CN112367657A

CN112367657A - System and method for controlling a target device

Info

Publication number: CN112367657A
Application number: CN202011247461.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 呼磊; 龙海岸
Original assignee: Ningbo Gongniu Digital Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Ningbo Gongniu Digital Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-11-10
Filing date: 2020-11-10
Publication date: 2021-02-12
Anticipated expiration: 2040-11-10
Also published as: CN112367657B

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and a method for controlling a target device. The system comprises a transmitting device and a receiving device. The transmitting device includes: a switching unit capable of switching between two or more states; and a bluetooth low energy module configured to transmit a data packet via the broadcast channel in response to the switching unit being switched, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including a MAC address of the target device. The receiving device includes a memory and a pairing module configured to: monitoring a broadcast channel to receive a data packet; judging whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct or not; resolving the MAC address from the data bits in response to the correct identification data; and stores the MAC address in memory.

Description

System and method for controlling a target device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of internet of things, and more particularly, to a system and method for controlling a target device.

Background

The intelligent switch utilizes the combination and programming of the control panel and the electronic components to realize the unit for controlling the intelligent switch of the circuit. The switching control is also called BANG-BANG control, and is adopted in the control of many home appliances and lighting fixtures because of its simple and easy implementation. But the conventional switch control is difficult to meet the requirements of further improving the control precision and saving energy.

At present, wireless communication control modes of intelligent switches of household products mainly adopt wireless communication technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Sub-1 GHz.

The wireless switch adopting the Sub-1GHz technology for 433MHz communication is integrally divided into a transmitting part and a receiving part. The transmitting part sends out a control signal after the transmitting end (which can be powered by stored energy, kinetic energy and solar energy) presses the switch, and the receiving end receives the signal and then responds. The 433MHz frequency band of the Sub-1GHz technology has no general protocol standard, and belongs to the frequency band which is not supported by mobile phones and flat equipment. If the receiving end needs to be connected with a mobile phone or the cloud end, a Wi-Fi/BLE module is added.

Interaction is carried out after transmission of a traditional BLE mode needs pairing, and the transmitting device powered by part of stored energy, kinetic energy or solar energy cannot meet pairing conditions of BLE.

The Wi-Fi intelligent wireless switch is configured to access a unified AP router environment or access a controlled device in a hotspot mode. After the wireless switch is pressed, the controlled equipment receives the control signal to respond. The Wi-Fi intelligent wireless switch is large in power consumption, needs to be powered on constantly, is complex in distribution network mode, and needs to be configured by means of a third-party mobile phone or a tablet and other devices.

Disclosure of Invention

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention is directed to overcome the above and/or other problems in the prior art, and in particular, to enable pairing and binding and data transmission in a one-way BLE broadcast manner, so as to simplify a cumbersome pairing manner for existing BLE.

Accordingly, exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method for controlling a target device.

According to an exemplary embodiment, a system for controlling a target device is provided, which comprises a transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus. The transmitting device includes: a switching unit capable of switching between two or more states; and a bluetooth low energy module configured to transmit a data packet via a broadcast channel in response to the switching unit being switched, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including a MAC address of a target device. The receiving device comprises a memory and a pairing module configured to: monitoring the broadcast channel to receive the data packet; determining whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct; resolving the MAC address from the data bits in response to correct identification data; and storing the MAC address in the memory.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a system for controlling a target device is provided, which comprises a transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus. The transmitting device includes: a switching unit capable of switching between two or more states; and a bluetooth low energy module configured to transmit a data packet via a broadcast channel in response to the switching unit being switched, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including control data corresponding to a current state of the switching unit. The receiving device comprises a memory and a control module. The memory stores the MAC address and identification data associated therewith. The control module is configured to: monitoring the broadcast channel to receive the data packet; determining whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct; in response to correct identification data, determining whether a MAC address associated with identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is stored in the memory; in response to determining that the memory stores a MAC address associated with the identification data, reading the data bits in the data packet for control data; and manipulating a target device corresponding to the MAC address based on the control data and the MAC address.

According to another exemplary embodiment, a system for controlling a target device includes a transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus. The transmitting device includes: a switching unit capable of switching between two or more states; and a Bluetooth Low energy module configured to transmit a data packet via a broadcast channel in response to the switching unit being switched, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including control data corresponding to a current state of the switching unit and a MAC address of a target device. The receiving apparatus includes: a memory storing a MAC address and identification data associated therewith; a mode switcher configured to switch between an operating mode and a pairing mode; and a control module configured to, in response to an operation of switching the mode switcher to the pairing mode: monitoring the broadcast channel to receive the data packet; determining whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct; and in response to correct identification data, parsing out the MAC address from the data bits and storing the MAC address in the memory, the control module further configured to, in response to switching the mode switch to the operating mode: monitoring the broadcast channel to receive the data packet; determining whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct; in response to correct identification data, determining whether a MAC address associated with identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is stored in the memory; in response to determining that the memory stores a MAC address associated with the identification data, reading the data bits in the data packet for control data; and manipulating a target device corresponding to the MAC address based on the control data and the MAC address.

According to another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a method for controlling a target device, including: transmitting, by a transmitting device, a data packet via a broadcast channel, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including a MAC address of a target device; listening, by a receiving device, to the broadcast channel to receive the data packet; determining, by the receiving device, whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct; parsing, by the receiving device, the MAC address from the data bits in response to correct identification data; and storing, by the receiving device, the MAC address in a memory.

According to another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a method for controlling a target device, including: transmitting, by a transmitting device, a data packet via a broadcast channel, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including control data corresponding to a current state of a switching unit; listening, by a receiving device, to the broadcast channel to receive the data packet; determining, by the receiving device, whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct; determining, by the receiving device, in response to correct identification data, whether a MAC address associated with identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is stored in memory; reading, by the receiving device, the data bits in the data packet for control data in response to determining that the memory stores a MAC address associated with the identification data; and manipulating, by the receiving apparatus, a target device corresponding to the MAC address based on the control data and the MAC address.

According to another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a method for controlling a target device, including: transmitting, by a transmitting device, a data packet via a broadcast channel, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including control data corresponding to a current state of a switching unit and a MAC address of a target device; listening, by a receiving device, to the broadcast channel to receive the data packet; determining, by the receiving device, whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct; and when the receiving device is in pairing mode: reading, by the receiving device, the MAC address from the data bits and storing the MAC address in the memory in response to correct identification data; or when the receiving device is in an operating mode: determining, by the receiving device, in response to correct identification data, whether a MAC address associated with identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is stored in memory; reading, by the receiving device, the data bits in the data packet for control data in response to determining that the memory stores a MAC address associated with the identification data; and manipulating, by the receiving apparatus, a target device corresponding to the MAC address based on the control data and the MAC address.

In the system and the method of the above exemplary embodiment, the constraint of data communication using the BLE standard specification is broken through, and unidirectional transmission is adopted between the transmitting terminal and the receiving terminal, so that the system and the method can be widely applied to transmitting devices with low power consumption, kinetic energy driving and solar energy driving.

Preferably, in the system and method of the above exemplary embodiment, the broadcast channel includes only 37, 38 and 39 channels corresponding to 2402MHz, 2026MHz and 3480MHz, respectively.

Preferably, in the system and method of the above exemplary embodiments, the encoding format of the data packet is composed of an AD data structure, and the data packet includes a length field, an AD type field, and an AD data field, wherein the identification bits and the data bits are contained in the AD data field. Preferably, the AD type field is 0x09 or 0 xFF.

Preferably, in the system of another example embodiment above, the data bits further include a MAC address of the target device, and the control module is further configured to, in response to determining that a MAC address associated with identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is not stored in the memory, parse the MAC address from the data bits and store the MAC address in the memory.

Preferably, in the system of another exemplary embodiment described above, the data bits are encrypted using a symmetric encryption algorithm, and the control module is further configured to read the data bits by decrypting the data bits.

Preferably, in the system of another exemplary embodiment described above, the receiving means is configured into a bluetooth network, the bluetooth network comprising a gateway and/or a user equipment.

Preferably, in the system of another exemplary embodiment described above, the receiving device further includes a forwarding module configured to forward the data packet to the gateway and/or the user equipment.

Preferably, in the system of another exemplary embodiment described above, the gateway and/or the user equipment is configured to send the data packet or the modified data packet to the receiving apparatus through a bluetooth network to manipulate the target device.

Preferably, in the system of the above another exemplary embodiment, the modified data packet is different from the original data packet in that the control data in the data bits is different.

Preferably, in the method of the above another exemplary embodiment, the data bits further include a MAC address of the target device, and the method further includes: in response to determining that a MAC address associated with identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is not stored in the memory, parsing, by the receiving device, the MAC address from the data bits and storing the MAC address in the memory.

Preferably, in the method of the above another exemplary embodiment, the encrypting the data bits by using a symmetric encryption algorithm, and the reading the data bits in the data packet by the receiving device to obtain the MAC address or the control data includes: reading, by the receiving device, the data bits by decrypting the data bits.

Preferably, in the method of the above another exemplary embodiment, the method further comprises: the receiving device is configured into a bluetooth network, which comprises a gateway and/or a user equipment.

Preferably, in the method of the above another exemplary embodiment, the method further comprises: forwarding, by the receiving device, the data packet to the gateway and/or user equipment.

Preferably, in the method of the above another exemplary embodiment, the method further comprises: and sending the data packet or the modified data packet to the receiving device through a Bluetooth network by the gateway and/or the user equipment to control the target equipment.

Other features and aspects will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the claims.

Drawings

The invention may be better understood by describing exemplary embodiments thereof in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a system 100 for controlling a target device according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example encoding format of a data packet broadcast by a transmitting device;

fig. 3 shows a block diagram of a system 300 for controlling a target device according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method 400 for controlling a target device according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a pairing interaction flow according to the method 400 of FIG. 4;

fig. 6 shows a block diagram of a method 600 for controlling a target device according to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a control method interaction flow according to the method 600 of fig. 6 and optional steps.

Detailed Description

While specific embodiments of the invention will be described below, it should be noted that in the course of the detailed description of these embodiments, in order to provide a concise and concise description, all features of an actual implementation may not be described in detail. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions are made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another.

Unless otherwise defined, technical or scientific terms used in the claims and the specification should have the ordinary meaning as understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs. The use of "first," "second," and similar terms in the description and claims of the present application do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather the terms are used to distinguish one element from another. The terms "a" or "an," and the like, do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one. The word "comprise" or "comprises", and the like, means that the element or item listed before "comprises" or "comprising" covers the element or item listed after "comprising" or "comprises" and its equivalent, and does not exclude other elements or items. The terms "connected" or "coupled" and the like are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections, nor are they restricted to direct or indirect connections.

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a system 100 for controlling a target device according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The system 100 may include a transmitting device 110 and a receiving device 120. The transmitting device 110 and the receiving device 120 may be disposed at different positions as long as the distance therebetween is within a range capable of communicating using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the transmitting device 110 may include a switching unit 111 and a BLE module 112. The switching unit 111 is capable of switching between two or more states. In the case of two states, there may be states representing on and off. In the case of more than two states, there may be an off state and a plurality of on states of different degrees. For example, in case the target device is a luminaire, the luminaire may have a plurality of states related, darker, medium brightness, brighter, brightest, etc., and thus the switching unit for controlling the luminaire may also have a plurality of corresponding switching states. The Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module 112 may be configured to transmit the data packet via the broadcast channel in response to the switching unit being switched.

