Automatic Pairing Of A Telephone Peripheral Unit And An Interface Unit

System for audio communication comprising:

• a peripheral unit and an interface unit, wherein the peripheral unit comprises a microphone and a speaker, and the peripheral unit is connectable to a telephone via the interface unit, the interface unit having a unique interface unit device address, and the peripheral unit having a unique peripheral unit device address, wherein the peripheral unit and the interface unit are mutually connectable via a wireless communication link for audio communication, and wherein the system further comprises pairing routine for pairing the peripheral unit and the interface unit to establish the wireless communication link, and wherein the peripheral unit and the interface unit are mutually connectable via a detachable wired communication link for auxiliary data, and that the pairing routine are automatic, the automatic pairing routine comprising:
• a link detection routine for detecting an established wired communication link between the peripheral unit and the interface unit,
• address exchange routine adapted to exchange the peripheral unit device address and/or the interface unit device address via the wired communication link between the peripheral unit and the interface unit when said link has been established, and
• a static personal identification number PIN for use during pairing, the PIN being shared between the interface unit and the peripheral unit,
• the system further comprising a secondary peripheral unit in addition to the first peripheral unit, the first peripheral unit being the primary peripheral unit, wherein the secondary peripheral unit comprises a microphone and a speaker, and the secondary peripheral unit is connectable to the telephone via the interface unit, the secondary peripheral unit having a unique device address, wherein the secondary peripheral unit and the interface unit are connectable both via a wireless communication link for audio communication and via a wired communication link for auxiliary data, the wired communication link being detachable, and wherein the interface unit is adapted to be simultaneously connectable to both the primary peripheral unit and the secondary peripheral unit by the primary wireless communication link and the secondary wireless communication link, and wherein the automatic pairing routine is further adapted for pairing the secondary peripheral unit and the interface unit to establish the secondary wireless communication link by a secondary pairing, the link detection being adapted to detect the state of the primary and secondary wired communication link,
• the address exchange routine being adapted to exchange the unique device addresses via the secondary wired link, and
• the static personal identification number PIN being shared between the interface unit and the primary and secondary peripheral units for use also during the secondary pairing.

Interface unit for connecting a telephone peripheral unit for audio communication to a telephone, wherein both the interface unit and the peripheral unit have unique device addresses, the interface unit having a telephone side and a peripheral unit side, and wherein the interface unit on the telephone side comprises telephone connection routine for relaying audio communication between the peripheral unit and the telephone, and wherein the interface unit on the peripheral unit side comprises:

• wired connection for connecting the interface unit to a peripheral unit,
• wireless connection for connecting the interface unit to a peripheral unit, the wireless connection being adapted for providing a wireless communication link for audio communication, the wireless connection comprising:
• a pairing list for containing device addresses of peripheral units with which the interface unit is allowed to establish a wireless connection, and
• a connection list for containing addresses of currently connected peripheral units, wherein only peripheral units present in the pairing list may be present in the connection list, and wherein the wired connection are adapted for providing a wired communication link for auxiliary data, and that the interface unit further comprises:
• an automatic pairing routine for pairing the interface unit with a peripheral unit when the wired connection is established between the two units, the automatic pairing routine comprising:
• link detection routine for detecting the establishment of a wired communication link between the interface unit and a peripheral unit,
• device address exchanging routine for transmitting the interface unit device address to the connected peripheral unit and/or for receiving the peripheral unit device address from the connected peripheral unit over the wired communication link,
• a static personal identification number PIN for use during pairing, the PIN being shared between at least the connected peripheral unit and the interface unit, wherein the wireless connection is adapted for providing at least a first and a second wireless communication link for audio communication, the first link being a primary link and the second link being a secondary link, the interface unit further comprising:
• a secondary pairing list for containing device addresses of peripheral units with which the interface unit is allowed to establish a secondary link,
• a secondary connection list for containing addresses of currently connected secondary peripheral units, wherein only peripheral units present in the secondary pairing list may be present in the secondary connection list, wherein
• the automatic pairing routine is further adapted for pairing the interface unit with a second peripheral unit as a secondary pairing when the wired connection is established between the interface unit and the second peripheral unit.

Method for automatic pairing of a telephone peripheral unit and an interface unit for connecting the peripheral unit to a telephone, wherein the peripheral unit and the interface unit are adapted for being communicatively connected via a wireless communication link, characterised in that the peripheral unit and the interface unit are furthermore adapted for being communicatively connected via a wired communication link so that at a given time one unit may function as a sending unit and the other unit may function as a recipient unit, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) detecting establishment of a wired communication link between the peripheral unit and the interface unit,
• b) determining if the peripheral unit and the interface unit have a common pairing, in which case the method ends, otherwise
• c) transferring a device address over the wired communication link from a sending unit, the sending unit being either the peripheral unit or the interface unit, to a recipient unit, the recipient unit being the other of the peripheral unit or the interface unit,
• d) initiating a conventional pairing procedure from the recipient unit for pairing the recipient unit with the sending unit,
• e) upon detection of a second peripheral unit being connected to the interface unit, determining if the interface unit has no previous primary pairing with a first peripheral unit, then a primary pairing is performed between the second peripheral unit and the interface unit according to any of the preceding claims, and connecting the interface unit and the second peripheral unit via a second wireless communication link, or
• f) if the first peripheral unit is connected to the interface unit via a first wireless communication link, determining if a telephone call is currently in progress via the first wireless communication link, then
• g) performing a secondary pairing between the interface unit and the second peripheral unit to connect the interface unit and the second peripheral unit via a second wireless communication link, and transmitting the telephone call simultaneously over both the first and second wireless communication link, or
• h) in case no telephone call is currently in progress via the first wireless communication link, depending on a user choice, either breaking the current primary pairing and performing a new primary pairing between the interface unit and the second peripheral unit, or performing a secondary pairing between the interface unit and the second peripheral unit and connecting the interface unit and the second peripheral unit via a second wireless communication link.