Bluetooth Proximity Detection System and Method of Interacting With One or More Bluetooth Devices
First Claim
1. An apparatus for determining a proximity of one or more first Bluetooth devices, the apparatus comprising:
- at least one Bluetooth base station comprising;
a Bluetooth transmitter configured to transmit one or more service discovery requests to the one or more first Bluetooth devices; and
a Bluetooth receiver configured to receive one or more responses from the one or more first Bluetooth devices to the one or more service discovery requests; and
a computational module configured to run on one or more processors and further configured to determine one or more approximate distances between the at least one Bluetooth base station and the one or more first Bluetooth devices based on the one or more responses from the one or more first Bluetooth devices.
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Abstract
Some embodiments teach an apparatus for determining a proximity of one or more first Bluetooth devices. The apparatus can include: (a) at least one Bluetooth base station with (1) a Bluetooth transmitter configured to transmit one or more service discovery requests to the one or more first Bluetooth devices; and (2) a Bluetooth receiver configured to receive one or more responses from the one or more first Bluetooth devices to the one or more service discovery requests; and (b) a computational module configured to run on one or more processors and further configured to determine one or more approximate distances between the at least one Bluetooth base station and the one or more first Bluetooth devices based on the one or more responses from the one or more first Bluetooth devices. Other embodiments are disclosed.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An apparatus for determining a proximity of one or more first Bluetooth devices, the apparatus comprising:
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at least one Bluetooth base station comprising; a Bluetooth transmitter configured to transmit one or more service discovery requests to the one or more first Bluetooth devices; and a Bluetooth receiver configured to receive one or more responses from the one or more first Bluetooth devices to the one or more service discovery requests; and a computational module configured to run on one or more processors and further configured to determine one or more approximate distances between the at least one Bluetooth base station and the one or more first Bluetooth devices based on the one or more responses from the one or more first Bluetooth devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A Bluetooth proximity detection system configured to interact with one or more first Bluetooth devices, the Bluetooth proximity detection system comprising:
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one or more Bluetooth communications modules configured to exchange messages with the one or more first Bluetooth devices using the Bluetooth Service Discovery Protocol; and one or more processing modules configured to run on one or more processors of one or more computer systems, wherein; the one or more Bluetooth communications modules are configured to receive one or more of the messages from the one or more first Bluetooth devices using the Bluetooth Service Discovery Protocol; the one or more processing modules are further configured to determine one or more approximate distances between the one or more Bluetooth communications modules and the one or more first Bluetooth devices at least in part using the one or more of the messages; and the one or more processing modules are further configured to determine a device type of the one or more first Bluetooth devices using the one or more of the messages. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
wherein; the location tracker module is further configured to use the one or more approximate distances to track one or more locations of the one or more first Bluetooth devices.
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20. A method of interacting with one or more first Bluetooth devices, the method comprising:
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transmitting from one or more first Bluetooth base stations one or more service discovery requests to the one or more first Bluetooth devices; receiving in the one or more first Bluetooth base stations one or more responses from the one or more first Bluetooth devices to the one or more service discovery requests; determining one or more first times between transmitting the one or more service discovery requests and receiving the one or more responses; and using the one or more first times to determine one or more approximate distances between the one or more first Bluetooth base stations and the one or more first Bluetooth devices. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification