TW202222088A - Bluetooth communication system and related bluetooth devices capable of initiating auto-pairing procedure without using bluetooth advetising packets - Google Patents

Abstract

A Bluetooth communication system includes: an inquirer-side Bluetooth device arranged to operably generate and transmit a Bluetooth inquiry request; and a requester-side Bluetooth device arranged to operably receive and parse the Bluetooth inquiry request, and to operably generate and transmit a Frequency Hop Synchronization (FHS) packet containing a requester-side Bluetooth address and an Extended Inquiry Response (EIR) packet containing an auto-pairing request to the inquirer-side Bluetooth device. The inquirer-side Bluetooth device conducts an auto-pairing procedure with the requester-side Bluetooth device according to the contents of FHS packet and the EIR packet, but the inquirer-side Bluetooth device and the requester-side Bluetooth device does not switch to operating modes for transmitting or receiving Bluetooth advertising packets before conducting the auto-pairing procedure.

Description

A bluetooth communication system and related bluetooth device capable of initiating an automatic pairing procedure without using bluetooth advertisement packets

The present invention relates to Bluetooth communication technology, in particular to a Bluetooth communication system and related Bluetooth devices that do not need to switch to an operation mode of sending and receiving Bluetooth advertisement packets before starting an automatic pairing procedure.

In order to simplify the pairing procedure between Bluetooth devices, many Bluetooth auto-pairing technologies have been developed in the industry, for example, the Bluetooth auto-pairing technologies disclosed in US Pat. No. 10,645,740 and US Pat. No. 11,019,669. In the aforementioned patent, the two Bluetooth devices to be paired must transmit relevant data or commands through a specific Bluetooth advertising packet in order to activate the relevant automatic pairing procedure.

However, according to the content disclosed in the aforementioned patent, before the automatic pairing procedure is performed, the two Bluetooth devices must switch to a specific operation mode respectively to transmit or receive a specific Bluetooth advertisement packet, so the control is relatively complicated, and the entire automatic pairing is completed. The time required for the procedure may be difficult to meet the needs of some applications that require the Bluetooth pairing procedure to be completed in a shorter time.

On the other hand, it is well known that only Bluetooth devices supporting Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology can transmit and parse Bluetooth advertisement packets. In other words, it is difficult for a Bluetooth chip and a Bluetooth device that do not support the Bluetooth low energy technology to implement the automatic pairing function using the method of the aforementioned patent.

In view of this, how to greatly simplify the pairing procedure between two Bluetooth devices and enable the automatic pairing function between Bluetooth chips and Bluetooth devices that do not support Bluetooth low energy technology is a problem to be solved in the industry.

This specification provides an embodiment of a Bluetooth communication system, including: an interrogator Bluetooth device including: an interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit; an interrogator packet parsing circuit coupled to the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit; and an inquirer control circuit, coupled to the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit and the inquirer's packet analysis circuit, configured to generate a Bluetooth inquiry request, and to control the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit to send the Bluetooth inquiry request; and a request A bluetooth device, comprising: a requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit, configured to receive the Bluetooth query request; a requester packet parsing circuit, coupled to the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit, configured to parse the requester Bluetooth the Bluetooth query request received by the transmission and reception circuit; and a requester control circuit, coupled to the requester Bluetooth transmission circuit and the requester packet parsing circuit, configured to parse the Bluetooth at the requester packet parsing circuit After the inquiry request, a frequency hopping synchronization packet including a requester's Bluetooth address and an extended scan reply packet including an automatic pairing request are generated, and the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit can be controlled to transmit the frequency-hopping synchronization packet and the The extended scan reply packet is sent to the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit; wherein, the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit is configured to receive the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended scan reply packet, so that the inquirer's Bluetooth device and the requester's Bluetooth The device performs an automatic pairing procedure; wherein, the requester Bluetooth device does not switch to an operation mode for transmitting Bluetooth advertisement packets before the automatic pairing procedure, and the inquirer Bluetooth device performs the automatic pairing procedure. , without first switching to an operating mode for receiving Bluetooth advertising packets.

This specification also provides an embodiment of an interrogator Bluetooth device used in a Bluetooth communication system, which includes: an interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit; an interrogator packet parsing circuit coupled to the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit; and an interrogator control circuit, coupled to the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit and the interrogator packet parsing circuit, configured to generate a Bluetooth inquiry request, and to control the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit to send the Bluetooth inquiry request, wherein, After a requester Bluetooth device in the Bluetooth communication system receives the Bluetooth query request, the requester Bluetooth device transmits a frequency hopping synchronization packet including a requester Bluetooth address and an extension including an automatic pairing request A scan reply packet is sent to the inquirer's Bluetooth device; wherein, the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit is configured to receive the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended scan reply packet, so that the inquirer's Bluetooth device and the requester's Bluetooth device perform a communication An automatic pairing procedure; wherein, the Bluetooth device of the inquiring party does not switch to an operation mode for receiving a Bluetooth advertisement packet before performing the automatic pairing procedure.