The data packet may include at least identification bits and data bits. The identification bits may be used to write identification data representing the identity of the transmitting device in order to prevent different transmitting devices from being scrambled. The data bits may be used to write the MAC address of the target device. Referring to fig. 2, an example encoding format of a data packet broadcast by transmitting device 110 is shown. In this example, the encoding format may consist of an AD data structure. Each of the AD data structures is divided into a length field, an AD type field, and an AD data field. The aforementioned identification bits and data bits may be included in the AD data field. In this example, the AD type field may be 0x09 or 0xFF, either by Complete Local Name (Complete Local Name) or vendor custom data transfer. Alternatively, the AD data field may be encrypted using a technique such as a symmetric encryption algorithm.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the receiving apparatus 120 may include a memory 121 and a pairing module 122. The pairing module 122 may be configured to listen to a broadcast channel to receive data packets broadcast by the transmitting device 110. Upon receiving the data packet, the pairing module 122 may be configured to determine whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct. For example, whether the identification data is correct may be determined by: the identification data in the packet is looked up in memory 121 and if the identification data is present in memory 121, the identification data in the packet is determined to be correct. Upon determining that the identification data is correct, the pairing module 122 may be configured to parse the MAC address from the data bits of the data packet and store the MAC address in the memory 121 in association with the identification data. If the identification data in the data packet is incorrect or the identification data is not present in the data packet, no further action is taken with respect to the data packet (e.g., the data packet may be discarded).

In an embodiment of the present invention, the broadcast channels include only 37, 38, and 39 channels corresponding to 2402MHz, 2026MHz, and 3480MHz, respectively.

The system for controlling a target device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described above. The system breaks through the constraint of adopting BLE standard specification to carry out data communication, and adopts one-way transmission between the transmitting end and the receiving end, so that the system can be widely applied to transmitting devices with low power consumption, kinetic energy driving and solar energy driving. In the prior art, a receiving end device and a transmitting end device adopting BLE communication standard specification utilize broadcast channels 37-39 and data channels 0-36 to perform bidirectional data transmission so as to complete bidirectional pairing, and the requirement on energy supply of the transmitting device is high, so that the transmitting device with part of energy storage power supply, kinetic energy power supply or solar energy power supply cannot meet the pairing condition of BLE. The system of the application only utilizes the broadcast channel to carry out pairing and binding and data transmission in a BLE broadcast one-way mode, and the problems in the prior art are solved.

Fig. 3 shows a block diagram of a system 300 for controlling a target device according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Most details of the system 300 for controlling a target device according to the second exemplary embodiment are the same as those of the system 100 for controlling a target device according to the first exemplary embodiment, and are not described herein again. Differences of the second embodiment from the first embodiment are mainly described below.

System 300 may include a transmitting device 310 and a receiving device 320. The transmitting device 310 and the receiving device 320 may be arranged at different locations. The transmitting device 310 may include a switching unit 311 and a BLE module 312. The switching unit 311 is capable of switching between two or more states. The Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module 312 may be configured to transmit data packets via broadcast channels (such as the three broadcast channels 37, 38, 39 of 2.4G BLE bluetooth) in response to the switching unit 311 being switched.

The data packet may include identification bits and data bits. The identification bits may be used to write identification data representing the identity of the transmitting device in order to prevent different transmitting devices from being scrambled. The data bits may be used to write control data corresponding to the current state of the switching unit 311. For example, the control data may be in 16-ary format, i.e. may be any two different values in a data range of 0x00-0xff to represent the off or on state of the switching cell, respectively. Note that the control data of the present invention is not limited to this, and may be data of a plurality of different 16-ary formats defined in advance as a plurality of states representing the switching unit 311.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the receiving apparatus 320 is a long-distance power-on device, and can operate and control the target device according to the MAC address. The receiving device 320 may include a memory 321 and a control module 322. The memory 321 has stored therein a MAC address and identification data associated therewith. The operation mode of the receiving device 320 may be divided into a pairing mode and an operation mode. In the operating mode, the control module 322 may be configured to listen to broadcast channels (such as the three broadcast channels 37, 38, 39 of 2.4G BLE bluetooth) to receive data packets broadcast by the transmitting device 310. After receiving the data packet, the control module 322 may determine whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct. For example, whether the identification data is correct may be determined by: the identification data in the data packet is looked for in the memory 321 and if the identification data is present in the memory 321, the identification data in the data packet is determined to be correct. If the identification data in the data packet is incorrect or the identification data is not present in the data packet, no further action is taken with respect to the data packet (e.g., the data packet may be discarded). If the identification data is correct, the control module 322 may determine whether a MAC address associated with the identification data is stored in the memory 321. If it is determined that the memory 321 has a MAC address stored therein in association with the identification data, the control module 322 may read data bits in the data packet to obtain control data. After getting the control data, the control module 322 may manipulate the target device corresponding to the MAC address based on the control data and the MAC address.

The target device may be a device that needs to be controlled (e.g., switched on and off, switched between multiple states), such as a household appliance and a lighting fixture.

The system for controlling a target device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described above. The system breaks through the constraint of adopting BLE standard specification to carry out data communication, and adopts one-way transmission between the transmitting end and the receiving end, so that the system can be widely applied to transmitting devices with low power consumption, kinetic energy driving and solar energy driving. In the prior art, a receiving end device and a transmitting end device adopting the BLE communication standard specification utilize broadcast channels 37-39 and data channels 0-36 to perform bidirectional data transmission, which has a high energy supply requirement on a transmitting device, so that a part of transmitting devices powered by energy storage, kinetic energy or solar energy cannot meet the transmission condition of BLE. The system of the application only utilizes the broadcast channel to transmit data in a BLE broadcast one-way mode, and realizes that the BLE transmitting device and the receiving device with lower energy consumption are utilized to control the target equipment.

Optionally, the data bits in the data packet broadcast by the transmitting device 310 may also contain the MAC address of the target device. In this case, if the control module 322 determines that the MAC address associated with the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is not stored in the memory 321, the reception apparatus 320 may switch to the pairing mode. In pairing mode, the control module 322 may be configured to parse the MAC address from the data bits and store the MAC address in the memory 321 in association with the identification data, thereby completing the pairing. After the completion of the configuration, the receiving device 320 can be switched to the operating mode. Thereby, an automatic switching of the receiving device 320 between the pairing mode and the operation mode may be achieved, which is advantageous in case of pairing a plurality of transmitting devices with a single receiving device, which may avoid repeated operations of a user for a plurality of manual pairings.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the receiving device 320 may be manually switched between the pairing mode and the operating mode. For example, the receiving device 320 may also include a mode switch 323 (optional, and thus shown in phantom in fig. 3) to implement the active pairing requirements of the user. Mode switch 323 may be configured to switch between an operating mode and a pairing mode. In this case, the control module 322 may be configured to, in response to the operation of switching the mode switcher 323 to the pairing mode: monitoring a broadcast channel to receive a data packet; judging whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct or not; and in response to the correct identification data, the MAC address is parsed from the data bits and stored in memory 321. Control module 322 may also be configured to, in response to the operation of switching mode switch 323 to the active mode: monitoring a broadcast channel to receive a data packet; judging whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct or not; in response to the correct identification data, it is determined whether a MAC address associated with the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is stored in the memory 321; in response to determining that the memory stores a MAC address associated with the identification data, reading data bits in the data packet to obtain control data; and manipulating the destination device corresponding to the MAC address based on the control data and the MAC address.

Alternatively, the data bits may be encrypted using a symmetric encryption algorithm. In this case, the control module 322 may also be configured to read the control data and/or the MAC address in the data bits by decrypting the data bits.

Alternatively, the receiving arrangement 320 may be arranged in a bluetooth network. The bluetooth network may be an already established BLE MESH network and may include one or more BLE gateways and/or user bluetooth devices.

Optionally, the receiving device 320 may further include a forwarding module. The forwarding module may be configured to forward the data packet received from the transmitting device to the gateway 330 and/or the user equipment 340 in the BLE MESH network. In this way, the gateway 330 or the user device 340 can know how to control the target device, so as to send the same type of data packets to control the target device later. For example, the gateway or the user equipment may send the received data packet to the receiving device 320 as it is so as to perform the same operation on the target device. Alternatively, the gateway or user device may modify the values of the control data in the data bits of the data packet and then send the modified data packet to the receiving device 320 for other operations on the target device. Gateway 330 may be, for example, a device such as a smart speaker with BLE capabilities. The user device 340 may be, for example, a bluetooth enabled smart phone or tablet. The receiving device 320, gateway 330, and/or user equipment 340 may be configured to form the bluetooth network (e.g., BLE MESH network) described above.

