Dual-mode device and method for achieving the simultaneous communication therein

• US 9,860,684 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2016
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telink Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Telink Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Jin, Haipeng, Zheng, Mingjian
• Primary Examiner(s): AKINYEMI, AJIBOLA A
• Application Number:
  US15/089,754
• Publication Number:
  US 20170188181A1
• Time in Patent Office: 638 Days
• Field of Search: 455 412
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• 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 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/25 Maintenance of established connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the electronic communication field and discloses a dual-Mode device and a method for achieving the simultaneous communication therein. The dual-mode device has a dual-mode protocol stack scheduling mechanism and uniformly schedules the transmission event of the Bluetooth protocol stack and the ZigBee protocol stack. The method comprising the following steps: after matching the dual-mode device with a Bluetooth host as a slave and the ZigBee target device as a control device, the dual-mode device conducting the Bluetooth connection maintenance according to preset interval and processing the information exchange with the ZigBee target device at each Bluetooth connection interval. Compared to the prior art, the present disclosure allows the smart devices to support two types of communication protocols, achieves the interaction between the smart devices using the two different wireless standards, and greatly improves the communication efficiency of network with the Bluetooth and ZigBee devices.

Claims

1. A method for achieving the simultaneous communication in a dual-mode device, wherein the dual-mode device has a dual-mode protocol stack scheduling mechanism and uniformly schedules transmission events of a Bluetooth protocol stack and a ZigBee protocol stack, the method comprising:

the dual-mode device conducting Bluetooth connection maintenance according to a preset interval and processing information exchange with the ZigBee target device at each Bluetooth connection interval after the dual-mode device completes matching with a Bluetooth host as a slave and matching with a ZigBee target device as a control device,

wherein the dual-mode device periodically exchanges data with the Bluetooth host device during the Bluetooth low power consumption connection maintenance period so as to flexibly schedule timing for receiving and sending the ZigBee data

wherein the dual-mode device, in the step of sending data to or receiving data from the ZigBee target device at each Bluetooth connection interval, receives a request for sending or receiving the ZigBee data from an application layer;

after receiving the request for sending or receiving the ZigBee data from the application layer, the method comprising;

starting the ZigBee transmission immediately if the dual-mode device determines that there is enough time to complete the ZigBee transmission; and

starting the ZigBee transmission after a next Bluetooth maintenance connection if the dual-mode device determines that there is no enough time to complete the ZigBee transmission before the next Bluetooth maintenance connection.

2. The method for achieving the simultaneous communication in the dual-mode device according to claim 1, wherein, during the process of the dual-mode device matching with the Bluetooth host as the slave and matching with the ZigBee target device as the control device, the method comprises following sub-steps:

the dual-mode device periodically sending Bluetooth broadcast packets;

the dual-mode device accepting a user command, initiating a ZigBee matching process, and completing matching with the ZigBee target device; and

the dual-mode device accepting the user command again, initiating a Bluetooth matching process, and completing matching with the Bluetooth host.

3. The method for achieving the simultaneous communication in the dual-mode device according to claim 1, wherein, during the process of the dual-mode device matching with the Bluetooth host as the slave and matching with the ZigBee target device as the control device, the method comprises following sub-steps:

the dual-mode device periodically sending Bluetooth broadcast packets;

the dual-mode device accepting a user command, initiating a Bluetooth matching process, and completing matching with the Bluetooth host; and

the dual-mode device accepting the user command again, initiating a ZigBee matching process at Bluetooth connection intervals and completing matching with the ZigBee target device.

4. The method for achieving the simultaneous communication in the dual-mode device according to claim 3, wherein, after the dual-mode device completes matching with the ZigBee target device, the connection with the Bluetooth host is recovered if the Bluetooth connection is lost.

5. A dual-mode device, comprising a dual-mode scheduling module, a protocol stack, a ZigBee protocol stack, a matching module and a communication module, wherein

the dual-mode scheduling module is configured to uniformly schedule transmission events of the Bluetooth protocol stack and the ZigBee protocol stack;

the matching module is configured to match with a Bluetooth host and a ZigBee target device;

the communication module is configured to, after the matching module completes matching with the Bluetooth host and the ZigBee target device, conduct Bluetooth connection maintenance based on scheduling by the dual-mode scheduling module at a preset interval, and process information exchange with the ZigBee target device at each Bluetooth connection interval,

wherein the dual-mode scheduling module controls the communication module to periodically exchange data with the Bluetooth host device during a Bluetooth low power consumption connection maintenance period, so as to flexibly schedule timing for receiving and sending the ZigBee data,

wherein, after the communication module monitors a connection request of the ZigBee target device, the dual-mode scheduling module determines whether there is enough time to complete the ZigBee transmission before a next Bluetooth maintenance connection, and triggers the communication module to start the ZigBee transmission immediately when determining that there is enough time to complete the ZigBee transmission, and triggers the communication module to start the ZigBee transmission after the next Bluetooth maintenance connection when determining that there is no enough time to complete the ZigBee transmission.