US 12,015,900 B2
Swapping roles between untethered wirelessly connected devices
Sriram Hariharan, San Jose, CA (US); Ganesha Adkasthala Ganapathi Batta, San Jose, CA (US); Tad J. Dreier, Castro Valley, CA (US); Christopher S. Wiebe, Cupertino, CA (US); Ashley N. Saulsbury, Los Gatos, CA (US); Duy N. Phan, San Jose, CA (US); David J. Shaw, Ramona, CA (US); Robert D. Watson, Menlo Park, CA (US); and Augustin Prats, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 4, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/657,947.
Application 17/657,947 is a continuation of application No. 17/011,958, filed on Sep. 3, 2020, granted, now 11,297,453.
Application 17/011,958 is a continuation of application No. 16/162,200, filed on Oct. 16, 2018, granted, now 10,771,908, issued on Sep. 8, 2020.
Application 16/162,200 is a continuation of application No. 15/136,714, filed on Apr. 22, 2016, granted, now 10,142,750, issued on Nov. 27, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0232333 A1, Jul. 21, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04R 29/00 (2006.01); H04R 1/10 (2006.01); H04R 5/033 (2006.01)
CPC H04R 29/001 (2013.01) [H04R 1/1041 (2013.01); H04R 1/1016 (2013.01); H04R 1/1025 (2013.01); H04R 5/033 (2013.01); H04R 2420/03 (2013.01); H04R 2420/05 (2013.01); H04R 2420/07 (2013.01); H04R 2460/03 (2013.01); H04R 2460/17 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
by a wireless ear bud:
responsive to detecting a trigger event, performing a role swap to change a configured role of the wireless ear bud,
wherein:
the wireless ear bud connects directly with a companion device when in a primary role,
the wireless ear bud receives data indirectly from the companion device when in a secondary role, and
the role swap is performed in a coordinated manner when the wireless ear bud has a wireless connection to a second wireless ear bud and is otherwise performed in an uncoordinated manner.