This specification also provides an embodiment of a requester Bluetooth device used in a Bluetooth communication system, which includes: a requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit configured to receive a requester Bluetooth device in the Bluetooth communication system. a Bluetooth query request; a requester packet parsing circuit, coupled to the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit, configured to parse the Bluetooth query request received by the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit; and a requester control circuit, It is coupled to the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit and the requester's packet parsing circuit, and is configured to generate a frequency-hopping synchronization packet including a requester's Bluetooth address after the requester's packet parsing circuit parses the Bluetooth query request. and an extended scan reply packet including an automatic pairing request, and can control the requester's bluetooth transmission and reception circuit to transmit the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended scan reply packet to the inquirer's bluetooth device, so that the inquirer's bluetooth device and the The requester's Bluetooth device performs an automatic pairing procedure; wherein, the requester's Bluetooth device does not switch to an operation mode for transmitting Bluetooth advertisement packets before performing the automatic pairing procedure.

One of the advantages of the above embodiment is that the Bluetooth pairing procedure between the inquiring Bluetooth device and the requesting Bluetooth device can be effectively simplified, and the degree of user involvement is greatly reduced, which can improve the convenience of use.

Another advantage of the above embodiment is that since the inquiring Bluetooth device and the requesting Bluetooth device do not need to use Bluetooth advertising packets to transmit the data required for the automatic pairing process, there is no need to first switch to the Bluetooth for transmission or reception. A specific mode of operation for advertising packets. Therefore, in the aforementioned Bluetooth communication system, the automatic pairing procedure between the Bluetooth device of the inquiring party and the Bluetooth device of the requesting party can be completed in a shorter time.

Other advantages of the present invention will be explained in more detail in conjunction with the following description and drawings.

The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the relevant drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numbers refer to the same or similar elements or method flows.

FIG. 1 is a simplified functional block diagram of the Bluetooth communication system 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The Bluetooth communication system 100 includes an inquirer Bluetooth device 110 and a requester Bluetooth device 120 . In the embodiment of FIG. 1 , the interrogator Bluetooth device 110 includes an interrogator Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 , an interrogator packet parsing circuit 114 , an interrogator control circuit 116 , and an interrogator interface circuit 118 . The requester Bluetooth device 120 includes a requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 , a requester packet parsing circuit 124 , and a requester control circuit 126 .

In practice, both the inquirer Bluetooth device 110 and the requester Bluetooth device 120 may be stand-alone devices, or may be partial circuits integrated in other devices.

In the interrogator Bluetooth device 110, the interrogator Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 is configured to receive and transmit Bluetooth packets in different Bluetooth channels. The interrogator packet parsing circuit 114 is coupled to the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112, and is configured to parse the Bluetooth packets received by the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 to extract data, instructions, and/or data in the Bluetooth packets. information. The interrogator control circuit 116 is coupled to the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 and the interrogator packet parsing circuit 114 , and is configured to control the operations of the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 and the interrogator packet parsing circuit 114 . The interrogator interface circuit 118 is coupled to the interrogator control circuit 116 and an interrogator trigger device 130 , and is configured to receive the trigger signal generated by the interrogator trigger device 130 and to receive the trigger signal generated by the interrogator trigger device 130 Inquirer control circuit 116 is notified when

In practice, the different functional blocks in the bluetooth device 110 of the inquirer can be implemented by different circuits respectively, and can also be integrated into a single bluetooth communication chip. In addition, if necessary, the Bluetooth transceiver circuit 112 of the interrogator can also be coupled to an additional antenna device (not shown).

The aforementioned interrogator trigger device 130 can be implemented by various devices that can generate corresponding trigger signals according to the simple operation of the user, such as buttons, switches, remote controls, touch screens, voice control devices, gesture sensing devices, gyroscopes, Circuits using other trigger signal generation techniques, or combinations of various devices previously disclosed. In practice, the interrogator trigger device 130 may be disposed outside the interrogator Bluetooth device 110 , or may be integrated with some or all of the functional blocks in the interrogator Bluetooth device 110 .

In the requester Bluetooth device 120, the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 is configured to receive and transmit Bluetooth packets in different Bluetooth channels. The requester packet parsing circuit 124 is coupled to the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122, and is configured to parse the Bluetooth packets received by the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 to extract data, instructions, and/or Bluetooth packets. information. The requester control circuit 126 is coupled to the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 and the requester packet parsing circuit 124 , and is configured to control the operations of the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 and the requester packet parsing circuit 124 .

In practice, different functional blocks in the requester's Bluetooth device 120 may be implemented by different circuits, or may be integrated into a single Bluetooth communication chip. In addition, if necessary, the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 can also be coupled to an additional antenna device (not shown).

