TWI789038B - Bluetooth communication system and related bluetooth devices capable of implementing auto-pairing function without supporting bluetooth low energy technology - 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 at least one of the inquirer-side Bluetooth device and the requester-side Bluetooth device does not support Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology.

Description

A bluetooth communication system and related bluetooth devices capable of automatic pairing without supporting bluetooth low energy technology

The invention relates to bluetooth communication technology, especially a bluetooth communication system and a related bluetooth device that can realize automatic pairing function without supporting bluetooth low power consumption technology.

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

However, according to the content disclosed in the aforementioned patents, before the automatic pairing process, the two Bluetooth devices must switch to specific operating modes to transmit or receive specific Bluetooth advertisement packets, so the control is more complicated and the entire automatic pairing is completed. The time required for the procedure may not 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 analyze Bluetooth advertising packets. In other words, it is difficult to adopt the aforementioned proprietary technology without Bluetooth chips and Bluetooth devices that support Bluetooth low energy technology. Favorable way to realize the automatic pairing function.

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

This description provides an embodiment of a bluetooth communication system, including: an inquiring party bluetooth device, which includes: an inquiring party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit; an inquiring party packet analysis circuit, coupled to the inquiring party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit; and An inquiring party control circuit, coupled to the inquiring party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit and the inquiring party's packet analysis circuit, is configured to generate a bluetooth inquiring request, and controls the inquiring party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit to send the bluetooth inquiring request; and a request The bluetooth device of the requesting party, which includes: a bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit of the requesting party, which is set to receive the bluetooth inquiry request; The bluetooth query request received by the transmitting and receiving circuit; and a requesting party control circuit, coupled to the requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit and the requesting party's packet analysis circuit, configured to resolve the bluetooth in the requesting party's packet analysis circuit After the inquiry request, generate a frequency hopping synchronization packet including a requesting party's Bluetooth address and an extended scanning response packet including an automatic pairing request, and control the requesting party's Bluetooth transmission and receiving circuit to transmit the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the The extended scan reply packet is sent to the inquiring party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit; wherein, the inquiring party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit is set to receive the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended scanning replying packet, so that the inquiring party's bluetooth device and the requesting party's bluetooth The device performs an automatic pairing procedure; wherein, at least one of the requesting bluetooth device and the inquiring bluetooth device does not support bluetooth low energy technology.

This specification also provides an embodiment of an inquiring bluetooth device used in a bluetooth communication system, which includes: an inquiring bluetooth transmission and reception circuit; an inquiry packet analysis circuit coupled to the inquiring bluetooth transmission and reception circuit; And an inquiring party control circuit, coupled to the inquiring party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit and the inquiring party packet analysis circuit, set to generate a bluetooth Inquiry request, and control the bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit of the inquiring party to send the bluetooth inquiring request, wherein, after a requesting bluetooth device in the bluetooth communication system receives the bluetooth inquiring request, the requesting bluetooth device will transmit a request containing A frequency hopping synchronization packet of the bluetooth address of the inquiring party, and an extended scan reply packet including an automatic pairing request to the inquiring party bluetooth device; Extending the scan reply packet so that the inquiring bluetooth device and the requesting bluetooth device perform an automatic pairing procedure; wherein at least one of the requesting bluetooth device and the inquiring bluetooth device does not support bluetooth low energy consumption technology.

This specification also provides an embodiment of a Bluetooth device on the requesting side in a Bluetooth communication system, which includes: a Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit on the requesting side, configured to receive a message from an inquiring Bluetooth device in the Bluetooth communication system A bluetooth inquiry request; a requesting party packet analysis circuit, coupled to the requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit, configured to analyze the bluetooth inquiry request received by the requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit; and a requesting party's control circuit, Coupled to the requesting party's bluetooth transmission and receiving circuit and the requesting party's packet analysis circuit, it is configured to generate a frequency hopping synchronization packet including a requesting party's bluetooth address after the requesting party's packet analysis circuit resolves the bluetooth inquiry request, and an extended scan reply packet including an automatic pairing request, and can control the requesting bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit to transmit the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended scan reply packet to the inquiring bluetooth device, so that the inquiring bluetooth device and The requesting bluetooth device performs an automatic pairing process; wherein at least one of the requesting bluetooth device and the inquiring bluetooth device does not support bluetooth low energy technology.

