Electronic devices with orientation sensing

• US 10,484,793 B1
• Filed: 08/24/2016
• Issued: 11/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Peterson, Jonathan R., Sunshine, Daniel D., Hamada, Yohji, Podhajny, Daniel A., Crews, Kathryn P., Minoo, Jahan C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Diaz, Sabrina
• Application Number:
  US15/245,582
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• Field of Search: 381 74, 381309, 381370
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/08 Feature extraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/12 Classification; Matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04144 using an array of force sensing means position sensing using the local deformation of sensor cells G06F3/0447
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/042 by opto-electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0446 using a grid-like structure of electrodes in at least two directions, e.g. using row and column electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0448 Details of the electrode shape, e.g. for enhancing the detection of touches, for generating specific electric field shapes, for enhancing display quality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/045 using resistive elements, e.g. a single continuous surface or two parallel surfaces put in contact
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/20 Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1008 Earpieces of the supra-aural or circum-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/12 for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/033 Headphones for stereophonic communication details thereof, e.g. relating to batteries, cables or control elements H04R1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/04 Circuit arrangements, e.g. for selective connection of amplifier inputs/outputs to loudspeakers, for loudspeaker detection, or for adaptation of settings to personal preferences or hearing impairments combinations of amplifiers H03F3/68; stereophonic systems H04S

Abstract

An electronic device such as a pair of headphones may be provided with left and right speakers for playing audio to a user. Control circuitry in the electronic device may play audio through the speakers in an unreversed configuration in which left channel audio is played through a first of the speakers that is adjacent to a left ear of the user and right channel audio is played through a second of the speakers that is adjacent to a right ear of the user or a reversed configuration in which these channel assignments are reversed. The headphones may have ear cups that house the speakers. Capacitive touch sensors, force sensors, and other sensors on the ear cups may measure ear shapes and finger grip positions on the ear cups to determine whether to operate in the unreversed or reversed configuration. Sensors may gather gestures and other user touch input.

Claims

1. An electronic device that provides content to a user having fingers, comprising:

control circuitry;

ear cups containing speakers, wherein a given one of the ear cups has opposing first and second surfaces and a peripheral surface around a periphery of the given ear cup; and

touch sensors on the peripheral surface of the given ear cup that detect touch input from the fingers of the user, wherein the touch input includes a first touch input on at least one of the touch sensors and a second touch input on the at least one of the touch sensors, wherein the first touch input comprises input from a plurality of the fingers on the at least one touch sensor, wherein the second touch input comprises moving a finger along the at least one touch sensor, wherein the control circuitry plays audio through the ear cups in accordance with left and right channel assignments, wherein the control circuitry determines whether to reverse the left and right channel assignments in response to the first touch input on the given ear cup, and wherein the control circuitry adjusts a volume of the audio in response to the second touch input on the given ear cup.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the control circuitry discriminates between right hand grips and left hand grips on the ear cups using the input from the plurality of the fingers.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 wherein the control circuitry determines whether the ear cups are to be worn by the user in an unreversed or a reversed configuration in response to discriminating between the right and left hand grips.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the control circuitry reverses the left and right channel assignments in response to determining whether the ear cups are to be worn by the user in an unreversed or a reversed configuration.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the control circuitry receives wireless content from external equipment and wherein the control circuitry plays audio for the wireless content through the speakers.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the control circuitry adjusts playback of the audio in response to the second touch input.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6 wherein the ear cups have inner surfaces that rest against ears of the user and wherein the touch sensors further include capacitive touch sensor electrodes on the inner surfaces of the ear cups.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 7 wherein the control circuitry uses data from the capacitive touch sensor electrodes to discriminate between left and right ears.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the capacitive touch sensor electrodes include radially extending electrodes.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the capacitive touch sensor electrodes include ring-shaped electrodes.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the capacitive touch sensor electrodes include a plurality of concentric ring-shaped electrodes and a plurality of overlapping radially extending electrodes.

12. Headphones that play audio for a user having ears, comprising:

left and right ear cups having respective left and right speakers with which the audio is played for the user;

sensors on the left and right ear cups that sense finger positions on the left and right ear cups as the user grips the ear cups during placement of the headphones on the ears of the user, wherein the sensors comprise hybrid touch-force sensors having capacitor electrodes, wherein the hybrid touch-force sensors are configured to measure an applied force and to determine a location of the applied force, wherein a compressible layer is sandwiched between the capacitor electrodes, wherein the compressible layer is compressed in response to the applied force, and wherein the sensors comprise fabric with conductive strands that form the capacitor electrodes for the hybrid touch-force sensors; and

control circuitry that uses the sensed finger positions to adjust a volume of the audio and to select between unreversed and a reversed channel assignment configurations when playing the audio for the user.

13. The headphones defined in claim 12 wherein the control circuitry plays left channel audio through the left speaker and plays right channel audio through the right speaker in the unreversed channel assignment configuration and wherein the control circuitry plays right channel audio through the left speaker and left channel audio through the right speaker in the reversed channel assignment configuration.

14. The headphones defined in claim 13 and wherein the compressible layer is compressed in response to applied force to produce a capacitor increase that is indicative of an amount of applied force.

15. The headphones defined in claim 13 wherein the left and right ear cups have inner surfaces that rest against the ears and wherein the headphones further comprise capacitive touch sensor arrays on the inner surfaces that monitor ear shape to discriminate between left and right ears.

16. The headphones defined in claim 12 and wherein the hybrid touch-force sensors are configured to produce a capacitance increase that is indicative of an amount of applied force.

17. Headphones that are worn by a user, comprising:

speakers;

ear cups, wherein each of the ear cups includes a respective one of the speakers and wherein each of the ear cups has an inner opening and an outer peripheral portion;

control circuitry that plays audio through the speakers in an unreversed configuration in which left channel audio is played through a first of the speakers that is adjacent to a left ear of the user and right channel audio is played through a second of the speakers that is adjacent to a right ear of the user or a reversed configuration in which the right channel audio is played through the first speaker that adjacent to the left ear and the left channel audio is played through the second speaker that is adjacent to the right ear; and

capacitive touch sensors with ring-shaped capacitive touch sensor electrodes located on inner surfaces of the ear cups, wherein each of the ring-shaped capacitive touch sensor electrodes surrounds one of the speakers and wherein the control circuitry selects between the unreversed and the reversed configuration to play audio using the capacitive touch sensors, wherein the ring-shaped capacitive touch sensor electrodes extend from the inner opening to the outer peripheral portion of each of the ear cups, and wherein the ring-shaped capacitive touch sensor electrodes are configured to determine whether the right ear or the left ear is adjacent to one of the ear cups.

18. The headphones defined in claim 17 further comprising additional touch sensors on the ear cups with which the control circuitry measures finger positions as the user grips the ear cups.