Abstract:
A bluetooth headset for transmitting and receiving digital data and analog audio signal is disclosed. The bluetooth headset comprises: a bluetooth module for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal comprising a control signal, the format of the wireless signal being compliant with a bluetooth specification; an audio encoder/decoder for encoding an analog audio input signal to generate digital data, and decoding the digital data to generate an analog audio output signal; a memory unit for storing the digital data; and a control unit which is coupled to the bluetooth module for converting the wireless signal from received by the bluetooth module into the digital data, and transferring the digital data to one of the memory unit or the encoder/decoder.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     This invention relates to a bluetooth headset device capable of processing both audio and digital data signals. More particularly, the invention relates to a bluetooth headset comprising a Bluetooth module, an audio encoder/decoder, a memory unit, a USB interface, and a data switch module.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     Nowadays, a variety of portable electronic devices and peripherals are developed and widely used, such as Cellular Phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), Flash Disks, Digital Cameras, MP3 Players, Mouses, Keyboards, IT Household Appliances, etc.  
         [0005]     Conventionally, these devices cannot communicate to each other directly. If the direct communications are needed, theses devices have to be connected to a computer host through Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. Recently, a wireless communication protocol called Bluetooth has been developed. Therefore, these different electronic devices, which have the Bluetooth module, can directly and wirelessly communicate to each other within a certain distance.  
         [0006]     The conventional bluetooth headset can only transmit and receive the audio signals. The conventional bluetooth flash disks can only transmit and receive digital data. Up to days, there is no bluetooth headset can transmit and receive both the audio signals and digital data. This is possibly due to that the characteristic of the digital data and audio signals are different. When the bluetooth device receives a signal, it has to firstly determine whether the received signal is a digital data or an audio signal, and than process the received signal by an appropriate circuit. Therefore, the techniques would be more complicated than that of the conventional bluetooth device which can process only one type of the received signals. However, it would be inconvenient for the users if the bluetooth device can only process only one type of the received signals.  
         [0007]     In the U.S. Pat. No. 6,725,302 and the U.S. Pat. No. 6,603,744 have disclosed some wireless USB hubs. Those techniques are different from the technical characteristics in the present invention.  
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0008]     It is therefore one of the objectives of the claimed invention to provide a bluetooth headset for transmitting and receiving digital data and an analog audio signal. Thus, the technology of this invention can improve the convenience for users.  
         [0009]     It is therefore one of objectives of the claimed invention to provide a bluetooth headset for transmitting and receiving digital data and an analog audio signal. The bluetooth headset can not only wirelessly transmit the audio signal to and from the bluetooth cellular phone such that the bluetooth headset of the invention is as a handsfree headset of the bluetooth cellular phone, but also can communicate with other bluetooth devices (for examples: PDAs, computers, MP3 players, digital cameras, and another bluetooth headset).  
         [0010]     It is therefore one of the objectives of the claimed invention to provide a bluetooth headset for transmitting and receiving digital data and an analog audio signal. The bluetooth headset, which comprises a built-in MP3 controller, a memory component, and a USB interface, has the functions of a MP3 player, a flash disk, and a bluetooth headset.  
         [0011]     It is therefore one of the objectives of the claimed invention to provide a bluetooth headset for transmitting and receiving digital data and an analog audio signal. The bluetooth headset can communicate with a computer with a built-in bluetooth module, whereas this computer is connected to the Internet and executes the Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) software. Thus, the user can make Internet phone calls via the computer and the bluetooth headset of this invention.  
         [0012]     According to the present invention, a bluetooth headset for transmitting and receiving digital data and analog audio signal is disclosed. The bluetooth headset comprises a bluetooth module for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal; an audio encoder/decoder for encoding an analog audio input signal to producing the digital data, and decoding the digital data to generate an analog audio output signal; a memory unit for storing digital data; a control unit which is coupled to the bluetooth module for converting the wireless signal from the bluetooth module into the digital data, and transferring the digital data to the audio encoder/decoder.  
