that activates as FILS-capable AP may be connected to a Trusted Third Party (TTP) Authentication Server that shares a valid shared key rRK with the P2P Device that activates as STA. The P2P Device that operates as STA may initiate FILS shared key authentication with the P2P device that operates as FILS-capable AP to check and confirm the mutual possession of a valid shared key (which may be called re-authentication Root Key (rRK)) using Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) re-authentication protocol (EAP-RP) signaling. In another example, the P2P Device that operates as STA may share a cached Pairwise Master Key Security Association (PMKSA) with the P2P Device that operates as FILS capable AP. The P2P Device that operates as STA may then initiate FILS shared key authentication with the P2P device that operates as FILS capable AP. In further another example, the P2P Device that operates as STA may perform a full EAP exchange according to IEEE Standard 802.1x authentication in order to establish rRK. In still another example, some other form of FILS authentication may be used to establish a shared PMKSA. An EAP-RP signaling may be encapsulated using FILS wrapped data in an Authentication frame.

2.2.1) Example 1.1
As illustrated in Fig. 4, P2P Device A and P2P Device B exchange a Probe Request frame and a Probe Response frame to discover each other using active scanning (Operations S401 and S402). Subsequently, P2P Device A sends an AP Negotiation Request frame to P2P Device B (Operation S403). The AP Negotiation Request frame contains information related to deciding on the role of operation (AP or STA) which may consist of a numerical value chosen from a range of numerical values between a maximum limit and a minimum limit. When receiving the AP Negotiation Request, P2P Device B may send an AP Negotiation Response by sharing the information related to deciding on the role of operation (AP or STA) which may consist of a numerical value chosen from a range of numerical values between the maximum and minimum limits (Operation S404). Following this, a decision is taken based on the information shared by the two devices, which will be described in detail later. The decision may be shared by sending an AP Negotiation Confirmation frame (Operation S405).

After the operation S405, one of the devices become AP (P2P Device B in this example) and the other device becomes STA (P2P Device A in this example) according to the decision taken in the AP Negotiation process (Operations S520 and 521). The STA and AP then perform authentication and association in accordance with 802.11ai FILS. For example, P2P Device A which assumes the role of STA may possess an rRK from a prior full EAP authentication (Operation S522). The rRK may also be possessed by a Trusted Third Party (TTP) Authentication Server 110 from a full EAP authentication (Operation S523).

Then, the P2P Device A which operates as STA sends an Authentication frame to the P2P Device B which operates as AP (Operation S501). When receiving the Authentication frame, the AP sends a FILS Authentication Request to a TTP Authentication Server 110 (Operation S502). The TTP Authentication Server 110 responds to the P2P Device B operating as AP with a FILS Authentication Response (Operation S503). After performing the operation S503 with TTP Authentication Server, the P2P Device B operating as AP sends Authentication frame to the P2P Device A operating as STA (Operation S504). The P2P Device A operating as STA then sends an Association Request to P2P Device B operating as AP (Operation S505). The P2P Device B operating as AP sends an Association Response to P2P Device A operating as STA (Operation S506). There can be other variants of the 802.11ai based FILS authentication and association performed between P2P Device A and P2P Device B. The present embodiment does not limit the scope of using any other variant of FILS authentication and association mechanism based on 802.11ai standard. It may be noted that, any device of the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B can initiate the process of AP Negotiation by sending the AP Negotiation Request first.

<Decision method 1>
Fig. 5 shows an example of decision making based on the information shared between the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B prior to starting 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. “X” and “Y” are real numbers within a range bounded by a minimum value “a” and a maximum value “b”. The P2P Device A and the P2P Device B choose X and Y independently and share with each other during the operation of AP Negotiation Request and AP Negotiation Response, respectively, discussed in context of Fig. 4.

The values X and Y are then compared in at least one of the P2P Device A and P2P Device B (Operation S601). If X is not equal to Y, then it is checked which one of X and Y is greater (Operation S602). If X is greater than Y, then the P2P Device A is decided to become AP and the P2P Device B is chosen to become STA (Operation S604), else the P2P Device B becomes AP and the P2P Device A becomes STA (Operation S605). In case X is equal to Y, then it is checked if they are less than “b” (Operation S603). If X is equal to Y and is less than “b”, then the decision may be taken based on a flag bit such that which one of P2P Device A and P2P Device B has a flag bit set to 1 may be chosen to become AP and the other device may become STA (Operation S606). The flag bit may be set to 1 for a device that sends the first frame of AP Negotiation Request by initiating the process of AP Negotiation. In case both X and Y is equal to “b”, then the decision process may end in failure and may have to be started afresh (operation S607).

<Decision method 2>
Fig. 6 shows another example of decision making based on the information shared between the P2P Device A and P2P Device B prior to starting 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. Here along with numerical values X and Y, the P2P Device A and P2P Device B also share their MAC addresses with each other. In continuation to the method 1 described in Fig. 5, if X and Y are equal but less than “b” (Operation S603), then the decision for role of AP or STA is taken by comparing the MAC addresses of the two devices (Operation S610). If the P2P Device A has a higher MAC address, then it is chosen to operate as AP and the P2P Device B is chosen to operate as STA (S611), else the P2P Device B becomes AP and the P2P Device A becomes STA (Operation S612). The rest of the operations S610-S612 are already discussed in context of Fig. 5.

<Decision method 3>
Fig. 7 shows further another example of decision making based on the information shared between the P2P Device A and P2P Device B prior to starting 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. Here, the P2P device A and P2P Device B share their respective MAC addresses with each other. The MAC addresses are compared to find which of the two devices has a higher MAC address (Operation S701). If the MAC address of the P2P Device A is greater than the MAC address of the P2P Device B, then the P2P Device A may be chosen as to operate as the AP (Operation S702) or vice-versa (Operation S703).

It should be noted that the above-described decision methods 1-3 can be applied to any exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

2.2.2) Example 1.2
As illustrated in Fig. 8, a second example of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown using the decision method 3 as described above. In this embodiment, a P2P Device A and a P2P Device B share their respective MAC addresses in the Probe Request frames (Operations S601 and S602 respectively). After receiving P2P Device B’s Probe Request, the P2P Device A compares the P2P Device B’s MAC address with its own MAC Address. If the P2P Device B has a greater MAC address, then the P2P Device B may become AP and the P2P Device A may become STA in the following operations S304 of 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. In this example, the Probe Response frames generated in response to the Probe Request frame has been suppressed to reduce the number of frame exchanges. However in some variants, the Probe Request frames (S601 and S602) may trigger transmission of a Probe Response frame from the device that receives the Probe Request. The rest of the operations have already been discussed before.

2.2.3) Example 1.3
As illustrated in Fig. 9 shows a third example of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In this example, a P2P Device A and a P2P Device B share the information related to making a decision of their role of operation (AP or STA) prior to 802.11ai FILS authentication and association by using Pre-association Discovery frames including their corresponding AP intent or MAC addresses in the frame (Operations S701 and S702, respectively). In some variants, Generic Advertisement Service (GAS) Protocol frames may be used exploiting the feature that GAS frames can be used prior to authentication and association. For example, Service Discovery Query frame specified in Wi-Fi P2P specification uses the GAS Initial Request frame. The Service Discovery Response frame specified in Wi-Fi P2P specification uses the GAS Initial Response frame. The rest of the operations have already been discussed before.

2.3) Second exemplary embodiment
Referring to Figs. 10-14, a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter.

Fig. 10 shows two P2P devices: P2P Device A and P2P Device B, which share information with a third entity 111 related to making a decision on their role of operation (AP or STA) in the stage of authentication and association (Operation S801 and S802). By the exchange of message that takes place in S801 and S802, the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B comes to know about their respective roles of operation (AP or STA). According to the instruction received from the third entity 111, the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B activate their corresponding roles of operation (AP or STA) (Operation S803 and S804 respectively). The AP and STA then perform 802.11ai Fast Initial Link Setup (FILS) based authentication and association (Operation S304). The operation S304 may also include operations for IP address assignment to the STA by the AP. Thus, a WLAN communication link is established between the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B (Operation S305).

Note that the third entity comprises a communication controller that shares information with respective ones of the P2P Devices A and B and a decision controller that decides the respective roles of operation of the P2P Devices A and B to notify the decision results to the P2P Devices A and B, respectively.

