CN114143645A

CN114143645A - Method and device for determining the state of a headset and corresponding headset

Info

Publication number: CN114143645A
Application number: CN202010914016.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张晓磊; 施攀文; 葛冰晶; 贾双杰
Original assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Current assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Priority date: 2020-09-03
Filing date: 2020-09-03
Publication date: 2022-03-04

Abstract

There is provided an apparatus for determining a state of a headset, comprising: a processing unit for processing a pressure signal received from a barometric sensor provided inside a housing of the headset to detect a pressure change indicating that the headset is being put on, taken off, or touched; and a state determination unit for determining a state of the earphone based on the detected pressure change. Through setting up pressure sensor inside the earphone casing, the inside pressure signal of sensing earphone casing handles this signal and is worn or the signal change of taking off in order to discern corresponding earphone, and this not only can accurately detect the state of earphone, has avoided the restriction that receives at earphone surface positioning sensor simultaneously to the consumption of earphone has been reduced.

Description

Method and device for determining the state of a headset and corresponding headset

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of electronics, in particular to detection of the state of an earphone.

Background

The use of headsets in everyday life is quite common. In many scenarios, it is desirable to detect the state of the headset, particularly the wearing state. In response to the detected state of the headset, an appropriate operation can be triggered. For example, when the headset is detected to be in a wearing state, the headset can be triggered to enter a working mode so as to interact with a media player, and audio designated by a user is played through the headset; alternatively, the headset can be put into a low power consumption mode when it is detected that the headset is not worn.

Currently, an optical-based proximity sensor can be used to detect the wearing state of the headset. However, the power consumption of optical-based proximity sensors is high, which affects the usage time of the headset, especially for wireless headsets. In addition, considering that the surface area of the earphone is limited, and the proximity sensor needs to be provided on a specific portion on the earphone in order to achieve its function, the portion on the earphone surface where the proximity sensor can be provided is more limited.

The high power consumption problem of optical-based proximity sensors can be solved by increasing the battery capacity of the wireless headset, but this increases the size of the wireless headset, which in turn affects the user experience. In addition, it is possible to use an air pressure sensor instead of the optical-based proximity sensor, measure a change in air pressure within the ear canal when the earphone is worn or removed, and thereby determine the wearing state of the earphone. However, this also requires the air pressure sensor to be provided at a specific portion on the earphone to measure the air pressure change in the ear canal when the earphone is worn, and therefore, the portion on the earphone surface where the air pressure sensor can be provided is also limited.

Disclosure of Invention

It is desirable to improve the sensor arrangement in the headset while providing improved detection of the state of the headset.

According to one aspect, there is provided an apparatus for determining the state of a headset, the apparatus comprising a processing unit for processing a pressure signal received from a barometric pressure sensor to detect a pressure change indicative of the headset being worn, removed or touched, the barometric pressure sensor being arranged inside a housing of the headset; and a state determination unit for determining a state of the earphone based on the detected pressure change.

According to another aspect, there is provided a headset comprising an air pressure sensor disposed inside a housing of the headset; and an apparatus for determining the state of a headset according to various embodiments of the present invention.

According to another aspect, there is provided a method for determining the state of a headset, the method comprising processing a pressure signal received from a barometric pressure sensor to detect a pressure change indicative of the headset being worn, removed or touched, the barometric pressure sensor being arranged inside a housing of the headset; and determining a state of the headset based on the detected pressure change.

According to yet another aspect, there is provided a machine-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computer to perform a method according to various embodiments of the disclosure.

According to various embodiments of various aspects of the present disclosure, a pressure sensor is disposed inside a housing to sense a pressure signal inside an earphone housing, and a signal change indicating that an earphone is worn, removed, or touched can be recognized by processing the pressure signal, thereby determining a state of the earphone. This avoids the limitations of positioning the sensor on the surface of the headset while accurately detecting the state of the headset and reduces the power consumption of the headset compared to using an optical-based proximity sensor, increasing the length of time the battery is used.

Drawings

Embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements.

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate the structure of a headset according to one embodiment;

fig. 2A and 2B illustrate gas flow directions during wearing of an earphone according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate pressure signals sensed by the airflow sensor during donning and removal of the headset, respectively, in accordance with one embodiment;

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate gas flow directions during earphone contact according to one embodiment;

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate pressure signals sensed by the airflow sensor during a headset is touched according to one embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates a device for determining the state of a headset according to one embodiment;

fig. 7 illustrates a method for determining the state of a headset according to one embodiment.

