Systems and methods for muting a wireless communication device

• US 10,412,565 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2016
• Issued: 09/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Linsky, Joel Benjamin, Heydon, Robin
• Primary Examiner(s): Bilodeau, David
• Application Number:
  US15/384,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20180176713A1
• Time in Patent Office: 995 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6008 in the transmitter circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6033 for providing handsfree use or a loudspeaker mode in telephone sets arrangements for preventing acoustic echo H04M9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6066 including a wireless connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• 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 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

A method for muting a Bluetooth device is described. The method includes receiving, by a Bluetooth controller of the Bluetooth device, a mute remote microphone message from a peer Bluetooth device. The method also includes disabling audio transmission functionality of the Bluetooth device. The Bluetooth device may also receive a disable remote mute message from the peer Bluetooth device and enable the audio transmission functionality of the Bluetooth device.

Claims

1. A method for muting a Bluetooth device, comprising:

receiving, by a Bluetooth controller, a mute remote microphone message from a peer Bluetooth device, wherein the mute remote microphone message comprises an enable mute field with a single bit that indicates mute is to be enabled by the Bluetooth device when the enable mute field is set to 1; and

disabling audio transmission functionality of the Bluetooth device in response to receiving the mute remote microphone message, wherein disabling audio transmission functionality of the Bluetooth device comprises disabling comfort noise generation, disabling voice activity detection, disabling microphone path codec processing of the Bluetooth device and disabling audio-related wireless transmissions from the Bluetooth device to the peer Bluetooth device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the Bluetooth device is a headset, headphones or automobile hands-free audio system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a disable remote mute message from the peer Bluetooth device; and

enabling the audio transmission functionality of the Bluetooth device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, at the Bluetooth controller, a mute local microphone message in response to receiving the mute remote microphone message; and

sending the mute local microphone message from the Bluetooth controller to a host of the Bluetooth device, wherein the host disables the audio transmission functionality in response to the mute local microphone message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the mute remote microphone message is communicated from the peer Bluetooth device to the Bluetooth device via one of a link layer control procedure, link manager protocol or Qualcomm link layer (QLL) procedure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the Bluetooth device receives the mute remote microphone message from the peer Bluetooth device when mute is enabled at a user interface of the peer Bluetooth device.

7. A Bluetooth device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory in communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions executable by the processor to;

receive, by a Bluetooth controller, a mute remote microphone message from a peer Bluetooth device, wherein the mute remote microphone message comprises an enable mute field that indicates mute is to be enabled by the Bluetooth device when the enable mute field is set to 1; and

disable audio transmission functionality of the Bluetooth device in response to receiving the mute remote microphone message, wherein the instructions executable to disable audio transmission functionality of the Bluetooth device comprise instructions executable to disable comfort noise generation, disable voice activity detection, disable microphone path codec processing of the Bluetooth device and disable audio-related wireless transmissions from the Bluetooth device to the peer Bluetooth device.

8. The Bluetooth device of claim 7, wherein the Bluetooth device is a headset, headphones or automobile hands-free audio system.

9. The Bluetooth device of claim 7, further comprising instructions executable to:

receive a disable remote mute message from the peer Bluetooth device; and

enable the audio transmission functionality of the Bluetooth device.

10. The Bluetooth device of claim 7, further comprising instructions executable to:

generate, at the Bluetooth controller, a mute local microphone message in response to receiving the mute remote microphone message; and

send the mute local microphone message from the Bluetooth controller to a host of the Bluetooth device, wherein the host disables the audio transmission functionality in response to the mute local microphone message.

11. The Bluetooth device of claim 7, wherein the mute remote microphone message is communicated from the peer Bluetooth device to the Bluetooth device via one of a link layer control procedure, link manager protocol or Qualcomm link layer (QLL) procedure.

12. The Bluetooth device of claim 7, wherein the Bluetooth device receives the mute remote microphone message from the peer Bluetooth device when mute is enabled at a user interface of the peer Bluetooth device.

13. A method for muting a remote Bluetooth device by a peer Bluetooth device, comprising:

detecting that mute is enabled at the peer Bluetooth device;

generating a mute remote microphone message to disable audio transmission functionality of the remote Bluetooth device, wherein the mute remote microphone message comprises an enable mute field that indicates mute is to be enabled by the remote Bluetooth device when the enable mute field is set to 1; and

sending, by a Bluetooth controller of the peer Bluetooth device, the mute remote microphone message to the remote Bluetooth device, wherein the remote Bluetooth device disables comfort noise generation, disables voice activity detection, disables microphone path codec processing and disables audio-related wireless transmissions to the peer Bluetooth device upon receiving the mute remote microphone message.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the remote Bluetooth device is a headset, headphones or automobile hands-free audio system.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

detecting that mute is disabled at a user interface of the peer Bluetooth device;

generating a disable remote mute message; and

sending, by the Bluetooth controller of the peer Bluetooth device, the disable remote mute message to the remote Bluetooth device.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the mute remote microphone message is communicated from the peer Bluetooth device to the remote Bluetooth device via one of a link layer control procedure, link manager protocol or Qualcomm link layer (QLL) procedure.

17. A peer Bluetooth device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory in communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions executable by the processor to;

detect that mute is enabled at the peer Bluetooth device;

generate a mute remote microphone message to disable audio transmission functionality of a remote Bluetooth device, wherein the mute remote microphone message comprises an enable mute field that indicates mute is to be enabled by the remote Bluetooth device when the enable mute field is set to 1; and

send, by a Bluetooth controller of the peer Bluetooth device, the mute remote microphone message to the remote Bluetooth device, wherein the remote Bluetooth device disables comfort noise generation, disables voice activity detection, disables microphone path codec processing and disables audio-related wireless transmissions to the peer Bluetooth device upon receiving the mute remote microphone message.

18. The peer Bluetooth device of claim 17, further comprising instructions executable to:

detect that mute is disabled at a user interface of the peer Bluetooth device;

generate a disable remote mute message to enable audio transmission functionality of the remote Bluetooth device; and

send, by the Bluetooth controller of the peer Bluetooth device, the disable remote mute message to the remote Bluetooth device.