US-12628008-B2 - Radio communication device and method

US12628008B2US 12628008 B2US12628008 B2US 12628008B2US-12628008-B2

Abstract

A specific unit in a first wireless communication device determines whether a second wireless communication device is a priority candidate device based on the possibility that the connection with the second wireless communication device will be disconnected. When a communication control unit receives a permission request for a communication with the second wireless communication device from a connection control unit, it grants a permission to a communication with a “priority candidate device”.

Inventors

Kazutaka Ida
Koji Kubota
FUMIO URABE
Kenji OGAMI
Hiroki Sugimoto

Assignees

RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20231121
Priority Date: 20221121

Claims (20)

1 . A first wireless communication device capable of establishing each of a connection with a second wireless communication device and a connection with a third wireless communication device and communicating with them, the first wireless communication device comprising: a connection control unit controlling establishment and disconnection of the connection with the second wireless communication device and the connection with the third wireless communication device, and transmitting a permission request for the communication with the second wireless communication device and the communication with the third wireless communication device; a specific unit specifying a priority candidate device out of the second wireless communication device and the third wireless communication device; and a communication control unit granting a permission to the communication with the priority candidate device when receiving the permission request, wherein the specific unit determines whether the second wireless communication device is the priority candidate device based on a possibility that the connection with the second wireless communication device will be disconnected.
2 . The first wireless communication device according to claim 1 , wherein the communication control unit grants the permission to the communication with a non-priority candidate device out of the second wireless communication device and the third wireless communication device during an occupation possibility period occupied by the communication of the non-priority candidate device, which does not overlap with an occupation possibility period occupied by the communication of the priority candidate device, and the communication control unit does not grant the permission during all or part of the occupation possibility period occupied by the communication of the non-priority candidate device, which overlaps with the occupation possibility period occupied by the communication of the priority candidate device.
3 . The first wireless communication device according to claim 2 , wherein the specific unit uses a communication failure time, during which the communication with the second wireless communication device is not permitted continuously, as a parameter related to the possibility that the communication with the second wireless communication device will be disconnected, and determines whether the second wireless communication device is the priority candidate device.
4 . The first wireless communication device according to claim 3 , wherein an anchor point, which becomes a starting reference for the occupation possibility period, appears repeatedly at a connection interval, wherein a plurality of occupation possibility periods configured by the occupation possibility period based on a plurality of anchor points configured by the anchor point are included in different connection interval periods, wherein the connection interval period is a period between two adjacent anchor points, wherein each of the occupation possibility period includes at least one exchange unit period for a packet exchange in which a packet is exchanged once with a communication partner, and wherein the connection control unit disconnects the connection for which the packet exchange has not been established even once before a monitoring timer expires.
5 . The first wireless communication device according to claim 4 , wherein the connection control unit counts a number of connection intervals in which the communication of the second wireless communication device is continuously not permitted, wherein the specific unit includes: a calculation unit calculating the communication failure time based on the counted number of times and a length of time of the connection interval; and a determination unit determining whether the second wireless communication device is the priority candidate device based on the communication failure time and a first threshold.
6 . The first wireless communication device according to claim 5 , wherein the calculation unit calculates the first threshold by multiplying an initial value of the monitoring timer by a predetermined coefficient less than 1, and wherein the determination unit determines that the second wireless communication device is the priority candidate device when the communication failure time is the first threshold or more.
7 . The first wireless communication device according to claim 4 , wherein when each of the occupation possibility period includes a plurality of exchange unit periods, the communication control unit grants the permission to the communication with the non-priority candidate device in the exchange unit period of the non-priority candidate device, which does not overlap with the occupation possibility period of the priority candidate device and the communication control unit does not grant the permission to the communication with the non-priority candidate device in the exchange unit period of the non-priority candidate device, which overlaps with the occupation possibility period of the priority candidate device.
8 . The first wireless communication device according to claim 4 , wherein when a number of consecutive connection interval periods in which the communication with the priority candidate device is not established is a second threshold or more, the communication control unit does not grant the permission to the communication with the priority candidate device for a predetermined number of connection interval periods.
9 . The first wireless communication device according to claim 4 , wherein the communication control unit does not grant the permission to the communication of the non-priority candidate device during the connection interval periods of all the non-priority candidate devices existing from current timing to the next connection interval period of the priority candidate device.
10 . The first wireless communication device according to claim 1 , wherein the communication between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device and the communication between the first wireless communication device and the third wireless communication device are based on a Bluetooth Low Energy protocol.
11 . A method performed by a first wireless communication device capable of establishing each of a connection with a second wireless communication device and a connection with a third wireless communication device and communicating with them, the method comprising: performing a connection control processing of: controlling establishment and disconnection of a connection with the second wireless communication device and a connection with the third wireless communication device; and transmitting a permission request for the connection with the second wireless communication device and the connection with the third wireless communication device; specifying a priority candidate device out of the second wireless communication device and the third wireless communication device; and performing a communication control processing of granting a permission to the communication with the priority candidate device when receiving the permission request, wherein the specifying includes determining whether the second wireless communication device is the priority candidate device based on a possibility that the connection with the second wireless communication device will be disconnected.
12 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein the communication control processing includes: granting the permission to a communication with a non-priority candidate device out of the second wireless communication device and the third wireless communication device during an occupation possibility period occupied by the communication of the non-priority candidate device, which does not overlap with an occupation possibility period occupied by the communication of the priority candidate device, when receiving the permission request for each of the communication with the second wireless communication device and the communication with the third wireless communication device; and not granting the permission during all or part of the occupation possibility period occupied by the communication of the non-priority candidate device, which overlaps with the occupation possibility period occupied by the communication of the priority candidate device.
