Wireless audio sharing

• US 7,817,960 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2007
• Issued: 10/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jook, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Jook, Inc.
• Inventors: Tang, Terence, Tan, Min-Liang, Chan, Hoe
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Lee
• Application Number:
  US11/625,692
• Publication Number:
  US 20080175403A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,366 Days
• Field of Search: 455/11.1, 455 16- 18, 455 412- 413, 381/77, 381/79, 381/311
• US Class Current: 455/11.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for wireless sharing of audio sounds among a plurality of users with access to a dedicated, shared signal. A user of the present invention can communicate his or her audio sounds to other users, who can receive the audio sounds wirelessly and choose to rebroadcast them. As such, an audio sound sharing network can be readily established at any time and place among participants in the network.

Claims

1. A system for sharing an audible experience comprising:

a first headphones comprising;

a first plurality of speakers;

a first wireless transceiver; and

a first control system for controlling said first wireless transceiver, the first control system adapted to selectively control a plurality of first control operations, the plurality of first control operations including at least two of;

(i) a transmission of a first signal simultaneous with a generation of an audio playback corresponding to the first signal,

(ii) a reception of a second signal comprising different information content than the first signal simultaneous with each of the transmission of the first signal and a generation of an audio playback corresponding to the second signal; and

(iii) a reception and simultaneous retransmission of the second signal simultaneous with the generation of an audio playback corresponding to the first signal.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said first headphones comprise a user interface to receive input from a user.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said user interface includes a setting to opt to selectively play the audio playback corresponding to one of said first signal and said second signal.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said user interface includes a setting to opt to retransmit said second signal.

5. The system of claim 4, where said retransmission of said second signal is on a designated channel selected using the user interface.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second headphones comprising;

a second plurality of speakers;

a second wireless transceiver; and

a second control system for controlling said second wireless transceiver, the second control system adapted to selectively control a plurality of second control operations, the plurality of second control operations including;

(i) a reception and simultaneous retransmission of one of the first signal and the second signal simultaneous with a generation of an audio playback corresponding to one of the first signal, the second signal, and a third signal comprising different information content than each of the first signal and the second signal; and

(ii) a reception of one of the first signal and the second signal simultaneous with a generation of an audio playback corresponding to one of the one of the first signal and the second signal simultaneous with a transmission of the third signal.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said second control system generates said audio playback corresponding to one of said first signal and second signal while transmitting said third signal to a third headphones.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said transmission of one of the first signal and the second signal occurs on one of a plurality of discrete channels.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said one of a plurality of discrete channels is selected automatically.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said automatic selection occurs by hunting.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein said automatic selection occurs by frequency hopping.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein said one of a plurality of discrete channels is selected manually.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said manual selection is denoted by numbers.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein said manual selection is denoted by colors.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein said one of a plurality of discrete channels is indicated by a visual cue.

16. The system of claim 8, wherein said one of a plurality of discrete channels is indicated by an audible cue.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the first signal comprises a first audio signal and the second signal comprises a second audio signal corresponding to different audio sounds than the first audio signal.

18. An audio sharing network comprising:

a first playback system comprising;

a first wireless transceiver;

a first user interface responsive to user input; and

a first control system for said first wireless transceiver adapted to selectively control in response to user input a plurality of first control operations including at least two of;

(i) reception and playback of a first audio signal simultaneous with a retransmission of the first audio signal;

(ii) reception and playback of the first audio signal simultaneous with a transmission of a second audio signal comprising different information content than the first audio signal; and

(iii) reception and simultaneous retransmission of the first audio signal simultaneous with a playback of the second audio signal; and

a second playback system comprising;

a second wireless transceiver;

a second user interface responsive to user input; and

a second control system for said second wireless transceiver adapted to selectively control in response to user input a plurality of second control operations including at least two of;

(i) reception and playback of one of the first audio signal and the second audio signal simultaneous with a respective retransmission of one of the first audio signal and the second audio signal;

(ii) reception and playback of one from the group of the first audio signal and the second audio signal simultaneous with a transmission of a third audio signal comprising different information content than each of the first audio signal and the second audio signal; and

(iii) reception and simultaneous retransmission of one from the group of the first audio signal and the second audio signal simultaneous with a playback of the third audio signal.

