TWI596916B - Bluetooth expansion system and bluetooth expender - Google Patents

Description

Bluetooth extension system and Bluetooth extender

The present invention relates to a Bluetooth technology and a WiFi technology, and more particularly to a Bluetooth extension system and a Bluetooth extender.

Due to its low power consumption and low cost, the Bluetooth module has become one of the basic equipments for mobile devices such as wearable devices, smart phones, and tablets. However, in order to achieve the aforementioned effects, the Bluetooth technology also has a limitation of short-range transmission (for example, 5 to 10 meters). In other words, the coverage of the Bluetooth signal provided by the Bluetooth device (for example, a smart phone, a notebook computer, etc.) as a host is limited. In addition, according to the existing Bluetooth standard, the Bluetooth device as the host side has a limit of a maximum number of connections of seven. In other words, a single host can only connect to up to seven clients at the same time.

However, in an environment where there are more than 7 (eg, 10, 50, 100, etc.) client Bluetooth devices, a single host Bluetooth device is limited by the coverage and number of connections, and may not be received simultaneously. Or transmit Bluetooth messages from all client Bluetooth devices. From this, it is known that there is a need to provide a mechanism that can overcome the aforementioned limitations.

The invention provides a Bluetooth extension system and a Bluetooth extender, which can increase and expand the number of Bluetooth devices connected and Bluetooth coverage.

A Bluetooth extension system of the present invention includes a gateway, a plurality of Bluetooth extenders, and a plurality of Bluetooth devices. Each Bluetooth extender includes a WiFi module and a Bluetooth module, and establishes a Bluetooth connection with those Bluetooth devices through the Bluetooth module. The gateway device includes a WiFi module, and a WiFi connection is established between the WiFi module and those Bluetooth expanders. Each Bluetooth device separately transmits its own Bluetooth message to those Bluetooth extenders via a Bluetooth connection. After receiving the Bluetooth message transmitted by each Bluetooth device through the Bluetooth module, each Bluetooth extender forwards the received Bluetooth message to the gateway through its own WiFi module through the corresponding WiFi connection. The Bluetooth message is then restored by the gateway or remote server and displayed or stored.

In an embodiment of the invention, each Bluetooth extender formats and encapsulates the received Bluetooth message through its own WiFi module to generate an Ethernet packet.

In an embodiment of the invention, the WiFi module of the gateway device and the WiFi module of the Bluetooth extender respectively establish a WiFi connection, and the Bluetooth module of the Bluetooth extender and the Bluetooth device respectively establish a Bluetooth connection, and the gateway The second Ethernet packet is transmitted to the Bluetooth extender via a WiFi connection. After receiving the second Ethernet packet, the Bluetooth extender performs format conversion on the received second Ethernet network through its own WiFi module to generate a second Bluetooth message, and uses the Bluetooth module to generate a second Bluetooth message. Bluetooth messages are transmitted to the Bluetooth device via Bluetooth connection.

In an embodiment of the invention, each Bluetooth extender retrieves the second Bluetooth message from the received second Ethernet packet.

In an embodiment of the invention, each Bluetooth extender is distributed in the environment according to its respective coverage.

A Bluetooth extender of the present invention includes a Bluetooth module and a WiFi module. Several Bluetooth connections are established between the Bluetooth module and the Bluetooth device, and several WiFi connections are established between the WiFi module and the gateway. The Bluetooth extender transmits the Bluetooth module to receive several Bluetooth messages from the Bluetooth device through the WiFi connection. In addition, the Bluetooth module transmits a number of Ethernet packets received by the WiFi module through the WiFi connection through those Bluetooth connections.

In an embodiment of the invention, the WiFi module performs format conversion on the received Bluetooth message to generate a second Ethernet packet, respectively. In addition, the WiFi module formats the received Ethernet packets to generate a second Bluetooth message.

In an embodiment of the invention, the WiFi module encapsulates the received Bluetooth message into a second Ethernet packet.

In an embodiment of the invention, the WiFi module separately extracts the second Bluetooth message from the received Ethernet packet.

