CN110839271A

CN110839271A - Equipment connection method, system, platform and corresponding equipment

Info

Publication number: CN110839271A
Application number: CN201910911273.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 黄俊岚; 贾旭
Original assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
Current assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
Priority date: 2019-09-25
Filing date: 2019-09-25
Publication date: 2020-02-25
Anticipated expiration: 2039-09-25
Also published as: CN110839271B; WO2021057610A1

Abstract

A device access method, device and system are provided. The access method can comprise the following steps: the first device broadcasts a first data packet; the second device receives the first data packet; based on the content contained in the first data packet, the second device causes a user to be prompted that the first device is not connected; in response to a user operation based on the prompt, the first device broadcasting a second data packet, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet; and the second device connects with the first device based on the information included in the second packet. Therefore, the silent broadcast function is added to the Internet of things equipment, so that the equipment can be discovered by the networked terminal equipment through the automatically sent silent broadcast after the equipment is started to broadcast, and the activation rate of the Internet of things equipment is effectively improved.

Description

Equipment connection method, system, platform and corresponding equipment

Technical Field

The invention relates to an internet of things (IoT) technology, in particular to a device connection method, a system and a platform, corresponding IoT devices and terminal devices connected with the IoT devices.

Background

In recent years, internet of things (IoT) technology that can access a variety of devices or items has received much attention. For example, the bluetooth device may be connected to the terminal device, so as to facilitate the bluetooth device to access the internet of things, implement centralized control of the terminal device on the access device, or implement various complex functions with the help of strong computing power of the intelligent terminal.

The traditional discovery mode of the internet of things equipment is broadcast equipment information, and the internet of things equipment actively discovers, connects and configures. In order to ensure the security of the device and prevent the device from being connected by mistake, the device is only required to broadcast for a few minutes when the device is powered on, and the device is in an undiscoverable state after the broadcast is finished. If the internet of things device is not connected in the time period of starting up the broadcast or is disconnected due to various problems subsequently, the internet of things device can be in an unconnected state for a long time without being noticed by a user, so that the effective utilization of the device is not facilitated.

Therefore, a solution for conveniently discovering an unconnected internet of things device is needed.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve at least one problem, the invention provides a novel equipment access scheme. Specifically, a silent broadcast function is added to the internet of things device, so that the device can be discovered by the networked terminal device through the automatically sent silent broadcast after the device is powered on for broadcasting, and the activation rate of the internet of things device is effectively improved.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device connection method including: the first device broadcasts a first data packet; the second device receives the first data packet; based on the content contained in the first data packet, the second device causes a user to be prompted that the first device is not connected; in response to a user operation based on the prompt, the first device broadcasting a second data packet, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet; and the second device connects with the first device based on the information included in the second packet. Therefore, the first data packet can prompt that the access is not performed, and the access is performed through the second data packet. Specifically, the first device broadcasting a first data packet is a silent broadcast automatically performed by the first device based on a predetermined rule, and the first device broadcasting a second data packet is a regular broadcast used by the first device for connection authentication.

Different activation modes of silent broadcasting can be selected according to different application scenarios. Preferably, the method further comprises: the first device broadcasting the second data packet within a predetermined period of time, and the first device broadcasting the first data packet includes: continuously broadcasting the first data packet at a predetermined interval in a case where the first device is not connected for the predetermined period.

Preferably, the second device receiving the first data packet comprises: the second device activates a packet scan and discovers and activates the first packet during the packet scan.

Preferably, the broadcasting of the first packet by the first device comprises: the first device broadcasting the first data packet at a first predetermined interval, and in response to a user action based on the prompt, the first device broadcasting a second data packet comprises: the first device broadcasts the second data packet at a second predetermined interval within a first predetermined period of time after the operation, wherein the first predetermined interval is longer than the second predetermined interval.

Preferably, the second device receiving the first data packet comprises: the second device activates a packet scan and discovers and activates the first packet during the packet scan, wherein the second device activates the packet scan for a second predetermined period of time that is longer than the first predetermined interval.

Preferably, the operation performed by the user based on the prompt includes: physical operations performed by the user on the first device itself based on the prompt; the user operates on the second device based on the prompt to cause the second device to perform subsequent operations on the first device.

Preferably, the broadcasting of the first packet by the first device comprises: the first device broadcasts the first data packet for a predetermined period of time after each interaction with the user or other device occurs. Thereby saving power for e.g. battery powered devices.

Preferably, the second device activating the packet scanning comprises: the second device automatically activates scanning of the data packets based on predetermined rules; and/or the second device activates a packet scan based on a user trigger.

Preferably, the device access may further include participation in a cloud. The method may then further comprise: the second device sends at least part of content contained in the first data packet to a server; the server issues operation information aiming at the first equipment to the second equipment or the notification equipment, and the second equipment or the notification equipment prompts a user that the first equipment is not accessed according to an operation instruction issued by the server. The second device may determine a server to connect to based on the first packet, for example, and make a connection.

Preferably, the issuing, by the server, the operation information for the first device to the second device or the notification device includes at least one of: the server issues an operation instruction aiming at the first equipment according to the registration state of the first equipment in the cloud end; the server issues an operation instruction aiming at the first equipment according to the equipment type of the first equipment; and the server issues an operation instruction aiming at the first equipment according to the use history of the second equipment.

Preferably, the method may further comprise: responding to the operation of the user on the prompt, and sending a connection request aiming at the first equipment to a server by the second equipment; the server returns the related information of the first equipment; and the second equipment prompts the operation content of the first equipment to the user based on the relevant information.

Preferably, the prompting, by the second device, the operation content of the first device to the user based on the relevant information includes: and the second equipment broadcasts the operation content of the first equipment to the user through voice.

Preferably, the prompting the user that the first device has not been accessed based on the content included in the first data packet comprises: when the second equipment or the notification equipment interacts with the user, prompting the user that the first equipment is not accessed; and/or the second device or the notification device continuously prompts the user that the first device is not accessed. Preferably, the second device or the notification device prompts the user that the first device is not accessed after the second device receives the first data packet for a first interaction or within a predetermined time; the second device or the notification device prompts a user that the first device is not accessed in an active prompting scene related to the first device; the second device or notification device prompting a user that the first device has not been accessed in a passive reply scenario involving the first device; and/or when the second equipment or the notification equipment pushes the equipment state, prompting the user that the first equipment is not accessed. Further, the second device or the notification device may also prompt the user for sell information of the first device.

Preferably, the first data packet is different from the second data packet and comprises at least one of the following: the first data packet and the second data packet contain different contents; the data format of the first data packet is different from that of the second data packet; and the first data packet is broadcast on a different channel than the second data packet.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device connection system comprising a first device and a second device, wherein the first device is configured to: broadcasting a first data packet; broadcasting a second data packet in response to an operation by a user or a second device, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet, and the second device is configured to: receiving the first data packet; based on the content contained in the first data packet, prompting a user that the first equipment is not accessed, wherein the user performs the operation based on the prompt or instructs the second equipment to perform the operation; and connecting with the first device based on the information included in the second data packet.

Preferably, the first device is configured to: the silent broadcasting of broadcasting the first data packet is automatically performed based on a predetermined rule, and the regular broadcasting of broadcasting the second data packet is performed upon connection authentication.

Preferably, the first device is configured to: broadcasting the second data packet for a predetermined period of time; and broadcasting the first data packet at a predetermined interval in case that there is no connection within the predetermined period.

Preferably, the second device is configured to: a packet scan is activated and the first packet is discovered and activated during the packet scan.

Preferably, the first device is configured to: broadcasting the first data packet at a first predetermined interval and broadcasting the second data packet at a second predetermined interval within a first predetermined period of time after a user operates the first device, wherein the first predetermined interval is longer than the second predetermined interval.

Preferably, the second device is configured to: activating a packet scan for a second predetermined period of time longer than the first predetermined interval, and discovering and activating the first packet during the packet scan.

Preferably, the first device is configured to: the first device broadcasts the first data packet for a predetermined period of time after each interaction with the user or other device occurs.

