Mobile radio component

Abstract

The present invention provides a system, a mobile radio component, a remote speaker microphone, and a wearable mask. In one or more embodiments, a mobile radio component is provided. A mobile radio component is provided and includes: a communication interface configured to receive at least one first wireless audio signal from a wearable mask and a second wireless audio signal from another mobile radio component; and a processing circuit in operative communication with the communication interface, the processing circuit being configured to: if the communication interface receives the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal, merge the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal for transmission to a remote speaker microphone when a first criterion is met.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method and system for transmitting wireless audio signals.

[0002] Introduction

[0003] Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a diagram of an existing system 1, which includes one or more mobile radio components 2a - 2b (collectively mobile radio components 2), a remote speaker microphone 3 (RSM 3), and a face mask 4. The RSM 3 includes a speaker 5 for outputting an audio signal and a microphone 6 for capturing an audio signal, as known in the art. The face mask 4a includes a microphone 10 to receive user audio input and a speaker 7A for outputting an audio signal amplified by an amplifier 8. Another embodiment of the face mask 4b includes elements similar to those of the face mask 4b, where like reference indicators denote like elements. The face mask 4b includes a speaker 7B for outputting an audio signal (unamplified signal) received from the radio component 2a via a communication interface. The amplified audio signal output from the speaker 7A allows the user of the face mask 4 to hear themselves.

[0004] The RSM 3 and the mobile radio component 2 operate using half - duplex communication, where communication occurs in one direction at a time. For example, when a push - to - talk (PTT) button 9 is pressed at the RSM 3, the RSM 3 transmits an audio signal to the mobile radio component 2. However, when the PTT button 9 is not pressed (i.e., not activated), the RSM 3 can receive an audio signal from the mobile radio component 2.

[0005] However, this existing configuration has drawbacks. For example, the amplifier 8 is bulky, which adds an unwanted weight to the face mask 4. In addition, the amplifier 8 will drain limited power resources at the face mask 4. Summary of the Invention

[0006] Some embodiments advantageously provide a method and system for transmitting wireless audio signals. According to one embodiment of this aspect, a mobile radio component is provided and includes: a communication interface configured to: receive at least one first wireless audio signal from a wearable face mask and a second wireless audio signal from another mobile radio component; and a processing circuit in operative communication with the communication interface, the processing circuit being configured to: if the communication interface receives the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal, merge the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal for transmission to a remote speaker microphone when a first criterion is met.

[0007] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the processing circuit is further configured to: if at least one first wireless audio signal in the first wireless audio signals is not received and the first criterion is not met, cause the second wireless audio signal to be transmitted to the remote speaker microphone without merging. According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the first criterion corresponds to at least one of the following: whether the second wireless audio signal has a higher priority than the first wireless audio signal, and whether the push-to-talk (PTT) button has been activated. According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the first wireless audio signal is directly received from the wearable mask using a first wireless communication protocol.

[0008] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the first wireless communication protocol is Bluetooth. According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, within a predefined time, the first wireless audio signal associated with the wearable mask corresponds to a continuous wireless audio signal.

[0009] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for a mobile radio component is provided. At least one first wireless audio signal is received from a wearable mask and a second wireless audio signal is received from another mobile radio component. If the communication interface receives the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal, the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal are merged for transmission to a remote speaker microphone when the first criterion is met.

[0010] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the processing circuit is further configured to: if at least one first wireless audio signal in the first wireless audio signals is not received and the first criterion is not met, cause the second wireless audio signal to be transmitted to the remote speaker microphone without merging. According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the first criterion corresponds to at least one of the following: whether the second wireless audio signal has a higher priority than the first wireless audio signal, and whether the push-to-talk (PTT) button has been activated. According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the first wireless audio signal is directly received from the wearable mask using a first wireless communication protocol.

[0011] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the first wireless communication protocol is Bluetooth. According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, within a predefined time, the first wireless audio signal associated with the wearable mask corresponds to a continuous wireless audio signal. Description of the Drawings

[0012] When considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, a more complete understanding of the embodiments described herein and their attendant advantages and features will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description, in which:

[0013] Figure 1 is a block diagram of an existing system;

[0014] Figure 2 is a block diagram of a system according to the principles of the present invention;

[0015] Figure 3 is another block diagram of an example of a system according to the principles of the present invention;

[0016] Figure 4 is another block diagram of another example of a system according to the principles of the present invention; and

[0017] Figure 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary process according to the principles of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] Before describing the exemplary embodiments in detail, it should be noted that the embodiments mainly lie in the combination of device components and processing steps related to transmitting wireless audio signals. Therefore, system and method components have been represented by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details relevant to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure, so as not to obscure the present disclosure with details that are obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art who benefit from what is described herein.

[0019] As used herein, relational terms such as "first" and "second", "top" and "bottom", etc. may be used only to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element, and do not necessarily require or imply any physical or logical relationship or order between these entities or elements. The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit the concepts described herein. As used herein, unless otherwise expressly stated in the context, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to also include the plural forms. It should also be understood that the terms "comprising", "comprises", "including" and / or "includes" when used herein specify the presence of the stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and / or their groups.

[0020] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. It should also be understood that the terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meanings in the context of this specification and the relevant technology, and should not be understood as idealized or overly formalized meanings unless explicitly defined in this article.

[0021] In the embodiments described herein, the term "in communication with..." and the like may be used to indicate electrical or data communication, which may be accomplished, for example, by physical contact, induction, electromagnetic radiation, radio signaling, infrared signaling, or optical signaling. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that multiple components may interoperate, and modifications and variations may be possible to achieve electrical and data communication.

[0022] Referring again to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements, Figure 2 , a schematic diagram of a system 10 according to one or more embodiments is shown in . The system 10 includes mobile radio components 12a-12b (collectively referred to as mobile radio components 12), wherein the mobile radio component 12a can communicate directly with the wearable mask 14 and the remote speaker microphone 16 (RSM 16) using one or more communication protocols, such as via one or more of wired and / or wireless communications.

[0023] The mobile radio component 12 includes a communication interface 18 configured to perform wired and / or wireless communications with the wearable mask 14 and the RSM 16 via one or more communication protocols, such as via a wired communication protocol and / or a wireless communication protocol.

[0024] The mobile radio part 12 includes a processing circuit 20. The processing circuit 20 may include a processor 22 and a memory 24. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor such as a central processing unit and a memory, the processing circuit 20 may include an integrated circuit for processing and / or controlling, for example, one or more processors and / or processor cores and / or FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) and / or ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 22 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and / or read from) the memory 24, which may include any kind of volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as a cache and / or buffer memory and / or a RAM (random access memory) and / or a ROM (read only memory) and / or an optical memory and / or an EPROM (erasable programmable read only memory).

[0025] Accordingly, the mobile radio component 12 may also include software stored internally, for example, in the memory 24. The software may be executed by the processing circuitry 20. The processing circuitry 20 may be configured to, for example, control any of the methods and / or processes described herein and / or cause such methods and / or processes to be executed by the mobile radio component 12. The processor 22 corresponds to one or more processors 22 for performing the functions of the mobile radio component 12 described herein. The memory 24 is configured to store data, programming software code, and / or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 22 and / or the processing circuitry 20, cause the processor 22 and / or the processing circuitry 20 to perform the processes described herein with respect to the mobile radio component 12. For example, the processing circuitry 20 of the mobile radio component 12 may include a communication unit 26 that is configured to perform one or more functions of the mobile radio component 12 as described herein, such as with respect to combining audio signals, as described herein.

[0026] Figure 3 is an example of a specific implementation of the system. As Figure 3 shown, the wearable face mask 14 includes a communication interface 28 for communicating with the RSM 16 and / or the mobile radio component 12 via wireless communication, such as via one or more wireless communication protocols. In one or more embodiments, the communication interface 28 communicates with the mobile radio component 12 using a wireless communication protocol such as Bluetooth, a low-power wireless communication protocol, and the like. In one or more embodiments, the communication interface 28 is configured to provide full and / or half-duplex audio. In one or more embodiments, the communication protocols implemented by the communication interface 28 include one or more of Bluetooth, WiFi, cellular, NFC, etc. In one or more embodiments, the communication interface 28 may optionally communicate with the RSM 16 via one or more wireless communication protocols. The communication interface 28 may communicate with the speaker 7b for outputting a second audio signal (i.e., a signal from the mobile radio component 12b), which does not receive an amplifier because the face mask 14 may not include an amplifier 8. The speaker 7b may correspond to a headphone speaker positioned in or near the face mask 14.

[0027] As is known in the art, the wearable face mask 14 includes a microphone 30 for capturing an audio signal from a user of the wearable face mask 14. Although not shown, in some embodiments, the wearable face mask 14 may include a processing circuitry that includes a processor and a memory to control the operation of the electronic aspects of the face mask, such as digital signal processing of the audio signal before transmission to the optional speaker 7b or via the communication interface 28. In one or more embodiments, the face mask 14 may not include the speaker 7b.

[0028] Specifically, in addition to or instead of a processor such as a central processing unit and a memory, the processing circuitry of the wearable mask 14 may include an integrated circuit for processing and / or controlling, for example, one or more processors and / or processor cores and / or an FPGA (field programmable gate array) and / or an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) suitable for executing instructions. The processor may be configured to access (e.g., write to and / or read from) a memory, which may include any kind of volatile and / or non-volatile memory such as a cache and / or a buffer memory and / or a RAM (random access memory) and / or a ROM (read only memory) and / or an optical memory and / or an EPROM (erasable programmable read only memory).

[0029] Accordingly, the wearable mask 14 may also include software stored internally, e.g., in a memory. The software may be executed by the processing circuitry. The processing circuitry may be configured to, for example, control any of the methods and / or processes described herein and / or cause such methods and / or processes to be executed by the wearable mask 14. The processor corresponds to one or more processors for performing the functions of the wearable mask 14 described herein. The memory is configured to store data, programming software code, and / or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software may include instructions that, when executed by the processor and / or the processing circuitry, cause the processor and / or the processing circuitry to perform the processes described herein with respect to the wearable mask 14.

[0030] The RSM 16 includes the speaker 5 and the microphone 6 discussed above. The RSM 16 also includes a communication interface 32 for communicating with the mobile radio component 12 and the wearable mask 14 via one or more of a wired communication and / or a wireless communication using one or more of a wired communication protocol and / or a wireless communication protocol. The RSM 16 also includes a PTT 9, which is configured to modify how the first audio signal and the second audio signal are routed by the mobile radio component 12a, i.e., the RSM 16 may send a PTT command or message to the mask 14 via the mobile radio component 12a, which alerts the mobile radio component 12a to modify the routing of the audio signals. As a first example, assume that the mask 14 is equipped with a speaker 7b, then the mobile radio component 12a may continuously or periodically route the second audio signal to the mask 14 for output by the speaker 7b. In the first example, if the PTT 9 is not activated, the mobile radio component 12a may also route the second audio signal to the RSM 16 for output via the speaker 5, which speaker has an associated amplifier 8 (not shown). In the first example, if the PTT 9 is activated, the mobile radio component 12a receives the first audio signal from the mask 14 and combines the first audio signal and the second audio signal for routing to the RSM 16 for output via the speaker 5.

[0031] InFigure 3 In a second example, in the case where the face mask 14 does not include the speaker 7b, the second audio signal can be routed via the mobile radio component 12a to the RSM 16 for output via the speaker 5, where the second audio signal is not routed to the speaker 7b. The remaining routing of the audio signal is as described with respect to the first example. Figure 3 The dashed lines in indicate optional routing of the signal.

[0032] Figure 4 is another diagram of an example of a system according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. Specifically, Figure 4 Based on Figure 3 where like reference indicators represent like elements. Figure 4 also includes a configuration that can be triggered by receiving a PTT command from the RSM 16 via the mobile radio component 12a, where in the case where the speaker 7b outputs an amplified first audio signal, the first audio signal can also be routed to the speaker 7b in the AirPak / self - contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) 34. Other signal routing functions can be the same as those described with respect to Figure 3 described above.

