TWI783255B - Auxiliary bluetooth circuit of multi-member bluetooth device capable of dynamically switching operation mode - Google Patents

Abstract

An auxiliary Bluetooth circuit for use in a multi-member Bluetooth device is disclosed including: a second Bluetooth communication circuit, a second packet parsing circuit, and a second control circuit for operably controlling the operations of the auxiliary Bluetooth circuit under a sniffing mode and a relay mode. In a period during which the auxiliary Bluetooth circuit operates at the sniffing mode, the main Bluetooth circuit receives packets transmitted from the remote Bluetooth device, while the second control circuit utilizes the second Bluetooth communication circuit to sniff packets issued from the remote Bluetooth device. In a situation of that a data throughput of packets sniffed from the remote Bluetooth device by the auxiliary Bluetooth circuit is lower than a predetermined threshold, the auxiliary Bluetooth circuit switches from the sniffing mode to the relay mode. In a period during which the auxiliary Bluetooth circuit operates at the relay mode, the second control circuit does not utilize the second Bluetooth communication circuit to sniff packets issued from the remote Bluetooth device, the main Bluetooth circuit forwards packets received from the remote Bluetooth device to the auxiliary Bluetooth circuit, while the second control circuit utilizes the second Bluetooth communication circuit to receive packets forwarded from the main Bluetooth circuit.

Description

Secondary bluetooth circuit in multi-member bluetooth device capable of dynamically switching operation modes

The invention relates to bluetooth technology, in particular to a secondary bluetooth circuit in a multi-member bluetooth device capable of dynamically switching operation modes.

A multi-member Bluetooth device refers to a Bluetooth device composed of a plurality of Bluetooth circuits that are used in conjunction with each other, for example, a pair of Bluetooth earphones, a group of Bluetooth speakers, and the like. When the multi-member Bluetooth device is connected with other Bluetooth devices (hereinafter referred to as remote Bluetooth devices), the remote Bluetooth device will treat the multi-member Bluetooth device as a single Bluetooth device. When a traditional multi-member Bluetooth device operates, one of the member circuits is set as the main Bluetooth circuit, which is responsible for two-way data transmission with the remote Bluetooth device, while the other member circuits are set as secondary Bluetooth circuits.

However, the wireless signal environment of Bluetooth communication will change with time, or be affected by the user's posture and usage habits. If the collocation operation between the main bluetooth circuit and the auxiliary bluetooth circuit cannot be dynamically adjusted according to the current bluetooth communication environment, it will easily reduce the overall operating performance of the multi-member bluetooth device or reduce the standby time.

In view of this, how to alleviate the impact of the change of the Bluetooth wireless signal environment on the overall performance of the multi-member Bluetooth device is a problem to be solved.

This specification provides an embodiment of a secondary Bluetooth circuit in a multi-member Bluetooth device. The multi-member bluetooth device is used for data transmission with a remote bluetooth device, and includes a main bluetooth circuit and the secondary bluetooth circuit, and the secondary bluetooth circuit includes: a second bluetooth communication circuit; A second packet analysis circuit, configured to analyze packets received by the second bluetooth communication circuit; and a second control circuit, coupled to the second bluetooth communication circuit and the second packet analysis circuit, configured to control the The operation mode of the secondary bluetooth circuit in a sniffing mode and a receiving mode; wherein, during the operation of the secondary bluetooth circuit in the sniffing mode, the main bluetooth circuit will receive the packet sent by the remote bluetooth device , and the second control circuit will use the second bluetooth communication circuit to sniff the packet sent by the remote bluetooth device; when the data throughput of the packet sniffed by the secondary bluetooth circuit is lower than a predetermined critical value , the secondary bluetooth circuit will switch from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode; and during the operation of the secondary bluetooth circuit in the indirect receiving mode, the second control circuit will not use the second bluetooth communication circuit to sniff To detect the packet sent by the remote bluetooth device, the main bluetooth circuit will receive the packet sent by the remote bluetooth device, and forward the received packet to the secondary bluetooth circuit, and the second control circuit will use the first The second bluetooth communication circuit receives the packet forwarded by the main bluetooth circuit.

One of the advantages of the above embodiment is that the multi-member Bluetooth device dynamically adjusts the operation mode of the secondary Bluetooth circuit according to the data throughput of the packet sniffed by the secondary Bluetooth circuit to adapt to the current Bluetooth communication environment.

Another advantage of the above-mentioned embodiment is that it can prevent the sub-bluetooth circuit or the main bluetooth circuit from operating in an unsatisfactory manner, thereby improving the overall operating performance of the multi-member bluetooth device and/or prolonging the standby time.

Another advantage of the above embodiment is that the service life of the main bluetooth circuit or the auxiliary bluetooth circuit can be extended, and/or the use comfort of the auxiliary bluetooth circuit or the main bluetooth circuit can be improved.

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

100: multi-member Bluetooth device

102: Remote Bluetooth device (remote Bluetooth device)

110: the first Bluetooth circuit (first Bluetooth circuit)

111: the first Bluetooth communication circuit (first Bluetooth communication circuit)

113: the first packet parsing circuit (first packet parsing circuit)

115: first clock synchronizing circuit (first clock synchronizing circuit)

117: the first control circuit (first control circuit)

120: Second Bluetooth circuit (second Bluetooth circuit)

121: second Bluetooth communication circuit (second Bluetooth communication circuit)

123: second packet parsing circuit (second packet parsing circuit)

125: second clock synchronizing circuit (second clock synchronizing circuit)

127: Second control circuit (second control circuit)

130: The third Bluetooth circuit (third Bluetooth circuit)

FIG. 1 is a simplified functional block diagram of a multi-member Bluetooth device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 to 3 are simplified flowcharts of the operation method of the multi-member Bluetooth device in a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a simplification of the operation method of the multi-member Bluetooth device in a second embodiment of the present invention The subsequent partial flow chart.

FIG. 5 is a simplified partial flowchart of the operation method of the multi-member Bluetooth device in a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a simplified partial flowchart of the operation method of the multi-member Bluetooth device in a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

7 to 8 are simplified flowcharts of the operation method of the multi-member Bluetooth device in a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

9 to 10 are simplified flowcharts of the operation method of the multi-member Bluetooth device in a sixth 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 multi-member Bluetooth device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The multi-member Bluetooth device 100 is used for data transmission with a remote Bluetooth device 102 and includes multiple member circuits. For convenience of description, only three member circuits are shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1 , which are the first Bluetooth circuit 110 , the second Bluetooth circuit 120 , and the third Bluetooth circuit 130 .

In this embodiment, all member circuits in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 have a similar main circuit structure, but different additional circuit elements can be set in different member circuits, and it is not limited to the circuit structure of all member circuits. exactly the same. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 , the first Bluetooth circuit 110 includes a first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 , a first packet analysis circuit 113 , a first clock synchronization circuit 115 , and a first control circuit 117 . Similarly, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 includes a second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 , a second packet analysis circuit 123 , a second clock synchronization circuit 125 , and a second control circuit 127 .

The main circuit components inside the third bluetooth circuit 130 are also similar to the aforementioned first bluetooth circuit 110 or the second bluetooth circuit 120, but for the sake of brevity, the third bluetooth circuit 130 is not The internal circuit components are shown in Figure 1.

In the first Bluetooth circuit 110, the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 can be used for data communication with other Bluetooth devices. The first packet analysis circuit 113 can be used to analyze the Bluetooth packet received by the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 . The first clock synchronization circuit 115 is coupled to the first packet analysis circuit 113 and can be used to adjust the clock signal used by the first bluetooth circuit 110 to synchronize the piconet used between the first bluetooth circuit 110 and other bluetooth devices Clock (piconet clock).

The first control circuit 117 is coupled to the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 , the first packet analysis circuit 113 , and the first clock synchronization circuit 115 , and is configured to control the operation of the aforementioned circuits. During operation, the first control circuit 117 can directly perform data communication with the remote Bluetooth device 102 through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 through Bluetooth wireless transmission, and perform data communication with other member circuits through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 . The first control circuit 117 also uses the first packet analysis circuit 113 to analyze the packet received by the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 to obtain relevant information or instructions.

In the second Bluetooth circuit 120, the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 can be used for data communication with other Bluetooth devices. The second packet analysis circuit 123 can be used to analyze the Bluetooth packet received by the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 . The second clock synchronization circuit 125 is coupled to the second packet analysis circuit 123 and can be used to adjust the clock signal used by the second bluetooth circuit 120 to synchronize the piconet used between the second bluetooth circuit 120 and other bluetooth devices clock.

