Method and apparatus for automatic application selection in an electronic device using multiple discovery managers

Abstract

In a portable electronic device () having a plurality of near field communication applications stored within a plurality of execution environments, automatic selection of one of the near field communication applications is performed by a protocol discovery manager () and an application discovery manager (). The application discovery manager () is disposed within a default execution environment. The protocol discovery manager (), which operates in a near field communication circuit controller (), performs application discovery at the mode switch level (), the collision detection level (), and the protocol level (). The application discovery manager () performs application discovery at the application level. Where the protocol discovery manager () selects an application, it can configure a routing switch () to route data to the appropriate execution environment and launches the selected application, where only protocol level of identification is required. Where other levels are required, the protocol discovery manager () selects and routes data to the default execution environment containing application discovery manager (). The application discovery manager (), upon selecting an application, can either launch the application or forward a message to the appropriate execution environment for further execution as required by the selected application.