Multicast and broadcast data transmission in a short-range wireless communications network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method, comprising:
- (a) establishing a short-range wireless communications network, the short-range wireless communications network including multiple slave devices, and a master device configured to control operations of the short-range wireless communications network;
(b) initiating a multicast group, the multicast group including at least two slave devices of the multiple slave devices, wherein an address is reserved for multicast communications within the multicast group;
(c) sending multicast data to the at least two slave devices using the reserved address;
(d) receiving an acknowledgement of received multicast data from at least one slave device of the at least two slave devices, the acknowledgement including an indication that the at least one slave device has data to transmit; and
(e) receiving data from the at least one slave device, wherein said data includes a destination indicator.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed herein are techniques for the distribution of data to multiple devices in wireless networks, such as Bluetooth networks. This data may be unicast, multicast, or broadcast in nature. Designations, such as reserved addresses are used to indicate whether devices are transmitting multicast or broadcast data. These devices may be slave devices that rely on a master device to forward their transmissions to multiple devices.
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Citations
54 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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(a) establishing a short-range wireless communications network, the short-range wireless communications network including multiple slave devices, and a master device configured to control operations of the short-range wireless communications network;
(b) initiating a multicast group, the multicast group including at least two slave devices of the multiple slave devices, wherein an address is reserved for multicast communications within the multicast group;
(c) sending multicast data to the at least two slave devices using the reserved address;
(d) receiving an acknowledgement of received multicast data from at least one slave device of the at least two slave devices, the acknowledgement including an indication that the at least one slave device has data to transmit; and
(e) receiving data from the at least one slave device, wherein said data includes a destination indicator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method in a short-range wireless communications network, wherein the short-range wireless communications network includes multiple slave devices and a master device configured to control operations of the short-range wireless communications network, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving a multicast transmission from the master device, the multicast transmission including data and a multicast address corresponding to a multicast group in the short-range wireless communications network, the multicast group including at least two slave devices of the multiple slave devices. (d) sending in response to the multicast transmission an acknowledgment to the master device, the acknowledgment including an indication that there is data to transmit;
(c) receiving a polling transmission from the master device; and
(d) transmitting to the master device the data indicated in the acknowledgment and a destination indicator. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method in a short-range wireless communications network, wherein the short-range wireless communications network includes multiple slave devices and a master device configured to control operations of the short-range wireless communications network, the method comprising:
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(a) receiving a polling transmission from the master device; and
(b) in response to the polling transmission, transmitting data and a destination indicator to the master device, wherein the destination indicator indicates that the data is to be forwarded to a plurality of devices in the short-range wireless communications network. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method in a short-range wireless communications network, wherein the short-range wireless communications network includes multiple slave devices and a master device configured to control operations of the short-range wireless communications network, the method comprising:
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(a) transmitting a polling transmission to at least one slave device;
(b) in response to the polling transmission, receiving data and a destination indicator from the at least one slave device; and
(c) directly forwarding the received data to a plurality of devices in the short-range wireless communications network based on the destination indicator information. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. An apparatus, comprising:
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a transceiver configured to communicate with one or more remote devices across a short-range wireless communications network;
a memory;
a processor that executes instructions stored in the memory for;
establishing the short-range wireless communications network, the short-range wireless communications network including multiple slave devices, and a master device configured to control operations of the short-range wireless communications network;
initiating a multicast group, the multicast group including at least two slave devices of the multiple slave devices, wherein an address is reserved for multicast communications within the multicast group;
sending multicast data to the at least two slave devices using the reserved address;
receiving an acknowledgement of received multicast data from at least one slave device of the at least two slave devices, the acknowledgement including an indication that the at least one slave device has data to transmit; and
receiving data from the at least one slave device, wherein said data includes a destination indicator. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37)
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38. An apparatus, comprising:
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a transceiver configured to communicate with one or more remote devices across a short-range wireless communications network;
a memory;
a processor that executes instructions stored in the memory for;
receiving a multicast transmission from a master device, the multicast transmission including data and a multicast address corresponding to a multicast group in the short-range wireless communications network, the multicast group including at least two slave devices;
sending in response to the multicast transmission an acknowledgment to the master device, the acknowledgment including an indication that there is data to transmit;
receiving a polling transmission from the master device; and
transmitting to the master device the data indicated in the acknowledgment and a destination indicator. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41)
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42. An apparatus, comprising:
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a transceiver configured to communicate with one or more remote devices across a short-range wireless communications network;
a memory;
a processor that executes instructions stored in the memory for;
receiving a polling transmission from a master device; and
transmitting data and a destination indicator to the master device, wherein the destination indicator indicates that the data is to be forwarded to a plurality of devices in the short-range wireless communications network. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45)
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46. An apparatus, comprising:
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a transceiver configured to communicate with one or more remote devices across a short-range wireless communications network;
a memory;
a processor that executes instructions stored in the memory for;
transmitting a polling transmission to at least one slave device;
receiving data and a destination indicator from the at least one slave device; and
forwarding the received data to a plurality of devices across the short-range wireless communications network based on the destination indicator information without circulating the data to the device application layer. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49)
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50. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor in a wireless communications device, the computer program logic comprising:
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program code for enabling the processor to establish the short-range wireless communications network, the short-range wireless communications network including multiple slave devices, and a master device configured to control operations of the short-range wireless communications network;
program code for enabling the processor to initiate a multicast group, the multicast group including at least two slave devices of the multiple slave devices, wherein an address is reserved for multicast communications within the multicast group;
program code for enabling the processor to send multicast data to the at least two slave devices using the reserved address;
program code for enabling the processor to receive an acknowledgement of received multicast data from at least one slave device of the at least two slave devices, the acknowledgement including an indication that the at least one device has data to transmit; and
program code for enabling the processor to receive data from the at least one slave device, wherein said data includes a destination indicator.
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51. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor in a wireless communications device, the computer program logic comprising:
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program code for enabling the processor to receive a multicast transmission from a master device, the multicast transmission including data and a multicast address corresponding to a multicast group in the short-range wireless communications network, the multicast group including at least two slave devices. program code for enabling the processor to send in response to the multicast transmission an acknowledgment to the master device, the acknowledgment including an indication that there is data to transmit;
program code for enabling the processor to receive a polling transmission from the master device; and
program code for enabling the processor to transmit to the master device the data indicated in the acknowledgment and a destination indicator.
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52. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor in a wireless communications device, the computer program logic comprising:
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program code for enabling the processor to receive a polling transmission from a master device; and
program code for enabling the processor to transmit data and a destination indicator to the master device, wherein the destination indicator indicates that the data is to be forwarded to all devices in the short-range wireless communications network.
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53. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor in a wireless communications device, the computer program logic comprising:
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program code for enabling the processor to transmit a polling transmission to at least one slave device;
program code for enabling the processor to receive data and a destination indicator from the at least one slave device; and
program code for enabling the processor to forward the received data to a plurality of devices across a short-range wireless communications network based on the destination indicator information without circulating the data to the device application layer.
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54. An apparatus for multiplayer gaming, comprising:
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a transceiver configured to communicate multiplayer gaming information with one or more remote devices playing a multiplayer game across a short-range wireless communications network;
a memory for storing multiplayer gaming instructions; and
a processor that executes the multiplayer gaming instructions stored in the memory for running the multiplayer game on the application layer and for;
transmitting a polling transmission to at least one slave device playing the multiplayer game for receiving multiplayer gaming data;
receiving the multiplayer gaming data and a destination indicator from the at least one slave device; and
forwarding the received multiplayer gaming data to a plurality of remote devices playing the multiplayer game across the short-range wireless communications network based on the destination indicator information without circulating the data to the application layer.
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Specification