Earbud devices with capacitive sensors

• US 10,728,646 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2018
• Issued: 07/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Mohammadi, Saeed, Shui, Tao
• Primary Examiner(s): Gay, Sonia L
• Application Number:
  US15/933,090
• Publication Number:
  US 20190297408A1
• Time in Patent Office: 859 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/962 Capacitive touch switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/9622 using a plurality of detectors, e.g. keyboard
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/960755 Constructional details of capacitive touch and proximity switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 2217/960765 Details of shielding arrangements
• 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

Abstract

An earbud may have a housing with an ear portion and an elongated out-of-ear portion that protrudes away from the ear portion. A speaker may be aligned with a speaker port in the ear portion and may emit sound for a user. Audio playback functions and other operations may be controlled using a controller in the earbud. The controller may gather capacitive sensor data and other data and may use this data in identifying an operating mode of the earbud. Using information such as whether the earbud is in an in-ear state or an out-of-ear state or other sensor data, the controller may take actions such as pausing or resuming audio playback or adjusting playback volume. The capacitive sensor data can be gathered using capacitive sensing electrodes located on the ear portion and the stalk portion of the earbud.

Claims

1. An earbud, comprising:

a housing having an ear portion and an out-of-ear portion that protrudes from the ear portion;

a controller; and

capacitive sensing circuitry coupled to the controller, wherein the capacitive sensing circuitry includes;

ear electrodes in the ear portion; and

out-of-ear electrodes in the out-of-ear portion, wherein the capacitive sensing circuitry is configured to produce ear sensor data from the ear electrodes and out-of-ear sensor data from the out-of-ear electrodes, wherein the out-of-ear electrodes are uncovered when the earbud is located in a user'"'"'s ear, and wherein the controller is configured to determine an operating state of the earbud based on the ear sensor data and the out-of-ear sensor data, and wherein the out-of-ear sensor data serves as reference data that is substracted from the ear sensor data.

2. The earbud defined in claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to determine the operating state of the earbud by applying a classification process to the ear sensor data and the out-of-ear sensor data.

3. The earbud defined in claim 2 wherein the controller is configured to determine whether the operating state of the earbud is an in-ear operating state or an in-finger operating state by applying the classification process to the ear sensor data and the out-of-ear sensor data.

4. The earbud defined in claim 3 further comprising a speaker in the ear portion, wherein the controller is configured to pause audio playback with the speaker in response to detecting that the operating state changed from the in-ear operating state to the in-finger operating state.

5. The earbud defined in claim 4 further comprising a flexible printed circuit extending along an interior surface of a wall of the housing, wherein the flexible printed circuit includes metal traces forming the ear electrodes and the out-of-ear electrodes.

6. The earbud defined in claim 5 wherein the flexible printed circuit further comprises a ground electrode.

7. The earbud defined in claim 6 wherein the flexible printed circuit further comprises an active shield electrode.

8. The earbud defined in claim 7 wherein the active shield electrode is interposed between the ground electrode and the metal traces.

9. The earbud defined in claim 7 wherein the capacitive sensing circuitry comprises a capacitive sensor integrated circuit and wherein at least a portion of the ground electrode is interposed between the capacitive sensor integrated circuit and the active shield electrode.

10. The earbud defined in claim 5 wherein the interior surface is curved and wherein the flexible printed circuit is wrapped at least partly about an axis.

11. The earbud defined in claim 1 wherein the ear electrodes and the out-of-ear electrodes extend across all of the housing including the ear portion and the out-of-ear portion.

12. An earbud operable in an operating state, comprising:

a housing having an ear portion configured to be received in an ear and having an elongated out-of-ear portion that protrudes from the ear portion and that extends along a longitudinal axis;

a speaker in the ear portion that is configured to emit sound through a speaker port opening in the ear portion;

ear capacitive sensing electrodes in the ear portion;

out-of-ear capacitive sensing electrodes in the out-of-ear portion that wrap around the longitudinal axis; and

control circuitry configured to determine the operating state by classifying capacitive sensor data from the ear capacitive sensing electrodes and the out-of-ear capacitive sensing electrodes, wherein the control circuitry determines that the operating state is an in-ear operating state when the ear capacitive sensing electrodes are contacted and the out-of-ear capacitive sensing electrodes are uncontacted.

13. The earbud defined in claim 12 further comprising:

wireless communications circuitry configured to receive audio data to play with the speaker; and

a flexible printed circuit that conforms to an inner surface of the housing, wherein the out-of-ear capacitive sensing electrodes are formed on the flexible printed circuit.

14. The earbud defined in claim 13 wherein the ear capacitive sensing electrodes are formed on the flexible printed circuit.

15. The earbud defined in claim 14 further comprising an active shield and a ground on the flexible printed circuit, wherein at least some of the active shield is interposed between the ground and the out-of-ear capacitive sensing electrodes.

16. The earbud defined in claim 15 wherein at least some of the active shield is interposed between the ground and the ear capacitive sensing electrodes.

17. The earbud defined in claim 15 wherein the control circuitry includes a capacitive sensor integrated circuit coupled to the ear capacitive sensing electrodes and the out-of-ear capacitive sensing electrodes.

18. The earbud defined in claim 15 wherein the flexible printed circuit has a single common active shield for all of the ear capacitive sensing electrodes and out-of-ear capacitive sensing electrodes.

19. The earbud defined in claim 12 wherein the control circuitry is configured to pause audio playback with the speaker in response to determine the operating state has transitioned from the in-ear operating state to an out-of-ear operating state.

20. The earbud defined in claim 12 further comprising a non-capacitive-sensing sensor, wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine the operating state using data from the non-capacitive sensing sensor.

21. An earbud, comprising:

a housing having an ear portion and an elongated out-of-ear portion that protrudes from the ear portion;

a speaker in the ear portion that is aligned with a speaker port opening in the ear portion;

capacitive sensing electrodes that include first electrodes in the ear portion and second electrodes in the out-of-ear portion, wherein the first electrodes produce first capacitive sensor data and the second electrodes produce second capacitive sensor data; and

control circuitry configured to determine an operating state of the earbud at least partly by subtracting the second capacitive sensor data from the first capacitive sensor data, wherein the second electrodes are uncovered when the operating state is an in-ear operating state.

22. The earbud defined in claim 21 further comprising a flexible printed circuit wrapped about an axis, wherein the flexible printed circuit has metal traces configured to form the first and second electrodes.

23. The earbud defined in claim 22 wherein the metal traces include an active shield electrode on the flexible printed circuit and a ground electrode on the flexible printed circuit, wherein the active shield electrode is interposed between the ground electrode and the first and second electrodes and wherein the control circuitry is configured to detect finger touch gestures on the out-of-ear portion using the second electrodes.

24. The earbud defined in claim 21 further comprising a non-capacitive-sensing sensor, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to determine the operating state using non-capacitive-sensing sensor data from the non-capacitive-sensing sensor.