CN109769238B - A method for starting and configuring multiple devices to be distributed in a Bluetooth Mesh network - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a method for starting and configuring a plurality of devices to be distributed in a Bluetooth Mesh network, which comprises the following steps: simultaneously powering on a plurality of devices to be configured; allocating independent random time delay to each of the plurality of devices to be networked; when each network device to be configured in the plurality of network devices to be configured waits for the time determined by the corresponding random time delay, the network device to be configured sends a first beacon packet waiting for starting configuration; and each of the plurality of devices to be distributed continues to send the beacon packet waiting for the start configuration, so that the corresponding start configuration device can perform start configuration operation on the beacon packet. The invention can solve the problem of data packet congestion caused by over concentration of equipment for executing the starting configuration or the software air upgrading in the Bluetooth Mesh starting configuration process or the software air upgrading process.

Description

A method for starting and configuring multiple devices to be distributed in a Bluetooth Mesh network

technical field

The present invention relates to a Bluetooth Mesh network, and more particularly, to a method for starting and configuring a plurality of devices to be deployed in a Bluetooth Mesh network, and a method for configuring a plurality of nodes to be upgraded in a Bluetooth Mesh network. The method of software over-the-air upgrade.

Background technique

In Bluetooth Mesh, there are some processes that require the participation of all devices. For example, for a large number of devices that are not configured to access the network, it is necessary to start the configuration process to configure the network. For example, a large number of devices that have become nodes need to be upgraded over the air. . In such scenarios, a central node or device will be the first to initiate the corresponding process operation, such as starting the configuration of the device to be distributed through the mobile phone, or performing over-the-air software upgrades for the devices already connected to the network.

In this scenario, the initial stage of the process will focus on performing related operations in a small circle around the central node, while other devices or nodes in the network will be in an idle state. This will cause a large number of data packets to gather around the central node, resulting in channel congestion, severe interference, and frequent packet loss. On the other hand, devices or nodes far from the central node are in an idle waiting state and cannot start operations in time. process.

The process and causes of the above problems will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 . As shown in Figure 1, all the small circles in the figure represent each device. In the scenario of starting the configuration process, they represent the devices waiting to be configured and connected to the network. In the scenario of waiting for the software to be upgraded over the air, they represent the waiting for the software to be over-the-air. Upgraded network access equipment. Taking the startup configuration process as an example, generally, after all devices are installed, they will be powered on at the same time, and after startup, the device starts to send an "Unprovisioned Device Beacon". With reference to FIG. 2 , this beacon packet is generally not sent very frequently, for example, sent once every 5 seconds, and the duration of each sending is about 1 millisecond (ms). In the startup configuration scenario, because all devices are powered up at the same time, they basically send the wait for startup configuration beacon packet at the same time, and then send the second packet at the same time after 5 seconds. Considering that a random delay (Delay) of 0 to 10ms will be added to each broadcast packet in the Bluetooth protocol, the sending time of the first packet after all devices are started is concentrated between the power-on time T0 and T0+10ms, and the second Each packet is concentrated between T0+5s to T0+5s+10ms, and so on. In the time axis shown in Figure 2, the solid part represents the centralized transmission time of the "Start Configuration Beacon Packet" over the air.

In the network diagram of FIG. 1, assume that device 1 is the central startup configuration device, it will first scan the air for devices waiting to be configured into the network. Because all devices are powered on at the same time, almost all devices will send wait-to-start configuration beacon packets at the same time. From a communication point of view, if a device receives data packets sent by different devices at the same time, it generally selects data packets with a relatively high received signal strength. That is, if the transmit power of each device is the same, the received signal strength of the data packet sent by the device with the closer distance is higher, so it is easier to be received by the device.

Because devices 2, 3, 11, and 13 are closer to device 1 than other devices, the received signal strength of device 1 receiving the "waiting to start configuration beacon packet" sent by these devices is greater than the "waiting for configuration beacon packet" sent by other devices. Start the configuration beacon packet", so there is a high probability that the "waiting for the configuration beacon packet" of these devices will be preferentially processed, that is, these devices will be preferentially started and configured. For example, in Figure 1, device 1 can select devices 2, 3, and 11 to start the configuration process at the same time; after device 2 is configured and connected to the network, it can continue to find devices around it waiting to be configured and connected to the network. Similarly, device 2 may select, for example, surrounding devices 21, 22, 4 while initiating the configuration process. Similarly, after the device 3 starts and configures the network, it can select, for example, the surrounding devices 31, 32, and 33 to start the configuration process at the same time; after the device 4 starts and configures the network, it can select, for example, the surrounding devices 41, 42, and 43 to start the configuration process at the same time. . It should be understood that the larger circles represented by solid lines and dotted lines shown in FIG. 1 only schematically represent the relative distance relationship between the device at the center of the circle and other devices, and do not represent the signal coverage of the device.

