Apple patents system letting phones share computing power
Apple has been granted a patent for a framework that allows wireless devices to work together as a shared computer. One device acts as a manager, receiving signals from other phones or tablets to see if they are ready to help with calculations or just send data. The manager then tells the data-sending devices which other phones are available to do the heavy lifting.
In the filing’s own words
Systems, methods, and processors are provided for supporting a distributed computing framework. In one example, a wireless communication device is configured to act as a distributed computing control node (ContN), the wireless communication device including a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor is configured to, when executing instructions stored in the memory, cause the device to receive respective registration messages from respective wireless communication devices. The registration messages include registration information indicating whether a respective wireless communication device acts as an offload node (OffN) for distributed computing or a compute node (CompN) for distributed computing. The processor is configured to store the registration information in a resource repository and, based on the registration information of the respective wireless communication devices, transmit a resource availability message indicating available distributed computing resources to wireless communication devices acting as OffNs.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A wireless communication device configured to act as a distributed computing control node (ContN), the wireless communication device comprising a memory and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to, when executing instructions stored in the memory, cause the wireless communication device to: receive a registration message from a second wireless communication device, the registration message including registration information indicating whether the second wireless communication device acts as an offload node (OffN) for distributed computing or a compute node (CompN) for distributed computing; in response to the registration message, assign an OffN identifier (ID) or a CompN ID to the second wireless communication device, generate a mapping of the registration information of the second wireless communication device to the OffN ID or the CompN ID; and based on the mapping, transmit a resource availability message indicating available distributed computing resources to wireless communication devices acting as OffNs.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Distributed computing framework
- Patent number
- US12750416B2
- Application number
- 18330705
- Filed
- Jun 7, 2023
- Granted
- Sep 29, 2026
- Inventors
- 12
- Claims
- 24
Classified under
H04L 67/10 Electricity & electronicsH04W 60/04 Electricity & electronicsH04W 60/06 Electricity & electronicsMore from Apple in AI & software
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.