Wireless speaker connection management

• US 10,013,232 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2016
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bose Corporation
• Original Assignee: Bose Corporation
• Inventors: Hostage, Christine M., Patil, Naganagouda B., Martin, Keith D., Datta, David Paul, Holstein, Nathan, Young, Douglas W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hai V
• Application Number:
  US15/250,504
• Publication Number:
  US 20180060021A1
• Time in Patent Office: 673 Days
• Field of Search: 455 412
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/4387 by the use of playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/60 of audio data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/639 using playlists
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2838 Distribution of signals within a home automation network, e.g. involving splitting/multiplexing signals to/from different paths adaptations of television systems for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution H04N7/106; hybrid transport H04L12/6418; home network arrangements specially adapted for distribution of digital video signals H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1095 Inter-network session transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/143 Termination or inactivation of sessions, e.g. event-controlled end of session
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 : for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 : for playing music files
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2181 : comprising remotely distributed storage units, e.g. when movies are replicated over a plurality of video servers distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 : for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41265 : having a remote control device for bidirectional communication between the remote control device and client device unidirectional remote control device H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 : using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 : involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64746 : Control signals issued by the network directed to the server or the client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8113 : comprising music, e.g. song in MP3 format
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 : Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 : Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 : Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/36 : for reassigning the resources associated with the released connections

Abstract

A connection management system comprises a wireless speaker including first and second connectors for communicating with two selected audio content source devices, respectively, of at least three audio content source devices; a rules engine that establishes a set of conditions under which the at least three audio content source devices share the first and second connectors of the wireless speaker; and a device allocation system that forms a first communication path between one of the two selected audio content source devices and the first connector of the wireless speaker and forms a second communication path between another of the two selected audio content source devices and the second connector of the wireless speaker at a time in accordance with the set of conditions established by the rules engine.

Claims

1. A connection management system, comprising:

a wireless speaker including first and second connectors for communicating with two selected audio content source devices, respectively, of at least three audio content source devices;

a rules engine that establishes a set of conditions under which the at least three audio content source devices share the first and second connectors of the wireless speaker; and

a device allocation system that forms a first communication path between one of the two selected audio content source devices and the first connector of the wireless speaker, forms a second communication path between another of the two selected audio content source devices and the second connector of the wireless speaker at a time in accordance with the set of conditions established by the rules engine, and further replaces the first communication path with a third communication path between a different audio content source device than the one of the two selected audio content source devices and the first connector of the wireless speaker in response to the first audio content source device sending a command to the speaker to terminate the first communication path.

2. The connection management system of claim 1 further comprising an application module stored and executed at each of the at least three audio content source devices, each application module configured to provide one end of the first or second communication path, the first connector providing the other end of the first communication path, and the second connector providing the other end of the second communication path.

3. The connection management system of claim 1, wherein the first and second connectors and at least three audio content source devices each includes a WiFi or Bluetooth™

protocol-compliant interface.

4. The connection management system of claim 1, further comprising a central playlist stored at a remote location that includes a designated order in which audio content stored at the at least three audio content source devices is to be output, and wherein the set of conditions of the rules engine includes an instruction to output the audio content to the wireless speaker according to the designated order.

5. The connection management system of claim 4, wherein the remote location is a cloud-based location.

6. The connection management system of claim 4, wherein the device allocation system outputs a first communication that instructs a first audio content source device of the at least three audio content source devices to stream a first content identified in the designated order of the centralized playlist to the wireless speaker, and wherein in response the first audio content source device forms the first communication path with the first connector of the wireless speaker, and initiates the streaming of the first content to the wireless speaker.

7. The connection management system of claim 6, wherein the first communication includes a notification that identifies a second audio content source device of the at least three audio content source devices to stream a second content identified in the designated order of the centralized playlist to the wireless speaker, and wherein the first audio content source device sends a command to the wireless speaker to form the second communication path between the second connector and the second audio content source device.

8. The connection management system of claim 7, wherein the first audio content source device sends a command to the speaker to terminate the first communication path with the first connector of the wireless speaker when the streaming of the first content is completed, and wherein in response the wireless speaker sends a command to the second audio content source device to initiate the streaming of the second content to the wireless speaker over the second communication path.

9. The connection management system of claim 8, wherein the device allocation system outputs a second communication to the second device audio content source device that includes a notification that identifies a third audio content source device of the at least three audio content source devices to stream a third content identified in the designated order of the centralized playlist to the wireless speaker, wherein the different audio content source device is the third audio content source device, and wherein the second audio content source device sends a command to the wireless speaker to form the third communication path between the first connector and the third audio content source device.

10. The connection management system of claim 9, wherein the second audio content source device terminates the second communication path with the second connector of the wireless speaker when the streaming of the second content is completed, and wherein in response the wireless speaker sends a command to the third audio content source device to initiate the streaming of the third content to the wireless speaker over the third communication path.

11. The connection management system of claim 1, wherein the wireless speaker is part of a tabletop housing or a headphone.

12. A device that manages the audio output from at least three devices to a wireless speaker, the device comprising:

a switch that forms a first wireless path between a first of three or more audio content source devices and a first connector of a wireless speaker and forms a second wireless path between a second of three or more audio content source devices and a second connector of the wireless speaker; and

an allocation device that shares the first and second wireless paths among the three or more audio content source devices with the first and second connectors of the wireless speaker, and further replaces the first wireless path with a third wireless path between a third audio content source device different than the first audio content source device and the first connector of the wireless speaker in response to the first audio content source device sending a command to the speaker to terminate the first wireless path.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the first and second connectors and at least three audio content source devices each includes a WiFi or Bluetooth™

protocol-compliant interface.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the allocation device outputs a first communication that instructs the first audio content source device to stream a first content to the wireless speaker, and wherein in response the first audio content source device forms the first communication path with the first connector of the wireless speaker, and initiates the streaming of the first content to the wireless speaker.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the first communication includes a notification that identifies the second audio content source device to stream a second content to the wireless speaker, and wherein the first audio content source device sends a command to the wireless speaker to form the second communication path between the second connector and the second audio content source device.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the first audio content source device sends a command to the wireless speaker to terminate the first communication path with the first connector of the wireless speaker when the streaming of the first content is completed, and wherein in response the wireless speaker sends a command to the second audio content source device to initiate the streaming of the second content to the wireless speaker over the second communication path.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the device allocation system outputs a second communication to the second device audio content source device that includes a notification that identifies the third audio content source device of the at least three audio content source devices to stream a third content to the wireless speaker, wherein the second audio content source device sends a command to the wireless speaker to form the third communication path between the first connector and the third audio content source device.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the second audio content source device terminates the second communication path with the second connector of the wireless speaker when the streaming of the second content is completed, and wherein in response the wireless speaker sends a command to the third audio content source device to initiate the streaming of the third content to the wireless speaker over the third communication path.

19. A method for connection management between at least three audio content source devices and a wireless speaker, comprising:

outputting, by a device allocation system, a first communication that instructs a first audio content source device of the at least three audio content source devices to stream a first content to the wireless speaker;

forming a first communication path between the first audio content source device and a first connector of the wireless speaker;

initiating the streaming of the first content over the first communication path to the wireless speaker;

identifying a second audio content source device of the at least three audio content source devices to stream a second content to the wireless speaker;

forming a second communication path between the second audio content source device and a second connector of the wireless speaker;

terminating the first communication path with the first connector of the wireless speaker when the streaming of the first content is completed;

initiating the streaming of the second content over the second communication path to the wireless speaker;

identifying a third audio content source device of the at least three audio content source devices to stream a third content to the wireless speaker; and

forming a third communication path between the third audio content source device and the first connector in response to the first audio content source device sending a command to the wireless speaker to terminate the first communication path.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

terminating the second communication path with the second connector of the wireless speaker when the streaming of the second content is completed; and

initiating the streaming of the third content to the wireless speaker over the third communication path.