ENHANCEMENTS TO DATA-DRIVEN MEDIA MANAGEMENT WITHIN AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20090187967A1
• Filed: 03/16/2009
• Published: 07/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Guetta, Anthony J., Chapman, Greg, Rostaing, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,171,177 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/00 Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 ; multiprogram control therefor G06F9/46; multiprocessor systems G06F15/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/00 Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6016 in the receiver circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files

Abstract

A centralized resource manager manages the routing of audio or visual information within a device, including a handheld device such as a smartphone. The resource manager evaluates data-driven policies to determine how to route audio or visual information to or from various input or output components connected to the device, including headphones, built-in speakers, microphones, bluetooth headsets, cameras, and so on. Among the data considered in the policies are connection status data, indicating if a device is connected, routing status data, indicating if a device is permitted to route information to or from a component, and grouping data, indicating logical relationships between various components. Components may be considered inherently routable, automatically routable, or optionally routable. Numerous other uses exist for such data, including providing simpler and more logical management interfaces.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

maintaining status data for each component of a plurality of components;

wherein the status data for each component includes;

connection status data indicating whether the component is connected to a device;

routing status data, different from the connection status data, indicating whether the device is permitted to route audio or visual information to or from the component;

maintaining policy data indicating one or more policies for selecting routes by which to route audio or visual information;

based at least on the connection status data for one or more components and on the routing status data for the one or more components, evaluating the one or more policies to select one or more routes for routing particular audio or visual information;

wherein the step of evaluating the one or more policies to select one or more routes is performed by the device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the plurality of components includes at least a particular component that is built-in to the device or external to the device, wherein the particular component is one of a headset, a speaker, a microphone, or a bluetooth device, or a component thereof;

wherein each component of the plurality of components is connectable to the device via a plurality of ports of the device;

each of the plurality of ports is one of an input port of the device, an output port of the device, or both an input port and an output port of the device; and

each of the plurality of ports facilitates one of a wired connection, wireless connection, or built-in connection to a connected component.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a connection has been established between a particular component and the device;

in response to determining that the connection has been established, modifying the connection status data for the particular component to indicate that the particular component is connected to the device; and

further in response to determining that the connection has been established, based at least on the policy data, determining whether to modify the routing status data for the particular component to indicate that the device is permitted to route audio or visual information to or from the particular component.

4. The method of claim 3,

wherein determining whether to modify the routing status data for the particular component comprises evaluating a rule indicated by the policy data;

wherein the rule indicates whether the device is automatically permitted to route audio or visual information to or from the particular component whenever the particular connection has been established;

wherein the rule is conditioned upon at least one of;

the type of the particular component, the type of the connection, or the identity of the particular component.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the rule is further conditioned upon data indicating whether a user permitted the device to route audio or visual information to or from the particular component while the particular component was previously connected to the device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a first connection has been established between a first component and the device;

in response to the first connection, automatically modifying the routing status data to indicate that the device is permitted to route audio or visual information to or from the particular component;

determining that a second connection has been established between a second component and the device;

determining not to, in response to the second connection, automatically modify the routing status data to indicate that the device is permitted to route audio or visual information to or from the particular component;

receiving input from one of a user, the second component, or an application, wherein the input indicates that the device is permitted to route audio or visual information to or from the second component; and

in response to the input, modifying the routing status data to indicate that the device is permitted to route audio or visual information to or from the second component.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

in response to the first connection, automatically modifying the routing status data, comprises evaluating a particular policy based upon one of;

the type of the first component, the type of the first connection, or the identity of the first component; and

determining not to, in response to the second connection, automatically modify the routing status data, comprises evaluating the particular policy based upon one of;

the type of the second component, the type of the second connection, or the identity of the second component.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining that the connection has been terminated;

in response to determining that the connection has been terminated, based at least on the policy data, determining whether to modify the routing status data to indicate that the device is not permitted to route audio or visual information to or from the second component.

9. The method of claim 6, the method further comprises:

in response to the input, determining whether or not to modify first data to indicate the device is automatically permitted to route audio or visual information to or from the second component in subsequent connections;

subsequent to the second connection being terminated, determining that a third connection between the second component and the device has been established;

based on the first data, determining to automatically modify the routing data, in response to the third connection, to indicate that the device is permitted to route audio or visual information through the second component.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to list components that may be used in a particular operation;

determining which of the plurality of components are automatically routable;

applying the one or more policies to only the automatically routable components to determine which automatically routable component would be selected based on the one or more policies; and

excluding from the list all automatically routable components other than the automatically routable component that would be selected based on the policies.

22. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 1.

11. A method comprising:

determining that a first component is logically related to one or more other components;

in response to determining that the first component is logically related to the one or more other components, storing grouping data specifying a relationship between the first component and the one or more other components;

based at least on the grouping data, identifying one or more routes for routing particular audio or visual information within a device; and

wherein the step of identifying one or more routes is performed by the device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining that the first component is logically related to the one or more other components comprises determining that the first component and the one or more other components are components of a same accessory device, the method further comprising:

determining or receiving an indication that the device is permitted to route audio or visual information to or from the accessory device;

in response to determining or receiving an indication that the device is permitted to route audio or visual information to or from the accessory device, consulting the grouping data to identify the components of the accessory device;

storing, for each of the identified components of the accessory device, data indicating the device is permitted to route audio or visual information through the accessory device.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

consulting the grouping data to identify a group of components, the group including the first component and the one or more other components;