2.3.1) Example 2.1
Referring to Fig. 11, the P2P Device A sends a Role Request message to the third entity 111 (Operation S901) and the P2P Device A receives a Role Response message from the third entity (Operation S902). Similarly, the P2P Device B sends a Role Request message to the third entity 111 (Operation S903) and the P2P Device A receives a Role Response message from the third entity 111 (Operation S904). The present embodiment does not restrict the number of messages to be exchanged in the operation S801 and S802. By the operation S801, the P2P Device A comes to know about its role of operation (AP or STA) in the 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. Similarly, by operation S802, the P2P Device B comes to know about its role of operation (AP or STA) in the 802.11ai FILS authentication and association. Correspondingly, the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B activate their roles of operation (Operations S520 and S521), followed by the operations including the 802.11ai FILS authentication and association as discussed above.

2.3.2) Example 2.2
Referring to Fig. 12, a first P2P device A and a second P2P device B are shown, each of which has two communication interfaces. The first P2P device A is equipped with first and

second communication interfaces

1001 and 1002. The second P2P device B is equipped with first and

second communication interfaces

1003 and 1004. A third entity 112 is equipped with a first communication interface1005.

The first P2P device A exchanges messages related to making a decision on role of operation (AP or STA) using its first communication interface 1001 with the first communication interface 1005 of the third entity 112 (Operation S801). Similarly, the second P2P device B exchanges messages related to making a decision on role of operation (AP or STA) using its first communication interface 1003 with the first communication interface 1005 of the third entity 112 (Operation S802). After that, the first P2P device A uses its second communication interface 1002 for exchanging the 802.11ai FILS authentication and association related messages (Operation S304) with the second communication interface 1004 of the second P2P device B. For example, the

first communication interfaces

1001 and 1003 of the first P2P device A and the second P2P device B may use cellular communication to communicate with a network configuration server (third entity). After receiving information related to role of operation (AP or STA) from the server, the first and second devices A and B may activate their corresponding roles and exchange the 802.11ai FILS authentication ad association related messages using a Wi-Fi interface. In some cases, the first interfaces used for communicating with the third entity 112 may use at least one of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Wi-Max, Wi-Fi Direct, LTE Direct, cellular communication like LTE etc.

2.3.3) Example 2.3
Referring to Fig. 13, a first P2P device A, a second P2P device B and a third entity 113 are shown, each of which has a single communication interface (1101, 1102 and 1103 respectively). The first P2P device A exchanges messages related to making a decision on role of operation (AP or STA) using its first communication interface 1101 with the first communication interface 1103 of the third entity 113 in Timeslot TS1 (Operation S801). The second P2P device B exchanges messages related to making a decision on role of operation (AP or STA) using its first communication interface 1102 with the first communication interface 1103 of the third entity 113 in Timeslot TS3. The first P2P device A exchange messages related to the 802.11ai FILS authentication and association using its first communication interface 1101 with the first communication interface 1102 of the second P2P device B in Timeslot TS2. Thus such a time division scheme allows each of the first and second P2P devices A and B equipped with a single communication device to communicate with the third entity 113 and then to communicate between themselves. For example, the single communication interface can be a WLAN interface.

2.3.4) Example 2.4
Referring to Fig. 14, the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B share information with the third entity 111 related to making a decision on their role of operation (AP or STA) in the stage of authentication and association (Operations S801 and S802). By the exchange of messages that takes place in S801 and S802, the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B come to know about their respective roles of operation (AP or STA). According to the instructions received from the third entity 111, the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B activate their corresponding roles of operation (AP or STA) (Operation S803 and S804 respectively). The AP and STA then perform IEEE 802.11ai Fast Initial Link Setup (FILS) discovery (Operation S1201). After this, the IEEE 802.11ai FILS based authentication and association is performed between the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B (Operation S304). The operation S304 may also include the operations for IP address assignment to the STA by the AP. Thus, a WLAN communication link is established between the P2P Device A and the P2P Device B (Operation S305).

2.4) Third exemplary embodiment
Referring to Fig. 15, each of the first and second P2P Devices A and B is equipped with at least two communication interfaces each of which may be a physical or virtual communication device, according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention . In Fig. 15, the first P2P Device A is equipped with first and

second communication interfaces

1301 and 1302 and the second P2P Device B is equipped with first and

second communication interfaces

1303 and 1304.

