Seamless connectivity between hearing aid and multiple devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9769858-B2
Application number	US-201414503184-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2014
Priority date	May 30, 2014
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

A method for controlling a peripheral from a group of computing devices is provided. The method sets up a group of computing devices for providing media content and control settings to a peripheral device such as a hearing aid. The computing devices in the group are interconnected by a network and exchange data with each other regarding the peripheral. A master device in the group is directly paired with the peripheral device and can use the pairing connection to provide media content or to apply the control settings to the peripheral device. The peripheral device is paired with only the master devices of the group. A slave device can request to directly pair with the peripheral device and become the master device in order to provide media content to the peripheral.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by a first computing device cause the first computing device to:
while a second computing device is directly paired with a peripheral device to enable direct wireless transmission of media content from the second computing device to the peripheral device, send a request to the second computing device to cease its direct pairing with the peripheral device;
receive pairing information that was used by the second computing device to directly pair with the peripheral device; and,
after the second computing device ceases its direct pairing with the peripheral device in response to the request, initiate direct pairing of the first computing device with the peripheral device using the received pairing information, which was used by the second computing device to directly pair with the peripheral device, without performing discovery or inquiry with the peripheral device to obtain information that enables direct pairing with the peripheral device, to enable direct wireless transmission of media content from the first computing device to the peripheral device.

2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the pairing information is generated by the second computing device after the second computing device discovers the peripheral device.

3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the pairing information is associated with a user account authenticated at the first computing device and the second computing device.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the pairing information is associated with a user account authenticated at the first computing device and the second computing device.

5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 4 , wherein the first computing device uses the received pairing information to pair with the peripheral device to supply media content to the peripheral device for the user account.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the peripheral device is configured to pair with only one of the first computing device and the second computing device at a time.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the peripheral device is an audio headset.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the peripheral device is a hearing aid.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the first computing device is configured to provide environment specific parameters to the hearing aid when paired with the hearing aid.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device is one of a plurality of devices that exchange data related to the peripheral device over a network.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the pairing information is received over the network.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the pairing information is shared by the plurality of devices for pairing with the peripheral device.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the exchanged data comprises a request by a third computing device to the first computing device for pairing with the peripheral device.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein receiving pairing information that was used by the second computing device to pair with the peripheral device includes receiving the pairing information from the second computing device.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the request includes media content description information indicative of the media content and wherein the second computing device determines whether to cease pairing with the peripheral device based on the media content description information.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein pairing with the peripheral device includes pairing with the peripheral device using a connection record concerning the pairing of the first computing device and the peripheral device, and wherein the connection record is specific to and only usable by the first computing device.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device includes a display, one or more processors and memory.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the pairing information includes at least one of: a peripheral device name and a peripheral device class.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device initiates direct pairing with the peripheral using a same wireless connection standard as used by the second computing device to pair with the peripheral.

20. A method comprising:
at a first computing device;
while a second computing device is directly paired with a peripheral device to enable direct wireless transmission of media content from the second computing device to the peripheral device, sending a request to the second computing device to cease its direct pairing with the peripheral device;
receiving pairing information that was used by the second computing device to directly pair with the peripheral device; and
after the second computing device ceases its direct pairing with the peripheral device in response to the request, initiating direct pairing of the first computing device with the peripheral device using the received pairing information, which was used by the second computing device to directly pair with the peripheral device, without performing discovery or inquiry with the peripheral device to obtain information that enable direct pairing with the peripheral device, to enable direct wireless transmission of media content from the first computing device to the peripheral device.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the first computing device initiates direct pairing with the peripheral using a same wireless connection standard as used by the second computing device to pair with the peripheral.

22. A first computing device, comprising:
a display;
one or more processors;
memory; and
one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for:
while a second computing device is directly paired with a peripheral device to enable direct wireless transmission of media content from the second computing device to the peripheral device, sending a request to the second computing device to cease its direct pairing with the peripheral device;
receiving direct pairing information that was used by the second computing device to directly pair with the peripheral device; and
after the second computing device ceases its direct pairing with the peripheral device in response to the request, initiate direct pairing of the first computing device with the peripheral device using the received pairing information, which was used by the second computing device to directly pair with the peripheral device, without performing discovery or inquiry with the peripheral device to obtain information that enables direct pairing with the peripheral device, to enable direct wireless transmission of media content from the first computing device to the peripheral device.

23. The first computing device of claim 22 , wherein the first computing device initiates direct pairing with the peripheral using a sa

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Seymour Eric T
• Fleizach Christopher B
• Fisch Ian M
• Linde Joakim
• Foo Edwin

Classifications

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04R25/554

  using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils · CPC title

• H04W76/023 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04R2225/55

  Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange · CPC title

• H04M1/7253

  Electricity · mapped topic