Improving simultaneous voice and data performance in Bluetooth systems

In the Bluetooth system, isochronous applications, such as voice and audio, are carried by synchronous connection oriented (SCO) links. SCO packets are regularly scheduled every two, four, or six time slots and enjoy preemptive priority over data-bearing asynchronous connection-less (ACL) packets. The residual bandwidth available to simultaneous data services is often insufficient for many types of applications, even under perfect channel conditions. We introduce a novel methodology where isochronous audio traffic is carried over ACL links to obtain higher simultaneous data throughputs while strictly adhering to the 64 Kbps isochronous service quality guaranteed by SCO links. Simulation results are presented for a variety of channel conditions verifying that this technique improves both the throughput for data services and the quality of voice services.