Concurrent BLE scanning and initiation for bandwidth efficiency and power saving

• US 20130109315A1
• Filed: 10/31/2011
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhuang, Yuan, Kwan, Chikan, Xie, Guoxin, Jin, Arthur, Polo, Angel, Tian, Cindy (Xin)
• Granted Patent: US 9,706,496 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• 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 52/0274 by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A technique to open a single receiving window to perform scanning and initiating operations in a Bluetooth Low Energy compliant device, instead of using two separate receiving windows to perform the equivalent operations. The combining of the scanning and initiating operations in one receiving window, instead of two separate windows, reduces power consumption and provides for bandwidth efficiency.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

opening a receiving window in a device to receive a packet transmission according to a proximal wireless transmission protocol;

using the receiving window to identify an address of the packet transmission to perform an initiating operation to connect to a remote device;

using the receiving window to identify an address of the packet transmission to perform a scanning operation; and

performing the scanning operation and the initiating operation utilizing the same receiving window.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the proximal wireless transmission protocol is based on a Bluetooth wireless system standard.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the proximal wireless transmission protocol is based on a Bluetooth Low Energy wireless system standard.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the packet transmission is part of an advertisement packet transmitted from a Bluetooth Low Energy wireless system standard compliant device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising connecting to the remote device in a connection event transmitted from the Bluetooth Low Energy wireless system standard compliant device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein an address in the advertisement packet is compared to an entry in an initiating white list or an entry in a scanning white list.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein an address in the advertisement packet is compared to an entry in an initiating white list and an entry in a scanning white list.

8. A method comprising:

utilizing a LINK layer operation to open a receiving window in a device to receive a transmitted advertisement packet that is transmitted in accordance with a Bluetooth wireless system standard;

utilizing the LINK layer operation to identify an address of the advertisement packet when the receiving window is open to perform an initiating operation to connect to a remote device;

utilizing the LINK layer operation to identify an address of the advertisement packet when the receiving window is open to perform a scanning operation; and

performing the scanning operation and the initiating operation utilizing the same receiving window.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the advertisement packet is part of an advertising event transmitted from a Bluetooth Low Energy wireless system standard compliant device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising connecting to the remote device in a connection event transmitted from the Bluetooth Low Energy wireless system standard compliant device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising using a filtering list to compare a received address with addresses in the filtering list.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising using an initiating white list and a scanning white list to compare a received address with address entries in at least one of the initiating or scanning white lists to filter for addresses.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein one filtering list is used and attributes are attached to entries in the one filtering list to identify if a particular entry belongs in one or both of the initiating white list and scanning white list.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a radio frequency front end to function as a Physical (PHY) layer for wireless communication; and

a baseband module coupled to the radio frequency front end to function as a LINK layer for the wireless communication, the LINK layer to;

open a receiving window in a device to receive a transmitted advertisement packet that is transmitted in accordance with a Bluetooth wireless system standard;

identify an address of the advertisement packet when the receiving window is open to perform an initiating operation to connect to a remote device;

identify an address of the advertisement packet when the receiving window is open to perform a scanning operation; and

perform the scanning operation and the initiating operation utilizing the same receiving window.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the LINK layer operates the apparatus as a Bluetooth Low Energy wireless system standard compliant device and the advertisement packet is part of an advertising event transmitted from another Bluetooth Low Energy wireless system standard compliant device.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the LINK layer further initiates a connection to the remote device in a connection event transmitted from the another Bluetooth Low Energy wireless system standard compliant device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a filtering list to compare a received address with addresses in the filtering list.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising an initiating white list and a scanning white list to compare a received address with address entries in at least one of the initiating or scanning white lists to filter for addresses.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein separate filtering lists are used for the initiating white list and scanning white list.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein one filtering list is used and attributes are attached to entries in the one filtering list to identify if a particular entry belongs in one or both of the initiating white list and scanning white list.