Preferably, the second device is configured to: the second device automatically activates scanning of the data packets based on predetermined rules; and/or the second device activates a packet scan based on a user trigger.

Preferably, the system may further comprise: a server to: receiving at least part of the content contained in the first data packet from a second device; and issuing an operation instruction for the first device to the second device or a notification device, wherein the second device or the notification device is configured to: and prompting the user that the first equipment is not accessed according to an operation instruction issued by the server.

Preferably, the second device is configured to: determining a server to connect to based on the first data packet; and connecting the server.

Preferably, the server is for at least one of: issuing an operation instruction aiming at the first equipment according to the registration state of the first equipment in the cloud; issuing an operation instruction aiming at the first equipment according to the equipment type of the first equipment; and issuing an operation instruction aiming at the first equipment according to the use history of the second equipment.

Preferably, the second device is configured to: responding to the operation of the user on the prompt of the second equipment, and sending a connection authentication request aiming at the first equipment to a server; receiving the relevant information of the first equipment returned by the server; and prompting the user of the operation content of the first equipment based on the related information.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, an internet of things device is provided, including: communication means for: automatically broadcasting the first data packet; broadcasting a second data packet in response to an operation of the internet of things device by a user or other devices, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet; receiving and transmitting connection authentication data based on the second broadcast packet; a processor to: generating connection authentication data; and completing the connection with other equipment after the authentication is successful.

The internet of things equipment can execute a corresponding access method, and the method comprises the following steps: automatically broadcasting the first data packet; broadcasting a second data packet in response to an operation of the internet of things device by a user or other devices, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet; performing connection authentication based on the second broadcast packet; and completing the connection with other devices after the authentication is successful.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a terminal device including: a processor to: the first communication device receives a first data packet from the Internet of things equipment; prompting a user that the Internet of things equipment is not connected based on the content contained in the first data packet; connecting with the internet of things device based on a second data packet received from the internet of things device, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet, and the first communication device is configured to: receiving a first data packet from the Internet of things equipment; receiving a second data packet from the Internet of things equipment according to the operation of selecting to access the Internet of things equipment by a user; and transmitting and receiving data for performing the connection authentication.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device connection platform for: acquiring at least part of content contained in a first data packet received by second equipment from first equipment; and issuing prompt information aiming at the first equipment to the second equipment or notification equipment, wherein a user operates based on the prompt of the second equipment or the notification equipment so that the first equipment and the second equipment are connected based on a second data packet broadcast by the first equipment.

According to the invention, through the silent broadcast function of the Internet of things equipment and the networking equipment which is matched with the silent broadcast function and is activated and scanned, the existence of the Internet of things equipment which is not accessed can be effectively prompted to the user. Subsequently, the user can reintroduce the process of performing conventional broadcasting and connection authentication with the terminal by performing physical operation (for example, resetting power-on or activation) on the internet of things device or based on the operation of the internet of things device by the internet of things device, so as to improve the activation rate of the existing internet of things device.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent by describing in greater detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings, in which like reference numerals generally represent like parts throughout.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of device access authentication.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a device accessing an IoT.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a device having accessed an IoT as one node.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of device access authentication involving cloud participation.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a device involved in cloud participation accessing an IoT.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic flow diagram of a device connection method according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 7 shows a comparative example of normal broadcast data and silent broadcast data according to the present invention.

Fig. 8 shows an example of an access procedure according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of the components of a device connection system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic composition diagram of an internet of things device according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 11 shows a schematic flow chart of a method for accessing the internet of things according to one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method for connecting a terminal device to an internet of things device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 14 shows an application scenario example of the device connection scheme according to the present invention.

Detailed Description

Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

For example, a user has purchased an electric rice cooker with bluetooth networking capability and purchased a home smart terminal (e.g., smart speaker) several months later. When the electric cooker is purchased, no intelligent terminal exists in the house, so that the startup broadcast of the electric cooker has no response, and the electric cooker is not networked. Then, the user uses the electric cooker to cook all the time, but does not know that the electric cooker can be connected with a purchased intelligent sound box, so that the electric cooker becomes a part of the family Internet of things. This results in the networking function of the rice cooker being set aside, thereby defeating the original purpose of users to purchase bluetooth rice cookers.

In view of this, the present invention provides a brand-new device access scheme, in which a silent broadcast function is added to an internet of things device, so that the device can be discovered by a networked terminal device (e.g., a smart speaker purchased later) through an automatically sent silent broadcast after the device is powered on for broadcasting, thereby effectively improving an activation rate of the internet of things device.

In the case of the electric rice cooker as above, the electric rice cooker may automatically turn on the silent broadcast after the power-on broadcast is not answered. After receiving the silent broadcast, the smart speaker can prompt the user that there are internet of things devices that are not networked yet. For example, when a user interacts with a smart speaker, "there is an XXX model electric rice cooker not networked, needs to be networked" is voice-announced to the user. After the user selects networking, the user may be prompted to perform a specific operation on the rice cooker (e.g., reactivate the rice cooker) to cause the rice cooker to resume regular broadcasting. At the moment, the intelligent sound box receives the conventional broadcast, and the connection authentication process is started to realize the networking of the electric cooker.

According to the invention, through the silent broadcast function of the Internet of things equipment and the networking equipment which is matched with the silent broadcast function and is activated and scanned, the existence of the Internet of things equipment which is not accessed can be effectively prompted to the user. Subsequently, the user can reintroduce the process of performing conventional broadcasting and performing connection authentication with the terminal by performing physical operation (for example, resetting power-on or activation) on the internet of things device or performing subsequent operation on the internet of things device through the smart sound box receiving the silent broadcasting, so that the activation rate of the existing internet of things device is improved.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of device access authentication. As shown in fig. 1, an internet of things device 100 as a first device needs to be connected with a terminal device 200 as a second device. In the present invention, "first" and "second" are intended to distinguish different objects of the same kind, not to make any implication on time or spatial order or importance, etc.

The internet-of-things device 100 may connect and communicate through short-distance data transmission (e.g., several centimeters to several hundred meters) with the terminal device 200 based on bluetooth, WiFi, infrared, etc. For example, the bluetooth scale 100 is connected to the smartphone 200 via bluetooth low energy protocol (BLE).

The connection between the first device and the second device shown in fig. 1 may be only the connection between the internet of things device 100 and the terminal device 200, for example, the connection between the bluetooth scale and the smartphone in the above example. In other embodiments, the connection may also be a connection for accessing an existing internet of things.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a device accessing an IoT. As shown in fig. 2, the IoT includes a plurality of nodes that are already networked, where the node 200 is, for example, a central smart node of the home internet of things, which can serve as a central device for connecting other internet of things devices and function as an edge computing or cloud communication relay. In the illustration of fig. 2, the node 200 may be a smart speaker that has connected thereto (e.g., via bluetooth) a television, a rice cooker, and a smart doorbell. It should be understood that fig. 2 is merely an illustration for ease of understanding. In other embodiments, the node 200 may also be an intelligent mobile terminal shown in fig. 1, for example, a mobile phone, and the invention is not limited thereto. For example, other connection manners may be adopted among the nodes in the IoT, and the present invention is not limited thereto. If an internet of things device (e.g., the bluetooth lamp 100 shown in the figure) wants to access an existing IoT, it needs to implement the authentication process of the device 100 joining the IoT through a short-distance data transmission (e.g., several centimeters to several hundred meters) with the node 200, and finally implement the result shown in fig. 3 that is already accessed as one node. Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a device having accessed an IoT as one node. As shown in fig. 3, the bluetooth lamp 100 has been authenticated by access and accesses one node as IoT. Herein, a device that has joined the IoT is referred to as a "node", and a device that wants to join the IoT (e.g., the bluetooth lamp 100) is referred to as a "device to be accessed" or an "internet of things device". An existing internet of things (IoT) may be an internet of things with a certain scope, such as an internet of things in one home, in one building, even in one campus, etc., as shown in fig. 2. In one embodiment, the internet of things device 100 may be a bluetooth mesh device, and the IoT is an existing bluetooth mesh network. The smart device, which is one node 200 in the bluetooth mesh network, may function as a provisioning device to access the IoT device 100 to be accessed to the existing bluetooth mesh network in conformity with the bluetooth mesh specification.

