Methods, electronic devices, and computer program products for coordinating bluetooth and wireless local area network communication

• US 20070066222A1
• Filed: 09/16/2005
• Published: 03/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Tao, Xiao-Jiao, Javad, Patrik
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,097 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.200
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• 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

An electronic device may be operated by providing Bluetooth communication duty cycle information to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) module. A determination is made, based on the Bluetooth communication duty cycle information, if there is sufficient time during a current Bluetooth inactive communication interval to complete a WLAN communication. If it is determined that there is not sufficient time to complete the WLAN communication during the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval, then the WLAN transmission is postponed to a subsequent Bluetooth inactive communication interval.

Claims

1. A method of operating an electronic device, comprising:

providing Bluetooth communication duty cycle information to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) module;

determining, based on the Bluetooth communication duty cycle information, if there is sufficient time during a current Bluetooth inactive communication interval to complete a WLAN communication; and

postponing the WLAN transmission to a subsequent Bluetooth inactive communication interval if it is determined that there is not sufficient time to complete the WLAN communication during the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein postponing the WLAN communication comprises:

beginning the WLAN communication immediately following a distributed inter-frame space (DIFS) interval in the subsequent Bluetooth inactive communication interval if it is determined that there is not sufficient time to complete the WLAN communication during the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing a timer to expire in the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval before determining if there is sufficient time during the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval to complete the WLAN communication.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the WLAN communication comprises a data frame and an acknowledgement.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the data frame and the acknowledgement are separated in time by a short inter-frame space (SIFS) interval.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the Bluetooth communication duty cycle information comprises an active interval time and an inactive interval time.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the active interval time is 1.25 msec and the inactive interval time is 2.5 msec for a Bluetooth synchronous connection oriented (SCO) link using high quality voice (HV3) packets.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing the WLAN communication if it is determined that there is sufficient time to complete the WLAN communication during the current Bluetooth communication interval.

9. An electronic device, comprising:

a Bluetooth transceiver module that is configured to provide Bluetooth communication duty cycle information;

a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) transceiver module that is configured to obtain the Bluetooth communication duty cycle information and to determine, based on the Bluetooth communication duty cycle information, if there is sufficient time during a current Bluetooth inactive communication interval to complete a WLAN communication and to postpone the WLAN transmission to a subsequent Bluetooth inactive communication interval if it is determined that there is not sufficient time to complete the WLAN communication during the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the WLAN transceiver module is further configured to begin the WLAN communication immediately following a distributed inter-frame space (DTFS) interval in the subsequent Bluetooth inactive communication interval if it is determined that there is not sufficient time to complete the WLAN communication during the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval.

11. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the WLAN transceiver module is further configured to allow a timer to expire in the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval before determining if there is sufficient time during the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval to complete the WLAN communication.

12. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the WLAN communication comprises a data frame and an acknowledgement.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the data frame and the acknowledgement are separated in time by a short inter-frame space (SIFS) interval.

14. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the Bluetooth communication duty cycle information comprises an active interval time and an inactive interval time.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the active interval time is 1.25 msec and the inactive interval time is 2.5 msec for a Bluetooth synchronous connection oriented (SCO) link using high quality voice (HV3) packets.

16. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the WLAN transceiver module is further configured to perform the WLAN communication if it is determined that there is sufficient time to complete the WLAN communication during the current Bluetooth communication interval.

17. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the electronic device is a mobile terminal.

18. A computer program product for operating an electronic device, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to provide Bluetooth communication duty cycle information to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) module;

computer readable program code configured to determine, based on the Bluetooth communication duty cycle information, if there is sufficient time during a current Bluetooth inactive communication interval to complete a WLAN communication; and

computer readable program code configured to postpone the WLAN transmission to a subsequent Bluetooth inactive communication interval if it is determined that there is not sufficient time to complete the WLAN communication during the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the computer readable program code configured to postpone the WLAN communication comprises:

computer readable program code configured to begin the WLAN communication immediately following a distributed inter-frame space (DIFS) interval in the subsequent Bluetooth inactive communication interval if it is determined that there is not sufficient time to complete the WLAN communication during the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to allow a timer to expire in the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval before determining if there is sufficient time during the current Bluetooth inactive communication interval to complete the WLAN communication.

21. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the WLAN communication comprises a data frame and an acknowledgement.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the data frame and the acknowledgement are separated in time by a short inter-frame space (SIFS) interval.

23. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the Bluetooth communication duty cycle information comprises an active interval time and an inactive interval time.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the active interval time is 1.25 msec and the inactive interval time is 2.5 msec for a Bluetooth synchronous connection oriented (SCO) link using high quality voice (HV3) packets.

25. The computer program product of claim 18 further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to perform the WLAN communication if it is determined that there is sufficient time to complete the WLAN communication during the current Bluetooth communication interval.