Various aspects and features of various embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the above-identified figures. The drawings described above are only schematic and are non-limiting. The size, shape, reference numerals, or appearance of the respective elements in the above-described drawings may be changed without departing from the gist of the present invention; furthermore, the various parts of the headset or device of the embodiments of the present invention in the above figures are not all labeled with reference numerals, and in some of the figures only the relevant parts are labeled, which does not limit the various parts to only what is shown in the figures of the specification.

Detailed Description

Although described below with reference to in-ear headphones, it will be appreciated that various embodiments of the invention are equally applicable to headphones.

Fig. 1A and 1B show a structure of a headset according to an embodiment. One headset as shown in fig. 1A comprises a microphone 2, a housing 4 and a battery 7 located inside a handle 8. The microphone 2 is arranged on the side of the housing 4, surrounded by a flexible material. When the earphone is inserted into the ear, the microphone 2 faces the ear canal for outputting audio. A battery 7 is located inside the handle 8 to power the headset. In the case of a wired headset, the battery 7 may be omitted.

The headset comprises in particular a gas pressure sensor 5 arranged inside the housing 4 of the headset for measuring the gas pressure in the inner cavity of the housing 4. In one embodiment, the air pressure sensor 5 is arranged on the inner surface of the housing 4 of the headset opposite to the microphone 2.

The headset also includes a microprocessor 1 for processing various signals to generate instructions to control the headset to perform operations including, and not limited to, processing sensor signals to determine a state of the headset (particularly a wearing state), generating control signals to control the headset to enter an active state or a sleep state based on, for example, the determined state of the headset, and/or interacting with the media player such that the media player performs operations corresponding to the state of the headset. In particular, the microprocessor 1 processes the pressure signal received from the air pressure sensor 5 to determine the state of the headset. The microprocessor 1 may also further process the signals sensed by the proximity sensor, the acceleration sensor, and/or the angular velocity sensor to determine the state of the headset. Although not shown in the figures, the proximity sensor, the acceleration sensor, and/or the angular velocity sensor can likewise be provided on the housing of the headset. The operation of the microprocessor will be described in detail below with reference to the device for detecting the state of the headset.

By arranging the air pressure sensor in the shell of the earphone, the limitation of the air pressure sensor on the surface of the earphone is avoided, and the problem of high power consumption of the optical proximity sensor used in the wireless earphone can be solved; meanwhile, the state of the earphone can also be accurately detected using a pressure signal inside the earphone housing sensed by an air pressure sensor provided inside the earphone housing, which will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 2 to 6.

Fig. 1B shows a partial side view of the microphone 2 of the headset according to fig. 1A. In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 1B, an opening 3 is provided near the microphone 2 of the headset, which opening 3 communicates the inside of the housing of the headset with the outside environment, so that air can enter the inside of the housing of the headset through the opening 3. Although, the earphone is shown to comprise this opening 3, this is not essential. It will be appreciated that air may also enter the interior of the housing of the headset from a location in the headset where it is not tightly enclosed.

When the opening 3 is provided in the vicinity of the microphone 2, the provision of the air pressure sensor 5 on the inner surface of the inside of the housing of the earphone opposite to the microphone 2 (in particular, opposite to the opening 3) enables the change of the air entering and leaving the inside of the earphone housing through the opening 3 to be sensed more sensitively, and thus enables the state of the earphone to be determined more accurately. The location of the air pressure sensor 5 is not limiting and other locations within the housing are possible.

Returning to fig. 1A, in one embodiment, the headset further comprises a contact area 6 on the handle 8 for contact by a user, the contact area 6 being made of an elastic material that, when contacted by the user, causes a change in the air inside the housing, which causes a change in the pressure signal sensed by the air pressure sensor 5. Therefore, by detecting a change in the pressure signal sensed by the air pressure sensor, it is possible to detect a user's contact with the earphone, which can be realized by the microprocessor 1.

In one case, in the case where the user wears the headset, it is possible to make the user's contact with the contact area correspond to a specific function, thereby achieving control of the headset. Specifically, in the case where it is detected that the user wears the headphones, if it is further detected that the user touches the contact area 6, the microprocessor 1 may generate and output a corresponding control signal based on the detection result.

For example, if it is detected that the user touches the headset once indicates that the volume needs to be turned up, it is detected that the user touches the headset twice indicates that the volume needs to be turned down; at this time, the microprocessor 1 may generate a corresponding control signal to control the output of the microphone according to the different detection results of the user's contact with the contact area.

In addition, if it is detected that the user touches the earphone once indicating that a song is required to be changed, the microprocessor 1 may generate a control signal indicating that the user needs to switch the song to the media player according to the detection that the user touches the touch area 6 once.

While it is contemplated that the user contacts the worn headset to trigger the corresponding function while wearing the headset, it is also contemplated that the user contacts another headset paired with the worn headset to trigger the corresponding function while wearing the headset. Typically, headphones are used in pairs, corresponding to the left and right ears, respectively. Each of a pair of headphones may include corresponding components as shown in fig. 1A. In one embodiment, the pair of headphones may share a microprocessor between them, for example, one of the pair of headphones includes a microprocessor and the other does not include a microprocessor but includes a transmitter that sends sensed signals to the one of the headphones that includes the microprocessor for processing.

In another case, it is possible to determine whether the headset is picked up by the user by detecting the state of the headset being touched, and then to determine whether the headset is being worn or taken off in combination with other data. It is envisaged that the parts of the headset that are likely to be held by the user are each designed to be constructed of a resilient material and to communicate with the internal cavity of the headset. As an example, it may be further determined whether the headset is being worn or taken off in combination with data of one or more of a proximity sensor, an acceleration sensor, an angular velocity sensor, even a barometric pressure sensor according to various embodiments of the present invention, in case the pressure signal sensed by the barometric pressure sensor 5 is processed to detect a pressure change indicating that the user touches the headset, e.g. that the user picks up the headset.

In this case, it is contemplated to distinguish pressure variations indicative of a user touching the headset from pressure variations indicative of the headset being touched by other objects, such as a pocket holding the headset.

It is also contemplated to design the contact area 6 of the headset specifically so that it is only adapted to deform when contacted by a user, but not to deform when contacted by e.g. a pocket.

How to accurately detect the state of the earphone using a pressure signal inside the earphone housing sensed by a pressure sensor provided inside the earphone housing will be described in detail below. This is mainly described with reference to in-ear headphones. It should be understood that with a headset, if an air pressure sensor is provided inside the headset housing (i.e., inside the ear cup), and optionally an opening is provided in the portion of the ear cup that faces the ear when worn to communicate with the interior of the ear cup, the interior space of the ear cup will change when the user wears or removes the ear cup, taking into account the contact of the ear cup with the ear and some change in the pressure signal sensed by the air pressure sensor provided inside the ear cup will likewise occur, thereby potentially specifically indicating that the user wears or removes the headset.

From the ideal gas state equation pV-nRT (p is pressure, V is volume, T is temperature, n is amount of substance, R is ideal gas constant), the pressure of a gas is proportional to the amount of the gas substance when the volume and temperature of a chamber are fixed, i.e. the pressure of a gas is proportional to the amount of the gas substance

Where ρ is the density, M is the mass, M is the modulus, and Δ V represents the volume of airflow into and out of the cavity.

It is readily apparent from the above equations that there is a relationship between the pressure signal, the volume of the chamber, and the volume of the gas flow into and out of the chamber.

Fig. 2A and 2B show the gas flow direction during the wearing of the earphone.

As shown in fig. 2A, when the earphone is inserted into the ear canal, since the ear canal space is compressed, the air therein rushes into the earphone housing, and the earphone housing is also compressed, the volume thereof is also reduced appropriately, resulting in an increase in the pressure inside the earphone housing, i.e., Δ V >0- > Δ p > 0.

After a sudden increase of the pressure inside the earphone housing, as shown in fig. 2B, the air flow will flow out of the housing, since the earphone is not completely sealed, the pressure will change towards the initial level, and the housing of the earphone will spring back after being squeezed, so that the pressure inside the housing will decrease further, i.e. av <0- > ap < 0.

When the earphone is removed, the earphone is pulled out from the ear canal, the ear canal space increases, gas flows out from the inside of the housing of the earphone toward the ear canal, as shown in fig. 2B, and the internal pressure of the earphone returns to the original level after the earphone is separated from the ear canal.

