US 9,769,557 B2 · Proximity sensing headphones

Abstract

A proximity sensing headphone may include a gyroscopic sensor to determine the motion of the headphone structure and a proximity sensor to determine the movement of an external object through a three-dimensional ambient environment. A proximity sensing headphone control circuit determines the relative motion or movement between the headphone structure in the three-dimensional ambient environment and the external object in the three-dimensional ambient environment to determine at least a distance between the headphone structure and the external object and a velocity of the external object through the three-dimensional ambient environment about the headphone structure. The control circuit may provide an alert output if the determined distance between the headphone structure and the external object is less than a defined distance threshold or the velocity of the external object through the three-dimensional ambient environment about the headphone structure exceeds a defined velocity threshold.

Claims25

Dependent claims

A proximity sensing headphone, comprising:

a headphone structure;
a first sensor to detect motion of the headphone structure in a three-dimensional space;
a second sensor to detect a movement of an external object in the three-dimensional space external to the headphone structure;
a control circuit communicably coupled to the first sensor and the second sensor;
and
a storage device communicably coupled to the control circuit and including machine-readable instruction sets that, when executed by the control circuit, cause the control circuit to provide a proximity sensing headphone control circuit that:
determines a relative difference between the motion of the headphone structure and the movement of the external object in the three-dimensional space;
and
provides a human-perceptible output upon determining that the relative difference in the motion of the headphone structure and the movement of the external object exceeds a predefined threshold.

6 more elements

A method of providing an indication of a presence of an external object via a proximity sensing headphone, the method comprising:

determining, by a proximity sensing headphone control circuit, a relative difference between a motion of a headphone structure in a three-dimensional space and a movement of an external object in the three-dimensional space external to the headphone structure;
and
generating, by the proximity sensing headphone control circuit, a human-perceptible output responsive to a determination that the relative difference in the motion of the headphone structure in the three-dimensional space and the movement of the external object in the three-dimensional space external to the headphone structure exceeds a predefined threshold.

A storage device that includes machine-readable instruction sets, that when executed by a circuit, cause the circuit to provide a proximity sensing headphone control circuit, the proximity sensing headphone control circuit to:

determine a relative difference between a motion of a headphone structure in a three-dimensional space and a movement of an external object in the three-dimensional space external to the headphone structure;
and
generate a human-perceptible output responsive to a determination that the relative difference in the motion of the headphone structure in the three-dimensional space and the movement of the external object in the three-dimensional space external to the headphone structure exceeds a predefined threshold.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Proximity sensing headphones

Life of this patent

Proximity sensing headphones

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims25