Bluetooth Controller Incoming Transmission Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) standards lack the ability for receiving devices to be aware of incoming transmissions, limiting their ability to adjust channels or timing, which can lead to increased power consumption and delays.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating an incoming transmission awareness feature in BLE controllers, allowing entities within the BLE device to request and prepare for upcoming transmission events by selecting specific receive parameters such as channel, timing, and modem/PHY settings through dedicated configuration signaling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the receiving device uses constant interval channel hopping as defined by BLE standard, then the connection remains active and reliable, but the device cannot adapt to incoming transmissions leading to increased power consumption and delays
Solution Approach 1:
The receiving device performs preliminary actions by obtaining awareness of incoming transmissions before they occur. This allows the device to proactively configure its receive parameters (channel, timing, PHY settings) in advance, rather than reacting after the transmission has started. The host receives incoming transmission awareness indications from the controller and configures the application accordingly, enabling the device to be ready to receive optimally configured transmissions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the controller monitors the physical layer for incoming transmissions and sends awareness indications back to the host. This feedback loop allows the receiving device to continuously adjust its channel and receive parameters based on actual transmission conditions, optimizing power consumption by only actively listening when transmissions are detected and configuring the optimal channel for reception.
2Reliability
If the receiving device follows standard BLE channel hopping intervals, then the connection stability is maintained, but response delays occur when incoming transmissions need immediate attention
Solution Approach 1:
The controller provides real-time feedback about incoming transmissions to the host through dedicated awareness indications. This feedback mechanism allows the receiving device to detect incoming transmissions immediately at the physical layer and notify the host without waiting for the next scheduled channel hop, enabling faster response times while maintaining connection stability through controlled deviations from standard hopping only when necessary.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic adaptability to the otherwise static channel hopping schedule. The receiving device can dynamically adjust its channel and timing parameters based on incoming transmission awareness, allowing it to deviate from standard BLE interval timing when needed to capture urgent transmissions, while returning to standard hopping behavior when no incoming transmissions are detected, thus maintaining connection stability.
3Measurement precision
If the receiving device cannot detect incoming transmissions in advance, then the system complexity remains simple, but the device cannot optimize receive parameters for better signal-to-noise ratio
Solution Approach 1:
The controller performs preliminary detection of incoming transmissions at the physical layer before the host needs to process the data. By obtaining incoming transmission awareness in advance, the controller can pre-configure optimal receive parameters including channel selection, timing synchronization, and PHY settings, allowing the receiving device to optimize signal-to-noise ratio for anticipated transmissions without adding complex processing to the host.
Data Source
AI summary
A Bluetooth (BT) or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) controller includes: a physical (PHY) layer; a baseband radio frequency (RF) layer; and a link layer (LL). The LL is configured to: obtain an incoming transmission awareness request regarding a later incoming transmission event; and perform incoming transmission operations to prepare for the later incoming transmission event responsive to the incoming transmission awareness request.