Intelligent Bluetooth Device to Device Connection Shift

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a wireless technology designed to provide reduced power consumption while maintaining similar communication range as compared to Classic Bluetooth [1]. Bluetooth (BT) and BLE are predominantly available in smartphones and are very useful for device-to-device communication. Most Bluetooth accessory (BTA) devices like BT headset, BT speaker and BT car-kit support only single connection. This behavior of BTA devices will hinder today’s expectation of seamless continuity across multiple devices. User will encounter a connection failure, when user tries to connect a Smartphone to BTA device, which is already connected to other device. However, the reported reason for connection failure is “connection failed to be established” and is different from the exact reason, which is, “remote device is already connected”. This is because BT device cannot differentiate between non-availability and the case where device is not responding. This will leave the user confused on which steps can ensure a successful connection. Device to device (D2D) communication can solve this connection issue and avoid confusion. To the best of our knowledge, this paper for the first time proposes a new concept that uses BLE’s advertisement and scanning features to solve this connection issue by providing a connection shift from an already connected device, to the device that is trying to connect with the same BTA device. We have developed a prototype of our concept to present the results of connection shift and to provide analysis on difference in the time taken for connection shift during multiple attempts.