Patent Description:
In a case where the mobile phone, the wearable device and the earphone exist at the same time, because the most TWS earphones can be only connected to one device, operations are generally more troublesome when the earphone is required to be switched to the wearable device from the mobile phone or switched to the mobile phone from the wearable device. For example, the user may have to enter such a more tedious process as settings => Bluetooth => select Bluetooth device => connection => playing audio, and the operation is not convenient to the user. <CIT> discloses methods provided for managing connections of user devices. <CIT> discloses a connection method for a multimedia playing device. <CIT> discloses a wireless headphone system. <CIT> discloses an application control method and an associated device. <CIT> discloses a personal sound system including a wireless network supporting an ear-level module, a companion module and a phone.

The present disclosure relates to an audio play controlling method, device, and storage medium.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for audio play controlling, including:.

Preferably, the method further includes: in response to the audio playing instruction indicating to acquire the audio data through a network, receiving a corresponding notification message to trigger a detection of the connection state of the earphone connection interface before acquiring the connection state information of the earphone connection interface.

Preferably, the acquiring connection state information of an earphone connection interface, in response to receiving an audio playing instruction, includes:.

Preferably, the playing the instructed audio in response to the audio playing instruction includes:
playing the instructed audio, in response to receiving a mirrored audio playing instruction transmitted from the other associated audio play controlling device, the mirrored audio playing instruction is transmitted after the other associated audio play controlling device receives the audio playing instruction.

The acquiring the connection state information of the earphone, in response to detecting that an audio player is in a playing state, includes:
acquiring the connection state information of the earphone, in response to detecting of a play synchronization event transmitted from the other associated audio play controlling device.

Preferably, the method further includes:.

Preferably, the method is applied to a mobile phone or a wearable device;.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an audio play controlling device, including:.

Preferably, the acquisition module includes:
a receiving sub-module configured to, in response to that the audio playing instruction instructs to acquire the audio data through a network, receive a corresponding notification message to trigger a detection of the connection state of the earphone connection interface before acquiring the connection state information of the earphone connection interface.

Preferably, the device further includes:.

Preferably, the audio player is further configured to play the instructed audio, in response to receiving a mirror audio playing instruction transmitted from the other associated audio play controlling device, the mirror audio playing instruction is transmitted after the other associated audio play controlling device receives the audio playing instruction.

The acquisition module is further configured to acquire the connection state information of the earphone, in response to detecting of a play synchronization event transmitted from the other associated audio play controlling device.

Preferably, the acquisition module further includes:.

Preferably, the device is applied to a mobile phone or a wearable device;.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an audio play controlling device, including:.

According to a still further aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which cause, as executed by a processor, the processor to perform the any one of the methods described above.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this description, illustrate embodiments consistent with the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

In the drawings, the same or corresponding reference numerals may indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Description will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The implementations set forth in the following description of exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the disclosure. Instead, they are merely examples of apparatuses and methods consistent with aspects related to the disclosure as recited in the appended claims.

It should be noted that, although the terms first, second, etc. can be used herein to describe various modules, steps, data, etc. in the embodiments of the present disclosure, these terms are only used to distinguish one module, step, data, etc. from another module, step, data, etc., instead of denoting a special order or degree of important. In fact, the terms "first" and "second" could be exchanged.

<FIG> illustrates a flowchart of an audio play controlling method, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in <FIG>, the audio play controlling method <NUM> according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can include operating processes as follows.

In step S101, connection state information of an earphone connection interface is acquired, in response to receiving an audio playing instruction. For example, a user can determine whether an audio play controlling device (for example, a mobile phone) is connected to an earphone from the connection state information of the earphone, by acquiring the connection state information of the earphone connection interface.

In step S102, a connection with the earphone is established by performing an earphone connection control operation, in response to the connection state information indicating that the earphone connection interface is in an unconnected state. That is to say, the connection with the earphone is established by performing the earphone connection control operation when it is known, from the connection state information of the earphone, that the audio play controlling device (for example, the mobile phone) is not connected to the earphone.

