Bluetooth Audio Passthrough for Low-Latency Codec Streaming

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing Bluetooth audio streaming methods suffer from quality loss and increased latency due to multiple decoding, encoding, and resampling processes, particularly when using higher bandwidth codecs and audio servers.

Innovation Solution

A method for transmitting audio streams over Bluetooth communication links that bypasses audio servers by directly packetizing audio data from streaming applications, using a hybrid approach with multiple codec configurations and sampling rates, and transmitting these streams over established Bluetooth links, allowing for reduced quality loss and lower latency.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If multiple decoding, encoding and resampling processes are used to improve audio quality, then audio quality may be improved, but latency increases and quality loss occurs

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveaudio qualityVSAvoidlatency

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and removes the audio server intermediary from the audio streaming path. By enabling direct Bluetooth audio streaming from the source device to the sink device, it eliminates the multiple decoding, encoding, and resampling processes that occur when audio passes through an audio server, thereby reducing latency and avoiding quality loss while maintaining audio quality.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent inverts the traditional audio streaming architecture by allowing the sink device to directly receive and process audio streams from the source device via Bluetooth, rather than having the source device send audio through an audio server for processing. This reversal eliminates unnecessary processing steps and reduces latency.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

2Measurement precision

If audio data is streamed through an audio server with multiple processing steps, then audio quality may be improved, but the number of processing steps increases causing quality loss

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveaudio qualityVSAvoidnumber of processing steps

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Loss of energy

If standard Bluetooth codecs are used to limit bandwidth usage, then bandwidth consumption is reduced, but audio quality loss increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebandwidth consumptionVSAvoidaudio quality

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of energyVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements dynamic codec selection and configuration, allowing the system to adaptively choose between different Bluetooth audio codecs (such as SBC, AAC, aptX, LDAC) based on the available bandwidth, quality requirements, and device capabilities. This dynamic approach enables the system to optimize the balance between bandwidth consumption and audio quality in real-time.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

4Loss of energy

If streaming applications use their own encoding formats with higher compression rates, then bandwidth usage is reduced, but multiple encoding formats increase processing complexity and quality loss

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebandwidth usageVSAvoidmultiple encoding formats

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of energyVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a universal audio streaming framework that can handle multiple encoding formats (SBC, AAC, aptX, LDAC, and application-specific formats) through a unified Bluetooth audio streaming interface. The sink device is designed to support multiple codec types, enabling it to receive and decode various audio formats without requiring separate processing paths, thereby reducing complexity while maintaining bandwidth efficiency.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP4021037B1Bluetooth audio streaming passthrough

Publication Date: 2026.04.01 GOOGLE LLC

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AI summary

The invention refers to a Bluetooth audio streaming passthrough, and in particular, to a method for transmitting an audio stream (AD1) over a Bluetooth communication link (L1), the method being carried out by a source device (10) and comprising: - receiving an audio codec configuration and a sampling rate of the audio stream, said audio stream coming from a streaming application (40) running on the source device; - configuring a Bluetooth audio stream between the source device and a sink device (20) using the received audio codec configuration and sampling rate; - receiving the first audio stream from the streaming application; - packetizing the received first audio stream into said Bluetooth audio stream; - transmitting the Bluetooth audio stream to the sink device over the Bluetooth communication link, the transmitted Bluetooth audio stream comprising the packetized received audio stream; - receiving at least a second audio stream (AD2), said second audio stream being different from the first audio stream, from an audio server (30); and - transmitting said received second audio stream to the sink device over the Bluetooth communication link.