         [0013]     Preferably, the analog audio input signal received by the microphone is transferred to the memory unit or the bluetooth module according to the control signal.  
         [0014]     Preferably, the digital data restored in the memory unit is controlled by the switch module to be transferred to the audio encode/decode or the bluetooth module is controlled by the switch.  
         [0015]     Preferably, the wireless signal comprises a control signal, the control unit determines to convert the wireless signal received by the bluetooth module into the digital data or to transfer the wireless signal received by the bluetooth module into the audio encoder/decoder according to the control signal.  
         [0016]     Preferably, the digital data received by the USB interface is transferred to the memory unit, or the bluetooth module, or the audio encoder/decoder; and wherein an audio input signal received by the microphone is processed by the control unit and is transferred to the external USB device through the USB interface.  
         [0017]     These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]     The details of the present invention will be more readily understood from a detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the following figures.  
         [0019]      FIG. 1  shows a functional block diagram of a first embodiment of the bluetooth headset according to the present invention;  
         [0020]      FIG. 2  shows a functional diagram of a notebook that supports a bluetooth function and the bluetooth headset of the present invention;  
         [0021]      FIG. 3  shows a functional diagram of a cell phone that supports a bluetooth function communicate with the bluetooth headset of the present invention;  
         [0022]      FIG. 4  shows a functional diagram of a plurality of external bluetooth devices that support a bluetooth function communicate with the bluetooth headset of the present invention;  
         [0023]      FIG. 5  shows a detailed circuit of the bluetooth module of the bluetooth headset according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0024]      FIG. 6  shows a detailed circuit of the switch module of the bluetooth headset according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0025]      FIG. 7  shows a detailed circuit of the headset of the bluetooth headset according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0026]      FIG. 8  shows a detailed circuit of the audio encoder/decoder of the bluetooth headset according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0027]      FIG. 9  shows a detailed circuit of the power module of the bluetooth headset according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0028]      FIG. 10  shows a detailed circuit of the USB interface of the bluetooth headset according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0029]      FIG. 11  shows a detailed circuit of the display module of the bluetooth headset according to the embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0030]      FIG. 12  shows a detailed circuit of the memory unit of the bluetooth headset according to the embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0031]      FIG. 13  shows a detailed circuit of the control unit of the bluetooth headset according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0032]      FIG. 1  shows a functional block diagram of the internal circuit of an embodiment of this invention. In this embodiment, a bluetooth headset  10  can wirelessly transmit a stereo audio signal and digital data. The bluetooth headset  10  comprises a bluetooth module  11 , an audio encoder/decoder  12 , a memory unit  13 , a control unit  14 , a headset  15 , a switch module  16 , a USB interface  17 , a display module  18 , and a power module  19 .  
         [0033]     The bluetooth module  11  receives and transmits a wireless signal utilizing the bluetooth protocol via an antenna  111 . The wireless signal comprises at least a control signal and transmitted data. This control signal is used for determining whether the transmitted wireless signal is an audio signal or digital data. The bluetooth module  11  is a conventional device so that the detail illustration of this bluetooth module  11  is omitted.  
         [0034]     The audio encoder/decoder  12  is used for processing a digital audio signal and an analog audio signal. The encoder/decoder  12  is also a conventional device so that the detail illustration of this device is beyond the scope of the description of this invention.  
         [0035]     The memory unit  13  is used to store digital data. The memory unit  13  can be Flash Memory, Electric Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM). The memory unit  13  also can be a Micro Hard Disk.  
         [0036]     The control unit  14 , which connected between the bluetooth module  11  and the memory unit  13 , is used to receive the wireless signal from the bluetooth module  11 . The control unit  14  converts the received wireless signal into digital data for storing in the memory unit  13  or transfers the wireless received signal to the stereo encoder/decoder  12  for transforming into an analogue signal according to the control signal of the received wireless signal.  