In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the process of device access further involves participation in the cloud. Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of device access authentication involving cloud participation. Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a device involved in cloud participation accessing an IoT. In the embodiments shown in fig. 4 and 5, instead of completing authentication directly with the terminal device or the terminal device as one node in the IoT, the internet of things device 100 needs to implement an authentication process in which the device 100 connects with the terminal device 200 (such as the smart mobile device shown in fig. 4 and the smart speaker shown in fig. 5) or joins the IoT through short-range data transmission with the terminal device 200 and remote data transmission with the remote server 300 via the terminal device 200 (the oval dashed box in fig. 5 represents an object involved in the operation when the device 100 accesses the IoT), and finally implement connection and data transmission with the terminal device 200 or a result that the IoT is already accessed as one node shown in fig. 3. The remote server 300 may be a server farm for implementing specific functions, such as a cloud authentication platform when devices access an IoT or connect to a smart device.

It should be understood that at this time, the device to be accessed 100 is an internet of things device having a short-range communication capability (e.g., via bluetooth or a local area network), and the terminal or the internet of things device as a node 200 is based on the short-range communication capability and the communication capability with a remote server. The other devices in the IoT may be either. One example of the connection of the nodes in the IoT is shown in fig. 2, 3 and 5, but it should be understood that the nodes may be connected in other ways, and in case the short-range communication is implemented via WiFi communication, the node 200 may also communicate with the device to be accessed 100 via a router.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic flow diagram of a device connection method according to an embodiment of the invention. The method is applicable to the case of device access based on various short-range communication means (e.g., WiFi, bluetooth and bluetooth mesh, infrared, etc.), and is particularly applicable to connection authentication between a bluetooth device as a first device and an intelligent terminal as a second device, that is, the case where the first and second devices connect following a bluetooth protocol. More specifically, the method is suitable for connection authentication in which a bluetooth device as a first device joins an existing bluetooth mesh network with a node to be accessed as an identity through a second device (intelligent terminal) as a start authentication device, that is, in a case where the first and second devices are connected following a bluetooth mesh protocol.

In step S610, the first device (the to-be-connected internet of things device 100 in fig. 1 to 5) broadcasts a first data packet. In step S620, the second device (terminal device 200 in fig. 1-5) receives the first packet. In step S630, based on the content included in the first data packet, the second device causes the user to be prompted that the first device has not been accessed. In step S640, in response to a prompt-based operation by the user, the first device broadcasts a second packet, wherein the first packet contains content that can be distinguished from the second packet. In step S650, the second device connects to the first device based on the content included in the second packet.

Here, the first device broadcasting the second packet may be a regular broadcast for connection authentication by the first device. The first device broadcasting the first data packet may be a silent broadcast automatically by the first device based on a predetermined rule.

Here, the "regular broadcast" may refer to an action of issuing a broadcast packet conforming to a prescribed format in compliance with an existing broadcast discovery rule. For example, the broadcasting behavior of the internet of things device when being powered on or activated for discovery. To ensure discovery, a conventional broadcast is broadcast at a high frequency of 40ms every 100ms for a period of time (e.g., 1-10 minutes) after the device is operated. Other devices (e.g., terminal device 200) may begin a connection authentication process with the internet of things device upon receiving the broadcast.

In contrast, "silent broadcasting" may refer to the act of issuing broadcast packets in addition to the regular broadcasting act. The term "silence" as used herein refers to silence for a user, that is, the internet of things device sends out a broadcast packet according to a predetermined rule without user participation. In one embodiment, the silent broadcast of the present invention can be automatically turned on by a state that the internet of things device is not connected to any other device (or not networked) after the regular broadcast time is exceeded. Thus, the connection method of the present invention may further include the first device broadcasting the second packet for a predetermined period of time (normal broadcasting) before step S210. Step S210 may then comprise continuously broadcasting the first data packet at predetermined intervals (silent broadcast) in case the first device does not perform connection authentication within a predetermined period of time.

Since the silent broadcast is a broadcast actively sent by the internet of things device to wait for the discovery of the terminal device, the silent broadcast needs to be continuously broadcast, for example, the silent broadcast is always broadcast in a state that the internet of things device is in a live working state. Therefore, the interval time of the silent broadcasting is long in consideration of energy saving. For example, a regular broadcast is a broadcast packet sent out at a high frequency for a predetermined period of time (e.g., 40ms every 100ms for 10 minutes after power-on), and a silent broadcast is a broadcast packet sent out at a lower frequency continuously (e.g., 100ms every 60s for 100 minutes without connection after power-on). In other words, the first predetermined interval for the device to send out the first data packets is longer than the second predetermined interval for the device to send out the second data packets.

Here, the first predetermined interval at which the device sends out the first data packet may be longer than the second predetermined interval at which the device sends out the second data packet, and may be applied to various broadcast transmission modes. In one embodiment, the device sends out data packets at fixed predetermined intervals, for example, 100ms first data packets are broadcast continuously at intervals of 60s, and 10ms second data packets are broadcast continuously at intervals of 10 ms. In this case, 60s is much longer than 10 ms. In another embodiment, the device may transmit the first data packets densely for a certain period of time, but with an overall time-averaged transmission interval much smaller than the second predetermined interval. For example, the device interval 60s broadcasts the first packet, which is continuously broadcast for 10ms, at intervals of 10ms in a period of 100 ms. Although the frequency within this 100ms is the same as the broadcast interval of the second data packet, the average transmission interval is still much smaller than the second predetermined interval on an extended time axis with a period of 60 s. In other embodiments, silent broadcasting may be performed only during a predetermined scenario or a predetermined period in cooperation with a second device that activates scanning (as described in more detail below).

As mentioned before, the first data packet is a data packet for silent broadcasting in order to enable the end device to discover the presence of an unconnected device. For this reason, in order to prevent the terminal device from connecting the internet of things device itself (e.g., misconnecting a device in a neighboring house) based on the silent broadcast without the user knowing, the first data packet is different from the second data packet, in other words, the first data packet needs to be distinguishable from the second data packet (regular broadcast packet) so that the networking device receiving the first and second data packets can distinguish the identities of the two. In one embodiment, the first data packet may contain content that can be distinguished from the second data packet so that the terminal device knows that the first data packet it receives is not a regular broadcast packet for the connection.

Specifically, an example of the non-networked network broadcast data, i.e., a conventional broadcast packet of the internet of things device which is not yet networked, is shown in the upper part of fig. 7. As shown, the header of the broadcast data includes a length and a type field, where the length is indicated as 0x14 and the type 0x2B is indicated as a Mesh beacon, i.e., the broadcast data is a broadcast packet transmitted by a bluetooth Mesh device. The payload portion of the broadcast data includes the beacon type and the beacon data field. Wherein the beacon type indicates that the beacon is a device that has not initiated configuration. The beacon data then includes a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) of the device, where the third last byte of the identifier (underlined "02") indicates that the broadcast packet is a regular broadcast packet. The beacon data also includes data indicating an OOB (out-of-band) mode.

Fig. 7 shows an example of silent broadcast data, i.e., silent broadcast packets sent by an internet-of-things device that is not networked outside a normal broadcast period, in the lower part. As shown, the silent broadcast packet has the same format as the regular broadcast packet except that only the third last byte of the UUID (underlined "03") indicates that the broadcast packet is a silent broadcast packet. When the terminal equipment receives the broadcast packet and finds that the third last byte of the UUID is '03', the broadcast packet can be identified as a silent broadcast packet, so that connection authentication with equipment of the Internet of things is not actively initiated, and a user is prompted on the basis of regulations. In other words, in the example of fig. 7, the first and second data packets have the same data format, and the identity of the silent broadcast packet and the normal broadcast packet is distinguished by different values of a specific identification bit (e.g., a specific identification bit in a beacon data field).

Therefore, the silent broadcast packet contains content (for example, the value of the third last byte of the UUID is different) that can be distinguished from the conventional broadcast packet, so that the terminal device receiving the silent broadcast packet can identify the "silent" (non-conventional) identity of the broadcast packet, and avoid inter-networking based on the silent broadcast packet while knowing that the internet-of-things device is not yet networked. Thus, the internet of things device is enabled to realize a discoverable and non-connectable function to the internet of things device through the silent broadcast (the connection needs to be subsequently performed through the regular broadcast started by the user operation).

In other embodiments, the first data packet and the second data packet may be different in data format or broadcast by the first device and received by the second device on different channels.

Since the silent broadcast sent by the internet of things device needs to be received by the target device to be meaningful, the terminal device needs to have the capability of receiving the silent broadcast. In one embodiment, the end device may always turn on active scanning (e.g., at a lower frequency) to capture silent broadcasts at any time. In other embodiments, the active scanning of the terminal device is preferably coordinated with the silent broadcasting of the internet of things device, which enables the terminal device to receive the silent broadcasting sent by the internet of things device while properly saving energy. To this end, in one embodiment, the duration of the second device active scanning is longer than the interval of silent broadcasting by the first device. In the example where the first device performs the mute broadcast every 60s as above, in order to ensure that the mute broadcast packet of the first device is received, the duration of each active scan by the second device needs to be longer than 60s, preferably covering several broadcast periods, for example, lasting three minutes.

In various embodiments, the second device may activate the packet scan automatically based on a predetermined rule or may activate the packet scan based on a user trigger. For example, the second device may activate a packet scan every hour for 3 minutes each, according to a predetermined rule; the scanning of the data packets may also be performed, for example, at a specific time period of each day, with the scanning of the data packets being activated every hour for 3 minutes at 0-5 o' clock each day. In addition, in the case where the first and second devices belong to the same vendor or follow the same quiet broadcast discovery rule, the first and second devices may be set by default to issue the quiet broadcast and the active scan in the same period of time. For example, the manufacturer a may specify that the internet-of-things device (e.g., bluetooth mesh device) it produces performs silent broadcast once a day at 0 am or repeated silent broadcast at intervals of 60s during a period of 0-1 am, and also specify that the terminal device (e.g., smart speaker) it produces performs active scanning once a day at 0 am or repeatedly performs active scanning for 3 minutes each time during a period of 0-1 am.

In addition, for some devices with limited power, such as battery-powered internet of things devices (e.g., remote controllers), the silent broadcasting function of the internet of things devices according to a predetermined period can be turned off, and the first data packet is broadcasted only in a predetermined period after each interaction with the user or other devices occurs. Here, the interaction refers to user interaction performed by the internet of things devices based on their own functions (for example, a user remotely controls a corresponding appliance using a remote controller). To receive the silent broadcast sent by these devices, the end devices may, for example, initiate an activation scan or the like upon sensing that the user is at home.

In one embodiment, the operations for silent broadcasting may be done via edge calculation. Herein, "edge calculation" refers to the operation of application, data and service, which is moved from the central node of the network to the edge node of the network logic for processing. Edge computing decomposes large services originally handled entirely by the central node, cuts them into smaller and more manageable parts, and distributes them to the edge nodes for processing. The edge node is closer to various terminal devices, so that the processing and transmission speed of data can be increased, and the delay is reduced. In the context of the present invention, the node 200 (e.g., a smart mobile terminal or a smart speaker as the second device) may serve as an "edge computing device" that performs edge computing, and is capable of completing the computing process in discovery of silent broadcasts and access to regular broadcasts for the first device without the cloud 300 participating in computing at all. In other embodiments, an "edge computing device" that performs edge computing may also be used, for example, a router device to which both the first and second devices are connected.

In another embodiment, as shown in fig. 4 and 5, in the case where the connection authentication involves cloud participation, the operation for silent broadcasting may also involve processing by the server. To this end, the connection method of the present invention may further include: the second device sends at least part of content contained in the first data packet to a server; and the server issues an operation instruction aiming at the first equipment to the second equipment or the notification equipment. Then, based on the content contained in the first data packet, the second device causing the user to be prompted that the first device has not accessed may include: and the second equipment or the notification equipment prompts a user that the first equipment is not accessed according to the operation instruction issued by the server. For example, the second device may send the unique identifier of the first device to the server, and the server searches for the related information of the first device and generates the operation instruction based on the related information.

Here, the second device causing the user to be prompted that the first device has not been accessed may refer to a case where the second device directly prompts the user that the first device has not been accessed. Alternatively or additionally, in other embodiments, the second device may make the server aware that the first device has not been accessed, and the server may make other devices than the second device (the aforementioned "notification device", herein referred to as a device for making notification of the reminder) communicate this reminder to the user. For example, in the case of using a smart speaker as a second device connected to a first device (e.g., a bluetooth light), a smartphone can be used as a notification device. For this reason, after the second device (e.g., the smart speaker) sends the message that the first device has not accessed to the server, the server may select the second device to prompt, or may select the smartphone of the user as the notification device to prompt.

In order to specify the server to be connected, the connection method of the present invention may further include: the second device determines a server to connect to based on the first packet, and connects to the server. For example, in a case where the terminal device supports an internet of things device produced by a plurality of manufacturers, the terminal device may determine a server to be connected from manufacturer information (e.g., CID company code) contained in the first packet.

After connecting with the target server, the server may generate and issue an operation instruction according to the related information (even including related information of the second device) about the first device found in the cloud, for example, the operation instruction for the first device may be issued according to a registration state of the first device in the cloud; an operation instruction for the first device can be issued according to the device type of the first device; an operation instruction for the first device may also be issued according to the usage history of the second device. For example, when the server inquires that the first device was networked with another terminal device (smart terminal) a day ago, it may be determined that the first device is a neighboring device networked with a neighboring smart terminal, and thus the second device may be notified to ignore the silent broadcast from the first device. For example, the server may select the manner in which the second device prompts the user based on whether the device type of the first device is important. For example, in the case that the first device is a bluetooth lamp, the second device may prompt the user with a text message, and in the case that the first device is a smart television, the second device may directly perform voice prompt of networking the smart television to the user. In addition, the server can also search the conventional use habits (such as the use time) of the second equipment of the user, so as to reasonably select the time for prompting the user, and the like.

As mentioned above, step S630 involves prompting the user that the first device has not been accessed based on the content contained in the first data packet. In different embodiments, the prompt to the user can be presented to the user at different times in different manners.

For example, at the alert opportunity, the second device may continue to alert the user that the first device has not been accessed (i.e., is connected to any device or network) after reading the silence broadcast packet. For example, the indicator light of the smart speaker may continuously flash to inform the user that there is a pending event or new information, trigger the user to actively interact with the second device, and enable the second device to prompt the user for specific content that requires the operation of the first device. In addition, when the second device interacts with the user, the second device prompts the user to operate the first device. For example, after the user wakes up the smart speaker using the wake-up word and completes the corresponding interaction, the smart speaker may prompt the user for the presence of an internet of things device that is not networked. The prompt may include a voice broadcast to the user that the first device is not networked yet and the specific operation content of the first device.