Thus, the system 300 for controlling a target device described above has a general networking function, and is applicable to a general bluetooth product. In particular, the receiving apparatus 320 in the system 300 can implement the communication between the user equipment or the cloud and the target equipment without adding a Wi-Fi module, thereby effectively reducing the receiving end cost.

Similar to the system, the invention also provides a corresponding method.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method 400 for controlling a target device according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a pairing interaction flow according to the method 400 of FIG. 4. The method 400 may include the following steps S410 to S450.

As shown in fig. 4, in step S410, a data packet is transmitted by the transmitting device via a broadcast channel. In particular, the transmitting device may broadcast the data packets via channels 37, 38, 39. The data packet may include identification bits and data bits, and the data bits include the MAC address of the destination device. Alternatively, the encoding format of the data packet may be composed of an AD data structure, and the data packet may include a length field, an AD type field, and an AD data field, wherein the identification bits and the data bits may be included in the AD data field. In some embodiments of the invention, the AD type field may be 0x09 or 0 xFF.

In step S420, the broadcast channel is listened to by the receiving device to receive the data packet. Specifically, the receiving device performs data packet grabbing on channels 37, 38, and 39.

In step S430, it is determined by the receiving device whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct.

In response to the correct identification data, the MAC address is parsed from the data bits by the receiving device in step S440.

In step S450, the MAC address is stored in the memory by the receiving apparatus. The memory may be local to the receiving device or may be located remotely from the receiving device.

The method for controlling a target device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is described above. The method breaks through the constraint of adopting BLE standard specification to carry out data communication, and adopts unidirectional transmission between the transmitting terminal and the receiving terminal, so that the method can be widely applied to transmitting devices with low power consumption, kinetic energy driving and solar energy driving. In the prior art, a receiving end device and a transmitting end device adopting BLE communication standard specification utilize broadcast channels 37-39 and data channels 0-36 to perform bidirectional data transmission so as to complete bidirectional pairing, and the requirement on energy supply of the transmitting device is high, so that the transmitting device with part of energy storage power supply, kinetic energy power supply or solar energy power supply cannot meet the pairing condition of BLE. The method solves the problems in the prior art by using the 37/38/39 broadcast channel for pairing and data transmission in a BLE broadcast unidirectional mode.

Fig. 6 shows a block diagram of a method 600 for controlling a target device according to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a control method interaction flow according to the method 600 of fig. 6 and optional steps. The method 600 may include the following steps S610 to S660.

As shown in fig. 6, in step S610, a data packet is transmitted by the transmitting device via a broadcast channel. The data packet may include identification bits and data bits, and the data bits include control data corresponding to the current state of the switching unit. The switching unit may be local to the transmitting device or may be located remotely from the transmitting device.

In step S620, the broadcast channel is listened to by the receiving device to receive the data packet.

In step S630, it is determined by the receiving device whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct.

In step S640, in response to the correct identification data, it is determined by the receiving device whether a MAC address associated with the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is stored in the memory.

In step S650, in response to determining that the memory stores the MAC address associated with the identification data, data bits in the data packet are read by the receiving device for control data.

In step S660, the destination device corresponding to the MAC address is handled by the receiving apparatus based on the control data and the MAC address.

Optionally, the data bits in the data packet broadcast by the transmitting device may also contain the MAC address of the target device. In this case, if the reception apparatus determines that the MAC address associated with the identification data in the identification bit in the packet is not stored in the memory, the reception apparatus can switch to the pairing mode. In the pairing mode, the method 600 may further include: in response to determining that the memory does not have a MAC address stored therein that is associated with the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet, the MAC address is parsed from the data bits and stored in the memory by the receiving device, thereby completing the pairing. After the completion of the configuration, the receiving apparatus may be switched to the operating mode to perform the above steps S620 to S660.

Alternatively, the data bits may be encrypted using a symmetric encryption algorithm. In this case, the data bits in the data packet may be read to obtain the control data by: the data bits are read by the receiving device by decrypting the data bits.