19. The network of claim 18, wherein said second control system is adapted to allow a user to rebroadcast one from the group of said first audio signal and said second audio signal to a third playback system.

20. The network of claim 19, wherein said first control system is adapted to encrypt an audio signal before transmission, thereby generating an encrypted audio signal.

21. The network of claim 18, wherein said second control system is adapted to decode said a received audio signal.

22. A device peripheral comprising:

a controller;

a transceiver controllable by the controller for selectively performing a signaling operation selected from a plurality of signaling operations comprising each of receiving reception signals, transmitting transmission signals, and simultaneously receiving the reception signals and transmitting the transmission signals; and

a device interface couplable to a device for communicating with the controller and the device, the controller for selectively performing a communication operation via the device interface, the communication operation selected from a plurality of communication operations comprising each of transmitting first signals comprising first audio information to the device, receiving second signals comprising second audio information from the device, and simultaneously exchanging the first signals and the second signals with media data to the device, second media data to the device, and

wherein the controller is operable to selectively control one of simultaneous and separate performance of the signaling operation and the communication operation, the reception signals carrying one of the first signals and third signals, the third signals comprising information content distinct from the first signals, and the transmission signals carrying one of the first signals, the second signals, the third signals and fourth signals, the fourth signals comprising information content distinct from the first signals, the second signals, and the third signals.

23. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein at least one of the first signals, the second signals, the third signals, and the fourth signals further comprises visual information.

24. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein one of the first signals and the third signals is decoded from the reception signals.

25. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein one of the first audio information, the second audio information, the third audio information, and the fourth audio information is encoded prior to being transmitted within the transmission signals.

26. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein the second signals are derived from the first signals.

27. The device peripheral of claim 22, further comprising a user interface operable by a user for controlling at least one of the signaling operation and the communication operation.

28. The device peripheral of claim 27, wherein the user interface is further operable for selecting one of simultaneous and separate performance of the signaling operation and the communication operation.

29. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein transmitting the transmission signals and receiving the reception signals occurs on one of a plurality of discreet channels.

30. The device peripheral of claim 29, wherein the one of a plurality of discreet channels is automatically selected.

31. The device peripheral of claim 30, wherein the automatic selection occurs by hunting.

32. The device peripheral of claim 30, wherein the automatic selection occurs by frequency hopping.

33. The device peripheral of claim 29, wherein the one of a plurality of discreet channels is selected manually.

34. The device peripheral of claim 33, further comprising a display for displaying numbers denoting the manual selection.

35. The device peripheral of claim 33, further comprising a display for displaying colors denoting the manual selection.

36. The device peripheral of claim 29, wherein the one of a plurality of discreet channels is indicated by a visual cue.

37. The device peripheral of claim 29, wherein the one of a plurality of discreet channels is indicated by an audible cue.

38. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein the devices comprises a playback module for playback of at least one of the first audio information, the second audio information, the third audio information, and the fourth audio information.

39. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein the device is at least one of a headphone, a media device and a wireless communication device.

40. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein the device peripheral is a dongle.

41. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein the first signals and the second signals comprise different information content.

42. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein one of the first signals and the second signals comprises media data corresponding to at least one of audio information and visual information.

43. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein each of the first signals, the second signals, the third signals, and the fourth signals comprises media data corresponding to at least one of audio information and visual information.

44. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein at least two of the first signals, the third signals, and the fourth signals originate from different devices configured for wireless communication with the device peripheral.

45. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein simultaneously exchanging the first signals and the second signals with the device comprises simultaneously transmitting the first signals to and receiving the second signals from the device.

46. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein simultaneously exchanging the first signals and the second signals with the device comprises simultaneously transmitting the second signals to and receiving the first signals from the device.

47. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein each of the signaling operation and the communication operation comprises wireless signal transfer.

48. The device peripheral of claim 47, wherein the second audio information corresponds to different audio sounds than the first audio information.

49. The device peripheral of claim 22, wherein each of the signaling operation and the communication operation comprises wireless signal transfer.

50. The device of claim 49, wherein the second audio information corresponds to different audio sounds than the first audio information.

51. A device comprising:

a controller;

a transceiver controllable by the controller for selectively performing a signaling operation selected from a plurality of signaling operations comprising each of receiving reception signals, transmitting transmission signals and simultaneously receiving the reception signals and transmitting the transmission signals;

a playback module; and

a data interface for communicating with the controller and the playback module, the controller for performing a communication operation via the data interface, the communication operation selected from a plurality of communication operations comprising each of transmitting first signals comprising first audio information to at least one other device, receiving second signals comprising second audio information from the at least one other device, and simultaneously exchanging the first signals and the second signals with the at least one other device, the playback module being operable for selective playback of one of the first signals and the second signals,

wherein the controller is operable to selectively control one of simultaneous and separate performance of the signaling operation and the communication operation, the reception signals carrying one of the first signals and third signals, the third signals comprising information content distinct from the first signals, and the transmission signals carrying one of the first signals, the second signals, the third signals and fourth signals, the fourth signals comprising information content distinct from the first signals, the second signals, and the third signals.

52. The device of claim 51, wherein one of the first signals, the second signals, the third signals, and the fourth signals further, comprises visual information.

53. The device of claim 51, wherein one of the first audio information and the third audio information is decoded from the reception signals.

54. The device of claim 51, wherein at least one of the first audio information, the second audio information, the third audio information, and the fourth audio information, is encoded prior to being transmitted within the transmission signals.

55. The device of claim 51, wherein second audio information is derived from the first audio information.

56. The device of claim 51, further comprising a user interface operable by a user for controlling at least one of the signaling operation and the communication operation.

57. The device peripheral of claim 56, wherein the user interface is further operable for selecting one of simultaneous and separate performance of the signaling operation and the communication operation.

58. The device of claim 51, wherein the transmitting transmission signals and receiving the reception signals occurs on one of a plurality of discreet channels.

59. The device of claim 58, wherein the one of a plurality of discreet channels is automatically selected.

60. The device of claim 59, wherein the automatic selection occurs by hunting.

61. The device of claim 59, wherein the automatic selection occurs by frequency hopping.

62. The device of claim 58, wherein the one of a plurality of discreet channels is selected manually.

63. The device of claim 58, wherein the one of a plurality of discreet channels is indicated by a visual cue.

64. The device of claim 58, wherein the one of a plurality of discreet channels is indicated by an audible cue.

65. The device of claim 56, further comprising a display for displaying numbers denoting the manual selection.

66. The device of claim 52, further comprising a display for displaying colors denoting the manual selection.

67. The device of claim 51, wherein the device is at least one of a headphone, a media device and a wireless communication device.

68. The device of claim 51, wherein the first signals and the second signals comprise different information content.

69. The device of claim 51, wherein one of the first signals and the second signals comprises media data corresponding to at least one of audio information and visual information.

70. The device of claim 51, wherein each of the first signals, the second signals, the third signals, and the fourth signals comprises media data corresponding to at least one of audio information and visual information.

71. The device of claim 51, wherein the first signals, the third signals, and the fourth signals originate from different devices.

72. The device of claim 51, wherein simultaneously exchanging the first signals and the second signals with the at least one other device comprises simultaneously transmitting the first signals to and receiving the second signals from the at least one other device.

73. The device of claim 51, wherein simultaneously exchanging the first signals and the second signals with the at least one other device comprises simultaneously transmitting the second signals to and receiving the first signals from the at least one other device.