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 different from the first Bluetooth device, the plurality of Bluetooth devices comprising a second and a third Bluetooth device, the method comprising:
enabling the second Bluetooth device to transmit a group Bluetooth address to the first Bluetooth device in response to the second Bluetooth device receiving a first device address from the first Bluetooth device,
wherein a link key is established based on said transmission;
enabling the second Bluetooth device to store the link key;
enabling the third Bluetooth device to transmit a group Bluetooth address to the first Bluetooth device in response to the third Bluetooth device receiving the first device address from the first Bluetooth device; and
enabling the third Bluetooth device to establish a first communications channel with the first Bluetooth device based on reception of said link key,
wherein said reception of the link key is based on recognition of the group Bluetooth address.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device are coupled via a network.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
enabling the second Bluetooth device to store the link key on a server coupled to the second and the third Bluetooth device via the network.
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 3 wherein the link key expires after a predetermined period of time.
6. The method of claim 3 further comprising:
enabling the third Bluetooth device to receive the link key from at least one of the first Bluetooth device or the server.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein:
the receiving of the link key by the third Bluetooth device occurs over an alternative communications channel separate from the first communications channel; and
the alternative communications channel is one of a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) channel, a near field communications (NFC) channel or a Wi-Fi channel.
8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of Bluetooth devices comprises a fourth Bluetooth device coupled to the server via the network, said method further comprising:
enabling the fourth Bluetooth device to transmit a group Bluetooth address to the first Bluetooth device in response to the fourth Bluetooth device receiving the first device address from the first Bluetooth device;
enabling the fourth Bluetooth device to receive the link key from at least one of the first Bluetooth device or the server based on recognition of the group Bluetooth address; and
enabling establishment of a second communications channel between the first Bluetooth device and the fourth Bluetooth device based on the fourth Bluetooth device receiving the link key.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the fourth Bluetooth device receives the link key from the first Bluetooth device when either the server or the network is overloaded.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
enabling assignment of the group Bluetooth address to the plurality of Bluetooth devices.
11. A system to allow a first Bluetooth device to pair with a plurality of Bluetooth devices different from the first Bluetooth device, wherein the plurality of Bluetooth devices comprises a second and a third Bluetooth device, the system comprising:
a first device address associated with the first Bluetooth device, wherein:
the first Bluetooth device couples to the second Bluetooth device,
the first Bluetooth device transmits the first device address to the second Bluetooth device, and
in response to the transmission of the first device address, the first Bluetooth device receives a group address from the second Bluetooth device;
a link key, wherein:
the first Bluetooth device establishes the link key based on the reception of the group address from the second Bluetooth device,
the first Bluetooth device stores the link key, and
the first Bluetooth device transmits the link key to the second Bluetooth device; and
when the first Bluetooth device couples to the third Bluetooth device:
the first Bluetooth device transmits the first device address to the third Bluetooth device,
the first Bluetooth device receives the group address from the third Bluetooth device based on the transmission of the first device address,
the first Bluetooth device transmits the link key to the third Bluetooth device based on recognition of the group address, and
a first communications channel between the first Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device is established based on the transmission of the link key to the third Bluetooth device.
12. The system of claim 11 further comprising:
a server coupled to the second Bluetooth device and the third Bluetooth device via a network; and
the second Bluetooth device stores the link key on the server via the network.
13. The system of claim 12 wherein:
the server comprises a database; and
the link key is stored in the database using the first device address as an index.
14. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the plurality of Bluetooth devices comprises a fourth Bluetooth device coupled to a server via a network; and
when the first Bluetooth device couples to the fourth Bluetooth device:
the first Bluetooth device transmits the first device address to the fourth Bluetooth device,
the first Bluetooth device receives the group address from the fourth Bluetooth device,
the first Bluetooth device transmits the link key to the fourth Bluetooth device based on recognition of the group address, and
a second communications channel between the first Bluetooth device and the fourth Bluetooth device is established based on said transmitting of the link key to the fourth Bluetooth device.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein:
the second Bluetooth device is located in a first location;
the third Bluetooth device is located in one of the first location, a second location, and a third location; and
the fourth Bluetooth device is located in one of the first location, the second location, and the third location.
16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the link key expires after a predetermined period of time.
17. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the first Bluetooth device transmits the link key to the third Bluetooth device over an alternative communications channel; and
said transmission is based on security provided in an application layer.
18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the second Bluetooth device is located in a first location and the third Bluetooth device is located in either the first location or a second location.