BLUETOOTH NETWORKING

• US 20120057518A1
• Filed: 06/23/2011
• Published: 03/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 9Solutions Oy
• Original Assignee: 9Solutions Oy
• Inventors: HERRALA, Sami, KYLMÄNEN, Jari, NIEMI, Jaakko
• Granted Patent: US 9,648,662 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

An apparatus enabling establishment of a Bluetooth mesh network comprises at least two Bluetooth transceiver circuitries and an internal connection between the at least two Bluetooth transceiver circuitries. The Bluetooth transceiver circuitries are simultaneously connected to different Bluetooth piconets, and the apparatus operates as a bridge between the piconets. Concatenation of such apparatuses enables construction of a Bluetooth mesh network where the bridge devices may be simultaneously connected to multiple Bluetooth piconets.

Claims

1. A communication device comprising:

a first Bluetooth transceiver circuitry providing a first Bluetooth connection to a first Bluetooth network;

a second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry providing a second Bluetooth connection to a second Bluetooth network different from the first Bluetooth network;

an internal connection between the first Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and the second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry to transfer data between the first Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and the second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry; and

a processor configured to analyze a destination of a data packet received through any one of the first Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and the second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and to forward the data packet to the internal connection for further transmission if the data packet is not destined to the communication device or another Bluetooth communication device in the same Bluetooth network as the Bluetooth transceiver circuitry that received the data packet.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein one of the first Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and the second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry operates as a master device of its Bluetooth network, and wherein the other one of the first Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and the second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry operates as a slave device of its Bluetooth network.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein said processor is further arranged to determine for a data packet received through the slave Bluetooth transceiver circuitry whether or not the final destination of the data packet is the communication device, route the data packet not destined to the communication device to the internal connection for transmission from the master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry, and forward the data packet for data extraction, if the data packet is destined to the communication device.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein said processor is further arranged to determine for a data packet received through the master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry whether or not the final destination of the data packet is the communication device or another Bluetooth device in a Bluetooth network controlled by the master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry, route the data packet not destined to the communication device or any other Bluetooth device in the Bluetooth network controlled by the master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry to the internal connection for transmission from the slave Bluetooth transceiver circuitry, forward the data packet for data extraction, if the data packet is destined to the communication device, and control the master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry to transmit the data packet to a Bluetooth device in the Bluetooth network controlled by the master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry, if the data packet is destined to the Bluetooth device in the Bluetooth network.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the communication device is simultaneously connected to both first and second Bluetooth network, wherein the communication device operates as a bridge between the first and second Bluetooth network, wherein each Bluetooth transceiver circuitry is connected to another bridge between two Bluetooth networks, and wherein each Bluetooth transceiver circuitry is configured with self-healing capability by storing an identifier of an auxiliary bridge device for use in case a current connection with the other bridge fails and by configuring the Bluetooth transceiver circuitry to connect to the auxiliary bridge device upon said failed connection.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein said processor is further arranged to determine configure both first and second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry to execute interleaved inquiry procedure in connection establishment so as to reduce search time needed to establish the connection, wherein the first and second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry have interleaved frequency hopping patterns.

7. A Bluetooth network comprising:

a plurality of communication devices, each communication device comprising communication device comprising a first Bluetooth transceiver circuitry providing a first Bluetooth connection to a first Bluetooth network;

a second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry providing a second Bluetooth connection to a second Bluetooth network different from the first Bluetooth network;

an internal connection between the first Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and the second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry to transfer data between the first Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and the second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry; and

a processor configured to analyze a destination of a data packet received through any one of the first Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and the second Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and to forward the data packet to the internal connection for further transmission if the data packet is not destined to the communication device or another Bluetooth communication device in the same Bluetooth network as the Bluetooth transceiver circuitry that received the data packet,

wherein the plurality of communication devices are concatenated to form a network topology comprising a plurality of Bluetooth pico networks, wherein each communication device is connected to at least two Bluetooth pico networks and operates as a bridge device between said two Bluetooth pico networks; and

wherein the Bluetooth network comprises at least one client device connected to at least one of the communication devices.