In step S103, the played audio data is controlled to be output through the earphone connection interface and playing state information is transmitted to other associated audio play controlling devices synchronously. During the above operations, the audio player can be controlled to perform the audio play operation and the playing state information of the audio player can be transmitted to the other associated audio play controlling device synchronously. For example, a playing state of a device (for example, the mobile phone) which has been connected to the earphone can be synchronized to, for example, the wearable device through application synchronization (AppSync) in a form of application status (AppStatus). In actual applications, various states, including whether the earphone is currently connected to the audio play controlling device such as the mobile phone or the wearable device, which device the earphone is connected to and whether the earphone is worn, can be synchronized to the respective devices.

In some embodiments, the audio play signal described above can include a local audio play signal and an audio play signal acquired via a network.

<FIG> illustrates a flowchart of an audio play controlling method, according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in <FIG>, the audio play controlling method <NUM> in the embodiments of the present disclosure can include operating processes as follows.

In step S201, in response to that the audio playing instruction instructs to acquire the audio data via the network, a corresponding notification message is received to trigger a detection of the connection state of the earphone connection interface before the connection state information of the earphone connection interface is acquired. That is to say, when the audio play signal is the audio play signal (for example, QQ music) through the network, the corresponding notification message is received and thus the detection operation for the connection state of the earphone connection interface is triggered.

The operating processes of steps S202 to S204 illustrated in <FIG> are similar as those of steps S101 to S103, and thus are not described repetitively.

<FIG> illustrates a flowchart of a method for acquiring connection state information of an earphone connection interface included in the audio play controlling method, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in <FIG>, in the method <NUM> for acquiring connection state information of the earphone connection interface, at first, in step S301, instructed audio is played, in response to receiving the audio playing instruction; subsequently, in step S302, the connection state information of the earphone is acquired, in response to detecting that the audio player is in a playing state.

For example, when the user operates to play the audio by the mobile phone, if the mobile phone is connected to the earphone at this time, the audio can be played directly without special processing. However, if the mobile phone is not connected to the earphone, the audio can be usually played at first for the general audio player. At this time, it can be quickly detected that the audio is played, namely, it is detected that the audio player is in the playing state. At this time, the connection state information of the earphone can be acquired according to the detected condition that the audio player is in the playing state.

In some embodiments, the step S301 (that is, instructed audio is played, in response to receiving the audio playing instruction) can include: the instructed audio is played, in response to receiving a mirror audio playing instruction transmitted from the other associated audio play controlling device, and the mirror audio playing instruction is transmitted after the other associated audio play controlling device receives the audio playing instruction.

As such, in some embodiments, the other associated audio play controlling device can transmit the audio playing instruction to the mobile phone through an audio player mirror, in order to instruct the mobile phone to play the audio. For example, when the user is listening the audio by the other associated audio play controlling device (for example, the wearable device), the user can transmit the audio playing instruction to the audio play controlling device (for example, the mobile phone) through the audio player mirror, so that an audio play operation command is transmitted to the audio play controlling device, that is, the mobile phone can be operated to play the audio on the wearable device.

In some embodiments, the step S302 (that is, the connection state information of the earphone is acquired, in response to detecting that the audio player is in a playing state) can include: the connection state information of the earphone is acquired, in response to detect a play synchronization event transmitted from the other associated audio play controlling device.

In some embodiments, the method <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG> can further include:.

<FIG> illustrates a flowchart of a method for acquiring connection state information of an earphone connection interface included in the audio play controlling method, according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in <FIG>, in the method <NUM> for acquiring connection state information of the earphone connection interface, at first, in step S401, an audio play waiting signal is transmitted to make the audio player to be in a standby state, in response to receiving the audio playing instruction. Subsequently, in step S402, the connection state information of the earphone connection interface is acquired, in response to the audio player being in the standby state.

Alternatively, the audio play controlling device described above and the other associated audio play controlling device can be the wearable device and the mobile phone, respectively, and vice versa, and the mobile phone can be one or more mobile phones.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure can have, by performing the audio play controlling method described above, one or more of the following advantages.

In a case that the user listens to the audio through the audio play controlling devices (for example, the mobile phone or the wearable device), when the first audio play controlling device (for example, the mobile phone) is connected to the earphone and the audio is listened to through the earphone, if the user clicks to play an audio on the second audio play controlling device (for example, the wearable device) at the end of the second audio play controlling device, the earphone will switch automatically to the second audio play controlling device and play the audio. In a same way, it is similar when the earphone is switched from the second audio play controlling device to the first audio play controlling device. Therefore, the seamless switching of audio playing among different devices can be realized. Thus, the convenience for the users to listen to the audio by switching the devices is greatly enhanced.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic diagram of a structure of an audio play controlling device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in <FIG>, for example, the device <NUM> can be a mobile phone, a computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a message transceiver, a game console, a tablet, medical equipment, fitness equipment, a personal digital assistant and the like.

Referring to <FIG>, the device <NUM> can include one or more of the following components: a processing component <NUM>, a memory device <NUM>, a power component <NUM>, a multimedia component <NUM>, an audio component <NUM>, an input/output (I/O) interface <NUM>, a sensor component <NUM>, and a communication component <NUM>.

The processing component <NUM> can include one or more processors <NUM> to execute instructions to perform all or part of the steps in the above described methods. Moreover, the processing component <NUM> can include one or more modules which facilitate the interaction between the processing component <NUM> and other components. For instance, the processing component <NUM> can include a multimedia module to facilitate the interaction between the multimedia component <NUM> and the processing component <NUM>.

Examples of such data include instructions for any applications or methods operated on the device <NUM>, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, video, etc. The memory <NUM> can be implemented using any type of volatile or non-volatile memory devices, or a combination thereof, such as a static random access memory (SRAM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), a read-only memory (ROM), a magnetic memory, a flash memory, a magnetic or optical disk.

The power component <NUM> can include a power management system, one or more power sources, and any other components associated with the generation, management, and distribution of power in the device <NUM>.

In some embodiments, the screen can include a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a touch panel (TP). In some embodiments, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) or other types of displays can be employed.

If the screen includes the touch panel, the screen can be implemented as a touch screen to receive input signals from the user. The touch sensors can not only sense a boundary of a touch or swipe action, but also sense a period of time and a pressure associated with the touch or swipe action. The front camera and the rear camera can receive an external multimedia datum while the device <NUM> is in an operation mode, such as a photographing mode or a video mode. Each of the front camera and the rear camera can be a fixed optical lens system or have focus and optical zoom capability.

The audio component <NUM> is configured to output and/or input audio signals. For example, the audio component <NUM> includes a microphone ("MIC") configured to receive an external audio signal when the device <NUM> is in an operation mode, such as a call mode, a recording mode, and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signal can be further stored in the memory <NUM> or transmitted via the communication component <NUM>. In some embodiments, the audio component <NUM> further includes a speaker to output audio signals. The buttons can include, but are not limited to, a home button, a volume button, a starting button, and a locking button.

For instance, the sensor component <NUM> can detect an open/closed status of the device <NUM>, relative positioning of components, e.g., the display and the keypad, of the device <NUM>, the sensor component <NUM> can also detect a change in position of the device <NUM> or a component of the device <NUM>, a presence or absence of user contact with the device <NUM>, an orientation or an acceleration/deceleration of the device <NUM>, and a change in temperature of the device <NUM>. The sensor component <NUM> can include a proximity sensor configured to detect the presence of nearby objects without any physical contact. The sensor component <NUM> can also include a light sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor, for use in imaging applications. In some embodiments, the sensor component <NUM> can also include an accelerometer sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a magnetic sensor, a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.

The communication component <NUM> is configured to facilitate communication, wired or wirelessly, between the device <NUM> and other devices. The device <NUM> can access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as Wi-Fi, <NUM> <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the communication component <NUM> receives a broadcast signal or broadcast associated information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In some embodiments, the communication component <NUM> further includes a near field communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communications. For example, the NFC module can be implemented based on a radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, an infrared data association (IrDA) technology, an ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, a Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

In some embodiments, the device <NUM> can be implemented with one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, or other electronic components, for performing the above described methods.

In some embodiments, there is also provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions, such as the memory <NUM> including instructions, executable by the processor <NUM> in the device <NUM>, for performing the above-described methods. For example, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium can be a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disc, an optical data storage device, and the like.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium enables the mobile terminal to perform the audio play controlling method as illustrated in <FIG> and described in corresponding part of the specification, when the instructions in the storage medium is executed by the processor of the mobile terminal.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic block diagram of a structure of an audio play controlling device, according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in <FIG>, for example, the device <NUM> can be provided as a server. Referring to <FIG>, the device <NUM> includes a processing component <NUM>, which further includes one or more processors), and storage resource represented by a storage <NUM>, for storing instructions, for example, application programs, executable by the processing component <NUM>. The application programs stored in the storage <NUM> can include one or more modules each corresponding to a set of instructions. Further, the processing component <NUM> can be configured to execute the instructions to perform the audio play controlling method as illustrated in <FIG> and described in corresponding part of the specification.