One of the advantages of the above embodiment is that it can effectively simplify the Bluetooth pairing process between the inquiring Bluetooth device and the requesting Bluetooth device, greatly reduce the degree of user involvement, and improve the convenience of use.

Another advantage of the above embodiment is that even if one of the inquiring bluetooth device and the requesting bluetooth device does not support the bluetooth low energy technology, or both do not support the bluetooth low energy technology, the aforementioned technical solution still Automatic pairing function can be realized.

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

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

110, 310: Inquirer-side Bluetooth device (inquirer-side Bluetooth device)

112: Inquirer-side Bluetooth transceiver circuit (inquirer-side Bluetooth transceiver circuit)

114: Inquirer-side packet parsing circuit (inquirer-side packet parsing circuit)

116: Inquirer-side control circuit (inquirer-side control circuit)

118: Inquirer-side interface circuit (inquirer-side interface circuit)

120, 320: Requester-side Bluetooth device (requester-side Bluetooth device)

122: Requester-side Bluetooth transceiver circuit (requester-side Bluetooth transceiver circuit)

124: Requester-side packet parsing circuit (requester-side packet parsing circuit)

126: Requester-side control circuit (requester-side control circuit)

130: Inquirer-side trigger device (inquirer-side trigger device)

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

328: Requester-side interface circuit (requester-side interface circuit)

330: Requester-side trigger device (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 flow chart of the automatic pairing method for 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 flow chart of the automatic pairing method for Bluetooth devices according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in conjunction with related figures. In the drawings, the same reference numerals represent the same or similar elements or method flows.

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

In practice, both the inquiring bluetooth device 110 and the requesting bluetooth device 120 may be stand-alone devices, or local circuits integrated in other devices.

In the inquiring bluetooth device 110 , the inquiring bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 is configured to receive and transmit bluetooth packets in different bluetooth channels. The inquiring party's packet analysis circuit 114 is coupled to the inquiring party's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112, and is configured to analyze the Bluetooth packet received by the inquiring party's Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 112, so as to extract the data, instructions, and/or information. The inquiring party control circuit 116 is coupled to the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 and the inquiring party packet analyzing circuit 114 , and is configured to control the operation of the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 and the inquiring party packet analyzing circuit 114 . The interrogator interface circuit 118 is coupled to the inquirer control circuit 116 and an inquirer trigger device 130, and is configured to receive a trigger signal generated by the inquirer trigger device 130, and upon receiving a trigger signal generated by the inquirer trigger device 130, The interrogator control circuit 116 is notified when the signal is triggered.

In practice, different functional blocks in the aforementioned inquiring-side Bluetooth device 110 can be realized by different circuits, or can be integrated into a single Bluetooth communication chip. In addition, if necessary, the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 can also be coupled to an additional antenna device (not shown).

The aforementioned inquiring party triggering device 130 can be realized by various devices that can generate corresponding trigger signals according to simple operations of the user, for example, buttons, switches, remote controllers, touch screens, voice control devices, gesture sensing devices, gyroscopes, A circuit using other trigger signal generating techniques, or a combination of various devices disclosed above. In practice, the inquiring-side triggering device 130 can be disposed outside the inquiring-side Bluetooth device 110 , or can be integrated with some or all of the functional blocks in the inquiring-side Bluetooth device 110 .

In the requesting bluetooth device 120, the requesting bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 is configured to receive and transmit bluetooth packets in different bluetooth channels. The requesting party's packet analysis circuit 124 is coupled to the requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122, and is configured to analyze the bluetooth package received by the requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122, so as to retrieve data, instructions, and/or information. The requester control circuit 126 is coupled to the requester Bluetooth transceiver circuit 122 and the requester packet analysis circuit 124 , and is configured to control the operations of the requester Bluetooth transceiver circuit 122 and the requester packet analysis circuit 124 .

In practice, different functional blocks in the requesting Bluetooth device 120 can be realized by different circuits, or can be integrated into a single Bluetooth communication chip. In addition, if necessary, the requesting Bluetooth transmitting and receiving 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 a target device to be paired from a list of pairable devices), but does not regulate how to do so without user intervention. , let the two Bluetooth devices go through the automatic pairing process.