based on the identified group of components, presenting an interface control for managing a setting common to each component in the group of connections;

in response to selection of the control, configuring each component of the group of components to reflect the selection.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

upon receiving a request to route the particular audio or visual information, consulting the first priority data to determine a component to or from which to route the particular audio or visual information, wherein the component is selected from a prioritized list of routable components indicated by the first priority data;

determining that the first component has the highest priority in the prioritized list;

in response to determining that the first component has the highest priority in the prioritized list, based on the grouping data, determining that the first component is part of a group of components;

in response to determining that the first component is part of the group of components, based at least on the grouping data and on second priority data for each of the first component and the one or more other components, determining to route the particular audio or visual information to or from one of the one or more other components is connected;

wherein the first priority data is different than the second priority data.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein determining that the first component is logically related to the one or more other components includes at least one of:

determining that the first component and the one or more other components serve mutually exclusive purposes;

determining that the first component and the one or more other components are components of a same, multi-port accessory device;

or

determining that the first component and the one or more other components serve complementary purposes.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein identifying one or more routes comprises:

determining that the particular audio or visual information is to be routed through an accessory device;

consulting the grouping data to identify components of the accessory device;

based on the identified components of the auxiliary device, determining a particular component through which the particular audio or visual information should be routed, the particular component being selected from the identified components.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining a particular component is based at least on priority data stored in the device for each of the first component and the one or more components.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the first component is an instance of a first profile for an accessory device, wherein the one or more components are instances of profiles, other than the first profile, for the accessory device.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein:

determining that the first component is logically related to the one or more other components includes determining that the first component and the one or more other components serve complementary purposes;

the grouping data includes data that indicates that the one or more other components are one or more sibling components for the first device.

identifying one or more routes comprises, based at least on the data that indicates that the one or more other components are one or more sibling components for the first device, determining to route a first stream through a first port and a second stream through a second port,

wherein the first stream is routed to a port to which the first component is connected;

wherein the second stream is routed to a port to which one of the one or more other components are connected;

wherein the second stream is routed concurrently with the first stream.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein one of the first stream and the second stream is an input stream, and wherein the other of the first stream and the second stream is an output stream.

21. The method of claim 11 wherein:

the first component and the one or more components includes at least a particular component that is built-in to the device or external to the device, wherein the particular component is one of a headset, a speaker, a microphone, or a bluetooth device, or a component thereof;

wherein each the first component and the one or more components is connectable to the device via a plurality of ports at the device;

each of the plurality of ports is one of an input port of the device, an output port of the device, or to both an input port and an output port of the device; and

each of the plurality of ports facilitates one of a wired connection, wireless connection, or built-in connection to a connected component.

23. One or more storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of the method recited in claim 11.

24. A system comprising at least:

one or more processors;

a memory, coupled to the one or more processors, storing instructions for executing one or more software applications;

a plurality of ports to which may be connected one or more components for inputting or outputting audio or visual information;

a resource manager configured to handle requests from the one or more software applications to determine routes for streams of audiovisual information, each route being through at least one of the plurality of ports;

wherein the resource manager is further configured to maintain status data for the one or more components, the status data including connection status data and routing status data;

wherein the connection status data indicates a first set of the one or more components that are connected to the system;

wherein the routing status data indicates a second set of the one or more components that are routable, the second set being different than the first set;

wherein the resource manager is further configured to maintain policy data indicating one or more policies for determining the routes;

wherein the resource manager is further configured to determine routes for streams of audio or visual information by evaluating the one or more policies based on at least the connection status data and the routing status data.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the one or more components include at least one of a built-in component, a pluggable component, or a wireless component, wherein each of the plurality of ports is either a physical port or a logical port.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the resource manager is further configured to, upon establishing a connection of a component to the system:

modify the connection status data to indicate that the component is connected to the device;

determine whether to modify the routing status data to indicate that the component is routable;

wherein the system further comprises an input mechanism for allowing a user to add the component to the second set if the routing status data is not modified, upon establishing the connection, to indicate that the component is routable.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the resource manager is further configured to only route streams of audio or visual information through a component if the component is in both the first set and the second set.

31. The system of claim 27, the system further comprising an interface for managing aspects of individual components on a group basis.

28. A system comprising at least:

one or more processors;

a memory, coupled to the one or more processors, storing instructions for executing one or more software applications;

a plurality of ports to which may be connected one or more components for inputting or outputting audio or visual information;

a resource manager configured to handle requests from the one or more software applications to determine routes for streams of audiovisual information, each route being through at least one of the plurality of ports;

wherein the resource manager is further configured to maintain grouping data indicating one or more groups of components in the one or more components that are logically related;

wherein the resource manager is further configured to determine routes for streams of audio or visual information based on at least the grouping data.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the one or more components includes at least one of a built-in component, a pluggable component, or a wireless component, wherein each of the plurality of ports is either a physical port or a logical port.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the resource manager is further configured to:

determine that a first component has a partner relationship to one or more other components if the first component and the one or more other components serve mutually exclusive purposes;

if a first stream is to be routed through the first component, and the first component has said partner relationship with the one or more other components, determine to not route other streams through the one or more other components;

determine that the first component has a sibling relationship to the one or more other components if the first component and the one or more other components serve complementary purposes; and

if a second stream is to be routed through the first component, and the first component has said sibling relationship with the one or more other components, determine to route a complementary stream through the one or more other components, said complementary stream having a purpose that is complementary to a purpose of the second stream.