In the networking case, the second device may submit information that the first device is not yet networked to the server, and the server may select the second device or a device other than the second device as a notification device to prompt the user. In a simpler arrangement, the second device or the notification device may prompt the user that the first device has not been accessed at a first interaction or within a predetermined time after the second device receives the first data packet. In one embodiment, the second device or notification device may prompt the user that the first device has not been accessed in an active prompt scenario involving the first device. Here, the active cue scenario refers to a scenario initiated by the device side. For example, when it is known based on networking to read weather forecast that the ambient humidity is low and the home intelligent bluetooth humidifier is not yet connected, the second device or notification device may prompt the user "air dry, bluetooth humidifier XXX is not yet networked, whether now connected for humidification". Thereby avoiding a harsh disturbance to the user. In another embodiment, the second device or notification device may prompt the user that the first device has not been accessed in a passive reply scenario involving the first device. Here, a passive reply scenario refers to a scenario initiated by the user, e.g., the user speaks a voice command "turn on humidifier", at which point the second device or notification device may prompt the user "bluetooth humidifier XXX is not yet networked, is now connected" thereby minimizing the nuisance to the user through the homeopathic passive prompt. In another embodiment, the second device or the notification device may also prompt the user that the first device has not been accessed when the device status is pushed. For example, a user may install a home smart device management APP on a smart phone, and a server may push an updated device state to the APP, for example, directly display a device that is not yet networked in a device list and perform labeling, or prompt in a notification bar or a pop-up box. Further, the second device or notification device may also prompt the user for sell information for the first device. For example, a sell link on the market for a free fish, etc. may be provided directly.

Further, when the user selects to access the first device on the second device based on the prompt of step S630, for example, the voice broadcast corresponding to the smart speaker "detects the bluetooth lamp that is not yet networked, and whether networking operation is needed" is answered "by the user, the second device may communicate with the server again. To this end, the connection method of the present invention may include an operation performed in response to a prompt of the user to the second device, the second device issuing a connection authentication request for the first device to a server; the server returns the related information of the first equipment; and the second equipment prompts the operation content of the first equipment to the user based on the relevant information. For example, the operation content of the first device acquired from the server is voice-broadcasted to the user. For example, the server may determine the appearance of the bluetooth light based on the unique identifier in the first data packet, and the networking operation step, and send the above to the smart speaker. The smart speaker can describe the appearance of the bluetooth lamp to help the user determine the installation location of the bluetooth lamp, and after the user finds the lamp, inform the user how to activate the regular broadcast of the lamp to complete networking.

In step S640, in response to an operation performed by the user based on the prompt, the first device broadcasts the second packet. Here, the operation performed by the user based on the prompt may include a physical operation performed by the user for the first device itself based on the prompt. For example, when the user is informed by the smart speaker that there is an unconnected bluetooth lamp, the user actively performs physical operations such as plugging and unplugging, resetting, and the like on the bluetooth lamp to activate the regular broadcast of the bluetooth lamp. In other embodiments, the above operation may also be that the user performs an operation on the second device based on a prompt, so that the second device performs a subsequent operation on the first device. For example, when the user is informed by the smart speaker that there is a bluetooth lamp that is not networked, the user may perform voice interaction with the smart speaker (e.g., confirm that it is desired to have the bluetooth lamp networked), at which point the smart speaker may perform an operation of activating the bluetooth lamp to perform a regular broadcast. For example, the smart speaker may have the user recite a password and send a data packet encrypted to activate the bluetooth device. Thus, the second device avoids malfunction (e.g., erroneously accessing a neighboring home bluetooth device) by introducing interaction with the user. To ensure security (e.g., to avoid malicious introduction of devices in neighboring homes) it is preferable that the user still be required to physically manipulate the first device (or an associated remote control of the first device) directly to activate the regular broadcast of the first device. In order to further clarify the invention of the present invention, an example of an access procedure according to the present invention will be described below with reference to fig. 8.

As shown in fig. 8, the smart terminal (gateway) performs activation scanning (step 1). The device (e.g., bluetooth Mesh device) silences the broadcast packets (step 2). And after the terminal scans and receives the data packet, the terminal extracts the unique identity identifier and the information that the equipment is in the non-networking state from the data packet.

The terminal may determine a cloud to connect to and connect to based on the CID in the silence packet. After the connection, silent device information is reported (step 3). Meanwhile, the terminal can prompt the user that the non-networked device exists according to the acquired device information (for example, information sent by a silent broadcast packet from the device or a server) under the condition that certain conditions (cloud triggering and special event triggering) are met.

The user may interact with the terminal based on the above-mentioned prompts (step 4). After the user interaction (for example, after the user selects a desired device on the terminal to network), the terminal sends a service request to the server to obtain information related to the silent device for voice broadcasting (step 5). The voice broadcast content can be generated at the cloud end and sent to the terminal (step 6), and voice broadcast is carried out on the user through the terminal (step 7). The user may operate the device according to the announcement (step 8), for example, by powering on or activating the device on reset based on the terminal's prompt to cause the device to enter a normal broadcast state (step 9) to enable connection and configuration of the device (step 10).

Therefore, the invention leads the device which is usually not found after the conventional broadcast is ended to become discoverable again by introducing the silent broadcast mechanism, thereby prompting the activation rate of the equipment of the Internet of things. Further, the silent broadcast mechanism may use different broadcast data, lower broadcast frequency and different discovery logic to distinguish from regular broadcasts and to achieve its discoverable but not directly connectible properties at a relatively low cost.

This scheme can cover multiple connection protocols such as BLE, bluetooth Mesh, wiFi. For a device with a clock, it may be defined that a silent broadcast is sent out at a specific time every day. The terminal may maintain the scanning state of the default frequency or enforce the scanning frequency during certain operational activities. For battery devices with limited power consumption, a short silent broadcast state may be triggered by each interaction with the user or other device when not networked.

The present invention may also implement a device connection system, as described above with respect to fig. 1-5. FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram of a device connection system according to one embodiment of the invention. Wherein the functional blocks of the device connection system may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software implementing the principles of the present disclosure. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the functional blocks described in fig. 9 may be combined or divided into sub-blocks to implement the principles of the invention described above. Thus, the description herein may support any possible combination, or division, or further definition of the functional modules described herein.

In the following, functional modules that the device connection system may have and operations that each functional module may perform are briefly described, and for details related thereto, reference may be made to the above description, and details are not described herein again.

As shown in fig. 9, the device connection system 900 may include a first device 910 and a second device 920.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the first device 910 may broadcast a first data packet, and may also broadcast a second data packet in response to an operation performed by a user directly or via a second device, where the first data packet is different from the second data packet. The second device 920 may receive the first data packet, and based on the content included in the first data packet, enable a user to be prompted that the first device is not accessed, and connect with the first device based on information included in the second data packet, wherein the user performs the operation based on the prompt or instructs the second device to perform the operation.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the first device 910 may also automatically perform silent broadcasting for broadcasting the first data packet based on a predetermined rule, and perform regular broadcasting for broadcasting the second data packet upon connection authentication. The first data packet is different from the second data packet and comprises at least one of the following items: the first data packet and the second data packet contain different contents; the data format of the first data packet is different from that of the second data packet; and the first data packet is broadcast on a different channel than the second data packet. Thus, the second device 920 may determine the identity of its silent broadcast packet or regular broadcast packet by reading the first and second data packets or based on the channel on which the first and second data packets are received.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the first device 910 may further broadcast the second data packet within a predetermined period of time; and continuously broadcasting the first data packet at a predetermined interval in the case where there is no connection within the predetermined period.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the first device 910 may further continuously broadcast the first data packet at a first predetermined interval, and broadcast the second data packet at a second predetermined interval within a first predetermined time period after the user operates the first device, where the first predetermined interval is longer than the second predetermined interval.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second device 920 may activate the packet scan for a second predetermined period of time that is longer than the first predetermined interval.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the first device 910 may broadcast the first data packet within a predetermined time period after each interaction with the user or other device occurs.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the second device may be configured to: a packet scan is activated and the first packet is discovered and activated during the packet scan. For example, the second device 920 may automatically activate packet scanning based on predetermined rules. Alternatively, the second device 920 may activate packet scanning based on a user trigger.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the device connection system 900 may also preferably include a server 930. Wherein the server 930 may receive at least part of the content contained in the first data packet from the second device; and issuing operation information (e.g., an operation instruction) for the first device to the second device. The second device 920 may prompt the user that the first device is not accessed according to the operation instruction issued by the server. In one embodiment, device connection system 900 may also include a notification device, for example, using a smartphone as the device for alert notifications. At this time, the server 930 may issue an operation instruction for the first device to the notification device, and the notification device prompts the user.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the second device 920 may determine a server to connect to based on the first packet; and connecting the server.