At least one of the first and second P2P Devices A and B shares information related to making a decision on their role of operation (AP or STA) in the stage of authentication and association by using the first communication interface (1301, 1303) (Operation S1401). For example, the

first communication interface

1301, 1303 may be a Bluetooth interface, a LTE Direct interface or a cellular communication interface. If the interface is a cellular communication interface, the P2P Device A and P2P Device B may share information related to decision on role of operation via a cellular base station. By the exchange of messages that takes place in S1401, the first P2P Device A and the second P2P Device B come to know about their respective roles of operation (AP or STA) and activate their corresponding roles of operation (AP or STA). The first P2P device A and the second P2P device B then exchange information related to the IEEE 802.11ai FILS based authentication and association (Operation S1402) using the second communication interface (1302, 1304 respectively). Thus, a WLAN communication link is established between the first P2P Device A and the second P2P Device B.

2.5) Fourth exemplary embodiment
Referring to Figs. 16, a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter. The P2P Device A and P2P Device B perform P2P Device Discovery to discover each other (operation S301a). After that, they share information related to decision-making on their respective roles of operation between a role of WLAN AP and a role of WLAN STA (operation S301). Next, they activate their respective roles of operation based on their shared information (operations S302 and S303). After these operations, they may perform a FILS discovery in accordance to the specification of 802.11ai FILS (operation S304a). This operation is followed by FILS authentication and association handshake (operation S304) and WLAN communication link establishment (S305).

3. Other various embodiments
Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosure may be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardware and software. Also where applicable, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein may be combined into composite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. Where applicable, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein may be separated into sub-components comprising software, hardware, or both without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated that software components may be implemented as hardware components, and vice-versa.

Application software in accordance with the present disclosure, such as computer programs executed by the device and may be stored on one or more computer readable mediums. It is also contemplated that the steps identified herein may be implemented using one or more general purpose or specific purpose computers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Where applicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may be changed, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-steps to provide features described herein.

Although embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, these embodiments illustrate but do not limit the disclosure. For example, the word “device” or “node” or “wireless P2P device” may define wireless local area network (WLAN) Access Point (AP), WLAN station (STA), or a wireless P2P device capable of assuming the roles of WLAN AP and WLAN STA but not configured in any those roles at present. However, the use of the word “device” or “node” may also refer to a device capable of wireless communication with another device in a peer-to-peer manner using a technology including but not limited to Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi IBSS etc. Also, the word “wireless P2P network” may imply a wireless network between two or more devices which can be of any topology.

It should also be understood that embodiments of the present disclosure should not be limited to these embodiments but that numerous modifications and variations may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure and be included within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as hereinafter claimed.

The above exemplary embodiments can be applied to wireless peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.

4. Supplementary Notes
The whole or part of the exemplary embodiments disclosed above can be described as, but not limited to, the following supplementary notes.
(Supplementary note 1)
A method comprising:
a first wireless peer to peer (P2P) device and a second wireless peer to peer (P2P) device deciding their respective roles of operation between a role of wireless Access Point (AP) and a role of wireless station (STA) before engaging in fast initial link setup (FILS) based authentication and association wherein both the first and second P2P devices are capable of assuming the roles of AP and STA but is neither in AP state nor in STA state.
(Supplementary note 2)
The method according to supplementary note 1, wherein the decision on which device between the first P2P device and second P2P device operates as AP and which device between the first P2P device and second P2P device operates as STA is made on the basis of sharing at least one information prior to starting FILS authentication and association.
(Supplementary note 3)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 and 2, wherein the information is at least one of:
at least one character, string or numerical value chosen by at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device;
or a network medium access control (MAC) address of at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device.
(Supplementary note 4)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 3, wherein the numerical value is at least one of:
a real number selected from a range between a maximum and minimum real numbers and
a binary digit flag.
(Supplementary note 5)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 4, wherein the information is shared between at least two of a first P2P device, a second P2P device or a third entity prior to starting fast initial link based authentication and association.
(Supplementary note 6)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 5, wherein
the information is shared between the first P2P device and the second P2P device;
the information shared by the first P2P device and the second P2P device respectively are compared;
the device between the first P2P device and the second P2P device that shared a greater value or magnitude of the information is elected to operate as AP and the device that shared a lesser value or magnitude of the information is elected to operate as STA or vice-versa.
(Supplementary note 7)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 6, wherein if both the first P2P device and the second P2P device share a same numerical value, then the decision on who operates as AP and STA respectively is taken on the basis of a randomly generated flag bit.
(Supplementary note 8)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 6, wherein if both the first P2P device and the second P2P device share a same numerical value, then the decision on who operates as AP and STA respectively is taken on the basis of a which device between the first P2P device and the second P2P device has a higher MAC address.
(Supplementary note 9)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 8, wherein if the first P2P device has a higher MAC address than the second P2P device, then the first P2P device becomes AP and the second P2P device becomes STA or vice-versa.
(Supplementary note 10)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 9, wherein the device between the first device and second device that becomes AP authenticates and performs association with the device that becomes STA using the fast initial link setup mechanism of 802.11ai standard.
(Supplementary note 11)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 8, wherein the information is shared using at least one of a pre-association discovery frame of at least one of Wi-Fi Direct or IEEE 802.11 series of WLAN standards.
(Supplementary note 12)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 9, wherein the information is shared using at least one of:
Probe Request and Probe Response frame,
Service Discovery Query and Service Discovery Response,
Provisioning Discovery Request frame,
Invitation Request and Invitation Response or
a Generic Advertisement Protocol (GAS) frame.
(Supplementary note 13)
The method according to at least one of Supplement 1 to 12 wherein the parameter is put in the vendor specific content field of at least one of Probe Request and Probe Response frame or Service Discovery Query and Service Discovery Response or Invitation Request and Invitation Response frames or Provisioning Discovery Request frame or a Generic Advertisement Protocol (GAS) frame.
(Supplementary note 14)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 13, wherein the third entity is at least one of a third P2P device or a centralized server.
(Supplementary note 15)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 14, wherein
at least one of the first P2P device and a second P2P device shares the information with the third entity,
the third entity decides on which device between the first P2P device and the second P2P device will operate as AP and STA based on the shared information,
the third entity sharing the decision with at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device.
(Supplementary note 16)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 15, wherein
at least one of the first P2P device and second P2P device exchange information related to decision on role of operation with the third entity using a first communication interface and
the first P2P device and the second P2P device exchange 802.11ai based FILS association and authentication related message using a second communication interface.
(Supplementary note 17)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 16, wherein
the first P2P device and second P2P device exchange information related to decision on role of operation with the third entity using a first communication interface at a first timeslot and second timeslot respectively and
the first P2P device and the second P2P device exchange 802.11ai based FILS association and authentication related message using the first communication interface at a third timeslot.
(Supplementary note 18)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 17, wherein
the first P2P device and second P2P device exchange information related to decision on role of operation with each other using a first communication interface which is at least one of a physical and virtual communication device
the first P2P device and the second P2P device exchange 802.11ai based FILS association and authentication related message using a second communication interface which is at least one of a physical and virtual communication device.
(Supplementary note 19)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 18, wherein at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device exchange information related to decision on role of operation with the third entity using at least one of a cellular communication, Wi-Fi, WiMax, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Direct, LTE Direct and Infrared.
(Supplementary note 20)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 18, wherein the first P2P device and second P2P device exchange information related to decision on role of operation with each other using at least one physical or virtual first communication interface which is at least one of a Wi-Fi, WiMax, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Direct, LTE Direct or cellular communication interface like LTE;
the first P2P device and the second P2P device exchange 802.11ai based FILS association and authentication related message using at least one physical and virtual second communication interface which is at least one of a WLAN interface that supports FILS.
(Supplementary note 21)
The method according to at least one of supplementary note 1 to 20, wherein at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device possess FILS capability.

