HK1182873A - Method and system for repackaging wireless data - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure may include a method for repackaging data in a communications system. The method may include receiving low-power RF data at a wireless relay device from one or more low power wireless devices and translating the low-power RF data at the wireless relay device into one or more translated packets. The method may further include synchronizing the translated low-power RF data with one or more wireless links and transmitting the synchronized low-power RF data to a host device. The method may further include receiving wireless communications from a host device, translating the parsing the wireless packets, synchronizing the translated packets with one or more low-power RF connections, and transmitting the synchronized packets to one ore more low-power RF devices. The method may further include managing the network topology of the communications system via commands to the wireless relay device.

Description

Method and system for repackaging wireless data

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application serial No. 61/326,068, filed on 20/4/2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless devices, and more particularly to communication between a wireless device and a device employing a low energy wireless protocol.

Background

Standards such as bluetooth wireless technology and WiFi are often used to communicate GSM data, sensor data, GPS data, and the like.

All of these devices lack several key elements, such as:

a. these devices cannot accumulate wireless data from one or more wireless devices connected to the device and then communicate the data to the paired and connected product over a single bluetooth wireless link.

b. These devices cannot synchronize wireless links to reduce power consumption. It should be noted that reducing power consumption can extend battery life.

c. It does not facilitate the abstraction (abstraction) of third party wireless standards to provide extensions to existing bluetooth specifications and protocols.

d. Wireless protocols have different power, communication frequency, and timing requirements and are generally not optimized for use with small battery powered devices.

Furthermore, there is currently no design to accumulate data from paired and connected bluetooth low energy (or other low energy standards such as ANT and ieee802.15.4 (ZigBee)) wireless technology devices into a single standardized bluetooth wireless technology channel (pipe) suitable for existing bluetooth wireless technology products.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the invention may include a method of repackaging data in a communication system. The method may include receiving, at a wireless relay device, low power RF data from one or more low power wireless devices, and translating, at the wireless relay device, the low power RF data into one or more translation packets. The method may further include accumulating translation packets, synchronizing the translated low power RF data with one or more wireless links, and transmitting the synchronized low power RF data to a host device.

Embodiments of the invention may include: a communication system comprising one or more low energy devices, a host device; and a wireless relay device configured to receive the low power RF data from the one or more low energy devices, the wireless relay device further configured to translate the low power RF data into one or more translation packets at the wireless relay device, the wireless relay device further configured to accumulate the translation packets, synchronize the translated low power RF data with the one or more wireless links, the wireless relay device further configured to transmit the synchronized low energy RF data to the host device.

Embodiments of the invention may include a method for parsing data in a communication system. The method may include receiving encapsulated low power RF data in one or more wireless protocol packets and translating the low power RF data into one or more translated packets at a wireless relay device. The method may further include accumulating translation packages, synchronizing the translated low power RF data with one or more wireless links, and transmitting the synchronized low power RF data to the low power RF device.

Embodiments of the invention may include a method for parsing data in a communication system. The method may include receiving data from a host device at a relay device and repackaging the data in a communication system. The method may further include accumulating translation packages, synchronizing data with the one or more low power RF connections, and transmitting the data to the one or more low power RF devices. The method may also include managing a network topology of the communication system by dynamically adding or removing network devices with one or more commands sent from the host device to the wireless relay device.

Embodiments of the invention may include a method for parsing data in a communication system. The method may include receiving, at the relay device, a standard command in one or more wireless protocol packets, executing the command directly on the relay device, and further translating, at the relay device, the command into a low power RF translation packet. The method may further include synchronizing the translated low power RF data with one or more wireless links and transmitting the synchronized low power RF data to the low power RF device so that it can continue to be executed by the low power RF device.