In embodiments of the invention, the server 930 may be configured to at least one of: issuing operation information (such as an operation instruction) aiming at the first equipment according to the registration state of the first equipment in the cloud; issuing an operation instruction aiming at the first equipment according to the equipment type of the first equipment; and issuing an operation instruction aiming at the first equipment according to the use history of the second equipment.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the second device 920 may issue a connection authentication request for the first device to a server in response to an operation performed by the user on a prompt of the second device; receiving the relevant information of the first equipment returned by the server; and prompting the user of the operation content of the first equipment based on the related information.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic composition diagram of an internet of things device according to an embodiment of the invention. The internet of things device may be used as the device 100 shown in fig. 1 to 5 and the first device shown in fig. 9.

As shown in fig. 10, the internet of things device 1000 of the present invention may include a communication means 1010 and a processor 1020.

The communication device 1010 may automatically broadcast a first data packet and may broadcast a second data packet in response to a user or other device operating the internet of things device, where the first data packet is different from the second data packet. Connection authentication data based on the second broadcast packet may also be transceived. Here, the operation performed on the internet of things device may be a physical operation (e.g., power-on and reset) performed directly on the internet of things device or a remote control thereof by the user, or may be a user operating the internet of things device via another device (e.g., a networked device). In either case, the operation of the internet of things device requires the participation of the user.

The processor 1020 may generate connection authentication data and complete a connection with another device after authentication is successful.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the communication device 1010 may automatically perform silent broadcasting for broadcasting the first data packet based on a predetermined rule, and perform regular broadcasting for broadcasting the second data packet upon connection authentication. The first data packet and the second data packet may identify the respective silent broadcast packet and the regular broadcast packet by indicating different values at specified positions of a beacon field.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the communication device 1010 may broadcast the second data packet for a predetermined period of time; and continuously broadcasting the first data packet at a predetermined interval under the condition that the connection authentication is not performed within the predetermined period.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the communication device 1010 may continuously broadcast the first data packet at a first predetermined interval, and broadcast the second data packet at a second predetermined interval within a first predetermined time period after the user operates the first apparatus, where the first predetermined interval is longer than the second predetermined interval.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the communication device 1010 may broadcast the first data packet in a predetermined time period after each interaction with the user or other device occurs.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the first data packet and the second data packet are different and include at least one of the following: the first data packet and the second data packet contain different contents; the data format of the first data packet is different from that of the second data packet; and the first data packet and the second data packet are broadcast by the communication device on different channels.

Fig. 11 shows a schematic flow chart of a method for accessing the internet of things according to one embodiment of the invention. The internet of things device executing the method can be a device as shown in fig. 10.

In step S1110, the first packet is automatically broadcast.

In step S1120, in response to an operation performed on the internet of things device by a user or another device, a second data packet is broadcast, where the first data packet is different from the second data packet. The first data packet is different from the second data packet and comprises at least one of the following items: the first data packet and the second data packet contain different contents; the data format of the first data packet is different from that of the second data packet; and the first data packet and the second data packet are broadcast by the communication device on different channels. Preferably, the first data packet and the second data packet indicate the identities of the respective silent broadcast packet and the regular broadcast packet at different values in the specified position of the beacon field.

In step S1130, connection authentication based on the second broadcast packet is performed, and in step S1140, connection with other devices is completed after authentication is successful.

In one embodiment, step S1110 may include: the silent broadcasting of broadcasting the first data packet is automatically performed based on a predetermined rule, and step S1120 may include: and performing regular broadcasting for broadcasting the second data packet at the time of connection authentication.

In one embodiment, step S1120 may include: broadcasting the second data packet for a predetermined period of time. Step S1110 may include: broadcasting the first data packet at a predetermined interval in case that there is no connection within the predetermined period.

In one embodiment, step S1110 may include: the first packet is broadcast at a first predetermined interval, and step S1120 may include: broadcasting the second data packet at a second predetermined interval within a first predetermined time period after the first device is operated by a user, wherein the first predetermined interval is longer than the second predetermined interval.

In one embodiment, step S1110 may include: broadcasting the first data packet for a predetermined period of time after each interaction with the user or other device occurs.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the invention. Wherein the terminal device may be the terminal 200 shown in fig. 1-5 and the second device shown in fig. 9.

As shown in fig. 12, the terminal apparatus 1200 may include a processor 1210 and a first communication device 1220.

Among other things, processor 1210 may be configured to: receiving a first data packet from the internet of things device via a first communication device; prompting a user that the Internet of things equipment is not connected based on the content contained in the first data packet; connecting with the Internet of things device based on a second data packet received from the Internet of things device.

The first communication device 1220 may be configured to: receiving a first data packet from the Internet of things equipment; receiving a second data packet from the Internet of things equipment according to the operation of selecting to access the Internet of things equipment by a user; and transmitting and receiving data for performing the connection authentication.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the processor 1210 may further be configured to activate packet scanning to discover and receive a first packet from an internet of things device via a first communication apparatus, and in particular, may continuously activate the first communication apparatus to scan the packet for a predetermined period, where the predetermined period is longer than an interval time for broadcasting the first packet by the internet of things device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the processor 1210 may be configured to: automatically activating a packet scan based on a predetermined rule; and/or activating a packet scan based on a user trigger.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the terminal device 1200 may further include a second communication device 1230 for communicating with the server. Wherein the second communication device 1230 may be configured to: sending at least part of the content contained in the first data packet to the server; and acquiring an operation instruction which is issued by the server and aims at the Internet of things equipment. The processor 1210 may prompt the user that the first device is not accessed according to an operation instruction issued by the server.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the processor 1210 may be configured to: determining a server to connect to based on the first data packet; and connecting the server via the second communication device.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the second communication device 1230 may be configured to at least one of the following: receiving an operation instruction which is issued by the server according to the registration state of the Internet of things equipment at the cloud end and aims at the first equipment; receiving an operation instruction which is issued by the server according to the equipment type of the Internet of things equipment and aims at the first equipment; and receiving an operation instruction which is issued by the server according to the use history of the Internet of things equipment and aims at the first equipment.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the processor 1210 may be configured to: responding to the prompt operation of the user on the terminal equipment, and sending a connection authentication request aiming at the Internet of things equipment to a server through the second communication device; receiving, by the second communication device, related information of the internet of things device returned by the server; and prompting the user of the operation content of the equipment of the Internet of things based on the related information.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the terminal device 1200 may further include a voice broadcasting device 1240. The voice broadcast device 1240 may be configured to broadcast the operation content of the internet of things device to the user through voice.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the processor 1210 may be configured to: when the user interacts with the user, prompting the user to operate the Internet of things equipment; and/or continuously prompting the user to operate the Internet of things equipment.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the first data packet and the second data packet may include at least one of the following items: the first data packet and the second data packet contain different contents; the data format of the first data packet is different from that of the second data packet; and the first data packet and the second data packet are received by the first communication device on different channels. Preferably, the processor 1210 is operable to: determining that the first data packet is a silent broadcast packet based on a first value at a beacon field specification position in the first data packet; and determining that the second data packet is a conventional broadcast packet based on a second value at a standard field specification position in the second data packet.

In the invention, IOT equipment information can be recorded by means of another equipment (such as a router), and after the terminal equipment (such as a smart sound box) is accessed, the equipment synchronizes to the smart sound box. To this end, in one embodiment, the terminal device may include first and second terminal devices, the first terminal device being configured to: receiving a first data packet from the Internet of things equipment; acquiring information that the Internet of things equipment is not connected based on the content contained in the first data packet; and the second terminal device is configured to: acquiring information that the Internet of things equipment is not connected from the first terminal equipment; receiving a second data packet from the Internet of things equipment according to the operation of selecting to access the Internet of things equipment by a user; connecting with the IOT device based on a second data packet received from the IOT device, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet.

The invention also can realize a method for connecting the terminal equipment with the Internet of things equipment.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method for connecting a terminal device to an internet of things device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The terminal device may be regarded as the action body that executes the method shown in fig. 13.