As mentioned earlier, the existing Bluetooth automatic pairing technology uses specific Bluetooth advertising packets to transmit Send the information required for automatic matching, for example, auxiliary advertising instruction (auxiliary advertising indication, AUX_ADV_IND) packet, advertising extension instruction (extended advertising indication, ADV_EXT_IND) packet, auxiliary link instruction (auxiliary chain indication, AUX_CHAIN_IND) packet, auxiliary scanning response ( auxiliary scan response (AUX_SCAN_RSP) packet, auxiliary synchronization indication (auxiliary synchronous indication, AUX_SYNC_IND) packet, etc.

In order to be able to generate or parse the aforementioned specific Bluetooth advertising packets, the existing Bluetooth automatic pairing technology also requires that the two Bluetooth devices must first switch to a specific operating 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 relatively complicated to control, but also two Bluetooth devices must support the Bluetooth low energy technology emerging from the Bluetooth 4.0 standard to perform the automatic pairing process.

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

The pairing manner 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 flow chart of the automatic pairing method for Bluetooth devices according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In the flow chart of FIG. 2 , the process in the column of a specific device represents the process performed by the specific device. For example, the part in the column marked "inquiring bluetooth device" represents the process performed by the inquiring bluetooth device 110; the part in the column marked "requesting bluetooth device" represents process in progress. The aforementioned logic is also applicable to other subsequent flow charts.

During operation, the requester control circuit 126 of the requester Bluetooth device 120 can 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 transmitting and receiving circuit 122 to enter an inquiry scan mode to detect whether there are other nearby Bluetooth devices sending Bluetooth inquiry requests.

In this case, if the user wants to use the inquiring party Bluetooth device 110 to automatically perform Bluetooth pairing with the requesting party Bluetooth device 120, the user can perform specific operations on the inquiring party trigger device 130 so that the inquiring party trigger device 130 generates a corresponding trigger. Signal. At this time, the inquiring side interface circuit 118 will perform the process 204 to receive the trigger signal generated by the inquiring side trigger device 130 and notify the inquiring side control circuit 116 .

When the inquiring party control circuit 116 receives the notification from the inquiring party interface circuit 118, the inquiring party control circuit 116 will proceed to process 206 and enter an inquiry mode (inquiry mode) to generate a Bluetooth bit including the inquiring party Bluetooth device 110. address (hereinafter referred to as the Bluetooth address of the inquiring party) for a Bluetooth inquiry request. In practice, the inquiring party control circuit 116 can also fill in other materials or information in the aforementioned Bluetooth inquiry request according to the needs of functional design.

In process 208 , the inquiring party control circuit 116 controls the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving 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 requesting bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 of the requesting bluetooth device 120 receives the bluetooth inquiry request from the inquiring bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 through the aforementioned inquiry scanning channel in the inquiry scanning mode. At this time, the requesting party packet parsing circuit 124 parses (parses) the Bluetooth inquiry request transmitted from the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 to obtain the Bluetooth address of the inquiring party Bluetooth device 110 .

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

Depending on the type of Bluetooth standards supported by the requesting Bluetooth device 120, the requesting Bluetooth device 120 may have one or more than one Bluetooth address. For example, in an embodiment where the supplicant Bluetooth device 120 only supports the Bluetooth 2.0 standard, the supplicant Bluetooth device 120 may only have a single Bluetooth address. For another example, in an embodiment where the requesting Bluetooth device 120 supports both the Bluetooth 2.0 standard and the Bluetooth 4.0 standard (or Bluetooth 5.0 standard, Bluetooth 5.3 standard), the requesting 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 requirement of functional design.

In the process 214 , the supplicant control circuit 126 generates an Extended Inquiry Response (EIR) packet including an auto pairing request. The aforementioned automatic pairing request in the extended scan response packet refers to various instruction information or instructions that require another Bluetooth device to actively perform a 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 transmitting and receiving circuit 122 to transmit the frequency hopping synchronization packet to the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 through the aforementioned inquiry scanning channel in the inquiry scanning mode.

In this case, the inquiring party’s Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 will perform the process 218 to receive the frequency hopping synchronization packet transmitted by the requesting party’s Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 in the inquiring mode, and the inquiring party’s packet analysis circuit 114 will analyze the inquiring party’s The bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 receives the frequency hopping synchronization packet to extract the aforementioned Bluetooth address of the requesting party from the frequency hopping synchronization packet.