         [0037]     The headset  15  is connected to the audio encoder/decoder  12  via a cable. The headset  15  comprises a stereo earphone  151  for playing the analog audio signal outputted from the audio encoder/decoder  12 , and a microphone  152  for receiving a surroundings sound. The audio encoder/decoder  12  converts the analog received sound from the microphone  152  into the digital audio signal. Furthermore, the audio encoder/decoder  12  also converts a digital audio signal into the analog audio signal and outputs the analog audio signal to the stereo earphone  151 .  
         [0038]     The switch module  16  is connected to the audio encoder/decoder  12 , the control unit  14 , and the bluetooth module  11 . Through control of this switch module  16 , the audio encoder/decoder  12  can transfer data with either the bluetooth module  11  or the control unit  14 . In this embodiment, the switch module  16  is a PCM data switch module  16 . When the digital wireless signal received by the bluetooth module  11  is the digital data, the digital wireless signal is directly transferred to the control unit  14  via the UART port. When the control unit  14  determines that the digital wireless signal received by the bluetooth module  11  is an audio signal, this digital wireless signal, which is under the control of the switch module  16 , is transferred to the audio encoder/decoder  12  via a path PCMC ( FIG. 1 ), converted to an analog audio signal by the audio encoder/decoder  12 , and transferred to the headset  15 . Of course, the digital wireless signal, which is under the control of the switch module  16 , can be transferred to the control unit  14  via a path PCM B, converted the digital wireless signal into the digital data. The digital data is stored into the memory unit  13  or is transferred to an external USB device via a USB interface  17 . The external USB device can be a computer with a USB interface.  
         [0039]     When the control unit  14  determines that the digital data stored in the memory unit  13  is the digital data signal, this digital data signal is transferred to the bluetooth module  11  via a UART port ( FIG. 1 ). When the control unit  14  determines that the digital data stored in the memory unit  13  is the digital audio signal, this digital audio signal, which is under the control of the switch module  16 , is transferred to the bluetooth module  11  via a path PCMA, or to the audio encoder/decoder  12  via the path PCMC, converted to an analog audio signal by the audio encoder/decoder  12 , and transferred to the headset  15 .  
         [0040]     When the control unit  14  determines that the digital data from the USB interface  17  is the digital data signal, this digital data signal is transferred to the bluetooth module  11  via a UART port or to the memory unit  13 . When the control unit  14  determines that the digital data from the USB interface  17  is the digital audio signal, the digital audio signal is transferred to the bluetooth module  11  via the PCMB and the PCMA or to the audio encoder/decoder  12  via the PCMB and the PCMC. The audio encoder/decoder  12  converts the digital audio signal into the analog audio signal and transfers the analog audio signal to the headset  15 .  
         [0041]     Furthermore, the microphone  152  of the headset  15  receives an analog audio signal and transfers the analog audio signal to the audio encoder/decoder  12 . the audio encoder/decoder  12  converts the analog audio signal into the digital audio data and transfers the digital audio data to the memory unit  13  via the switch module  16 , or to an external USB device via the switch module  16  and the USB interface  17 , or to the another bluetooth device via the switch module  16  and the blurtooth transceiver  11 .  
         [0042]     A display module  18 , which is connected to the control unit  14 , is for displaying the state of the bluetooth headset  10  of the present invention. The display module  18  includes a touch panel for receiving a command of the user. The function of the bluetooth headset  10  is executed according to the command of the user. In a preferred embodiment, the display module  18  includes a LCD display module.  
         [0043]     The power module  19  is for providing a power of the bluetooth headset of the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, the power module  19  includes a power charging and register circuit  191  and at least one rechargeable battery  192 . The rechargeable battery  192  is for providing a 3.3 voltage to the blutooth headset  10  of the present invention via the power charging and register circuit  191 . When the USB interface  17  is connected to an external USB device with a power source (i.e. computer), the power charging and register circuit  191  receives a 5.0 voltage from the USB interface  17 , charges the rechargeable battery  192 , and converts the 5.0 voltage into the 3.3 voltage to provide the bluetooth headset  10 .  