13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the determining includes determining that the second communication device is the priority candidate device by the second wireless communication device by using a communication failure time, during which the communication of the second wireless communication device is not permitted continuously, as a parameter related to the possibility that the communication with the second wireless communication device will be disconnected.
14 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein an anchor point, which is a starting reference for the occupation possibility period, appears repeatedly at an interval of the connection, wherein a plurality of occupation possibility periods based on a plurality of anchor points are included in different connection interval periods, the plurality of occupation possibility periods being configured by the occupation possibility period, the plurality of anchor points being configured by the anchor point, wherein the connection interval period is a period between two adjacent anchor points, wherein each of the occupation possibility periods includes at least one exchange unit period for performing a packet exchange in which a packet is exchanged once with a communication partner, and wherein the connection control processing includes disconnecting the connection for which the packet exchange is not established even once before a monitoring timer expires.
15 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the method includes counting a number of connection intervals in which the communication of the second wireless communication device is not permitted consecutively, wherein the determining includes: calculating the communication failure time based on the counted number of times and a length of time of the connection interval; determining whether the second wireless communication device is the priority candidate device based on the communication failure time and a first threshold.
16 . The method according to claim 15 , wherein the calculating includes calculating the first threshold by multiplying an initial value of the monitoring timer by a predetermined coefficient less than 1, and wherein the determining includes determining that the second wireless communication device is the priority candidate device when the communication failure time is the first threshold or more.
17 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the communication control processing includes: granting a permission to the communication with the non-priority candidate device in the exchange unit period of the non-priority candidate device, which does not overlap with the occupation possibility period of the priority candidate device, when each of the occupation possibility period includes a plurality of exchange unit periods configured by the exchange unit period; and not granting the permission to the communication with the non-priority candidate device in the exchange unit period of the non-priority candidate device, which overlaps with the occupation possibility period of the priority candidate device.
18 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the communication control processing includes not granting the permission to the communication with the priority candidate device for a predetermined number of connection interval periods when a number of consecutive connection interval periods in which the communication with the priority candidate device is not established is a second threshold or more.
19 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the communication control processing includes not granting the permission to the communication of the non-priority candidate device in all the connection interval periods of the non-priority candidate devices, which exist from current timing to the next connection interval period of the priority candidate device.
20 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein the communication between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device and the communication between the first wireless communication device and the third wireless communication device are based on a Bluetooth Low Energy protocol.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-185478 filed on Nov. 21, 2022, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference to this application. BACKGROUND The present disclosure relates to radio communication device and a method. As a technique for short-range communication, there is a BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy) technique, which is a type of digital wireless communication standard (for example, Patent Document 1). When a first communication device and a second communication device communicate with each other in the BLE technique, a side that begins and leads a connection is called a “central (device)”, and a side that accepts the connection is called a “peripheral (device)”. SUMMARY A communication between the central and the peripheral is performed during a plurality of “Connection Interval” periods coming repetitively. Reference timing (start timing) of the connection interval period is called an “anchor point”. A parameter such as a connection interval are included in a CONNECT_IND packet sent by the central in response to an advertising packet sent by the peripheral. The inventor (s) has found that when the two centrals attempt to communicate with the one peripheral, the communication of one of the centrals may be repetitively made and the communication of the other of the centrals may not be made. That is, it is assumed that a communication unit of the peripheral can only transmit and receive to and from one of the centrals at the same time. Then, when the communication period of one of the centrals and the communication period of the other of the centrals overlap, the communication of one of the centrals whose communication comes first may be repetitively made and the timing communication of the other of the centrals may not be made. In addition, the connection between the other of the centrals, for which communication is not made for a predetermined period of time, and the one peripheral is cut off, so that stability of the communication may be impaired. Incidentally, for example, even if the communication period of one of the centrals and the communication period of the other of the centrals do not overlap in an initial stage, the communication period of one of the centrals and the communication period of the other of the centrals may overlap in a later stage due to a frequency deviation between a frequency of a crystal oscillator of one of the centrals and a frequency of a crystal oscillator of the other of the centrals. Other problems and novel features will be apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanied drawings. According to one embodiment, a first wireless communication device specifies, as a priority candidate device, a wireless communication device having a high possibility that a communication will be disconnected, and when receiving a permission request for each o a communication with a second wireless communication device and a communication with a third wireless communication device, first wireless communication device grants a permission to the communication with the priority candidate device out of the second wireless communication device and the third wireless communication device. By the present disclosure, the stability of the communication can be improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1A is a diagram for explaining a related technique. FIG. 1B is a diagram showing a connection between a central and a peripheral. FIG. 1C is a diagram for explaining a connection/disconnection due to elapse of Supervision Timeout. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one example of a system according to a first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing one example of a first wireless communication device in the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining communication failure time. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an occupation possibility period. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a determination of permission/non-permission of communication. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the determination of the permission/non-permission of the communication. FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing one example of a processing operation of a communication control unit in the first wireless communication device of the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing one example of a permission determination processing. FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing one example of a processing operation of a specific unit in the first wireless communication device of the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a processing operation of a communication control unit in a second embodiment. FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the processing operations of the communication control unit in the second embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a processing operation of a communication control unit in a modification example <1> of the second embodiment. FIG. 14 is a dia