Based on the above, the Bluetooth extension system and the Bluetooth extender proposed by the embodiments of the present invention respectively establish a WiFi connection and a Bluetooth connection through a Bluetooth extender, thereby transferring a packet between the gateway device and the Bluetooth device, thereby allowing the gate The device is convenient for obtaining data of the Bluetooth device. In addition, by deploying multiple Bluetooth extenders in the environment, and distributing them according to the coverage of their Bluetooth signals. Thereby, more (for example, more than 7) Bluetooth devices can be connected at the same time, and the Bluetooth device can be easily covered by the Bluetooth extender.

The above described features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

Wherever possible, the same reference numerals and/ Elements/components/steps that use the same reference numbers or use the same terms in different embodiments may refer to the related description.

1 is a block diagram showing a Bluetooth extension system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the Bluetooth extension system 10 includes a gateway 110, Bluetooth extenders 130 ₁ - 130 _{n ,} and Bluetooth devices 150 ₁ - 150 _m , 151 ₁ - 151 _k . It is noted that, n, m and k are used to represent the number of Bluetooth expanders, spreader ₁₃₀₁ with a Bluetooth connection or Bluetooth expansion within the scope of the Bluetooth unit ₁₃₀₁ and the number of devices with Bluetooth expansion _n-130 Bluetooth devices within the coverage number 130 _n Bluetooth connection or the expander, n, m and k are both positive integers, and embodiments of the present invention does not limit the number of Bluetooth devices and Bluetooth expander.

The gateway 110 can be an electronic device such as a computer, a wireless sharer, a server, a cloud system, a workstation router, a network switch, and the like. The gateway 110 includes at least a processing unit (for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a general purpose or special purpose microprocessor (Microprocessor), a programmable controller, and a special application integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated) In the embodiment of the present invention, the processing unit of the gateway 110 establishes a WiFi hotspot or an access point (AP) through the WiFi module.

In some embodiments, the gateway 110 may further include a Wide Area Network (WAN) module to enable the gateway 110 to be based on, for example, Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced Long Term Evolution (LTE Advanced). , LTE-A), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Ethernet, asymmetric digital subscriber line , ADSL) and other connection technologies connect to the Internet (or public network) or private network (or Local Area Network (LAN)), so that it can be connected to the Internet or private Other servers in the network (for example, cloud servers, database servers, etc.) or electronic devices (for example, smart phones, tablets, desktops, etc.) communicate.

2 is a block diagram showing a Bluetooth extender in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. For convenience of explanation, only the Bluetooth expander 130 ₁ is illustrated in FIG. 2, and the internal components or modules of the Bluetooth extenders 130 ₂ to 130 _n may refer to the Bluetooth extender 130 ₁ . Referring to FIG. 2, the Bluetooth extender 130 ₁ includes at least, but not limited to, a WiFi module 131 and a Bluetooth module 133 coupled to the WiFi module 131. The WiFi module 131 and the Bluetooth module 133 may be operated by a processing unit (for example, a CPU, a microprocessor, etc.) or have built-in arithmetic processing functions, and may be individually operated individual chips (chipsets) or integrated modules. .

In the embodiment of the present invention, the Bluetooth extenders 130 ₁ - 130 _n can establish a WiFi connection with the gateway 110 based on a WiFi (or IEEE 802.11) communication protocol through the WiFi module 131. It should be noted that, according to different application requirements, the WiFi module 131 can be built in or manually input the connection information of the WiFi hotspot or the access point established by the gateway 110 (for example, Service Set Identifier (SSID) ), connection account number, connection password, encryption setting, etc., so that the Bluetooth extensions 130 ₁ - 130 _n can be automatically established when the WiFi extender 130 ₁ - 130 _n is within the coverage of the WiFi signal of the gateway 110. In other embodiments, the Bluetooth extenders 130 ₁ - 130 _n can also establish a WiFi connection with the gateway 110 via a user's setting operation.

On the other hand, the Bluetooth extenders 130 ₁ - 130 _n can run the host (or master) mode through their Bluetooth module 133 to respectively connect with the client (or slave). The Bluetooth device 150 ₁ to 150 _m and 151 ₁ to 151 _{k of the} mode) establish a Bluetooth connection based on the Bluetooth protocol. It is worth noting that the Bluetooth module 131 and the Bluetooth module 133 can further transmit Bluetooth messages to each other.

