Simultaneously maintaining bluetooth and 802.11 connections to increase data throughput

• US 8,611,317 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2008
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell World Trade Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Banerjea, Raja, Fanfelle, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Ian N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alexander, Jenee
• Application Number:
  US12/182,758
• Publication Number:
  US 20090034498A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,966 Days
• Field of Search: 370/336, 370/338
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

A device for wirelessly communicating between one or more mobile communication devices over a wireless network. A primary mobile communication device is configured to establish one or more connections to one or more secondary mobile communication devices. The primary mobile communication device is further configured to establish a first connection and a second connection to at least one of the secondary mobile communication devices. The first connection is a Bluetooth (BT) connection and the second connection is a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) connection. The primary mobile device is also configured to establish a third connection to another secondary mobile communication device wherein the third connection is a WiFi connection. Additionally, the primary mobile communication device is configured to simultaneously maintain the BT connection and the WiFi connections during the bi-directional transmission of data between the primary mobile communication device and the secondary mobile communication devices.

Claims

1. A method for communication between mobile communication devices on a wireless network, the method comprising:

performing a scan to detect a secondary communication device, wherein scanning includes receiving one or more beacons from the secondary communication device;

determining if the secondary communication device has an available Bluetooth Alternate MAC Physical (BT AMP) layer based on the one or more beacons;

establishing a Bluetooth connection (BT connection) between a primary communication device and the secondary communication device;

establishing an IEEE 802.11 connection between the primary communication device and the secondary communication device;

establishing a logical BT connection over the IEEE 802.11 connection in response to determining the availability of a Bluetooth Alternate MAC Physical (BT AMP) layer on the secondary communication device;

simultaneously maintaining the BT connection, the logical BT connection, and the IEEE 802.11 connection; and

transmitting and receiving i) Bluetooth data packets (BT data packets) over the logical BT connection, ii) IEEE 802.11 data packets over the IEEE 802.11 connection, and iii) Bluetooth (BT) configuration data over the Bluetooth connection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the BT data packets are transmitted over the IEEE 802.11 connection in an IEEE 802.11 data frame.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the BT data packets include a Bluetooth profile (BT profile).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the established IEEE 802.11 connection uses unused time for transmitting BT data packets.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the BT connection further comprises:

generating a probe request signal from the Alternate Media Access Control Physical Protocol Abstraction Layer (AMP PAL) of the primary communication device;

transmitting the probe request signal from the AMP PAL of the primary communication device; and

receiving a probe response signal from an AMP PAL of the secondary communication device.

6. An apparatus for simultaneous communication on a wireless network, the apparatus comprising:

a primary communication device to scan and detect one or more secondary communication devices, wherein scanning includes receiving one or more beacons from the one or more secondary communication devices;

the primary communication device to determine if the one or more secondary communication devices have an available Bluetooth Alternate MAC Physical (BT AMP) layer based on the one or more beacons;

the primary communication device to establish a first connection and a second connection to at least one of the secondary communication devices, wherein i) the first connection is a Bluetooth connection (BT connection), and ii) the second connection is an IEEE 802.11 connection;

the primary communication device to establish a logical BT connection to the at least one of the secondary communication devices over the second connection in response to determining the availability of a BT AMP layer on the at least one of the secondary communication devices;

the primary communication device to transmit and receive Bluetooth data packets (BT data packets) over the logical BT connection, IEEE 802.11 data packets over the IEEE 802.11 connection, and BT configuration data over the Bluetooth connection;

and

the primary communication device to simultaneously maintain the logical Bluetooth connection, the BT connection and the IEEE 802.11 connection.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the data is Bluetooth data packets (BT data packets).

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the data is IEEE 802.11 data packets.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the primary communication device schedules the transmission of BT data packets and IEEE 802.11 data packets.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the primary communication device schedules the transmissions of IEEE 802.11 data packets after the transmission of BT data packets using a polling-the-slave-per-packet transmission scheme.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the primary communication device is to poll the one or more secondary communication devices to schedule transmission.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the primary communication device is to poll the one or more secondary communication devices after transmission of BT data packets.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the primary communication device is to poll the one or more secondary communication devices, and the one or more secondary communication devices in response are to allow the primary communication device to schedule the transmission of BT data packets and IEEE 802.11 data packets.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the primary communication device will not poll the one or more secondary communication devices if an amount of time before a next schedule transmission of BT data packets is below a threshold amount of time.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the one or more secondary communication devices will cease transmission of BT data packets if the threshold amount of time expires.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the primary communication device schedules the transmissions of BT data packets and IEEE 802.11 data packets based on the time between Bluetooth scheduled transmissions using a Transmission Opportunity (TxOP)-to-the-slave transmission scheme.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the primary communication device grants a TxOP duration based on a time available between Bluetooth master scheduled transmissions.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the primary communication device schedules the transmissions of BT data packets and IEEE 802.11 data packets such that the BT data packets and IEEE 802.11 data packets do not interfere.

19. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the primary communication device is to establish a third connection to another secondary communication device, wherein the third connection is an 802.11 connection and the another secondary communication device is an Access Point (AP).

20. An apparatus for simultaneous communication on a wireless network, the apparatus comprising:

a primary communication device to scan and detect a secondary communication device , wherein scanning includes receiving one or more beacons from the secondary communication device;

determining if the secondary communication device has an available Bluetooth Alternate MAC Physical (BT AMP) layer based on the one or more beacons;

the primary communication device to establish one or more connections to the secondary communication device and an Access Point (AP);

the primary communication device to establish a first connection and a second connection to the secondary communication device, wherein the first connection is a Bluetooth connection (BT connection) and the second connection is a first IEEE 802.11 connection;

the primary communication device to establish a logical BT connection to the secondary communication device over the second connection in response to determining the availability of a BT AMP layer on the secondary communication device;

the primary device to establish a third connection to the AP wherein the third connection is a second IEEE 802.11 connection; and

the primary communication device to simultaneously maintain the BT connection, the logical BT connection and the first IEEE 802.11 connection while the primary communication device simultaneously transmits data to both the secondary communication device and the AP.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the data is Bluetooth data packets (BT packet data).

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the data is IEEE 802.11 data packets.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the AP is a wireless router.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the primary communication device is operable to simultaneously receive data from both of the secondary communication devices while the primary communication device simultaneously maintains both the BT connection and the IEEE 802.11 connection.

25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the primary communication device schedules the transmissions of BT data packets and IEEE 802.11 data packets using a polling-the-slave-per-packet transmission scheme.