Patents by Inventor Thomas GIRARDIER

Thomas GIRARDIER has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240114290
    Abstract: Various arrangements for managing a plurality of multimedia communication links in a point-to-multipoint Bluetooth network established between a source device and a plurality of sink devices are presented. An initial set of values of configuration parameters respectively related to each sink device of the plurality of sink devices can be determined. An initial value of a maximum bandwidth usage parameter related to the point-to-multipoint Bluetooth network can be determined. A new set of values of the configuration parameters different from the initial set of values can be determined. The new set of values may be determined to allocate bandwidth usage values between the plurality of multimedia communication links without exceeding the value of the maximum bandwidth usage parameter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2023
    Publication date: April 4, 2024
    Applicant: Google LLC
    Inventors: Julien Goupy, Thomas Girardier, Nicolas Guezellot Prudhomme
  • Publication number: 20240094982
    Abstract: Audio rendering devices comprising at least one audio rendering unit for playing audio streams, processing circuit and a wireless communication unit for establishing wireless links and related method are disclosed. One audio rendering device is configured to receive a remote audio stream prioritization policy comprising one or more lists of associations between audio stream attributes and priority values, update a local audio stream prioritization policy based on the remote audio stream prioritization policy, identify audio streams available via wireless links, retrieve audio stream attributes of the available audio streams, select an available audio stream to be played among the available audio streams, based on the updated local audio stream prioritization policy and based on the audio stream attributes of the available audio streams, and play the selected audio stream, by the audio rendering unit of the audio rendering device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2023
    Publication date: March 21, 2024
    Applicant: Google LLC
    Inventors: Florian Denis, Thomas Girardier
  • Patent number: 11889281
    Abstract: A method for managing a plurality of multimedia communication links in a point-to-multipoint Bluetooth network established between a source device and a plurality of sink devices, the method comprising: determining a new set of values of the configuration parameters upon: —receiving a request for adding a new sink device to the plurality of sink devices of the point-to-multipoint Bluetooth network, or —receiving a request for changing a value of a configuration parameter related to a sink device of the plurality of sink devices, or —determining an updated value of the maximum bandwidth usage parameter, wherein the new set of values is determined to allocate data rates between the plurality of multimedia communication links without exceeding the value of the maximum bandwidth usage parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Julien Goupy, Thomas Girardier, Nicolas Guezellot Prudhomme
  • Patent number: 11875085
    Abstract: Audio rendering devices comprising at least one audio rendering unit for playing audio streams, processing circuit and a wireless communication unit for establishing wireless links and related method are disclosed. One audio rendering device is configured to receive a remote audio stream prioritization policy comprising one or more lists of associations between audio stream attributes and priority values, update a local audio stream prioritization policy based on the remote audio stream prioritization policy, identify audio streams available via wireless links, retrieve audio stream attributes of the available audio streams, select an available audio stream to be played among the available audio streams, based on the updated local audio stream prioritization policy and based on the audio stream attributes of the available audio streams, and play the selected audio stream, by the audio rendering unit of the audio rendering device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Florian Denis, Thomas Girardier
  • Publication number: 20240007792
    Abstract: Various arrangements for controlling multiple wireless audio devices with a Bluetooth device are presented herein. The Bluetooth device can receive a wireless audio device identifier from each wireless audio device of a plurality of wireless audio devices. The Bluetooth device can duplicate an audio stream into multiple audio sub-streams based on a number of wireless audio devices. The Bluetooth device can apply an audio effect to at least one audio sub-stream based on a characteristic of communication signals between the wireless communication circuit of the Bluetooth device and each wireless device of the plurality of wireless audio devices. The Bluetooth device can transmit each audio sub-stream to the respective wireless audio device for synchronized emission.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2023
    Publication date: January 4, 2024
    Applicant: Google LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Girardier, Julien Goupy, Vincent Nallatamby
  • Patent number: 11832066
    Abstract: A method and multimedia device for calibrating audio delays of an audio system with wireless loudspeakers are disclosed. The method allows to emulate surround or 3D sound systems with spatially distributed wireless loudspeakers. A first probe signal for audio playback, having a first audio pattern, is transmitted by a loudspeaker. A signal quality is determined by listening to an acoustic response of the loudspeaker to the first probe signal. A second audio pattern is determined by modifying the first audio pattern based on the signal quality. A second probe signal for audio playback having the second audio pattern is transmitted by the loudspeaker. An audio delay compensation is then determined for the loudspeaker based on a measure of an audio delay between the transmitted second probe signal and an acoustic response of the loudspeaker in response to the second probe signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: William Escande, Thomas Girardier
  • Publication number: 20230367817