In addition, the Bluetooth devices 150 ₁ - 150 _m , 151 ₁ - 151 _k may be electronic devices of any type of wearable devices (for example, smart watches, smart bracelets, etc.), smart phones, notebook computers, and the like. Each of the Bluetooth devices 150 ₁ to 150 _m and 151 ₁ to 151 _k includes at least a processing unit (for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose or special-purpose microprocessor, a programmable controller, and a special application integrated circuit ( ASIC), etc., not shown) and Bluetooth module (not shown).

In addition, each of the Bluetooth devices 150 ₁ - 150 _m , 151 ₁ - 151 _k may also include, for example, a biosensor, an Oxygen sensor, a heart beat sensor, and a temperature sensor. And a sensing module of one or a combination of a position sensor and a G sensor to obtain sensing information.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the processing units of the Bluetooth devices 150 ₁ - 150 _m , 151 ₁ - 151 _k pass through their Bluetooth modules and the corresponding Bluetooth extenders 130 ₁ - 130 _n (for example, the Bluetooth devices 150 ₁ - 150 _m A Bluetooth connection is established with the Bluetooth extender 130 ₁ or the Bluetooth devices 151 ₁ - 151 _k and the Bluetooth extender 130 _n ). It should be noted that, according to different application requirements, each Bluetooth device 150 ₁ 150 150 _m , 151 ₁ ～ 151 _k may be Bluetooth paired with the corresponding Bluetooth extenders 130 ₁ ～ 130 _{n in} advance for subsequent automatic pairing, but not This is limited.

In order to facilitate the understanding of the operation flow of the embodiment of the present invention, the operation method of the Bluetooth extension system 10 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below.

Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of device deployment in an environment in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the gateway 310, the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ and the Bluetooth devices 350, 351 are in this environment 30. (The number of Bluetooth extenders and Bluetooth devices in the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the number presented in FIG. 3) The Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ to 330 ₈ are distributed in the environment 30 according to the coverage of the respective Bluetooth signals. For example, the Bluetooth transmitters 330 ₁ and 330 _{2 have} a Bluetooth signal transmission distance of 25 meters, and the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ and 330 ₂ can be separated by 18 to 25 meters. It should be noted that, according to different design requirements, the distance between each Bluetooth extender 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ can be adjusted by using the embodiment of the present invention to expand the coverage of the entire Bluetooth signal. Each of the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ can be placed on a ceiling, a wall, a floor, or attached to a particular item (eg, table, chair, cabinet, etc.).

It is assumed that the situation is in the environment of the rhythm classroom, and the two users carry or wear the Bluetooth devices 350, 351 and are respectively within the Bluetooth signal coverage range (indicated by the dotted circle) of the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₄ and 330 ₈ . Bluetooth devices 350, 351 since the user has Bluetooth expansion between 330 and ₁ to ₃₃₀₈ to establish a Bluetooth connection, and a Bluetooth expander ₃₃₀₁ ~ ₃₃₀₈ and the gateways are also established between 310 WiFi connection, Therefore, the gateway 310 can obtain data of all Bluetooth devices (eg, Bluetooth devices 350, 351) in the environment 30 (eg, heartbeat sensing values, temperature sensing values, trigger signals, positioning information, calorie consumption, etc.) ) or broadcast information (for example, course time, course content, etc.). The mode of operation between the various devices will be further explained below.

Accordingly, the Bluetooth signal coverage of the plurality of Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ to 330 ₈ in the environment 30 is larger than that of the single Bluetooth extender (for example, the Bluetooth extender 330 ₁ ). In addition, based on the specification that a Bluetooth extender can provide connectivity for seven Bluetooth devices (e.g., Bluetooth devices 350, 351), this embodiment can provide a maximum number of connections for 8 x 7 = 56 Bluetooth devices. By analogy, the deployment of more (for example, 10, 15) Bluetooth extenders will further expand the number of Bluetooth devices and the overall Bluetooth signal coverage.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a method for operating the Bluetooth extension system 10 according to an embodiment of the invention. Please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 at the same time. Hereinafter, the method according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with various components and modules in the Bluetooth extender. The various processes of the method can be adjusted accordingly according to the implementation situation, and are not limited thereto.