The second control circuit 127 is coupled to the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 , the second packet analysis circuit 123 , and the second clock synchronization circuit 125 , and is configured to control the operation of the aforementioned circuits. During operation, the second control circuit 127 can perform data communication with other Bluetooth devices through the Bluetooth wireless transmission method through the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 , and perform data communication with other member circuits through the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 . The second control circuit 127 also uses the second packet analysis circuit 123 to analyze the packet received by the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to obtain relevant information or instructions.

In practice, the aforementioned first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 and the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 are both This can be achieved with suitable wireless communication circuitry capable of supporting various versions of the Bluetooth communication protocol. The aforementioned first packet analysis circuit 113 and second packet analysis circuit 123 can be implemented by various packet demodulation circuits, digital operation circuits, microprocessors, or application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). accomplish. Both the first clock synchronization circuit 115 and the second clock synchronization circuit 125 mentioned above can be realized by various suitable circuits capable of comparing and adjusting clock frequency and/or clock phase. Both the first control circuit 117 and the second control circuit 127 mentioned above can be implemented by various microprocessors or digital signal processing circuits with appropriate computing capabilities.

In some embodiments, the first clock synchronization circuit 115 or the second clock synchronization circuit 125 can also be integrated into the first control circuit 117 or the second control circuit 127 . In addition, the first packet analysis circuit 113 and the second packet analysis circuit 123 may also be integrated into the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 and the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 respectively.

In other words, the aforementioned first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 and the first packet analysis circuit 113 may be implemented by different circuits, or may be implemented by the same circuit. Likewise, the aforementioned second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 and the second packet analysis circuit 123 may be implemented by different circuits, or may be implemented by the same circuit.

In application, different functional blocks in the aforementioned first Bluetooth circuit 110 can also be integrated into a single circuit chip. For example, all functional blocks in the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can be integrated into a single Bluetooth controller IC. Likewise, all functional blocks in the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can also be integrated into another single Bluetooth control chip.

It can be seen from the foregoing description that different member circuits in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can communicate with each other through their respective Bluetooth communication circuits to form various types of data networks or data links. When the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 communicates with the remote Bluetooth device 102, the remote Bluetooth device 102 will treat the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 as a single Bluetooth device, and the multiple member circuits of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 are in the same During the time, a member circuit will be selected to play the role of the main Bluetooth circuit (main Bluetooth circuit), To process the main work of receiving the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102, while other member circuits play the role of auxiliary Bluetooth circuits.

The main Bluetooth circuit can use various known mechanisms to receive packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 , and the secondary Bluetooth circuit can use appropriate mechanisms to obtain packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 during the operation of the main Bluetooth circuit.

For example, when the main Bluetooth circuit is receiving the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 , the secondary Bluetooth circuit can operate in a sniffing mode to actively sniff the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 . Or, the secondary bluetooth circuit can operate in a relay mode, only passively receiving the packets sent by the main bluetooth circuit after receiving the packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102, without actively sniffing the remote A packet sent by the Bluetooth device 102 . The individual operation modes of the main Bluetooth circuit and the secondary Bluetooth circuit in the aforementioned two scenarios will be described in detail in the following paragraphs.

Please note that the terms "primary bluetooth circuit" and "secondary bluetooth circuit" referred to in the specification and the scope of the patent application are just for the convenience of distinguishing the ways in which different member circuits receive the packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102. It does not indicate whether the main bluetooth circuit has a certain degree of control authority over other operations of the secondary bluetooth circuit.

In addition, during the operation of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100, the roles of the master Bluetooth circuit and the slave Bluetooth circuit can also be dynamically exchanged. For example, the main bluetooth circuit can intermittently evaluate its own operating parameters such as computing load, remaining power, temperature, and/or operating environment, and hand over the role of the main bluetooth circuit to Other secondary bluetooth circuits.

For another example, the main bluetooth circuit can intermittently compare the gap between its aforementioned operating parameters and those of other secondary bluetooth circuits, and when the difference between the operating parameters of the main bluetooth circuit and the secondary bluetooth circuit exceeds a predetermined When the level is reached, the role of the main bluetooth circuit is handed over to other secondary bluetooth circuits.

For another example, the main Bluetooth circuit can also intermittently compare its own Bluetooth packet loss rate with those of other secondary Bluetooth circuits, and compare the bluetooth packet loss rates of other secondary Bluetooth circuits. When the tooth packet loss rate is relatively low, the role of the main bluetooth circuit is handed over to other secondary bluetooth circuits.

In practice, the main bluetooth circuit can also take all the aforementioned evaluation conditions into consideration to determine whether to hand over the role of the main bluetooth circuit to other secondary bluetooth circuits.

Or, the auxiliary bluetooth circuit can also use various methods to judge whether the main bluetooth circuit is disabled or missing, and when it is judged that the main bluetooth circuit is disabled or missing, the old main bluetooth circuit is replaced by the auxiliary bluetooth circuit, and actively continues to play the role of the main bluetooth circuit. The role of the Bluetooth circuit.

As we all know, during the process of data communication between the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 and the remote Bluetooth device 102, the wireless signal environment of Bluetooth communication may change over time due to various factors, and may also be affected by the user's posture, usage habits, etc. change with influence. In the case that the roles of the main Bluetooth circuit and the secondary Bluetooth circuit are not exchanged, if the collocation operation between the primary Bluetooth circuit and the secondary Bluetooth circuit cannot be dynamically adjusted according to the current Bluetooth communication environment, it is easy to reduce the multi-member Bluetooth device 100. The overall operating performance can also reduce the standby time of the main bluetooth circuit or the auxiliary bluetooth circuit. In some cases, it may also increase the heat generation and temperature of the secondary Bluetooth circuit or the main Bluetooth circuit, thereby shortening the service life of the secondary Bluetooth circuit or the main Bluetooth circuit, or reducing the use comfort of the secondary Bluetooth circuit or the main Bluetooth circuit ( Because heat or temperature is too high may cause user discomfort).

The operation of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 will be further described below with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 3 . 2 to 3 are simplified flowcharts of the operation method of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 in a first embodiment of the present invention.

In the flow charts of FIGS. 2 to 3 , the process in the column of a specific device represents the process performed by the specific device. For example, the part marked in the column of "Primary Bluetooth Circuit" is the process performed by the member circuit acting as the main Bluetooth circuit; the part marked in the column of "Secondary Bluetooth Circuit" is the process performed by the member circuit For the process performed by the circuit, the foregoing logic is also applicable to other subsequent flow charts.

As shown in FIG. 2, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 will first perform a process 202 to acquire Bluetooth connection parameters required to receive the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 . In practice, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can use any member circuit to first connect with the remote Bluetooth device 102 to obtain relevant Bluetooth connection parameters, and then use the member circuit to transmit the obtained Bluetooth connection parameters to other member circuits .

For example, in one embodiment, the first control circuit 117 of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can control the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 to establish a Bluetooth connection with the remote Bluetooth device 102 in the process 202, and connect the first Bluetooth circuit 110 with the The Bluetooth connection parameters between the remote Bluetooth devices 102 are transmitted to other member circuits such as the second Bluetooth circuit 120 through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111, so that other member circuits can use the Bluetooth connection parameters to receive the remote Bluetooth device. 102 sent packets.

As another example, in another embodiment, the second control circuit 127 of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can control the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to establish a Bluetooth connection with the remote Bluetooth device 102 in the process 202, and connect the second Bluetooth circuit The bluetooth connection parameters between 120 and the remote bluetooth device 102 are transmitted to other member circuits through the second bluetooth communication circuit 121, so that other member circuits can use the bluetooth connection parameters to receive packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 . On the other hand, the second control circuit 127 can also transfer the device identification data of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 and the Bluetooth connection parameters between the second Bluetooth circuit 120 and the remote Bluetooth device 102 to the remote Bluetooth device 102 through the second Bluetooth The communication circuit 121 transmits the packet to the first Bluetooth circuit 110 so that the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can perform two-way packet transmission with the remote Bluetooth device 102 in the subsequent process. After that, the second bluetooth circuit 120 will only receive the packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 one-way, and will not send the packets to the remote bluetooth device 102 again, so as to avoid the problem of packet collision in the remote bluetooth device 102 .

For convenience of description, it is assumed that the member circuit currently selected in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 to process and receive the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 is the first Bluetooth circuit 110, and other member circuits (for example, The aforementioned second bluetooth circuit 120 and third bluetooth circuit 130) act as secondary bluetooth circuits.

In process 204, the first bluetooth circuit 110 can notify through the first bluetooth communication circuit 111 Other member circuits in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 (for example, the aforementioned second Bluetooth circuit 120 and third Bluetooth circuit 130), then the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will play the role of the master Bluetooth circuit, and instruct other member circuits to play the secondary role. role of the Bluetooth circuit and operates in sniffing mode. That is to say, next, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will be responsible for processing the main work of receiving the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102, while other member circuits can only sniff the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102, but are not allowed to transmit instructions and data , or other relevant packets to the remote Bluetooth device 102 .