Embodiments of the invention may include a method of managing low power RF connections within a communication system. The method may include receiving, at the relay device, commands in one or more wireless protocol packets, and parsing the commands locally at the relay device. The method may further include managing connections between the relay device and other low power RF devices using the commands.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a description of a wireless relay apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of a method of accumulating data from a plurality of low power wireless device sources in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a low power wireless sensor device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a network topology for one possible wireless relay device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a low power device as seen on a mobile device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a low power RF tag inserted into a wallet in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an illustration of how a user interacts with their device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating one possible configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating another possible architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating data flow on a telephony application in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a diagram illustrating a data flow on a wireless relay apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating one possible relay ecosystem according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 13 is a diagram illustrating a mapping between HFP events and dedicated protocol events according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a diagram illustrating a mapping between an HFP battery level and a dedicated protocol battery level according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating one method for Bluetooth to interconnect with low power RF hardware to synchronize events according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The present invention, among other things, adapts new bluetooth low energy wireless technology devices to existing mobile phones, laptops, etc. that support bluetooth wireless technology. Embodiments of the present invention may use a wireless relay device to provide the full capacity provided by bluetooth low energy technology to a device (e.g., a mobile phone) without the need for dedicated bluetooth low energy technology hardware.

Referring now to fig. 1, a bluetooth low energy technology relay device 1 is provided. The wireless relay device 1 can extend the value of a bluetooth technology-enabled device to a low-power RF technology (e.g., as shown in fig. 12) such as bluetooth low energy, ANT +, or ieee802.15.4 (ZigBee) without the wireless device supporting the low-power RF technology. In some embodiments, this may be done by aggregating low power RF technology (e.g., bluetooth low energy or ANT +) data, synchronizing the data with a bluetooth wireless link as shown in fig. 2, and sending the data to an existing bluetooth wireless technology-enabled host device (e.g., a mobile phone).

In some embodiments, new low energy devices (e.g., 16, 41, 42) as shown in fig. 3, 4 and 12 may be added to the wireless relay device 1 and new data may be aggregated and provided to the bluetooth wireless enabled host device until a maximum number of supported bluetooth low energy wireless devices (e.g., 16, 41, 42) (or other third party technology devices) is reached, as shown in fig. 4. In some embodiments, certain host devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, personal computers, tablets (e.g., ipads), and the like.

In some embodiments, if a bluetooth low energy or other third party wireless technology device (e.g., 16, 41, 42) leaves the device space of the wireless relay device 1, the wireless relay device may notify the user by vibration, followed by a visual notification, and finally an alarm. The user may then silence the alert/notification. If the device re-enters the control range of the wireless relay device, the alarm may be discontinued and the user may be notified that the device has re-entered the private device space of the wireless relay device.

In some embodiments, each low power RF device (e.g., 16, 41, 42) may be individually tracked by the wireless relay device 1 and may be given its own visual indicator 2 that provides feedback regarding the status of the device within the wireless relay device's device network. This information may also be aggregated and sent to the paired and connected host device.

In some embodiments, when functioning as a wireless relay, the wireless relay device 1 may transmit data to a low power RF device (e.g., 16, 41, 42) and may transmit data from the low power RF device (e.g., 16, 41, 42) to the paired and connected host device. In this way, the host device can interact with the low power RF devices (e.g., 16, 41, 42) as if it were directly wirelessly connected to the host device 23 as shown in fig. 5, 7, 12. Similarly, the wireless relay device 1 may transmit data to another wireless relay 1 via a peer-to-peer bluetooth or 802.11 (WiFi) connection, which another wireless relay 1 may then aggregate and translate (translate) the data and send it to the paired and connected host device 23. In this way, the effective number of bluetooth wireless devices 1 supported by the host 23 can be expanded.

In some embodiments, the wireless relay device 1 as shown in fig. 12 may cause a mobile phone equipped with standard bluetooth wireless technology or WiFi to receive aggregated data from bluetooth low energy and/or low power wireless devices (e.g., 16, 41, 42). This may enable, for example, a standard mobile phone 23 equipped only with bluetooth wireless technology to talk to devices including, but not limited to, a wireless pedometer 41, a heart rate monitor 42, a proximity sensor 16, and the like.

