Managing connections of a user device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9668044-B2
Application number	US-201615362629-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 28, 2016
Priority date	Mar 14, 2014
Publication date	May 30, 2017
Grant date	May 30, 2017

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable medium are provided for managing connections of user devices. For example, two source devices may be configured to maintain a data stream with one another. The data stream may enable the two source devices to identify one or more connections between each other and at least a third device. In response to receiving an event that indicates content to be provided to the third device, the data stream may be used by the source devices to configure their network connections with the third device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
managing, by a first device, a first network connection with a second device;
detecting a second network connection between the second device and a peripheral device;
detecting, by the first device, first content provided to the peripheral device by the second device using the second network connection;
receiving, by the first device, an event that identifies second content to be provided to the peripheral device;
at least in response to receipt of the event, determining which of the first device or the second device should provide the second content to the peripheral device; and
when it is determined that the second device should provide the second content to the peripheral device:
transmitting, via the first network connection with the second device, at least a portion of the second content; and
transmitting, via the first network connection with the second device, an instruction for the second device to transmit the second content to the peripheral device over the second network connection.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network connection between the first device and the second device is configured to be persistent when the first device is within communication range of the second device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second network connection between the second device and the peripheral device comprises a Bluetooth protocol connection.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the event comprises a notification of an incoming telephone call, a calendar appointment, a request to play a song at the peripheral device, or a message from another device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein it is determined that the second device should provide the second content to the peripheral device based at least in part on at least one of historical user information associated with the first device and the second device, preference information of a user, usage pattern information, or battery information.

6. A first device, comprising:
a memory configured to store computer-executable instructions; and
a first computing device in communication with the memory and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:
manage a first network connection with a second device;
detect a second network connection between the second device and a peripheral device;
detect first content provided to the peripheral device by the second device using the second network connection;
receive an event that identifies second content to be provided to the peripheral device;
at least in response to receipt of the event, determine which of the first device or the second device should provide the second content to the peripheral device; and
transmit, via the first network connection with the second device, an instruction for the second device to transmit the second content to the peripheral device over the second network connection when it is determined that the second device should provide the second content to the peripheral device.

7. The first device of claim 6 , wherein the first network connection between the first device and the second device is configured to be persistent when the first device is within communication range of the second device.

8. The first device of claim 6 , wherein the second network connection between the second device and the peripheral device comprises a Bluetooth protocol connection.

9. The first device of claim 6 , wherein the event comprises a notification of an incoming telephone call, a calendar appointment, a request to play a song at the peripheral device, or a message from another device.

10. The first device of claim 6 , wherein it is determined that the second device should provide the second content to the peripheral device based at least in part on at least one of historical user information associated with the first device and the second device, preference information of a user, usage pattern information, or battery information.

11. The first device of claim 10 , wherein the historical user information identifies which of the first device or the second device is used more often for providing the second content.

12. The first device of claim 10 , wherein the preference information identifies which of the first device or the second device the user prefers, and wherein the preference information is based at least in part on a configuration setting received from the user.

13. The first device of claim 10 , wherein the usage pattern information identifies that the second device was being used last.

14. The first device of claim 10 , wherein the battery information identifies that the second device has more battery life remaining or uses less battery power to provide the second content.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a first computing device, configure the first computing device to perform operations comprising:
managing a first network connection with a second computing device;
detecting a second network connection between the second computing device and a peripheral computing device;
detecting first content provided to the peripheral computing device by the second computing device using the second network connection;
receiving an event that identifies second content to be provided to the peripheral computing device;
at least in response to receipt of the event, determining which of the first computing device or the second computing device should provide the second content to the peripheral computing device; and
when it is determined that the second computing device should provide the second content to the peripheral computing device transmitting, via the first network connection with the second computing device, an instruction for the second computing device to transmit the second content to the peripheral computing device over the second network connection.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the peripheral computing device comprises at least one of a wireless headset or a media player.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the event is received by the first computing device and the second computing device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the peripheral computing device is configured to be connectible to only one of the first computing device or the second computing device at a time.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the event comprises a notification of an incoming telephone call, a calendar appointment, a request to play a song at the peripheral computing device, or a message from another device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the second content comprises audio of a telephone call, information associated with a calendar appointment, or information associated with a song to be played by the peripheral computing device.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Schobel Andreas E
• De Vries Nathan
• Novick Gregory B
• Guetta Anthony J
• Conn Jason C
• Prats Augustin

Classifications

• H04M19/045

  Call privacy arrangements, e.g. timely inhibiting the ring signal · CPC title

• H04W76/25

  Maintenance of established connections · CPC title

• H04W76/10

  Connection setup · CPC title

• H04W76/00

  Connection management · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title