Earphones with ear presence sensors

• US 9,986,353 B2
• Filed: 03/03/2017
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Puskarich, Paul G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): McKinney, Angelica M
• Application Number:
  US15/449,404
• Publication Number:
  US 20170180898A1
• Time in Patent Office: 452 Days
• 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. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing configured to be placed in a user'"'"'s ear;

a speaker mounted in the housing;

a touch sensor on the housing;

a microphone in the housing; and

a light-based sensor attached to the housing, wherein the light-based sensor comprises a light source and a light detector, wherein light emitted by the light source is reflected off of the user'"'"'s ear and onto the light detector, and wherein audio playback through the speaker is paused in response to an amount of light that is reflected off of the user'"'"'s ear and onto the light detector.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1, further comprising:

storage and processing circuitry that includes at least one integrated circuit in the housing.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the light-based sensor detects whether the user'"'"'s ear is present adjacent to the housing by measuring the amount of the light that is reflected off of the user'"'"'s ear and onto the light detector.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3, wherein audio playback through the speaker is resumed in response to the light-based sensor detecting that the user'"'"'s ear is present adjacent to the housing.

5. An earphone configured to receive input from a user, the earphone comprising:

a housing;

a speaker in the housing;

storage and processing circuitry that includes at least one integrated circuit in the housing;

an input component in the housing that receives the input from the user and that adjusts audio playback through the speaker based on the input;

a microphone in the housing;

a light-based sensor in the housing, the light-based sensor comprising a light source that emits light onto the user and a light detector that receives at least a portion of the light that is reflected off of the user; and

a mechanical sensor in the housing, wherein audio playback through the speaker is adjusted based on sensor data from the mechanical sensor and the light that is reflected off of the user and received by the light detector.

6. The earphone defined in claim 5, wherein the input component is a touch sensor.

7. The earphone defined in claim 5, further comprising:

an additional microphone in the housing, wherein at least one of the microphone and the additional microphone gathers voice input.

8. The earphone defined in claim 5, wherein the storage and processing circuitry pauses audio playback through the speaker in response to determining that the earphone is not in the ear of the user.

9. The earphone defined in claim 5, wherein the storage and processing circuitry initiates audio playback through the speaker in response to determining that the earphone is in the ear of the user.

10. Earphones comprising:

a speaker;

storage and processing circuitry comprising at least one integrated circuit;

a touch sensor that receives user input, wherein the touch sensor is a capacitive touch sensor, and wherein the storage and processing circuitry adjusts audio playback through the speaker in response to the user input;

a light-based sensor comprising a light source that emits light onto a user'"'"'s ear and a light detector that receives at least a portion of the light that is reflected off of the user'"'"'s ear; and

a mechanical sensor, wherein audio playback through the speaker is adjusted based on sensor data from the mechanical sensor and the light that is reflected off of the user'"'"'s ear and received by the light detector.

11. The earphones defined in claim 10, further comprising:

a housing in which the speaker, the storage and processing circuitry, the touch sensor, the light-based sensor, and the mechanical sensor are mounted.

12. The earphones defined in claim 11, further comprising:

first and second microphones mounted in the housing.