Smart scan for Bluetooth PAN devices

A system and method for discovering and connecting to a preferred remote Bluetooth device by a local Bluetooth device. An inquiry scan cache (507) and a page scan cache (505) are maintained. The inquiry scan cache (507) is updated by way of a periodic inquiry scan (509). The page scan cache (505) is refreshed by way of an attempt to connect to the preferred remote Bluetooth device. Periodically, and more frequently than the periodic inquiry scan (509), a list of available remote Bluetooth devices is formed from entries in the inquiry scan cache (507) concatenated with each entry in the page scan cache (505) for which a page scan is successful. In one embodiment, the page scan cache (505) holds a finite number of entries, and an expiration policy is applied to each added entry. In another embodiment, the inquiry scan cache (507) is also updated when a remote Bluetooth device attempts to connect to the local Bluetooth device.