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and machine-readable media facilitate voice distribution. A wireless, bidirectional audio link with each auxiliary device of a plurality of auxiliary devices may be established and simultaneously managed. A first audio signal comprising a first vocal message may be received as input. A third audio signal may be simultaneously received with receipt of the first audio signal. The third audio signal may include a third vocal message that is different from the first vocal message and a second vocal message. The first audio signal may be buffered with a first input buffer of a control device while the third audio signal is buffered with a second input buffer of the control device. Simultaneous bidirectional translation of the first vocal message and the third vocal message may be performed. The second audio signal including a second vocal message may be provided as output.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2023
    Publication date: November 16, 2023
    Applicant: Google LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Girardier, Julien Goupy, Etienne Ruffieux
  • Patent number: 11800284
    Abstract: A Bluetooth device controlling a plurality of wireless audio devices, includes: a wireless communication circuit, to receive a wireless audio device identifier from each wireless audio device; a sound processing circuit to apply independent audio effects on a main audio stream such that the sound processing circuit outputs as many modified audio streams as the wireless communication circuit has received identifiers of wireless audio devices, on the basis of the characteristics of each wireless audio device; an allocation circuit to allocate each modified audio stream to a respective wireless audio device; and a transmission circuit to wirelessly transmit through a Bluetooth usage each modified audio stream to the respective wireless audio device for emission by the wireless audio devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Girardier, Julien Goupy, Vincent Nallatamby
  • Publication number: 20230319479
    Abstract: The description relates to a device (CTRL-DEV) for controlling a dual-mode Bluetooth low energy multimedia device (DM-BLE), the dual-mode BLE multimedia device comprising a first sound system (SS1) and a second sound system (SS2) which are arranged to simultaneously stream an input multimedia stream, the first and second sound systems being respectively associated with at least one first Bluetooth multimedia device (SPK1, SPK2, SPKN) and at least one Bluetooth multimedia device (BLE-SPK1, BLE-SPK2, BLE-SPKN). The description also refers to a dual-mode Bluetooth low energy multimedia device (DM-BLE?), a method, a computer program and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2023
    Publication date: October 5, 2023
    Applicant: Google LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Girardier, Julien Goupy, Nicolas Guezellot Prudhomme
  • Patent number: 11755653
    Abstract: A control device of voice distribution including: at least one voice processing module arranged to—receive as input an audio signal including a first vocal message, and—provide as output an audio signal including a second vocal message, the first and second vocal messages being different one from the other and the second vocal message resulting from a processing of the first vocal message; a communication module arranged to establish and simultaneously manage a wireless, bidirectional and audio link with each one of a plurality of auxiliary devices, each link being connected to the input and/or the output of at least one voice processing module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Girardier, Julien Goupy, Etienne Ruffieux
  • Publication number: 20230217225
    Abstract: A Bluetooth audio streaming passthrough, and a method for transmitting an audio stream over a Bluetooth communication link and disclosed. The method is carried out by a source device. An audio codec configuration and a sampling rate of the audio stream are received, the audio stream coming from a streaming application running on the source device. A Bluetooth audio stream between the source device and a sink device is configured using the received audio codec configuration and sampling rate. The first audio stream is received from the streaming application. The received first audio stream is packetized into the Bluetooth audio stream. The Bluetooth audio stream is transmitted to the sink device over the Bluetooth communication link, including the packetized received audio stream.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2023
    Publication date: July 6, 2023
    Applicant: Google LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Girardier, Antoine Soulier
  • Patent number: 11696075
    Abstract: Methods and systems for optimizing a routing of audio data to audio transmitting devices using a Bluetooth network are disclosed. One method includes receiving an encoded audio bitstream at a first speaker of the audio rendering system comprising a first and a second audio channels, separating a first set of spectral components of the first audio channel and a second set of spectral components of the second audio channel from the encoded audio bitstream, without decoding the audio bitstream, generating a first encoded bitstream from the first set of spectral components, and forwarding the first encoded bitstream to a second speaker of the audio rendering system over the wireless link.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Antoine Soulier, Thomas Girardier
  • Publication number: 20230185521
    Abstract: Audio rendering devices comprising at least one audio rendering unit for playing audio streams, processing circuit and a wireless communication unit for establishing wireless links and related method are disclosed. One audio rendering device is configured to receive a remote audio stream prioritization policy comprising one or more lists of associations between audio stream attributes and priority values, update a local audio stream prioritization policy based on the remote audio stream prioritization policy, identify audio streams available via wireless links, retrieve audio stream attributes of the available audio streams, select an available audio stream to be played among the available audio streams, based on the updated local audio stream prioritization policy and based on the audio stream attributes of the available audio streams, and play the selected audio stream, by the audio rendering unit of the audio rendering device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2023
    Publication date: June 15, 2023
    Applicant: Google LLC.
