Earpiece with biometric identifiers

• US 10,460,095 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2017
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bragi GmbH
• Original Assignee: Bragi GmbH
• Inventors: Boesen, Peter Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): Poltorak, Piotr
• Application Number:
  US15/719,378
• Publication Number:
  US 20180096120A1
• Time in Patent Office: 761 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/06 Decision making techniques; Pattern matching strategies
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• 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 2225/55 Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones

Abstract

A method of verifying an identity of a user using a set of earpieces includes communicating a first sound toward a tympanic membrane of the left ear, communicating a second sound toward a tympanic membrane of the right ear, receiving reflected sounds from an ear canal of the left ear, receiving reflected sounds from an ear canal of the right ear, comparing acoustic properties of the reflected sounds with acoustic properties stored in a memory device, and verifying the identity of the user if the acoustic properties of the reflected sounds match the stored acoustic properties.

Claims

1. A method of verifying an identity of a user using a set of earpieces comprising a left earpiece and a right earpiece, the method comprising:

transducing sound at a speaker of the left earpiece to direct the sound towards a left external auditory canal of the user;

receiving reflected sound at a microphone of the left earpiece, the microphone of the left earpiece positioned to receive reflections from the sound transduced at the speaker of the left earpiece and reflected from the left external auditory canal of the user;

transducing sound at a speaker of the right earpiece to direct the sound towards a right external auditory canal of the user;

receiving reflected sound at a microphone of the right earpiece, the microphone of the right earpiece positioned to receive reflections from the sound transduced at the speaker of the right earpiece and reflected from the right external auditory canal of the user;

processing the reflected sound received at the microphone of the left earpiece to determine a property of the left external auditory canal of the user and processing the reflected sound received at the microphone of the right earpiece to determine a property of the right external auditory canal of the user;

determining if both the property of the left external auditory canal of the user and the property of the right external auditory canal of the user match known properties for a user identity and if so, verifying the identity of the user;

wherein the reflected sound received at the microphone of the left earpiece is conveyed to the processor disposed in the left earpiece over a magnetic inductance linkage between the left earpiece and the right earpiece;

wherein the sound transduced at the speaker of the left earpiece is based on a sound signal generated at the left earpiece which includes one or more randomized components;

wherein the sound transduced at the speaker of the right earpiece is based on a sound signal generated at the left earpiece which includes one or more randomized components and wherein the sound signal is communicated from the left earpiece to the right earpiece over the magnetic inductance linkage between the right earpiece and the left earpiece; and

wherein the sound transduced at the speaker of the left earpiece is different from the sound transduced at the speaker of the right earpiece.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the processing the reflected sound received at the microphone of the left earpiece to determine the property of the left external auditory canal of the user and processing the reflected sound received at the microphone of the right earpiece to determine the property of the right external auditory canal of the user.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the sound at the speaker of the left earpiece includes frequencies above 20 kHz and wherein the sound at the speaker of the right earpiece includes frequencies above 20 kHz.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein left earpiece comprises data storage and wherein the known properties for a user identity are stored within the data storage.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising further verifying the identity of the user based on comparison of a voice sample of the user with metrics associated with a voice sample associated with the user identity.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising further verifying the identity of the user by sensing heart rate data of the user using one or more sensors of the left earpiece or the right earpiece, determining heart rate variability using the heart rate data, and determining that the heart rate variability substantially matches stored heart rate variability data associated with the user identity.

7. A method of verifying an identity of a user using a set of earpieces comprising a left earpiece and a right earpiece, the method comprising:

transducing sound at a speaker of the left earpiece to direct the sound towards a left external auditory canal of the user;

receiving reflected sound at a microphone of the left earpiece, the microphone of the left earpiece positioned to receive reflections from the sound transduced at the speaker of the left earpiece and reflected from the left external auditory canal of the user;

transducing sound at a speaker of the right earpiece to direct the sound towards a right external auditory canal of the user;

receiving reflected sound at a microphone of the right earpiece, the microphone of the right earpiece positioned to receive reflections from the sound transduced at the speaker of the right earpiece and reflected from the right external auditory canal of the user;

processing the reflected sound received at the microphone of the left earpiece to determine a property of the left external auditory canal of the user and processing the reflected sound received at the microphone of the right earpiece to determine a property of the right external auditory canal of the user;

determining if both the property of the left external auditory canal of the user and the property of the right external auditory canal of the user match known properties for a user identity and if so, verifying the identity of the user;

wherein the reflected sound received at the microphone of the right earpiece is conveyed to the processor disposed in the left earpiece over a magnetic inductance linkage between the left earpiece and the right earpiece;

wherein the sound transduced at the speaker of the right earpiece is based on a sound signal generated at the right earpiece which includes one or more randomized components;

wherein the sound transduced at the speaker of the left earpiece is based on a sound signal generated at the right earpiece which includes one or more randomized components and wherein the sound signal is communicated from the right earpiece to the left earpiece over the magnetic inductance linkage between the left earpiece and the right earpiece; and

wherein the sound transduced at the speaker of the left earpiece is different from the sound transduced at the speaker of the right earpiece.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the processing the reflected sound received at the microphone of the left earpiece to determine the property of the left external auditory canal of the user and processing the reflected sound received at the microphone of the right earpiece to determine the property of the right external auditory canal of the user.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the sound transduced at the speaker of the left earpiece is based on a sound signal generated at the left earpiece which includes one or more randomized components.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the sound at the speaker of the left earpiece includes frequencies above 20 kHz and wherein the sound at the speaker of the right earpiece includes frequencies above 20 kHz.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein left earpiece comprises data storage and wherein the known properties for a user identity are stored within the data storage.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising further verifying the identity of the user based on comparison of a voice sample of the user with metrics associated with a voice sample associated with the user identity.

13. The method of claim 7 further comprising further verifying the identity of the user by sensing heart rate data of the user using one or more sensors of the left earpiece or the right earpiece, determining heart rate variability using the heart rate data, and determining that the heart rate variability substantially matches stored heart rate variability data associated with the user identity.