In step S410, the WiFi module 131 of the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ and the gateway 110 respectively establish a WiFi connection, and the Bluetooth modules 133 of the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ respectively and the Bluetooth device (for example, The Bluetooth devices 350, 351) respectively establish Bluetooth connections. It should be noted that the detailed steps of establishing the WiFi connection and the Bluetooth connection may refer to the detailed description of the WiFi module 131 and the Bluetooth module 133 in FIG. 2 or the existing IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth specifications, and details are not described herein again. The embodiment of the present invention also does not limit the establishment sequence of the WiFi connection and the Bluetooth connection.

However, the WiFi technology is used in the embodiment of the present invention. In addition to the convenience of wireless communication, the number of hotspots and access points (for example, 10, 20, and 50 connections) is larger than that of the host Bluetooth device, and WiFi is provided. The signal can be transmitted at a longer distance than the Bluetooth signal, and the Bluetooth expander can be deployed in a large amount.

In step S430, each Bluetooth device (for example, the Bluetooth device 350, 351) respectively transmits a respective Bluetooth message to those Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ via a Bluetooth connection. For example, the Bluetooth device 350 transmits a Bluetooth message including a heartbeat sense value to the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ via a Bluetooth connection with the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ . It should be noted that the embodiment of the present invention does not limit the version, format, and profile of the Bluetooth message.

In step S450, each Bluetooth extender 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ receives the Bluetooth message transmitted by each Bluetooth device (for example, the Bluetooth device 350, 351) through its own Bluetooth module 133, and then transmits the received Bluetooth message through its own WiFi. The modules 131 are respectively forwarded to the gateway 310 with corresponding WiFi connections.

Specifically, although all the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ can communicate with the gateway 310 via the WiFi connection, and for example, the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ can communicate with the Bluetooth device 350 via the Bluetooth connection, but Based on different communication protocols (IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth), the Bluetooth messages and Ethernet packets that transmit data are not the same. The WiFi module 131 of each Bluetooth extender 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ of the embodiment of the present invention can perform format conversion on the received Bluetooth message to generate an Ethernet packet.

In terms of the packet reverse transmission path, the WiFi module of the gateway 310 can also transmit the second Ethernet packet to those Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ via those WiFi connections, respectively. For example, gateway 310 transmits a second Ethernet packet including the course time to Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ and 330 ₃ . After receiving the second Ethernet packet, the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ can perform format conversion on the received second Ethernet network through the WiFi module 131 to generate a second Bluetooth message, and The second Bluetooth message is transmitted via Bluetooth connection 133 to those Bluetooth devices (eg, Bluetooth devices 350, 351) via their Bluetooth module 133.

In other words, each of the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ can serve as a bridge between the WiFi and the Bluetooth to provide access to the Bluetooth device using the Bluetooth module 133 and further connect to the gate through the WiFi connection. Channel 310. From the viewpoint of the gateway 310, each of the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ to 330 ₈ operates as a local area network (LAN) device.

In step S470, the Bluetooth message transmitted by each Bluetooth device is stored or displayed by the gateway device 310. Specifically, after receiving the Ethernet packet, the gateway device 310 can restore the Ethernet packet to a Bluetooth message for further storage to the storage unit (for example, a random access memory (RAM). ), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc., or through a display unit (for example, liquid crystal display (LCD), light-emitting diode (Light- Emitting Diode; LED) Display, Field Emission Display (FED) displays the contents of the Bluetooth message. In addition, the gateway device 310 can also forward the Ethernet packet or the restored Bluetooth message to the cloud server or another electronic device at the other end of the regional network through the WAN module (for example, a notebook computer or a table). A desktop computer, etc.) to allow the remote device to further process Bluetooth messages.

In the following, two embodiments will be described with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 to respectively illustrate the packet of the Bluetooth device (for example, the Bluetooth device 350, 351) to the gateway 310 and the gateway device 310 to the Bluetooth device by the Bluetooth extender 330 _{1 .} ~ 330 ₈ transfer method.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the packet transfer of the Bluetooth device 350 to the gateway 310 according to an embodiment of the invention. Other Bluetooth devices (eg, Bluetooth device 351) may use the same or similar steps, and details are not described herein again. Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 5 simultaneously, the Bluetooth device 350 is within the range of the Bluetooth signal of the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ and a Bluetooth connection has been established. The Bluetooth device 350 can transmit the Bluetooth message via the Bluetooth connection (step S510), and the Bluetooth module 133 of the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ (in the host mode) can receive the Bluetooth message (step S520). The Bluetooth module 133 then transmits the Bluetooth message to the WiFi module 131 (step S530).

