Bluetooth Scanning Enhancements

• US 20160100276A1
• Filed: 10/07/2014
• Published: 04/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Viswanadham, Prerepa V., Wang, Wei
• Granted Patent: US 9,699,593 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Methods and systems for storing data regarding received advertising packets are disclosed. An example method involves determining parameters of at least one batch-scan mode for a Bluetooth device. The parameters of the at least one batch-scan mode specify a format for storing data regarding particular advertising packets that are received by the Bluetooth device when operating in the at least one batch-scan mode. The method also involves receiving, by the Bluetooth device, one or more advertising packets on an interval basis. Further, the method involves storing data regarding the one or more advertising packets into a memory of the Bluetooth device in accordance with the at least one batch-scan mode. And the method involves providing the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets to the host Bluetooth stack.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining parameters of at least one batch-scan mode for a Bluetooth device, wherein the parameters of the at least one batch-scan mode specify a format for storing data regarding particular advertising packets that are received by the Bluetooth device when operating in the at least one batch-scan mode;

receiving, by the Bluetooth device, one or more advertising packets on an interval basis;

storing data regarding the one or more advertising packets into a memory of the Bluetooth device in accordance with the at least one batch-scan mode; and

providing the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets to a host Bluetooth stack.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the parameters of the at least one batch-scan mode comprises receiving one or more commands for configuring the at least one batch-scan mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameters of the at least one batch-scan mode further specify an interval period for scanning for advertising packets on one or more advertising channels.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameters of the at least one batch-scan mode further specify a scan window length, wherein the scan window length specifies an amount of time per interval that the Bluetooth controller scans for advertising packets on one or more advertising channels.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein parameters of the at least one batch-scan mode further specify (i) a portion of the memory that is allocated for storing the data regarding advertising packets that are received by the Bluetooth device, and (ii) a memory-notification threshold, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining that an amount of memory consumed by the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets satisfies the memory-notification threshold; and

in response to determining that the amount of memory consumed by the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets satisfies the memory-notification threshold, providing a notification to the host Bluetooth stack.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the host Bluetooth stack is implemented by a host processor of the Bluetooth device, and wherein receiving the one or more advertising packets on the interval basis and storing the data regarding the one or more advertising packets are carried out by a Bluetooth controller of the Bluetooth device while the host processor is in an idle mode or a sleep mode.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a portion of the memory that is allocated for storing the data regarding the particular advertising packets is full; and

in response to determining that the portion of the memory that is allocated for storing the data regarding the particular advertising packets is full, discarding stored data regarding a given one of the one or more advertising packets.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the given advertising packet comprises an advertising packet selected from the group consisting of:

an oldest advertising packet and an advertising packet having a weakest received signal strength indication (RSSI).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameters of the at least one batch-scan mode further specify whether to perform a scan request in response to receiving an advertising packet.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a read-request from the host Bluetooth stack, wherein providing the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets occurs in response to receiving the read-request.

11. The method of claim 10:

wherein the read-request is received at a particular time with reference to a clock of a Bluetooth controller of the Bluetooth device,

wherein the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets comprises, for each of the one or more advertising packets, a respective timestamp that is indicative of when the advertising packet is received with reference to the clock of the Bluetooth controller, and

wherein providing the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets comprises providing, for each of the one or more advertising packets, a respective time difference that is indicative of a difference in time between the particular time and the timestamp.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets occurs over a host-controller interface (HCI).

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one batch-scan mode comprises a truncated mode having a first format and a full mode having a second format that includes more data fields than the first format.

14. The method of claim 13:

wherein in the truncated mode the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets comprises, for each of the one or more advertising packets, data indicative of a respective device address, respective transmit power, and respective received signal strength indication (RSSI), and

wherein in the full mode the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets comprises for each of the one or more advertising packets, data indicative of a respective device address, respective transmit power, respective RSSI, and advertisement data of the advertising packet.

15. A Bluetooth device comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer-readable medium, configured to store instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors of the Bluetooth device, cause the Bluetooth device to perform functions comprising;

determining parameters of at least one batch-scan mode, wherein the parameters of the at least one batch-scan mode specify a format for storing data regarding particular advertising packets that are received by the device when operating in the at least one batch-scan mode,

receiving one or more advertising packets on an interval basis,

storing data regarding the one or more advertising packets into a memory of the Bluetooth device in accordance with the at least one batch-scan mode, and

providing the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets to a host Bluetooth stack.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the parameters of the at least one batch-scan mode further specify whether to perform a scan request in response to receiving an advertising packet.

17. The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one batch-scan mode comprises a truncated mode having a first format and a full mode having a second format that includes more data fields than the first format.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions, that when executed by one or more processors of a Bluetooth device, cause the Bluetooth device to perform functions comprising:

determining parameters of at least one batch-scan mode, wherein the parameters of the at least one batch-scan mode specify a format for storing data regarding particular advertising packets that are received by the Bluetooth device when operating in the at least one batch-scan mode;

receiving one or more advertising packets on an interval basis;

storing data regarding the one or more advertising packets into a memory of the Bluetooth device in accordance with the at least one batch-scan mode; and

providing the stored data regarding the one or more advertising packets to a host Bluetooth stack.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the parameters of the at least one batch-scan mode further specify whether to perform a scan request in response to receiving an advertising packet.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the at least one batch-scan mode comprises a truncated mode having a first format and a full mode having a second format that includes more data fields than the first format.