As shown in fig. 13, in step S1310, a first data packet from an internet of things device is received.

In step S1320, based on the content included in the first data packet, the user is prompted that the internet of things device has not been accessed.

In step S1330, a connection is made with the internet of things device based on content included in a second data packet received from the internet of things device, where the first data packet is different from the second data packet.

In this embodiment of the present invention, step S1310 may include activating a data packet scan, discovering and receiving a first data packet from an internet of things device, and specifically, the activating the data packet scan may include: and continuously activating data packet scanning in a preset time period, wherein the preset time period is longer than the interval time of broadcasting the first data packet by the equipment of the Internet of things. Alternatively, the activation packet scan is to: automatically activating a packet scan based on a predetermined rule; and/or activating a packet scan based on a user trigger.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the method for connecting the terminal device to the internet of things device may further include: sending at least part of the content contained in the first data packet to a server; acquiring an operation instruction which is issued by the server and aims at the Internet of things equipment; and prompting the user that the first equipment is not accessed according to an operation instruction issued by the server.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the method for connecting the terminal device to the internet of things device may further include: determining a server to connect to based on the first data packet; and connecting the server via the second communication device.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the obtaining of the operation instruction for the internet of things device issued by the server includes at least one of the following: receiving an operation instruction which is issued by the server according to the registration state of the Internet of things equipment at the cloud end and aims at the first equipment; receiving an operation instruction which is issued by the server according to the equipment type of the Internet of things equipment and aims at the first equipment; and receiving an operation instruction which is issued by the server according to the use history of the Internet of things equipment and aims at the first equipment.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the method for connecting the terminal device to the internet of things device may further include: responding to the operation of the user on the prompt of the terminal equipment, and sending a connection authentication request aiming at the Internet of things equipment to a server; receiving the relevant information of the Internet of things equipment returned by the server; and prompting the user of the operation content of the equipment of the Internet of things based on the related information.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the first data packet and the second data packet may include at least one of the following items: the first data packet and the second data packet contain different contents; the data format of the first data packet is different from that of the second data packet; and the first data packet and the second data packet are received by the first communication device on different channels. Preferably, the method may include: determining that the first data packet is a silent broadcast packet based on a first value at a beacon field specification position in the first data packet; and determining that the second data packet is a conventional broadcast packet based on a second value at a standard field specification position in the second data packet.

In the invention, IOT equipment information can be recorded by means of another equipment (such as a router), and after the terminal equipment (such as a smart sound box) is accessed, the equipment synchronizes to the smart sound box. To this end, in one embodiment, the above method may be performed by a first and a second terminal device, the first terminal device being configured to: receiving a first data packet from the Internet of things equipment; acquiring information that the Internet of things equipment is not connected based on the content contained in the first data packet; and the second terminal device is configured to: acquiring information that the Internet of things equipment is not connected from the first terminal equipment; receiving a second data packet from the Internet of things equipment according to the operation of selecting to access the Internet of things equipment by a user; connecting with the IOT device based on a second data packet received from the IOT device, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet.

The internet of things device connection method, system and corresponding device according to the present invention have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings. By introducing the silent broadcast mechanism, the invention enables the devices which are usually not found to be found again after the conventional broadcast is finished, thereby prompting the activation rate of the equipment of the Internet of things. The scheme can cover a plurality of connection protocols such as BLE, Bluetooth Mesh, Wifi and the like, and the silent broadcast mechanism disclosed by the scheme can use different broadcast data, lower broadcast frequency and different discovery logic so as to distinguish from conventional broadcast and realize the attribute that the silent broadcast mechanism can be discovered but not directly connected with the conventional broadcast at relatively low cost.

The solution of the present invention can also be implemented as an apparatus connection platform, such as the above cloud platform or the server, where the platform is configured to: acquiring at least part of content contained in a first data packet received by second equipment from first equipment; and issuing prompt information aiming at the first equipment to the second equipment or notification equipment, wherein a user operates based on the prompt of the second equipment or the notification equipment so that the first equipment and the second equipment are connected based on a second data packet broadcast by the first equipment. Here, the first device broadcasting the first data packet may be a silent broadcast automatically performed by the first device based on a predetermined rule, and the first device broadcasting the second data packet may be a regular broadcast used by the first device for connection authentication.

In one embodiment, issuing the prompt message for the first device to the second device or the notification device includes at least one of: issuing operation information aiming at the first equipment according to the registration state of the first equipment in the cloud; issuing operation information aiming at the first equipment according to the equipment type of the first equipment; and issuing operation information aiming at the first equipment according to the use history of the second equipment. For example, the second device or the notification device may prompt the user that the first device has not been accessed after the second device receives the first data packet for a first interaction or within a predetermined time; causing the second device or notification device to prompt a user that the first device has not been accessed in an active prompt scenario involving the first device; causing the second device or notification device to prompt a user that the first device has not been accessed in a passive reply scenario involving the first device; or when the second device or the notification device pushes the device state, the user is prompted that the first device is not accessed.

Further, the server platform may be further configured to: receiving a connection request issued by the second device for the first device, the connection request issued by the first device in response to the user operating the prompt; and returning the relevant information of the first equipment, so that the second equipment or the notification equipment prompts the operation content of the first equipment to the user based on the relevant information.

In some embodiments, the device connection platform of the present invention also involves interaction with other platforms. For example, the platform may obtain a device unique identifier of the first device contained in the first data packet. The device unique identifier may indicate its manufacturer or may additionally obtain manufacturer identification. Subsequently, the platform may be further operable to: communicating with a vendor server of the first device to obtain the first device-related information based on the device unique identifier. This relevant information can then be recorded on the platform and sent to the second device or notification device as needed.

Further, the platform may also be configured to: and sending out selling information aiming at the first equipment to the second equipment or the notification equipment, such as a selling link on a spare fish second-hand network.

In the case of edge computing, the platform may send the hint information of the first device to the edge computing devices of the first device and the second device. The edge computing device may be the second device, the notification device, or a router for network access, etc., as described above.

To further enhance understanding of the principles of the present invention, an application scenario example of the device connection scheme according to the present invention is described herein with reference to fig. 14.

The user firstly purchases an electric lamp with a Bluetooth networking function (hereinafter referred to as a Bluetooth electric lamp). At this time, since there is no IoT access device in the home, the conventional broadcast of the bluetooth lamp when initially powered on is unresponsive, and the bluetooth lamp does not access the IoT. Therefore, the bluetooth lamp is always simply used as a lamp in an unconnected state.

Several months later, the user purchases a home smart terminal (e.g., smart speaker). Because the Bluetooth lamp and the intelligent loudspeaker box both follow the equipment access scheme provided by the invention, the Bluetooth lamp comprises a silent broadcast function, so that the equipment can be discovered by the networked terminal equipment through the silent broadcast automatically sent out after the equipment is started up for normal broadcasting. Therefore, the Bluetooth lamp based on the invention can automatically start silent broadcasting after the start-up broadcasting is not responded, and meanwhile, the intelligent loudspeaker box also activates scanning according to the preset rule.

After receiving the silent broadcast, the smart speaker can prompt the user that there are internet of things devices that are not networked yet. For example, when a user interacts with a smart speaker, "there are no networked XXX model bluetooth lights, need to be networked" to the user voice broadcast.

After being prompted, the user can manually perform a specific operation (for example, power on again) on the bluetooth lamp so that the bluetooth lamp resumes the regular broadcast. At this moment, the smart sound box receives the conventional broadcast, and starts a connection authentication process to realize the networking of the Bluetooth electric lamp.

Furthermore, the method according to the invention may also be implemented as a computer program or computer program product comprising computer program code instructions for carrying out the above-mentioned steps defined in the above-mentioned method of the invention.

