Multi-level piconet data aggregation

• US 9,445,219 B1
• Filed: 06/03/2013
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell International Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Jain, Deepack, Bidichandani, Sameer, Donovan, Timothy J., Jeng, Li-Fu, Mack, Robert, Srivastav, Neeta, Yuan, Shuangqing
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, STEVEN H D
• Application Number:
  US13/908,546
• Time in Patent Office: 1,198 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/235 using a wireless connection, e.g. infrared or piconet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1031 using a wireless connection, e.g. Bluetooth, infrared connections
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/403 Connection between platform and handheld device
• 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

Abstract

An example embodiment includes an apparatus. The apparatus includes piconet logic for establishing a multi-level piconet hierarchy having a top level piconet and a lower level piconet(s). The top level piconet includes a master device and master controller(s). The lower level piconet includes master controllers(s) and sub-controller(s). The apparatus includes time division multiplexing logic to solicit and control aggregated communication with master controllers. The aggregated communication comprises data from the master controller and data from a sub-controller(s).

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

piconet logic configured to establish a multi-level piconet hierarchy, the multi-level piconet hierarchy comprising a top level piconet having a master device and one or more master controllers and one or more lower level piconets including the one or more master controllers and one or more sub-controllers;

wherein the top level piconet includes the apparatus and the one or more master controllers, the apparatus being configured as a master device in the top level piconet, and the one or more master controllers being configured as slave devices in the top level piconet; and

time division multiplexing logic configured to solicit and control aggregated communication with the one or more master controllers in the top-level piconet, wherein the aggregated communication comprises an aggregation of (i) data from the one or more master controllers and (ii) data from one or more sub-controllers;

wherein the apparatus is embodied in a gaming console, wherein the one or more master controllers are remote controllers, and wherein the one or more sub-controllers are remote controllers, and wherein the gaming console is configured with the time division multiplexing logic to perform time division multiplexing between the gaming console and the remote controllers.

2. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein a lower level piconet includes a master controller and one or more sub-controllers configured as slave devices to the master controller;

and

wherein the time division multiplexing logic is further configured to define one or more time slots for the one or more sub-controllers to communicate with the master controller.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more lower level piconets comprise four piconets.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein a member of the one or more lower level piconets comprises two sub-controllers, and wherein the time division multiplexing logic is configured to acquire data from the four piconets using a four slice, 5 ms time division multiplexing scheme.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein a member of the one or more lower level piconets comprises up to seven sub-controllers, and wherein the time division multiplexing logic is configured to acquire data from the four piconets using a time division multiplexing scheme that has a number of slices equal to one more than the number of sub-controllers in the lower level piconet having the most sub-controllers.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising Bluetooth communication logic configured to communicate with remote controllers.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

time slice logic configured to identify an opportunity to transmit master controller data as part of a time division multiplexing scheme, the time division multiplexing scheme controlling communication in a multi-level piconet hierarchy, the multi-level piconet hierarchy comprising a top level piconet and one or more lower level piconets,

wherein the apparatus is embodied in a gaming console, wherein the top level piconet includes the gaming console and one or more master controllers, wherein a lower level piconet includes a master controller and one or more sub-controllers, and

aggregation logic configured to produce the master controller data, wherein the master controller data comprises an aggregation of (i) data from one or more sub-controllers configured in one lower-level piconet that includes the apparatus and (ii) data from the apparatus;

wherein the one or more master controllers are remote controllers, and wherein the one or more sub-controllers are remote controllers, and wherein the gaming console is configured with the time division multiplexing logic to perform time division multiplexing between the gaming console and the remote controllers.

8. The apparatus of claim 7,

wherein the master controller in a lower level piconet is configured as a master in the lower level piconet, and the one or more sub-controllers are configured as slave devices in the lower level piconet;

and

wherein in response to identifying an opportunity to transmit master controller data, the time slice logic is configured to define one or more time slots for the one or more sub-controllers to communicate with the master controller.

9. The apparatus of claim 7,

wherein the apparatus is one of the one or more master controllers;

and

wherein the console is configured as a master device in the top level piconet, and the one or more master controllers are configured as slave devices in the top level piconet.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, the apparatus being embodied in a remote controller configured to communicate using Bluetooth.

