The invention is addressing the problem of efficient formation and
maintenance of piconets with assistance from the master of an already
existing piconet. The master of an existing piconet initiates the
formation of a new helper piconet by at least two of its slaves. One of
the slaves of the existing piconet becomes the master of the newly formed
helper piconet and the other slave becomes a slave of the helper piconet.
This process can be used to expand the number of Bluetooth devices that
can use an Internet access point. It can also be used to permit two slave
devices to communicate directly with one another so as not to
unnecessarily use bandwidth available through the master. Finally, the
method and system could be used to provide a method of efficient hand-off
from one piconet to another.