To sum up, at the very beginning, only the devices concentrated around device 1 start the configuration process first, and then slowly spread to the peripheral devices of the network; this will cause a lot of data packets around device 1 in the initial stage, causing serious interference , and the peripheral devices of the network are always idle, and the channel is also in an idle state. On the one hand, in terms of space, this will cause the channels in the local area to be overcrowded, and on the other hand, it may also lead to several nodes located in the center, such as Device 1, which initiates the configuration first, to compete for the few nearby networks to be configured. As a result, each device cannot start and configure multiple devices to be deployed at the same time. However, there are a large number of devices far away from the center that are waiting for network configuration and cannot be configured. On the other hand, in terms of time, as shown in the above-mentioned time axis analysis in Figure 2, it will also cause a large number of devices to send and wait for the configuration beacon packets within a certain period of time (for example, 10ms), while other time (such as the remaining 5s-10ms), there is no device to send a beacon packet waiting to start configuration, so that the startup configuration device can only look for a waiting startup configuration device within a very short time window. If it is not found, it can only wait for the next cycle (such as 5s). ). Such congestion problems are especially severe in densely arranged networks. A densely arranged network can be, for example, a network in which all or a large number of devices are within a hop.

Therefore, there is a need in the art for a solution that can eliminate or alleviate the above-mentioned congestion at least during startup configuration or over-the-air software upgrade in a Bluetooth Mesh network. It should be understood that the technical problems listed above are only examples rather than limitations of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to technical solutions that simultaneously solve all the above-mentioned technical problems. The technical solutions of the present invention can be implemented to solve one or more of the above or other technical problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the problem of local channel congestion caused by data packet aggregation during startup configuration or over-the-air software upgrade in the existing Bluetooth Mesh network, and multiple startup configuration devices vying for a few network devices to be configured or Multiple upgrade service device nodes compete for the status of a few nodes to be upgraded, so that the device cannot immediately complete startup configuration or over-the-air software upgrade.

In one aspect of the present invention, a method for starting and configuring a plurality of devices to be deployed in a Bluetooth Mesh network is provided, including: (a) simultaneously powering on the plurality of devices to be deployed; (b) ) Allocate an independent random time delay to each of the multiple network devices to be configured; (c) when each of the multiple network devices to be configured waits for a time determined by its corresponding random time delay When the network device to be configured sends the first wait-to-start configuration beacon packet; and (d) each of the multiple network-to-be-configured devices continues to send the wait-to-start configuration beacon packet, so that the corresponding start-up configuration device can Perform the startup configuration operation.

Preferably, the length of the random time delay is between 0ms and the interval time for waiting to start the sending of the configuration beacon packet.

Preferably, after step (a), each of the plurality of devices to be distributed determines an independent random transmit power; and in steps (c) and (d), each of the plurality of devices to be distributed determines independent random transmission power; A wait-to-start configuration beacon packet is sent with its corresponding random transmit power. The random transmit power is preferably between -5dbm and the maximum transmit power of the device to be distributed.

In a second aspect of the present invention, a method for over-the-air software upgrade of a plurality of nodes to be upgraded in a Bluetooth Mesh network is also provided, including: (a) an upgrade service device node sends an upgrade instruction to a plurality of nodes to be upgraded. upgrade the nodes; (b) when each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded receives an upgrade instruction and decides to accept the upgrade, assigning an independent random time delay to each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded; (c) when the plurality of nodes to be upgraded When each of the to-be-upgraded nodes waits for a time determined by its corresponding random time delay, the to-be-upgraded node sends the first waiting for over-the-air upgrade beacon packet; and (d) each of the plurality of to-be-upgraded nodes One continues to send and wait for the over-the-air upgrade beacon packet, so that the corresponding upgrade service device node can perform software over-the-air upgrade operations on it.

Preferably, the length of the random time delay is between 0ms and the sending interval of waiting for the over-the-air upgrade beacon packet.

Preferably, after step (a), each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded determines an independent random transmit power; and in steps (c) and (d), each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded uses Its corresponding random transmit power sends and waits for the air upgrade beacon packet. The random transmit power is preferably between -5dbm and the maximum transmit power of the device to be distributed.

In a third aspect of the present invention, a method for starting and configuring a plurality of devices to be deployed in a Bluetooth Mesh network is also provided, including: (a) simultaneously powering on the plurality of devices to be deployed (b) each of the multiple network devices to be configured determines an independent random transmission power; (c) each of the multiple network devices to be configured sends the first waiting-to-start configuration information with its corresponding random transmission power and (d) each of the multiple devices to be configured on the network continues to send a beacon packet waiting to be configured with its corresponding random transmit power, so that the corresponding device can perform a configuration operation on it.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, a method for over-the-air software upgrade of a plurality of nodes to be upgraded in a Bluetooth Mesh network is also provided, wherein the method includes: (a) the upgrade service device node sends an upgrade instruction to a plurality of nodes to be upgraded; (b) when each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded receives an upgrade instruction and decides to accept the upgrade, each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded determines an independent random transmit power; (c) The node to be upgraded sends the first beacon packet waiting for over-the-air upgrade with its corresponding random transmit power; and (d) each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded continues to send the beacon packet waiting for over-the-air upgrade with its corresponding random transmit power, So that the corresponding upgrade service device node can perform software over-the-air upgrade operation on it.

The invention can effectively reduce the problems of data packet congestion, large interference, serious data packet loss and the like caused by excessive concentration of devices performing the start-up configuration or software over-the-air upgrade in the initial stage of the device startup configuration process or software over-the-air upgrade.

Description of drawings

1 shows a schematic diagram of a network environment where a Bluetooth Mesh network device starts a configuration process in the prior art;

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a time axis according to which the device of Fig. 1 sends a beacon packet waiting to start the configuration;

Fig. 3 shows the schematic flow chart of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic flowchart of a second embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 5 shows the schematic flow chart of the third embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 6 shows a schematic flow diagram of a fourth embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart of the method for synchronizing random transmit power of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The method of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be understood that the embodiments shown in the drawings and described below are merely illustrative and not intended to limit the present invention.

3 shows a schematic flowchart of the first embodiment of the method for starting and configuring a plurality of devices to be distributed in a Bluetooth Mesh network according to the present invention, specifically:

In step 102, multiple devices to be distributed network are powered on at the same time. In step 104, an independent random time delay is allocated to each of the plurality of devices to be distributed. In step 106 , when each of the multiple devices to be configured waits for a time determined by its corresponding random time delay, the device to be configured sends the first wait-to-start configuration beacon packet. Preferably, the length of the random time delay is between 0ms and the interval time for waiting to start the sending of the configuration beacon packet. In step 108, each of the plurality of devices to be configured on the network continues to send a beacon packet waiting to start configuration, so that the corresponding start configuration device can perform a start configuration operation on it.

Preferably, in order to further balance the network transmission traffic to relieve channel congestion, after or before the above step 102, an independent random transmission power can be determined for each of the plurality of devices to be distributed; and in steps 106 and 108 , each of the multiple devices to be configured on the network sends a waiting-to-start configuration beacon packet with its corresponding random transmit power. The random transmit power is preferably between -5dbm and the maximum transmit power of the device to be distributed.

Using a solution similar to the first embodiment, the second embodiment of the invention provides a method for over-the-air software upgrade of a plurality of nodes to be upgraded in a Bluetooth Mesh network.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, in step 202, the upgrade service device node sends an upgrade instruction to a plurality of nodes to be upgraded. In step 204, when each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded receives the upgrade instruction and decides to accept the upgrade, an independent random time delay is allocated to each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded. In step 206, when each to-be-upgraded node in the plurality of to-be-upgraded nodes waits for a time determined by its corresponding random time delay, the to-be-upgraded node sends the first waiting over-the-air upgrade beacon packet. In step 208, each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded continues to send a beacon packet waiting for an over-the-air upgrade, so that the corresponding upgrade service device node can perform a software over-the-air upgrade operation on it. Similarly, the length of the random time delay is 0ms and the interval between waiting to start the transmission of the configuration beacon packet. It should be understood that the interval time for waiting to start the transmission of the configuration beacon packet may be determined according to the Bluetooth Mesh protocol or according to application needs. For example, the transmission interval time may be 5 seconds, but the implementation of the present invention is not limited thereto. And preferably, in order to further balance the network transmission traffic to alleviate channel congestion, after or before step 202, an independent random transmission power can be determined for each of the plurality of devices to be distributed in the network; and in steps 206 and 208. , each of the multiple devices to be configured on the network sends a waiting-to-start configuration beacon packet with its corresponding random transmit power. The random transmit power is preferably between -5dbm and the maximum transmit power of the device to be distributed.