In some embodiments, devices that can interoperate with the Bluetooth Low energy technology Standard 19, the ANT Standard 40, and other low energy wireless standards are suitable for use with the present invention. Data obtained from these devices (via standard interaction) may be translated into standard bluetooth 18 or WiFi technology packets and transmitted to a mobile phone, PC or other device 23. Specific software can be used to decode the information and perform actions on the mobile phone or host computer.

In some embodiments, the user may manage the interaction between the wireless relay device 1 and the connected low power wireless device 16 embedded in the product 21 as shown in fig. 6, and between the wireless relay 1 and the connected wireless device 16 existing in the personal device network as shown in fig. 7. Thus, the network topology of the wireless relay device may be dynamic and the user may simply add, remove and reset his network. Because the wireless relay device network topology is also dynamic, the user is able to:

a. adding low power wireless devices to a wireless relay network

b. Removing low power wireless devices from wireless relay device network

c. Receiving information from a low power wireless device via a wireless relay device 1 on a PC or mobile phone

d. Transmitting information from a PC or mobile phone to a low power wireless device via a wireless relay device 1

In some embodiments, the wireless relay device 1 may provide (e.g. with the help of an optional application 31) the following capabilities:

a. monitoring environment (marked by GPS position)

b. Monitoring essentials (vitals) (marked by GPS location)

c. Monitoring action (marked by GPS position)

In some embodiments, when connected, each paired and connected low power wireless device may periodically report its information to the wireless relay device as shown in fig. 2. The wireless relay device 1 may then aggregate this information (e.g., 8-11) in one aggregation period 12 and report it to, for example, a mobile phone or PC at the next available communication slot (e.g., each bluetooth SNIFF interval) 7 as shown in fig. 2.

In some embodiments, the wireless relay device 1 may or may not work with a paired and connected host device. When there is no wireless connection to the host device, the wireless relay device may light its LED 2 to notify the user that action needs to be taken. For example, if one of the paired and connected low power RF devices leaves the vicinity of the wireless relay device.

In some embodiments, the wireless relay device 1 may be configured to store information from the host device 23 or from the low power RF device 16. In the event of a connection interruption with the host device 23, the relay device 1 may store the aggregated information (e.g., 8-11) until the connection with the host device 23 is reestablished, before sending the aggregated information over the wireless link 18. Likewise, in case of an interruption of the connection with the low power RF device 16, the wireless relay device 1 may store the aggregated information destined for the low power RF device 16 until the connection is re-established.

In some embodiments, if paired with a wireless host device such as a mobile phone, the wireless relay device may send commands to the mobile phone to trigger actions on the mobile phone and/or receive commands from the mobile phone to trigger local actions or pass on commands to one or more of the paired and connected low power RF devices in addition to local actions.

In some embodiments, certain commands from the host device 23 may be used to manage the connection between the relay device 1 and its paired low power RF device 16. For example, a command from the host device 23 to the relay device 1 may cause the relay device to enter a mode in which it can pair with a new low power RF device 16. Once paired, the relay device 1 can notify the host device 23 of the new low power RF device 16 and can relay data between the low power RF device 16 and the host device 23 via the relay device 1.

In some embodiments, the wireless relay device 1 may wake up its low power radio module at each wake-up event, e.g., 14, 15, 4, 5 and 6. During the wake event 14, the wireless relay device may communicate with one or more of the connected low power wireless devices and may send and/or receive appropriate data (e.g., 8-11) to/from the connected low power devices (e.g., 8-11). The process may repeat a number of low power device communication cycles until either the bluetooth SNIFF interval or the WiFi wakeup interval reaches 7. At each such bluetooth SNIFF or WiFi wake-up interval, the wireless relay device 1 may send all aggregated data to the paired and connected host device (e.g., mobile phone or PC 3 and 7) and receive any information to be transmitted to the connected low power wireless device in the form of an encapsulated packet.

In some embodiments, to save power, the communication intervals 14, 15, 4, 5 and 6 may negotiate (new) so that it may coincide with other actions on the wireless relay device 1 and always slightly precede any bluetooth wireless or WiFi communication with the paired and connected host device (e.g. mobile phone or PCs 3 and 7). In this way, the wireless relay device 1 can gather enough information to transmit and receive to the low power device to which it is connected without causing additional delay.

In some embodiments, for example, for devices that support the bluetooth v2.1+ EDR and beyond, a deceleration breathing mode (SNIFF smoothing) may be used to further reduce latency. This may help ensure maximum power saving benefits are achieved by negotiating the deceleration breathing pattern parameters and responding only at bluetooth SNIFF intervals when data may be sent to a connected host device (e.g. a mobile phone or PC).

In some embodiments, the data from each of the connected low power wireless devices may be small, and may be easily accumulated and packaged in large capacity bluetooth and WiFi packets. When additional packets are required to transmit data, a long SNIFF timeout may be negotiated such that consecutive Bluetooth packets may be used to transmit data.

In some embodiments, the data encapsulation may take the form of:

a.<device#><device type><data length><data>

in some embodiments, if bluetooth technology is used, the low power RF packets may be packaged into standard bluetooth packets and transmitted via dedicated AT commands or standard bluetooth Human Interface Device (HID) profile packets using a standard profile such as the bluetooth Hands Free Profile (HFP). The packets may also be encapsulated into proprietary protocol packets and sent using standard bluetooth specifications or proprietary specifications such as the MFI specification over the serial interface protocol (SPP).

In some embodiments, successive packets may be queued (string) or grouped together until they are filled with a standard bluetooth wireless packet. For example, the wireless relay apparatus 1 may choose not to decode data but to transmit data one by one so that it can be quickly decoded by a connected host apparatus such as a mobile phone or a PC. A software API on the mobile phone or PC may translate the packets received through the wireless relay device into the same format as in the low power wireless device connected to the wireless relay device. In this way, applications using the API can do so in the same manner as they would if the data were directly available to them.

Referring to fig. 7 and 12, the wireless relay apparatus 1 may serve as a bridge between wireless apparatuses. For example, the wireless relay device 1 may gather information from the low energy bluetooth device 16 and format the information so that it may be sent to the standard bluetooth device 23. Fig. 2 shows a schedule of various data events on a wireless network. The horizontal axis of the timetable represents time. As shown, the relay device may from time to time send wake-up signals (e.g., wake-up signals 14, 15, 4-6) to various low energy bluetooth devices (e.g., devices 1-6). In some embodiments, the apparatus 1-6 may be in a sleep mode prior to receiving the wake-up signal. After the device 1-6 receives the wake-up signal, it may return to the sleep mode. Additionally/alternatively, the devices 1-6 may process and/or communicate over the wireless network after receiving the wake-up signal from the wireless relay device 1.

In some embodiments, the devices 1-6 may wake up and broadcast data at predetermined intervals. The relay device may listen in sequence at predetermined intervals to receive the broadcast data, aggregate it and send it to the standard bluetooth device 23.

In some embodiments, the wireless relay apparatus 1 may transmit the wake-up signal to various apparatuses on a predetermined schedule. As shown, the wireless relay device 1 may send a wake-up signal 14 to the device 4[10] and the device 5[11] and send a wake-up signal [15] to the device 3[9] and the device 5[11 ]. When each device 1-6 receives the wake-up signal, the device may wake up and process the data. When awake, the device may send information and/or data 8-11 to the wireless relay device 1 over the wireless link. The wireless relay device 1 may in turn store and aggregate the data it receives from all devices 1-6 as described above, in order to send the aggregated data 7 to a standard bluetooth device as described above.

