BLE Relay Header Insertion for Low-Power IPv6 Medical Links
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices face significant power consumption issues due to the overhead of IPv6 and UDP/TCP headers, especially in mobile medical devices that require extended battery life, and lack secure communication mechanisms for reliable data transfer in healthcare environments.
Innovation Solution
A wireless medical device transitions to a mode where it omits IPv6 and UDP/TCP headers by leveraging a relay device for header insertion and end-to-end encryption, reducing communication overhead and power consumption while ensuring secure data transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If IPv6 and UDP/TCP headers are included in every BLE message, then communication compatibility and routing capability are improved, but power consumption increases and battery life decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the IPv6 header transmission requirement from the mobile medical device by introducing a relay device that performs header insertion. The mobile device sends messages without IPv6 headers, and the relay device adds the necessary headers at the network edge, thereby eliminating the power-consuming header transmission from the battery-constrained device while maintaining communication compatibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The relay device acts as an intermediary between the mobile medical device and the IP network. It receives messages from the mobile device, inserts the necessary IPv6 headers, and forwards them to the destination, thereby enabling IP network compatibility without requiring the mobile device to handle complex header operations that consume power.
2Reliability
If the mobile medical device transmits complete IPv6 packets with headers, then network routing and delivery reliability are improved, but communication overhead and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates the header insertion function from the mobile medical device, extracting this power-consuming operation and relocating it to the relay device. The mobile device only transmits compact messages without headers, significantly reducing power consumption while the relay device ensures reliable delivery by adding complete headers with proper routing information.
Solution Approach 2:
The relay device performs preliminary header insertion actions before messages are transmitted over the IP network. By pre-inserting the necessary IPv6 headers at the relay device, the system ensures proper routing and delivery reliability without requiring the mobile device to expend power on header construction and transmission.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the device operates in IPv6 mode with complete headers, then network interoperability is improved, but message size and transmission overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the IPv6 header from the mobile device's transmitted messages, sending only the essential payload data over the BLE connection. The complete IPv6 packets with proper headers are constructed by the relay device, thereby minimizing message size during wireless transmission while maintaining full network interoperability.
4Ease of operation
If the mobile device manages its own IPv6 addressing and header construction, then communication autonomy is improved, but device complexity and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The relay device serves as an intermediary that handles the complex IPv6 header construction and addressing management. The mobile medical device maintains simplicity by only sending compact messages, while the relay device performs the complex header insertion operations, thereby reducing device complexity without completely sacrificing communication autonomy.
Data Source
AI summary
A wireless device (S) includes a radio (R) for communicating via a wireless communication protocol which employs messages constructed as layer 2 MAC frames each including a layer 2 MAC header and a payload. The wireless device is configured to operate in (i) a first mode in which the wireless device transmits messages (N0, . . . , Nn) via the radio each including an IPv6 packet header and an upper layer protocol data unit encapsulated within the payload of a layer 2 MAC frame, and (ii) a second mode in which the wireless device transmits messages (M0, . . . , Mn) via the radio each including an upper layer protocol data unit encapsulated within the payload of a layer 2 MAC frame without including the IPv6 header. A relay device (T) comprises a radio for communicating via the wireless communication protocol which employs messages constructed as layer 2 MAC frames each including a layer 2 MAC header and a payload. In one power-saving aspect, the relay device is configured to perform a header insertion service (I) in which the relay device receives messages (M0, . . . , Mn) via its radio from the wireless device (S), each including an upper layer protocol data unit encapsulated within the payload of a layer 2 MAC frame without including the IPv6 header. The header insertion service inserts header information (A′) into the messages (M0, . . . , Mn) received from the wireless device (S) and retransmits the messages with complete headers as messages (M0′, . . . , Mn′). In another power-saving aspect, the relay device additionally or alternatively applies an acknowledgement detection criterion to filter out acknowledgements received from the server, and forwards the filtered out acknowledgements to the wireless device (S) via the radio at a reduced rate.