    Inventors: Florian Denis, Thomas Girardier
  • Patent number: 11659333
    Abstract: The description relates to a device (CTRL-DEV) for controlling a dual-mode Bluetooth low energy multimedia device (DM-BLE), the dual-mode BLE multimedia device comprising a first sound system (SS1) and a second sound system (SS2) which are arranged to simultaneously stream an input multimedia stream, the first and second sound systems being respectively associated with at least one first Bluetooth multimedia device (SPK1, SPK2, SPKN) and at least one Bluetooth multimedia device (BLE-SPK1, BLE-SPK2, BLE-SPKN). The description also refers to a dual-mode Bluetooth low energy multimedia device (DM-BLE?), a method, a computer program and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Girardier, Julien Goupy, Nicolas Guezellot Prudhomme
  • Publication number: 20230069230
    Abstract: In the present disclosure a method is proposed for switching from a first Bluetooth audio source to a second Bluetooth audio source in a user experience friendly manner, e.g. reducing latency. The method is performed by an audio rendering system comprising a primary wireless speaker and a secondary wireless speaker. The audio rendering system receives a first audio stream from the first audio source by using a first audio topology comprising a first set of wireless links. Upon receiving a request to switch to a second audio stream using a second audio topology, a second set of wireless links is established; and, the reception of the second audio stream starts while maintaining the audio rendering system and the first audio source connected by a wireless link of the first set of wireless links. The wireless speaker(s) can be a wireless earbud, a bookshelf speaker, a floor speaker, an outdoor speaker, a subwoofer, a headset speaker.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2021
    Publication date: March 2, 2023
    Applicant: Google LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Girardier, Florian Denis
  • Patent number: 11595800
    Abstract: A Bluetooth audio streaming passthrough, and a method for transmitting an audio stream over a Bluetooth communication link and disclosed. The method is carried out by a source device. An audio codec configuration and a sampling rate of the audio stream are received, the audio stream coming from a streaming application running on the source device. A Bluetooth audio stream between the source device and a sink device is configured using the received audio codec configuration and sampling rate. The first audio stream is received from the streaming application. The received first audio stream is packetized into the Bluetooth audio stream. The Bluetooth audio stream is transmitted to the sink device over the Bluetooth communication link, including the packetized received audio stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Girardier, Antoine Soulier
  • Patent number: 11593064
    Abstract: Audio rendering devices comprising at least one audio rendering unit for playing audio streams, processing circuit and a wireless communication unit for establishing wireless links and related method are disclosed. One audio rendering device is configured to receive a remote audio stream prioritization policy comprising one or more lists of associations between audio stream attributes and priority values, update a local audio stream prioritization policy based on the remote audio stream prioritization policy, identify audio streams available via wireless links, retrieve audio stream attributes of the available audio streams, select an available audio stream to be played among the available audio streams, based on the updated local audio stream prioritization policy and based on the audio stream attributes of the available audio streams, and play the selected audio stream, by the audio rendering unit of the audio rendering device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Florian Denis, Thomas Girardier
  • Patent number: 11516272
    Abstract: A method of synchronizing sub-systems each including a master device and at least one slave device connected to the master device via Bluetooth for playback by the at least one slave device of audio data. The method includes collecting respective internal latency data of the sub-systems, determining, based on the internal latency data of the plurality of sub-systems, respective delays to be applied by the sub-systems between reception of the audio data and playback of the audio data by the slave devices of the sub-system, and, by each sub-system, applying the corresponding delay for playback of the audio data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Girardier, Julien Goupy, Matthieu Guesnerot
  • Publication number: 20220301567
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a relay device (30) of a wireless network (10), said wireless network comprising a plurality of network nodes mutually connected by wireless links, wherein said relay device (30) is configured to: —receive an input signal from a source node (20) connected to the wireless network, said input signal comprising a voice command received by a microphone of the source node, said voice command to be processed by a voice assistant;—determine, based on the input signal, a recipient voice assistant (40) connected to the wireless network and adapted for processing said voice command; —transmit, towards the recipient voice assistant (40), an output signal comprising the voice command. The present disclosure relates also to a voice assistant (40) and to a wireless network (10), and to methods for processing voice commands by a relay device (30) and a voice assistant (40).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2020
    Publication date: September 22, 2022
    Inventors: Thomas Girardier, Vincent Nallatamby
  • Publication number: 20220295205
    Abstract: A method and multimedia device for calibrating audio delays of an audio system with wireless loudspeakers are disclosed. The method allows to emulate surround or 3D sound systems with spatially distributed wireless loudspeakers. A first probe signal for audio playback, having a first audio pattern, is transmitted by a loudspeaker. A signal quality is determined by listening to an acoustic response of the loudspeaker to the first probe signal. A second audio pattern is determined by modifying the first audio pattern based on the signal quality. A second probe signal for audio playback having the second audio pattern is transmitted by the loudspeaker. An audio delay compensation is then determined for the loudspeaker based on a measure of an audio delay between the transmitted second probe signal and an acoustic response of the loudspeaker in response to the second probe signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2022
    Publication date: September 15, 2022
    Inventors: William Escande, Thomas Girardier