Pairing method for establishing a wireless audio network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9504076-B2
Application number	US-201214654592-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2012
Priority date	Dec 21, 2012
Publication date	Nov 22, 2016
Grant date	Nov 22, 2016

Abstract

A method and system of establishing a wireless network for audio data transmission with a first and second audio devices having first and second transceivers, the first audio device being an audio signal transmission unit with a user operable switch, and the first and second audio devices being assistive listening devices. Periodically the second transceiver listens for pairing information, at at least one public frequency channel; operating the switch by the user to initiate pairing at any time during operation of the first audio device; the first transceiver transmitting pairing information at said at least one public frequency channel upon operation of the switch. The second audio device automatically pairs to the first audio device upon reception of pairing information from the first transceiver. The first and second transceivers are controlled so that reception of the pairing information from the first audio device is accepted by the second audio device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of establishing a wireless network for audio data transmission comprising a first audio device ( 10 , 10 A) having a first transceiver ( 28 ) and a second wireless audio device ( 10 B, 10 C, 14 , 14 A, 14 B) having a second transceiver ( 61 ), wherein the first audio device is an audio signal transmission unit and comprises a switch ( 40 ) operable by a user ( 11 , 13 ), wherein the first and second audio devices are assistive listening devices for enhancing speech understanding selected from the group consisting of audio signal transmission units for transmitting audio signals via a wireless RF link and audio signal receiver units for receiving audio signals via the wireless RF link; the method comprising:
periodically listening, via the second transceiver, at any time during operation of the second audio device, for pairing information, at at least one public frequency channel;
operating the switch by the user to initiate pairing, wherein pairing is initiated by operating the switch by the user at any time during operation of the first audio device;
transmitting pairing information containing a network ID via the first transceiver at said at least one public frequency channel upon operation of the switch; and
automatically pairing the second audio device to the first audio device upon reception of said pairing information from the first transceiver;
wherein the first transceiver and the second transceiver are controlled in such a manner that reception of the pairing information from the first audio device is accepted by the second audio device with a likelihood of more than 90% if the distance between the first audio device and the second audio device is less than 0.1 m and with a likelihood of less than 10% if the distance between the first audio device and the second audio device is more than 1 m, and wherein said at least one public frequency channel and the audio data transmission use only frequencies in the range of 2.400 to 2.483 GHz,
wherein the second audio device ( 10 B) comprises a switch ( 40 ) that is operable by a user ( 11 , 13 ), and
wherein the second audio device, after pairing to the first audio device ( 10 A), is caused to initiate pairing of a third audio device ( 10 C, 14 B) to the second audio device by transmitting at least one message (PM) containing said pairing information via the second transceiver upon operation of the switch of the second audio device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second audio device ( 10 B) is an audio signal transmission unit.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said transmitting of pairing information comprises periodically repeating, in subsequent paging periods (PP), transmission of a paging message (PM) containing said pairing information, via the first transceiver ( 28 ), said transmission of the paging message occurring in each paging period at least once at said at least one public frequency channel; wherein said listening comprises periodically repeating, in subsequent scanning periods (SP), listening, via the second transceiver ( 61 ), during a listening slot (PLS), at said at least one public frequency channel, for a paging message; the method further comprising transmitting, via the second transceiver, a pairing reply message (RM) at least one public frequency channel after having received the paging message from the first transceiver.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first audio device ( 10 , 10 A) stops transmission of the paging message (PM) after having received the pairing reply message (PM) or after a timeout limit of the time having passed since the switch ( 40 ) of the first audio device has been operated has been reached.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein in each transmission the paging message (PM) is transmitted as a single data block.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein there is a plurality of public frequency channels, wherein transmission of the paging message (PM) is repeated according to a sequence of the public frequency channels.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein transmission of the paging message (PM) is repeated within each paging period (PP) at least once, wherein each transmission of the paging message within each paging period is at a different one of the public frequency channels.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the sequence of the public frequency channels used for transmission of the paging message (PM) is the same for each paging period (PP).

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein within each paging period (PP) the paging message (PM) is transmitted once at each of the public frequency channels.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein there is only a single listening slot (PLS) in each scanning period (SP).

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second transceiver ( 61 ) listens in each listening slot (PLS) at one of the public frequency channels different from the public frequency channel of the preceding listening slot.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the second transceiver ( 61 ) listens in each listening slot (PLS) at one of the public frequency channels according to a fixed repeated sequence.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the sequence contains each of the public frequency channels once.

14. The method of claim 3 , wherein when the second audio device ( 14 ) is in a synchronized state for receiving audio data from an audio device ( 10 ′) other the first audio device ( 10 ), each scanning period (SP) contains a plurality of listening slots (PLS′), wherein the second transceiver ( 61 ) listens at the same public frequency channel in each listening slot in the scanning period.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the second transceiver listens in the listening slots (PLS′) of each scanning period (SP) at one of the public frequency channels different from the public frequency channel of the listening slots of the preceding scanning period.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second transceiver ( 61 ) listens in each scanning period (SP) at one of the public frequency channels according to a fixed repeated sequence.

17. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first transceiver ( 28 ) listens during each paging period (PP) once during a reply listening slot (RLS) at one of the public frequency channels.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the first transceiver ( 28 ) listens in each reply listening slot (RLS) at one of the public frequency channels according to a fixed repeated sequence.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the sequence contains each of the public frequency channels once.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein there are not more than three public frequency channels.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmission power of the first transceiver ( 28 ) is controlled in such a manner that a message (PM) containing pairing information from the first audio device ( 10 , 10 A) is accepted by the second audio device ( 14 , 10 B, 10 C, 14 A, 14 B) with a likelihood of more than 90% if the distance between the first audio device and the second audio device is less than 0.1 m and with a likelihood of less than 10% if the distance between the first audio device and the second audio device is more than 1 m.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gain applied in a power amplifier of the second transceiver ( 61 ) and/or the gain applied in a low noise amplifier of the second transceiver is controlled in such a manner that a message (PM) containing pairing information from the first audio device ( 10 , 10 A) is accepted by t

Assignees

• Phonak Ag
• Sonova Ag

Inventors

• El-Hoiydi Amre
• Aparicio Dominique
• Buehl Markus
• Secall Marc
• Schmid Christoph
• Platz Rainer

Classifications

• H04H20/61

  for local area broadcast, e.g. instore broadcast · CPC title

• H04W8/005

  Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals · CPC title

• H04W76/023 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• H04W68/005 Primary

  Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication · CPC title