In some embodiments, the wireless relay device 1 may transmit and/or receive bluetooth packets to and/or from a standard bluetooth device (e.g., a wireless telephone, a bluetooth computer, a bluetooth television, or any other type of bluetooth device that employs any bluetooth specification) at predetermined SNIFF events 3 and 7. During the time period between SNIFF event 3 and SNIFF event 7, the relay device may collect and aggregate all data and information received from devices 1-6. When a SNIFF event 7 occurs, the wireless relay device 1 may transmit all data gathered during the time period between SNIFF event 3 and SNIFF event 7 to a standard bluetooth device.

As discussed herein, an example of the wireless relay apparatus 1 is shown in fig. 1. The wireless relay device 1 may have various LEDs 2 corresponding to low power wireless devices that can be wirelessly connected to the wireless relay device 1. In one example, the wireless LI2 may be turned on or off when wireless activity occurs between the wireless relay device 1 and a corresponding low power wireless device. In certain embodiments, the LEDs may be associated with a dedicated low power RF link.

Referring to fig. 3 and 12, the wireless sensor device may be used to provide information such as temperature, travel route 41, heart rate 42, and/or distance between the sensor device 16 and the wireless relay device 1 to the wireless relay device 1. By connecting one or more such wireless sensor devices to the wireless relay device, the wireless relay device can make the mobile phone 23 or PC operate as if the sensor device were directly connected to it. Although fig. 3 illustrates one example of a wireless sensor device 16, other configurations are within the scope of the present invention.

In some embodiments, the low power RF wireless device 16 may be a simple tag and consist of only a single button and LED. Such a device may be paired with the wireless relay device 1 and then inserted into clothing, a luggage tag, or other valuables. Once inserted, these low power RF wireless devices 16 may only be used to report their presence to the wireless relay device 1. If one of these tags stops reporting, the wireless relay device 1 may vibrate, sound an alarm, flash the corresponding LED 2, and report the absence of the tag to the paired and connected host device. In some embodiments, the tag 16 may be more complex and used to alert the user by sounding a sound, flashing a light, or vibrating through a piezo buzzer if it is detached from the paired and connected wireless relay device 1. Other tags may be used for other purposes such as sensing temperature or shock and may relay this information back to the host device 23 via the wireless relay device 1.

Fig. 4 shows an example of the wireless relay apparatus 1 connected to various other apparatuses via a wireless network. As shown, the wireless relay apparatus 1 is wirelessly connected to a host apparatus such as a PC17 via a wireless bluetooth link 18. The wireless relay device is also shown to be wirelessly connected to the devices 161 to 6 via a low power wireless link 19. The wireless link 19 between the wireless relay device and the devices 161 to 6 may be, for example, a bluetooth low energy wireless link.

In some embodiments, the low power wireless tag 16 may be inserted 24 into any number of different products, such as the wallet 21 shown in fig. 6. When inserted into the product, these wireless devices are uniquely identified and can be physically associated with the product (e.g., 20-22) by an application 31 on the host device 23 as shown in fig. 5 using their unique identifier, such as their Bluetooth Device Address (BDADDR). For example, as shown in fig. 5, the wireless relay device 1 may be associated with a tablet icon 20 and a wallet 21 may be associated with a wallet icon 21.

In some embodiments, the wireless relay apparatus 1 may be configured in various ways. One such architecture is shown in fig. 9, but other less integrated architectures such as that shown in fig. 15 may also be used. When constructed as an integrated system, a single chip 39 may be used to control the wireless relay device 1. The basic relay application 32 infrastructure may be comprised of a UI 35, a message translator 36, one or more bluetooth profiles 28, a network application 37, and a stack supporting one or more low power wireless technologies.

In some embodiments, the architecture may be viewed as shown in fig. 7 and 8 when viewed as a logical system. The system may include a number of different components, such as a host device 23 (bluetooth, WiFi, etc.), a wireless relay device 1, and a low power RF device or accessory 21.