Next, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will perform the process 206 while the secondary Bluetooth circuit is operating in the sniffing mode.

In the process 206, the first control circuit 117 of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will use the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 to receive the packet transmitted from the remote Bluetooth device 102, but the first control circuit 117 will not pass through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 The packet transmitted from the remote bluetooth device 102 is forwarded to other secondary bluetooth circuits.

During operation, the first control circuit 117 can use the Bluetooth connection parameters acquired in the process 202 to perform packet transmission with the remote Bluetooth device 102 through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111, so as to receive various data from the remote Bluetooth device 102. packets, or transmit various packets to the remote Bluetooth device 102 . It can be seen from the operation description of the aforementioned process 202 that the Bluetooth connection parameters used by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the remote Bluetooth device 102 for packet transmission may be obtained by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 itself, or other member circuits. (for example, the second Bluetooth circuit 120).

Each time the first bluetooth communication circuit 111 receives a packet from the remote bluetooth device 102, the first control circuit 117 of the first bluetooth circuit 110 can transmit a corresponding acknowledgment message (acknowledge message) through the first bluetooth communication circuit 111 to the remote Bluetooth device 102. If the remote Bluetooth device 102 does not receive the corresponding acknowledgment information of the specific packet, it retransmits the specific packet to the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 . In practice, various suitable packet handshake mechanisms can be adopted between the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the remote Bluetooth device 102 to reduce or avoid the occurrence of missing packets.

On the other hand, when the master Bluetooth circuit is receiving packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102, other member circuits that play the role of the slave Bluetooth circuit will perform the process 208, and continue to operate in the sniffing mode to sniff the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102. packets. For example, in the process 208 , the second control circuit 127 of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can use the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to sniff packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 according to the Bluetooth connection parameters obtained in the process 202 . In one embodiment, the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 can sniff all Bluetooth packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 . In another embodiment, the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 only sniffs the Bluetooth packets that the remote Bluetooth device 102 wants to send to the first Bluetooth circuit 110, but does not sniff the Bluetooth packets that the remote Bluetooth device 102 wants to send to the multi-member Bluetooth Bluetooth packets of devices other than device 100. From the description of the aforementioned process 202, it can be seen that the Bluetooth connection parameters used by the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to sniff the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 may be obtained by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 itself, or other members circuit (for example, the first Bluetooth circuit 110).

The secondary bluetooth circuit can perform the process 210 every time it sniffs the packet sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 . In the process 210 , the secondary bluetooth circuit sends a notification message corresponding to the sniffed packet to the main bluetooth circuit, but does not send any confirmation message to the remote bluetooth device 102 . For example, each time the second Bluetooth circuit 120 sniffs a packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102, the second control circuit 127 can perform the process 210 to send a corresponding notification message to the first Bluetooth circuit through the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121. 110 to the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 , but the second control circuit 127 will not send any confirmation information to the remote Bluetooth device 102 through the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 .

In practice, the sub-Bluetooth circuit can also be modified to perform the aforementioned process 210 when the main Bluetooth circuit inquires whether the sub-Bluetooth circuit has sniffed a specific packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 .

In other words, during the period when the secondary Bluetooth circuit is operating in the sniffing mode, although the primary Bluetooth circuit and other secondary Bluetooth circuits will receive the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 in this embodiment, only the primary Bluetooth circuit will receive the packet when receiving the packet. Send confirmation information to the remote Bluetooth device 102, other secondary Bluetooth circuits will not send confirmation information to the remote Bluetooth device 102, In order to avoid misjudgment caused by the remote Bluetooth device 102 . Since the remote Bluetooth device 102 does not know that the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is sniffing the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102, and the second Bluetooth circuit 120 does not send corresponding confirmation information to the remote Bluetooth device 102, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 Between the 120 and the remote Bluetooth device 102 , no packet handshake procedure will be performed for the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 .

In this embodiment, the purpose of the second bluetooth circuit 120 sending the aforementioned notification information to the first bluetooth circuit 110 is not to perform a packet handshake procedure with the first bluetooth circuit 110, but to allow the first bluetooth circuit 110 to Grasp whether the second bluetooth circuit 120 misses any packet sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 .

In addition, the purpose of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 sending the notification message to the first Bluetooth circuit 110 is not for the first Bluetooth circuit 110 to decide whether to send the confirmation message to the remote Bluetooth device 102 . In this embodiment, the first control circuit 117 does not check whether the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 has received the notification message from the second Bluetooth circuit 120 before sending the confirmation message to the remote Bluetooth device 102 . Therefore, the timing at which the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 transmits the confirmation message to the remote Bluetooth device 102 has nothing to do with whether the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 has received the aforementioned notification message from the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

In practice, the aforementioned notification information sent by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to the first Bluetooth circuit 110 may be implemented in various suitable data formats. For example, when the second bluetooth circuit 120 receives a specific bluetooth packet from the remote bluetooth device 102, the second control circuit 127 can retrieve the corresponding packet sequence number from the specific bluetooth packet, and combine the packet sequence number with the The device code or device identification information for identifying the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is combined or encoded into notification information corresponding to the specific Bluetooth packet. For another example, the second control circuit 127 can extract appropriate packet identification data from the specific Bluetooth packet, and combine or encode the packet identification data together with the device code or device identification data that can identify the second Bluetooth circuit 120 Generate notification information corresponding to the specific Bluetooth packet.

As can be seen from the foregoing description, the remote Bluetooth device 102 successively sends out a plurality of Bluetooth packets in the process of During the process, each secondary Bluetooth circuit will repeat the aforementioned process 208 and process 210 under normal conditions, and then transmit multiple notification messages to the first Bluetooth circuit 110 . For example, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 repeats the process 208 and the process 210 to send a plurality of notification messages corresponding to the plurality of Bluetooth packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 to the first Bluetooth circuit 110 .

During actual operation, each secondary bluetooth circuit may occasionally miss some packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 , and different secondary bluetooth circuits may have different missed packets and packet numbers. Therefore, the main Bluetooth circuit can perform the process 212 intermittently or periodically to determine whether the individual secondary Bluetooth circuit misses receiving the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 according to the plurality of notification messages sent by the individual secondary Bluetooth circuit.

For example, in the process 212, the first control circuit 117 of the first bluetooth circuit 110 can check whether the second bluetooth circuit 120 missed receiving the remote bluetooth device 102 according to the plurality of notification messages sent by the second bluetooth circuit 120. partial packet. The first packet analysis circuit 113 can analyze a plurality of packet serial numbers or a plurality of packet identification data from the plurality of notification messages transmitted from the second Bluetooth circuit 120 . The first control circuit 117 can check whether these packet serial numbers or packet identification data are continuous, so as to check whether the second Bluetooth circuit 120 misses receiving some packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 . If the aforementioned packet serial number or packet identification data is discontinuous, the first control circuit 117 can determine that the second Bluetooth circuit 120 has missed the packet corresponding to the missing packet serial number or packet identification data. According to missing packet serial numbers or packet identification data, the first control circuit 117 can further define which packets are missed by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

As mentioned above, the packet handshake mechanism is adopted between the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the remote Bluetooth device 102 , so the first Bluetooth circuit 110 should be able to obtain all the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 under normal circumstances.

If the first control circuit 117 detects that a certain bluetooth circuit has missed some packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102, it will proceed to process 214, and transmit the packets missed by the bluetooth circuit through the first bluetooth communication circuit 111. to the secondary bluetooth circuit.

For example, when the first control circuit 117 detects that the second bluetooth circuit 120 misses receiving the specific packet sent by the remote bluetooth device 102, the first control circuit 117 can perform the process 214, and send the second bluetooth circuit 111 to the The packets missed by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 are sent to the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

In this case, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 will perform the process 216 to receive the packet sent by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 through the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 . In other words, when the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is operating in the sniffing mode, the second control circuit 127 can use the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to receive the packet transmitted from the first Bluetooth circuit 110, so as to obtain the information of the remote Bluetooth device 102. A packet sent but missed by the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 .

By repeating the aforementioned operations, the second bluetooth circuit 120 can make up all missing packets with the assistance of the first bluetooth circuit 110 . Likewise, the first bluetooth circuit 110 can assist other secondary bluetooth circuits to complete missing packets by using the aforementioned method.

During the operation of the secondary bluetooth circuit in sniffing mode, if the secondary bluetooth circuit needs to transmit commands, data, or related packets to the remote bluetooth device 102, the command, data, or related packets must be forwarded to the remote through the main bluetooth circuit. end Bluetooth device 102. For example, if the second Bluetooth circuit 120 needs to transmit instructions, data, or related packets to the remote Bluetooth device 102, the aforementioned instructions, data, or related packets must be sent to the main Bluetooth circuit through the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121. The first bluetooth circuit 110 is then forwarded to the remote bluetooth device 102 by the first bluetooth circuit 110 to avoid the problem of packet collision in the remote bluetooth device 102 .

In other words, when the secondary Bluetooth circuit is operating in the sniffing mode, all member circuits of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 will receive packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102, but only the main Bluetooth circuit is allowed to transmit commands, data, or other related packets to The remote bluetooth device 102 .

It can be known from the foregoing description that the packet handshake mechanism is adopted between the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the remote Bluetooth device 102 to avoid missing packets, and the timing of the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 sending confirmation information to the remote Bluetooth device 102 , with the first bluetooth circuit 110 Whether the aforementioned notification information from the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is received is irrelevant.

Therefore, other sub-Bluetooth circuits transmit corresponding notification information to the first Bluetooth circuit 110 when receiving the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102, and will not interfere or delay the communication between the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the remote Bluetooth device 102. The packet handshake procedure between the first bluetooth circuit 110 will not cause additional operational burden on the aforementioned packet handshake procedure.

On the other hand, since other secondary Bluetooth circuits in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 (for example, the aforementioned second Bluetooth circuit 120 and third Bluetooth circuit 130) will sniff the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102, each secondary Bluetooth circuit Under normal circumstances, the circuit will receive most of the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 . Therefore, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 as the main Bluetooth circuit only needs to transmit packets missed by individual secondary Bluetooth circuits to the corresponding secondary Bluetooth circuits, instead of transmitting all packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 to each Secondary bluetooth circuit.

Therefore, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 interacts with the remote Bluetooth device 102 using the method shown in FIG. power consumption. In this way, the working time and standby time of the main bluetooth circuit can be effectively extended.

In addition, the data transmission bandwidth requirement between the main bluetooth circuit and other member circuits can be greatly reduced, so the hardware design of the main bluetooth circuit and other member circuits can be simplified, and/or circuit complexity and circuit cost can be reduced. .

During operation, various suitable existing data synchronization mechanisms can also be adopted between the main bluetooth circuit and other auxiliary bluetooth circuits to ensure that different member circuits can synchronously play audio data or video data transmitted from the remote bluetooth device 102, thereby Avoid inconsistencies in playback timings of different member circuits.

It can be seen from the foregoing description that during the period when the secondary Bluetooth circuit is operating in the sniffing mode, although the roles of the primary Bluetooth circuit and the secondary Bluetooth circuit remain unchanged, the wireless signal environment of Bluetooth communication may change over time due to various factors. It may be affected by the user's posture and usage habits. If the connection between the main bluetooth circuit and the secondary bluetooth circuit If the matching operation cannot be dynamically adjusted according to the current Bluetooth communication environment, the overall operating performance of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 may be reduced, and the standby time of the main Bluetooth circuit or the secondary Bluetooth circuit may be reduced. In some cases, the service life of the secondary bluetooth circuit or the main bluetooth circuit may be shortened, or the use comfort of the secondary bluetooth circuit or the main bluetooth circuit may be reduced.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3 , when the secondary Bluetooth circuit is operating in the sniffing mode, it also intermittently performs the process 302 to calculate the data throughput of the sniffed packets. For example, in the process 302, the second control circuit 127 of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can calculate the data volume of the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 sniffed by the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to generate a corresponding data throughput. .

Next, the second control circuit 127 can perform the process 304 to compare the data throughput sniffed by the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 with a predetermined threshold.

If the data throughput sniffed by the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 is higher than the predetermined critical value, it means that the amount of packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 is within the normal range, and the wireless signal environment for the Bluetooth communication of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 at that time is sufficient. ideal. In this case, the second bluetooth circuit 120 can continue to operate in the sniffing mode, and repeat the aforementioned operations of the process 208 to the process 304 .

Conversely, if the data throughput sniffed by the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 is lower than the predetermined critical value, it means that the wireless signal environment for the Bluetooth communication of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 at that time is not very ideal, or the remote Bluetooth device 102 sends The amount of packets is very small, even in sleep mode. In this case, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can perform the process 306 .

In the process 306 , the second control circuit 127 generates a first mode switching request, and transmits the first mode switching request to the main Bluetooth circuit through the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 . The aforementioned first mode switching request is used to request the main Bluetooth circuit to allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode. In practice, various suitable data formats can be used to realize the first mode switching request.

In process 308, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will use the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 to receive The first mode switch request from the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

In the process 310 , the first control circuit 117 of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 determines whether to allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch operation modes. In this embodiment, after the first control circuit 117 receives the aforementioned first mode switching request, it can judge whether to allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode according to predetermined rules, and perform corresponding follow-up operations according to the judgment result. processing flow. If the first control circuit 117 decides not to allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode, the process 312 will be performed. On the contrary, if the first control circuit 117 decides to allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode, the process 316 will be performed.

After the first bluetooth circuit 110 allows the secondary bluetooth circuit to switch the operating mode, the second bluetooth circuit 120 can switch from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode, and then the first bluetooth circuit 110 needs to send the remote bluetooth device 102 The packet is forwarded to the second bluetooth circuit 120 . In this way, the computing load, power consumption, and heat generation of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 , as well as the data bandwidth requirement between the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the second Bluetooth circuit 120 will be increased.

Therefore, after receiving the aforementioned first mode switching request, the first control circuit 117 can evaluate factors such as the computing load, remaining power, temperature, and/or available data bandwidth of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 at that time, and evaluate the result Only when the predetermined condition is met, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is allowed to switch the operation mode. For example, the first control circuit 117 can operate when the computing load of the main Bluetooth circuit is lower than a predetermined level, the remaining power is higher than a predetermined threshold, the temperature is lower than a predetermined temperature, and/or the available data bandwidth exceeds a predetermined value. The second bluetooth circuit 120 is only allowed to switch the operation mode under the condition.

In the process 312, the first control circuit 117 will generate a rejection message representing that the first Bluetooth circuit 110 does not allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode, and transmit the rejection message to the second Bluetooth circuit through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 120.

In the process 314 , the second Bluetooth circuit 120 uses the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to receive the rejection message from the first Bluetooth circuit 110 . In this case, the second control circuit 127 According to the indication of the rejection message, the second bluetooth circuit 120 is controlled to continue to operate in the sniffing mode, and the operations of the aforementioned process 208 to process 304 are repeated.

In the process 316, the first control circuit 117 of the first bluetooth circuit 110 will generate a first mode switching instruction for instructing the second bluetooth circuit 120 to switch from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode, and communicate through the first bluetooth The circuit 111 transmits the first mode switching instruction to the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

In the process 318, the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 will receive the first mode switching instruction from the first Bluetooth circuit 110, and the second control circuit 127 will switch the second Bluetooth circuit 120 according to the first mode switching instruction. The operating mode is switched from sniffing mode to indirect receiving mode.

Then, the first bluetooth circuit 110 will perform the process 320 , and the second bluetooth circuit 120 will perform the process 322 .

In the process 320, the first control circuit 117 of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will use the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 to receive the packet transmitted from the remote Bluetooth device 102, and transmit the received packet through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111. to the second Bluetooth circuit 120.

In the process 322 , the second control circuit 127 controls the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to operate in the indirect communication mode, and uses the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to receive the packet forwarded by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 . However, when the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is operating in the indirect receiving mode, the second control circuit 127 will not use the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to sniff the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 . In other words, when the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is operating in the indirect receiving mode, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 indirectly obtains the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 through the first Bluetooth circuit 110 .

Please note that the above-mentioned first control circuit 117 performs the judgment procedure of the process 310 first, and then performs the operation of the process 316 after judging that the first bluetooth circuit 110 meets the predetermined condition. In practice, the first control circuit 117 may also skip the determination procedure of the aforementioned process 310 and directly proceed to the process 316 after receiving the aforementioned first mode switching request.

