Short-range RF access point design enabling services to master and slave mobile devices

• US 6,795,421 B1
• Filed: 02/12/2002
• Issued: 09/21/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Laitinen, Timo M., Heinonen, Tomi
• Primary Examiner(s): MARCELO, MELVIN C
• Application Number:
  US10/072,969
• Time in Patent Office: 952 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/255, 370/338, 370/465, 455/41.2
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/16 Performing reselection for specific purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A short-range RF access point contains two Bluetooth devices. The first device is programmed to remain a master device. The second device is programmed to remain a scanning slave device. The two devices are connected to exchange clock, address, and synchronization information. The access point master device transmits inquiry and paging packets and establishes connections with potential slave devices that respond to inquiries from the master device. The master device'"'"'s clock is the piconet clock for the resulting connections. The access point slave device primarily remains in an inquiry scanning mode, searching for inquiry packets from mobile devices that are potential master devices. When the access point slave device receives the inquiry packets and paging packets from a mobile device, it then passes control to the access point master device. Several embodiments are disclosed for passing control from the access point slave to the access point master.

Claims

1. A method to maximize bandwidth of a short-range RF access point and the speed of its establishing a connection with both mobile master devices and mobile slave devices, comprising:

transmitting inquiry and paging packets from an access point master device and establishing connections with mobile slave devices that respond; and

inquiry scanning with an access point slave device to search for inquiry packets from mobile devices that are potential master devices and passing control to the access point master device upon receiving a paging packet from a mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said passing control from the access point slave to the access point master further comprises:

after receiving a paging packet from a mobile device, aborting sending a page response from the access point slave device; and

passing to the access point master device an address and clock value of the mobile device received by the access point slave device from the mobile device'"'"'s paging packet.

3. The method of claim 2, which further comprises:

directly paging the mobile device with the access point master device using said address and clock value of the mobile device received by the access point slave device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said method for passing control from the access point slave to the access point master further comprises:

after receiving a paging packet from a mobile device, establishing a temporary piconet connection between the mobile device and the access point slave device;

signaling by the access point slave device for a master-slave role switch;

assuming a temporary master role in the access point slave device; and

transferring the connection formed by the access point slave device with the mobile device, to the access point master device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said transferring the connection further comprises:

passing to the access point master device an active member address (AM_ADDR) assigned to the mobile device.

6. A method to maximize bandwidth of a short-range RF access point and the speed of its establishing a connection with both mobile master devices and mobile slave devices, comprising:

managing with an access point piconet managing master device, existing connections with mobile slave devices in a piconet;

forming with an access point scanning slave device, connections with mobile master devices; and

transmitting with an access point inquiring/paging master device, inquiry and paging packets and establishing connections with potential slave devices that respond.

7. The method of claim 6, which further comprises:

handing off to the piconet managing master device a connection with a mobile slave device after the inquiring/paging master device has formed the connection with the mobile slave device.

8. The method of claim 6, which further comprises:

searching with the access point slave device for inquiry packets from mobile devices that are potential master devices;

passing control from the access point slave device to the piconet managing master device upon receiving a paging packet from a mobile device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein passing control further comprises:

after the access point slave device receives paging packets from a mobile device, aborting sending a page response;

passing to the access point inquiring/paging master device, address and clock values of the mobile device received in the mobile device'"'"'s paging packet.

10. The method of claim 9, which further comprises:

directly paging the mobile device with the access point inquiring/paging master device;

establishing a connection between the mobile device and the access point inquiring/paging master device; and

passing the mobile'"'"'s connection from the inquiring/paging master device to the piconet managing master device.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein passing control further comprises:

after the access point slave device receives the paging packet from a mobile device, establishing a temporary piconet between the mobile device and the access point slave device;

signaling with the access point slave device signals for a master-slave role switch;

assuming a temporary master role in the access point slave device; and

transferring the connection formed by the access point slave device with the mobile device, to the piconet managing master device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said transferring the connection further comprises:

passing to the piconet managing master device an active member address (AM_ADDR) assigned to the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein the access point scanning slave device and the access point inquiring/paging master are the same hybrid device, said hybrid device being programmed to periodically operate as the access point scanning slave device and alternately as the access point inquiring/paging master device.

14. A system to maximize bandwidth of a short-range RF access point and the speed of its establishing a connection with both mobile master devices and mobile slave devices, comprising:

a short-range RF access point coupled to an infrastructure network;

a master device in the access point to transmit inquiry and paging packets and to establish connections with mobile slave devices that respond to its inquiries; and

a slave device in the access point and coupled to the master device, to primarily remain in an inquiry scanning mode to search for inquiry packets from mobile devices that are potential master devices and to pass control to the master device upon receiving a paging packet from a mobile device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said passing control from the access point slave to the access point master further comprises:

said the slave device after receiving a paging packet from a mobile device, aborting sending a page response from the slave device; and

said the slave device passing to the master device an address and clock value of the mobile device received by the slave device from the mobile device'"'"'s paging packet.

16. The system of claim 15, which further comprises:

said master device directly paging the mobile device using said address and clock value of the mobile device received by the slave device.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein said for passing control from the slave device to the master device further comprises:

said access point slave device after receiving a paging packet from a mobile device, establishing a temporary piconet connection between the mobile device and the slave device;

said access point slave device signaling for a master-slave role switch;

access point slave device assuming a temporary master role; and

access point slave device transferring the connection formed with the mobile device, to the access point master device.

18. A computer program product to maximize bandwidth of a short-range RF access point and the speed of its establishing a connection with both mobile master devices and mobile slave devices, comprising:

a computer readable medium;

program code in said computer readable medium for controlling an access point master device to transmit inquiry and paging packets and to establish connections with mobile slave devices that respond to its inquiries; and

program code in said computer readable medium for controlling an access point slave device to primarily remain in an inquiry scanning mode to search for inquiry packets from mobile devices that are potential master devices and to pass control to the access point master device upon receiving a paging packet from a mobile device.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, which further comprises:

program code in said computer readable medium for aborting sending a page response from the access point slave device after receiving a paging packet from a mobile device; and

program code in said computer readable medium for passing to the access point master device an address and clock value of the mobile device received by the access point slave device from the mobile device'"'"'s paging packet.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, which further comprises:

program code in said computer readable medium for directly paging the mobile device with the access point master device using said address and clock value of the mobile device received by the access point slave device.

21. The computer program product of claim 18, which further comprises:

program code in said computer readable medium for establishing a temporary piconet connection between the mobile device and the access point slave device after receiving a paging packet from a mobile device;

program code in said computer readable medium for signaling by the access point slave device for a master-slave role switch;

program code in said computer readable medium for assuming a temporary master role in the access point slave device; and

program code in said computer readable medium for transferring the connection formed by the access point slave device with the mobile device, to the access point master device.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, which further comprises:

program code in said computer readable medium for passing to the access point master device an active member address (AM_ADDR) assigned to the mobile device.

23. A system to maximize bandwidth of a short-range RF access point and the speed of its establishing a connection with both mobile master devices and mobile slave devices, comprising:

a short-range RF access point coupled to an infrastructure network;

a managing master device in the access point, managing existing connections with mobile slave devices in a piconet;

a scanning slave device in the access point, forming connections with mobile master devices; and

an inquiring/paging master device in the access point, transmitting inquiry and paging packets and establishing connections with potential slave devices that respond.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the scanning slave device and the inquiring/paging master are the same hybrid device, said hybrid device being programmed to periodically operate as the scanning slave device and alternately as the inquiring/paging master device.

25. The system of claim 23, which further comprises:

said the slave device after receiving a paging packet from a mobile device, aborting sending a page response from the slave device; and

said the slave device passing to the managing master device an address and clock value of the mobile device received by the slave device from the mobile device'"'"'s paging packet.

26. The system of claim 25, which further comprises:

said managing master device directly paging the mobile device using said address and clock value of the mobile device received by the slave device.

27. The system of claim 23, which further comprises:

said access point slave device after receiving a paging packet from a mobile device, establishing a temporary piconet connection between the mobile device and the slave device;

said access point slave device signaling for a master-slave role switch;

said access point slave device assuming a temporary master role; and

said access point slave device transferring the connection formed with the mobile device, to the access point managing master device.

28. An apparatus to maximize bandwidth of a wireless transceiver and the speed of its establishing a connection with both mobile master devices and mobile slave devices, comprising:

a wireless transceiver module;

a managing master device in the transceiver, managing existing connections with mobile slave devices in a wireless network;

a scanning slave device in the transceiver, forming connections with mobile master devices; and

an inquiring/paging master device in the transceiver, transmitting inquiry and paging packets and establishing connections with potential slave devices that respond.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the scanning slave device and the inquiring/paging master are the same hybrid device, said hybrid device being programmed to periodically operate as the scanning slave device and alternately as the inquiring/paging master device.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the wireless transceiver is a stationary access point coupled to an infrastructure network.

31. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the wireless transceiver is a mobile wireless transceiver.