The device <NUM> can also include a power supply <NUM> configured to perform a power management for the device <NUM>, a wired or wireless network interfaces <NUM> configured to connect the device <NUM> to a network, and an input/output interface <NUM>. The device <NUM> can operate the operation methods stored in the storage <NUM>, such as Windows Server™, Mac OS X™, Unix™, Linux™, FreeBSD™, or the like.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic block diagram of a structure of an audio play controlling device, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to <FIG>, the audio play controlling device <NUM> can include an acquisition module <NUM>, an earphone connection control module <NUM> and an audio play controlling module <NUM>. Further, the audio play controlling device <NUM> can include an audio player <NUM>.

The acquisition module <NUM> is configured to acquire connection state information of an earphone connection interface, in response to receiving an audio playing instruction. For example, a user can determine whether an audio play controlling device (for example, a mobile phone) is connected to an earphone from the connection state information of the earphone, by acquiring the connection state information of the earphone connection interface.

The earphone connection control module <NUM> is configured to establish a connection with the earphone by performing an earphone connection control operation in response to the connection state information indicating that the earphone connection interface is in an unconnected state. That is to say, the connection with the earphone is established by performing the earphone connection control operation when it is known from the connection state information of the earphone that the audio play controlling device (for example, the mobile phone) is not connected to the earphone.

The audio play controlling module <NUM> is configured to control played audio data to be output through the earphone connection interface, and transmit playing state information to other associated audio play controlling device synchronously.

During the above operations, the audio player <NUM> can be controlled to perform the audio play operation and the playing state information of the audio player <NUM> can be transmitted to the other associated audio play controlling device synchronously. For example, a playing state of a device (for example, the mobile phone) which has been connected to the earphone can be synchronized to, for example, the wearable device through application synchronization (AppSync) in a form of application status (AppStatus). In actual applications, various states, including whether the earphone is currently connected to the audio play controlling device such as the mobile phone or the wearable device, which device the earphone is connected to and whether the earphone is worn, can be synchronized to the respective devices.

In some embodiments, the acquisition module <NUM> can includes: a receiving sub-module configured to, in response to that the audio playing instruction instructs to acquire the audio data through a network, receive a corresponding notification message to trigger a detection of the connection state of the earphone connection interface before acquiring the connection state information of the earphone connection interface.

In some embodiments, the audio player is further configured to play the instructed audio, in response to receiving a mirror audio playing instruction transmitted from the other associated audio play controlling device, the mirror audio playing instruction is transmitted after the other associated audio play controlling device receives the audio playing instruction.

The acquisition module <NUM> is further configured to acquire the connection state information of the earphone, in response to detecting a play synchronization event transmitted from the other associated audio play controlling device.

In some embodiments, the device <NUM> further includes:.

In some embodiments, the acquisition module <NUM> can further include:.

In some embodiments, the device is applied to the mobile phone or the wearable device; the other associated audio play controlling device is the wearable device, in response to the method being applied to the mobile phone; and the other associated audio play controlling device is the mobile phone, in response to the method being applied to the wearable device. Furthermore, the mobile phone can be one or more mobile phones.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure can have, through the audio play controlling device as shown in <FIG>, one or more of the following advantages.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic block diagram of the audio play controlling device in an application scenario of mobile phone, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in <FIG>, in the application scenario of mobile phone, the mobile phone <NUM> can include an earphone connection controller (EPCC) <NUM>, an audio play controller (APC) <NUM> and an audio player (AP) <NUM>. Alternatively, the mobile phone <NUM> can further include an event bus <NUM>.

When the user operates to play through the mobile phone <NUM>, if the mobile phone is connected to the earphone, the audio is played directly without any special processing. If the mobile phone is not connected to the earphone, for a general audio player, namely, a player for local audio, the audio is usually played at first. The APC <NUM> detects the playing of the audio quickly and then notifies the EPCC <NUM> to connect the earphone. When the mobile phone is connected to the earphone, the Operation System of the mobile phone can switch audio stream to the earphone automatically, and the playing of the audio can also be controlled by the earphone at this time. Regarding the playing of QQ music, for example, a notification message (for example, Intent) is firstly transmitted to the APC <NUM> to notify and make the APC <NUM> to instruct the EPCC <NUM> to connect to the earphone, and after the mobile phone is connected to the earphone, the APC <NUM> can then notify the AP <NUM> to play really. Afterwards, the playing state of the mobile phone is transmitted to the wearable device synchronously.