As we all know, the Bluetooth communication series standard only regulates the general Bluetooth device pairing procedure when the user intervenes (for example, selects the target device to be paired from a list of pairable devices), but does not specify how to do it without user intervention , let the two Bluetooth devices go through the automatic pairing procedure.

As mentioned above, the existing Bluetooth automatic pairing technology uses specific Bluetooth advertising packets to transmit the information required for automatic pairing, such as auxiliary advertising indication (auxiliary advertising indication, AUX_ADV_IND) packets, extended advertising indication (extended advertising indication, ADV_EXT_IND) ) packet, auxiliary chain indication (auxiliary chain indication, AUX_CHAIN_IND) packet, auxiliary scan response (auxiliary scan response, AUX_SCAN_RSP) packet, auxiliary synchronous indication (auxiliary synchronous indication, AUX_SYNC_IND) packet, etc.

In order to be able to generate or parse the aforementioned specific Bluetooth advertisement packets, the existing Bluetooth automatic pairing technology also requires two Bluetooth devices to switch to a specific operation mode before performing the automatic pairing procedure, for example, low-power extended passive scanning (LE Extended Passive Scan) mode, LE Extended Active Scan mode, LE Extended Initiator mode, Scannable mode, Periodic Advertising mode . In addition, the operating modes of the two Bluetooth devices must be a specific combination.

Obviously, the existing Bluetooth automatic pairing technology is not only complicated in control, but also both Bluetooth devices must support the Bluetooth low energy technology that the Bluetooth 4.0 standard began to appear in order to perform the automatic pairing process.

In order to solve the shortcomings of the existing Bluetooth automatic pairing technology, the previously disclosed Bluetooth communication system 100 adopts different mechanisms to realize the automatic pairing function.

The pairing method of the Bluetooth devices in the Bluetooth communication system 100 will be further described below with reference to FIG. 2 . FIG. 2 is a simplified flowchart of the method for automatic pairing of Bluetooth devices according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In the flowchart of FIG. 2 , the process in the column to which a specific device belongs represents the process performed by the specific device. For example, the part in the field labeled "Inquiring Bluetooth Device" represents the process performed by the Inquiring Bluetooth Device 110; the part in the field labeled "Requesting Bluetooth Device" represents the process performed by the Requesting Bluetooth Device 120 process in progress. The aforementioned logic is also applicable to other subsequent flowcharts.

During operation, the requester control circuit 126 of the requester Bluetooth device 120 may perform the process 202 at an appropriate time point according to the user's operation or the operation command preset by the internal program.

In the process 202, the requester control circuit 126 controls the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 to enter an inquiry scan mode to detect whether there are other Bluetooth devices in the vicinity sending a Bluetooth inquiry request.

In this case, if the user wants to use the bluetooth device 110 of the inquirer to automatically pair with the bluetooth device 120 of the requester, the user can perform a specific operation on the inquirer trigger device 130 so that the inquirer trigger device 130 can generate a corresponding trigger Signal. At this time, the interrogator interface circuit 118 will perform the process 204 to receive the trigger signal generated by the interrogator trigger device 130 and notify the interrogator control circuit 116 of the trigger signal.

When the inquirer control circuit 116 receives the notification from the inquirer interface circuit 118 , the inquirer control circuit 116 will perform the process 206 to enter an inquiry mode to generate a Bluetooth bit containing the inquirer Bluetooth device 110 A Bluetooth query request to the address (hereinafter referred to as the Bluetooth address of the interrogator). In practice, the interrogator control circuit 116 may also fill in other data or information in the aforementioned Bluetooth interrogation request according to functional design requirements.

In the process 208 , the inquiry control circuit 116 controls the inquiry Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 in the inquiry mode to send the Bluetooth inquiry request to other nearby Bluetooth devices through an inquiry scan channel.

In the process 210 , the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 of the requester Bluetooth device 120 receives the Bluetooth query request from the queryer Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 from the query scanning channel in the query scanning mode. At this time, the requester packet parsing circuit 124 will parse (parse) the Bluetooth query request transmitted from the queryer Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 to obtain the Bluetooth address of the queryer Bluetooth device 110 .

In the process 212 , the requester control circuit 126 of the requester Bluetooth device 120 generates a Frequency Hop Synchronization (Frequency Hop Synchronization, hereinafter referred to as the requester Bluetooth address) including the Bluetooth address of the requester Bluetooth device 120 FHS) packets.

Depending on the type of Bluetooth standard supported by the supplicant Bluetooth device 120, the supplicant Bluetooth device 120 may have one or more Bluetooth addresses. For example, in an embodiment where the requestor Bluetooth device 120 supports only the Bluetooth 2.0 standard, the requestor Bluetooth device 120 may only have a single Bluetooth address. For another example, in an embodiment in which the requester Bluetooth device 120 supports both the Bluetooth 2.0 standard and the Bluetooth 4.0 standard (or the Bluetooth 5.0 standard and the Bluetooth 5.3 standard), the requester Bluetooth device 120 may have two different Bluetooth addresses at the same time. In the process 212, the requester control circuit 126 may fill part or all of the Bluetooth address of the requester Bluetooth device 120 into one or more predetermined fields of the aforementioned frequency hopping synchronization packet. In practice, the requester control circuit 126 can also fill in other data or information in the aforementioned frequency hopping synchronization packet according to the needs of functional design.

