Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data in mesh network using bluetooth

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017295455-A1
Application number	US-201715483793-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 10, 2017
Priority date	Apr 11, 2016
Publication date	Oct 12, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed herein are a method for performing, by a first node, a relay function in a Bluetooth mesh network and an apparatus performing the method. The method includes transmitting a first message for activating or deactivating the relay function of the first node to a plurality of neighboring nodes when a specific event is generated and activating or deactivating the relay function depending on whether a first indication message to request the activation of the relay function is received or not in a response to the first message within a first specific time from at least one of the plurality of neighboring nodes. The specific event is one of receiving a command indicating the setting of the relay function, a specific cycle, or receiving a second message for activating or deactivating the relay function from the neighboring nodes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for performing, by a first node, a relay function in a Bluetooth mesh network, the method comprising:
transmitting a first message for activating or deactivating the relay function of the first node to a plurality of neighboring nodes when a specific event is generated; and activating or deactivating the relay function depending on whether a first indication message to request the activation of the relay function is received or not in a response to the first message within a first specific time from at least one of the plurality of neighboring nodes, wherein the specific event is one of receiving a command from a control device indicating the setting of the relay function, a specific cycle, or receiving a second message for activating or deactivating the relay function from the neighboring nodes.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
activating a specific timer after transmitting the first message, when the specific event is one of the specific cycle or receiving the second message, wherein the specific timer indicates a time for a retransmission of the first message.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting a second indication message requesting activation of a relay function to a specific neighboring node among the one or more neighboring nodes when the specific event is the reception of the second message, wherein the specific neighboring node is a neighboring node that first transmitted the second message, and wherein the first message includes an address of the neighboring node.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first node deactivates the relay function when the first indication message is not received within the first specific time.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
transmitting a first request message for checking whether or not to activate the relay function to the plurality of neighboring nodes when a message is not received from the plurality of neighboring nodes within a second specific time.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving a first response message from a particular one of the plurality of neighboring nodes indicating activation of a relay function in response to the first request message.

7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
transmitting a second request message for checking whether a relay function is capable of being performed to the plurality of neighboring nodes when a response to the first request message is not received.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving a second response message indicating that the relay function is capable of being performed from one or more of the plurality of neighboring nodes in a response to the second request message; selecting a specific neighboring node to activate the relay function one or more neighboring nodes; and transmitting a third indication message for requesting the activation of the relay function to the specific neighboring node.

9 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising activating the relay function depending on whether the relay function of the first node is capable of being activated or not if a response to the second request message is not received from one or more of the plurality of neighboring nodes.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first node activates the relay function when the first indication message is received within the specific time.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
obtaining information related to relay nodes with the relay function activated among the plurality of neighbor nodes through messages transmitted and received from the plurality of neighbor nodes; transmitting a third request message to the plurality of neighbor nodes based on the obtained information to inquire whether to deactivate the relay function, wherein the third request message includes addresses of the relay nodes; and deactivating the relay function depending on whether a third response message to request the execution of the relay function is received or not from one or more of the plurality of neighboring nodes as a response to the third request message.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the first node deactivates the relay function when the third response message is not received.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the first node performs the relay function when the third response message is received.

14 . A first node for performing a relay function in a Bluetooth mesh network, the first node comprising:
a communication unit configured to communicate with an outside in a wireless or wired manner, a memory for storing data; and a processor functionally connected with the communication unit, wherein the processor is configured to: transmits a first message for activating or deactivating the relay function of the first node to a plurality of neighboring nodes when a specific event is generated, and activates or deactivates the relay function depending on whether a first indication message to request the activation of the relay function is received or not in a response to the first message within a first specific time from at least one of the plurality of neighboring nodes, and wherein the specific event is one of receiving a command from the control device indicating the setting of the relay function, a specific cycle, or receiving a second message for activating or deactivating the relay function from the neighboring nodes.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Kwon Younghwan

Classifications

• H04B7/14

  Relay systems · CPC title

• H04W84/18

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

• H04W4/008 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04B7/155

  Ground-based stations (H04B7/204 takes precedence) · 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