Smart headphone

• US 10,511,910 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2018
• Issued: 12/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Ma, Xitong, Duan, Ran, Geng, Lihua
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan S
• Assistant Examiner(s): McKinney, Angelica M
• Application Number:
  US16/021,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20190052964A1
• Time in Patent Office: 537 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/698 for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1091 Details not provided for in groups H04R1/1008 - H04R1/1083
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/103 Combination of monophonic or stereophonic headphones with audio players, e.g. integrated in the headphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2400/01 Transducers used as a loudspeaker to generate sound aswell as a microphone to detect sound
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/01 Input selection or mixing for amplifiers or loudspeakers for hearing aids H04R25/43
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/03 Aspects of the reduction of energy consumption in hearing devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/027 Spatial or constructional arrangements of microphones, e.g. in dummy heads
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/033 Headphones for stereophonic communication details thereof, e.g. relating to batteries, cables or control elements H04R1/10

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a smart headphone. The smart headphone includes a sensor configured to sense external information, a memory configured to store feature information, and a controller operatively connected to the sensor and the memory, respectively, and the controller is configured to compare the external information sensed by the sensor with the feature information stored in the memory, and to control a playback state of audio information in the smart headphone according to the result of the comparison.

Claims

1. A smart headphone, comprising:

a sensor configured to sense external information;

a memory configured to store feature information; and

a controller operatively connected to the sensor and the memory, respectively, and configured to compare the external information sensed by the sensor with the feature information stored in the memory, and configured to control a playback state of audio information in the smart headphone according to a result of the comparison,

wherein the sensor comprises a sound sensor and an image sensor, and the feature information comprises sound feature information and face feature information,

wherein the controller is further configured to compare external sound information sensed by the sound sensor with the sound feature information stored in the memory; and

wherein when the controller determines that the external sound information contains sound matching information that matches the sound feature information, the controller is configured to control the smart headphone to stop the playback of the audio information or to play back the audio information,

wherein when the controller determines that the external sound information contains the sound matching information that matches the sound feature information, the image sensor is configured to sense external image information, and the controller is further configured to compare the external image information sensed by the image sensor with the face image feature information stored in the memory;

wherein when the controller determines that the external image information sensed by the image sensor contains face image matching information that matches the face image feature information stored in the memory, the controller is configured to control the smart headphone to stop the playback of the audio information; and

wherein when the controller determines that the external image information sensed by the image sensor does not contain the face image matching information that matches the face image feature information stored in the memory, the controller is further configured to control the smart headphone to play back the audio information.

2. The smart headphone according to claim 1, wherein the sound sensor comprises a plurality of sound sub-sensors arranged on top of the smart headphone in a circular manner, the plurality of sound sub-sensors being configured to sense the external sound information omnidirectionally;

the image sensor is arranged on top of the smart headphone, and is configured to sense the external image information omnidirectionally; and

wherein when the controller determines that the external sound information contains the sound matching information that matches the sound feature information, the controller is further configured to determine a sound source location according to volumes of the sound matching information respectively sensed by the plurality of sound sub-sensors; and

further configured to control the image sensor to sense the external image information at the sound source location, according to the determined the sound source location.

3. The smart headphone according to claim 2, wherein the sound sub-sensors are microphones, and the image sensor is a panoramic camera.

4. The smart headphone according to claim 2, wherein the sensor further comprises a distance sensor;

wherein when the controller determines that the sensed external image information contains the face image matching information that matches the stored face image feature information, the distance sensor is configured to sense, according to the face image matching information determined by the controller, a relative distance between a person corresponding to the face image matching information and a user of the smart headphone, and the controller is configured to judge whether the relative distance sensed by the distance sensor is within a preset distance range;

wherein when the controller determines that the relative distance is within the preset distance range, the controller is further configured to control the smart headphone to stop the playback of the audio information; and

wherein when the controller determines that the relative distance exceeds the preset distance range, the controller is further configured to control the smart headphone to play back the audio information.

5. The smart headphone according to claim 4, wherein the distance sensor is an infrared detector, and the infrared detector is arranged within any of earpieces of the smart headphone.

6. The smart headphone according to claim 2, wherein the controller is further configured to modulate the external sound information sensed by the plurality of sound sub-sensors according to the sound source location of the sound matching information determined by the controller, and to transmit the modulated external sound information to a user'"'"'s ears.

7. The smart headphone according to claim 1,

wherein when the controller determines that the sensed external image information contains the face image matching information that matches the stored face image feature information, the controller is further configured to determine, according to the face image matching information, whether a relative location between a person corresponding to the face image matching information and a user of the smart headphone is within a preset location range;

wherein when the controller determines that the relative location is within the preset location range, the controller is further configured to control the smart headphone to stop the playback of the audio information; and

wherein when the controller determines that the relative location exceeds the preset location range, the controller is further configured to control the smart headphone to play back the audio information.