As shown in fig. 7, the application running on the host device 23 then virtually associates (25) the low power RF device or accessory 21, although the low power RF device or accessory 21 is actually connected to the wireless relay device 1 via the low power RF link 19, which wireless relay device 1 is in turn connected to the host device 23 by a bluetooth or WiFi link 18.

In some embodiments, the bluetooth host device 23 may include a logical infrastructure, which may include one or more components. Certain components may include, but are not limited to, a user application 31, an application interface (API) 30, one or more proprietary protocols 29, one or more specifications such as HID, HFP, SPP or MFI 28, a bluetooth stack 27, and a bluetooth chip 26, shown running on the host device 23 in fig. 5.

In some embodiments, if a different wireless technology is used, the specification 28, stack 27 and chip 26 may need to be replaced by an appropriate lower level infrastructure for the wireless technology in question.

In some embodiments, the wireless relay device 1 may include a logical infrastructure to support one or more low power RF technologies. In the case of a relay device that supports ANT + technology 40, the wireless relay device may consist of a wireless relay application 32, which wireless relay application 32 controls the bluetooth wireless technology chip 26 and the ANT + low power wireless RF chip 34. A practical implementation of the hardware may consist of a single chip solution as shown in fig. 9, or a multi-chip solution as shown at 26, 34 in fig. 8.

In some embodiments, the wireless relay application may interact with the proprietary protocol 29 and the low power wireless control logic 33 to manage two interdependent techniques in order to minimize overall power consumption as shown in fig. 2.

In some embodiments, if dual chip solution 1 is used, the timing of the bluetooth chip 26 and low power RF chip 34 technologies may not be aligned if not managed. The timing between the low power RF master chip 34 and one or more low power RF slave devices 16 can thus be controlled with the control logic 33 of the low power RF master chip using an interface on the conventional bluetooth chip 26 to access timing information and an interface on the low power RF master chip 34 to control low power RF timing.

In some embodiments, an alternative approach may be to leave the bluetooth SNIFF timing misaligned, but align the wired interface communication between the conventional bluetooth chip 26 and the low power RF master chip 34. When described in terms of a two-chip solution as shown in fig. 15, consisting of a conventional bluetooth technology chip 26 and a bluetooth low power single-mode chip 61, the two chips can communicate with each other using the SPI interface 59 and can be synchronized using the synchronization line or bus connection 60. The bluetooth technology chip 26 may thus align its synchronization line timing with the SNIFF interval and thus communicate the timing to the bluetooth low energy single mode chip 61. The bluetooth low energy single mode chip 61 can then interpret this synchronization timing to align its communication with the paired and connected low power RF device. In this way, the chips can operate independently, and the timing can be optimized to reduce power consumption and shorten delay.

In some embodiments, when viewing a messaging protocol occurring on a bluetooth host device, such as the mobile phone shown in fig. 10, the protocol may be logically viewed as flowing from the user interface 43, through the proprietary protocol layer 44, to one or more bluetooth specification layers 45, and finally through the host device's built-in bluetooth stack 46 as a bluetooth packet 50 to the bluetooth RF interface.

In some embodiments, the user action may trigger an API call 47, which may then trigger an internal protocol message 48, which internal protocol message 48 may interact with the bluetooth specification API 45 on the bluetooth host device. If Hands Free Profile (HFP) is used, the bluetooth profile API 45 may trigger an AT command or AT information response 49, which AT command or AT information response 49 may then be sent to the bluetooth stack 46 and ultimately may arrive as a bluetooth HFP protocol package 50 to the paired and connected relay device.

In some embodiments, once the wireless relay device can receive the bluetooth HFP protocol packet [50], it can parse the packet and relay the packet to the paired and connected low power RF device. In the case of a bluetooth low energy device, the wireless relay device may respond as shown in fig. 11.