In addition, after the Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 of the requesting party transmits the aforementioned frequency hopping synchronization packet to the Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 of the inquiring party, the requesting party control circuit 126 also performs the process 220 .

In the process 220, the requester control circuit 126 will control the request The bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 of the party sends the extended scan response packet to the bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 of the inquiring party immediately through the aforementioned inquiry scanning channel in the next packet transmission time slot (slave-to-master slot) of the aforementioned inquiry scanning channel .

In other words, the Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 of the requesting party will directly send the extended scan response packet containing the automatic pairing request to the Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 of the inquiring party through the aforementioned query scanning channel in the original form of the extended scan response packet, instead of The Extended Scan Response packet will be converted into other Bluetooth advertising packets first. It can also be clearly found from the foregoing description that the requesting party's Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 can receive the Bluetooth inquiry request from the inquiring party's Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 in the inquiry scan mode, and can also transmit the frequency hopping synchronization in the inquiry 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 is operating in the inquiry scanning 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 can pass the requester Bluetooth transmission. The receiving circuit 122 transmits the aforementioned automatic pairing request and the Bluetooth address of the requesting party to the Bluetooth device 110 of the inquiring party.

In this case, the inquiring party’s Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 will perform the process 222 to receive the extended scan response packet from the requesting party’s Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 in the inquiring mode, and the inquiring party’s packet analysis circuit 114 will analyze the inquiring party’s The bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 receives the extended scan response packet 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 transmission and reception circuit 112 of the inquiring party can send a Bluetooth inquiry request in the inquiry mode, and can also receive the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the synchronization packet sent by the Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit 122 of the requesting party in the inquiry mode. Extended scan response packet. In other words, when the inquiring party Bluetooth device 110 operates in the inquiring mode, the inquiring party control circuit 116 does not need to switch the operation mode of the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 first, and can receive the requesting party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 The incoming auto-pairing request and the Bluetooth address of the requesting party.

Because the aforementioned requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 will immediately transmit the extended scan response packet to the inquiring party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit in the next packet transmission time slot of the inquiry scanning channel Road 112. Therefore, after the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 receives the aforementioned frequency hopping synchronous packet, the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 will also receive the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 in the next packet receiving time slot of the inquiry scanning channel. Extended Scan Response packets sent via the Interrogation Scan channel.

Then, the requester control circuit 126 will perform the process 224 to control the requester Bluetooth transceiver circuit 122 to enter a page scan mode to wait for the requester Bluetooth device 110 to page to 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 bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 to enter a call mode (page mode) according to the received automatic pairing request, so as to communicate with the requesting party bluetooth device 120 automatic pairing procedure. During operation, the inquiring party control circuit 116 can control the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 to transmit a page request (page request) through a page scan channel according to the aforementioned automatic pairing request and the aforementioned requesting party Bluetooth address. ) to the requesting party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122.

After the requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 receives the call request from the inquiring party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 through the aforementioned call scanning channel, the question between the inquiring party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 and the requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 can be Establish one or more Bluetooth connections in one or more specific channels. In this way, the Bluetooth automatic pairing process between the inquiring Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting Bluetooth device 120 is completed.

For example, in an embodiment where both the inquiring party Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting party Bluetooth device 120 only support the Bluetooth 2.0 standard, the inquiring party control circuit 116 and the requesting party control circuit 126 can 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 where both the inquiring party Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting party Bluetooth device 120 support the Bluetooth 2.0 standard and the Bluetooth 4.0 standard (or Bluetooth 5.0 standard, Bluetooth 5.3 standard), the inquiring party control circuit 116 and the requesting party control circuit 126 In the aforementioned process 226, in addition to establishing a basic rate Bluetooth connection (BR bond) or an enhanced data rate bluetooth In addition to the Bluetooth connection (EDR bond), a Bluetooth Low Energy connection (BLE bond) can also be established.

