Method and system for unified audio control on a personal computer

• US 8,245,027 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2006
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bear, Eric Gould, Magendanz, Chad, Adams, Aditha May, Ledbetter, Carl, Kaneko, Steve, Crosier, Dale C.
• Primary Examiner(s): YANCHUS III, PAUL B
• Application Number:
  US11/559,821
• Publication Number:
  US 20070071257A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,100 Days
• Field of Search: 713/1, 713/2, 713/100, 713/300
• US Class Current: 713/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/16 Constructional details or arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1605 Multimedia displays, e.g. with integrated or attached speakers, cameras, microphones
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/021 Arrangements integrating additional peripherals in a keyboard, e.g. card or barcode reader, optical scanner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path

Abstract

A system and method for improved audio controls on a personal computer is provided. The system and method provide a unified architecture for audio controls across hardware and software interfaces of the personal computer. An intelligent facility may automatically change audio controls for users to simply interact with various communications and media applications. To this end, a configurable audio controller intelligently handles various aspects of the system'"'"'s audio devices by following various rules that may be based at least in part on user-configurable settings and a current operating state. The present invention also provides audio controls so that a user may easily change audio settings such as the volume of an audio output device. There are many applications that may use the present invention for automatic control of audio devices based upon the user'"'"'s context.

Claims

1. At a computing system, that includes a processor, a method for controlling audio devices in the computing system, comprising:

the computing system detecting a telephone call that is received at a first audio device from among a plurality of audio devices in communication with the computing system;

receiving an event indicating a change in a state of the first audio device at the computing system, the event comprising a user answering the telephone call subsequent to the receipt of the telephone call being received at the first audio device;

communicating the event to a configurable audio controller;

the configurable audio controller determining a change in a setting of an audio stream that is presently being delivered to at least one audio device from among the plurality of audio devices in response to detecting that the user has answered the telephone call; and

the configurable audio controller changing the setting of the audio stream that is presently being delivered to the at least one audio device as a result of the determination and prior to connecting the telephone call, changing the setting resulting in a change of at least one audio attribute of the audio stream as it is delivered to the at least one audio device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a change in a setting of an audio stream that is presently being delivered to the at least one audio device comprises using rules or using configuration settings.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein changing the setting of an audio stream that is presently being delivered to the at least one other audio device comprises at least one of changing the setting of an input audio device and changing the setting of an output audio device.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein determining a change in a setting of an audio stream that is presently being delivered to at least one other audio device from among a plurality of audio devices comprises following rules based on configuration settings and current operating state of the computer system to determine the change.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein changing the setting of an audio stream that is presently being delivered to at least one other audio device comprises communicating with input and output audio drivers of the audio stream to alter the at least one audio attribute of the audio stream.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein communicating with the input and output audio drivers of the audio stream to alter the at least one audio attribute of the audio stream comprises communicating with the input and output audio drivers of the audio stream to alter a volume of the audio stream.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing system includes the first audio device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing system includes the at least one audio device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing system includes the first audio device as well as the at least one audio device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the user provides input to answer the telephone call by pressing a telephony button presented on the computing system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein changing the setting of the audio stream includes altering a volume of the audio stream.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes altering an attribute of the audio stream by other than muting the audio stream in response to the user answering the telephone call.

13. At a computer system, a computer program product for implementing a method for controlling audio devices in the computer system, the computer program product comprising one or more storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the computer system to perform the following:

receive an event indicating a change in a state of a first audio device at the computer system, the computer system including the first audio device, the event comprising a user answering a telephone call by selecting a button presented on the computer system;

communicate the event to a configurable audio controller;

at the configurable audio controller, determine a change in a setting of an audio stream that is presently being delivered to the first audio device in response to detecting that the button presented on the computer system has been selected to answer the telephone call; and

at the configurable audio controller, change the setting of the audio stream that is presently being delivered to the first audio device as a result of the determination, changing the setting resulting in a change of at least one audio attribute of the audio stream as it is delivered to the first audio device.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein determining a change in a setting of an audio stream that is presently being delivered to the first audio device comprises using rules for changing a setting of an audio stream based upon one or more events, or using configuration settings.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein changing the setting of an audio stream that is presently being delivered to the first audio device comprises at least one of changing the setting of an input audio device and changing the setting of an output audio device.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein selecting the button includes pressing a telephony button that is operative to answer the telephone call.

17. A device for unified audio control, comprising:

a telephony button at the device, which is operable to answer a telephone call at the device;

an audio controller having control logic, the control logic being configured to;

receive events that indicate a user has provided input at the device to answer a telephone call at the device; and

change settings of audio streams that are presently being delivered by the device to one or more audio output devices in response to detecting that the user has provided input to answer the telephone call at the device by at least manually selecting the telephony button at the device, changing the settings of the audio streams resulting in a change of at least one audio attribute of the audio streams as they are delivered to the one or more audio output devices; and

an operating system operably coupled to the audio controller, the operating system having event handling logic, the event handling logic configured to;

receive events; and

communicate received events to the audio controller.

18. The device of claim 17, further comprising:

an audio change control operably coupled to the operating system for inputting a command to change settings of audio streams.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the audio change control comprises at least one of:

a speaker mute button for muting an audio output device or a volume control for adjusting the volume of an audio output device.

20. The device of claim 18, wherein a button corresponding to the audio control resides on a computer housing, on a computer keyboard, on a computer monitor, on a communications panel, or on a remote control.

21. The device of claim 18, wherein the audio controller comprises a component with configuration settings.

22. The device of claim 18, wherein the audio controller comprises a component with rules for changing a setting of an audio output device in response to an event.

23. The device of claim 17, wherein the device includes the one or more audio output devices.

24. The device of claim 17, wherein the input provided at the device to answer the telephone call comprises the telephony button being manually pressed on the device.

25. The device of claim 17, wherein the operating system is further configured to alter the least one audio attribute of the one or more of the audio streams in response to detecting that the user has provided input to answer the telephone call and prior to forwarding the one or more audio streams to an output driver.