Method and apparatus for remote controlling bluetooth device

• US 8,606,183 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2010
• Issued: 12/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Wan Gyu
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsieh, Ping
• Assistant Examiner(s): YANG, CHUNG TIEN
• Application Number:
  US12/944,965
• Publication Number:
  US 20110117851A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,124 Days
• Field of Search: 455 411- 413, 455/569.1, 455/575.3, 370/225, 370/359, 704/275, 726/1
• US Class Current: 455/41.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6066 including a wireless connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for remote control of a Bluetooth device are provided. The method includes establishing a Bluetooth connection with a Bluetooth headset, generating virtual media stream data during execution of an application, establishing a virtual media streaming connection with the Bluetooth headset based on the generated virtual media stream data, recognizing a control signal received from the Bluetooth headset as a control event after the establishing of the virtual media streaming connection, and controlling a function of the executed application according to the control event.

Claims

1. A method of remotely controlling a Bluetooth device, the method comprising:

establishing a Bluetooth connection with a Bluetooth headset;

generating virtual media stream data when executing an application that does not require a media streaming operation;

transmitting the generated virtual media stream data to the Bluetooth headset according to a preset period;

establishing a virtual media streaming connection with the Bluetooth headset based on the generated virtual media stream data;

recognizing a control signal received from the Bluetooth headset as a control event after the establishing of the virtual media streaming connection; and

controlling a function of the executed application according to the control event; and

processing the control signal received in a state of the virtual media streaming connection as an Audio Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) based control event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating of the virtual media stream data comprises:

generating media attribute information when executing a specific application that does not generate media stream data;

producing operation information based on the generated media attribute information; and

generating the virtual media stream data based on the produced operation information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the media attribute information comprises at least one of a Bluetooth channel type, a bit rate, a sample rate, and a media frame length, and

wherein the operation information comprises at least one of period information, media data frame header information, and frame size information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the generating of the virtual media stream data comprises:

buffering data by using a buffer for storing as much data as a frame size based on the frame size information among the operation information;

copying into a header of the buffered data by using the frame header information among the operation information; and

filling a remaining portion excluding the header section of the buffered data with null data and generating the virtual media stream data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the establishing of the virtual media streaming connection comprises periodically transmitting the generated virtual media stream data to the Bluetooth headset according to a period signal generated based on the period information among the operation information.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the recognizing of the control signal comprises processing the control signal as the control event when an Audio Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) based control signal is received after the establishing of the virtual media streaming connection.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the controlling of the function of the executed application comprises:

generating the control event as an internal control event based on a mapping table in which the internal control event is mapped and classified by control event; and

controlling the function of the executed application based on the internal control event.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the generating of the virtual media stream data comprises:

analyzing a type of the application during the execution of the application; and

generating the virtual media stream data when the application type is an application that does not perform the media stream data based media streaming operation.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a first screen corresponding to the executed application; and

displaying a second screen corresponding to the executed application after receipt of the control signal.

10. A Bluetooth device, the device comprising:

a Bluetooth module for establishing a Bluetooth connection with a Bluetooth headset; and

a controller for generating virtual media stream data when executing an application that does not require a media streaming operation, for transmitting the generated virtual media stream data to the Bluetooth headset according to a preset period, for establishing a virtual media streaming connection with the Bluetooth headset based on the generated virtual media stream data, and for processing a control signal received in a state of the virtual media streaming connection as an Audio Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) based control event.

11. The Bluetooth device of claim 10, wherein the controller generates the virtual media stream data when an application type is an application that does not perform the media stream data based media streaming operation.

12. The Bluetooth device of claim 11, wherein the controller controls to periodically transmit the generated virtual media stream data to the Bluetooth headset according to a preset period.

13. The Bluetooth device of claim 11, wherein the controller generates the control event as an internal control event based on a mapping table in which the internal control event is mapped and classified by control event, and controls a function of the executed application based on the internal control event.

14. The Bluetooth device of claim 11, wherein the controller comprises:

a stream processor for processing the generation of the virtual media stream data when executing a specific application that does not generate media stream data in the Bluetooth device, and for setting the virtual media streaming connection through the transmission of the generated virtual media stream data; and

an event processor for processing the function of the executed application based on the control event received from the Bluetooth headset in the state where the virtual media streaming connection is accomplished.

15. The Bluetooth device of claim 14, wherein the event processor extracts an internal control event with reference to a preset mapping table when the control event is received, and processes a function control of the application based on the internal control event.

16. The Bluetooth device of claim 14, wherein the controller generates media attribute information including at least one of a channel type, a bit rate, a sample rate, and a media frame length, when executing a specific application that does not generate media stream data.

17. The Bluetooth device of claim 16, wherein the stream processor comprises:

an operation unit for producing operation information including at least one of period information, media data frame header information, and frame size information based on the media attribute information;

a period signal generating unit for generating a period signal according to the period information determined in the operation unit; and

a media generating unit for generating the virtual media stream data based on the media data frame header information and the frame size information produced in the operation unit.

18. The Bluetooth device of claim 17, wherein the media generating unit buffers as much data as a frame size based on the frame size information, copies the frame header information sent from the operation unit into the header of buffered data, and fills a remaining portion excluding the header section of the buffered data with null data and generates the virtual media stream data.

19. The Bluetooth device of claim 18, wherein the stream processor comprises a media transmission unit for sending the virtual media stream data sent from the media generating unit according to the period signal of the period signal generating unit to the Bluetooth module.

20. The Bluetooth device of claim 10, further comprising a display unit for displaying a first screen corresponding to the executed application, and for displaying a second screen corresponding to the executed application after receipt of the control signal.