5. Further supplementary Notes
The whole or part of the exemplary embodiments disclosed above can be described as, but not limited to, the following further supplementary notes.
(Further supplementary note 1)
A method for fast initial link setup between first and second peer to peer (P2P) devices, comprising:
sharing information related to decision on role of operation between a first P2P device and a second P2P device, wherein each of the first and second P2P devices is capable of acting as any of wireless local area network (WLAN) access point and WLAN station;
deciding, based on the information shared, that one of the first and second P2P devices acts as WLAN access point and the other as WLAM station; and
starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism between the first P2P device and the second P2P device which have their roles of operation as decided.
(Further supplementary note 2)
The method according to further supplementary note 1, wherein the information comprises first information of the first P2P device and second information of the second P2P device, wherein the roles of operation of the first and second P2P devices are decided by comparing the first and second information.
(Further supplementary note 3)
The method according to further supplementary note 1 or 2, wherein the information is at least one of the following parameters:
At least one of a character, string or numerical value chosen by at least one of the first P2P device and second P2P device independently; and
a medium access control (MAC) address of at least one the first and second P2P device respectively,
wherein one of or a combination of the parameters is used at both the first P2P device and the second P2P device.
(Further supplementary note 4)
The method according to any one of further supplementary notes 1-3, wherein the first P2P device and the second P2P device have parameter values, respectively, wherein the roles of operation of the first and second P2P devices are decided depending on which one of the parameter values is higher than the other.
(Further supplementary note 5)
The method according to any one of further supplementary notes 1-4, wherein when the roles of operation of the first P2P device and the second P2P device cannot be decided based on the information shared, the roles of operation of the first P2P device and the second P2P device are decided according to a randomly generated flag bit.
(Further supplementary note 6)
The method according to any one of further supplementary notes 1-5, wherein one of the first device and second device that acts as WLAN access point authenticates and performs association with the other that acts as WLAN station, using the fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism defined by IEEE 802.11ai standard.
(Further supplementary note 7)
The method according to any one of further supplementary notes 1-6, wherein the information is shared using at least one of a pre-association discovery frame of at least one of Wi-Fi Direct or IEEE 802.11 series of WLAN standards.
(Further supplementary note 8)
The method according to any one of further supplementary notes 1-6, wherein the information is shared using at least one of:
Probe Request and Probe Response frame;
Service Discovery Query and Service Discovery Response;
Provisioning Discovery Request frame;
Invitation Request and Invitation Response; or
Generic Advertisement Protocol (GAS) frame.
(Further supplementary note 9)
The method according to any one of further supplementary notes 1-8, wherein at least one of the first and second P2P devices decides on whether to act as WLAN access point or WLAN station, based on the information shared.
(Further supplementary note 10)
The method according to any one of further supplementary notes 1-8, wherein a third entity other than the first and second P2P devices decides on which one of the first and second P2P devices should act as WLAN access point and which one should act as WLAN station, based on the information shared with the third entity by at least one of the first P2P device or second P2P device.
(Further supplementary note 11)
The method according to further supplementary note 10, wherein the third entity shares the information with at least one of the first and second P2P devices, wherein the third entity shares its decision result with at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device.
(Further supplementary note 12)
The method according to further supplementary note 10 or 11, wherein at least one of the first and second P2P devices exchanges the information with the third entity and exchanges messages related to the fast-initial-link-setup association and authentication with the other, using different communication interfaces which are at least one of physical and virtual channels or different time slots in time-division scheme.
(Further supplementary note 13)
A wireless P2P device comprising:
a first controller configured to send first information related to decision on role of operation to another wireless P2P device or a third entity and to receive second information related to decision on role of operation from the another wireless P2P device or the third entity; and
a second controller configured to decide, based on the first and second information, that the wireless P2P device is to act as which one of WLAN access point and WLAN station before starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism with the another P2P device.
(Further supplementary note 14)
The wireless P2P device according to further supplementary note 13, wherein the role of operation of the wireless P2P device is decided by comparing the first and second information.
(Further supplementary note 15)
The wireless P2P device according to further supplementary note 13 or 14, wherein at least one of the first information and the second information comprises at least one of the following parameters:
at least one of character, string or a numerical value chosen by at least one of the wireless P2P device and the another P2P device independently; and
a medium access control (MAC) address of at least one of the wireless P2P device and the another P2P device respectively,
wherein one of or a combination of the parameters is used at at least one of the wireless P2P device and the another P2P device.
(Further supplementary note 16)
The wireless P2P device according to any one of further supplementary notes 13-15, wherein the first information and the second information have parameter values, respectively, wherein the role of operation of the wireless P2P device is decided depending on which one of the parameter values is higher than the other.
(Further supplementary note 17)
The wireless P2P device according to any one of further supplementary notes 13-16, wherein when the role of operation of the wireless P2P device cannot be decided based on the first and second information, the role of operation of the wireless P2P device is decided according to a randomly generated flag bit.
