Method and system for providing concurrent wireless universal serial bus (WUSB) hub and wireless audio/video interfaces within a single device

• US 8,660,486 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2008
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Pirzada, Fahd B., Mehta, Pratik M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Nay A
• Assistant Examiner(s): PEREZ, ANGELICA
• Application Number:
  US12/072,864
• Publication Number:
  US 20090221234A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,189 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.2, 455/41.1, 455/41.3, 455/101, 455/552.1, 710/300, 710/8, 710/100
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/713 using frequency hopping
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7163 using impulse radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/719 Interference-related aspects

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed that provide WUSB (wireless universal serial bus) and wireless audio/video interfaces within a single device by integrating a Bluetooth subsystem with a WUSB hub and by providing shared operation between the UWB (ultra wide band) and Bluetooth subsystems. In one embodiment, a system includes both a UWB subsystem and a Bluetooth subsystem that are configured to share one or more operational parameters, such as device pairing information. As such, Bluetooth subsystems and the WUSB subsystems are allowed to cooperate and share information to streamline operation, and this streamlining allows the Bluetooth subsystem to handle isochronous operations, such as audio/video communications, and allows the UWB subsystem to continue to handle USB connected peripheral devices. The disclosed systems with WUSB and wireless audio/video interfaces can also be included as subsystems within other devices, such as display monitors or speaker systems for computer systems.

Claims

1. A system having WUSB (wireless universal serial bus) and Bluetooth audio/video interfaces within a single device body, comprising:

a UWB (ultra wide band) subsystem coupled within a device body and configured to communicate with an external UWB subsystem;

one or more USB ports coupled to the UWB subsystem within the device body and configured to be coupled to external USB devices; and

a Bluetooth subsystem coupled within the device body and configured to communicate with an external Bluetooth subsystem to receive audio/video data;

wherein the UWB subsystem and the Bluetooth subsystem are configured to communicate with each other to share one or more operational parameters, the one or more operational parameters including device pairing information provided by a user with respect to either the external UWB subsystem or the external Bluetooth subsystem;

wherein the UWB device pairing information, if provided by the user, is configured to be used to establish a first wireless link between the UWB subsystem and the external UWB subsystem and is also configured to be used to automatically establish a second wireless link between the Bluetooth subsystem and the external Bluetooth subsystem without requiring additional Bluetooth device pairing information to be provided by the user; and

wherein the Bluetooth device pairing information, if provided by the user, is configured to be used to establish a first wireless link between the Bluetooth subsystem and the external Bluetooth subsystem and is also configured to be used to automatically establish a second wireless link between the UWB subsystem and the external UWB subsystem without requiring additional UWB device pairing information to be provided by the user.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising UWB radio circuitry, Bluetooth radio circuitry and one or more antennas.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the UWB radio circuitry and the Bluetooth radio circuitry are configured to share a single antenna.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the Bluetooth subsystem is coupled to an audio subsystem.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the audio subsystem comprises one or more speakers.

6. The system of claim 4, further comprising one or more audio/video connections configured to be coupled to an external speaker system.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the external speaker system is integrated within a housing for a display monitor.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the speaker system is configured to be coupled to a display monitor.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the device body comprises a speaker system.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the device pairing information provided by the user is configured for use in a PIN-based method for device pairing.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the first wireless link is configured to be between the UWB subsystem and the external UWB subsystem and wherein the second wireless link is configured to be between the Bluetooth subsystem and the external Bluetooth subsystem.

12. A system of paired devices having WUSB (wireless universal serial bus) and Bluetooth audio/video interfaces, comprising:

a computer system, comprising;

a UWB (ultra wide band) subsystem coupled within the computer system; and

a Bluetooth subsystem coupled within the computer system;

wherein the UWB subsystem and the Bluetooth subsystem are configured to communicate with each other to share device pairing information provided by a user with respect to either the external UWB subsystem or the external Bluetooth subsystem; and

a second system paired with the computer system having WUSB and Bluetooth audio/video interfaces within a single device body, comprising;

a UWB (ultra wide band) subsystem coupled within a device body and configured to communicate with the UWB subsystem in the computer system;

one or more USB ports coupled to the UWB subsystem within the device body and configured to be coupled to external USB devices; and

a Bluetooth subsystem coupled within the device body and configured to communicate with the Bluetooth subsystem in the computer system to receive audio/video data;

wherein the UWB subsystem and the Bluetooth subsystem are configured to communicate with each other to share the device pairing information provided by the user with respect to either the UWB subsystems or the Bluetooth subsystems;

wherein the UWB device pairing information, if provided by the user, is configured to be used to establish a first wireless link between the UWB subsystem in the computer system and the UWB subsystem in the second system and is also configured to be used to automatically establish a second wireless link between the Bluetooth subsystem in the computer system and the Bluetooth subsystem within the second system without requiring additional Bluetooth device pairing information to be provided by the user; and

wherein the Bluetooth device pairing information, if provided by the user, is configured to be used to establish a first wireless link between the Bluetooth subsystem in the computer system and the Bluetooth subsystem in the second system and is also configured to be used to automatically establish a second wireless link between the UWB subsystem in the computer system and the UWB subsystem within the second system without requiring additional device pairing information to be provided by the user.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the device pairing information provided by the user is configured for use in a PIN-based method for device pairing.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer system is a portable computer.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer is a desktop computer.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the device body for the second system is a speaker system.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the speaker system is configured to be coupled to a display monitor.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the Bluetooth subsystems are coupled to audio subsystems.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the first wireless link is configured to be between the UWB subsystem and the external UWB subsystem and wherein the second wireless link is configured to be between the Bluetooth subsystem and the external Bluetooth subsystem.

20. A method for providing WUSB (wireless universal serial bus) and Bluetooth audio/video interfaces within a single device body, comprising:

communicating with an external UWB (ultra wide band) subsystem using a UWB subsystem coupled within a device body;

communicating to one or more external USB devices through one or more USB ports coupled to the UWB subsystem;

communicating with an external Bluetooth subsystem using a Bluetooth subsystem coupled within the device body to receive audio/video data;

sharing one or more operational parameters between the UWB subsystem and the Bluetooth subsystem during the communicating steps, the one or more operational parameters including device pairing information provided by a user with respect to either the external UWB subsystem or the external Bluetooth subsystem;

using the UWB device pairing information, if provided by the user, to establish a first wireless link between the UWB subsystem and the external UWB subsystem and to automatically establish a second wireless link between the Bluetooth subsystem and the external Bluetooth subsystem without requiring additional Bluetooth device pairing information to be provided by the user; and

using the Bluetooth device pairing information, if provided by the user, to establish a first wireless link between the Bluetooth subsystem and the external Bluetooth subsystem and to automatically establish a second wireless link between the UWB subsystem and and the external UWB subsystem without requiring additional device pairing information to be provided by the user.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising utilizing one or more antennas to provide UWB and Bluetooth communications in the communicating steps.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising utilizing a single shared antenna to provide UWB and Bluetooth communications in the communicating steps.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising communicating audio signals from the Bluetooth subsystem to an audio subsystem.

24. The method of claim 20, further comprising outputting the audio signals through one or more speakers.

25. The method of claim 20, further comprising providing a speaker system as the device body.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the speaker system is configured to be coupled to a display monitor.

27. The method of claim 20, wherein the device pairing information provided by the user is configured for use in a PIN-based method for device pairing.

28. The method of claim 20, wherein the first wireless link is between the UWB subsystem and the external UWB subsystem and wherein the second wireless link is between the Bluetooth subsystem and the external Bluetooth subsystem.