Method and apparatus for rendering audio in wireless hearing instruments
First Claim
1. A method for rendering audio in an audio system including an audio source device and an audio sink device wirelessly coupled to the audio source device, the method comprising:
- synchronizing a sample clock of the audio sink device to a sample clock of the audio source device using timing of packet transmission from the audio source device to the audio sink device; and
maintaining the synchronization by driving an adjustable oscillator of the audio sink device based on time between arrivals of packets transmitted from the audio source device to the audio sink device and a number of encoded words received in each packet of the packets,wherein the audio sink device includes a hearing assistance device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An audio system such as a hearing assistance system includes an audio source device wirelessly communicating with one or more audio sink (destination) devices. The audio source and sink devices each include a sample clock for processing audio signal that is digitized and wirelessly transmitted. The sample clock of each of the one or more audio sink devices is synchronized to the sample clock of the audio source device to prevent audio sample over-runs or under-runs causing undesirable audio artifacts. In one embodiment, because audio packets may be lost in transmission, packet loss concealment techniques are used to improve audio reproduction. In one embodiment, link layer information is used for audio phase lock loop jitter reduction in the audio system.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for rendering audio in an audio system including an audio source device and an audio sink device wirelessly coupled to the audio source device, the method comprising:
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synchronizing a sample clock of the audio sink device to a sample clock of the audio source device using timing of packet transmission from the audio source device to the audio sink device; and maintaining the synchronization by driving an adjustable oscillator of the audio sink device based on time between arrivals of packets transmitted from the audio source device to the audio sink device and a number of encoded words received in each packet of the packets, wherein the audio sink device includes a hearing assistance device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A hearing assistance device configured to receive an acoustic signal including packets with variable numbers of encoded words transmitted from an audio source device having a first sample clock configured to time input sampling of the acoustic signal, the hearing assistance device comprising:
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a wireless communication circuit configured to receive the acoustic signal including the packets; and a processing circuit configured to process the received acoustic signal, the processing circuit including; an audio reference oscillator configured to generate an output sampling frequency; and a second sample clock configured to time output sampling of the acoustic signal based on the output sampling frequency, wherein the processing circuit is configured to synchronize the second sample clock to the first sample clock by adjusting the second sample clock using time between arrivals of the packets and the number of the encoded words in each packet of the received packets. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An audio system, comprising:
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an audio source device including; a source processing circuit configured to process an acoustic signal, the source processing circuit including a source audio reference oscillator configured to generate an input sampling frequency and a source sample clock configured to time input sampling of the acoustic signal based on the input sampling frequency; and a source wireless communication circuit configured to transmit the acoustic signal; and
an audio sink device including;a sink processing circuit configured to process the acoustic signal transmitted from the audio source device, the sink processing circuit including a sink audio reference oscillator configured to generate an output sampling frequency and a sink sample clock configured to time output sampling of the acoustic signal based on the output sampling frequency; and a sink wireless communication circuit configured to receive the acoustic signal, wherein the audio source device is configured to transmit the acoustic signal including packets with various numbers of encoded words, and the audio sink device is configured to synchronize the sink sample clock to the source sample clock by adjusting the sink sample clock using time between arrivals of the packets at the audio sink device and the number of the encoded words in each packet of the packets, wherein the audio sink device includes a hearing assistance device, and the audio source device includes a host device configured to be wirelessly coupled to the hearing assistance device. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification