Audio data routing between multiple wirelessly connected devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9924010-B2
Application number	US-201615169554-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2016
Priority date	Jun 5, 2015
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

Apparatus and methods to communicate audio data from either an active wireless device or a requesting wireless device to one or more audio reproduction devices that are simultaneously communicatively coupled to both the active wireless device and to the requesting wireless device are disclosed. Responsive to a request from the requesting wireless device to transmit audio data to the one or more audio reproduction devices, the active wireless device determines whether to transmit audio data from the requesting wireless device based at least in part on an audio status of the active wireless device and a set of predetermined arbitration criteria that prioritizes among applications and operating system processes that generate the audio data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
by an active wireless device:
detecting an audio status of the active wireless device, the active wireless device being communicatively coupled to at least one of a first wireless ear bud or a second wireless ear bud of a pair of wireless ear buds, the active wireless device being communicatively coupled to a requesting wireless device and having control of an audio channel for transmission of audio data to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds;
determining whether to transmit audio data associated with the requesting wireless device to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds based at least in part on the audio status of the active wireless device and predetermined arbitration criteria; and
causing the audio data associated with the requesting wireless device to be transmitted to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds when the audio status of the active wireless device and the audio data associated with the requesting wireless device satisfy the predetermined arbitration criteria,
wherein the audio status of the active wireless device comprises whether the active wireless device is communicating audio data or is operating in a muted state or an audio paused state in which audio data is not being communicated to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds, and
wherein causing the audio data associated with the requesting wireless device to be transmitted to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds comprises:
generating a set of link keys for the requesting wireless device to connect with the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds, and
sharing the set of link keys with the requesting wireless device and the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds,
wherein the requesting wireless device utilizes the set of link keys to establish a connection with the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds and transmits the audio data associated with the requesting wireless device via the established connection.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
when the audio status of the active wireless device comprises the active wireless device operating in the muted state or the audio paused state, the audio data associated with the requesting wireless device is transmitted to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
when (i) the audio status of the active wireless device comprises the active wireless device communicating audio data having a first priority level to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds, and (ii) the audio data associated with the requesting wireless device comprises audio data having a second priority level that is equal to or higher than the first priority level, the audio data of the second priority level associated with the requesting wireless device is transmitted to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds and transmission of the audio data of the first priority level associated with the active wireless device is suspended.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the audio data having the second priority level associated with the requesting wireless device comprises audio data associated with a voice call or a video call.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
when the audio status of the active wireless device comprises the active wireless device communicating audio data having a first priority level to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds, and the audio data associated with the requesting wireless device comprises audio data having a second priority level lower than the first priority level, the audio data of the second priority level associated with the requesting wireless device is not transmitted to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the audio data having the first priority level associated with the active wireless device comprises audio data associated with a voice call or a video call; and
the audio data having the second priority level associated with the requesting wireless device comprises audio data associated with an application or operating system process other than servicing the voice call or the video call.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein:
the audio data having the second priority level associated with the requesting wireless device further comprises audio data corresponding to at least one of an alert, an alarm, a navigation application, a game application, media playback, or a voice mail.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a wearing status of each wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds,
wherein audio data is transmitted to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds from either the active wireless device or the requesting wireless device when at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds has an in-ear status.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein:
audio data is not transmitted to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds from either the active wireless device or the requesting wireless device when both the first wireless ear bud and the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds have an out-of-ear status.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause an active wireless device to:
detect an audio status of the active wireless device communicatively coupled to at least one of a first wireless ear bud or a second wireless ear bud of a pair of wireless ear buds;
receive a request to transmit audio data associated with a requesting wireless device to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds, wherein the active wireless device is communicatively coupled to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds and controls an audio channel for transmission of audio data to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds;
grant the request to transmit the audio data associated with the requesting wireless device to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the second wireless ear bud of the pair of wireless ear buds when the audio status of the active wireless device and the audio data associated with the requesting wireless device satisfy predetermined arbitration criteria,
wherein the audio status of the active wireless device comprises whether the active wireless device is communicating audio data or is operating in a muted state or an audio paused state in which audio data is not being communicated to the at least one of the first wireless ear bud or the seco

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Watson Robert D
• Ganapathi Batta Ganesha Adkasthala
• Guetta Anthony
• Shaw David John
• Dooley Craig
• Saari Chris
• Novick Gregory
• De Vries Nathan
• Hariharan Sriram
• Bernhard Patrick Ian
• Mclaughlin Dana
• Moore Jeffrey Chandler
• Coffman Patrick Lee
• Bennett Jonathan Anderson
• Iyer Deepak
• Howard Jr Albert Riley
• Conn Jason

Classifications

• H04W72/566 Primary

  of the information or information source or recipient · CPC title

• H04R3/12

  for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers {(specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407)} · CPC title

• H04L12/2805

  Home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] networks · CPC title

• H04R2420/07

  Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones · CPC title

• H04W68/005

  Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication · CPC title