As can be seen from the foregoing description, the second Bluetooth circuit 120, which plays the role of the secondary Bluetooth circuit, will intermittently compare the data throughput sniffed by itself with a predetermined threshold to evaluate its own Bluetooth Whether the wireless signal environment is deteriorating, or whether the amount of packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 is significantly reduced. As long as the data throughput sniffed by the second bluetooth circuit 120 is higher than the aforementioned predetermined critical value (that is, the amount of packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 belongs to the normal range, and the bluetooth wireless signal environment of the second bluetooth circuit 120 is still sufficient Ideally), the first Bluetooth circuit 110 acting as the master Bluetooth circuit will not instruct the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch to the indirect receiving mode. In this case, the first bluetooth circuit 110 only needs to transmit the packets missed by the second bluetooth circuit 120 to the second bluetooth circuit 120, instead of forwarding all the packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 to the second bluetooth circuit 120, Therefore, the operating burden, power consumption, and heat generation of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can be reduced, the working time and standby time of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can be extended, and the distance between the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can be reduced. bandwidth requirements for data transmission.

Only when the data throughput sniffed by the second bluetooth circuit 120 is lower than the aforementioned predetermined critical value, that is, the bluetooth wireless signal environment of the second bluetooth circuit 120 becomes unsatisfactory, the remote bluetooth device 102 sends The first bluetooth circuit 110 instructs the second bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode when the amount of packets is small or in the dormant mode. In this case, the first bluetooth circuit 110 will forward all packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 to the second bluetooth circuit 120, and the second bluetooth circuit 120 will stop sniffing the packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102, so it can The operation burden, power consumption, and heat generation of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 are reduced. In this way, the working time and standby time of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be extended, the service life of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be extended, and/or the use comfort of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be improved. The foregoing method may even allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to enter the power saving mode, sleep mode, or sleep mode, so as to further reduce the power consumption of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

Similarly, the multi-member bluetooth device 100 can refer to the aforementioned method, according to the third bluetooth circuit The data throughput sniffed by 130 is used to dynamically switch the operation mode of the third Bluetooth circuit 130 .

Therefore, by adopting the aforementioned operation modes of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , the main Bluetooth circuit in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can dynamically switch the operation mode of the secondary Bluetooth circuit from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode, and adaptively change the main Bluetooth circuit. The matching operation between the circuit and the secondary bluetooth circuit can realize management mechanisms such as load balance, power consumption balance, or heat balance among multiple bluetooth circuits of the multi-member bluetooth device 100, so that the performance of the multi-member bluetooth device 100 can be improved. Overall performance, prolonging the service life of the Bluetooth circuit, or improving user experience.

Please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a simplified partial flowchart of the operation method of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 in a second embodiment of the present invention. The operation process described in FIG. 4 can be matched with the operation process described in FIG. 2 above.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4 , when the secondary Bluetooth circuit is operating in the sniffing mode, it also intermittently performs the process 302 to calculate the data throughput of the sniffed packets. However, after the secondary Bluetooth circuit in this embodiment performs the process 302, it will not perform the aforementioned process 304, but will perform the process 404 in Figure 4, and transmit the data throughput of the packet sniffed by itself to the primary Bluetooth circuit.

For example, after the second bluetooth circuit 120 calculates the aforementioned data throughput in the process 302 , it will perform the process 404 . At this time, the second control circuit 127 transmits the data throughput to the first Bluetooth circuit 110 through the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 .

In the process 406 , the first Bluetooth circuit 110 uses the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 to receive the data throughput from the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

Next, the first control circuit 117 performs the process 408 to compare the data throughput sniffed by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 with a predetermined threshold.

If the data throughput sniffed by the second bluetooth circuit 120 is higher than the predetermined threshold, it means that the packet volume sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 is within the normal range, and the wireless signal environment for the second bluetooth circuit 120 to carry out bluetooth communication is ideal enough at that time . In this case, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 repeats the aforementioned operations of the process 406 and the process 408 without adjusting the operation mode of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

Conversely, if the data throughput sniffed by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is lower than the predetermined threshold, it means that the wireless signal environment for Bluetooth communication by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 at that time is not very ideal, or the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 The amount is very small, even in the state of sleep mode. In this case, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can perform the same operation as the aforementioned process 316 to 322 in FIG. 3 .

Same as the aforementioned embodiment in FIG. 3 , only when the data throughput sniffed by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is lower than the aforementioned predetermined critical value, that is, the Bluetooth wireless signal environment of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 becomes unhealthy. Ideally, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 instructs the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode when the amount of packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 is small or in the sleep mode. In this case, the first bluetooth circuit 110 will forward all packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 to the second bluetooth circuit 120, and the second bluetooth circuit 120 will stop sniffing the packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102, so it can The operating burden, power consumption, and heat generation of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 are reduced. In this way, the working time and standby time of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be extended, the service life of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be extended, and/or the use comfort of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be improved. The foregoing method may even allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to enter the power saving mode, sleep mode, or sleep mode, so as to further reduce the power consumption of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

Similarly, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can dynamically switch the operation mode of the third Bluetooth circuit 130 according to the data throughput sniffed by the third Bluetooth circuit 130 as compared to the aforementioned method.

Therefore, by adopting the aforementioned operation modes of FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 , the main Bluetooth circuit in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can dynamically switch the operation mode of the secondary Bluetooth circuit from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode, and adaptively change the main Bluetooth circuit. The matching operation between the circuit and the secondary bluetooth circuit can realize management mechanisms such as load balance, power consumption balance, or heat balance among multiple bluetooth circuits of the multi-member bluetooth device 100, so that the performance of the multi-member bluetooth device 100 can be improved. Overall performance, prolonging the service life of the Bluetooth circuit, or improving user experience.

Please refer to FIG. 5, which shows a third implementation of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 of the present invention Simplified partial flowchart of the operation method in the example. The operation process described in FIG. 5 can be matched with the operation process described in FIG. 2 above.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5 , the master Bluetooth circuit intermittently performs the process 502 to calculate the data throughput of the packets sniffed by the slave Bluetooth circuit while the slave Bluetooth circuit is operating in the sniffing mode.

For example, in the process 502, the first control circuit 117 of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can calculate the sniffing frequency of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 according to the frequency of sending missing packets to the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111. Probe data throughput.

In general, the lower the frequency at which the first control circuit 117 transmits missing packets to the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111, the lower the frequency, which means that the second Bluetooth circuit 120 sniffs the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102. The smoother the operation, the higher the data throughput sniffed by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 will be. Conversely, the higher the frequency with which the first control circuit 117 transmits missing packets to the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111, the less effective the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is at sniffing packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102. Smooth, so the data throughput sniffed by the second bluetooth circuit 120 will be lower. Therefore, the first control circuit 117 can indirectly calculate the data throughput sniffed by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 according to the frequency of sending missing packets to the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 .

Then, the first control circuit 117 can perform the process 408 to compare the aforementioned calculated data throughput with a predetermined threshold.

If the data throughput calculated by the first bluetooth circuit 110 is higher than the predetermined threshold, it means that the amount of packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 is within a normal range, and the wireless signal environment for the second bluetooth circuit 120 to perform bluetooth communication is ideal enough. In this case, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 repeats the aforementioned operations of the process 502 and the process 408 without adjusting the operation mode of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

Conversely, if the data throughput calculated by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 is lower than the predetermined critical value, it means that the wireless signal environment for Bluetooth communication by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 at that time is not good. It is very ideal, or the amount of packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 is very small, or even in a sleep mode. In this case, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can perform the same operation as the aforementioned process 316 to 322 in FIG. 3 .

Only when the data throughput calculated by the first bluetooth circuit 110 is lower than the aforementioned predetermined critical value, that is, the bluetooth wireless signal environment of the second bluetooth circuit 120 becomes unsatisfactory, the packet sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 The first bluetooth circuit 110 instructs the second bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode if the amount of data is small or in the sleep mode. In this case, the first bluetooth circuit 110 will forward all packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 to the second bluetooth circuit 120, and the second bluetooth circuit 120 will stop sniffing the packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102, so it can The operating burden, power consumption, and heat generation of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 are reduced. In this way, the working time and standby time of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be extended, the service life of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be extended, and/or the use comfort of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be improved. The foregoing method may even allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to enter the power saving mode, sleep mode, or sleep mode, so as to further reduce the power consumption of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

Similarly, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can dynamically switch the operation mode of the third Bluetooth circuit 130 according to the data throughput sniffed by the third Bluetooth circuit 130 as compared to the aforementioned method.

Therefore, by adopting the aforementioned operation modes of FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 , the main Bluetooth circuit in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can dynamically switch the operation mode of the secondary Bluetooth circuit from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode, and adaptively change the main Bluetooth circuit. The matching operation between the circuit and the secondary bluetooth circuit can realize management mechanisms such as load balance, power consumption balance, or heat balance among multiple bluetooth circuits of the multi-member bluetooth device 100, so that the performance of the multi-member bluetooth device 100 can be improved. Overall performance, prolonging the service life of the Bluetooth circuit, or improving user experience.