8. The Bluetooth network of claim 7, wherein each communication device comprises a master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and a slave Bluetooth transceiver circuitry, and wherein the Bluetooth network topology comprises a pipeline topology where the plurality of communication devices are concatenated such that a master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry of a given communication device is connected to a slave Bluetooth transceiver circuitry of a neighboring communication device in the pipeline topology, and a slave Bluetooth transceiver circuitry of said communication device is connected to a master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry of another neighboring communication device in the pipeline topology, with the exception that communication device at the end of the pipeline is connected to only one other communication device in the pipeline topology.

9. The Bluetooth network of claim 7, wherein the Bluetooth network topology comprises a plurality of pipeline topologies in a plurality of branches, wherein a master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry at an intersection of at least two pipeline branches operates as a router node and is arranged to store information on communication devices in each pipeline branch for routing purposes.

10. The Bluetooth network of claim 7, wherein the Bluetooth network topology comprises a ring topology, wherein a master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry of each communication device, serving a client device in its pico network, is configured to forward data packets received from the client device to a certain direction in the ring topology.

11. The Bluetooth network of claim 7, wherein the Bluetooth network is connected to a server configured to monitor the network topology by monitoring how the communication devices are connected to each other in the Bluetooth network, to monitor the location of the client devices by receiving from the communication devices information on client devices currently connected to each communication device, and to provide the at least one client device with data transfer services by using the monitored location of the client devices.

12. The Bluetooth network of claim 7, wherein said client device operates in a Bluetooth slave mode and is connected to a master Bluetooth transceiver circuitry in the Bluetooth network.

13. A method for setting up a Bluetooth network, wherein each communication device comprises at least two Bluetooth transceiver circuitries, the method comprising:

disabling a Bluetooth inquiry procedure in all but one of the Bluetooth transceiver circuitries of a first communication device being set up for the operation in the Bluetooth network;

configuring the enabled Bluetooth transceiver circuitry of the first communication device to scan for available Bluetooth transceiver circuitries;

selecting an available Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and establishing a Bluetooth connection between the enabled Bluetooth transceiver circuitry and the selected Bluetooth transceiver circuitry;

determining whether or not another to add another communication device to the Bluetooth network and, in response to determining to add a new communication device to the Bluetooth network, enabling the Bluetooth inquiry procedure in the Bluetooth transceiver circuitry or circuitries being previously disabled; and

repeating said disabling, configuring, selecting, and determining for a new communication device to be connected to the first communication device and for any subsequent communication device to be connected to the Bluetooth network.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

detecting, in the server, addition of the last communication device in the Bluetooth network and transmitting a topology configuration message to the communication device last added to the Bluetooth network;

in response to reception of the topology configuration message in the last communication device, creating a topology configuration response message, adding an identifier of the last communication device to the topology configuration response message, and transmitting the topology configuration response message towards the server;

in response to reception of the topology configuration message in at least one communication device on a path from the last communication device to the server, adding an identifier of the communication device receiving the topology configuration response message to the topology configuration response message according to a determined rule that enables the determination of the order in which the identifiers have been added to the topology configuration response message, and transmitting so modified topology configuration response message towards the server; and

receiving, in the server, the modified topology configuration response message comprising identifiers of all communication devices between the last communication device and the server, and determining a topology of the Bluetooth network from the topology configuration response message.

15. A computer program product embodied on a distribution medium readable by a computer and comprising program instructions which, when executed by the computer, to carry out a computer process for controlling a Bluetooth communication device comprising at least two Bluetooth transceiver circuitries each providing a connection to a different Bluetooth network and an internal bus between the Bluetooth transceiver circuitries, the computer process comprising:

analyzing a destination of a data packet received through any one of the Bluetooth transceiver circuitries; and

forwarding the data packet to the internal connection for further transmission to another Bluetooth network if the data packet is not destined to the communication device or another Bluetooth communication device in the same Bluetooth network as the Bluetooth transceiver circuitry that received the data packet.