Earpiece with source selection within ambient environment

• US 10,063,957 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2017
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bragi GmbH
• Original Assignee: Bragi GmbH
• Inventors: Boesen, Peter Vincent, Dragicevic, Darko
• Primary Examiner(s): Anwah, Olisa
• Application Number:
  US15/804,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20180132030A1
• Time in Patent Office: 295 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/012 Head tracking input arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1016 Earpieces of the intra-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1083 Reduction of ambient noise active noise reduction per se G10K11/175; protective devices for the ear, e.g. providing acoustic protection A61F11/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1091 Details not provided for in groups H04R1/1008 - H04R1/1083
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones

Abstract

A wireless earpiece includes a wireless earpiece housing, at least one microphone for detecting ambient environment sound, and a processor disposed within the wireless earpiece housing, the processor configured to distinguish between two or more sources of sound within the ambient environment sound. The wireless earpiece further includes a user interface operatively connected to the processor. The processor is configured to receive user input through the user interface to select one of the sources of sound within the ambient environment sound and wherein the processor is configured to process the ambient environment sound to emphasize portions of the ambient environment sound generated by the one of the sources of the ambient environment sound selected by the user to produce a modified sound. The earpiece may further include a speaker operatively connected to the processor to reproduce the modified sound.

Claims

1. A method for performing source selection within an ambient environment using a wireless earpiece comprising an earpiece housing, a processor disposed within the earpiece housing, at least one microphone operative connected to the processor, and at least one speaker operatively connected to the processor, the method comprising steps of:

detecting ambient environment sound using the at least one microphone;

processing the ambient environment sound at the processor to distinguish between two or more sources of sound within the ambient environment sound;

receiving a selection of one of the sources of sound from a user of the earpiece via a user interface operatively connected to the processor;

selecting a different source of sound from the two or more sources of sound within the ambient environment sound in response to a denial of the selection of one of the sources of sound by the user;

processing the ambient environment sound to emphasize portions of the ambient environment sound generated by the one of the sources of sound selected by the user to produce a modified sound; and

producing the modified sound at the at least one speaker.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the processing of the ambient environment sound at the processor to distinguish between two or more sources of sound is performed using a feature extraction algorithm for extracting different features of the ambient environment sound.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the wireless earpiece further comprises an inertial sensor operatively connected to the processor and wherein the step of receiving the selection of one of the sources of sound from the user of the earpiece is performed using the inertial sensor.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the processing of the ambient environment sound at the processor to distinguish between two or more sources of sound within the ambient environment sound comprises segmenting the ambient environment sound into different sources using a segmentation algorithm.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the selection of one of the sources of sound from the user comprises a non-contact gesture.