         [0044]     Please refer to  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3 , and  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 2 ˜ 4  show a block diagram of external devices connected to the bluetooth headset of the present invention.  
         [0045]      FIG. 2  shows a block diagram of a computer, which includes the bluetooth module, connected to the bluetooth headset of the present invention. The bluetooth headset of the present invention can transfer the digital wireless signal to/from the external bluetooth device. When the external bluetooth device is a computer which includes a bluetooth module, the computer can transfer the digital wireless signal to the bluetooth headset  10  through the bluetooth module. If the digital wireless signal from the computer is not an audio signal, the digital wireless signal can be stored in the memory unit  13  so that the bluetooth headset  10  of the invention can act as the Flask Disk. If the digital wireless signal from the computer is an audio signal, the stereo earphone  151  of the bluetooth headset  10  can play the audio signal from the computer. The audio signal of the computer comes from MP3 file, wav file, CD, and DVD. When the computer link to the Internet and executes a Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) software, the bluetooth headset  10  of this invention can act as a cordless telephone.  
         [0046]      FIG. 3  shows a block diagram of a bluetooth cell phone connected to the bluetooth headset according to the present invention. The bluetooth headset  10  acts as a handsfree headset of the bluetooth cell phone. Because the volume of the memory unit of the bluetooth headset  10  of the invention is bigger than that of bluetooth cell phone, the digital data inside the Bluetooth cell phone  22 , such as the calendar and the phone book, can be transmitted wirelessly through the Bluetooth module  11  to the Bluetooth headset  10  and be stored in the memory unit  13 . The digital data in the Bluetooth headset  10  can also be transmitted back to the Bluetooth cell phone  22 . As illustrated previously, the Bluetooth headset  10  can connect to a computer  23  through a USB interface  17 . Thus, the Bluetooth cell phone  22  can communicate with the computer  23  through the bluetooh headset  10 . Therefore, the Bluetooth headset  10  of the present invention can be applied widely and be convenient for users.  
         [0047]      FIG. 4  shows a block diagram of the Bluetooth headset  10  and a plurality of the external Bluetooth devices. The Bluetooth headset  10  of this invention can wirelessly communicate with the computer  21  through the Bluetooth module  11  ( FIG. 2 ). Through the computer  21 , the Bluetooth headset  10  can connect to the Internet  212 . The Bluetooth headset  10  also can wirelessly communicate to the Bluetooth cellular phone  22  ( FIG. 3 ) or connect to an external USB device, such as the computer  23 , through the USB interface  17 . In additions, the Bluetooth headset  10  can wirelessly communicate with other Bluetooth devices, such as an external Bluetooth module  24  for computer, digital camera  25 , MP3 player with a built-in Bluetooth module  26 , PDA  27 , Speaker  28 , IT Household Appliance, and another Bluetooth headset. The Bluetooth headset  10  in this invention can is better than the conventional headset because it can process both audio signal and digital signal. Therefore, it can be applied widely and be convenient for users.  
         [0048]     Please refer to  FIG. 5 ˜ FIG. 13 .  FIG. 5  shows a detailed circuit of the bluetooth module  11  of the bluetooth headset  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 6  shows a detailed circuit of the switch module  16  of the bluetooth headset  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 7  shows a detailed circuit of the headset  15  of the bluetooth headset  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 8  shows a detailed circuit of the audio encoder/decoder  12  of the bluetooth headset  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 9  shows a detailed circuit of the power module  19  of the bluetooth headset  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 10  shows a detailed circuit of the USB interface  17  of the bluetooth headset  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 11  shows a detailed circuit of the display module  18  of the bluetooth headset  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 12  shows a detailed circuit of the memory unit  13  of the bluetooth headset  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 13  shows a detailed circuit of the control unit  14  of the bluetooth headset  10  according to the embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0049]     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, that above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.