The inquiring party control circuit 116 can know from the aforementioned automatic pairing request that the requesting party Bluetooth device 120 corresponding to the aforementioned requesting party Bluetooth address allows other Bluetooth devices to perform Bluetooth pairing with it. Therefore, the inquiring party control circuit 116 will automatically try to perform the Bluetooth pairing process with the Bluetooth circuit corresponding to each received requesting party Bluetooth address through the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112, without generating a Bluetooth device for connection A list for the user to choose from. In other words, the operations of the inquiring Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting Bluetooth device 120 in the process 226 do not require user intervention at all.

As can be seen from the foregoing description, when the requesting-party Bluetooth device 120 is operating in the inquiry scanning mode, the user only needs to perform simple operations on the inquiring-party trigger device 130 coupled to the inquiring-party Bluetooth device 110 (for example, pressing a button, activating a switch, etc.) , the inquiring bluetooth device 110 will automatically start the bluetooth pairing process with the requesting bluetooth device 120 and establish a related bluetooth connection. In the entire bluetooth automatic pairing procedure, there is no need for the user to issue a bluetooth device scanning command, nor for the user to select an object device to be paired, so the degree of user involvement can be greatly reduced.

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

From another point of view, in the aforementioned embodiments of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 , both the inquiring Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting Bluetooth device 120 do not need to be provided with any display device, so the connection between the inquiring Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting device can be greatly simplified. The hardware structure, weight, and volume of both the Bluetooth device 120.

In addition, since the aforementioned inquiring Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting Bluetooth device 120 do not need to use the Bluetooth advertising packet to transmit the data required for the automatic pairing procedure, there is no need to switch to a specific device for transmitting or receiving the Bluetooth advertising packet. operating mode. Therefore, in the aforementioned Bluetooth communication system 100, the inquiring party Bluetooth device 110 and the requesting party Bluetooth device The automatic pairing procedure between devices 120 can be completed in a shorter time.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, it is difficult to implement the automatic pairing function in the conventional way for the Bluetooth chip and the Bluetooth device that do not support the Bluetooth low energy technology. 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 the Bluetooth low energy technology, or both do not support the 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 inquiring bluetooth device 110 to automatically start the bluetooth pairing procedure through the inquiring party triggering device 130 is just an example, and is not intended to limit 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 inquiring Bluetooth device 310 and a requesting Bluetooth device 320 . The inquiring party Bluetooth device 310 is very similar to the inquiring party Bluetooth device 110 in the embodiment of FIG.

The requester bluetooth device 320 is also very similar to the aforementioned requester bluetooth device 120 , but a requester interface circuit 328 is added in 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 implementation, connection, and operation of other corresponding components in the aforementioned Bluetooth communication system 100 are also applicable to the Bluetooth communication system 300 . For the sake of brevity, the description is not repeated here.

The pairing manner 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 flow chart of the automatic pairing method for Bluetooth devices according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

During operation, the inquiring party control circuit 116 of the inquiring party Bluetooth device 310 can 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 inquiring party control circuit 116 operates in an inquiring mode to generate a Bluetooth inquiry request including the Bluetooth address of the inquiring party Bluetooth device 310 (also referred to as the inquiring party's Bluetooth address hereinafter).

In this case, if the user wants to use the Bluetooth device 320 of the requesting party to automatically perform Bluetooth pairing with the Bluetooth device 310 of the requesting party, the user can perform specific operations on the triggering device 330 of the requesting party so that the triggering device 330 of the requesting party 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 proceed to process 406, and control the requester Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 to enter an inquiry scan mode to detect whether there are other The Bluetooth device sends a Bluetooth inquiry request.

In the process 208 , the inquiring party control circuit 116 controls the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 to send the Bluetooth inquiry request to other nearby Bluetooth devices through an inquiry scanning channel in the inquiry mode.

In the process 210, the Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 122 of the requesting party receives the Bluetooth inquiry request from the Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 of the inquiring party through the aforementioned inquiry scanning channel in the inquiry scanning mode. At this time, the requesting party packet analysis circuit 124 will analyze the Bluetooth inquiry request transmitted from the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112 to obtain the Bluetooth address of the inquiring party Bluetooth device 310 .

Then, the inquiring-side Bluetooth device 310 and the requesting-side Bluetooth device 320 will perform operations from the process 212 to the process 226 in FIG. 4 . The above-mentioned operation modes of other corresponding processes in FIG. 2 are also applicable to the embodiment in FIG. 4 . For the sake of brevity, the description is not repeated here.

