Bluetooth transparent bridge

• US 7,164,886 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2002
• Issued: 01/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Inventors: Harris, William F., Mowery, Keith R., Jensen, Daniel G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Milord; Marceau
• Application Number:
  US10/266,873
• Publication Number:
  US 20030083013A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,561 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.2, 455/557, 455/414.1, 455/575.7, 343/702, 343/906
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

System and method for transparently attaching wireless peripherals to a computer using a Bluetooth wireless network. A preferred embodiment comprises an interface (for example, interface 630), a communications bus (for example, a USB 620), and a Bluetooth wireless network adapter (for example, a master unit 610). The interface translates messages from either the communications bus or the Bluetooth wireless network adapter so that a software stack is not needed to perform the translation at a later time. This helps to maintain the computer'"'"'s reliability and performance. The system and method also affords wireless connectivity without the presence of a computer system.

Claims

1. A method for simplifying software requirements in a computer system comprising:

receiving a message from a device that is attached to the computer system via a Bluetooth wireless communications link;

translating the Bluetooth message into a format of an existing communications bus in the computer system so that the received message appears to have originated from a device utilizing the existing communications bus;

providing the translated message to the computer system via the existing communications bus; and

receiving a second message from the existing communications bus, the second message originating from the computer system;

translating the second message from the format of the existing communications bus to the Bluetooth format so that the received second message appears to have originated from the Bluetooth wireless communications link; and

providing the translated second message to the Bluetooth wireless device via the Bluetooth wireless communications link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the translating step comprises:

converting the received message from a Bluetooth signaling protocol into a signaling protocol compatible with the existing communications bus; and

reformatting the received message from a Bluetooth message format into a message format compatible with the existing communications bus.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving step is performed by a Bluetooth wireless device located in the computer system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving step is performed by a Bluetooth wireless device located outside the computer system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the making step is performed by an interface located between the device and the existing communications bus.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the interface contains two translators, a first translator translates Bluetooth messages into a format compatible with the existing communications bus and a second translator translates messages compatible with the existing communications bus into Bluetooth messages.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the translated message has an appearance of originating from a device that is compatible with the existing communications bus.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second translating step comprises:

converting the received message from a signaling protocol compatible with the existing communications bus into a Bluetooth signaling protocol; and

reformatting the received message from a message format compatible with the existing communications bus into a Bluetooth message format.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the existing communications bus is an Universal Serial Bus (USB).

10. An interface coupled to a Bluetooth wireless device and an existing communications bus, the interface comprising:

a first translator coupled to the existing communications bus and the Bluetooth wireless device, the first translator containing circuitry to translate messages in a format compatible with the existing communications bus into a message on the Bluetooth wireless device;

a first data path coupling the existing communications bus to first translator and first translator to the Bluetooth wireless device, the first data path to carry messages from the existing communications bus to the Bluetooth wireless device;

a second translator coupled to the Bluetooth wireless device and the existing communications bus, the second translator containing circuitry to translate messages in a format compatible with the Bluetooth wireless device into a format compatible with the existing communications bus; and

a second data path coupling the Bluetooth wireless device to the second translator and the second translator to the existing communications bus, the second data path to carry messages from the Bluetooth wireless device to the existing communications bus.

11. The interface of claim 10, wherein the first and second data paths are uni-directional.

12. The interface of claim 10, wherein the existing communications bus is an Universal Serial Bus (USB).

13. The interface of claim 10, wherein the existing communications bus is a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI).

14. The interface of claim 10, wherein the existing communications bus is a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-Express).

15. The interface of claim 10, wherein the existing communications bus isan IEEE 1394 (Firewire) communications bus.

16. The interface of claim 10, wherein the existing communications bus is a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) bus.

17. The interface of claim 10, wherein the existing communications bus is an audio data channel coupled to an audio server.

18. The interface of claim 17, wherein the audio server is an analog audio component.

19. The interface of claim 17, wherein the audio server is a digital audio component.

20. The interface of claim 10, wherein the existing communications bus is a multimedia data channel coupled to a multimedia server.

21. The interface of claim 20, wherein the multimedia server provides multimedia content in an analog format.

22. The interface of claim 20, wherein the multimedia server provides multimedia content in a digital format.

23. A computer system with a transparent Bluetooth bridge comprising:

a processor;

a communications bus coupled to the processor, the communications bus to permit the processor to communicate to devices attached to the communications bus;

an interface attached to the communications bus, the interface to translate messages passed between the communications bus and devices attached to the interface;

a Bluetooth wireless network device attached to the interface, the Bluetooth wireless network device to allow other Bluetooth network devices to connect to the computer system;

wherein the interface comprises;

a first translator coupled to the communications bus and the Bluetooth wireless device, the first translator containing circuitry to translate messages in a format compatible with the communications bus into a format compatible with the Bluetooth wireless device;

a first data path coupling the communications bus to first translator and first translator to the Bluetooth wireless device, the first data path to carry messages from the communications bus to the Bluetooth wireless device;

a second translator coupled to the Bluetooth wireless device and the communications bus, the second translator containing circuitry to translate messages in a format compatible with the Bluetooth wireless device into a message on the communications bus; and

a second data path coupling the Bluetooth wireless device to the second translator and the second translator to the communications bus, the second data path to carry messages from the Bluetooth wireless device to the communications bus.

24. The computer of claim 23, wherein the communications bus is a sequence of different communications buses with interfaces between each pair of communications bus.

25. The computer of claim 23, wherein the Bluetooth wireless network device is internal to the computer.

26. The computer of claim 23, wherein the Bluetooth wireless network device is external to the computer.