Alternatively, the invention may also be embodied as a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium (or computer-readable storage medium, or machine-readable storage medium) having stored thereon executable code (or a computer program, or computer instruction code) which, when executed by a processor of an electronic device (or computing device, server, etc.), causes the processor to perform the steps of the above-described method according to the invention.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems and methods according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Having described embodiments of the present invention, the foregoing description is intended to be exemplary, not exhaustive, and not limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein is chosen in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application, or improvements made to the technology in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A device connection method, comprising:

the first device broadcasts a first data packet

The second device receives the first data packet;

based on the content contained in the first data packet, the second device causes a user to be prompted that the first device is not connected;

in response to a user operation based on the prompt, the first device broadcasting a second data packet, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet; and

the second device connects with the first device based on the information included in the second packet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device broadcasting the first data packet is a silent broadcast automatically by the first device based on a predetermined rule, and

the first device broadcasting the second data packet is a regular broadcast used by the first device for connection authentication.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the first device broadcasts the second data packet for a predetermined period of time, and

the first device broadcasting the first data packet comprises:

continuously broadcasting the first data packet at a predetermined interval in a case where the first device is not connected for the predetermined period.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device receiving the first data packet comprises:

the second device activates a packet scan and discovers and activates the first packet during the packet scan.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device broadcasting the first packet comprises:

the first device broadcasts the first data packet at a first predetermined interval, and

in response to a user action based on the prompt, the first device broadcasting a second data packet includes:

the first device broadcasts the second data packet at a second predetermined interval within a first predetermined period of time after the operation, wherein the first predetermined interval is longer than the second predetermined interval.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second device receiving the first data packet comprises:

the second device activates a packet scan and discovers and activates the first packet during the packet scan, wherein,

the second device activates a packet scan for a second predetermined period of time longer than the first predetermined interval.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user's actions based on the prompt include:

physical operations performed by the user on the first device itself based on the prompt;

the user operates on the second device based on the prompt to cause the second device to perform subsequent operations on the first device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device broadcasting the first packet comprises:

the first device broadcasts the first data packet for a predetermined period of time after each interaction with the user or other device occurs.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device activating a packet scan comprises:

the second device automatically activates scanning of the data packets based on predetermined rules; and/or

The second device activates a packet scan based on a user trigger.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

the second device sends at least part of content contained in the first data packet to a server;

the server issues operation information for the first device to the second device or the notification device, and

based on the content contained in the first data packet, the second device causes the user to be prompted that the first device has not accessed the first device, and the prompt includes at least one of the following:

the second equipment prompts a user that the first equipment is not accessed according to the operation information issued by the server;

and the notification equipment prompts a user that the first equipment is not accessed according to the operation information issued by the server.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

the second device determining a server to connect to based on the first packet; and

and connecting the server.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the server issuing the operation information for the first device to the second device or notification device comprises at least one of:

the server issues operation information aiming at the first equipment according to the registration state of the first equipment at the cloud end;

the server issues operation information aiming at the first equipment according to the equipment type of the first equipment;

and the server issues operation information aiming at the first equipment according to the use history of the second equipment.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

responding to the operation of the user on the prompt, and sending a connection request aiming at the first equipment to a server by the second equipment;

the server returns the related information of the first equipment; and

and the second equipment or the notification equipment prompts the operation content of the first equipment to the user based on the relevant information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second device or the notification device prompting the user for the operation content of the first device based on the relevant information comprises:

and the second equipment or the notification equipment broadcasts the operation content of the first equipment to a user through voice.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device causing the user to be prompted that the first device has not accessed based on the content contained in the first data packet comprises at least one of:

when the second equipment or the notification equipment interacts with the user, prompting the user that the first equipment is not accessed;

and the second equipment or the notification equipment continuously prompts the user that the first equipment is not accessed.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the second device or notification device, when interacting with the user, prompting the user that the first device has not been accessed comprises:

the second device or the notification device prompts a user that the first device is not accessed after the second device receives the first data packet for the first interaction or within a preset time;

the second device or the notification device prompts a user that the first device is not accessed in an active prompting scene related to the first device;

the second device or notification device prompting a user that the first device has not been accessed in a passive reply scenario involving the first device;

and when the second equipment or the notification equipment pushes the equipment state, prompting a user that the first equipment is not accessed.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device causing the user to be prompted that the first device has not accessed based on the content contained in the first data packet comprises:

the second device or notification device prompts the user for the sell information of the first device.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet comprising at least one of:

the first data packet and the second data packet contain different contents;

the data format of the first data packet is different from that of the second data packet; and

the first data packet is broadcast on a different channel than the second data packet.

19. A device connection system comprising a first device and a second device, wherein,

the first device is to:

broadcasting a first data packet;

broadcasting a second data packet in response to an operation by a user or a second device, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet, an

The second device is to:

receiving the first data packet;

based on the content contained in the first data packet, prompting a user that the first equipment is not accessed, wherein the user performs the operation based on the prompt or instructs the second equipment to perform the operation; and

and connecting with the first equipment based on the information included in the second data packet.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet comprising at least one of:

the first data packet and the second data packet contain different contents;

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the first device is to:

broadcasting the second data packet for a predetermined period of time; and

broadcasting the first data packet at a predetermined interval in case that there is no connection within the predetermined period.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the second device is to:

a packet scan is activated and the first packet is discovered and activated during the packet scan.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the first device is to:

broadcasting the first data packet at a first predetermined interval, and

broadcasting the second data packet at a second predetermined interval within a first predetermined time period after the first device is operated by a user, wherein the first predetermined interval is longer than the second predetermined interval.

24. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

a server to:

receiving at least part of the content contained in the first data packet from a second device; and

issuing operation information for the first device to the second device or a notification device, and

the second device or notification device is to:

and prompting the user that the first equipment is not accessed according to the operation information issued by the server.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the second device or notification device is to:

prompting a user that the first equipment is not accessed after the second equipment receives the first data packet for the first interaction or within a preset time;

in an active prompting scenario involving the first device, prompting a user that the first device has not been accessed;

in a passive reply scenario involving the first device, prompting a user that the first device has not been accessed;

and when equipment state pushing is carried out, prompting a user that the first equipment is not accessed.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the second device is to:

determining a server to connect to based on the first data packet; and

and connecting the server.

27. An internet of things device, comprising:

communication means for:

automatically broadcasting the first data packet;

broadcasting a second data packet in response to an operation of the internet of things device by a user or other devices, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet;

receiving and transmitting connection authentication data based on the second broadcast packet;

a processor to:

generating connection authentication data;

and completing the connection with other equipment after the authentication is successful.

28. The device of claim 27, wherein the first and second data packets indicate the identity of the respective silent broadcast packet and regular broadcast packet at different values over a specified bit of a beacon field.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the communication device is to:

broadcasting the second data packet for a predetermined period of time; and

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the communication device is to:

broadcasting the first data packet at a first predetermined interval, and

31. A method for accessing Internet of things equipment to the Internet of things comprises the following steps:

automatically broadcasting the first data packet;

performing connection authentication based on the second broadcast packet; and

32. A terminal device, comprising:

a processor to:

the first communication device receives a first data packet from the Internet of things equipment;

prompting a user that the Internet of things equipment is not connected based on the content contained in the first data packet;

connect with the IOT device based on a second data packet received from the IOT device, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet,

first communication means for:

receiving a first data packet from the Internet of things equipment;

receiving a second data packet from the Internet of things equipment according to the operation of selecting to access the Internet of things equipment by a user; and

and transmitting and receiving data for performing the connection authentication.

33. A method for connecting terminal equipment with Internet of things equipment comprises the following steps:

receiving a first data packet from the Internet of things equipment;

prompting a user that the Internet of things equipment is not accessed based on the content contained in the first data packet;

and performing connection authentication with the Internet of things equipment based on content contained in a second data packet received from the Internet of things equipment, wherein the first data packet is different from the second data packet.

34. A device connection platform for:

acquiring at least part of content contained in a first data packet received by second equipment from first equipment;

and issuing prompt information aiming at the first equipment to the second equipment or notification equipment, wherein a user operates based on the prompt of the second equipment or the notification equipment so that the first equipment and the second equipment are connected based on a second data packet broadcast by the first equipment.