(Further supplementary note 18)
The wireless P2P device according to any one of further supplementary notes 13-17, wherein when the wireless P2P device acts as WLAN access point, the second controller authenticates and performs association with the another wireless P2P device that acts as WLAN station, using the fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism defined by IEEE 802.11ai standard.
(Further supplementary note 19)
The wireless P2P device according to any one of further supplementary notes 13-18, wherein the information is shared using at least one of a pre-association discovery frame of at least one of Wi-Fi Direct or IEEE 802.11 series of WLAN standards.
(Further supplementary note 20)
The wireless P2P device according to any one of further supplementary notes 13-18, wherein the information is shared using at least one of:
Probe Request and Probe Response frame;
Service Discovery Query and Service Discovery Response;
Provisioning Discovery Request frame;
Invitation Request and Invitation Response; or
Generic Advertisement Protocol (GAS) frame.
(Further supplementary note 21)
A decision entity connected to a first P2P device and a second P2P device, comprising:
a first controller configured to receiving first information related to decision on role of operation from the first P2P device and second information related to decision on role of operation from the second P2P device; and
a second controller configured to decide, based on the first and second information, that one of the first and second P2P devices acts as WLAN access point and the other as WLAN station and to send a decision result to the first and second P2P devices before the first and second P2P devices starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism with each other.
(Further supplementary note 22)
A system for fast initial link setup between first and second peer to peer (P2P) devices, comprising:
the first P2P device and the second P2P device share information related to decision on role of operation, wherein each of the first and second P2P devices is capable of acting as any of wireless local area network (WLAN) access point and WLAN station;
at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device decide, based on the information shared, which one of the first and second P2P devices acts as WLAN access point and which one as WLAN station, before starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism between the first P2P device and the second P2P device which have their roles of operation as decided.
(Further supplementary note 23)
The system according to further supplementary note 22, wherein the information comprises first information of the first P2P device and second information of the second P2P device, wherein the roles of operation of the first and second P2P devices are decided by comparing the first and second information.
(Further supplementary note 24)
The system according to further supplementary note 22 or 23, wherein the information is at least one of the following parameters:
at least one of a character, string or a numerical value chosen by at least one of the first P2P device and second P2P device independently; and
a medium access control (MAC) address of at least one the first and second P2P device respectively,
wherein one of or a combination of the parameters is used at at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device.
(Further supplementary note 25)
The method according to any one of further supplementary notes 22-24, wherein the first P2P device and the second P2P device have parameter values, respectively, wherein the roles of operation of the first and second P2P devices are decided depending on which one of the parameter values is higher than the other.
(Further supplementary note 26)
The system according to any one of further supplementary notes 22-25, wherein when the roles of operation of the first P2P device and the second P2P device cannot be decided based on the information shared, the roles of operation of the first P2P device and the second P2P device are decided according to a randomly generated flag bit.
(Further supplementary note 27)
The system according to any one of further supplementary notes 22-26, wherein one of the first device and second device that acts as WLAN access point authenticates and performs association with the other that acts as WLAN station, using the fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism defined by IEEE 802.11ai standard.
(Further supplementary note 28)
The system according to any one of further supplementary notes 22-27, wherein the information is shared using at least one of a pre-association discovery frame of at least one of Wi-Fi Direct or IEEE 802.11 series of WLAN standards.
(Further supplementary note 29)
The system according to any one of further supplementary notes 22-27, wherein the information is shared using at least one of:
Probe Request and Probe Response frame;
Service Discovery Query and Service Discovery Response;
Provisioning Discovery Request frame;
Invitation Request and Invitation Response; or
Generic Advertisement Protocol (GAS) frame.
(Further supplementary note 30)
The system according to any one of further supplementary notes 22-29, wherein at least one of the first and second P2P devices decides on whether to act as WLAN access point or WLAN station, based on the information shared.
(Further supplementary note 31)
The system according to any one of further supplementary notes 22-30, further comprising a third entity connected to the first and second P2P devices, wherein the third entity decides on that which one of the first and second P2P devices acts as WLAN access point and which one acts as WLAN station, based on the information shared.
(Further supplementary note 32)
The system according to further supplementary note 31, wherein the third entity shares the information with at least one of the first and second P2P devices, wherein the third entity shares its decision result with at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device.
(Further supplementary note 33)
The system according to further supplementary note 31 or 32, wherein one of the first and second P2P devices exchanges the information with the third entity and exchanges messages related to the fast-initial-link-setup association and authentication with the other, using different communication interfaces which are at least one of physical and virtual channels or different time slots in time-division scheme.
(Further supplementary note 33)
The system according to further supplementary note 1 to 33, wherein the first and second P2P devices are capable of acting as either of the roles of both WLAN AP and WLAN STA, and also support FILS capability.