Using the methods described in the first and second embodiments above, when the device is powered on and starts, it does not need to immediately send a beacon packet waiting to start the configuration, and it does not need to immediately send a beacon packet waiting for an over-the-air upgrade after receiving an upgrade instruction , but according to the above method, wait for a time determined by a random time delay before sending the data packet. Taking the waiting to start the configuration data packet as an example, and in conjunction with Fig. 1, the present invention can allow different devices to send beacon packets in different time windows. For the network diagram shown in Fig. 1, by setting a random time delay , it is possible that device 43 sends packets at time T0, device 2 sends packets at time T0+100ms, device 31 sends packets at time T0+500ms, device 3 sends packets at time T0+1s, and so on. Therefore, at the time point T0, because only the device 43 is sending packets, the central node device 1 only receives the wait-to-start configuration beacon packet sent by the device 43 at the time point T0, and first initiates the start-up configuration process for the device 43; At T0+100ms, device 1 receives the wait-to-start configuration beacon packet sent by device 2, so it initiates the startup configuration process for device 2; although device 2 is closer than device 43, at time point T0 device 2 does not The packet is sent, so there is no device in event T0 that can compete for resources with device 43.

Therefore, by adding a random time delay method, the beacon packet sent by the remote device may be received by the central node before the beacon packet of the nearby device, so that the configuration process is started first. In this way, all the devices can get together to send the beacon packets waiting to start the configuration, which leads to the resource contention problem that the devices close to the central node can more easily obtain the process of starting the configuration preferentially.

In the third embodiment of the present invention, when starting the configuration of multiple devices to be distributed, the method of determining an independent random time delay is not used for the devices to be distributed, but only to determine an independent random time delay for the devices to be distributed. transmit power. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5 , in step 302, multiple devices to be distributed network are powered on at the same time. In step 304, each of the plurality of devices to be distributed determines an independent random transmit power. In step 306, each of the multiple network devices to be configured transmits the first wait-to-start configuration beacon packet with its corresponding random transmit power. In step 308 , each of the multiple devices to be configured on the network continues to send a beacon packet waiting to be configured with its corresponding random transmit power, so that the corresponding device to configure the network can perform a configuration operation on it.

Similar to the third embodiment of the present invention, the fourth embodiment of the present invention provides another method for over-the-air software upgrade of a plurality of nodes to be upgraded in a Bluetooth Mesh network. Similarly, in the fourth embodiment, the means of determining an independent random time delay for the device to be distributed is not adopted, but only the node to be upgraded determines an independent random transmission power. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, in step 402, the upgrade service device node sends an upgrade instruction to a plurality of nodes to be upgraded. In step 404, when each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded receives the upgrade instruction and decides to accept the upgrade, each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded determines an independent random transmit power. In step 406, the node to be upgraded sends the first waiting for over-the-air upgrade beacon packet with its corresponding random transmit power. In step 408, each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded continues to send the waiting over-the-air upgrade beacon packet with its corresponding random transmit power, so that the corresponding upgrade service equipment node can perform a software over-the-air upgrade operation on it.

By using the solution described in the third or fourth embodiment of the present invention alone, the startup configuration and the software over-the-air upgrade process can also be optimized. For example, during the startup configuration process, assuming that all devices select a random value between 1dbm and 10dbm as the transmit power, the transmit power of different devices is usually different. Assuming that device 2 randomly selects 1dbm as the transmit power, and device 23 randomly selects 10dbm as the transmit power, even if the wait-to-start configuration beacon packets of device 2 and device 23 are sent at the same time and device 2 is closer, the transmit power of device 23 is higher. If the signal strength of the beacon packet sent by device 1 is greater than that of the beacon packet sent by device 2, the received signal strength of the beacon packet sent by device 1 may be stronger than that of the beacon packet sent by device 2, so the device 23 that is farther away may be selected to start the configuration process, thereby optimizing the configuration process. . As a preferred solution, the random transmit power can be selected between -5dbm and the maximum transmit power of the device to be distributed, so as to enhance the effect of randomizing the transmit power. However, the implementation of the present invention is not limited to this.

In the scheme using random transmit power according to the present invention, additional technical means can be taken to prevent one party from receiving data from the other party between the startup configuration device and the device to be configured or between the upgrade service device node and the node to be upgraded packets, but the other party cannot receive the other party's data packets. For example, if device 1 uses a transmit power of 10dbm and device 2 uses a transmit power of 1dbm, and the distance between the two is relatively far, the signal transmitted by the transmit power of 10dbm can reach the other party, but the signal transmitted by the transmit power of 1dbm cannot reach the other party. As a result, the data packet sent by device 1 can be received by device 2, but the data packet sent by device 2 cannot be received by device 1.