Fig. 3A and 3B show pressure signals sensed by the airflow sensor during donning and during doffing of the headset, respectively, according to one embodiment, where the abscissa is time in ms and the ordinate is pressure value in hPa.

As shown in fig. 3A, during the wearing of the earphone, the pressure first increases to a peak value and then falls back, and as the earphone shell rebounds and becomes larger in volume, the pressure value decreases to a valley value and then returns to the original level. Typically, the trough is smaller than the peak.

As shown in fig. 3B, during removal of the headset, the pressure first drops to a valley and then returns to the initial level.

The above-mentioned specific change of the pressure signal sensed by the air pressure sensor can indicate that the earphone is worn or removed, and it can be determined whether the earphone is worn or removed by recognizing such change of the pressure signal.

As described above, in one embodiment, after it is detected that the user is wearing the headset, it is also possible to detect the user's contact with the headset by continuing to detect a change in the pressure signal sensed by the air pressure sensor, thereby causing the microprocessor to generate different types of control signals to implement different functions.

Referring to fig. 4A and 4B, the gas flow direction during earphone contact is shown according to one embodiment.

As shown in fig. 4A, when the user touches the contact area 6 of the earphone, the material of the area deforms toward the inside of the earphone handle due to the squeezing, so that the airflow flows upward to the inside of the housing where the air pressure sensor 5 is located, as shown in fig. 4A, so that the pressure sensed by the air pressure sensor increases, and then the pressure gradually returns to the original level, and the airflow direction at this time is as shown in fig. 4B, as the user looses his hand, the housing space becomes larger, the pressure further decreases, and then returns to the original level.

Fig. 5A and 5B illustrate pressure signals sensed by the airflow sensor during a headset being contacted according to one embodiment. Wherein fig. 5A shows the pressure sensed by the pressure sensor in case the user touches the headset once (i.e. released after squeezing the contact area 6); fig. 5B shows the pressure sensed by the pressure sensor in the case where the user touches the earphone twice. As shown in fig. 5A, the waveform of the pressure signal sensed during one touch is similar to that of the pressure signal sensed during wearing of the earphone as shown in fig. 3A, except that the amplitude of the pressure signal sensed during the touch is small.

In this embodiment, the pressure change includes a first additional pressure change indicating one or more times of contact of the user with the earphone, which is determined according to a pressure signal further received from the air pressure sensor 5 provided inside the earphone housing after it is determined that the earphone is worn, a state where the earphone is contacted is determined by recognizing the first additional pressure change indicating one or more times of contact of the earphone, and a corresponding control signal is generated and output.

It was described above that after determining that the earphone is worn, the earphone is determined to be touched according to the pressure signal further received by the air pressure sensor 5 arranged inside the earphone, thereby generating a corresponding control signal and implementing a corresponding function, which corresponds to the user touching the worn earphone to trigger the corresponding function in the case of wearing the earphone. This is not limiting and it is also contemplated that, as described above, a user, in the case of wearing one headset, contacts another headset paired with the worn headset to trigger the corresponding function. In this case, the pressure change includes a second additional pressure change representing one or more contacts of the user with another earphone paired with the worn earphone, wherein the second additional pressure change is determined based on a pressure signal received from an air pressure sensor provided inside a housing of the other earphone after it is determined that the earphone is worn. The processing unit described below receives the corresponding pressure data for processing to detect the first or second additional pressure change described above, thereby determining whether to trigger the corresponding function.

The following detailed description is directed to the device 10 for detecting the state of a headset as shown in fig. 1, which may be implemented by the microprocessor 1 or by a device located at a remote location, such as the cloud.

Fig. 6 shows a device 10 for determining the state of a headset according to an embodiment. The device comprises a processing unit 11, a state determination unit 12 and a control unit 13. The processing unit 11 receives the pressure signal P inside the earphone housing sensed by the air pressure sensor 5, processes the received pressure signal P to detect pressure changes therein, and thereby identifies those pressure changes indicating that the earphone is worn or removed. The pressure change is particularly a change in the pressure signal from rising, falling to return to the initial pressure level over a predetermined period of time as shown in fig. 3A and a change in the pressure signal from falling to return to the initial pressure level over a predetermined period of time as shown in fig. 3B. The predetermined period of time is for example between 50-100 ms.