In the process 214, the requester control circuit 126 generates an Extended Inquiry Response (EIR) packet including an automatic pairing request. The aforementioned automatic pairing request in the extended scan response packet refers to various instruction information or commands that require another Bluetooth device to actively perform the Bluetooth automatic pairing procedure with the requesting Bluetooth device 120 . In practice, the requester control circuit 126 can fill the automatic pairing request into one or more predetermined fields in the aforementioned extended scan response packet.

In the process 216 , the requester control circuit 126 controls the requester Bluetooth transmit-receive circuit 122 to transmit the frequency hopping synchronization packet to the requester Bluetooth transmit-receive circuit 112 through the above-mentioned interrogation scan channel in the interrogation scan mode.

In this case, the Bluetooth transceiver circuit 112 of the interrogator will perform the process 218 to receive the frequency hopping synchronization packet from the Bluetooth transmitter/receiver circuit 122 of the requester in the interrogation mode, and the packet parsing circuit 114 of the interrogator will analyze the interrogator The frequency hopping synchronization packet received by the Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 is used to extract the aforementioned requester's Bluetooth address from the frequency hopping synchronization packet.

In addition, after the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 transmits the aforementioned frequency hopping synchronization packet to the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 , the requester's control circuit 126 will also perform the process 220 .

In the process 220 , the requester control circuit 126 controls the requester Bluetooth transmit-receive circuit 122 in the query scan channel to transmit the data in the next packet transmission time slot (slave-to-master slot) of the query scan channel through the aforementioned The query scan channel of the query scan channel immediately transmits the extended scan response packet to the Bluetooth transmit-receive circuit 112 of the query party.

In other words, the requester Bluetooth transmit-receive circuit 122 will directly transmit the extended scan response packet containing the automatic pairing request to the requester Bluetooth transmit-receive circuit 112 through the aforementioned query scan channel in the original form of the extended scan response packet, instead of The extended scan response packet will be converted into other types of Bluetooth advertising packets first. It can also be clearly found from the foregoing description that the requester Bluetooth transceiver circuit 122 can receive the Bluetooth query request from the queryer Bluetooth transceiver circuit 112 in the query scan mode, and can also transmit the frequency hopping synchronization in the query scan mode. The packet and the extended scan response packet are sent to the Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 of the inquiring party. Obviously, when the requester Bluetooth device 120 operates in the inquiry scan mode, the requester control circuit 126 does not need to switch the operation mode of the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 first, and the requester Bluetooth transmission can be transmitted through the requester Bluetooth transmission. The receiving circuit 122 transmits the aforementioned automatic pairing request and the requesting party's Bluetooth address to the inquiring party's Bluetooth device 110 .

In this case, the inquiring party's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 will perform the process 222 to receive the extended scan response packet from the requesting party's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 in the inquiry mode, and the inquirer's packet parsing circuit 114 will parse the inquirer The extended scan response packet received by the Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 is used to extract the aforementioned automatic pairing request from the extended scan response packet. From the foregoing description, it can be clearly found that the bluetooth transmit-receive circuit 112 of the inquiring party can send the bluetooth inquiry request in the inquiry mode, and can also receive the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the synchronous packet transmitted by the bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 of the requesting party in the inquiry mode. Extended scan response packets. In other words, when the inquirer Bluetooth device 110 operates in the inquiry mode, the inquirer control circuit 116 can receive the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 without first switching the operation mode of the inquirer Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 . The incoming automatic pairing request and the requester's Bluetooth address.

Because the aforesaid requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 will immediately transmit the extended scan response packet to the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 in the next packet transmission time slot of the inquiry scan channel. Therefore, after the Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 of the inquiring party receives the aforementioned frequency hopping synchronization packet, the Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 of the inquiring party will also receive the Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 of the inquiring party in the next packet receiving time slot of the query scanning channel. Extended scan response packets from the query scan channel.

Next, the requester control circuit 126 will perform the process 224 to control the requester Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 to enter a page scan mode, to wait for the requester Bluetooth device 110 to page (page) the requester Bluetooth device 120 .

On the other hand, the inquiring party control circuit 116 will perform the process 226 to automatically control the inquiring party's Bluetooth transceiver circuit 112 to enter a page mode according to the received automatic pairing request, so as to communicate with the requesting party's Bluetooth device 120 . automatic pairing procedure. In operation, the inquiring party control circuit 116 can control the inquiring party's Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 to transmit a page request through a page scan channel according to the aforementioned automatic pairing request and the aforementioned requesting party's Bluetooth address. ) to the requesting party Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 .

After the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 receives the call request from the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 through the aforementioned call scanning channel, the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 and the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 can communicate with each other. One or more Bluetooth connections are established in one or more specific channels. In this way, the Bluetooth automatic pairing procedure between the inquirer's Bluetooth device 110 and the requester's Bluetooth device 120 is completed.

For example, in an embodiment in which both the inquirer Bluetooth device 110 and the requester Bluetooth device 120 only support the Bluetooth 2.0 standard, the inquirer control circuit 116 and the requester control circuit 126 may establish a basic rate Bluetooth connection ( basic rate bond, BR bond) or an enhanced data rate Bluetooth connection (enhanced data rate bond, EDR bond). For another example, in an embodiment in which both the requesting Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting Bluetooth device 120 support both the Bluetooth 2.0 standard and the Bluetooth 4.0 standard (or the Bluetooth 5.0 standard and the Bluetooth 5.3 standard), the interrogator control circuit 116 and the requester control the In the aforementioned process 226, the circuit 126 can not only establish a basic rate Bluetooth connection (BR bond) or an enhanced data rate Bluetooth connection (EDR bond), but also establish a low power Bluetooth connection (BLE bond). ).

The inquirer control circuit 116 can learn from the aforementioned automatic pairing request that the requester Bluetooth device 120 corresponding to the aforementioned requester Bluetooth address allows other Bluetooth devices to perform Bluetooth pairing with it. Therefore, the requester control circuit 116 will automatically attempt to perform the Bluetooth pairing procedure with the Bluetooth circuit corresponding to each received requester Bluetooth address through the requester Bluetooth transmission/reception circuit 112, without generating a Bluetooth device available for connection A list for the user to choose from. In other words, the operation of the inquiring Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting Bluetooth device 120 in the process 226 requires no user intervention at all.

As can be seen from the foregoing description, when the requester Bluetooth device 120 operates in the inquiry scanning mode, the user only needs to perform a simple operation on the inquiry trigger device 130 coupled to the inquiry Bluetooth device 110 (for example, pressing a button, enabling a switch, etc.) , the Bluetooth device 110 of the inquiring party will automatically start the Bluetooth pairing procedure with the Bluetooth device 120 of the requesting party, and establish a related Bluetooth connection. In the entire Bluetooth automatic pairing procedure, there is absolutely no need for the user to issue a Bluetooth device scanning instruction, and there is no need for the user to select the target device to be paired, so the degree of user involvement can be greatly reduced.

Therefore, the aforementioned structure of the Bluetooth communication system 100 and the adopted Bluetooth automatic pairing method can effectively simplify the Bluetooth pairing procedure between the Bluetooth device 110 of the inquirer and the Bluetooth device 120 of the requester, and improve user convenience.

From another point of view, in the aforementioned embodiments of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 , both the inquirer Bluetooth device 110 and the requester Bluetooth device 120 do not need to be provided with any display device, so the inquirer Bluetooth device 110 and the request can be greatly simplified. The hardware structure, weight, and volume of the two Bluetooth devices 120 are determined.

In addition, since the aforementioned inquiring Bluetooth device 110 and requesting Bluetooth device 120 do not need to use Bluetooth advertising packets to transmit data required for the automatic pairing process, there is no need to switch to a specific Bluetooth advertising packet for transmitting or receiving. operating mode. Therefore, in the aforementioned Bluetooth communication system, the automatic pairing procedure between the inquiring Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting Bluetooth device 120 can be completed in a shorter time.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, it is difficult for the Bluetooth chip and the Bluetooth device that do not support the Bluetooth low energy technology to implement the automatic pairing function by adopting the conventional method. In contrast, by adopting the aforementioned method of FIG. 2, even if one of the inquiring Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting Bluetooth device 120 does not support Bluetooth low energy technology, or neither support Bluetooth low energy technology , the automatic pairing function can still be implemented in the Bluetooth communication system 100 .

Please note that the above-mentioned structure in which the user triggers the Bluetooth device 110 of the queryer to automatically start the Bluetooth pairing procedure through the trigger device 130 of the queryer is only an example, and not limited to the actual implementation of the present invention.

For example, FIG. 3 is a simplified functional block diagram of a Bluetooth communication system 300 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The Bluetooth communication system 300 includes an inquirer Bluetooth device 310 and a requester Bluetooth device 320 . The interrogator Bluetooth device 310 is very similar to the interrogator Bluetooth device 110 in the embodiment of FIG. 1 , but the interrogator interface circuit 118 and the interrogator trigger device 130 are omitted from the interrogator Bluetooth device 310 .

The requester Bluetooth device 320 is also similar to the aforementioned requester Bluetooth device 120 , but a requester interface circuit 328 is added to the requester Bluetooth device 320 . The requester interface circuit 328 is coupled to the requester control circuit 126 and configured to receive a trigger signal generated by the requester trigger device 330 .

The aforementioned implementations, connection methods, and operation methods of other corresponding elements in the Bluetooth communication system 100 are also applicable to the Bluetooth communication system 300 . For brevity, the description is not repeated here.

The pairing method of the Bluetooth devices in the Bluetooth communication system 300 will be further described below with reference to FIG. 4 . FIG. 4 is a simplified flowchart of a method for automatic pairing of Bluetooth devices according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

During operation, the interrogator control circuit 116 of the interrogator Bluetooth device 310 may perform the process 402 at an appropriate time point according to the user's operation or the operation command preset by the internal program.

In the process 402, the interrogator control circuit 116 operates in an interrogation mode to generate a Bluetooth interrogation request including the Bluetooth address of the interrogator Bluetooth device 310 (hereinafter also referred to as the interrogator Bluetooth address).

In this case, if the user wants to use the requester's Bluetooth device 320 to automatically perform Bluetooth pairing with the requester's Bluetooth device 310, the user can perform a specific operation on the requester's trigger device 330, so that the requester's trigger device 330 generates a corresponding trigger Signal. At this time, the requester interface circuit 328 will perform the process 404 to receive the trigger signal generated by the requester trigger device 330 and notify the requester control circuit 126 .

When the requester control circuit 126 receives the notification from the requester trigger device 330, the requester control circuit 126 will perform the process 406 to control the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 to enter an inquiry scan mode to detect whether there are other nearby The Bluetooth device issues a Bluetooth query request.

In the process 208, the inquirer control circuit 116 controls the inquirer's Bluetooth transceiver circuit 112 to send the Bluetooth inquiry request to other nearby Bluetooth devices through an inquiry scan channel in the inquiry mode.

In the process 210, the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 receives the Bluetooth query request from the queryer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112 from the aforementioned query scan channel in the query scan mode. At this time, the requester packet parsing circuit 124 will parse the Bluetooth query request sent from the queryer's Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 to obtain the Bluetooth address of the queryer's Bluetooth device 310 .

Next, the inquiring Bluetooth device 310 and the requesting Bluetooth device 320 will perform the operations of the process 212 to the process 226 in FIG. 4 . The operations of other corresponding processes in the aforementioned FIG. 2 are also applicable to the embodiment of FIG. 4 . For brevity, the description is not repeated here.

Likewise, the interrogator control circuit 116 can be informed by the automatic pairing request transmitted from the requester Bluetooth device 320, and the requester Bluetooth device 320 allows other Bluetooth devices to perform Bluetooth pairing with it. Therefore, the requester control circuit 116 will automatically attempt to perform the Bluetooth pairing procedure with the Bluetooth circuit corresponding to each received requester Bluetooth address through the requester Bluetooth transmission/reception circuit 112, without generating a Bluetooth device available for connection A list for the user to choose from. In other words, the operation of the inquiring Bluetooth device 310 and the requesting Bluetooth device 320 in the process 226 requires no user intervention at all.

As can be seen from the foregoing description, when the requester Bluetooth device 310 operates in the query mode, the user only needs to perform simple operations on the requester trigger device 330 coupled to the requester Bluetooth device 320 (for example, pressing a button, enabling a switch, etc.), The requester's Bluetooth device 320 will automatically start the Bluetooth pairing procedure with the inquirer's Bluetooth device 310, and establish a related Bluetooth connection. In the entire Bluetooth automatic pairing procedure, there is absolutely no need for the user to issue a Bluetooth device scanning instruction, and there is no need for the user to select the target device to be paired, so the degree of user involvement can be greatly reduced.

Therefore, the aforementioned structure of the Bluetooth communication system 300 and the adopted Bluetooth automatic pairing method can effectively simplify the Bluetooth pairing procedure between the inquirer's Bluetooth device 310 and the requester's Bluetooth device 320, and improve the convenience for users.

From another point of view, in the aforementioned embodiments of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , both the inquiring Bluetooth device 310 and the requesting Bluetooth device 320 do not need to be provided with any display device, so the inquiry Bluetooth device 310 and the requesting can be greatly simplified. The hardware structure, weight, and volume of the two Bluetooth devices 320 are determined.

In addition, since the aforementioned inquirer Bluetooth device 310 and requester Bluetooth device 320 do not need to use Bluetooth advertisement packets to transmit the data required for the automatic pairing procedure, there is no need to switch to a specific Bluetooth advertisement packet for transmitting or receiving. operating mode. Therefore, in the aforementioned Bluetooth communication system, the automatic pairing procedure between the Bluetooth device 310 of the inquiring party and the Bluetooth device 320 of the requesting party can be completed in a shorter time.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, it is difficult for the Bluetooth chip and the Bluetooth device that do not support the Bluetooth low energy technology to implement the automatic pairing function by adopting the conventional method. In contrast, by adopting the aforementioned method of FIG. 4 , even if one of the inquiring Bluetooth device 310 and the requesting Bluetooth device 320 does not support Bluetooth low energy technology, or neither support Bluetooth low energy technology , the automatic pairing function can still be implemented in the Bluetooth communication system 300 .

Please note that the execution sequence of the processes in the aforementioned FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 is only an exemplary embodiment, and is not intended to limit the actual implementation of the present invention. For example, process 212 may be performed concurrently with process 214 or may be performed after process 214 .

For another example, the process 216 may be adjusted to be performed before the process 214 , or may be performed simultaneously with the process 212 . For another example, the process 220 may also be performed concurrently with the process 214 .

For another example, the process 224 in FIG. 2 can be performed at the same time as the process 202 in FIG. 2 , can also be performed alternately with the process 202 in FIG. 2 , or can be adjusted to be performed between the process 202 and the process 220 in FIG. 2 . .

For another example, the process 224 in FIG. 4 can be performed at the same time as the process 406 in FIG. 4 , can also be performed alternately with the process 406 in FIG. 4 , or can be adjusted to be performed between the process 406 and the process 220 in FIG. 4 . .

Certain terms are used in the description and the scope of the claims to refer to specific elements, and those skilled in the art may refer to the same elements by different terms. This specification and the scope of the patent application do not use the difference in name as a way to distinguish elements, but use the difference in function of the elements as a criterion for distinguishing. The "comprising" mentioned in the description and the scope of the patent application is an open-ended term, and should be interpreted as "including but not limited to". In addition, the term "coupled" herein includes any direct and indirect means of connection. Therefore, if it is described in the text that the first element is coupled to the second element, it means that the first element can be directly connected to the second element through electrical connection or signal connection such as wireless transmission or optical transmission, or through other elements or connections. The means is indirectly electrically or signally connected to the second element.

The descriptions of "and/or" used in the specification include any combination of one or more of the listed items. In addition, unless otherwise specified in the specification, any term in the singular also includes the meaning in the plural.

The above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made according to the claims of the present invention shall fall within the scope of the present invention.

100, 300: Bluetooth communication system (Bluetooth communication system)

110, 310: Inquirer-side Bluetooth device

112: Inquirer-side Bluetooth transceiver circuit

114: Inquirer-side packet parsing circuit

116: Inquirer-side control circuit

118: Inquirer-side interface circuit

120, 320: requester-side Bluetooth device

122: requester-side Bluetooth transceiver circuit

124: requester-side packet parsing circuit

126: requester-side control circuit

130: Inquirer-side trigger device

202~226, 402~406: Operation process (operation)

328: requester-side interface circuit

330: requester-side trigger device

FIG. 1 is a simplified functional block diagram of the Bluetooth communication system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified flowchart of the method for automatic pairing of Bluetooth devices according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a simplified functional block diagram of the Bluetooth communication system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a simplified flowchart of a method for automatic pairing of Bluetooth devices according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

100: Bluetooth communication system

110: Inquirer Bluetooth device

112: Inquirer Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit

114: Interrogator packet parsing circuit

116: Interrogator control circuit

118: Inquirer interface circuit

120: Requester Bluetooth device

122: Requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit

124: Requester packet parsing circuit

126: Requester control circuit

130: Interrogator Trigger

Claims (10)

A Bluetooth communication system (100; 300), comprising: An interrogator Bluetooth device (110; 310) comprising: an inquiry party's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112); an interrogator packet parsing circuit (114), coupled to the interrogator Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112); and An interrogator control circuit (116), coupled to the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) and the interrogator packet parsing circuit (114), configured to generate a Bluetooth inquiry request and control the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) sending the Bluetooth query request; and A requestor Bluetooth device (120; 320) comprising: A requesting party's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122), configured to receive the Bluetooth inquiry request; a requester packet parsing circuit (124), coupled to the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122), configured to parse the Bluetooth query request received by the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122); and A requester control circuit (126), coupled to the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) and the requester packet parsing circuit (124), configured to parse the Bluetooth query in the requester packet parsing circuit (124) After the request, a frequency-hopping synchronization packet including a requester's Bluetooth address and an extended scan reply packet including an automatic pairing request are generated, and the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) can be controlled to transmit the frequency-hopping synchronization packet and the extended scan reply packet to the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112); Wherein, the inquiring party's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) is configured to receive the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended scan reply packet, so that the inquiring party's Bluetooth device (110; 310) communicates with the requesting party's Bluetooth device (120; 320). ) to perform an automatic pairing procedure; Wherein, the requester Bluetooth device (120; 320) will not switch to the operation mode for transmitting Bluetooth advertisement packets before performing the automatic pairing procedure, and the requester Bluetooth device (110; 310) is performing the automatic pairing procedure. Before the pairing procedure, it does not first switch to an operating mode for receiving Bluetooth advertising packets. The Bluetooth communication system (100; 300) of claim 1, wherein the inquirer control circuit (116) generates the Bluetooth inquiry request in an inquiry mode, and controls the inquirer Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) through An inquiry scan channel sends the bluetooth inquiry request, and the inquiry party's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) receives the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended scan from the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) in the inquiry mode Reply packet; wherein, the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) receives the Bluetooth inquiry request from the inquiry scan channel in an inquiry scan mode, and the requester control circuit (126) controls in the inquiry scan mode The requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) transmits the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended scan reply packet to the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) through the inquiry scanning channel. The Bluetooth communication system (100; 300) of claim 2, wherein after the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) transmits the frequency hopping synchronization packet to the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112), the requester controls the The circuit (126) will control the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) to transmit the extended scan response packet to the inquirer Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit ( 112). The Bluetooth communication system (100; 300) of claim 2, wherein, after the inquiring party's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) receives the frequency hopping synchronization packet, the inquirer's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) will also In the next packet receiving time slot of the query scanning channel, receive the extended scan response packet transmitted by the Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) of the query party through the query scanning channel. An interrogator Bluetooth device (110; 310) used in a Bluetooth communication system (100; 300), comprising: an inquiry party's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112); an interrogator packet parsing circuit (114), coupled to the interrogator Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112); and An interrogator control circuit (116), coupled to the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) and the interrogator packet parsing circuit (114), configured to generate a Bluetooth inquiry request and control the interrogator Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) Send the Bluetooth query request, wherein after a requester Bluetooth device (120; 320) in the Bluetooth communication system (100; 300) receives the Bluetooth query request, the requester Bluetooth device (120; 320) ) will transmit a frequency hopping synchronization packet containing a requester's Bluetooth address, and an extended scan reply packet containing an automatic pairing request to the inquirer's Bluetooth device (110; 310); Wherein, the inquiring party's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) is configured to receive the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended scan reply packet, so that the inquiring party's Bluetooth device (110; 310) communicates with the requesting party's Bluetooth device (120; 320). ) to perform an automatic pairing procedure; Wherein, the bluetooth device (110; 310) of the inquirer will not switch to the operation mode for receiving bluetooth advertisement packets before performing the automatic pairing procedure. The inquiring party Bluetooth device (110; 310) of claim 5, wherein the inquiring party control circuit (116) generates the Bluetooth inquiry request in an inquiry mode, and controls the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) The bluetooth inquiry request is sent through an inquiry scanning channel, and the inquirer's bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) receives the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extension from the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) in the inquiry mode Scan reply packets. The inquirer Bluetooth device (110; 310) according to claim 6, wherein the inquirer Bluetooth device (110; 310) further comprises: an interrogator interface circuit (118), coupled to the interrogator control circuit (116), configured to receive a trigger signal generated by an interrogator trigger device (130); Wherein, when the interrogator interface circuit (118) receives the trigger signal, the interrogator control circuit (116) will enter the inquiry mode to generate the Bluetooth inquiry request. A requester Bluetooth device (120; 320) used in a Bluetooth communication system (100; 300), comprising: a requesting party's Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122), configured to receive a Bluetooth query request from an inquiring party's Bluetooth device (110; 310) in the Bluetooth communication system (100; 300); a requester packet parsing circuit (124), coupled to the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122), configured to parse the Bluetooth query request received by the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122); and A requester control circuit (126), coupled to the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) and the requester packet parsing circuit (124), configured to parse the Bluetooth query in the requester packet parsing circuit (124) After the request, a frequency-hopping synchronization packet including a requester's Bluetooth address and an extended scan reply packet including an automatic pairing request are generated, and the requester's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) can be controlled to transmit the frequency-hopping synchronization packet and the extended scan reply packet to the inquirer's Bluetooth device (110; 310), so that the inquirer's Bluetooth device (110; 310) and the requester's Bluetooth device (120; 320) perform an automatic pairing procedure; Wherein, the requester Bluetooth device (120; 320) will not switch to the operation mode for transmitting Bluetooth advertisement packets before performing the automatic pairing procedure. The requester Bluetooth device (120; 320) of claim 8, wherein the requester Bluetooth transmit-receive circuit (122) receives the Bluetooth inquiry request from an inquiry scan channel in an inquiry scan mode, and the requester controls The circuit (126) controls the bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) of the requester in the inquiry scan mode, and transmits the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended scan reply packet to the bluetooth device of the inquirer (110; 310) through the inquiry scan channel ). The requester Bluetooth device (120; 320) of claim 9, wherein after the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) transmits the frequency hopping synchronization packet to the inquirer Bluetooth device (110; 310), the requester The control circuit (126) will control the requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122) to transmit the extended scan response packet to the inquirer Bluetooth device (110) through the inquiry scan channel in the next packet transmission time slot of the inquiry scan channel. ; 310).

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