Patent ID: 7613156

Claim:
A method for a client node to discover a peer provider node in an ad hoc network, comprising: activating a first ad hoc interface in the client node while in a discovery mode to establish a channel for a first time period; transmitting a first beacon to advertise presence of the client node including a request to acquire service information from at least one prospective peer provider node within the transmission range of the client node; receiving, during the first time period at the client node, a second beacon from the at least one prospective peer provider node; analyzing information in the second beacon to determine if the at least one prospective peer provider node offers the service the client node is requesting; and transmitting a response message from the client node to the at least one prospective peer provider node when the at least one prospective peer provider node offers the service requested by the client node, wherein the response message indicates that the at least one prospective peer provider node is to keep a second ad hoc interface active for a period of time.