[0033] Figure 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary process of the mobile radio component 12 according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more blocks and / or functions performed by the mobile radio component 12 can be performed by one or more elements of the mobile radio component 12 such as the communication unit 26, the processing circuit 20, the processor 22, the communication interface 18, etc. In one or more embodiments, such as via one or more of the processing circuit 20, the processor 22, the communication unit 26, the communication interface 18, etc., the mobile radio component 12 is configured to: receive (block S100) at least one first wireless audio signal from the wearable face mask and a second wireless audio signal from another mobile radio component, as described herein. In one or more embodiments, such as via one or more of the processing circuit 20, the processor 22, the communication unit 26, the communication interface 18, etc., the mobile radio component 12 is configured to: if the communication interface 18 receives the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal (block S102), then merge the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal for transmission to the remote speaker microphone 16 under the condition of meeting a first criterion, as described herein.

[0034] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the processing circuit 20 is further configured to: if at least one first wireless audio signal in the first wireless audio signals is not received and the first criterion is not met, cause the second wireless audio signal to be transmitted to the remote speaker microphone 16 without being combined. According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the first criterion corresponds to at least one of the following: whether the second wireless audio signal has a higher priority than the first wireless audio signal, and whether the push-to-talk (PTT) button has been activated. According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the first wireless audio signal is directly received from the wearable mask 14 using a first wireless communication protocol.

[0035] According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, the first wireless communication protocol is Bluetooth. According to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, within a predefined time, the first wireless audio signal associated with the wearable mask 14 corresponds to a continuous wireless audio signal.

[0036] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to what has been specifically shown and described above. Additionally, unless the contrary has been mentioned above, it should be noted that all the drawings are not drawn to scale. There can be various modifications and variations based on the above teachings.

Claims

1. A mobile radio component, comprising: A communication interface, the communication interface being configured to: Receive at least one first wireless audio signal from a wearable face mask and a second wireless audio signal from another mobile radio component; and A processing circuit in operative communication with the communication interface, the processing circuit being configured to: if the communication interface receives the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal, merge the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal when a first criterion is met, and transmit the merged first wireless audio signal and second wireless audio signal to a remote speaker microphone, Wherein the first criterion corresponds to at least one of the following: the second wireless audio signal has a higher priority than the first wireless audio signal, and a push-to-talk (PTT) button has been activated.

2. The mobile radio component according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: if at least one first wireless audio signal in the first wireless audio signals is not received and the first criterion is not met, cause the second wireless audio signal to be transmitted to the remote speaker microphone without merging.

3. The mobile radio component according to claim 1, wherein the first wireless audio signal is directly received from the wearable face mask using a first wireless communication protocol.

4. The mobile radio component according to claim 3, wherein the first wireless communication protocol is Bluetooth.

5. The mobile radio component according to claim 1, wherein within a predefined time, the first wireless audio signal associated with the wearable face mask corresponds to a continuous wireless audio signal.

6. A method for a mobile radio component, comprising: Receive at least one first wireless audio signal from a wearable face mask and a second wireless audio signal from another mobile radio component; And If the communication interface receives the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal, merge the first wireless audio signal and the second wireless audio signal when a first criterion is met, and transmit the merged first wireless audio signal and second wireless audio signal to a remote speaker microphone, Wherein the first criterion corresponds to at least one of the following: the second wireless audio signal has a higher priority than the first wireless audio signal, and a push-to-talk (PTT) button has been activated.

7. The method according to claim 6, if at least one first wireless audio signal in the first wireless audio signals is not received and the first criterion is not met, cause the second wireless audio signal to be transmitted to the remote speaker microphone without merging.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the first wireless audio signal is directly received from the wearable face mask using a first wireless communication protocol.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the first wireless communication protocol is Bluetooth.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein within a predefined time, the first wireless audio signal associated with the wearable face mask corresponds to a continuous wireless audio signal.

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