Please refer to FIG. 6 , which is a simplified partial flowchart of the operation method of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 in a fourth embodiment of the present invention. The operation process described in FIG. 6 can be matched with the operation process described in FIG. 2 above.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6, the main bluetooth circuit operates in sniffing mode during the period when the secondary bluetooth circuit operates During this period, the process 502 is also performed intermittently to calculate the data throughput of the packets sniffed by the secondary Bluetooth circuit. However, the main bluetooth circuit in this embodiment will not perform the aforementioned process 408 after performing the process 502, but will perform the process 604 in FIG. 6, and transmit the calculated data throughput of the packet to the secondary bluetooth circuit for further judgment.

For example, after the first bluetooth circuit 110 calculates the data throughput sniffed by the second bluetooth circuit 120 in the process 502 , it will proceed to the process 604 . At this time, the first control circuit 117 transmits the calculated data throughput to the second Bluetooth circuit 120 through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 .

In the process 606 , the second Bluetooth circuit 120 uses the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to receive the data throughput transmitted from the first Bluetooth circuit 110 .

Next, the second control circuit 127 performs the aforementioned process 304 to compare the data throughput calculated by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 with a predetermined threshold.

If the data throughput calculated by the first bluetooth circuit 110 is higher than the predetermined threshold, it means that the amount of packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 is within a normal range, and the wireless signal environment for the second bluetooth circuit 120 to perform bluetooth communication is ideal enough. In this case, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 repeats the aforementioned operations of the process 208 and the process 210 .

Conversely, if the data throughput calculated by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 is lower than the predetermined threshold, it means that the wireless signal environment for Bluetooth communication by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 at that time is not very ideal, or the amount of packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 is not ideal. Rarely, even in sleep mode. In this case, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can perform the aforementioned process 306 to generate a first mode switching request, and transmit the aforementioned first mode switching request to the main Bluetooth circuit through the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 .

Next, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can perform the same operation as the aforementioned process 308 to process 322 in FIG. 3 .

Similar to the aforementioned embodiment of FIG. 5 , only when the data throughput calculated by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 is lower than the aforementioned predetermined critical value, that is, the Bluetooth wireless signal environment of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 becomes unsatisfactory , the amount of packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 Rarely or in sleep mode, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 instructs the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode. In this case, the first bluetooth circuit 110 will forward all packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 to the second bluetooth circuit 120, and the second bluetooth circuit 120 will stop sniffing the packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102, so it can The operation burden, power consumption, and heat generation of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 are reduced. In this way, the working time and standby time of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be extended, the service life of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be extended, and/or the use comfort of the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be improved. The foregoing method may even allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to enter the power saving mode, sleep mode, or sleep mode, so as to further reduce the power consumption of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

Similarly, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can dynamically switch the operation mode of the third Bluetooth circuit 130 according to the data throughput sniffed by the third Bluetooth circuit 130 as compared to the aforementioned method.

Therefore, by adopting the aforementioned operation modes of FIG. 2 and FIG. 6, the main Bluetooth circuit in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can dynamically switch the operation mode of the secondary Bluetooth circuit from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode, and adaptively change the main Bluetooth circuit. The matching operation between the circuit and the secondary bluetooth circuit can realize management mechanisms such as load balance, power consumption balance, or heat balance among multiple bluetooth circuits of the multi-member bluetooth device 100, so that the performance of the multi-member bluetooth device 100 can be improved. Overall performance, prolonging the service life of the Bluetooth circuit, or improving user experience.

In the foregoing embodiments shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 6 , the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 evaluates the secondary Bluetooth circuit according to the data throughput calculated by the secondary Bluetooth circuit or the primary Bluetooth circuit while the secondary Bluetooth circuit is operating in the sniffing mode. Whether the bluetooth wireless signal environment becomes worse, or whether the packet volume sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 is significantly reduced, and decide whether to switch the operation mode of the secondary bluetooth circuit from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode according to the evaluation result . However, these are only some examples, rather than limiting the actual implementation of the present invention. In practice, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can also dynamically determine whether to switch the operation mode of the secondary Bluetooth circuit according to changes in the Bluetooth wireless signal environment during the period when the secondary Bluetooth circuit is operating in the indirect receiving mode.

For example, FIGS. 7 to 8 are simplified flowcharts of the operation method of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 in a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 7 , the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 may perform the aforementioned process 202 to obtain the Bluetooth connection parameters required for receiving the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 . The foregoing descriptions about the operation mode and embodiment changes of the process 202 in FIG. 2 are also applicable to the embodiment in FIG. 7 .

For convenience of description, it is also assumed that the first Bluetooth circuit 110 is the member circuit currently selected in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 to process the main work of receiving the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102, and other member circuits (for example, The aforementioned second bluetooth circuit 120 and third bluetooth circuit 130) act as secondary bluetooth circuits.

In process 704, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can notify other member circuits in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 (for example, the aforementioned second Bluetooth circuit 120 and third Bluetooth circuit 130) through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111, and then the The first bluetooth circuit 110 acts as a master bluetooth circuit, and instructs other member circuits to act as slave bluetooth circuits, and operates in an indirect receiving mode. That is, next, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will be responsible for processing the main work of receiving the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102, while other member circuits only need to receive the packet forwarded by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 without sniffing the remote The packet sent by the Bluetooth device 102 does not allow other member circuits to transmit commands, data, or other related packets to the remote Bluetooth device 102 .

Next, when the secondary Bluetooth circuit is operating in the indirect receiving mode, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will perform the process 706 .

In the process 706, the first control circuit 117 of the first bluetooth circuit 110 will use the first bluetooth communication circuit 111 to receive the packet transmitted from the remote bluetooth device 102, and the first control circuit 117 will also pass the first bluetooth communication circuit 111 The packet transmitted from the remote bluetooth device 102 is forwarded to other secondary bluetooth circuits. For example, the first control circuit 117 can forward the packet transmitted from the remote Bluetooth device 102 to the second Bluetooth circuit 120 through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 .

During operation, the first control circuit 117 can use the Bluetooth connection parameters acquired in the process 202 to perform packet transmission with the remote Bluetooth device 102 through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111, so as to receive various data from the remote Bluetooth device 102. packets, or transmit various packets to the remote Bluetooth device 102 . It can be seen from the operation description of the aforementioned process 202 that the Bluetooth connection parameters used by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the remote Bluetooth device 102 for packet transmission may be obtained by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 itself, or other member circuits. (for example, the second Bluetooth circuit 120).

As mentioned above, various suitable packet handshake mechanisms can be adopted between the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the remote Bluetooth device 102 to reduce or avoid the occurrence of missing packets.

In the process 708 , the secondary Bluetooth circuit operates in the indirect receiving mode to receive the packet forwarded by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 . For example, the second control circuit 127 can control the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to operate in the indirect communication mode, and use the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to receive the packet forwarded by the first Bluetooth circuit 110 . As mentioned above, when the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is operating in the indirect receiving mode, the second control circuit 127 will not use the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to sniff the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 . In other words, when the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is operating in the indirect receiving mode, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 indirectly obtains the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 through the first Bluetooth circuit 110 .

As shown in FIG. 7 , when the secondary bluetooth circuit is operating in the indirect receiving mode, it also intermittently performs the process 710 to calculate a receiving quality index ( signal reception quality indicator). For example, in the process 710 , the second control circuit 127 of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can evaluate the current Bluetooth signal receiving status of the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to calculate a corresponding receiving quality indicator. In practice, the above-mentioned reception quality indicators can use packet error rate (packet error rate, PER), bit error rate (bit error rate, BER), reception strength value (signal reception strength), service quality (quality of service, QoS), or other index values that can represent the Bluetooth signal receiving status of the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 at that time.

Then, the second control circuit 127 can perform the process 712 to compare the aforementioned receiving quality index with a predetermined index value.

If the receiving quality index calculated by the second control circuit 127 is worse than the predetermined index value, it means that the wireless signal environment of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 for Bluetooth communication is not ideal at that time. In this case, the second bluetooth circuit 120 can continue to operate in the indirect receiving mode, and repeat the aforementioned operations of the process 708 to the process 712 .

On the contrary, if the receiving quality index calculated by the second control circuit 127 is better than the predetermined index value, it means that the wireless signal environment for the Bluetooth communication of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 at that time is ideal enough. In this case, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can perform the process 714 .

In the process 714 , the second control circuit 127 generates a second mode switching request, and transmits the second mode switching request to the main Bluetooth circuit through the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 . The aforementioned second mode switching request is used to request the master Bluetooth circuit to allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch from the indirect receiving mode to the sniffing mode. In practice, various suitable data formats can be used to implement the second mode switching request.

