System and method of bluetooth pairing with a group of bluetooth devices
A method for pairing a first Bluetooth device with an individual Bluetooth device address with a group of Bluetooth devices, said method comprising: assigning a group Bluetooth device address to each of said group of Bluetooth devices; the first Bluetooth device exchanging Bluetooth device addresses with a second Bluetooth device from said group of Bluetooth devices when said first Bluetooth device comes within communication range of said second Bluetooth device; establishing a link key; storing the group Bluetooth device address and the link key; the first Bluetooth device exchanging Bluetooth device addresses with a third Bluetooth device from said group of Bluetooth devices when said first Bluetooth device comes within communication range of said third Bluetooth device; recognizing the group Bluetooth device address assigned to the third Bluetooth device; and establishing a communications channel between said first Bluetooth device and said third Bluetooth device based on said link key.
1. A method for pairing a first Bluetooth device with a plurality of Bluetooth devices, the method comprising:
a second Bluetooth device receiving a first device address from the first Bluetooth device, the second Bluetooth device being one of the plurality of Bluetooth devices;
the second Bluetooth device transmitting a group Bluetooth address to the first Bluetooth device;
establishing, by the first Bluetooth device and the second Bluetooth device, a link key, the second Bluetooth device storing the link key;
a third Bluetooth device receiving the first device address from the first Bluetooth device, the third Bluetooth device being one of the plurality of Bluetooth devices;
the third Bluetooth device transmitting the group Bluetooth address to the first Bluetooth device; and
the third Bluetooth device receiving the link key based on recognition of the group Bluetooth address, and establishing a communications channel between the first Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device based on the link key.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the second Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device are connected by a network.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the second Bluetooth device stores the link key on a server.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the server comprises a database and the link key is stored in the database using the first device address as an index to the link key.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the link key expires after a predetermined period of time.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the third Bluetooth device receives the link key from the first Bluetooth device.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the third Bluetooth device receives the link key from the first Bluetooth device over a communications network separate from the communications channel.
8. A method for pairing a first Bluetooth device with a plurality of Bluetooth devices, the method comprising:
the first Bluetooth device transmitting a first device address to a second Bluetooth device, the second Bluetooth device being one of the plurality of Bluetooth devices;
the first Bluetooth device receiving a group Bluetooth address from the second Bluetooth device;
establishing, by the first Bluetooth device and the second Bluetooth device, a link key, the first Bluetooth device storing the link key;
the first Bluetooth device transmitting the first device address to a third Bluetooth device, the third Bluetooth device being one of the plurality of Bluetooth devices;
the first Bluetooth device receiving the group Bluetooth address from the third Bluetooth device; and
the third Bluetooth device receiving the link key based on recognition of the group Bluetooth address, and establishing a communications channel between the first Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device based on the link key.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the second Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device are connected by a network.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the second Bluetooth device stores the link key on a server, the server communicating with the second Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device over the network, the third Bluetooth device receiving the link key from the server.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the server comprises a database and the link key is stored in the database using the first device address as an index to the link key.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the link key expires after a predetermined period of time.
13. The method of claim 8 wherein the first Bluetooth device transmits the link key to the third Bluetooth device.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein the first Bluetooth device transmits the link key to the third Bluetooth device over a communications network separate from the communications channel.
15. A system to allow a first Bluetooth device to pair with a plurality of Bluetooth devices, the system comprising:
a second Bluetooth device, the second Bluetooth device being one of the plurality of Bluetooth devices, the second Bluetooth device receiving a first device address from the first Bluetooth device, the second Bluetooth device transmitting a group Bluetooth address to the first Bluetooth device, the first Bluetooth device and the second Bluetooth device establishing a link key, the second Bluetooth device storing the link key;
a third Bluetooth device being one of the plurality of Bluetooth devices, the third Bluetooth device receiving the first device address from the first Bluetooth device;
the third Bluetooth device transmitting the group Bluetooth address to the first Bluetooth device; and
the third Bluetooth device receiving the link key based on recognition of the group Bluetooth address, and establishing a communications channel between the first Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device based on the link key.
16. The system of claim 15 wherein the second Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device are connected by a network.
17. The system of claim 16 wherein the second Bluetooth device stores the link key on a server, the server communicating with the second Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device over the network, the third Bluetooth device receiving the link key from the server.
18. The system of claim 17 wherein
the server comprises a database and the link key is stored in the database using the first device address as an index to the link key;
the first Bluetooth device recognizes the group Bluetooth address transmitted by the third Bluetooth device;
the first Bluetooth device communicates the recognition of the group Bluetooth address to the third Bluetooth device; and
the third Bluetooth device receives the link key from the server based on a lookup of the database using the first device address.
19. The system of claim 16 , wherein
the second Bluetooth device stores the link key on a server communicating with the second Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device over the network; and
the third Bluetooth device receives the link key from the first Bluetooth device when either the server or the network is overloaded.
20. The system of claim 15 wherein the third Bluetooth device receives the link key from the first Bluetooth device over a communications network separate from the communications channel.