Likewise, the inquiring control circuit 116 can know from the automatic pairing request sent by the requesting Bluetooth device 320 that the requesting Bluetooth device 320 allows other Bluetooth devices to perform Bluetooth pairing with it. Therefore, the inquiring party control circuit 116 will automatically try to perform the Bluetooth pairing process with the Bluetooth circuit corresponding to each received requesting party Bluetooth address through the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit 112, without generating a Bluetooth device for connection A list for the user to choose from. In other words, the operations of the inquiring Bluetooth device 310 and the requesting Bluetooth device 320 in the process 226 do not require user intervention at all.

As can be seen from the foregoing description, when the inquiring bluetooth device 310 operates in the inquiry mode, the user only needs to perform a simple operation on the requesting trigger device 330 coupled to the requesting bluetooth device 320 (for example, pressing a button, activating a switch, etc.), The requesting bluetooth device 320 will automatically start a bluetooth pairing procedure with the requesting bluetooth device 310 and establish a related bluetooth connection. In the entire bluetooth automatic pairing procedure, there is no need for the user to issue a bluetooth device scanning command, nor for the user to select an object device to be paired, so the degree of user involvement can be greatly reduced.

Therefore, the structure of the aforementioned Bluetooth communication system 300 and the adopted Bluetooth automatic pairing method can effectively simplify the Bluetooth pairing procedure between the inquiring Bluetooth device 310 and the requesting Bluetooth device 320 , and improve user convenience.

From another point of view, in the aforementioned embodiments of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , neither the inquiring Bluetooth device 310 nor the requesting Bluetooth device 320 need to be provided with any display device, so the connection between the inquiring Bluetooth device 310 and the requesting device can be greatly simplified. The hardware structure, weight, and volume of both Bluetooth devices 320.

In addition, since the aforementioned inquiring Bluetooth device 310 and the requesting Bluetooth device 320 do not need to use the Bluetooth advertising packet to transmit the data required for the automatic pairing procedure, there is no need to switch to a specific device for transmitting or receiving the Bluetooth advertising packet. operating mode. Therefore, in the aforementioned Bluetooth communication system 300, the automatic pairing procedure between the inquiring Bluetooth device 310 and the requesting Bluetooth device 320 can be completed in a shorter time.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, it is difficult to implement the automatic pairing function in the conventional way for the Bluetooth chip and the Bluetooth device that do not support the Bluetooth low energy technology. 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 the bluetooth low energy technology, or both do not support the bluetooth low energy technology , the automatic pairing function can still be implemented in the Bluetooth communication system 300 .

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

For another example, the process 216 can be adjusted to be performed before the process 214, or can be performed simultaneously with the process 212. For another example, the process 220 and the process 214 can also be performed at the same time.

For another example, the process 224 in FIG. 2 can be carried out simultaneously with the process 202 in FIG. 2 , can also be carried out alternately with the process 202 in FIG. 2 , or can also be adjusted between the process 202 and the process 220 in FIG. 2 .

For another example, the process 224 in FIG. 4 can be performed simultaneously with the process 406 in FIG. 4 , can also be performed alternately with the process 406 in FIG. 4 , or can be adjusted between the process 406 and the process 220 in FIG. 4 .

Certain words are used to refer to specific elements in the specification and scope of claims, but those skilled in the art may use different terms to refer to the same element. This specification and the scope of the patent application do not use the difference in name as a way to distinguish components, but use the difference in function of components as a basis for differentiation. The "comprising" mentioned in the specification and scope of patent application is an open 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 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 means 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 description of "and/or" used in the specification includes any combination of one or more of the listed items. In addition, unless otherwise specified in the specification, any singular term also includes a plural meaning.