<FIG> illustrates a schematic block diagram of the audio play controlling device in an application scenario of wearable device, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in <FIG>, in the application scenario of wearable device, the wearable device <NUM> includes an earphone connection controller (EPCC) <NUM>, an audio play controller (APC) <NUM> and an audio player (AP) <NUM>. Alternatively, the wearable device <NUM> can further include an audio player mirror (APM) <NUM>. Alternatively, the wearable device <NUM> can further include an event bus <NUM>. When the user operates to play through the wearable device <NUM>, the wearable device <NUM> can make the mobile phone to play the audio through the audio player mirror (APM) <NUM>, and then notifies the APC <NUM> of the mobile phone in a mode of event via synchronization, the APC <NUM> instructs the EPCC <NUM> to connect to the earphone. Operations of other portions are similar to those in the application scenario illustrated in <FIG>, and will not be described repetitively.

Furthermore, similarly, the mobile phone <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG> can also include an audio play mirror (APM) whose function is similar to that of the audio player mirror (APM) <NUM> shown in <FIG>, and will not be described repetitively.

As such, various embodiments of the present disclosure can have one or more of the following advantages.

When the mobile phone and the earphone of an user are connected with each other and the user listen to the audio, the user can clicks on the wearable device side to play the audio on the wearable device, and the earphone will automatically switch to the wearable device and play the audio. The same is true when switching to the mobile phone. Therefore, the seamless switching of audio playing between the wearable device and the mobile phone can be realized. Thus, the convenience for the users to listen to the audio by switching the devices is greatly enhanced.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure can have, through the audio play controlling device <NUM> described previously, one or more of the following advantages.

In some embodiments, the control and/or interface software or app can be provided in a form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon is further provided. For example, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium can be a ROM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, optical data storage equipment, a flash drive such as a USB drive or an SD card, and the like.

Various modifications of, and equivalent acts corresponding to, the disclosed aspects of the example embodiments, in addition to those described above, can be made by a person of ordinary skill in the art, having the benefit of the present disclosure, without departing from the scope of the disclosure defined in the following claims, the scope of which is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass such modifications and equivalent structures.

It should be understood that "a plurality" or "multiple" as referred to herein means two or more. "And/or," describing the association relationship of the associated objects, indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, A and/or B may indicate that there are three cases where A exists separately, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists separately. The character "/" generally indicates that the contextual objects are in an "or" relationship.

In the present disclosure, it is to be understood that the terms "lower," "upper," "under" or "beneath" or "underneath," "above," "front," "back," "left," "right," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "horizontal," "vertical," and other orientation or positional relationships are based on example orientations illustrated in the drawings, and are merely for the convenience of the description of some embodiments, rather than indicating or implying the device or component being constructed and operated in a particular orientation. Therefore, these terms are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

In the present disclosure, a first element being "on" a second element may indicate direct contact between the first and second elements, without contact, or indirect geometrical relationship through one or more intermediate media or layers, unless otherwise explicitly stated and defined. Similarly, a first element being "under," "underneath" or "beneath" a second element may indicate direct contact between the first and second elements, without contact, or indirect geometrical relationship through one or more intermediate media or layers, unless otherwise explicitly stated and defined.

Claim 1:
An audio play controlling method (<NUM>), comprising:
acquiring (S101) connection state information of an earphone connection interface, in response to receiving an audio playing instruction,
characterized in that the method further comprises:
establishing (S102) a connection with the earphone by performing an earphone connection control operation in response to the connection state information indicating that the earphone connection interface is in an unconnected state;
controlling (S103) played audio data to be output through the earphone connection interface, and transmitting playing state information to another associated audio play controlling device synchronously;
playing the instructed audio, in response to receiving a mirror audio playing instruction transmitted from the other associated audio play controlling device, the mirror audio playing instruction being transmitted after the other associated audio play controlling device receives the audio playing instruction; and
acquiring the connection state information of the earphone, in response to detecting a play synchronization event transmitted from the other associated audio play controlling device.