Dynamic connection path detection and selection for wireless controllers and accessories

• US 10,206,170 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2016
• Issued: 02/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Mathews, Dennis, Dooley, Craig, Sandesara, Anjali S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rachedine, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US15/274,437
• Publication Number:
  US 20170201942A1
• Time in Patent Office: 872 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Controllers can communicate with accessories using various paths, such as a wireless communication path. A controller can maintain reachability information for each accessory indicating the path(s) via which the accessory is currently reachable. Maintaining the reachability information can include scanning to detect broadcasts from the accessories and updating the reachability information based on the results of scanning. Scanning parameters such as scan interval and scan duration can be selected dynamically based on the current operating context of the controller (e.g., where the controller is located, what processes are active on the controller, what other devices have been detected within communication range of the controller).

Claims

1. A method for detecting presence of one or more accessories using a wireless communication channel, the method comprising:

determining, by a controller device, preferred scan parameters for a scanning operation that detects advertisements broadcast by accessories via the wireless communication channel, the preferred scan parameters being determined based at least in part on device status information about the controller device;

determining, based at least in part on information from a previous scanning operation, an estimate of a probability that the controller device is in communication range of one or more accessories in a set of accessories of interest to a controller app executing on the controller device, the preferred scanning parameters being determined further based at least in part on the estimate of the probability;

defining, by the controller device, a filter instruction to be executed based at least in part on detection of one or more events corresponding to an action of the accessories;

determining, by the controller device, actual scan parameters for the scanning operation based at least in part on the preferred scan parameters;

conducting, by the controller device, a scanning operation for the wireless communication channel using the actual scan parameters;

determining, by the controller device, whether an event of the one or more events is detected for a first accessory during the scanning operation; and

in response to determining that the event is detected for the first accessory, performing, by the controller device, a further evaluation of the first accessory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the preferred scan parameters include a scan interval and a scan duration.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the preferred scan parameters include a preferred duty cycle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the actual scan parameters provide a duty cycle that is at least as high as a preferred duty cycle defined by the preferred scan parameters.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the preferred scanning parameters is further based at least in part on a geolocation of the controller device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a coprocessor of the controller device conducts the scanning operation while an applications processor of the controller device is in a sleep state and wherein the coprocessor wakes the applications processor from the sleep state in response to determining that the filter condition is detected for the first accessory.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the event is identified by detecting that content of an advertisement broadcast by the first accessory has changed.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein performing the further evaluation comprises:

connecting to the first accessory via the wireless communication channel; and

reading state information from the first accessory.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the event is identified by a failure to detect an advertisement from the first accessory at a time when reachability information for the first accessory indicates that the first accessory is reachable via the wireless communication channel, wherein the failure persists over at least a minimum time interval.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein performing the further evaluation comprises:

determining an estimate of a probability that the first accessory is reachable;

in response to determining that the estimate does not exceed a threshold, updating the reachability information for the accessory to indicate that the first accessory is not reachable via the wireless communication channel; and

in response to determining that the estimate exceeds the threshold;

determining new scan parameters for a follow-up scanning operation, the new scan parameters providing a duty cycle higher than the duty cycle of the preferred scan parameters;

conducting the follow-up scanning operation using the new scan parameters to attempt to detect the advertisement from the first accessory; and

updating the reachability information for the first accessory based at least in part on whether the follow-up scanning operation detected the advertisement from the first accessory.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the filter instruction, when executed, instructs the controller device to wake an application of the controller device based at least in part on the event being detected.

12. A controller device, comprising:

at least one memory to store information about one or more accessories;

a wireless communication interface; and

a processing subsystem coupled to the at least one memory and the wireless communication interface, the processing subsystem comprising at least one processor configured to;

determine preferred scan parameters for a scanning operation that detects advertisements broadcast by accessories via the wireless communication interface, the preferred scan parameters being determined based at least in part on device status information about the controller device;

determining, based at least in part on information from a previous scanning operation, an estimate of a probability that the controller device is in communication range of one or more accessories in a set of accessories of interest to a controller app executing on the controller device, the preferred scanning parameters being determined further based at least in part on the estimate of the probability;

define a filter instruction to be executed based at least in part on detection of one or more events corresponding to an action of the accessories, the detection of the one or more events identifying that a controller app is to be notified of the one or more events;

determine actual scan parameters for the scanning operation based at least in part on the preferred scan parameters;

conduct a scanning operation using the actual scan parameters;

determine whether an event of the one or more events is detected for a first accessory during the scanning operation; and

in response to determining that the event is detected for the first accessory;

generate a notification; and

perform a further evaluation of the first accessory.

13. The controller device of claim 12, wherein the preferred scan parameters are determined based at least in part on a detection probability computed using a scanning simulation algorithm that provides an output indicating the estimate of the probability of detecting at least one advertisement from the accessory within a given time period.

14. The controller device of claim 13, wherein the scanning simulation algorithm operates on a set of inputs that comprises

scan parameters for a scanning operation to be simulated;

advertising interval and length information obtained from one or more previous broadcasts detected from one or more accessories in a set of accessories of interest to the controller app, the set of accessories of interest comprising the first accessory; and

a time of detecting each of the one or more previous broadcasts.

15. The controller device of claim 12, wherein the device status information about the controller device comprises one or more of:

whether the controller app is in foreground or background;

whether a display screen of the controller device is on or off;

or

whether an applications processor is preparing to enter a sleep state.

16. The controller device of claim 12, further comprising:

defining, based at least in part on device visibility data from a plurality of scanning operations, a cluster of devices based at least in part on correlations between the device visibility data for different devices across the plurality of scanning operations, wherein the cluster of devices comprises the first accessory.

17. The controller device of claim 16, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the defined cluster and information from a previous scanning operation, whether at least one device in the cluster of devices is visible,

wherein determining the preferred scanning parameters is based at least in part on whether at least one device in the cluster of devices is visible.

18. The controller device of claim 12, wherein the event is identified by detecting that content of an advertisement broadcast by the first accessory has changed.

19. The controller device of claim 18, wherein performing the further evaluation comprises:

connecting to the first accessory via the wireless communication channel; and

reading state information from the first accessory.

20. The controller device of claim 12, wherein a minimum time interval is determined using the estimate of the probability computed by a scanning simulation algorithm that provides an output indicating the estimate of the probability of detecting at least one advertisement from the first accessory within a given time period.

21. The controller device of claim 20, wherein the scanning simulation algorithm operates on a set of inputs that comprises:

the actual scan parameters that resulted in a failure to detect the advertisement;

advertising interval and length information obtained from a previous broadcast detected from the first accessory; and

a time of detecting the previous broadcast.