Ear Presence Detection in Noise Cancelling Earphones

• US 20140146976A1
• Filed: 11/29/2012
• Published: 05/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Rundle, Nicholas A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,344,792 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/71.6
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1083 Reduction of ambient noise active noise reduction per se G10K11/175; protective devices for the ear, e.g. providing acoustic protection A61F11/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/01 Hearing devices using active noise cancellation

Abstract

An electronic device may be coupled to an accessory such as a pair of earphones. The earphones may have noise cancellation features that may be implemented using noise cancellation circuitry in the earphones or in the electronic device. The earphones may have ear presence sensor structures that determine whether speakers in the earphones are present at the ears of a user. In one suitable embodiment, control circuitry in the earphones may be used to adjust noise cancellation circuitry in the earphones based on information from the ear presence sensor structures. For example, the control circuitry may deactivate noise cancellation circuitry in response to receiving information from the ear presence sensor structures indicating that the earphones have been removed from a user'"'"'s ears. In another suitable embodiment, control circuitry in the electronic device may adjust noise cancellation circuitry in the electronic device based on information from the ear presence sensor structures.

Claims

1. Earphones, comprising:

speakers;

noise cancellation circuitry;

ear presence sensor structures; and

control circuitry configured to gather information from the ear presence sensor structures indicating whether the speakers are present at the ears of a user and configured to adjust the noise cancellation circuitry in response to the information from the ear presence sensor structures.

2. The earphones defined in claim 1 further comprising:

speaker housings in which the speakers are mounted, wherein the speaker housings each have a compressible sealing member and wherein the ear presence sensor structures comprise a mechanical switch in at least one of the compressible sealing members.

3. The earphones defined in claim 1 wherein the ear presence sensor structures comprise an accelerometer-based sensor.

4. The earphones defined in claim 1 wherein the ear presence sensor structures comprise light-based sensor structures having at least one light source and at least one light detector.

5. The earphones defined in claim 1 further comprising a battery, wherein the control circuitry is configured to adjust the noise cancellation circuitry to reduce power consumption of the battery.

6. A method for operating a pair of earphones having noise cancellation circuitry and configured to play audio content for a user comprising:

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

in response to the information from the ear presence sensor structures, adjusting the noise cancellation circuitry in the earphones.

7. The method defined in claim 6 wherein the information indicates that the earphones are not present at the ears of the user and wherein adjusting the noise cancellation circuitry comprises deactivating the noise cancellation circuitry in response to determining that the earphones are not present at the ears of the user.

8. The method defined in claim 7 wherein the audio content is played through a pair of speakers, the method further comprising:

adjusting the audio content that is played through the speakers in response to determining that the earphones are not in the ears of the user.

9. The method defined in claim 8 wherein adjusting the audio content that is played through the speakers comprises pausing the audio content that is played through the pair of speakers.

10. The method defined in claim 6 wherein the information indicates that the earphones are present at the ears of the user and wherein adjusting the noise cancellation circuitry comprises activating the noise cancellation circuitry in response to determining that the earphones are present at the ears of the user.

11. The method defined in claim 6 wherein the ear presence sensor structures comprise an accelerometer-based sensor and wherein gathering information from the ear presence sensor structures comprises gathering earphone movement information from the accelerometer-based sensor.

12. An electronic device operable to receive information from ear presence sensor structures in earphones coupled to the electronic device, comprising:

noise cancellation circuitry; and

control circuitry configured to gather information from the ear presence sensor structures indicating whether speakers in the earphones are present at the ears of a user and configured to adjust the noise cancellation circuitry in response to the information from the ear presence sensor structures.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 12 wherein the ear presence sensor structures comprise an accelerometer-based sensor and wherein the control circuitry is configured to gather earphone movement information from the accelerometer-based sensor.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 12 further comprising a battery, wherein the control circuitry is configured to adjust the noise cancellation circuitry to reduce power consumption of the battery.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 12 wherein the control circuitry is configured to adjust audio playback to the earphones based on the information from the ear presence sensor structures.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 12 wherein the control circuitry is configured to pause audio playback to the earphones based on information from the ear presence sensor structures indicating that the speakers in the earphones are not present at the ears of the user.

17. A method for operating an electronic device having noise cancellation circuitry and configured to play audio content for a user 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 present at the ears of the user of the electronic device; and

in response to the information from the ear presence sensor structures, adjusting the noise cancellation circuitry in the electronic device.

18. The method defined in claim 17 wherein the information indicates that the earphones are not present at the ears of the user and wherein adjusting the noise cancellation circuitry comprises deactivating the noise cancellation circuitry in response to determining that the earphones are not present at the ears of the user.

19. The method defined in claim 18 further comprising:

adjusting the audio content that is played through the earphones in response to determining that the earphones are not present at the ears of the user.

20. The method defined in claim 19 wherein adjusting the audio content that is played through the earphones comprises pausing the audio content that is played through earphones.

21. The method defined in claim 17 wherein the information indicates that the earphones are present at the ears of the user and wherein adjusting the noise cancellation circuitry comprises activating the noise cancellation circuitry in response to determining that the earphones are present at the ears of the user.

22. The method defined in claim 17 wherein the ear presence sensor structures comprise an accelerometer-based sensor and wherein gathering information from the ear presence sensor structures comprises gathering earphone movement information from the accelerometer-based sensor.