METHOD TO OBTAIN FRIENDLY NAMES FOR BLUETOOTH DEVICES

• US 20060282517A1
• Filed: 08/16/2006
• Published: 12/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ray, Kenneth D., Giliberto, Louis J., Sharma, Om, Holan, Doron J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,602,758 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4535 using an address exchange platform which sets up a session between two nodes, e.g. rendezvous servers, session initiation protocols [SIP] registrars or H.323 gatekeepers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices

Abstract

A method and apparatus to decrease the amount of time it takes to obtain friendly names of Bluetooth devices is presented. A name server caches friendly names for devices that it has acquired from other devices or from other name servers. The name server is any device that caches friendly names of Bluetooth devices and that makes the friendly names available to other devices. A requesting device determines if a name server has responded to an inquiry command. If a name server has responded, the device gets the friendly names the name server has cached and requests the friendly names of devices that responded that have not been cached by the name server. Identification of a name server is accomplished by embedding a marker in the friendly name field after the null character to indicate that the device is a name server.

Claims

1. A method to obtain a friendly name for Bluetooth devices responding to inquiry comprising:

issuing an inquiry command;

identifying a name server amongst the Bluetooth devices responding to the inquiry, the name server is found by determining if the inquiry response contains a marker indicating that the requested Bluetooth device is a name server;

obtaining friendly names for Bluetooth devices that responded to the inquiry that are cached on the name server;

requesting the friendly name of each remaining Bluetooth device that has not been determined.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

a) identifying an other name server amongst the Bluetooth devices responding to the inquiry;

b) obtaining remaining undetermined friendly names for Bluetooth devices that responded to the inquiry that are cached on the other name server;

c) repeating steps a) to b) until no more name servers are identified amongst the Bluetooth devices responding to the inquiry.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

determining how long the name server has had the friendly names;

if the name server has had the friendly names longer than a predetermined time;

a) identifying an other name server amongst the Bluetooth devices responding to the inquiry;

b) obtaining friendly names for Bluetooth devices that responded to the inquiry that are cached on the other name server;

c) determining how long the other name server has had the friendly names;

d) repeating steps a) to c) if the other name server has had the friendly names longer than the predetermined time

4. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying a name server includes searching for the marker in the class of device/service field.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of storing the friendly names.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the marker is at least one of two bits reserved in a service class entry of the class of device/service field.

7. A method to find a name server comprising the steps of:

a) issuing an inquiry command;

b) determining if a response from a Bluetooth device to the inquiry command contains a marker indicating that the Bluetooth device is a name server;

c) if the response contains the marker, identifying the Bluetooth device as a name server.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step requesting the friendly name from the name server of Bluetooth devices that responded to the inquiry command.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the marker of a name server is in the class of device/service field.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the marker is in at lest of one the a service class entry, a major device class entry, a minor device class entry, and a format type entry.

11. A system for obtaining a friendly name for Bluetooth devices responding to inquiry comprising:

an inquiry component that inquires for Bluetooth devices that are in range and creates an inquiry list of devices that responded to the inquiry, the inquiry component; and

a requesting component that identifies a name server amongst the Bluetooth devices responding to the inquiry, the name server is found by determining if the response contains a marker indicating that the Bluetooth device is a name server;

the requesting component then requests a list of friendly names from the name server for devices on the inquiry list;

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the request for a list of friendly names from the name server is only for a particular class of devices on the inquiry list.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising a data structure comprising:

a first portion of a data field containing data representing a class of device/service of a device; and

a second portion of the data field containing data for determining if the device has name server capability.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the data structure further comprises a third portion of the data field containing flags for determining further information about the device.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the flags include an indication of how long the device has had a list of friendly names if the device is a name server.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the flags include a version number.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the flags include an estimate of a remaining battery life of the device.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the flags include an indication of an up-time of the device.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein the flags include server statistics if the device is a server.

20. The system of claim 11, further comprising a storage component for storing the friendly names of devices on the inquiry list.