Audio system

• US 8,275,143 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2006
• Issued: 09/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AMERICA
• Original Assignee: AMERICA
• Inventors: Johnson, Eleanor
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Minh-Loan T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Erdem, Fazli
• Application Number:
  US12/084,178
• Publication Number:
  US 20090290720A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,160 Days
• Field of Search: 381/74, 381/80, 381/371, 381/71, 381/72, 381/370, 381/384
• US Class Current: 381/74
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1025 Accumulators or arrangements for charging secondary cells per se H01M10/00; charging in general H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/033 Headphones for stereophonic communication details thereof, e.g. relating to batteries, cables or control elements H04R1/10

Abstract

An audio system comprises at least one pair of wireless headphones having an active operating mode and an inactive operating mode, the at least one pair of headphones comprising a solid-state audio player, a rechargeable battery, means for connecting to a computer, means for charging the battery, and a motion sensor, wherein the motion sensor detects movement of the headphones and causes headphones to be put into inactive mode when no motion is detected for a certain period of time and causes headphones to be put back into active mode when motion is detected.

Claims

1. An audio system comprising:

at least one pair of wireless headphones having an active mode and an inactive mode, the at least one pair of headphones including a solid-state audio player, a power source, a controller, means for connecting to a computer, and means for detecting movement of the headphones,

wherein the controller causes the headphones to be put into inactive mode when no movement is detected for a certain period of time and, when movement is detected, the controller causes the headphones to be put back into active mode and further causes the audio player to rewind for the period of time during which no movement was detected.

2. An audio system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the audio player uses a compression algorithm selected from the group comprising MP3, WMA, and AAC.

3. An audio system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the inactive mode is a sleep mode.

4. An audio system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for detecting movement is a motion sensor.

5. An audio system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the motion sensor is a vibration sensor.

6. An audio system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the motion sensor is a tilt sensor.

7. An audio system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the controller is a microprocessor.

8. An audio system as claimed in claim 1 further including computer software for downloading audio files to the audio player of the or each pair of headphones.

9. An audio system as claimed in claim 8 wherein the computer software automatically connects to the internet and automatically downloads audio files.

10. An audio system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for connecting to a computer is a USB cable.

11. An audio system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the means for connecting to a computer is via wireless transmission.

12. An audio system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the power source is a rechargeable battery and the at least one pair of headphones further includes means for charging the battery.

13. An audio system as claimed in claim 12 wherein the means for charging the battery is a USB cable connected to a computer.

14. An audio system as claimed in claim 12 wherein the means for charging the battery is a base unit that includes means for connecting the base unit to a power supply and means for connecting at least one pair of headphones to the base unit.

15. An audio system as claimed in claim 1 further including a remote control console that includes a wireless transmitter for transmitting signals to the at least one pair of headphones and a power source, the at least one pair of headphones further including a wireless receiver.

16. An audio system as claimed in claim 15 wherein the power source is a rechargeable battery.

17. An audio system as claimed in claim 15 wherein the at least one pair of headphones further comprising a wireless transmitter and the remote control console further comprising a wireless receiver.

18. An audio system as claimed in claim 15 wherein the remote control console further includes a display screen.

19. An audio system as claimed in claim 15 wherein the remote control console further comprising a solid-state audio player, a loud speaker, and means for connecting to a computer.

20. An audio system as claimed in claim 15 wherein the wireless transmitter is a radio frequency transmitter and the wireless receiver is a radio frequency receiver.

21. An audio system as claimed in claim 15 wherein the wireless transmitter is an infra red transmitters and the wireless receiver is an infra red receiver.

22. An audio system as claimed in claim 15 wherein the at least one pair of headphones has a console operating mode and a local operating mode and the system comprising means for switching between the console and local operating modes.

23. An audio system as claimed in claim 22 wherein the remote control console is used to remotely control the at least one pair of headphones set to operate in console operating mode.

24. An audio system as claimed in claim 15 wherein the remote control console includes a microphone and a record function.