In the process 716 , the first Bluetooth circuit 110 uses the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 to receive the second mode switch request from the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

In the process 718 , the first control circuit 117 of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 determines whether to allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode. In this embodiment, after the first control circuit 117 receives the aforementioned second mode switching request, it can judge whether to allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operating mode according to predetermined rules, and perform corresponding follow-up operations according to the judgment result. processing flow. If the first control circuit 117 decides not to allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode, the process 802 in FIG. 8 will be performed. On the contrary, if the first control circuit 117 decides to allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode, the process 806 in FIG. 8 will be performed.

Since the first Bluetooth circuit 110 allows the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operating mode, the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can switch from the indirect receiving mode to the sniffing mode, and then the second Bluetooth circuit 120 will sniff the remote Bluetooth by itself. packets sent by device 102, so the first blue The Bluetooth circuit 110 does not need to forward the packet sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 to the second Bluetooth circuit 120 . In this way, the calculation load, power consumption, or heat generation of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 may increase, but the data bandwidth requirement between the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can be reduced, and the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can also be reduced. The computing load, power consumption, or heat generation of the Bluetooth circuit 110 .

Therefore, after the first control circuit 117 receives the aforementioned second mode switching request, it can evaluate whether there are factors that are not suitable for the second bluetooth circuit 120 to switch the operation mode at that time, if not, then the second bluetooth circuit 120 can be allowed to switch the operation mode . For example, the first control circuit 117 may allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to operate under the condition that the current computing load of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is lower than a predetermined level, the remaining power is higher than a predetermined threshold, and/or the temperature is lower than a predetermined temperature. Circuitry 120 switches modes of operation. For another example, the first control circuit 117 may only allow the second bluetooth circuit 110 to allow the second bluetooth circuit 110 to operate when the computing load of the first bluetooth circuit 110 is higher than a predetermined level, the remaining power is lower than a predetermined threshold, and/or the temperature is higher than a predetermined temperature. The Bluetooth circuit 120 switches operation modes.

In process 802, the first control circuit 117 will generate a rejection message representing that the first Bluetooth circuit 110 does not allow the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch operation modes, and transmit the rejection message to the second Bluetooth circuit through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 120.

In process 804 , the second Bluetooth circuit 120 uses the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to receive the reject message from the first Bluetooth circuit 110 . In this case, the second control circuit 127 controls the second bluetooth circuit 120 to continue to operate in the indirect receiving mode according to the indication of the rejection message, and repeats the above-mentioned operations from process 708 to process 712 .

In process 806, the first control circuit 117 of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will generate a second mode switching instruction for instructing the second Bluetooth circuit 120 to switch from the indirect receiving mode to the sniffing mode, and communicate through the first Bluetooth The circuit 111 transmits the second mode switching instruction to the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

In the process 808, the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 will receive the second mode switching instruction from the first Bluetooth circuit 110, and the second control circuit 127 will switch according to the second mode. The switching instruction switches the operation mode of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 from the indirect receiving mode to the sniffing mode.

Then, the first bluetooth circuit 110 will perform the process 810 , and the second bluetooth circuit 120 will perform the process 812 .

In the process 810, the first control circuit 117 of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will use the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 to receive the packet from the remote Bluetooth device 102, but the first control circuit 117 will not pass through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111. The packet transmitted from the remote Bluetooth device 102 is forwarded to the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

In the process 812 , the second control circuit 127 of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can use the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to sniff the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 according to the Bluetooth connection parameters obtained in the process 202 . In one embodiment, the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 can sniff all Bluetooth packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 . In another embodiment, the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 only sniffs the Bluetooth packets that the remote Bluetooth device 102 wants to send to the first Bluetooth circuit 110, but does not sniff the Bluetooth packets that the remote Bluetooth device 102 wants to send to the multi-member Bluetooth Bluetooth packets of devices other than device 100. From the description of the aforementioned process 202, it can be seen that the Bluetooth connection parameters used by the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to sniff the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 may be obtained by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 itself, or other members circuit (for example, the first Bluetooth circuit 110).

Next, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can perform the same operations as the aforementioned processes 210 to 216 in FIG. 2 .

Please note that the above-mentioned first control circuit 117 performs the judgment procedure of the process 718 first, and then proceeds to the operation mode of the process 806 after determining that the second Bluetooth circuit 120 is allowed to switch the operation mode. Way. In practice, the first control circuit 117 may also skip the determination procedure of the aforementioned process 718 and directly proceed to the process 806 after receiving the aforementioned second mode switching request.

It can be seen from the foregoing description that the second Bluetooth circuit 120, which plays the role of the secondary Bluetooth circuit, will intermittently connect the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to The corresponding receiving quality index is compared with the predetermined index value to evaluate whether the Bluetooth signal receiving condition of the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 is significantly improved at that time. As long as the receiving quality index of the second bluetooth communication circuit 121 is worse than the aforementioned predetermined index value, that is, the wireless signal environment for the second bluetooth circuit 120 to perform bluetooth communication at that time is not ideal, the first bluetooth circuit that plays the role of the main bluetooth circuit 110 will not instruct the second bluetooth circuit 120 to switch to the sniffing mode, so as to prevent the second bluetooth circuit 120 from wasting computing resources and power in packet sniffing operations with poor performance.

Only when the receiving quality index of the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 is better than the aforementioned predetermined index value, that is, the Bluetooth wireless signal environment of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 becomes ideal enough, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will indicate The second Bluetooth circuit 120 switches the operation mode from the indirect receiving mode to the sniffing mode. In this case, the first bluetooth circuit 110 only needs to transmit the packets missed by the second bluetooth circuit 120 to the second bluetooth circuit 120, instead of forwarding all the packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 to the second bluetooth circuit 120, Therefore, the operating burden, power consumption, and heat generation of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can be reduced, the working time and standby time of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can be extended, and the distance between the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can be reduced. bandwidth requirements for data transmission.

Similarly, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can dynamically switch the operation mode of the third Bluetooth circuit 130 according to the data throughput sniffed by the third Bluetooth circuit 130 as compared to the aforementioned method.

Therefore, adopting the above-mentioned operation mode of FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the main Bluetooth circuit in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can dynamically switch the operation mode of the secondary Bluetooth circuit from the indirect receiving mode to the sniffing mode, and adaptively change the main Bluetooth circuit. The matching operation between the circuit and the secondary bluetooth circuit can realize management mechanisms such as load balance, power consumption balance, or heat balance among multiple bluetooth circuits of the multi-member bluetooth device 100, so that the performance of the multi-member bluetooth device 100 can be improved. Overall performance, prolonging the service life of the Bluetooth circuit, or improving user experience.

Please refer to FIG. 9 to FIG. 10 , which illustrate a simplified flow chart of the operation method of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 in a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiment of FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the secondary bluetooth circuit is operating in the period of the indirect receiving mode During this period, the process 710 is also performed intermittently to calculate a receiving quality index corresponding to the signal receiving status of the own Bluetooth communication circuit. However, after the secondary Bluetooth circuit in this embodiment performs the process 710, it does not perform the aforementioned process 712, but performs the process 912 in FIG. 9, and transmits the receiving quality index calculated by itself to the main Bluetooth circuit.

For example, after the second bluetooth circuit 120 calculates the aforementioned receiving quality index in the process 710 , it will perform the process 912 . At this time, the second control circuit 127 transmits the receiving quality indicator to the first Bluetooth circuit 110 through the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 .

In the process 914 , the first Bluetooth circuit 110 uses the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 to receive the receiving quality indicator from the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

Next, the first control circuit 117 performs the process 916 to compare the receiving quality index calculated by the second Bluetooth circuit 120 with a predetermined index value.

If the receiving quality index calculated by the second control circuit 127 is worse than the predetermined index value, it means that the wireless signal environment of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 for Bluetooth communication is not ideal at that time. In this case, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can perform the process 802 in FIG. 10 .

On the contrary, if the receiving quality index calculated by the second control circuit 127 is better than the predetermined index value, it means that the wireless signal environment for the Bluetooth communication of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 at that time is ideal enough. In this case, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can perform the process 806 in FIG. 10 .

In the process 806, the first control circuit 117 will generate a second mode switching instruction for instructing the second bluetooth circuit 120 to switch from the indirect receiving mode to the sniffing mode, and transmit the second mode through the first bluetooth communication circuit 111 The switching instruction is sent to the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

In the process 808, the second bluetooth communication circuit 121 will receive the second mode switching instruction from the first bluetooth circuit 110, and the second control circuit 127 will switch the second bluetooth circuit 120 according to the second mode switching instruction. The operating mode is switched from indirect receiving mode to sniffing mode.