10 WLAN
101-104 Node
201 Radio system
202 User controller
203 Processor
204 Memory

Claims

A method for fast initial link setup between first and second peer to peer (P2P) devices, comprising:
sharing information related to decision on role of operation between a first P2P device and a second P2P device, wherein each of the first and second P2P devices is capable of acting as any one of a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point and a WLAN station;
deciding, based on the information shared, that one of the first and second P2P devices acts as WLAN access point and the other as WLAN station; and
starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism between the first P2P device and the second P2P device which have their roles of operation as decided.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the information comprises first information of the first P2P device and second information of the second P2P device, wherein the roles of operation of the first and second P2P devices are decided by comparing the first and second information.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the information is at least one of the following parameters:
at least one of a character, string or a numerical value chosen by at least one of the first P2P device and second P2P device independently; and
a medium access control (MAC) address of at least one the first and second P2P device respectively,
wherein one of or a combination of the parameters is used at at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device.
The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein a third entity other than the first and second P2P devices decides on which one of the first and second P2P devices should act as WLAN access point and which one should act as WLAN station, based on the information shared with the third entity by at least one of the first P2P device or second P2P device.
A wireless P2P device comprising:
a first controller configured to send first information related to decision on role of operation to another wireless P2P device or a third entity and to receive second information related to decision on role of operation from the another wireless P2P device or the third entity; and
a second controller configured to decide, based on the first and second information, that the wireless P2P device is to act as which one of WLAN access point and WLAN station before starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism with the another P2P device.
The wireless P2P device according to claim 5, wherein the role of operation of the wireless P2P device is decided by comparing the first and second information.
The wireless P2P device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein each of the first information and the second information comprises at least one of the following parameters:
at least one of a character, string or a numerical value chosen by at least one of the wireless P2P device and the another P2P device independently; and
a medium access control (MAC) address of at least one of the wireless P2P device and the another P2P device respectively,
wherein one of or a combination of the parameters is used at both the wireless P2P device and the another P2P device.
A decision entity connected to a first P2P device and a second P2P device, comprising:
a first controller configured to receiving first information related to decision on role of operation from the first P2P device and second information related to decision on role of operation from the second P2P device; and
a second controller configured to decide, based on the first and second information, that one of the first and second P2P devices acts as WLAN access point and the other as WLAN station and to send a decision result to the first and second P2P devices before the first and second P2P devices starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism with each other.
A system for fast initial link setup between first and second peer to peer (P2P) devices, comprising:
the first P2P device and the second P2P device share information related to decision on role of operation, wherein each of the first and second P2P devices is capable of acting as any one of a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point and a WLAN station;
the first P2P device and the second P2P device decide, based on the information shared, which one of the first and second P2P devices should act as WLAN access point and which one as WLAN station, before starting a fast-initial-link-setup authentication and association mechanism between the first P2P device and the second P2P device which have activated their roles of operation as decided.
The system according to claim 9, further comprising a third entity connected to the first and second P2P devices, wherein the third entity decides on which one of the first and second P2P devices should act as WLAN access point and which one should act as WLAN station, based on the information shared with the third entity by at least one of the first P2P device and the second P2P device.