The WiFi module 131 receives the Bluetooth message, and further encapsulates the Bluetooth message into an Ethernet packet (step S550). For example, the WiFi module 131 can use the Bluetooth message as the data content (or payload) of the Ethernet packet, and add the header of the Ethernet packet. Alternatively, the WiFi module 131 can remove the header of the Bluetooth message to obtain the content of the data in the Bluetooth message, and use the content of the Bluetooth message as the data content of the Ethernet packet. By the format conversion in step S550, the WiFi module 131 can transmit the Ethernet packet including the data content in the Bluetooth message to the gateway 310 via the WiFi connection (step S570). It should be noted that the destination address recorded in the header of the Ethernet packet is the physical address of the gateway 310.

The gateway 310 receives the Ethernet packet and can further process it (step S590). For example, the gateway 310 is forwarded to the cloud server or another electronic device (eg, a notebook computer, a desktop computer, etc.) at the other end of the local area network through the WAN module. Alternatively, the gateway 310 can disassemble the Ethernet packet to restore the data content in the Bluetooth message, and then transmit the data to the corresponding module processing (for example, the processing unit performs sensing data analysis, location analysis, device management, etc., or display unit display sense) Test data, user information, etc.).

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the packet transfer of the gateway 310 to the Bluetooth device 350 according to an embodiment of the invention. Other Bluetooth devices (eg, Bluetooth device 351) may use the same or similar steps, and details are not described herein again. Referring to FIG. 6, it is assumed that the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ has established a WiFi connection with the gateway 310. The gateway 310 can obtain a Bluetooth message or any data, information, file from the WAN module or from its storage unit, and further encapsulates it into an Ethernet packet (step S610). The gateway 310 can transmit the Ethernet packet via the established WiFi connection (step S620).

It should be noted that the gateway 310 may have a correspondence table for recording each Bluetooth device and the associated Bluetooth extender, so that the gateway 310 directly transmits the Ethernet packet to the designated Bluetooth extender (for example, Bluetooth extension). 330 ₈ ). Alternatively, the gateway 310 can also send the Ethernet packet to all or part of the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 _{8 by} means of broadcast or multicast (multicast, multicast). And wait for the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ and/or Bluetooth devices (eg, Bluetooth devices 530, 531) to determine if they are the correct recipients. For example, the judgment is made by means of coding or identification code verification.

The WiFi module 131 of the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ receives the Ethernet packet and retrieves the Bluetooth message from the Ethernet packet (step S630). For example, if the content of the data in the Ethernet packet is a Bluetooth message format, the WiFi module 131 can remove the header of the Ethernet packet. Alternatively, the content of the data in the Ethernet packet is not the Bluetooth message format, and the WiFi module 131 removes the header of the Ethernet packet and further adds the header of the Bluetooth message to form a Bluetooth message. Next, the WiFi module 131 transmits the Bluetooth message to the Bluetooth module 133 (step S650).

The Bluetooth module 133 receives the Bluetooth message (step S670), and can transmit the Bluetooth message to the Bluetooth device 350 (step S680). For example, the Bluetooth module 133 has a lookup table in which the device identification codes of different Bluetooth devices are recorded (for example, a multimedia access control (MAC) address, a device name, a code, and a device access code (device). Access code, DAC), etc.). The Bluetooth module 133 can compare the Bluetooth message including the device identification code according to the comparison table, and transmit the Bluetooth message to the correct Bluetooth device. In other words, when the gateway device 310 is configured to specify a specific Bluetooth device (for example, the Bluetooth device 350, 351) to receive data, the gateway device 310 can be added to the specific Bluetooth device when the Bluetooth message is encapsulated into an Ethernet packet. Device identification code. Then, the Bluetooth device 350 can receive the Bluetooth message (step S690).

