Method for operating a wireless network

• US 20070019672A1
• Filed: 08/20/2004
• Published: 01/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify Holding B.V. (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Guthrie, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 8,923,324 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A radio system employing at least one dual protocol equipped radio device is described. The system and devices form a piconet in which message transaction parameters such as amount of data or requests to join the piconet, are monitored (60). A dual protocol device is then selected (62) (or selects itself) according to the monitored parameters, and the selected device then switches (64) the protocol it is using from a first protocol (such as Bluetooth), to a second protocol (such as ZigBee). Hence a flexible piconet is achieved in which various requirements concerning data connection and data-rates are accommodated.

Claims

1. A method for operating a wireless piconet in which devices (10,14) are operable to communicate by exchanging messages according to a first (40) and a second (50) radio protocol, the method comprising:

monitoring parameters related to message transactions according to said first protocol (40),

selecting a device (10,14) in dependence on said monitored parameters, and

switching the protocol used for communication by the selected device from said first protocol (40) to said second protocol (50).

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said monitored parameters comprise receiving, from a further device (S8), a request to join the piconet in accordance with said first protocol (50), and wherein the protocol used by the selected device (S4) is switched from said first protocol to said second protocol to accommodate the registration request of said further device (S8).

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said monitored parameters comprise the amount of data transmitted by each device in a specified time period to affect said selection.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein said second protocol (50) comprises a power saving mode utilised by a device (S4) when not participating in message transactions, and wherein a device is selected for switching to said protocol based on said monitored amount of data being below a predefined threshold.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said selection of a device for switching is further based on device requirements stored in a device profile.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein said piconet has a master-slave topology, and wherein said monitoring, and selection for switching steps are performed by a master device of said piconet.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first protocol is Bluetooth and the second protocol is ZigBee.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein said monitored parameters comprise quality of service parameters and wherein said switching of the protocol used by said at least one selected device (S4) comprises switching from the second protocol (50) to the first protocol (40).

14. A protocol monitoring computer program (PMC) comprising program instructions which, when executed by processing means of a radio device, cause said device to operate the methods of claim 1.

15. A carrier carrying a protocol monitoring computer program comprising program instructions which, when executed by processing means of a radio device, cause said device to operate any of the methods of claim 1.

16. A carrier according to claim 15, the carrier comprising a non-volatile memory area (32) of a processing means.

9. A radio system in which devices are operable to communicate in a piconet by exchanging messages according to a first (40) and a second (50) radio protocol, the system comprising:

means (28) for monitoring parameters related to message transactions according to said first protocol,

means (30,34) for selecting a device (14) in dependence on said monitored parameters, and

means (26,27,29) for switching the protocol used for communication by the selected device (14) from said first protocol to said second protocol.

10. A device (10,14) for use in a radio system in which devices are operable to communicate in a piconet by exchanging messages according to a first (40) and a second (50) radio protocol, the device comprising processing means (34) for executing communication instructions according to said first and second radio protocol, a first (22) and second (24) baseband circuit and at least one radio (20) for encoding and modulating the transmission and reception of messages in accordance with either of said first or second protocols, the device further comprising processing means 34,30) operable to:

monitor parameters related to message transactions according to said first protocol (40),

select a device (14) in dependence on said monitored parameters, and

to switch the protocol used for communication by said selected device from said first protocol to said second protocol.

11. A device according to claim 10, wherein said device further comprises a switching circuit (26) which, under control of said processing means (34), selects between said first (22) and second (24) baseband circuit to switch the protocol used for communication from said first protocol to said second protocol.

12. A device according to claim 10, wherein the modulation scheme for encoding messages for transmission according to said first protocol (40) is different to the modulation scheme for encoding messages for transmission according to said second protocol (50).

13. A device according to claim 12, wherein said first modulation scheme of said first protocol is based on a frequency hopping technique, and said second modulation scheme of said second protocol is based on a direct sequence spread spectrum technique.