Method and apparatus for communication between hearing assistance devices in a bluetooth network
AssigneeStarkey Laboratories, Inc.
InventorJeffrey Paul Solum
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hearing assistance system provides for wireless communication between hearing assistance devices that are in a Bluetooth connection with a host device. In various embodiments, during a Bluetooth connection interval, one or more time slots are used for communication between the host device and one or more of the hearing assistance devices, while one or more additional time slots are reserved for communication between the hearing assistance devices.
Claims20
A system including a master device and a plurality of slave devices, the system comprising:
- a first hearing assistance device configured to be a first slave device of the plurality of slave devices, to perform wireless communication with the master device using a Bluetooth protocol during one or more first time slots in a Bluetooth connection interval, and to perform wireless communication with a second slave device of the plurality of slave devices during one or more second time slots of the Bluetooth connection interval, the one or more second time slots non-overlapping with the one or more first time slots.
A system including a master device and a plurality of slave devices each configured to communicate with the master device using a Bluetooth protocol during one or more first time slots in a Bluetooth connection interval, the system comprising:
- a first hearing assistance device configured to be a first slave device of the plurality of slave devices and to perform wireless communication with a second slave device of the plurality of slave devices during one or more second time slots of the Bluetooth connection interval the one or more second time slots non-overlapping with the one or more first time slots,
- wherein the first hearing assistance device is configured to perform the wireless communication with the second slave device using the Bluetooth protocol or a proprietary protocol.
A method for wireless communication in a hearing assistance system including a master device and a plurality of slave devices each configured to communicate with the master device via a Bluetooth wireless communication link, the method comprising:
- configuring a first hearing assistance device to function as a first slave device of the plurality of slave devices;
- performing wireless communication between the first hearing assistance device and the master device using a Bluetooth protocol during one or more first time slots in a Bluetooth connection interval;
- and
- performing wireless communication between the first hearing assistance device and a second slave device of the plurality of slave devices during one or more second time slots of the Bluetooth connection interval, the one or more second time slots non-overlapping with the one or more first time slots.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.