Based on the foregoing system architecture and packet forwarding process, some application scenarios are provided below to help those skilled in the art to implement it. In one scenario, the environment 30 of Figure 3 is a MRT station. The Bluetooth extender 330 ₁ is located at the service center of the MRT station, and the Bluetooth extender 330 ₂ is located at the platform of the MRT station. The user A located in the service center can connect to the Bluetooth extender 330 ₁ using the Bluetooth device, and sequentially transmit the chat message to the platform through the Bluetooth extender 330 ₁ , the gateway 310 and the Bluetooth extender 330 ₂ . Bluetooth device used by user B. In this way, in addition to the information exchange between the gateway and the Bluetooth device, the embodiment of the present invention can also allow two Bluetooth devices (for example, Bluetooth devices 350, 351) in the same environment 30 to communicate with each other.

In another scenario, the environment 30 of Figure 3 is an office. The gateway 310 broadcasts or groups the search messages to the Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ , and the search message may include identification information of a specific person or a device identification code of the Bluetooth device 350. The Bluetooth extenders 330 ₁ - 330 ₈ convert this search message into a Bluetooth message and send it to the Bluetooth device in its coverage. After receiving the identification information including the device identification code or its user, the Bluetooth device 350 automatically or by means of the user's operation to return the search response message. The search response message may include location information or the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ may provide its identification code to enable the gateway 310 to learn the location of the Bluetooth device 350 or the user is located near the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ based on the search response message. .

In still another scenario, the environment 30 of Figure 3 is a home interior. The Bluetooth device 350 can transmit a Bluetooth message including a power start command. The Bluetooth message may include location information or the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ may provide its identification code to enable the gateway 310 to learn the location of the Bluetooth device 350 or the user is located near the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ based on the search response message. Then, according to the power-on command, the power of the Power over Ethernet (PoE) appliance around the Bluetooth extender 330 ₈ is turned on.

7 is a block diagram illustrating a Bluetooth extender 730 in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, in accordance with various design requirements. Referring to FIG. 7, the Bluetooth extender 730 includes at least, but not limited to, a WiFi transmission module 731 and a Bluetooth receiving module 733 coupled to the WiFi transmission module 731. The Bluetooth receiving module 733 establishes a Bluetooth connection with a Bluetooth device (for example, Bluetooth devices 150 ₁ - 150 _m , 151 ₁ - 151 _k ), and the WiFi transmission module 731 establishes WiFi with the gateway (for example, the gateway 110). Connected.

The WiFi transmission module 731 transmits the Bluetooth message received by the Bluetooth receiving module 733 through the Bluetooth connection through the WiFi connection. In this embodiment, the Bluetooth receiving module 733 encapsulates the Bluetooth message into an Ethernet packet, and transmits the Ethernet packet to the gateway via a WiFi connection. For details, refer to the description of FIG. 5.

This Bluetooth extender 730 can be applied to situations in which data transmitted by a Bluetooth device is required to be timed or at a specific time (for example, 7 am, 5 pm). For example, reward the patient's heartbeat, respiration, etc. The gateway or cloud system can further analyze the data transmitted by the Bluetooth device.

8 is a block diagram illustrating a Bluetooth extender in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, in accordance with various design requirements. Referring to FIG. 8 , the Bluetooth extender 830 includes at least, but not limited to, a WiFi receiving module 831 and a Bluetooth transmitting module 833 coupled to the WiFi receiving module 831 . The WiFi receiving module 831 establishes a WiFi connection with a gateway (for example, the gateway 110), and the Bluetooth transmitting module 833 establishes Bluetooth with a Bluetooth device (for example, Bluetooth devices 150 ₁ to 150 _m , 151 ₁ to 151 _k ) Connected.

The Bluetooth transmission module 833 transmits the Ethernet packet received by the WiFi receiving module 831 through the WiFi connection through the Bluetooth connection. In this embodiment, the WiFi receiving module 831 takes out the Bluetooth message from the Ethernet packet and transmits the Bluetooth message to the corresponding Bluetooth device via the corresponding Bluetooth connection. For details, please refer to the description of FIG. 6 . .

This Bluetooth extender 830 can be applied to situations in which the gateway needs to continuously (for example, once per minute, once per hour, etc.) send a message to the Bluetooth device. For example, stock real-time information. Each user can synchronize the instant stock price and trading volume of the set stock, or the change of the market index.

