LOW ENERGY BEACON ENCODING

• US 20130065584A1
• Filed: 09/12/2011
• Published: 03/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lyon, James M., Teegan, Hugh A., Kuehnel, Thomas, Soni, Vishal
• Granted Patent: US 9,445,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/434
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Techniques and tools are described for transmitting beacon messages using a wireless communication protocol, such as the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol. In some examples, beacon messages can be generated in a compact format and included in an AdvData portion of a payload of a protocol data unit of a Bluetooth Low Energy advertising channel packet. A beacon message can be transmitted from a stationary beacon generation device and broadcast to an area within a transmission range of the beacon generation device, and mobile computing devices, such as mobile phones, can receive the beacon message and perform one or more actions in response to information contained in the beacon message, all while conserving energy used by the beacon generation device and the mobile computing device.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting a beacon message, the method comprising:

generating, with a beacon generation device, at least one beacon message, wherein the at least one beacon message is defined by a beacon message format, the beacon message format comprising one or more type octets, the one or more type octets comprising a main type octet comprising a first bit followed by seven type bits, the seven type bits indicating an advertising type for the beacon message, the advertising type being one of a set of predetermined advertising types that indicate location-based information associated with a location of the beacon generation device, the first bit being either;

a “

0”

, to indicate that the beacon message has no typed payload and that no subsequent type octets are present in the beacon message;

or

a “

1”

, to indicate that a subsequent one or more octets of the beacon message comprise a typed payload for the beacon message, the typed payload comprising a payload length field followed by payload data field, the payload length field being the length in octets of the typed payload; and

transmitting, with the beacon generation device, the at least one beacon message using a low-energy wireless communication protocol to a transmission area within a transmission range of the beacon generation device for reception by one or more mobile computing devices located in the transmission area.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first bit is a “

1” and

the beacon message comprises a typed payload, the typed payload comprising a payload length field followed by payload data field, the payload length field comprising up to five bits that indicate the length in octets of the typed payload.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the beacon message comprises an extension type octet preceding the main type octet, the extension type octet indicating that the advertising type is an extended advertising type.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of advertising types comprises one or more of:

silent mode, flight mode, and hands-free mode.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the low-energy wireless communication protocol comprises a Bluetooth Low Energy protocol.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one beacon message is transmitted in a Bluetooth Low Energy advertising channel packet.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one beacon message is transmitted in an AdvData field of a payload of a protocol data unit (PDU) of a Bluetooth Low Energy advertising channel packet.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one beacon message is transmitted in an undirected advertising event.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the PDU is one of the following PDU types:

ADV_IND, ADV_NONCONN_IND, or ADV_SCAN_IND.

10. A method for receiving a beacon message comprising:

receiving, with a mobile computing device, a beacon message transmitted in a low-energy wireless communication protocol, the beacon message being defined by a beacon message format, the beacon message format comprising one or more type octets, the one or more type octets comprising a main type octet, the main type octet comprising a first bit followed by seven type bits, the seven type bits indicating an advertising type for the beacon message, the advertising type being one of a set of predetermined advertising types that indicate location-based information associated with a location of the mobile computing device, the first bit being either;

a “

0”

, to indicate that the beacon message has no typed payload and that no subsequent type octets are present in the beacon message;

or

a “

1”

, to indicate that a subsequent one or more octets of the beacon message comprise a typed payload for the beacon message, the typed payload comprising a payload length followed by payload data, the payload length being the length in octets of the typed payload; and

performing at least one action based at least in part on the location-based information without input from a user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first bit is a “

1” and

the beacon message comprises a typed payload, the typed payload comprising a payload length followed by payload data, the payload length comprising up to five bits that indicate the length in octets of the typed payload.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the low-energy wireless communication protocol comprises a Bluetooth Low Energy protocol.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one beacon message is included in an AdvData portion of a payload of a protocol data unit (PDU) of a Bluetooth Low Energy advertising channel packet.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein performing at least one action comprises:

displaying a message to a user of the mobile computing device according to the advertising type of the received beacon message.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the mobile computing device is configured to receive the beacon message in sleep mode and process the beacon message in firmware without waking from sleep mode.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein performing at least one action comprises:

in response to the received beacon message, wirelessly transmitting data comprising information specific to the mobile computing device or a user of the mobile computing device.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein performing at least one action comprises:

in response to the received beacon message, wirelessly forwarding at least a portion of the beacon message to another computing device.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the mobile computing device is configured to adjust a local setting of the mobile computing device without input from a user based on the location-based information.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein adjusting a local setting of the mobile computing device comprises switching the mobile computing device to a silent mode.

20. A mobile computing device configured to receive and process an undirected beacon message transmitted via a Bluetooth Low Energy protocol from a beacon generation device when the mobile computing device is within a transmission range of the beacon generation device, the beacon message being included in an AdvData portion of a payload of a protocol data unit (PDU) of a Bluetooth Low Energy advertising channel packet, the beacon message being defined by a beacon message format, the beacon message format comprising:

one or more type octets, the one or more type octets comprising a main type octet, the main type octet comprising a first bit followed by seven type bits, the seven type bits indicating an advertising type for the beacon message, the advertising type being one of a set of predetermined advertising types that indicate location-based information associated with a location of the beacon generation device, the first bit being either;

a “

0”

, to indicate that the beacon message has no typed payload and that the main type octet is a last octet of this beacon message;

or

a “

1”

, to indicate that a next one or more octets following the main type octet of the beacon message comprise a typed payload for the beacon message, the typed payload comprising a payload length followed by payload data, the payload length being the length in octets of the typed payload;

wherein the mobile computing device is configured to receive and process the beacon message in firmware without awaking from a sleep mode for at least one advertising type of the set of predetermined advertising types.