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:Bluetooth communication system

110: inquiry party bluetooth device

112: Inquiring side bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit

114: Inquiring party packet analysis circuit

116: inquiry side control circuit

118: inquiry side interface circuit

120: requesting bluetooth device

122: requesting party bluetooth transmission and reception circuit

124: Requester packet parsing circuit

126: requester control circuit

130: Inquiring side trigger device

Claims (10)

A bluetooth communication system (100; 300), comprising: an inquiring party bluetooth device (110; 310), which includes: an inquiring party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112); an inquiring party packet analysis circuit (114), coupled In this inquirer bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112); And an inquiring party control circuit (116), coupled in inquiring party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) and this inquiring party packet analysis circuit (114), is set to can generate a Bluetooth inquiry request, and control this bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) of this inquiring party to send this bluetooth inquiry request; And a requesting party bluetooth device (120; 320), it comprises: a requesting party bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122), is set to Can receive this bluetooth inquiry request; A requesting party packet analysis circuit (124), is coupled in this requesting party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122), is set to can analyze this requesting party's blue tooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) received Bluetooth query request; and a requesting party control circuit (126), coupled to the requesting party bluetooth transmission and receiving circuit (122) and the requesting party packet analysis circuit (124), arranged to be able to resolve the circuit (124) in the requesting party packet ) after parsing the bluetooth inquiry request, generate a frequency hopping synchronous packet comprising a requesting party's bluetooth address and an extended scanning reply packet comprising an automatic pairing request, and control the requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) to transmit The frequency hopping synchronous packet and the extended scanning reply packet are sent to the inquiring party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112); wherein, the requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) is sending the automatic pairing request to the inquiring party's bluetooth device (110; 310), it will not switch to the operation mode for transmitting Bluetooth advertising packets; Wherein, the inquiring party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) is set to receive the frequency hopping synchronous packet and the extended scanning reply packet, and the inquiring party packet analysis circuit (114) is set to parse out the frequency hopping synchronous packet. The Bluetooth address of the requesting party, and the automatic pairing request can be parsed from the extended scan reply packet, so that the Bluetooth device (110; 310) of the requesting party performs an automatic pairing with the Bluetooth device (120; 320) of the requesting party program, and the inquiring party control circuit (116) is also configured to control the inquiring party’s bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) to transmit through a call scanning channel (page scan channel) according to the automatic pairing request and the requesting party’s bluetooth address. A call request (page request) is given to the requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122); wherein, the inquiring party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) receives the automatic pairing request from the requesting party's bluetooth device (120; 320) , it will not switch to the operation mode for receiving Bluetooth advertising packets; wherein, at least one of the requesting bluetooth device (120; 320) and the inquiring bluetooth device (110; 310) does not support bluetooth Low power consumption technology. Such as the Bluetooth communication system (100; 300) of claim 1, wherein, the inquiring party control circuit (116) generates the Bluetooth inquiring request in an inquiring mode, and controls the inquiring party’s Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) through An inquiry scanning channel sends the bluetooth inquiry request, and the inquiring party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) receives the frequency hopping synchronous packet and the extended scanning from the requesting party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) in the inquiry mode Reply packet; Wherein, the requesting party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) receives the bluetooth inquiry request from the inquiry scanning channel in an inquiry scanning mode, and the requesting party control circuit (126) controls the inquiry scanning mode The requesting bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) transmits the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended scanning reply packet to the inquiring bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) through the inquiry scanning channel. The bluetooth communication system (100; 300) as claimed in claim 2, wherein, in the requesting party bluetooth After the tooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) transmits the frequency hopping synchronous packet to the inquiring party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112), the requesting party control circuit (126) will control the requesting party Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) in the inquiry scan In the next packet transmission time slot of the channel, the extended scan response packet is sent to the inquiring bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) through the inquiry scanning channel. Such as the bluetooth communication system (100; 300) of claim item 2, wherein, after the bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) of the inquiring party receives the frequency hopping synchronization packet, the bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) of the inquiring party will also In the next packet receiving time slot of the inquiry scan channel, the extended scan response packet sent by the inquiring party's Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) through the inquiry scan channel is received. An inquirer Bluetooth device (110; 310) used in a Bluetooth communication system (100; 300), comprising: an inquirer bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112); an inquirer packet analysis circuit (114), coupled In this inquirer bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112); And an inquiring party control circuit (116), coupled in inquiring party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) and this inquiring party packet analysis circuit (114), is set to can generate a Bluetooth query request, and control the Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (112) of the querying party to send the Bluetooth query request, wherein a requesting Bluetooth device (120; 320) in the Bluetooth communication system (100; 300) receives the Bluetooth query request After the inquiry request, the inquiring bluetooth device (120; 320) will send a frequency hopping sync packet including a requesting bluetooth address and an extended scan reply packet including an auto pairing request to the inquiring bluetooth device (110 ; 310); Wherein, the inquiring party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) is set to receive the frequency hopping synchronous packet and the extended scan reply packet, and the inquiring party packet analysis circuit (114) is set to be synchronous from the frequency hopping The Bluetooth address of the requesting party can be parsed from the packet, and the automatic pairing request can be parsed from the extended scan reply packet, so that the query The inquiring party Bluetooth device (110; 310) performs an automatic pairing procedure with the requesting party Bluetooth device (120; 320), and the inquiring party control circuit (116) is also configured to be able to Address, control the inquiring party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) to send a call request (page request) to the requesting party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) through a call scanning channel (page scan channel); wherein, the inquiring party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) When the receiving circuit (112) receives the automatic pairing request from the requesting bluetooth device (120; 320), it will not switch to the operation mode for receiving bluetooth advertisement packets; wherein, the requesting bluetooth device (120 ; 320) and at least one of the inquiring bluetooth device (110; 310) does not support bluetooth low energy technology. The inquiring party bluetooth device (110; 310) as claim item 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 inquiring party's Bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (112) receives the frequency hopping synchronization packet and the extended Scan reply packets. The inquiring party Bluetooth device (110; 310) as in claim 6, wherein the inquiring party Bluetooth device (110; 310) further comprises: an inquiring party interface circuit (118), coupled to the inquiring party control circuit (116) , configured to receive a trigger signal generated by an inquiring party trigger device (130); wherein, when the inquiring party interface circuit (118) receives the trigger signal, the inquiring party control circuit (116) will enter the inquiring mode , to generate the Bluetooth inquiry request. A requester Bluetooth device (120; 320) used in a Bluetooth communication system (100; 300), comprising: a requester Bluetooth transmission and reception circuit (122), configured to receive the bluetooth communication system (100; 300) a bluetooth inquiry request sent by an inquiring party bluetooth device (110; 310); a requesting party packet analysis circuit (124), coupled to the requesting party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122), is set Be able to analyze the bluetooth query request received by the requesting party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122); and a requesting party control circuit (126), coupled to the requesting party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) and the requesting party packet The parsing circuit (124) is configured to generate a frequency hopping synchronization packet including a requesting party's Bluetooth address and an extended auto-pairing request after the requesting party's packet parsing circuit (124) parses the Bluetooth inquiry request scan the reply packet, and can control the requesting party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) to transmit the frequency hopping synchronous packet and the extended scan replying packet to the inquiring party bluetooth device (110; 310), so that the inquiring party bluetooth device (110 ; 310) carry out an automatic pairing procedure with the requesting party bluetooth device (120; 320); wherein, the requesting party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) transmits the automatic pairing request to the requesting party bluetooth device (110; 310) , and will not switch to the operation mode for transmitting Bluetooth advertising packets; wherein, the inquiring Bluetooth device (110; 310) will pass a page scan channel (page scan) according to the automatic pairing request and the Bluetooth address of the requesting party. channel) transmits a call request (page request) to the requesting party’s bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122), and when the requesting party’s bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) receives the requesting party’s bluetooth device (110; 310) After the call request, the requesting bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) will establish one or more bluetooth connections in one or more channels with the requesting bluetooth device (110; 310); wherein, the requesting bluetooth device ( 120; 320) and at least one of the inquiring bluetooth device (110; 310) does not support bluetooth low energy technology. Such as the requesting party Bluetooth device (120; 320) of claim item 8, wherein the requesting party Bluetooth transmission and receiving circuit (122) receives the Bluetooth inquiry request from an inquiry scanning channel in an inquiry scanning mode, and the requesting party controls The circuit (126) controls the bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) of the requesting party in the inquiry scanning mode, and transmits the frequency hopping synchronous packet and the extended scanning reply packet to the inquiring party bluetooth device (110; 310) through the inquiry scanning channel ). Such as the requesting party bluetooth device (120; 320) of request item 9, wherein, after the requesting party bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) transmits the frequency hopping synchronization packet to the requesting party bluetooth device (110; 310), the requesting party The control circuit (126) will control the requesting party's bluetooth transmitting and receiving circuit (122) to send the extended scan response packet to the inquiring party's bluetooth device (110) through the inquiry scanning channel in the next packet transmission time slot of the inquiry scanning channel. ;310).

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