PRESSURE SENSING EARBUDS AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR THE USE THEREOF

• US 20130083933A1
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Published: 04/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Aase, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 9,042,588 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/58
• 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 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/01 Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/03 Synergistic effects of band splitting and sub-band processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/15 Determination of the acoustic seal of ear moulds or ear tips of hearing devices

Abstract

Pressure sensing earbuds and systems are disclosed. The earbuds can include one or more pressure sensors to determine the size and shape of a user'"'"'s ear. The pressure signals can be relayed back to a processor, which may use them to dynamically optimize the volume levels delivered for frequencies over the audible range for a particular user.

Claims

1. An earbud, comprising:

a housing comprising an outer surface;

a plurality of pressure sensors integrated within the housing such that the pressure sensors do not extend beyond the outer surface, each pressure sensor comprising;

an elastomeric material; and

first and second contacts disposed adjacent to the elastomeric material, the first and second contacts forming a closed circuit via the elastomeric material when the elastomeric material receives an applied pressure that exceeds a predetermined threshold.

2. The earbud of claim 1, wherein the elastomeric material is a quantum tunneling composite.

3. The earbud of claim 1, wherein the first and second contacts are laser etched structures.

4. The earbud of claim 1, wherein the elastomeric material has first and second sides, and the first and second contacts are disposed on the first side.

5. The earbud of claim 1, wherein the elastomeric material has first and second sides, and wherein the first contact is disposed on the first side and the second contact is disposed on the second side.

6. The earbud of claim 1, wherein the housing further comprises a plurality of recessed cutouts, and wherein the pressure sensors of the plurality of pressure sensors are mounted in the recessed cutouts.

7. The earbud of claim 6, wherein the elastomeric material fills in the recessed cutouts and forms part of the outer surface.

8. The earbud of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a non-occluding member.

9. The earbud of claim 1, wherein the first and second contacts of at least one earbud extend from the outer surface to an inner surface of the housing.

10. An audio system, comprising:

a headset, comprising;

at least one earbud; and

a plurality of pressure sensors integrated in the at least one earbud, each pressure sensor operative to provide a signal; and

a processor electrically coupled to the headset and operative to;

receive signals from the plurality of pressure sensors; and

determine a size of a user'"'"'s ear.

11. The audio system of claim 10, wherein the headset is a wireless headset.

12. The audio system of claim 10, wherein the headset is a wired headset.

13. The audio system of claim 10, wherein the at least one earbud is a non-occluding earbud.

14. The audio system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further operative to:

adjust a volume profile of audio signals being provided to the at least one earbud based on the determined size.

15. The audio system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further operative to:

determine whether the at least one earbud is in the user'"'"'s ear; and

control playback of media based on the determination of whether the at least one earbud is in the user'"'"'s ear.

16. The audio system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further operative to cease playback of media when it is determined that the at least one earbud is not in the user'"'"'s ear.

17. The audio system of claim 10, wherein a library of reference aural profiles is stored in at least one of a memory and storage, each reference ear profile having at least an associated ear size and frequency response.

18. The audio system of claim 17, wherein the processor is further operative to:

compare the user'"'"'s ear size to ear sizes in the plurality of reference aural profiles;

determine which ear size in the plurality of reference aural profiles best fits the user'"'"'s ear size; and

select the aural profile associated with the ear size in the plurality of reference ear sizes that best fits the user'"'"'s ear size.

19. The audio system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further operative to automatically adjust volume levels over a plurality of frequency ranges based at least on the frequency response associated with the selected aural profile.

20. The audio system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further operative to adjust volume levels over a plurality of frequency ranges based at least on the frequency response associated with the selected aural profile and an input command from a user.

21. A method for using pressure sensing earbuds, comprising:

receiving a plurality of pressure signals from a plurality of pressure sensors integrated into at least one earbud;

converting the plurality of pressure signals into an ear size;

selecting an aural profile from a plurality of aural profiles based on the ear size, wherein the aural profile comprises;

an ear size; and

a frequency response; and

optimizing volume levels of an audio signal provided to at least one earbud based on a frequency response associated with the selected aural profile.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein selecting an aural profile comprises:

comparing the converted ear size to the ear sizes of a plurality of aural profiles;

determining which ear size of the plurality of aural profiles best fits the converted ear size; and

selecting the aural profile associated with the ear size of the plurality of aural profiles that best fits the converted ear size.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein optimizing volume levels comprises changing amplitude of the audio signal for a predetermined frequency range.

24. A method for using pressure sensing earbuds, comprising:

measuring a plurality of pressure signals from a plurality of pressure sensors integrated into at least one earbud;

measuring a frequency response with a microphone;

creating an aural profile based on the plurality of pressure signals and the measured frequency response.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein measuring the frequency response comprises playing back, using the at least one earbud, an audio file that spans a plurality of frequencies.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising storing the aural profile into a database of aural profiles.