In the case of the bluetooth low energy dual mode solution as shown in fig. 9 and characterized as the logic flow diagram in fig. 11, the wireless relay device may receive and parse the HFP-AT command 49 through its HFP profile 51 and prepare a dedicated protocol message 48 that may be communicated to the paired and connected bluetooth low energy accessory 16. The proprietary protocol message 48 may be created by the relay application 35 and passed to the message translator 36, and the message translator 36 may then further parse the message and may pass the proprietary protocol message 48 to the network application 37. The network application may then parse the message and may translate it into a bluetooth LE specification message 53, which bluetooth LE specification message 53 may be passed to the dual mode bluetooth stack 38. The dual mode bluetooth stack 38 may then create a bluetooth low energy packet 54, which bluetooth low energy packet 54 is then eventually sent to the bluetooth low energy accessory.

In some embodiments, a similar process may be reversed if the bluetooth low energy accessory responds. The received message 55 may be parsed by the bluetooth low energy stack 52 and uploaded (past-up) as a bluetooth low energy ranging message 53 to the network application 37. The message translator 36 may then further parse the message and pass the proprietary protocol message 48 to the bluetooth specification 51 through the relay application 32. The message may then be repackaged into HFP-AT commands 56 and sent to the bluetooth host device via bluetooth technology. In this way, the integrity of the packet can be maintained at all times, and the bluetooth host device application can consider it to be actually directly connected to the bluetooth low energy accessory.

In some implementations, to determine which protocol to use when communicating with the wireless relay device, the host device or the relay device may attempt to communicate with each other using a dedicated command over a standard bluetooth RF (e.g., bluetooth HID or bluetooth HFP) or WiFi interface. For example, when bluetooth HFP connection is established, the wireless relay device may attempt to send AT + ZOMM. After receiving AT + ZOMM? In the case of interrogation, the host device may respond with an appropriate AT + ZOMM response. The response may inform the wireless relay device that an application supporting some dedicated command and/or dedicated protocol is present on the host device.

In certain embodiments, if a proprietary protocol is supported, the wireless relay device may begin using the proprietary protocol. If not, the wireless relay device may revert to the standard Bluetooth HFP protocol, instead using a mapping technique to map the standard HFP commands to the proprietary protocol. This may ensure backward compatibility with host devices that may not support the proprietary protocol, and may also enable emulation of proprietary actions with bluetooth host devices in the absence of a proprietary host application.

In some embodiments, the wireless relay device may bridge the communication between the bluetooth hands-free profile host device and the bluetooth low energy device using a standard protocol such as bluetooth HFP or HID when viewed at the protocol level. This can be done by mapping HFP-AT and HID commands and responds directly to the bluetooth low energy specification. Table 57 in fig. 13 shows how much mapping can be used.

Similarly, in some embodiments, standard HFP or HID commands may be mapped directly to dedicated protocol commands and may also be used directly to manage certain actions on the wireless relay device or on the paired and connected low power RF accessory. This can be achieved by mapping HFP information to a proprietary protocol using a table 58 as shown in fig. 14.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects all generally referred to herein as a "circuit," module "or" system. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer-readable (i.e., computer-usable) media having computer-usable programming code embodied in the media.

Any combination of one or more computer-readable media may be used. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable storage medium (i.e., the computer-readable storage device) may include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or a suitable combination of any of the foregoing. Note that the computer-readable storage medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as long as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. In the context of this document, a computer-readable storage medium (i.e., a computer-readable storage device) may be any medium that can contain or store the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer usable program code embodied therewith, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to: electromagnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C + + or the like. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet service provider).

