Headset with accelerometers to determine direction and movements of user head and method
First Claim
1. An audio headset system, comprisinga pair of earpieces free of mechanical supporting connection between each other, each earpiece including a speaker configured to provide audio output, and a housing, the speaker mounted with respect to the housing, the housing configured for positioning with respect to an ear of a user to direct audio output from the speaker to the ear;
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a processor configured to;
process the acceleration information from the pair of accelerometers by normalizing the acceleration information from a first accelerometer of the pair of accelerometers with a second accelerometer of the pair of accelerometers, thereby obtaining acceleration information of the audio headset system in one plane, andcalculate a direction of rotation of the pair of earpieces in the one plane based on the acceleration information of the audio headset in the one plane, and the amount of the rotation, wherein the direction and amount of rotation is representative of angular motion of the head of the user.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An audio headset system for a mobile phone or other audio player includes a pair of earpieces, each including a speaker in a housing and configured to provide audio output, the housing configured for positioning with respect to a user'"'"'s ear to direct audio output to the ear; and a pair of accelerometers configured to provide acceleration information representative of acceleration of the respective earpieces, wherein together the acceleration information provided from both accelerometers is representative of angular motion in a horizontal plane of the head of a user. The angular motion may be used as inputs to carry out functions of the mobile phone, e.g., to provide sound adjustments for three dimensional stereophonic sound, to provide navigation information to a user, to play games, and so on. A method of determining rotation and/or direction of a user'"'"'s head wearing a headset including an ear piece with an accelerometer at each ear, includes processing acceleration information from both accelerometers to determine angular motion of the user'"'"'s head in a generally horizontal plane.
14 Citations
19 Claims
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1. An audio headset system, comprising
a pair of earpieces free of mechanical supporting connection between each other, each earpiece including a speaker configured to provide audio output, and a housing, the speaker mounted with respect to the housing, the housing configured for positioning with respect to an ear of a user to direct audio output from the speaker to the ear; - and
a pair of accelerometers configured to provide acceleration information representative of acceleration of the respective earpieces, wherein each of the accelerometers is mounted in or on a respective earpiece; and a processor configured to; process the acceleration information from the pair of accelerometers by normalizing the acceleration information from a first accelerometer of the pair of accelerometers with a second accelerometer of the pair of accelerometers, thereby obtaining acceleration information of the audio headset system in one plane, and calculate a direction of rotation of the pair of earpieces in the one plane based on the acceleration information of the audio headset in the one plane, and the amount of the rotation, wherein the direction and amount of rotation is representative of angular motion of the head of the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of determining rotation and/or direction of a user'"'"'s head wearing a headset including an earpiece at each ear and each earpiece having an accelerometer and being free of mechanical supporting connection between each other, comprising
processing acceleration information from both accelerometers to determine angular motion of the user'"'"'s head in a generally horizontal plane wherein said processing comprises normalizing the acceleration information from a first accelerometer of a first earpiece with a second accelerometer of a second earpiece, thereby obtaining acceleration information of the headset in one plane.
Specification