KR102171349B1 - Multi-mode driving apparatus and method of BLE hub - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a multi-mode driving apparatus of a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) hub for supporting all three modes of a connection mode, a scanner mode, and a beacon mode with one BLE hub. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the multi-mode driving apparatus of a BLE hub may comprise: a first control unit for controlling to perform connection mode communication with each BLE device according to a connection interval (CI) period; a calculation unit for calculating a connection free period (CFP) based on the connection mode communication; and a second control unit for controlling to selectively perform scanner mode communication and beacon mode communication by time division during the calculated CFP.

Description

Multi-mode driving apparatus and method of BLE hub TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a technology for driving a BLE hub in a multi-mode, and more particularly, one BLE hub is a connection mode, a scanner mode, and a beacon mode. It relates to a multi-mode driving apparatus and method of a BLE hub for supporting all three modes of.

In general, Internet of Things (IoT), which connects and controls things (or IoT devices) to a single network, is utilized in various places and provides various services to users. When IoT is applied to a residential area, various sensors are attached to devices inside the home to automatically control the environment inside the home, thereby increasing user convenience. When IoT is applied to the industrial field, accurate repetitive work is possible without manual control through automation, thereby increasing the production volume and efficiency of work. In this way, IoT can improve the quality of life of users by providing accurate and convenient services to users.

As IoT is recently activated, as shown in Fig. 1, a large number of terminals are connected using WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network) technology in narrowband service areas, and wired Ethernet technology or 5G technology is used for connection to the Internet. The composition of the IoT service system used is expanding.

In addition, in the configuration of the IoT service system as shown in FIG. 1, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), ZigBee, Zwave, etc. are used as WPAN technologies. Among them, BLE technology is particularly noteworthy because it can be interlocked with a smartphone. It's the technology you're getting.

The BLE technology provides three operation modes as shown in (a) (b) (c) of FIG. 2, and generally, a service is implemented in a form in which one operation mode is used in one service. For example, in a BLE thing (or referred to as a BLE device or IoT device) remote control service, a connection mode as shown in (a) of FIG. 2 is used, and in a service that monitors sensing information such as temperature and humidity, (b) of FIG. In a service that issues coupons to customers passing in front of a store in a scanner mode and in a shopping mall, as shown in ), the service is implemented in a manner using a beacon mode as shown in FIG. 2C.

Recently, efforts are being made to support all three modes described above with one BLE hub due to the improvement of CPU performance, and the present invention also proposes a technology that enables one BLE hub to support all three modes described above. do.

Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-2018-0081307 (2018.07.16.)

The present invention was created in consideration of the above-described technical background, and its purpose is to support all three modes of a connection mode, a scanner mode, and a beacon mode with one BLE hub. It is to provide a multi-mode driving apparatus and method for a BLE hub.

In order to achieve the above object, a multi-mode driving apparatus for a BLE hub according to an aspect of the present invention includes: a first control unit for controlling to perform connection mode communication according to a CI (Connection Interval) period with each BLE device; A calculation unit for calculating a Connection Free Period (CFP) based on the connection mode communication; And a second control unit for controlling to selectively perform scanner mode communication and beacon mode communication by time division during the calculated CFP.

For example, if the calculated CFP is less than a sum of a preset beacon mode maintenance time and a preset mode conversion time (x2), the second control unit may control not to perform the conversion to beacon mode communication, For example, if the calculated CFP is less than the sum of a preset beacon mode maintenance time and a preset mode conversion time, and is less than the preset mode conversion time, it is possible to control not to perform the conversion to scanner mode communication, and As another example, if the state of non-conversion to the scanner mode communication is repeated a preset number of times, the current connection mode is stopped at least once, and the scanner mode communication and the beacon mode are time-divided until the next CI, that is, during the calculated CFP x 2 It can be controlled to selectively perform communication.

In order to achieve the above object, a multi-mode driving method of a BLE hub according to another aspect of the present invention includes: (a) controlling to perform connection mode communication according to a CI (Connection Interval) period with each BLE device; (b) calculating a Connection Free Period (CFP) based on the connection mode communication; And (c) time-dividing the calculated CFP to selectively perform scanner mode communication and beacon mode communication.

In the step (c), if the calculated CFP is less than a sum of a preset beacon mode maintenance time and a preset mode change time (x2), the conversion to beacon mode communication may be controlled not to be performed.

In the step (c), if the calculated CFP is less than the sum of the preset beacon mode retention time and the preset mode conversion time (x2), and is less than the preset mode conversion time (x2), the scanner mode communication is performed. Switching can be controlled not to be performed.

In the step (c), if the state of non-switching to the scanner mode communication is repeated (a preset number of times), the current connection mode is stopped at least once and time-divided until the next CI, that is, for the calculated CFP x 2 It is possible to control to selectively perform scanner mode communication and beacon mode communication.

In order to achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing the multi-mode driving method of the BLE hub in a computer.

In order to achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, an application stored in a computer-readable recording medium may be provided in order to execute the multi-mode driving method of the BLE hub in combination with hardware.

In order to achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, a computer program stored in a computer-readable recording medium may be provided in order to execute the multi-mode driving method of the BLE hub in a computer.

As described above, according to various aspects of the present invention, a single BLE hub can support all three modes of a connection mode, a scanner mode, and a beacon mode. Accordingly, it is possible to provide various types of services through a single BLE hub, thereby reducing costs and furthermore, there is an effect that it can be used to discover new services in various scenarios.

1 is a configuration diagram for explaining an example of an IoT service system,
2 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an operation mode of a general BLE hub,
3 is a configuration diagram of a multi-mode driving system of a BLE hub according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
4 is a configuration diagram of a multi-mode driving apparatus for a BLE hub according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, (the device 40 is provided in the BLE hub 4 of FIG. 3 as an example)
5 is a conceptual diagram of processing a connection interval (CI) in a connection mode according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;
6 is a conceptual diagram illustrating multi-mode processing in a BLE hub according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In adding reference numerals to elements of each drawing, the same elements are to have the same numerals as possible even if they are indicated on different drawings. In addition, when it is determined that a detailed description of a known configuration or function related to an embodiment of the present invention may obscure the subject matter of the present invention, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

3 is a block diagram of a multi-mode driving system of a BLE hub according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, as shown in the drawing, including a communication network 3, a BLE hub 4, and a BLE device 5 can do.

The communication network 3 represents a network for allowing one or more BLE devices 5 to communicate with a remote server or other device through the BLE hub 4.

The BLE hub 4 represents a hub device for connecting one or more BLE devices 5 to the communication network 3, and for each BLE device 5, a connection mode, a scanner mode mode), and beacon mode.

The BLE device 5 represents one or more devices that connect to and communicate with the BLE hub 4 in a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) method, and each BLE device #1 to #N (5) is, for example, 3 of BLE. It can operate in at least one of branch modes, that is, a connection mode, a scanner mode, and a beacon mode.

4 is a block diagram of a multi-mode driving apparatus 40 of a BLE hub according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and the apparatus 40 is provided and operated in the BLE hub 4 of FIG. 3 as an example. As shown in, it may include a first control unit 41, a calculation unit 43, and a second control unit 45.

The first control unit 41 is for controlling to perform connection mode communication according to the CI (Connection Interval) period with each BLE device 5, for example, the connection mode among the three modes of BLE Since the BLE hub 4 and the BLE device 5 must communicate with each other defined in CI (Connection Interval) period, the first control unit 41 always checks the CI and whenever there is a connection mode. It must be controlled to enable communication, and this will be described with reference to FIG. 5 as follows.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the first control unit 41 connects to the BLE device #1 (5) whenever the BLE hub 4 reaches a predetermined cycle of CI #1, Control to perform connection mode communication, and control to perform bidirectional connection mode communication for a certain period of time by connecting to BLE device #2(5) whenever the BLE hub (4) reaches the preset CI #2 cycle. I can.

For reference, the CI (Connection Interval) is a value determined when the BLE device 5 is paired with the BLE hub 4. As the number of BLE devices 5 connected to the BLE hub 4 in a connection mode increases, bidirectional communication between the BLE hub 4 and the BLE device 5 will naturally increase. However, in the IoT service, since the amount of data exchanged through two-way communication is very small, the CFP (Connection Free Period) period specified in FIG. 5 is maintained for a very long time and occurs frequently. Accordingly, a beacon mode and a scanner mode may be selectively operated using this CFP section so that all three modes can be supported by one BLE hub 4.

Therefore, in the case of bidirectional connection mode communication between the BLE hub 4 and the BLE device 5 under the control of the first control unit 41, the connection free period, which is a connection free period, through the calculation unit 43 ) Is calculated, and the second control unit 45 time-divisions during the calculated CFP to selectively perform scanner mode communication and beacon mode communication.

Here, the meaning of selectively operating the beacon mode and the scanner mode means that the condition is determined, and depending on the condition, both the beacon mode and the scanner mode are performed in the corresponding CFP section, or only one mode may be performed in the corresponding CFP section depending on the condition. If the condition is not satisfied, it means that the operation includes not performing both modes in the corresponding CFP section. Depending on the situation, other modes may not work in some CFP sections, but if you look at several CFP sections in a row, you can operate in beacon mode and scanner mode in them, which in conclusion can support all three modes. .

The second control unit 45 includes, for example, a pre-set beacon mode maintenance time (for example, the Beacon Period in FIG. 6) and a pre-set mode conversion time (for example, the CFP calculated through the calculation unit 43). If it is less than the sum of P-sb and P-bc of FIG. 6, the switch to beacon mode communication is controlled not to be performed (hereinafter, time division condition 1), and as another example, the CFP calculated by the calculation unit 43 is used. It is less than the sum of the set beacon mode maintenance time (for example, Beacon Period in Fig. 6) and the preset mode change time (for example, P-sb, P-bc in Fig. 6) and the preset mode change time If it is smaller than (for example, P_cs, P_sb in FIG. 6), it is possible to control not to perform switching to the scanner mode communication (hereinafter, time division condition 2).

The second control unit 45, as another example, stops the current connection mode at least once when the non-switching state to the scanner mode communication is repeated a preset number of times, that is, until the next CI time point, that is, the calculation unit 43 During the calculated CFP x 2, the scanner mode communication and the beacon mode communication may be selectively performed by time division based on the method of time division conditions 1 and 2 described above.

6 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a multi-mode processing method in a multi-mode driving apparatus of a BLE hub according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 6, a multi-mode driving method of the present invention is described, but the method Since is applied to the multi-mode driving device 40 of the BLE hub 4 of FIG. 4, it will be described in parallel with the operations of the corresponding devices 4 and 40.

1) First, the multi-mode driving device 40 of the BLE hub 4 pre-sets a beacon mode retention time (t5-t4). The beacon mode retention time (t5-t4) is a time required to transmit the Beacon signal once, and can be set when the BLE hub 4 is developed.

2) Next, set the time required for mode conversion P_cs=t2-t1, P_sb=t4-t3, and P_bc=t6-t5. The time required for mode switching is the time required for the BLE hub 4 to switch to a mode, and can be set when the BLE hub 4 is developed. In FIG. 6, P_cs represents the time t2-t1 required to switch from the connection mode to the scanner mode, P_sb represents the time t4-t3 required to switch from the scanner mode to the beacon mode, and P_bc represents the time required to switch from the beacon mode to the connection mode. Represents the required time t6-t5.

3) Next, the CFP (Connection Free Period) is calculated as follows based on the connection mode communication.

3-1) CI of the BLE device (for example, BLE device #1 in FIG. 6) to communicate in the next connection mode after the BLE device (BLE device #2 in FIG. 6) that is currently communicating or to communicate in connection mode Confirm the arrival point (t6).

3-2) The communication completion time t1 of the BLE device (BLE device #2 of FIG. 6), which is being communicated or to be communicated with, in the current connection mode by reaching the CI is checked.

3-3) Therefore, CFP = t6 ?? Calculate CFP according to the formula of t1.

4) Next, the time point t3 at which the scanner mode should be terminated is calculated as follows.

4-1) Calculate the'total time required for beacon mode = beacon mode retention time (t5-t4) + P_sb + P_bc'.

4-2)'Scanner mode end point (t3) = t6 ?? Calculate the total time required for the Beacon mode (4-1 above).

5) Based on the time information calculated through the processes of 1) to 4) described above, the multi-mode driving device 40 changes the mode of the BLE hub 4 according to the following priority order to change one BLE hub. It can support all three modes.

5-1) Connection mode communication is performed when the CI period with each BLE device 5 is reached.

5-2) CFP is calculated each time a connection mode communication with each BLE device 5 is performed.

5-3) If the calculated CFP is less than the'total time required for the beacon mode' in 4-1), the conversion to the beacon mode is not performed.

5-4) If the calculated CFP is less than the'Total time required for Beacon mode' in 4-1) and less than'P_cs+P_sb', it does not switch to the scanner mode.

5-5) If it is not the case of 5-3) or 5-4), as shown in FIG. 6, mode switching is performed, and the three modes are controlled to operate in time division.

5-6) If the case of 5-4) continues to occur and the change to the scanner mode does not occur, the connection mode to be converted from the current point of time is stopped once and the next Until the CI point, the scanner mode and beacon mode are performed. For reference, even if the connection mode is stopped once, the connection between the BLE hub 4 and the BLE device 5 is not disconnected.

Meanwhile, according to the multi-mode processing method in the multi-mode driving apparatus of the BLE hub according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention described above, a computer-readable recording medium in which a program for executing the method in a computer is recorded can be implemented. .

On the other hand, according to the multi-mode processing method in the multi-mode driving apparatus of the BLE hub according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an application stored in a computer-readable recording medium is stored in order to execute the method in combination with hardware. Can be implemented.

On the other hand, according to the multi-mode processing method in the multi-mode driving apparatus of the BLE hub according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a computer program stored in a computer-readable recording medium is used to execute the method in a computer. Can be implemented.

For example, as described above, a multi-mode processing method in a multi-mode driving apparatus of a BLE hub according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a computer-readable recording including program instructions for performing operations implemented by various computers. It may be implemented as a medium or an application stored in such a recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium may include program instructions, local data files, local data structures, and the like alone or in combination. The recording medium may be specially designed and configured for the embodiment of the present invention, or may be known and usable to those skilled in computer software. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tapes, optical recording media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, magnetic-optical media such as floppy disks, and ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Hardware devices specially configured to store and execute the same program instructions are included. Examples of the program instructions may include not only machine language codes such as those produced by a compiler but also high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like.

The above description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains will be able to make various modifications and variations without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Accordingly, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the technical idea of the present invention, but to explain the technical idea, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be interpreted by the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope equivalent thereto should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

3: communication network
4: BLE hub
5: BLE device
40: multi-mode drive device
41; First control unit
43: calculation unit
45: second control unit

Claims (11)

A first control unit for controlling to perform connection mode communication with each BLE device according to a CI (Connection Interval) period;
A calculation unit for calculating a Connection Free Period (CFP) based on the connection mode communication; And
A second control unit for controlling to selectively perform scanner mode communication and beacon mode communication by time division during the calculated CFP;
Multi-mode driving apparatus of a BLE hub comprising a. The method of claim 1,
The second control unit controls the conversion to beacon mode communication not to be performed if the calculated CFP is less than a sum of a preset beacon mode maintenance time and a preset mode conversion time required. Device. The method of claim 2,
If the calculated CFP is less than a sum of a preset beacon mode maintenance time and a preset mode conversion time, and is less than the preset mode conversion time required, the second control unit controls not to perform the conversion to the scanner mode communication. Multi-mode driving device of a BLE hub, characterized in that. The method of claim 3,
When the non-switching state to the scanner mode communication is repeated a predetermined number of times, the second control unit stops the connection mode to be switched at least once at the current point in time and time-divisions until the next CI point to select scanner mode communication and beacon mode communication. Multi-mode driving apparatus of a BLE hub, characterized in that to control to perform. (a) controlling to perform connection mode communication according to a CI (Connection Interval) period with each BLE device;
(b) calculating a Connection Free Period (CFP) based on the connection mode communication; And
(c) controlling to selectively perform scanner mode communication and beacon mode communication by time-dividing during the calculated CFP;
Multi-mode driving method of a BLE hub comprising a. The method of claim 5,
The step (c) is a multi-mode of a BLE hub, characterized in that if the calculated CFP is less than a sum of a preset beacon mode maintenance time and a preset mode conversion time required, switching to beacon mode communication is not performed. Driving method. The method of claim 6,
In the step (c), if the calculated CFP is less than the sum of a preset beacon mode maintenance time and a preset mode conversion time, and is less than the preset mode conversion time required, the scanner mode communication is not switched to be performed. Multi-mode driving method of a BLE hub, characterized in that. The method of claim 7,
In the step (c), if the non-switching state to the scanner mode communication is repeated a preset number of times, the connection mode to be switched from the current point in time is stopped at least once and time-divided until the next CI point to perform scanner mode communication and beacon mode communication. Multi-mode driving method of a BLE hub, characterized in that the control to perform selectively. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing the multi-mode driving method of the BLE hub according to any one of claims 5 to 8 in a computer. An application stored in a computer-readable recording medium to execute the multi-mode driving method of the BLE hub according to any one of claims 5 to 8 in combination with hardware. A computer program stored in a computer-readable recording medium in order to execute the multi-mode driving method of the BLE hub according to any one of claims 5 to 8.

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