The present invention is described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Claims (30)

1. A method for repackaging data in a communication system, comprising:

receiving, at a wireless relay device, low power RF data from one or more low power wireless devices;

translating, at the wireless relay device, the low power RF data into one or more translation packets;

synchronizing the translated low power RF data with one or more wireless links; and

the synchronized low power RF data is transmitted to the host device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more wireless links comprise at least one of a bluetooth wireless link, an 802.11 (WiFi) wireless link, a bluetooth low energy wireless link, an ANT + wireless link, and an IEEE802.15.4 (ZigBee) wireless link.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the host device comprises at least one of a mobile phone, a personal computing device, a television, a tablet device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more low energy devices comprise at least one of an RF tag, a wireless sensing device, a wireless health device, a medical sensor, and a proximity sensor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein translating comprises, at least in part, encapsulating the low-power RF data with one or more bluetooth or 802.11 (WiFi) packets.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein translating includes, at least in part, at least one of a Bluetooth Hands Free Profile (HFP), a Bluetooth Human Interface Device (HID) profile, an MFI protocol, and a Serial Port Protocol (SPP).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the host device includes one or more applications configured to present some or all of the low power RF data from the one or more low power wireless devices.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising negotiating a plurality of communication intervals at the wireless relay device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein negotiating comprises, at least in part, one or more breathing parameters.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a challenge at one of the host device and the wireless relay device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining whether one of the host device and the wireless relay device supports a particular protocol based at least in part on the received challenge.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an activation event with at least one of the host device, the wireless relay device, and the one or more devices.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless relay device further comprises an LED configured to be associated with a dedicated low power RF link.

14. A communication system, comprising:

one or more low energy devices;

a host device; and

a wireless relay device configured to receive low power RF data from the one or more low energy devices, the wireless relay device further configured to translate the low power RF data into one or more translation packets at the wireless relay device, the wireless relay device further configured to synchronize the translated low power RF data with one or more wireless links, the wireless relay device further configured to transmit the synchronized low power RF data to a host device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more wireless links include at least one of a bluetooth wireless link, an 802.11 (WiFi) wireless link, an ANT + wireless link, a bluetooth low energy wireless link, and an IEEE802.15.4 (ZigBee) wireless link.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the host device comprises at least one of a mobile phone, a personal computer, a television, and a tablet device.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more low energy devices comprise at least one of an RF tag, a wireless sensing device, a wireless health device, a medical sensor, and a proximity sensor.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein translating comprises, at least in part, encapsulating the low power RF data with one or more bluetooth packets.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein translating includes, at least in part, at least one of bluetooth hands-free profile (HFP), bluetooth Human Interface Device (HID), MFI protocol, and Serial Port Protocol (SPP).

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the host device includes one or more applications configured to present some or all of the low power RF data from the one or more low power wireless devices.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the wireless relay device is further configured to negotiate a plurality of communication intervals.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein negotiating comprises, at least in part, one or more breathing parameters.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one of the host device and the wireless relay device is configured to generate a challenge.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein at least one of the host device and the wireless relay device is configured to determine whether one of the host device and the wireless relay device supports a particular protocol based at least in part on the received challenge.

25. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one of at least the host device, the wireless relay device, the at least one or more devices is configured to generate an activation event.

26. A method for parsing data in a communication system, comprising:

receiving low-power RF data encapsulated within one or more wireless protocol packets;

translating, at a wireless relay device, the low power RF data into one or more translation packets;

synchronizing the translated low power RF data with one or more wireless links; and

the synchronized low power RF data is transmitted to the low power RF device.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising generating an activation event with at least one of a host device, the wireless relay device, and the low power RF device.

28. A method for parsing data in a communication system, comprising:

receiving data from a host device on a relay device;

repackaging the data in the communication system;

synchronizing the data with one or more low power RF connections;

transmitting the data to one or more low power RF devices; and

managing a network topology of the communication system by dynamically adding or removing network devices with one or more commands sent from the host device to the wireless relay device.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless relay device is configured to store data when a connection is interrupted, and to transmit the data to a predetermined device upon reestablishment of the connection.

30. The system of claim 14, wherein the wireless relay device is configured to store data when a connection is interrupted, and to transmit the data to a predetermined device upon reestablishment of the connection.