Bluetooth networking

• US 9,648,662 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2011
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 9Solutions Oy
• Original Assignee: 9Solutions Oy
• Inventors: Herrala, Sami, Kylmnen, Jari, Niemi, Jaakko
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassim, Khaled
• Assistant Examiner(s): BELETE, BERHANU D
• Application Number:
  US13/167,395
• Publication Number:
  US 20120057518A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,147 Days
• Field of Search: 370315, 370329, 370406, 370466, 455517, 455 41, 4555521
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

An apparatus enabling establishment of a Bluetooth mesh network comprises at least two Bluetooth transceiver circuitries and an internal connection between the at least two Bluetooth transceiver circuitries. The Bluetooth transceiver circuitries are simultaneously connected to different Bluetooth piconets, and the apparatus operates as a bridge between the piconets. Concatenation of such apparatuses enables construction of a Bluetooth mesh network where the bridge devices may be simultaneously connected to multiple Bluetooth piconets.

Claims

1. A communication device comprising:

a master transceiver circuitry configured to operate as a master device in a first network operating according to Bluetooth communication protocol and to connect simultaneously to a plurality of slave devices of the first network;

a slave transceiver circuitry configured to operate as a slave device in a second network operating according to the Bluetooth communication protocol, the second network different from the first network, and to connect to a master device of the second network;

an internal connection between the master transceiver circuitry and the slave transceiver circuitry to transfer data between the master transceiver circuitry and the slave transceiver circuitry; and

a processor configured to control routing of data packets in the communication device,

to analyze, from a destination address field, a destination of a data packet received through any one of the master transceiver circuitry and the slave transceiver circuitry and to forward the data packet to the internal connection for further transmission,

without extracting data of the data packet, if the destination address field does not include an address of the communication device or another Bluetooth communication device in a same network as the transceiver circuitry that received the data packet and

to cause extraction of the data of the data packet in the communication device, if the address of the communication device was included in the destination address field of the data packet,

wherein said processor is further arranged to configure the master transceiver circuitry to employ a frequency hopping pattern that is different from a frequency hopping pattern employed by the second transceiver circuitry in connection establishment so as to reduce a search time needed to establish the connection.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein said processor is further arranged to determine, from the destination address field, for a data packet received through the slave transceiver circuitry whether or not the final destination of the data packet is the communication device, route the data packet not destined to the communication device to the internal connection for transmission from the master transceiver circuitry, and forward the data packet for data extraction, if the data packet is destined to the communication device.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein said processor is further arranged to determine for the data packet received through the master transceiver circuitry whether or not the final destination of the data packet is the communication device or another device in a network controlled by the master transceiver circuitry, route the data packet not destined to the communication device or any other device in the network controlled by the master transceiver circuitry to the internal connection for transmission from the slave transceiver circuitry, forward the data packet for data extraction, if the data packet is destined to the communication device, and control the master transceiver circuitry to transmit the data packet to a device in the Bluetooth network controlled by the master transceiver circuitry, if the data packet is destined to the device in the network.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the communication device is simultaneously connected to both first and second network, wherein the communication device operates as a bridge between the first and second network, wherein each transceiver circuitry is connected to another bridge between two networks, and wherein each transceiver circuitry is configured with self-healing capability by storing an identifier of an auxiliary bridge device for use in case a current connection with the other bridge fails and by configuring the transceiver circuitry to connect to the auxiliary bridge device upon said failed connection.

5. A wireless network comprising:

a plurality of communication devices, each of the plurality of communication devices comprising a master transceiver circuitry configured to operate as a master device in one network operating according to Bluetooth communication protocol and to connect simultaneously to a plurality of slave devices of the one network;

a slave transceiver circuitry configured to operate as a slave device in another network different from the one network and operating according to the Bluetooth communication protocol, and to connect to a master device in said another network;

an internal connection between the master transceiver circuitry and the slave transceiver circuitry to transfer data between the master transceiver circuitry and the slave transceiver circuitry; and

a processor configured to control routing of data packets in the communication device, to analyze, from a destination address field, a destination of a data packet received through any one of the master transceiver circuitry and the slave transceiver circuitry and to forward, without extracting data of the data packet, the data packet to the internal connection for further transmission if the destination address field of the data packet does not include an address of to the communication device or another communication device in a same network as the transceiver circuitry that received the data packet, and to cause extraction of data of the data packet in the wireless communication device, if the destination address field of the data packet includes the address of the communication device,

wherein the plurality of communication devices are concatenated to form a network topology comprising a plurality of pico networks, wherein each communication device is connected to at least two pico networks and operates as a bridge device between said two pico networks; and

wherein the wireless network comprises at least one client device connected to at least one of the communication devices,

wherein said processor is further arranged to configure the master transceiver circuitry to employ a frequency hopping pattern that is different from a frequency hopping pattern employed by the second transceiver circuitry in connection establishment so as to reduce a search time needed to establish the connection.