Then, the first bluetooth circuit 110 will perform the process 810 , and the second bluetooth circuit 120 will perform the process 812 .

In the process 810, the first control circuit 117 will use the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111 to receive the packet from the remote Bluetooth device 102, but the first control circuit 117 will not send the remote Bluetooth device 102 through the first Bluetooth communication circuit 111. The incoming packets are forwarded to the second Bluetooth circuit 120 .

In the process 812 , the second control circuit 127 can use the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 to sniff the packets sent by the remote Bluetooth device 102 according to the Bluetooth connection parameters acquired in the process 202 .

Next, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can perform the same operations as the aforementioned processes 210 to 216 in FIG. 2 .

Many processes in FIG. 10 are the same as those in the embodiment in FIG. 8 . Therefore, the foregoing descriptions about the operation mode and embodiment changes of the corresponding processes in FIG. 8 are also applicable to the embodiment in FIG. 10 .

It can be seen from the foregoing description that the first Bluetooth circuit 110 in this embodiment will intermittently compare the receiving quality index corresponding to the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 with the second Bluetooth circuit 120 during the period of operating in the indirect receiving mode. The predetermined index value is compared to evaluate whether the Bluetooth signal receiving condition of the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 is significantly improved at that time. As long as the receiving quality index of the second bluetooth communication circuit 121 is worse than the aforementioned predetermined index value, that is, the wireless signal environment for the second bluetooth circuit 120 to perform bluetooth communication at that time is not ideal, the first bluetooth circuit that plays the role of the main bluetooth circuit 110 will not instruct the second bluetooth circuit 120 to switch to the sniffing mode, so as to prevent the second bluetooth circuit 120 from wasting computing resources and power in packet sniffing operations with poor performance.

Only when the receiving quality index of the second Bluetooth communication circuit 121 is better than the aforementioned predetermined index value, that is, the Bluetooth wireless signal environment of the second Bluetooth circuit 120 becomes ideal enough, the first Bluetooth circuit 110 will indicate The second Bluetooth circuit 120 switches the operation mode from the indirect receiving mode to the sniffing mode. In this case, the first bluetooth circuit 110 only needs to transmit the packets missed by the second bluetooth circuit 120 to the second bluetooth circuit 120, instead of forwarding all the packets sent by the remote bluetooth device 102 to the second bluetooth circuit 120, Place In order to be able to reduce the operational burden, power consumption, and calorific value of the first Bluetooth circuit 110, the working time and standby time of the first Bluetooth circuit 110 can also be extended, and the distance between the first Bluetooth circuit 110 and the second Bluetooth circuit 120 can be reduced. bandwidth requirements for data transmission.

Similarly, the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can dynamically switch the operation mode of the third Bluetooth circuit 130 according to the data throughput sniffed by the third Bluetooth circuit 130 as compared to the aforementioned method.

Therefore, by adopting the aforementioned operation modes of FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 , the main Bluetooth circuit in the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 can dynamically switch the operation mode of the secondary Bluetooth circuit from the indirect receiving mode to the sniffing mode, and adaptively change the main Bluetooth circuit. The matching operation between the circuit and the secondary bluetooth circuit can realize management mechanisms such as load balance, power consumption balance, or heat balance among multiple bluetooth circuits of the multi-member bluetooth device 100, so that the performance of the multi-member bluetooth device 100 can be improved. Overall performance, prolonging the service life of the Bluetooth circuit, or improving user experience.

Please note that the number of member circuits of the multi-member Bluetooth device 100 in the foregoing embodiments can be reduced to two, or increased according to actual circuit application requirements.

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, all equivalent changes made according to the claims of the present invention All modifications and modifications should fall within the scope of the present invention.

100: Multi-member Bluetooth device

102: Remote bluetooth device

110: The first bluetooth circuit

111: The first bluetooth communication circuit

113: the first packet analysis circuit

115: The first clock synchronization circuit

117: the first control circuit

120: the second bluetooth circuit

121: the second bluetooth communication circuit

123: the second packet analysis circuit

125: The second clock synchronization circuit

127: the second control circuit

130: the third bluetooth circuit

Claims (7)

A secondary bluetooth circuit (120) in a multi-member bluetooth device (100), the multi-member bluetooth device (100) is used for data transmission with a remote bluetooth device (102), and includes a main bluetooth circuit (110) and The secondary bluetooth circuit (120), the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) includes: a second bluetooth communication circuit (121); a second packet analysis circuit (123), which is set to analyze the received bluetooth communication circuit (121) and a second control circuit (127), coupled to the second bluetooth communication circuit (121) and the second packet analysis circuit (123), configured to control the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) in a The mode of operation in the sniffing mode and a receiving mode; wherein, the roles of the main bluetooth circuit (110) and the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) are not changed, and the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) operates in the sniffing mode, the main bluetooth circuit (110) will receive packets from the remote bluetooth device (102), and the second control circuit (127) will use the second bluetooth communication circuit (121) to sniff the remote The packet sent by the bluetooth device (102), and whether the main bluetooth circuit (110) will check whether the second control circuit (127) misses the partial packet sent by the remote bluetooth device (102); in the secondary bluetooth circuit ( 120) When a data throughput of the sniffed packet is lower than a predetermined critical value, the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) will switch from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode, but the main bluetooth circuit (110 ) and the master bluetooth circuit (110) will not exchange roles; During communication mode, the second control circuit (127) will not use the second bluetooth communication circuit (121) to sniff the packets sent by the remote bluetooth device (102), and the main bluetooth circuit (110) will receive the remote end Bluetooth device (102) transmits the packet, and forwards the received packet to the secondary Bluetooth circuit (120), and the second control circuit (127) will use the second Bluetooth communication circuit (121) Receive the packet forwarded by the main bluetooth circuit (110), but the main bluetooth circuit (110) will not check whether the second control circuit (127) misses receiving the packet sent by the remote bluetooth device (102) partial packet. The secondary bluetooth circuit (120) as claimed in item 1, wherein, one of the main bluetooth circuit (110) and the second control circuit (127) can calculate the data throughput, and the main bluetooth circuit (110 ) and the second control circuit (127) compare the data throughput with the predetermined threshold. The secondary bluetooth circuit (120) as claimed in item 2, wherein, the second control circuit (127) is further configured to calculate the data throughput, and compare the data throughput with the predetermined critical value; wherein, If the data throughput is lower than the predetermined critical value, the second control circuit (127) will send a mode switching request to the main bluetooth circuit (110) through the second bluetooth communication circuit (121) to request the main bluetooth The bluetooth circuit (110) allows the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) to switch from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode. The secondary bluetooth circuit (120) as claimed in item 2, wherein, the second control circuit (127) is also configured to calculate the data throughput, and transmit the data throughput through the second bluetooth communication circuit (121) To the main bluetooth circuit (110), for the main bluetooth circuit (110) to compare the data throughput with the predetermined critical value; wherein, if the data throughput is lower than the predetermined critical value, the second bluetooth The communication circuit (121) will receive a mode switching instruction generated by the main bluetooth circuit (110), and the second control circuit (127) will switch the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) from the sniffing mode according to the mode switching instruction into the indirect receiving mode. The secondary bluetooth circuit (120) as claimed in claim 2, wherein, during the operation of the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) in the sniffing mode, the second control circuit (127) will also use the second bluetooth communication circuit (121) Receive the packet transmitted by the main bluetooth circuit (110) to obtain the packet sent by the remote bluetooth device (102) but missed by the second bluetooth communication circuit (121). The secondary bluetooth circuit (120) as described in claim item 5, wherein, during the operation of the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) in the sniffing mode, the main bluetooth circuit (110) will send the missing packet to the second Bluetooth communication circuit (121) frequency to calculate the data throughput, and compare the data throughput with the predetermined critical value; wherein, if the data throughput is lower than the predetermined critical value, the second Bluetooth The communication circuit (121) will receive a mode switching instruction generated by the main bluetooth circuit (110), and the second control circuit (127) will switch the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) from the sniffing mode according to the mode switching instruction into the indirect receiving mode. The secondary bluetooth circuit (120) as described in claim item 5, wherein, during the operation of the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) in the sniffing mode, the main bluetooth circuit (110) will send the missing packet to the second Bluetooth communication circuit (121) frequency to calculate the data throughput, and send the data throughput to the second Bluetooth communication circuit (121), and the second control circuit (127) is also set to the data throughput The amount is compared with the predetermined threshold; wherein, if the data throughput is lower than the predetermined threshold, the second control circuit (127) will send a mode switching request to the second Bluetooth communication circuit (121) The main bluetooth circuit (110) requests the main bluetooth circuit (110) to allow the secondary bluetooth circuit (120) to switch from the sniffing mode to the indirect receiving mode.

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