The state determination unit 12 determines the state of the headset based on the detected pressure change. When the processing unit 11 detects a pressure change as shown in fig. 3A, the state determination unit 12 determines the state of the earphone as being worn in response to the detected pressure change. When the processing unit 11 detects a pressure change as shown in fig. 3B, the state determination unit 12 determines the state of the earphone as being taken off in response to the detected pressure change.

The control unit 13 generates and outputs a corresponding control signal based on the determined state of the headset.

In one embodiment, when detecting a pressure variation waveform as shown in fig. 3A, the processing unit 11 determines a first difference between a peak value of the pressure signal and an initial pressure level for a predetermined period of time; determining a second difference between a valley of the pressure signal immediately following the peak within the predetermined time period and the initial pressure level; comparing the first and second difference values with first and second predetermined threshold values, respectively; it is then determined whether a pressure change corresponding to wearing the headset is detected based on the comparison result.

In one embodiment, the first predetermined threshold is greater than 3hPa, for example 3hPa, and the second predetermined threshold is less than the first predetermined threshold. When both the first difference and the second difference are greater than the corresponding thresholds, it may be concluded that a pressure change corresponding to wearing the headset is detected.

In another embodiment, the first difference may be compared to a first predetermined threshold and the first difference used as a second predetermined threshold, the second difference compared to the first difference, and a change in pressure corresponding to wearing the headset may be concluded if the first difference is greater than the first predetermined threshold and the second difference is less than the first difference.

In another embodiment, when detecting a pressure variation waveform as shown in fig. 3B, the processing unit 11 determines a difference between a valley of the pressure signal and an initial pressure level for a predetermined period of time, compares the difference with a predetermined threshold, and then determines whether a pressure variation corresponding to the removal of the earphone is detected based on the comparison result. Specifically, it is determined that a pressure change corresponding to the removal of the headphone is detected when the difference is larger than a predetermined threshold. Also, the predetermined period of time may be 50-100ms and the predetermined threshold may be 3 hPa.

The device 10 can also be used to detect further states of the headset when the user is wearing the headset, such as user contact with the headset, and to generate and output corresponding control signals.

In particular, while the user is wearing the headset, the processing unit 11 continuously receives the pressure signal P inside the headset housing sensed by the air pressure sensor 5, processes the received pressure signal P to detect pressure variations therein, in particular identifies first additional pressure variations indicative of one or more user contacts of the headset to detect user contacts of the headset.

In one embodiment, the first additional pressure change comprises an additional pressure change indicative of one contact, as shown in FIG. 5A, such as a change in pressure signal from rising, falling to returning to an initial pressure level over a predetermined period of time. In another embodiment, the first additional pressure change comprises an additional pressure change indicative of two contacts as shown in FIG. 5B.

The state determination unit 12 determines the state in which the earphone is touched, for example, once or twice, based on the detected first additional pressure change. The control unit 13 generates a control signal based on the determined state in which the earphone is touched and outputs the control signal.

For example, when the processing unit 11 detects a pressure change indicating that the earphone is touched once, the state determining unit 12 determines that the earphone is touched once, and if the earphone is touched once indicating that the user needs to cut the song, the control unit 13 further generates a control signal and outputs the control signal to the media player to realize the song cutting operation.

It is also contemplated that the processing unit 11 detects the above-mentioned second additional pressure change, thereby causing the state determination unit 12 to determine whether the earphone is touched or touched several times.

In one embodiment, when detecting a pressure variation waveform as shown in fig. 5A, the processing unit 11 determines a third difference between the peak value of the pressure signal and the initial pressure level for a predetermined period of time; determining a fourth difference between a valley of the pressure signal immediately following the peak within the predetermined time period and the initial pressure level; comparing the third difference and the fourth difference with a third predetermined threshold and a fourth predetermined threshold, respectively; it is then determined whether a pressure change corresponding to wearing the headset is detected based on the comparison result.

In an embodiment, the third predetermined threshold is smaller than 1hPa, for example 1hPa, and the second predetermined threshold is smaller than the first predetermined threshold. When both the third difference and the fourth difference are greater than the corresponding thresholds, it may be concluded that an additional pressure change corresponding to one contact is detected.

In another embodiment, the third difference may be compared to a third predetermined threshold and the third difference is used as a fourth predetermined threshold, the fourth difference is compared to the third difference, and if the third difference is greater than the third predetermined threshold and the fourth difference is less than the third difference, it may be concluded that an additional pressure change corresponding to the earphone being touched once is detected.

In a further embodiment, when a proximity sensor, an acceleration sensor and/or an angular velocity sensor is provided on the headset, the processing unit 11 is further adapted to process the proximity signal from the proximity sensor, the acceleration signal from the acceleration sensor and/or the angular velocity signal from the angular velocity sensor to detect a signal change indicative of the headset being worn or removed. Also, the state determination unit 12 determines the state of the earphone based not only on the above-described pressure change but also on the detected signal change.

For example, in connection with a proximity sensor, after the processing unit 11 recognizes a pressure change indicating that the headset is being worn, it is further determined whether the measured proximity signal indicates that the headset is being worn, in particular whether the proximity signal fulfils a first certain condition, such as an amplitude being smaller than a certain proximity threshold. The state determination unit 12 may determine that the headset is being worn if the magnitude of the proximity signal is smaller than a certain proximity threshold, i.e. a first certain condition is fulfilled, and vice versa determine that the headset is not being worn.

Also, after the processing unit 11 identifies a pressure change indicating that the headset is being picked off, it is further determined whether the measured proximity signal indicates that the headset is being picked off, in particular, whether the proximity signal fulfils the above-mentioned first certain condition, e.g. the magnitude of the proximity signal is larger than a predetermined proximity threshold, i.e. the above-mentioned first certain condition is not fulfilled, the state determination unit 12 may determine that the headset is being picked off, otherwise, it is determined that the headset is not being picked off.

The same is true when combining acceleration data and/or angular velocity data, differing only in the specific conditions employed for the different data types. For example, regarding the acceleration data, since the movement of the head is limited, the variation range of the acceleration data is small when the headphone is worn, and therefore, the specific condition can be set such that the average value of the acceleration data within the predetermined time window is smaller than the predetermined acceleration threshold. The predetermined time window may be a part of the predetermined time period and is smaller than the predetermined time period, in particular the start time of the predetermined time window is within the predetermined time period and the end time is the end time of the predetermined time period; for example, the predetermined time window may be the last 20% of the predetermined time period, which ratio is not limiting. If the average value of the acceleration data within the predetermined time window is smaller than the predetermined acceleration threshold, the headset is worn, otherwise it is not worn.

For the angular velocity data, the specific condition may be set to correspond to the angular velocity change in the process that the user picks up the earphone, aims at the ear, and puts on the earphone, thereby detecting that the earphone is put on; and the specific condition is set to correspond to the change of the angular velocity in the process from the time when the user picks up the earphone to the time when the user leaves the ear to the time when the user puts down the earphone.

Fig. 7 shows a method 100 for determining the state of a headset according to an embodiment. As shown in fig. 7, in step 110, a sensor signal from a sensor provided on the headset, in particular a pressure signal sensed by a barometric pressure sensor provided inside the housing of the headset, is received. In one embodiment, the sensor signal further comprises a signal from a proximity sensor, an acceleration sensor and/or an angular velocity sensor.

In step 120, the pressure signal sensed by the air pressure sensor is processed and it is determined whether a pressure change indicating that the earphone is worn or removed is detected, and if not (i.e., "N" in fig. 7), the process returns to step 110 to continue receiving data, otherwise, the process proceeds to step 160.

At step 130, the proximity signal sensed by the proximity sensor is processed and it is determined whether the proximity signal satisfies a first particular condition, such as the signal amplitude being less than a predetermined proximity threshold. If it is determined in step 130 that the proximity magnitude is less than the predetermined proximity threshold, i.e. the first certain condition is met, this corresponds to the earphone being close to the ear canal, indicating that the earphone may be worn; otherwise, the earphone is not worn; the result of the determination that the earphone is worn or not worn at step 130 is input to step 160.

In step 140, the acceleration signal sensed by the acceleration sensor within the predetermined time window is processed and it is determined whether the acceleration signal satisfies a second specific condition, such as the acceleration signal amplitude being less than a predetermined acceleration threshold. If it is determined in step 140 that the acceleration magnitude is less than the predetermined acceleration threshold, i.e. a second specific condition is met, this may correspond to a limited head movement, thus indicating that the headset is being worn; conversely, if the movement is too large, i.e. the acceleration amplitude is greater than the predetermined acceleration threshold, it indicates that the headset is not worn; the result of the determination at step 140 that the earphone is worn or not worn is input to step 160.

