SYNCHRONIZATION OF SIGNALS FOR MULTIPLE DATA SINKS

• US 20140119582A1
• Filed: 01/08/2014
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Jia, Zhanfeng, Julian, David Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 9,877,130 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/69 Spread spectrum techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/47 specially adapted for stereophonic broadcast systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0658 Clock or time synchronisation among packet nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0682 by delay compensation, e.g. by compensation of propagation delay or variations thereof, by ranging
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/04 Speed or phase control by synchronisation signals H04L7/0075 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/041 using special codes as synchronising signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/08 the synchronisation signals recurring cyclically
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/033 Headphones for stereophonic communication details thereof, e.g. relating to batteries, cables or control elements H04R1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 1/007 in which the audio signals are in digital form data reduction aspects thereof based on psychoacoustics G10L19/02

Abstract

A data source sends a synchronization signal and information to several data sinks that use the synchronization signal and a specified parameter to determine when to process the information. The data source and data sinks may comprise wireless nodes such as, for example, a wireless audio source that sends multi-channel data to a pair of wireless earpieces. The wireless earpieces use the synchronization signal and a latency interval to determine the appropriate time to output audio based on the audio channels.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

obtaining at least one parameter, wherein the at least one parameter specifies timing for a plurality of data sinks to process data after receipt of a synchronization signal;

providing the at least one parameter to the data sinks;

wirelessly transmitting the synchronization signal to the data sinks; and

wirelessly transmitting the data to the data sinks.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising synchronizing a plurality of data streams to provide the data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one parameter further specifies at least one latency interval following receipt of the synchronization signal by the data sinks for the data sinks to output signals based on the data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one parameter comprises at least one latency interval for specifying processing times for the data sinks to process the data; and

the synchronization signal comprises timing information for further specifying the processing times.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the processing times are substantially concurrent or differ by at least one defined timing offset.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the processing times comprise:

times at which the data sinks output signals based on the data;

or

times at which the data sinks process the data.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the data comprises a dual-channel audio stream;

the data sinks comprise a first wireless earpiece and a second wireless earpiece; and

the processing times comprise times that the first and second wireless earpieces output audio signals based on the dual-channel audio stream.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the data is transmitted via at least one packet; and

the synchronization signal comprises a preamble of the at least one packet or a delimiter of the packet.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the at least one parameter comprises determining a latency time that is achievable by each of the data sinks.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating with at least one of the data sinks to obtain the at least one parameter.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the communication comprises receiving latency information from at least one of the data sinks.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is transmitted to different ones of the data sinks via different communication channels.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the different communication channels are defined by at least one of:

different time hopping sequences, different time hopping sequence offsets, or different communication coding.

14. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for obtaining at least one parameter, wherein the at least one parameter specifies timing for a plurality of data sinks to process data after receipt of a synchronization signal;

means for providing the at least one parameter to the data sinks; and

means for wirelessly transmitting the synchronization signal and the data to the data sinks.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising means for synchronizing a plurality of data streams to provide the data.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one parameter further specifies at least one latency interval following receipt of the synchronization signal by the data sinks for the data sinks to output signals based on the data.

17. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a latency controller configured to obtain at least one parameter, and further configured to provide the at least one parameter to a plurality of data sinks, wherein the at least one parameter specifies timing for the data sinks to process data after receipt of a synchronization signal; and

a transmitter configured to wirelessly transmit the synchronization signal and the data to the data sinks.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising a data source configured to synchronize a plurality of data streams to provide the data.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one parameter further specifies at least one latency interval following receipt of the synchronization signal by the data sinks for the data sinks to output signals based on the data.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein:

the at least one parameter comprises at least one latency interval for specifying processing times for the data sinks to process the data; and

the synchronization signal comprises timing information for further specifying the processing times.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processing times are substantially concurrent or differ by at least one defined timing offset.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processing times comprise:

times at which the data sinks output signals based on the data;

or

times at which the data sinks process the data.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the data comprises data packets, overlapping orthogonal code signals, overlapping pseudo-orthogonal code signals, or packets transmitted back-to-back.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the synchronization signal comprises a preamble of a packet including the data, a delimiter of a packet, or an independently coded signal.

25. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the data is transmitted to different ones of the data sinks via different communication channels.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the different communication channels are defined by at least one of:

different time hopping sequences, different time hopping sequence offsets, or different communication coding.

27. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the data is concurrently transmitted to different ones of the data sinks via different communication channels.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the concurrent transmission comprises transmitting a portion of a first packet associated with one of the communication channels after transmitting a portion of a second packet associated with another one of the communication channels but before transmitting a second portion of the second packet.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the concurrent transmission comprises transmitting different packets for different ones of the communication channels such that the different packets are received substantially simultaneously.

30. A computer-program product for wireless communication, comprising:

computer-readable medium encoded with codes executable to;

obtain at least one parameter, wherein the at least one parameter specifies timing for a plurality of data sinks to process data after receipt of a synchronization signal;

provide the at least one parameter to the data sinks;

wirelessly transmit the synchronization signal to the data sinks; and

wirelessly transmit the data to the data sinks.