Distributed and synchronized bluetooth scan across multiple devices for faster bluetooth discovery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12063608-B2
Application number	US-202217812581-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 14, 2022
Priority date	Sep 25, 2020
Publication date	Aug 13, 2024
Grant date	Aug 13, 2024

Abstract

Some aspects of this disclosure include apparatuses and methods for implementing a synchronized short range communication protocol scan mechanism across multiple devices. Some aspects relate to an electronic device including a transceiver configured to communicate based on a short range communication protocol and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver. The processor receives one or more parameters from a peripheral electronic device and determines, based at least on the one or more parameters, one or more synchronization parameters. The processor further transmits the one or more synchronization parameters to the peripheral electronic device. The one or more synchronization parameters can include at least a scan offset associated with the peripheral electronic device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a peripheral electronic device; and
a central electronic device configured to:
determine, based at least on one or more parameters received from the peripheral electronic device, one or more synchronization parameters; and
transmit the one or more synchronization parameters to the peripheral electronic device,

wherein the central electronic device and the peripheral electronic device belong to a group of electronic devices determined based on a policy, and
wherein the central electronic device and the peripheral electronic device use the one or more synchronization parameters to scan for one or more messages from a remote electronic device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the remote electronic device comprises a vehicle multimedia center,
the central electronic device comprises a phone, and
the peripheral electronic device comprises a wearable electronic device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the central electronic device is further configured to:
receive, during a scan window associated with the central electronic device, the one or more messages from the remote electronic device;
determine information associated with the remote electronic device from the one or more messages; and
communicate the determined information to the peripheral electronic device during a scan window associated with the peripheral electronic device.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein:
the one or more messages from the remote electronic device comprise one or more advertising messages, and
the information associated with the remote electronic device comprises an offset between the one or more advertising messages.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the peripheral electronic device is configured to adjust an opening of the scan window associated with the peripheral electronic device based on the determined information to receive the one or more messages from the remote electronic device.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more synchronization parameters comprise at least one of a scan offset associated with the peripheral electronic device, a scan interval, or a scan window.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of a usage indicator associated with the peripheral electronic device, a power indicator associated with the peripheral electronic device, a priority indicator associated with the peripheral electronic device, a scan configuration associated with the peripheral electronic device, or a clock drift associated with the peripheral electronic device.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the central electronic device is further configured to:
determine whether a condition for re-synchronization with the peripheral electronic device has occurred; and
in response to determining that the condition has occurred, determine updated one or more synchronization parameters.

9. A method, comprising:
determining, by a central electronic device and based at least on one or more parameters received from a peripheral electronic device, one or more synchronization parameters; and
transmitting, by the central electronic device, the one or more synchronization parameters to the peripheral electronic device,
wherein the central electronic device and the peripheral electronic device belong to a group of electronic devices determined based on a policy, and
wherein the central electronic device and the peripheral electronic device use the one or more synchronization parameters to scan for one or more messages from a remote electronic device.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, by the central electronic device and during a scan window associated with the central electronic device, the one or more messages from the remote electronic device;
determining, by the central electronic device, information associated with the remote electronic device; and
communicating, by the central electronic device, the determined information to the peripheral electronic device during a scan window associated with the peripheral electronic device.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein:
the one or more messages from the remote electronic device comprise one or more advertising messages, and
the information associated with the remote electronic device comprises an offset between the one or more advertising messages.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the peripheral electronic device is configured to adjust an opening of the scan window associated with the peripheral electronic device based on the determined information to receive the one or more messages from the remote electronic device.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more synchronization parameters comprise at least one of a scan offset associated with the peripheral electronic device, a scan interval, or a scan window.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more parameters comprise at least one of a usage indicator associated with the peripheral electronic device, a power indicator associated with the peripheral electronic device, a priority indicator associated with the peripheral electronic device, a scan configuration associated with the peripheral electronic device, or a clock drift associated with the peripheral electronic device.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining, by the central electronic device, whether a condition for re-synchronization with the peripheral electronic device has occurred; and
in response to determining that the condition has occurred, determining, by the central electronic device, updated one or more synchronization parameters.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the condition for re-synchronization comprises a change in the group of electronic devices.

17. The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the remote electronic device comprises a vehicle multimedia center,
the central electronic device comprises a phone, and
the peripheral electronic device comprises a wearable electronic device.

18. A method, comprising:
transmitting, by a peripheral electronic device, one or more parameters to a central electronic device; and
receiving, by the peripheral electronic device, one or more synchronization parameters from the central device electronic device,
wherein the one or more synchronization parameters are determined based at least on the one or more parameters,
wherein the central electronic device and the peripheral electronic device belong to a group of electronic devices determined based on a policy, and
wherein the central electronic device and the peripheral electronic device use the one or more synchronization parameters to scan for one or more messages from a remote electronic device.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
receiving, by the peripheral electronic device and from the central electronic device, information associated with the remote electronic device during a scan window associated with the peripheral electronic device;
receiving, by the peripheral electronic device, the one or more messages from the remote electronic device during the scan window associated with the peripheral electronic device; and
transmitting, by the peripheral electronic device, one or more connection request messages to the remote electronic device to establish a connection with the remote electronic device.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the one or more synchronization parameters comprise at least one of a scan offset associated with the peripheral electronic device, a scan

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Ly-Gagnon Yann
• Unkn Arun
• Ganir Chen
• Phan Duy N
• Wasada Langford M

Classifications

• H04W4/80

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

• H04W8/005 Primary

  Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals · CPC title

• H04W76/15

  Setup of multiple wireless link connections · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• H04W56/001 Primary

  Synchronization between nodes · CPC title