In step 150, the angular velocity signal sensed by the angular velocity sensor for a predetermined period of time is processed and it is determined whether the angular velocity signal satisfies a third specific condition, such as a specific waveform indicating wearing or taking off. If it is determined in step 150 that the angular velocity signal satisfies the third specific condition (i.e., "Y" in fig. 7), it indicates that the headset may be put on or taken off, and thus, it proceeds to step 160, and otherwise it returns to step 110.

The state of the headset is determined in step 160 based on the detection results from steps 120-150, e.g. the headset is determined to be worn only when it is determined that the headset is worn based on the pressure signal, the proximity signal, the acceleration signal and the angular velocity signal. Of course, the above determination may be made based on the pressure signal sensed by the air pressure sensor, so that step 130 and step 150 are omitted, or a combination of the air pressure sensor and any other one or two sensors may be used.

Although not all the method steps executed by the above-mentioned device for determining the state of the headset have been described in detail, the functions executed by the device have been described with reference to the device embodiment, and therefore, it is conceivable that the device may execute the corresponding method steps, which are not described again.

Various embodiments of a method and apparatus for detecting the state of a headset have been described above with reference to fig. 1-7, which can be combined with each other to obtain different effects, without being limited by the type of subject matter. Furthermore, the above mentioned individual units/steps/processes are not limiting, the functionality of the above mentioned individual units/steps/processes can be combined/altered/modified to obtain the corresponding effect. The functions of these units can be implemented by software or corresponding hardware, or by means of a processor, for example a computer program readable in a memory and executable by a processor to implement the functions of the units.

In particular, the functions of the above-described device for detecting the state of the headset can be implemented in a microprocessor for the headset or can be implemented at a remote location with respect to a door or window.

It is understood that the method and apparatus for detecting the state of a headset of the various embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented by a computer program/software. These software can be loaded into the working memory of a microprocessor and when run, used to perform methods according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure cover both: the computer program/software of the present disclosure is created/used from the beginning and the existing program/software is transferred to the computer program/software using the present disclosure by means of an update.

According to further embodiments of the present disclosure, a machine (e.g., computer) readable medium, such as a CD-ROM, is provided, wherein the readable medium has stored thereon computer program code which, when executed, causes a computer or processor to perform a method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The machine-readable medium may be, for example, an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium supplied together with or as part of other hardware.

Computer programs for carrying out methods according to embodiments of the present disclosure may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems.

The computer program may also be provided over a network, such as the world wide web, and can be downloaded into the operating computers of microprocessors from such a network.

It has to be noted that embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference to different subject-matters. In particular, some embodiments are described with reference to method type claims whereas other embodiments are described with reference to apparatus type claims. However, a person skilled in the art will gather from the above and the following description that, unless other notified, in addition to any combination of features belonging to one type of subject-matter also any combination between features relating to different subject-matters is considered to be disclosed with this application. Also, all features can be combined, providing a synergistic effect greater than a simple sum of the features.

The foregoing description of specific embodiments of the present disclosure has been described. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims may be performed in a different order than in the embodiments and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processes depicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. In some embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing may also be possible or may be advantageous.

The present disclosure has been described above with reference to specific embodiments, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the technical solutions of the present disclosure can be implemented in various ways without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the present disclosure. The specific embodiments are merely illustrative and not restrictive. In addition, any combination of these embodiments can be used to achieve the purpose of the present disclosure. The scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

The word "comprising" in the description and in the claims does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps, the order in which "first", "second", "step", etc. are recited and shown in the figures does not limit the order or number of steps. The functions of the respective elements described in the specification or recited in the claims may be divided or combined into plural corresponding elements or may be implemented by a single element.

