Polling method compliant to Bluetooth protocol for increasing transfer efficiency and system thereof

• US 20110051743A1
• Filed: 08/26/2009
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Original Assignee: PixArt Imaging Incorporated
• Inventors: Chen, Sheng-Chung
• Granted Patent: US 7,953,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/449
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/06 using polling

Abstract

A polling method compliant to Bluetooth protocol is utilized for increasing transfer efficiency. In a Bluetooth piconet, a master queries each slave to determine the slaves supporting a predetermined protocol. The master determines a predetermined address as the instruction of the predetermined protocol. When the master sends a polling packet with the predetermined address to the supporting slaves, the supporting slaves can respond in sequence. In this way, even if the supporting slaves increase, the master only has to send one single polling packet for all the supporting slaves responding, increasing the transfer efficiency.

Claims

1. A polling method compliant to Bluetooth protocol for increasing transfer efficiency, comprising:

a master determining a first predetermined address as an instruction of a predetermined protocol;

wherein the predetermined protocol enables the master to send one single polling packet for a set of slaves, which support the predetermined protocol, of a plurality of slaves, responding in sequence;

wherein the master and the plurality of slaves belong to a Bluetooth piconet;

the master sending a polling packet having the first predetermined address to the plurality of the slaves; and

the set of the slaves supporting the predetermined protocol responding to the polling packet in sequence.

2. The polling method of claim 1, wherein the polling method further comprising:

the master querying the plurality of the slaves to determine the set of the slaves supporting the predetermined protocol.

3. The polling method of claim 2, wherein the master queries the plurality of the slaves to determine the set of the slaves supporting the predetermined protocol comprises:

the master sending a plurality of querying commands corresponding to the plurality of the slaves;

the plurality of the slaves send a plurality of respond-supporting packets corresponding to the plurality of the querying commands, respectively; and

the master determining the set of the slaves supporting the predetermined protocol according to the plurality of the respond-supporting packets and a predetermined data.

4. The polling method of claim 3, wherein when a first and a second respond-supporting packets of the plurality of the respond-supporting packets are equal to the predetermined data, the master determines a first slave corresponding to the first respond-supporting packet, and a second slave corresponding to the second respond-supporting packet support the predetermined protocol.

5. The polling method of claim 4, wherein when the master sends the polling packet having the first predetermined address, the first slave sends a first responding packet in a first responding time slot, and the second slave sends a second responding packet in a second respond time slot;

a period length of the first responding time slot is equal to the second responding time slot, and the first responding time slot is adjacent to the second responding time slot.

6. The polling method of claim 3, wherein when a third respond-supporting packet of the plurality of the respond-supporting packets is not equal to the predetermined data, the master determines a third slave corresponding to the respond-supporting packet of the plurality of the respond-supporting packets does not support the predetermined protocol.

7. The polling method of claim 6, wherein when the master sends a second polling packet having an address of the third slave, the third slave sends a third responding packet in a third responding time slot.

8. A polling method compliant to Bluetooth protocol for increasing transfer efficiency, comprising:

a master sending a first polling packet in a first polling time slot;

M slaves receiving the first polling packet;

wherein the master and the M slaves belong to a Bluetooth piconet; and

the M slaves sending M first responding packets respectively in M first responding time slots according to M responding orders of the M slaves;

wherein the M first responding time slots are adjacent to each other, and a most preceding first responding time slot of the M first responding time slots is adjacent to the first polling time slot;

wherein a K^th slave of the M slaves sends a K^th first responding packet of the M first responding packets in a K^th first responding slots of the M responding time slots according to a K^th responding order of the M responding orders;

wherein a period length of each of the M first responding time slots and a period length of the first polling time slots are both equal to a cycle;

wherein K and M both represent positive integers, and 2≦

K≦

M.