11. A method, comprising:

establishing a top-level piconet comprising a console and a plurality of master controllers, the plurality of master controllers being configured to communicate with the console during a time period controlled by a time division multiplexing plan performed between the console and the plurality of master controllers;

establishing a first piconet, the first piconet comprising (i) a master controller and (ii) one or more sub-controllers configured to communicate with the master controller;

controlling the master controller to produce an aggregate data comprising data from the one or more sub-controllers and data from the master controller; and

controlling the master controller to transmit the aggregate data to the console during the time period,

wherein the time division multiplexing plan is performed so that the console satisfies an input latency threshold for members of the top-level piconet and members of the first piconet, and

wherein the time division multiplexing plan is performed to cycle through the members of the top level piconet wherein a number of opportunities to communicate with the plurality of master controllers in the top level piconet per time period equals a number of master controllers in the top-level piconet.

12. The method of claim 11,

wherein the master controller is configured as a master device in the first piconet, and the one or more sub-controllers being configured as slave devices in the first piconet;

wherein the time division multiplexing plan defines one or more time slots for the one or more sub-controllers to communicate with the master controller; and

wherein the time division multiplexing plan is performed by a gaming console for communicating between the master controller and the one or more sub-controllers using time division multiplexing.

13. The method of claim 11, comprising:

establishing a second piconet, the second piconet comprising (i) a second master controller and (ii) one or more second sub-controllers configured to communicate with the second master controller, the second master controller being one of the plurality of master controllers;

controlling the second master controller to produce a second aggregate data, the second aggregate data comprising (i) data from the one or more second sub-controllers and (ii) data from the second master controller; and

controlling the second master controller to transmit the second aggregate data to the console during the time period, wherein the time division multiplexing plan is configured so that the console satisfies an input latency threshold for members of the first piconet, members of the second piconet, and members of the top-level piconet.

14. The method of claim 12, comprising:

establishing a third piconet, the third piconet comprising (i) a third master controller and (ii) one or more third sub-controllers configured to communicate with the third master controller, the third master controller being one of the plurality of master controllers;

controlling the third master controller to produce a third aggregate data, the third aggregate data comprising (i) data from the one or more third sub-controllers and (ii) data from the third master controller; and

controlling the third master controller to transmit the third aggregate data to the console during the time period, wherein the time division multiplexing plan is configured so that the console satisfies an input latency threshold for members of the first piconet, members of the second piconet, members of the third piconet, and members of the top-level piconet.

15. The method of claim 13, comprising:

establishing a fourth piconet, the fourth piconet comprising (i) a fourth master controller and (ii) one or more fourth sub-controllers configured to communicate with the fourth master controller, the fourth master controller being one of the plurality of master controllers;

controlling the fourth master controller to produce a fourth aggregate data, the fourth aggregate data comprising (i) data from the one or more fourth sub-controllers and (ii) data from the fourth master controller; and

controlling the fourth master controller to transmit the fourth aggregate data to the console during the time period, wherein the time division multiplexing plan is configured, at least in part, so that the console satisfies an input latency threshold for members of the first piconet, members of the second piconet, members of the third piconet, members of the fourth piconet, and members of the top-level piconet.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the console is a Bluetooth device and wherein the master controller is a Bluetooth device.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the time period is 5 ms or less and wherein the number of opportunities to transmit per master controller in the top-level piconet per time period equals the number of master controllers in the top-level piconet.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the time period is 6.25 ms or less, wherein a number of opportunities to transmit per master controller in the top-level piconet per time period is one more than the number of master controllers in the top-level piconet, and wherein a maximum number of sub-controllers in any of the first piconet, the second piconet, the third piconet, and the fourth piconet is three.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the time period is 10 ms or less, wherein a number of opportunities to transmit per master controller in the top-level piconet per time period is one more than largest number of sub-controllers in any of the first piconet, the second piconet, the third piconet, and the fourth piconet, and wherein a maximum number of sub-controllers in any of the first piconet, the second piconet, the third piconet, and the fourth piconet is seven.