Method to improve connectivity to a wireless low energy peripheral device when being accessed by multiple central devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10187774-B2
Application number	US-201815898079-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 15, 2018
Priority date	Feb 17, 2017
Publication date	Jan 22, 2019
Grant date	Jan 22, 2019

Abstract

A peripheral device can connect with a desired central device by broadcasting advertisement packets with specialized data flags, which may be located in certain data fields. This can increase the probability that the peripheral device will connect with the desired central device by enabling other central devices to ignore these advertisement packets.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of initiating a communication session with a wireless peripheral device, the method comprising:
wirelessly broadcasting, with the peripheral device, a first set of advertising packets;
receiving, at the peripheral device from a first central device, a request to initiate a first communication session;
causing the peripheral device to establish and complete the first communication session with the first central device; and
wirelessly broadcasting, with the peripheral device, a second set of advertising packets, wherein:
each advertising packet of the second set of advertising packets comprises a data flag not included in any advertising packet of the first set of advertising packets, and
the data flag comprises an indication of a type of device to initiate a communication session with the peripheral device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that an advertising interval has elapsed; and
in response to the determination, terminating the wireless broadcast of the second set of advertising packets.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, at the peripheral device from a second central device, a request to initiate a second communication session;
causing the peripheral device to establish and complete the second communication session with the second central device;
receiving, at the peripheral device, an instruction from the second central device with which the peripheral device communicated; and
in response to the receiving the instruction, terminating the wireless broadcast of the second set of advertising packets.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the peripheral device wirelessly broadcasts the first set of advertising packets at a first power level and wirelessly broadcasts the second set of advertising packets at a second power level lower than the first power level.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of advertising packets and the second set of advertising packets are wirelessly broadcast using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein, for each advertising packet of the second set of advertising packets, the data flag comprises a bit value within a manufacturing data field of each respective advertising packet.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wirelessly broadcasting the first set of advertising packets is in response to a triggering event.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the triggering event comprises receiving a user input at the peripheral device.

9. A device comprising:
a wireless communication interface;
a memory; and
a processing unit communicatively coupled with the memory and wireless communication interface, the processing unit configured to:
wirelessly broadcast, via the wireless communication interface, a first set of advertising packets;
receive, via the wireless communication interface from a first central device, a request to initiate a first communication session;
establish and complete the first communication session with the first central device via the wireless communication interface; and
wirelessly broadcast, via the wireless communication interface, a second set of advertising packets, wherein:
each advertising packet of the second set of advertising packets comprises a data flag not included in any advertising packet of the first set of advertising packets, and
the data flag comprises an indication of a type of device to initiate a communication session with the device.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to:
determine that an advertising interval has elapsed; and
in response to the determination, terminate the wireless broadcast of the second set of advertising packets.

11. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to:
receive, via the wireless communication interface from a second central device, a request to initiate a second communication session;
establish and complete the second communication session with the second central device;
receive, via the wireless communication interface at the device, an instruction from the second central device with which the device communicated; and
in response to receiving the instruction, terminate the wireless broadcast of the second set of advertising packets.

12. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processing unit is configured to wirelessly broadcast the first set of advertising packets at a first power level and wirelessly broadcast the second set of advertising packets at a second power level lower than the first power level.

13. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processing unit is configured to wirelessly broadcast the first set of advertising packets and the second set of advertising packets are using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the processing unit is configured to cause the data flag of each advertising packet of the second set of advertising packets to include a bit value within a manufacturing data field of each respective advertising packet.

15. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processing unit is configured to wirelessly broadcast the first set of advertising packets in response to a triggering event.

16. The device of claim 15 , further comprising an input device, wherein the triggering event comprises receiving a user input via the input device.

17. An apparatus comprising:
means for wirelessly broadcasting a first set of advertising packets;
means for receiving, from a first central device, a request to initiate a first communication session;
means for establishing and completing the first communication session with the first central device; and
means for wirelessly broadcasting a second set of advertising packets, wherein:
each advertising packet of the second set of advertising packets comprises a data flag not included in any advertising packet of the first set of advertising packets, and
the data flag comprises an indication of a type of device to initiate a communication session with the apparatus.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising:
means for determining that an advertising interval has elapsed; and
means for terminating the wireless broadcast of the second set of advertising packets in response to the determination.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising:
means for receiving, from a second central device, a request to initiate a second communication session;
means for establishing and completing the second communication session with the second central device;
means for receiving an instruction from the second central device with which the apparatus communicated; and
means for terminating the wireless broadcast of the second set of advertising packets in response to receiving the instruction.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising means for wirelessly broadcasting the first set of advertising packets at a first power level and wirelessly broadcasting the second set of advertising packets at a second power level lower than the first power level.

21. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising means for wirelessly broadcasting the first set of advertising packets and the second set of advertising packets using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , further comprising means for including, in the data flag for each advertising packet of the second set of advertising packets, a bit value within a manufacturing data field of each respective adver

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Ganton Robert
• Amschler John Earl

Classifications

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• H04W76/15

  Setup of multiple wireless link connections · CPC title

• H04W76/14

  Direct-mode setup · CPC title

• H04W76/00

  Connection management · CPC title

• H04W4/80 Primary

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title