6. The wireless network of claim 5, wherein the network topology comprises a pipeline topology where the plurality of communication devices are concatenated such that a master transceiver circuitry of a given communication device is connected to a slave transceiver circuitry of a neighboring communication device in the pipeline topology, and a slave transceiver circuitry of said communication device is connected to a master transceiver circuitry of another neighboring communication device in the pipeline topology, with the exception that communication device at the end of the pipeline is connected to only one other communication device in the pipeline topology.

7. The wireless network of claim 5, wherein the network topology comprises a plurality of pipeline topologies in a plurality of branches, wherein a master transceiver circuitry at an intersection of at least two pipeline branches operates as a router node and is arranged to store information on communication devices in each pipeline branch for routing purposes.

8. The wireless network of claim 5, wherein the network topology comprises a ring topology, wherein a master transceiver circuitry of each communication device, serving a client device in its pico network, is configured to forward data packets received from the client device to a certain direction in the ring topology.

9. The wireless network of claim 5, wherein the network is connected to a server configured to monitor the network topology by monitoring how the communication devices are connected to each other in the wireless network, to monitor the location of the client devices by receiving from the communication devices information on client devices currently connected to each communication device, and to provide the at least one client device with data transfer services by using the monitored location of the client devices.

10. The wireless network of claim 5, wherein said client device operates in a slave mode and is connected to a master transceiver circuitry of a communication device in the wireless network.

11. The wireless network of claim 5, wherein the network is connected to a server configured to monitor the network, and wherein at least one of the plurality of communication devices is configured to report to the server identifiers of client devices currently served in a pico network in which said at least one of the plurality of communication devices operates as a master.

12. The wireless network of claim 5, wherein the network is connected to a server configured to control traffic balancing by controlling to which pico network said at least one client device is connected.

13. The wireless network of claim 5, wherein the network is connected to a server configured to monitor the network, and wherein said plurality of communication devices is configured to transmit a status report to the server, the status report comprising at least one of a traffic load status and a battery status.

14. The wireless network of claim 13, wherein the status report comprises at least the battery status, and wherein at least one of the plurality of communication devices is configured to receive from the server an instruction to disconnect from another one of the plurality of communication devices and to establish an auxiliary connection to yet another one of the plurality of communication devices.

15. The wireless network of claim 5, further comprising a server connected to the wireless network and configured to monitor the wireless network, and further comprising at least one bridge node configured to transmit, in response to a reboot caused by a power outage, an identifier of the at least one bridge node to the server, wherein the server is configured to identify the wireless network on the basis of the identifier of the at least one bridge node after the power outage.

16. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program which, when executed carries out a process for controlling routing of data packets in a communication device, the process comprising:

analyzing, from a destination address field, a destination of a data packet received through any one of a master transceiver circuitry and a slave transceiver circuitry, wherein the master transceiver circuitry is configured to operate as a master device in a first network operating according to a Bluetooth communication protocol and to connect simultaneously to a plurality of slave devices of the first network, and the slave transceiver circuitry is configured to operate as a slave device in a second network different from the first network and operating according to the Bluetooth communication protocol, and to connect to a master device of the second network, and an internal bus between the master and slave transceiver circuitries; and

forwarding, without extracting data of the data packet, the data packet to the internal connection for further transmission to another Bluetooth network if the destination address field of the data packet does not include an address of the communication device the communication device or another communication device in a same network as the transceiver circuitry that received the data packet and causing extraction of data of the data packet in the wireless communication device if the destination address field of the data packet includes an address of the communication device,

configuring the master transceiver circuitry to employ a frequency hopping pattern that is different from a frequency hopping pattern employed by the second transceiver circuitry in connection establishment so as to reduce a search time needed to establish the connection.