Bluetooth Connection Establishment
Embodiments of the current disclosure facilitate the creation of a connection between a host device and an accessory device over a wireless network. For instance, according to some embodiments, a method of connecting an accessory device to a host device includes transmitting a plurality of advertising beacons over a wireless network. Each wireless beacon can contain information identifying a predetermined time when the accessory device will begin a page scan window. The accessory device can begin the page scan window at the predetermined time, and can then receive pages from a host device during the page scan window over the wireless network. The received page packets can then be subsequently used to establish an ad hoc network connection between the accessory device and the host device.
1 . A method of wirelessly connecting an accessory device to a host device, comprising:
transmitting a plurality of advertising beacons over a wireless medium, wherein at least one of the advertising beacons comprises information identifying a time at which the accessory device will initiate a page scan;
initiating the page scan at the identified time;
receiving a page from a host device during the page scan; and
establishing a connection with the host device in response to the received page.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the advertising beacons includes information identifying a duration of the page scan.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the advertising beacons includes information identifying a value of an accessory device clock at the beginning of the page scan.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the advertising beacons includes information identifying a channel to be used during the page scan.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the information identifying the time at which the accessory device will initiate the page scan comprises a temporal offset between a time the advertising beacon is transmitted and a time the page scan will be initiated.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the plurality of advertising beacons further comprises transmitting the plurality of advertising beacons during an advertising window prior to the page scan.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of advertising beacons comprises a Bluetooth low energy beacon.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the plurality of advertising beacons further comprises transmitting the plurality of advertising beacons at regular intervals.
9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
dynamically updating information included in at least one of the advertising beacons of the plurality of advertising beacons.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the page scan is initiated such that it at least partially overlaps in time with the transmission of one or more of the plurality of advertising beacons.
11 . A method of wirelessly establishing a connection between a host device and an accessory device, comprising:
receiving an advertising beacon from an accessory device over a wireless interface, wherein the advertising beacon comprises information identifying a time when the accessory device will begin a page scan;
generating, in response to the advertising beacon, a page;
transmitting the page after the time when the accessory device will begin the page scan; and
establishing a connection with the accessory device through the wireless interface.
12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on the received advertising beacon, that the accessory device is within proximity of the host device.
13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the information identifying a time when the accessory device will begin a page scan window comprises a temporal offset until the page scan window will begin.
14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the advertising beacon includes information identifying a duration of a page scan window corresponding to the page scan.
15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the advertising beacon includes information identifying a value of an accessory device clock at the beginning of the page scan window.
16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the advertising beacon includes information identifying a channel the accessory device will use during the page scan.
17 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the advertising beacon includes information identifying a value of a clock for the accessory device at the beginning of the page scan window.
18 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving a second beacon that comprises information identifying a time when the accessory device will begin the page scan.
19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the information of the advertising beacon identifying a time when the accessory device will begin the page scan and the information of the second beacon identifying a time when the accessory device will begin a page scan is differentially encoded, but identifies the same time when the accessory device will begin the page scan.
20 . A method of initiating a connection between a host device and an accessory device, comprising:
determining, based at least in part on one or more beacons transmitted by the accessory device, that the accessory device is proximate to the host device;
transmitting, by the host device, a connection request to the accessory device, the connection request comprising information identifying a value of a host clock;
receiving an acknowledgement from the accessory device; and
connecting with the accessory device to form an ad hoc wireless network.