Earphones with Ear Presence Sensors

• US 20140016803A1
• Filed: 07/12/2012
• Published: 01/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Puskarich, Paul G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,648,409 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/309
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/01 Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/001 for loudspeakers H04R29/007 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/007 Protection circuits for transducers
• 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 may be coupled to an accessory such as a pair of earphones. The earphones may have ear presence sensor structures that determine whether or not the ears of a user are present in the vicinity of the earphones. The earphones may contain first and second speakers. When both the first and second speakers are located in the ears of the user, the electronic device may perform functions such as playing audio content. When one of the speakers has been removed from the ears of the user while the other of the speakers remains in the ears of the user, the electronic device can take actions such as pausing the playback of audio content, switching from stereo to monophonic playback, or stopping the playback of content. Suitable actions such as increasing audio drive strength may be taken when both speakers have been removed from the ears.

Claims

1. A method for operating an electronic device that is configured to play audio through a pair of earphones, comprising:

with control circuitry in the electronic device, gathering information from ear presence sensor structures in the earphones on whether the earphones are in the ears of a user of the electronic device; and

in response to the information from the ear presence sensor structures, adjusting audio playback from the control circuitry to the earphones.

2. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

playing stereo audio for the user with the earphones, wherein adjusting the audio playback comprises switching to a monophonic audio playback mode.

3. The method defined in claim 2 further comprising:

playing audio using a first audio signal strength when the earphones are in the ears of the user, wherein adjusting the audio playback comprises playing the audio using a second audio signal strength that is greater than the first audio signal strength.

4. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the information indicates that the earphones are not in the ears of the user and wherein adjusting the audio playback comprises adjusting an audio signal strength provided to the earphones in response to determining that the earphones are not in the ears of the user.

5. The method defined in claim 1 wherein adjusting the audio playback comprises adjusting audio signal strength provided to the earphones in response to the information from the ear presence sensor structures, the method further comprising:

playing audio using a stereo audio playback mode when the earphones are in the ears of the user, wherein adjusting the audio playback further comprises playing the audio using a monophonic audio playback mode.

6. The method defined in claim 1 wherein gathering the information comprises gathering information from conductive electrodes in the earphones.

7. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the earphones include first and second earbuds and wherein adjusting the audio playback comprises:

playing audio using a monophonic audio playback mode the information indicates that the first earbud in the earphones is not in an ear of the user and the second earbud is in the ear of the user; and

playing audio using a stereo audio playback mode the information indicates that the first earbud in the earphones is in an ear of the user and the second earbud is in the ear of the user.

8. The method defined in claim 7 wherein gathering the information comprises measuring capacitance signals using conductive electrodes in the earphones.

9. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the earphone has a first earphone unit and a second earphone unit, wherein the information indicates that the first earphone unit is in the ears of the user and that the second earphone unit is not in the ears of the user, and wherein adjusting the audio playback comprises pausing the audio playback in response to determining that the second earphone unit has been removed from the ears of the user.

10. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the earphone has a first earphone unit and a second earphone unit, wherein the information indicates that the first earphone unit is in the ears of the user and that the second earphone unit is not in the ears of the user, and wherein adjusting the audio playback comprises stopping the audio playback in response to determining that the second earphone unit has been removed from the ears of the user.

11. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the earphones include first and second earbuds and wherein the information indicates that the second earbud has been removed from the ears of the user while the first earbud remains in the ears of the user, the method further comprising playing audio using the first and second earbuds when both the first and second earbuds are in the ears of the user, wherein adjusting the audio playback comprises:

in response to determining that the second earbud has been removed from the ears of the user while the first earbud remains in the ears of the user, pausing playback of the audio.

12. An electronic device accessory, comprising:

an audio connector that is adapted to mate with an audio connector in an electronic device;

a cable coupled to the audio connector;

left and right earphone housings;

left and right speaker drivers coupled to the cable, wherein the left speaker driver is mounted in the left earphone housing and wherein the right speaker driver is mounted in the right earphone housing; and

ear presence sensor structures attached to the left and right earphone housings.

13. The electronic device accessory defined in claim 12 wherein the ear presence sensor structures attached to the left and right earphone housings each include a first electrode and a second electrode.

14. The electronic device accessory defined in claim 13 wherein the first and second electrodes include conductive mesh and wherein the conductive mesh is configured to allow sound from the left and right speaker drivers to pass through the conductive mesh.

15. The electronic device accessory defined in claim 13 wherein the first and second electrodes comprise capacitive sensor electrodes.

16. The electronic device accessory defined in claim 12 wherein the ear presence sensor structures comprise light-based sensor structures having at least one light source and at least one light detector.

17. The electronic device accessory defined in claim 12 wherein the ear presence sensor structures comprise force sensors.

18. The electronic device accessory defined in claim 12 wherein the ear presence sensor structures comprise ultrasonic acoustic sensors.

19. A method for operating a pair of headphones having speaker housings, comprising:

with ear presence sensor structures on the speaker housings, determining whether ears of a user are present adjacent to the speaker housings; and

adjusting audio playback to speakers in the speaker housings in response to determining whether the ears of the user are present adjacent to the speaker housings.

20. The method defined in claim 19 wherein the speaker housings include a left housing that has a left speaker and a left ear presence sensor and a right housing that has a right speaker and a right ear presence sensor and wherein determining whether the ears of the user are present adjacent to the speaker housings comprises determining that the right. speaker is in the ears of the user while the left speaker is out of the ears of the user.

21. The method defined in claim 19 wherein the ear presence sensor structures include conductive mesh, the method further comprising producing sound from the speakers that passes through the conductive mesh.

22. The method defined in claim 19 wherein the speaker housings include a left housing that has a left speaker and a left ear presence sensor and a right housing that has a right speaker and a right ear presence sensor and wherein the left housing includes a first supplemental speaker and wherein the right housing includes a second supplemental speaker, the method further comprising:

playing audio through the first and second supplemental speakers and through the left speaker and the right speaker in response to determining with the ear presence sensor structures that the ears of the user are not adjacent to the speaker housings.

23. The method defined in claim 22 wherein playing the audio comprises playing the audio in a first frequency range through the left speaker and the right speaker and playing the audio in a second frequency range that is higher than the first frequency range through the first and second supplemental speakers.