Claims

1. An apparatus for determining a state of a headset, comprising:

a processing unit for processing a pressure signal received from a barometric sensor provided inside a housing of the headset to detect a pressure change indicating that the headset is being put on, taken off, or touched; and

a state determination unit for determining a state of the earphone based on the detected pressure change.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the earphone is an in-ear earphone and the pressure change comprises a change in the pressure signal from rising, falling, to returning to an initial pressure level over a predetermined period of time;

and wherein the state determination unit is to determine that the headset is worn in response to detecting the pressure change.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the processing unit is further to:

determining a first difference between a peak value of the pressure signal and an initial pressure level over the predetermined time period;

determining a second difference between a valley of the pressure signal and the initial pressure level over the predetermined period of time;

comparing the first difference and the second difference with a first predetermined threshold and a second predetermined threshold, respectively; and is

Determining whether the pressure change is detected based on a result of the comparison.

4. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-3,

the pressure changes comprise first additional pressure changes representing one or more contacts of a user with the earphone or second additional pressure changes representing one or more contacts of a user with another earphone paired with the earphone, wherein the first additional pressure changes are determined according to pressure signals received from the air pressure sensor after the earphone is determined to be worn, and the second additional pressure changes are determined according to pressure signals received from an air pressure sensor arranged inside a shell of the other earphone after the earphone is determined to be worn;

the processing unit is configured to process the pressure signal received from the barometric pressure sensor after determining that the headset is worn to detect the first additional pressure change, or to process the pressure signal received from a barometric pressure sensor provided inside a housing of the other headset after determining that the headset is worn to detect the second additional pressure change; and is

The state determination unit is configured to determine a state of the headset based on the detected first additional pressure change or the second additional pressure change;

and wherein the device further comprises a control unit for generating a control signal based on the determined state of the headset and outputting the control signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first and second additional pressure changes comprise changes in the pressure signal from rising, falling, to returning to an initial pressure level, respectively, over the predetermined period of time;

and wherein the state determination unit is further configured to determine that the user has contacted the headset once in response to detecting the first additional pressure change or the second additional pressure change.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the processing unit is further to:

determining a third difference between a peak value of the pressure signal and an initial pressure level over the predetermined time period;

determining a fourth difference between a valley of the pressure signal and the initial pressure level over the predetermined period of time;

comparing the third difference and the fourth difference to a third predetermined threshold and a fourth predetermined threshold, respectively; and is

Determining whether the additional pressure variation is detected based on the comparison result.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pressure change comprises a change in the pressure signal from a drop to a return to an initial pressure level over a predetermined period of time,

and wherein the state determination unit is further configured to determine that the headset is removed in response to detecting the pressure change.

8. An earphone, comprising:

an air pressure sensor disposed inside a housing of the earphone; and

device for determining the status of a headset according to any of the claims 1-7.

9. The headset of claim 8, further comprising:

a microphone, and

an opening disposed proximate the microphone, the opening communicating between an interior of the housing of the headset and an external environment.

10. The headset of claim 9, wherein the air pressure sensor is disposed on an inner surface of the housing of the headset opposite the microphone.

11. The headset of any one of claims 8-10, further comprising a contact area for contact by a user, the contact area being constructed of an elastic material and causing a change in a pressure signal sensed by the barometric pressure sensor when contacted by the user.

12. A method for determining a state of a headset, comprising:

processing a pressure signal received from a barometric pressure sensor disposed inside a housing of the headset to detect a pressure change indicative of the headset being worn, removed, or touched; and

determining a state of the headset based on the detected pressure change.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the earphone is an in-ear earphone and the pressure change comprises a change in the pressure signal from rising, falling, to returning to an initial pressure level over a predetermined period of time;

and wherein said determining a state of said headset based on said detected pressure change comprises determining that said headset is worn in response to detecting said pressure change.

14. The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the pressure change comprises a first additional pressure change representing one or more contacts of a user with the headset or a second additional pressure change representing one or more contacts of a user with another headset paired with the headset, wherein the first additional pressure change is determined from a pressure signal received from the barometric pressure sensor after determining that the headset is worn and the second additional pressure change is determined from a pressure signal received from a barometric pressure sensor disposed inside a housing of the other headset after determining that the headset is worn, the method further comprising

Processing the pressure signal received from the barometric pressure sensor after determining that the headset is worn to detect the first additional pressure change, or processing the pressure signal received from a barometric pressure sensor disposed inside a housing of the other headset after determining that the headset is worn to detect the second additional pressure change;

determining a state of the headset based on the detected first or second additional pressure change;

generating a control signal based on the determined state of the headset; and

and outputting the control signal.

15. A machine readable storage medium storing computer program instructions that when executed cause a computer to perform the method of any of claims 12-14.