Intelligent switching between air conduction speakers and tissue conduction speakers

• US 10,097,912 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2015
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Anderson, Glen J., Brotman, Ryan S., Raffa, Giuseppe, Weast, John C., Lake, Daniel S., Vembar, Deepak S., Durham, Lenitra M., Jackson, Brad
• Primary Examiner(s): Jerez Lora, William A
• Application Number:
  US14/671,645
• Publication Number:
  US 20160286299A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• Field of Search: 381 231, 381 60, 381123, 381124, 381312, 381325, 381380
• 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 1/26 Spatial arrangements of separate transducers responsive to two or more frequency ranges
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/107 Monophonic and stereophonic headphones with microphone for two-way hands free communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/43 Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/61 Aspects relating to mechanical or electronic switches or control elements, e.g. functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/01 Hearing devices using active noise cancellation
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/03 Aspects of the reduction of energy consumption in hearing devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/13 Hearing devices using bone conduction transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/353 Frequency, e.g. frequency shift or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/55 using an external connection, either wireless or wired
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/606 acting directly on the eardrum, the ossicles or the skull, e.g. mastoid, tooth, maxillary or mandibular bone, or mechanically stimulating the cochlea, e.g. at the oval window

Abstract

Systems and methods may provide for determining a usage configuration of a wearable device and setting an activation state of an air conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration. Additionally, an activation state of a tissue conduction speaker of the wearable device may be set based at least in part on the usage configuration. In one example, the usage configuration is determined based on a set of status signals that indicate one or more of a physical position, a physical activity, a current activation state, an interpersonal proximity state or a manual user request associated with one or more of the air conduction speaker or the tissue conduction speaker.

Claims

1. A wearable device comprising:

an air conduction speaker;

a tissue conduction speaker; and

logic, implemented in one or more of configurable logic hardware or fixed-functionality logic hardware, to;

determine a usage configuration of the wearable device,

set an activation state of the air conduction speaker based at least in part on the usage configuration, and

set an activation state of the tissue conduction speaker based at least part on the usage configuration,

the wearable device further including one or more sensors, wherein the usage configuration is to be determined based on a set of status signals from the one or more sensors that indicate a physical position, a physical activity, a current activation state, an interpersonal proximity state and a manual user request associated with one or more of the air conduction speaker or the tissue conduction speaker.

2. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the logic is to determine an attribute of an audio signal associated with the wearable device, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on an attribute.

3. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on one or more of a power condition or an ambient noise condition associated with the wearable device.

4. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the logic is to set an optimization state of the tissue conduction speaker based on the usage configuration.

5. The wearable device of claim 4, wherein the optimization state is to be one or more of a music-specific optimization state or a voice-specific optimization state.

22. The wearable device of claim 1, wherein the interpersonal proximity state is to be related to a proximity to another individual or another device.

6. An apparatus comprising:

logic, implemented in one or more of configurable logic hardware or fixed-functionality logic hardware, to;

determine a usage configuration of a wearable device,

set an activation state of an air conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration, and

set an activation state of a tissue conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least part on the usage configuration,

wherein the usage configuration is to be determined based on a set of status signals that indicate a physical position, a physical activity, a current activation state, an interpersonal proximity state and a manual user request associated with one or more of the air conduction speaker or the tissue conduction speaker.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the logic is to determine an attribute of an audio signal associated with the wearable device, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on an attribute.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on one or more of a power condition or an ambient noise condition associated with the wearable device.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the logic is to set an optimization state of the tissue conduction speaker based on the usage configuration.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the optimization state is to be one or more of a music-specific optimization state or a voice-specific optimization state.

11. A method comprising:

determining a usage configuration of a wearable device;

setting an activation state of an air conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration; and

setting an activation state of a tissue conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration,

wherein the usage configuration is determined based on a set of status signals that indicate a physical position, a physical activity, a current activation state, an interpersonal proximity state and a manual user request associated with one or more of the air conduction speaker or the tissue conduction speaker.

12. The method of claim 11, further including determining an attribute of an audio signal associated with the wearable device, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are set further based on an attribute.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are set further based on one or more of a power condition or an ambient noise condition associated with the wearable device.

14. The method of claim 11, further including setting an optimization state of the tissue conduction speaker based on the usage configuration.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the optimization state is one or more of a music-specific optimization state or a voice-specific optimization state.

16. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to:

determine a usage configuration of a wearable device;

set an activation state of an air conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration; and

set an activation state of a tissue conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration,

wherein the usage configuration is to be determined based on a set of status signals that indicate a physical position, a physical activity, a current activation state, an interpersonal proximity state and a manual user request associated with one or more of the air conduction speaker or the tissue conduction speaker.

17. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the apparatus to determine an attribute of an audio signal associated with the wearable device, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on an attribute.

18. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on one or more of a power condition or an ambient noise condition associated with the wearable device.

19. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the apparatus to set an optimization state of the tissue conduction speaker based on the usage configuration.

20. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the optimization state is to be one or more of a music-specific optimization state or a voice-specific optimization state.

21. A wearable device comprising:

an air conduction speaker;

a tissue conduction speaker; and

logic, implemented at least partly in one or more of configurable logic hardware or fixed-functionality logic hardware, to;

determine a usage configuration of the wearable device,

set an activation state of the air conduction speaker based at least in part on the usage configuration, and

set an activation state of the tissue conduction speaker based at least part on the usage configuration,

the wearable device further including one or more sensors, wherein the usage configuration is to be determined based on a set of status signals from the one or more sensors that indicate at least an interpersonal proximity state associated with one or more of the air conduction speaker or the tissue conduction speaker.