In this regard, the present invention also provides a method for synchronizing random transmit power between two devices. In this way, the two devices need to exchange their respective transmit powers to synchronize the transmit powers of both parties. As a non-limiting example of the method for synchronizing random transmit power, as shown in FIG. 7, the method begins at step 502, where each of the two devices randomly selects one within a set transmit power range transmit power to start communication. In step 504, a device receives a request packet or a response packet from the other device. In step 506, the device actively reports its own transmit power. In step 508, it is determined whether the transmit power reported by the other party is received within the set time. If not, at step 510, the communication established with the counterparty is stopped. If yes, then in step 512 it is judged whether it is necessary to adjust its own transmit power. Specifically, by actively reporting its own transmission power to the other party, the party with the smaller transmission power can increase its own transmission power to a higher transmission power. Preferably, in actual operation, it is possible to decide whether to change its own transmit power in a more optimal way. For example, although it is detected that the transmission power of the other party is higher than that of itself, it is actually found that the data packet sent by the other party can also be received by the other party, or the RSSI of the data packet sent by the other party is large enough, so that it is determined that the communication can be completed normally without adjusting its own transmission power. . If the device determines in step 512 that its own transmit power needs to be adjusted, it performs the adjustment of the transmit power in step 514 and continues to complete the remaining communications in step 516 .

Through the above method of synchronizing random transmit power, the scheme of random transmit power adopted in the present invention can avoid the situation that the random transmit power of one of the two devices is too small to affect communication.

To sum up, the method of the present invention can reduce the problem of data packet congestion caused by excessive concentration of devices performing the startup configuration or software over-the-air upgrade during the device startup configuration process or the software over-the-air upgrade process, and can optimize the device configuration or software upgrade process, thereby Improved operation speed and efficiency. While various embodiments of various aspects of the invention have been described for purposes of this disclosure, it should not be construed to limit the teachings of this disclosure to these embodiments. Features disclosed in one particular embodiment are not limited to that embodiment, but may be combined with features disclosed in different embodiments. For example, one or more features and/or operations of a method according to the invention described in one embodiment may also be applied in another embodiment, alone, in combination or in their entirety. Furthermore, it should be understood that the method steps described above may be performed sequentially, performed in parallel, combined into fewer steps, split into more steps, combined and/or omitted in ways other than those described. Those skilled in the art should understand that there are more possible optional embodiments and modifications, and various changes and modifications can be made to the above method steps without departing from the scope defined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims (8)

1. a method for starting configuration to a plurality of network devices to be distributed in a Bluetooth Mesh network, is characterized in that, the method comprises: (a) Power on multiple devices to be distributed at the same time; (b) assigning an independent random time delay to each of the plurality of devices to be distributed; (c) when each of the plurality of network devices to be configured waits for a time determined by its corresponding random time delay, the device to be configured sends the first wait-to-start configuration beacon packet; and (d) Each of the multiple devices to be configured on the network continues to send a beacon packet waiting to be started and configured, so that the corresponding start-up configuration device can perform a start-up configuration operation on it. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the length of the random time delay is between 0ms and the interval time for waiting to start the sending of the configuration beacon packet. 3 . 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, after step (a), each of the plurality of devices to be deployed in the network determines an independent random transmit power; and In steps (c) and (d), each of the plurality of devices to be configured on the network transmits a wait-to-start configuration beacon packet with its corresponding random transmit power. 4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the random transmit power is between -5dbm and the maximum transmit power of the device to be distributed. 5 . 5. a method for carrying out software over-the-air upgrade to a plurality of nodes to be upgraded in a Bluetooth Mesh network, wherein the method comprises: (a) The upgrade service device node sends upgrade instructions to multiple nodes to be upgraded; (b) when each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded receives the upgrade instruction and decides to accept the upgrade, assigning an independent random time delay to each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded; (c) when each to-be-upgraded node in the plurality of to-be-upgraded nodes waits for a time determined by its corresponding random time delay, the to-be-upgraded node sends the first waiting for over-the-air upgrade beacon packet; and (d) Each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded continues to send a waiting over-the-air upgrade beacon packet, so that the corresponding upgrade service device node can perform a software over-the-air upgrade operation on it. 6 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the length of the random time delay is between 0ms and the sending interval time of waiting for an over-the-air upgrade beacon packet. 7 . 7. The method of claim 5, wherein after step (a), each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded determines an independent random transmit power; and In steps (c) and (d), each of the plurality of nodes to be upgraded transmits an over-the-air upgrade beacon packet with its corresponding random transmit power. 8 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the random transmit power is between -5dbm and the maximum transmit power of the device to be distributed on the network. 9 .

Images