9. The polling method of claim 8, wherein the first polling packet comprises:

a first access code, for indicating the first polling packet belonging to the Bluetooth piconet; and

a first header, comprising;

a first address information, for storing a first predetermined address;

a first busy information, for instructing the M slaves to transfer data;

a first acknowledge (ACK) information, for indicating if M second responding packets sent by the M slaves before the first polling time slot are successfully transmitted; and

a first error-detecting information, for providing to the M slaves to determine if the first polling packet is incorrect.

10. The polling method of claim 9, wherein a K^th slave of the M slaves has a K^th address of M addresses;

wherein the K^th address of the M addresses is different from the first predetermined address.

11. The polling method of claim 10, further comprising the master sending a second polling packet in a second polling time slot;

wherein the second polling packet comprises;

a second access code, for indicating the second polling packet belonging to the Bluetooth piconet; and

a second header, comprising;

a second address information, for storing the first predetermined address;

a second busy information, for instructing the M slaves to transfer data;

a second acknowledge information, for indicating if the M first responding packets sent by the M slaves are successfully transmitted; and

a second error-detecting information, for providing to the M slave to determine if the second polling packet is incorrect;

wherein a period length of the second polling time slot is equal to the cycle.

12. The polling method of claim 11, wherein when M is odd, the second polling time slot is adjacent to a most posterior first responding slot of the M first responding time slots;

when M is even, the second polling time slot is separated from the most posterior first responding slot of the M first responding time slots by the cycle.

13. The polling method of claim 8, further comprising:

the master querying all slaves belonging to the Bluetooth piconet so as to determine that the M slaves support responding the first polling packet according to responses of all slaves of the Bluetooth piconet.

14. A polling system compliant to Bluetooth protocol for increasing transfer efficiency, comprising:

a master, for sending a first polling packet;

wherein the master sends the first polling packet in a first polling time slot; and

M slaves, for sending M first responding packets in M first responding time slots, respectively, according to the first polling packet and M responding orders of the M slaves;

wherein the M first responding time slots are adjacent to each other, and a most preceding first responding time slot of the M first responding time slots is adjacent to the first polling time slot;

wherein a K^th slave of the M slaves sends a K^th first responding packet of the M first responding packets in a K^th first responding slots of the M responding time slots according to a K^th responding order of the M responding orders;

wherein the master and the M slaves belong to a Bluetooth piconet;

wherein K and M both represent positive integers, and 2≦

K≦

M.

15. The polling system of the claim 14, wherein the first polling packet comprises:

a first access code, for indicating the first polling packet belonging to the Bluetooth piconet; and

a first header, comprising;

a first address information, for storing a first predetermined address;

a first busy information, for instructing the M slaves to transfer data;

a first acknowledge information, for indicating if M second responding packets sent by the M slaves before the first polling time slot are successfully transmitted; and

a first error-detecting information, for providing to the M slaves to determine if the first polling packet is incorrect.

16. The polling system of the claim 15, wherein the K^th slave of the M slaves has a K^th address of M addresses, and the K^th address of the M addresses is different from the first predetermined address.

17. The polling system of the claim 16, wherein the master sends a second polling packet in a second polling time slot, and the second polling packet comprises:

a second access code, for indicating the second polling packet belonging to the Bluetooth piconet; and

a second header, comprising;

a second address information, for storing the first predetermined address;

a second busy information, for instructing the M slaves to transfer data;

a second acknowledge information, for indicating if the M first responding packets sent by the M slaves are successfully transmitted; and

a second error-detecting information, for providing to the M slaves to determine if the second polling packet is incorrect;

wherein a period length of the second polling time slot is equal to the cycle.

18. The polling system of claim 17, wherein when M is odd, the second polling time slot is adjacent to a most posterior first responding slot of the M first responding time slots;

when M is even, the second polling time slot is separated from the most posterior first responding slot of the M first responding time slots by the cycle.

19. The polling system of claim 14, wherein the master queries all slaves belonging to the Bluetooth piconet, and determines that the M slaves support responding the first polling packet according to responses of all slaves of the Bluetooth piconet.