In summary, the Bluetooth extension system and the Bluetooth extender proposed in the embodiments of the present invention extend the total number of connections and the coverage of the Bluetooth signal by deploying multiple Bluetooth extenders in the environment. Among them, as the number of Bluetooth extenders increases, the number of connectable lines also increases. In addition, by converting Bluetooth messages and Ethernet packets, the gateway can obtain data of multiple Bluetooth devices or send data to Bluetooth devices, thereby further analyzing, processing or managing the data.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and any one of ordinary skill in the art can make some changes and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

10: Bluetooth extension system 110, 310: gateway 130 ₁ ~ 130 _n , 330 ₁ ~ 330 ₈ , 730 , 830 : Bluetooth extender 131 : WiFi module 133 : Bluetooth module 150 ₁ ~ 150 _m , 151 ₁ ~ 151 _k , 350, 351: Bluetooth devices S410-S470, S510-S590, S610-S690: Step 731: WiFi transmission module 733: Bluetooth receiving module 831: WiFi receiving module 833: Bluetooth transmitting module

1 is a block diagram showing a Bluetooth extension system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a block diagram showing a Bluetooth extender in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of device deployment in an environment in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a method for operating a Bluetooth extension system according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the packet transfer of a Bluetooth device to a gateway according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a packet transfer process from a gateway to a Bluetooth device according to an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a Bluetooth extender in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a Bluetooth extender in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

S410~S470: Steps

Claims (8)

A Bluetooth extension system includes: a plurality of Bluetooth devices; a plurality of Bluetooth extenders, each of the Bluetooth extenders includes a WiFi module and a Bluetooth module, and respectively establishes a Bluetooth connection with the Bluetooth devices through the Bluetooth module a gateway device includes a WiFi module, and the gateway device establishes a plurality of WiFi connections between the WiFi module and the Bluetooth extenders respectively; wherein each of the Bluetooth devices is respectively The Bluetooth connection transmits the respective Bluetooth messages to the Bluetooth extenders, and the Bluetooth extenders receive the Bluetooth messages transmitted by the Bluetooth devices through the Bluetooth module of the Bluetooth devices, and then receive the Bluetooth messages through the Bluetooth devices. The WiFi module is respectively transferred to the gateway device corresponding to each of the WiFi connections, and the gateway device stores or displays the Bluetooth messages transmitted by the Bluetooth devices, wherein the gateway device is respectively The WiFi connection transmits a second Ethernet packet to the Bluetooth extenders, wherein each of the Bluetooth extenders performs a format conversion on the received Bluetooth message through the WiFi module of the plurality. Generating an Ethernet packet, and after receiving the second Ethernet packet, the Bluetooth extenders perform the format on the received second Ethernet packet through the WiFi module of the UE. Converting to generate a second Bluetooth message, and transmitting the second Bluetooth message to the Bluetooth devices via the Bluetooth connection through the Bluetooth module of the Bluetooth device. The Bluetooth extension system of claim 1, wherein each of the Bluetooth extenders encapsulates the received Bluetooth message into the Ethernet packet. The Bluetooth extension system of claim 1, wherein the WiFi module of the gateway and the WiFi module of the Bluetooth extenders respectively establish the WiFi connections, and the Bluetooth expanders The Bluetooth module and the Bluetooth devices respectively establish the Bluetooth connection. The Bluetooth extension system of claim 1, wherein each of the Bluetooth extenders extracts the second Bluetooth message from the received second Ethernet packet. The Bluetooth extension system of claim 1, wherein each of the Bluetooth extenders is distributed in an environment according to a respective coverage area. A Bluetooth extender includes: a Bluetooth module for establishing a plurality of Bluetooth connections; and a WiFi module coupled to the Bluetooth module and establishing a WiFi connection, wherein the WiFi module is connected through the WiFi connection. Transferring a plurality of Bluetooth messages received by the Bluetooth module through the Bluetooth connections, and the Bluetooth module transmits the plurality of Ethernet networks received by the WiFi module through the WiFi connection through the Bluetooth connection a packet, wherein the WiFi module performs a format conversion on the received Bluetooth messages to generate a second Ethernet packet, and the WiFi module performs the format conversion on the received Ethernet packets. A second Bluetooth message is generated separately. The Bluetooth extender of claim 6, wherein the WiFi module separately encapsulates the received Bluetooth messages into the second Ethernet packet. The Bluetooth extender of claim 6, wherein the WiFi module separately extracts the second Bluetooth message from the received Ethernet packets.