Method and apparatus for determining the current location of a Bluetooth enabled device by synchronizing with a plurality of other devices

摘要

The location of a Bluetooth enabled device is determined by the device broadcasting a message (300), for instance a device discovery message, and if a minimum number of responses are received (310), the device synchronizes with at least 3 of the responding mobile devices (330), which can be Bluetooth slaves forming a piconet with the device as master. The location is calculated as a function of the respective locations of the synchronized devices (340). In embodiments, a special (e.g. DIAC) access code is used so that only devices having knowledge of their current location reply, and the calculation is carried out by a function of clock skews being for instance clock offsets of the LMP protocol. <IMAGE>