Optionally, the method 600 may further include: the receiving device is configured into a bluetooth network. The bluetooth network may be a populated BLE MESH network and may include one or more BLE gateways and/or user bluetooth devices.

Optionally, the method 600 may further include: the data packet is forwarded by the receiving device to the gateway and/or the user equipment. Specifically, the receiving device may forward the data packet received from the transmitting device to a gateway and/or a user equipment in the BLE MESH network. In this way, the gateway or the ue can know how to control the target device, so that the same type of data packet can be transmitted later to control the target device. Thus, optionally, the method 600 may further comprise: the target device is controlled by the gateway and/or the user device by sending data packets or modified data packets to the receiving device via the bluetooth network. For example, the gateway or the user equipment may send the received data packet to the receiving apparatus as it is so as to perform the same operation on the target device. Alternatively, the gateway or user device may modify the values of the control data in the data bits of the data packet and then send the modified data packet to the receiving device for other operations on the target device. The gateway may be, for example, a device such as a smart speaker with BLE capabilities. The user device may be, for example, a bluetooth enabled smart phone or tablet. The receiving device, gateway and/or user equipment may be configured to form the bluetooth network (e.g., BLE MESH network) described above.

Thus, the method 600 for controlling a target device described above has a general networking function, and is applicable to general bluetooth products. Particularly, by using the method 600, the receiving apparatus can realize the communication between the user equipment or the cloud and the receiving apparatus to control the target equipment without adding a Wi-Fi module, thereby effectively reducing the cost of the receiving end.

Thus far, a system and method for controlling a target device according to the present invention has been described. The system and the method are based on the Bluetooth BLE communication technology, but solve the problems that the existing Bluetooth BLE is complex to pair and the ultra-low power consumption product cannot be controlled, and have the BLE MESH networking capability. The system and method of the present invention can be applied to: electrician (intelligent switch, socket, etc.), intelligent home communications, internet of things, industrial control, etc.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the present specific embodiments, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments are merely illustrative of the present invention, and various equivalent changes and substitutions may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and therefore, changes and modifications to the above embodiments within the spirit of the invention are intended to fall within the scope of the claims of the present application.

Claims

1. A system for controlling a target device, comprising:

a transmitting device, the transmitting device comprising:

a switching unit capable of switching between two or more states; and

a Bluetooth Low energy module configured to transmit a data packet via a broadcast channel in response to the switching unit being switched, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including a MAC address of a target device; and

a receiving apparatus, the receiving apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a pairing module configured to:

monitoring the broadcast channel to receive the data packet;

determining whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct;

resolving the MAC address from the data bits in response to correct identification data; and is

Storing the MAC address in the memory.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the broadcast channels comprise only 37, 38, and 39 channels corresponding to 2402MHz, 2026MHz, and 3480MHz, respectively.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the encoding format of the data packet consists of an AD data structure, and the data packet includes a length field, an AD type field, and an AD data field, wherein the identification bits and the data bits are contained in the AD data field.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the AD type field is 0x09 or 0 xFF.

5. A system for controlling a target device, comprising:

a transmitting device, the transmitting device comprising:

a switching unit capable of switching between two or more states; and

a Bluetooth Low energy module configured to transmit a data packet via a broadcast channel in response to the switching unit being switched, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including control data corresponding to a current state of the switching unit; and

a receiving apparatus, the receiving apparatus comprising:

a memory storing a MAC address and identification data associated therewith; and

a control module configured to:

monitoring the broadcast channel to receive the data packet;

in response to correct identification data, determining whether a MAC address associated with identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is stored in the memory;

in response to determining that the memory stores a MAC address associated with the identification data, reading the data bits in the data packet for control data; and is

Manipulating a target device corresponding to the MAC address based on the control data and the MAC address.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the data bits further include a MAC address of the target device, and the control module is further configured to, in response to determining that a MAC address associated with identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is not stored in the memory, parse the MAC address from the data bits and store the MAC address in the memory.

7. A system for controlling a target device, comprising:

a transmitting device, the transmitting device comprising:

a switching unit capable of switching between two or more states; and

a Bluetooth Low energy module configured to transmit a data packet via a broadcast channel in response to the switching unit being switched, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including control data corresponding to a current state of the switching unit and a MAC address of a target device; and

a receiving apparatus, the receiving apparatus comprising:

a memory storing a MAC address and identification data associated therewith;

a mode switcher configured to switch between an operating mode and a pairing mode; and

a control module configured to, in response to an operation of switching the mode switcher to the pairing mode:

monitoring the broadcast channel to receive the data packet;

determining whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct; and is

In response to correct identification data, parsing the MAC address from the data bits and storing the MAC address in the memory,

the control module is further configured to, in response to switching the mode switcher to the operating mode:

monitoring the broadcast channel to receive the data packet;

8. The system of claim 5 or 7, wherein the data bits are encrypted using a symmetric encryption algorithm, and the control module is further configured to read the data bits by decrypting the data bits.

9. The system of claim 5 or 7, wherein the receiving means is configured into a bluetooth network, the bluetooth network comprising gateways and/or user equipment.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the receiving means further comprises a forwarding module configured to forward the data packet to the gateway and/or user device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the gateway and/or user device is configured to send the data packet or modified data packet to the receiving apparatus over a bluetooth network to manipulate the target device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the modified data packet differs from the original data packet in that the control data in the data bits is different.

13. A method for controlling a target device, comprising:

transmitting, by a transmitting device, a data packet via a broadcast channel, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including a MAC address of a target device;

listening, by a receiving device, to the broadcast channel to receive the data packet;

determining, by the receiving device, whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct;

parsing, by the receiving device, the MAC address from the data bits in response to correct identification data; and

storing, by the receiving device, the MAC address in a memory.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the broadcast channels comprise only 37, 38, and 39 channels corresponding to 2402MHz, 2026MHz, and 3480MHz, respectively.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the encoding format of the data packet consists of an AD data structure, and the data packet includes a length field, an AD type field, and an AD data field, wherein the identification bits and the data bits are contained in the AD data field.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the AD type field is 0x09 or 0 xFF.

17. A method for controlling a target device, comprising:

transmitting, by a transmitting device, a data packet via a broadcast channel, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including control data corresponding to a current state of a switching unit;

determining, by the receiving device, in response to correct identification data, whether a MAC address associated with identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is stored in memory;

reading, by the receiving device, the data bits in the data packet for control data in response to determining that the memory stores a MAC address associated with the identification data; and

manipulating, by the receiving apparatus, a target device corresponding to the MAC address based on the control data and the MAC address.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the data bits further contain a MAC address of the target device, and further comprising: in response to determining that a MAC address associated with identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is not stored in the memory, parsing, by the receiving device, the MAC address from the data bits and storing the MAC address in the memory.

19. A method for controlling a target device, comprising:

transmitting, by a transmitting device, a data packet via a broadcast channel, wherein the data packet includes identification bits and data bits, the data bits including control data corresponding to a current state of a switching unit and a MAC address of a target device;

determining, by the receiving device, whether the identification data in the identification bits in the data packet is correct; and

when the receiving device is in pairing mode:

reading, by the receiving device, the MAC address from the data bits and storing the MAC address in the memory in response to correct identification data; or

When the receiving device is in an operational mode:

reading, by the receiving device, the data bits in the data packet for control data in response to determining that the memory stores a MAC address associated with the identification data; and is

20. The method of claim 17 or 19, wherein the data bits are encrypted using a symmetric encryption algorithm, and reading the data bits in the data packet by the receiving device comprises: reading, by the receiving device, the data bits by decrypting the data bits.

21. The method of claim 17 or 19, wherein the method further comprises: the receiving device is configured into a bluetooth network, which comprises a gateway and/or a user equipment.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises: forwarding, by the receiving device, the data packet to the gateway and/or user equipment.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises: and sending the data packet or the modified data packet to the receiving device through a Bluetooth network by the gateway and/or the user equipment to control the target equipment.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the modified data packet differs from the original data packet in that the control data in the data bits is different.