PORTABLE HANDS-FREE DEVICE WITH SENSOR

• US 20090124286A1
• Filed: 11/12/2007
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Af Petersens, Henrik, Hellfalk, Johan, Palmgren, Markus
• Application Number:
  US11/938,443
• Publication Number:
  US 20090124286A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/556.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6058 involving the use of a headset accessory device connected to the portable telephone
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H

Abstract

A method may include detecting a stimulus based on a sensor of a peripheral device, determining an operative state of a main device, determining whether the operative state of the main device should be adjusted based on the stimulus, and adjusting at least one of the operative state of the main device or the peripheral device if the stimulus indicates a use of the peripheral device by a user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting a stimulus based on a sensor of a peripheral device;

determining an operative state of a main device;

determining whether the operative state of the main device should be adjusted based on the stimulus; and

adjusting at least one of the operative state of the main device or the peripheral device if the stimulus indicates a use of the peripheral device by a user.

2. The method of claim 1, where the detecting comprises:

detecting the stimulus based on at least one of a capacitance, an inductance, a pressure, a temperature, an illumination, a movement, or an acoustical parameter associated with an earpiece of the peripheral device.

3. The method of claim 1, where the determining the operative state of the main device comprises:

determining whether the main device is receiving a telephone call.

4. The method of claim 3, where the adjusting comprises:

automatically accepting the telephone call without the main device receiving an accept call input from the user if it is determined that the main device is receiving the telephone call.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adjusting the operative state of the main device if the stimulus indicates a non-use of the peripheral device by the user.

6. The method of claim 5, where the adjusting the operative state of the main device if the stimulus indicates a non-use further comprises:

preventing sound from emanating from an earpiece of the peripheral device if auditory information is produced by the main device.

7. The method of claim 6, where the preventing comprises:

preventing sound from emanating from the earpiece by performing at least one of muting the auditory information or pausing an application running on the main device that is producing the auditory information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an operative state of the peripheral device based on a value associated with the stimulus, where the operative state relates to whether the user has one or more earpieces of the peripheral device positioned in a manner corresponding to the user being able to listen to auditory information.

9. A device comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to;

receive a stimulus based on a sensor of a headset,

determine at least one of whether one or more earpieces of the headset are positioned in a manner corresponding to a user being able to listen to auditory information or whether one or more microphones of the headset are being used by the user, and

adjust the operative state of the device if the stimulus indicates the one or more earpieces are positioned in the manner corresponding to the user being able to listen to auditory information.

10. The device of claim 9, where the stimulus comprises a value and the value of the stimulus is based on at least one of a capacitance, an inductance, a pressure, a temperature, light, a movement, or an acoustical impedance and phase, and the value of the stimulus corresponds to the one or more earpieces positioned in the manner corresponding to the user being able to listen to auditory information or the one or more earpieces positioned in a manner corresponding to the user not being able to listen to auditory information.

11. The device of claim 9, where the processor further executes instructions to:

receive an incoming telephone call, and where the instructions to adjust comprise instructions to automatically accept the incoming telephone call without receiving an accept call input from the user.

12. The device of claim 9, where the processor further executes instructions to:

adjust the operative state of the device if the stimulus indicates the one or more earpieces are not positioned in a manner corresponding to the user being able to listen to auditory information.

13. A headset, comprising:

one or more earpieces, where each earpiece of the one or more earpieces includes a sensor to detect a capacitance value, and

where auditory information is prevented from emanating from each earpiece if the capacitance value does not correspond to a capacitance value that indicates a user is utilizing a respective earpiece of the one or more earpieces to receive auditory information.

14. The headset of claim 13, further comprising:

one or more microphones.

15. The headset of claim 14, where the one or more microphones includes a plurality of microphones and the one or more earpieces includes a plurality of earpieces, each microphone of the plurality of microphones being associated with one of the plurality of earpieces, and each microphone of the plurality of microphones is configured to be disabled if the capacitance value does not correspond to a threshold capacitance value.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein the headset is a wireless headset.

17. A computer-readable medium containing instructions executable by at least one processor of a device, the computer-readable medium comprising:

one or more instructions for receiving a stimulus from a peripheral device that includes a sensor;

one or more instructions for determining whether the stimulus indicates whether a user is using the peripheral device; and

one or more instructions for altering an operation of the device if the stimulus indicates that the user is using the peripheral device.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the stimulus relates to at least one of a capacitance, an inductance, a pressure, a temperature, light, a movement, or an acoustical parameter.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

one or more instructions for establishing a wireless connection with the peripheral device, where the peripheral device is a headset; and

one or more instructions for altering the operation of the device if the stimulus value indicates that the user is not using the headset.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the stimulus includes a first stimulus value and a second stimulus value, the computer-readable medium further comprising:

one or more instructions for muting auditory information emanating from a first earpiece of the headset if the first stimulus value indicates that the user does not have the first earpiece contacting the user'"'"'s ear, and allowing auditory information to emanate from a second earpiece of the headset if the second stimulus value indicates that the user does have the second earpiece contacting the user'"'"'s ear.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising:

one or more instructions for pausing a media player of the device if the first stimulus value associated with the first earpiece and the second stimulus value associated with the second earpiece indicate that the user is not using either the first earpiece or the second earpiece.