GATING ACCESSORY CONNECTION

• US 20110185048A1
• Filed: 09/28/2010
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Yew, Jason, Bolton, Lawrence
• Granted Patent: US 9,338,276 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72409 by interfacing with external accessories hands-free H04M1/60
• 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 1/72421 with automatic activation of emergency service functions, e.g. upon sensing an alarm

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention can manage the activity of accessories connected to a mobile computing device. A mobile computing device can be connected to any number of accessories through wireless or physical connections. Processing and resource limitations at the mobile computing device limit the number of accessories that can feasibly interoperate with the mobile computing device at any one time. In some embodiments, a threshold value is placed on the number of accessories with which a mobile computing device can interoperate at any one time. This threshold value can depend on the types of accessories, the application(s) executing on the mobile computing device, the processing power, whether media output resource are being used, etc. In response to a threshold number of accessories being connected, the mobile computing device can deactivate accessories.

Claims

1. A method for managing accessories connected with a mobile computing device, the method comprising:

interacting, by the mobile computing device, with a first accessory and a second accessory;

receiving, by the mobile computing device, an indication that a triggering event has occurred;

deactivating, by the mobile computing device, the first accessory; and

interacting, by the mobile computing device, with the second accessory while the first accessory is inactive.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second accessory was connected with the mobile computing device prior to the first accessory.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the triggering event is received from either or both the first accessory or the second accessory.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the triggering event is received from a user through a user interface.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the triggering event comprises a mobile computing device capacity event.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the triggering event comprises a media playback event.

7. The method according to claim 6 further comprising determining that the second accessory provide higher quality media playback than the first accessory provides.

8. A method for managing accessories connected with a mobile computing device, the method comprising:

determining that a first accessory provides higher quality media playback than a second accessory;

streaming media to the first accessory; and

deactivating the second accessory.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein deactivating the second accessory includes sending a deactivation command to the second accessory.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the determining includes determining a media quality based capabilities of the first and/or second accessory selected from the list consisting of video resolution capabilities, video aspect ratio, video playback size, video encoding, video format, speaker size, and speaker quality.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein deactivating the second accessory includes toggling the power supplied to the second accessory.

12. A method of operating an accessory, the method comprising:

connecting with a mobile computing device;

sending capability information to the mobile computing device, wherein the capability information includes information regarding the video playback capabilities of the accessory;

interoperating with the mobile computing device;

receiving a deactivation request; and

discontinuing interoperation with the mobile computing device in response to the deactivation request.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the capability information includes information selected from the group consisting of video resolution, video aspect ratio, video encoding, video screen size, and the compatible video playback formats.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein connecting with a mobile computing device includes connecting with the mobile computing device through a wireless interface.

15. A mobile computing device comprising:

a housing;

a communication interface disposed at least partially within the housing, and configured to exchange commands and data with one or more accessories through one or more ports;

memory disposed within the housing; and

control logic disposed within the housing, and communicatively coupled with the memory and the communication interface, the control logic configured to;

receive capability information from each of a plurality of accessories;

determine whether to deactivate one or more of the accessories; and

in the event it is determined to deactivate one or more of the accessories deactivate one or more of the accessories.

16. The mobile computing device according to claim 15, wherein the control logic is further configured to rank the accessories based on the capability information received from each of the accessories.

17. The mobile computing device according to claim 15, wherein the capability information includes information regarding the video capabilities of each of the accessories.

18. The mobile computing device according to claim 17, wherein the control logic is further configured to determine whether to deactivate the accessory with the lowest quality video capabilities.

19. The mobile computing device according to claim 17, wherein the control logic is further configured to determine whether to deactivate one or more of the accessories based on the compatibility between the accessory'"'"'s video capabilities and a video stream.

20. The mobile computing device according to claim 15, wherein the memory includes a look up table configured to store the received capability information.

21. The mobile computing device according to claim 20, wherein the control logic is further configured to reference the lookup table to determine whether to deactivate one or more of the accessories.

22. The mobile computing device according to claim 15, wherein the memory includes a look up table configured to store an active status of each of the one or more accessories, and wherein the control logic is further configured to change the active status of an accessory in the event an accessory is activated or deactivated.

23. The mobile computing device according to claim 15, wherein the control logic is further configured to interact with the accessories prior to determining whether to deactivate one of the accessories.

24. A method of operating a mobile computing device comprising:

connecting with a first accessory through a first port;

updating an active/inactive accessory table with an indication that the first port is active;

connecting with a second accessory through a second port;

updating the active/inactive accessory table with an indication that the second port is active;

determining whether to deactivate the second accessory based on a triggering event;

deactivating the second accessory based on the determination; and

updating the active/inactive accessory table with an indication that the second port is inactive.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the triggering event is user initiated.

26. The method according to claim 24, wherein the triggering event is associated with streaming video to an accessory and the determining includes selecting one of the two accessories to receive the streamed video based on the received capabilities of the accessories.

27. A computer-readable medium containing program instructions that, when executed by a processor of a mobile computing device, cause the processor to execute a method comprising:

looking up the video capabilities of a first accessory and second accessory;

determining that the first accessory provides higher quality media playback than the second accessory based on the video capabilities of the accessories;

streaming media to the first accessory; and

deactivating the second accessory.