Intelligent switching between air conduction speakers and tissue conduction speakers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10097912-B2
Application number	US-201514671645-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2015
Priority date	Mar 27, 2015
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods may provide for determining a usage configuration of a wearable device and setting an activation state of an air conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration. Additionally, an activation state of a tissue conduction speaker of the wearable device may be set based at least in part on the usage configuration. In one example, the usage configuration is determined based on a set of status signals that indicate one or more of a physical position, a physical activity, a current activation state, an interpersonal proximity state or a manual user request associated with one or more of the air conduction speaker or the tissue conduction speaker.

First claim

We claim:

1. A wearable device comprising:
an air conduction speaker;
a tissue conduction speaker; and
logic, implemented in one or more of configurable logic hardware or fixed-functionality logic hardware, to:
determine a usage configuration of the wearable device,
set an activation state of the air conduction speaker based at least in part on the usage configuration, and
set an activation state of the tissue conduction speaker based at least part on the usage configuration,
the wearable device further including one or more sensors, wherein the usage configuration is to be determined based on a set of status signals from the one or more sensors that indicate a physical position, a physical activity, a current activation state, an interpersonal proximity state and a manual user request associated with one or more of the air conduction speaker or the tissue conduction speaker.

2. The wearable device of claim 1 , wherein the logic is to determine an attribute of an audio signal associated with the wearable device, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on an attribute.

3. The wearable device of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on one or more of a power condition or an ambient noise condition associated with the wearable device.

4. The wearable device of claim 1 , wherein the logic is to set an optimization state of the tissue conduction speaker based on the usage configuration.

5. The wearable device of claim 4 , wherein the optimization state is to be one or more of a music-specific optimization state or a voice-specific optimization state.

6. An apparatus comprising:
logic, implemented in one or more of configurable logic hardware or fixed-functionality logic hardware, to:
determine a usage configuration of a wearable device,
set an activation state of an air conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration, and
set an activation state of a tissue conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least part on the usage configuration,
wherein the usage configuration is to be determined based on a set of status signals that indicate a physical position, a physical activity, a current activation state, an interpersonal proximity state and a manual user request associated with one or more of the air conduction speaker or the tissue conduction speaker.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the logic is to determine an attribute of an audio signal associated with the wearable device, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on an attribute.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on one or more of a power condition or an ambient noise condition associated with the wearable device.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the logic is to set an optimization state of the tissue conduction speaker based on the usage configuration.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the optimization state is to be one or more of a music-specific optimization state or a voice-specific optimization state.

11. A method comprising:
determining a usage configuration of a wearable device;
setting an activation state of an air conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration; and
setting an activation state of a tissue conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration,
wherein the usage configuration is determined based on a set of status signals that indicate a physical position, a physical activity, a current activation state, an interpersonal proximity state and a manual user request associated with one or more of the air conduction speaker or the tissue conduction speaker.

12. The method of claim 11 , further including determining an attribute of an audio signal associated with the wearable device, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are set further based on an attribute.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are set further based on one or more of a power condition or an ambient noise condition associated with the wearable device.

14. The method of claim 11 , further including setting an optimization state of the tissue conduction speaker based on the usage configuration.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the optimization state is one or more of a music-specific optimization state or a voice-specific optimization state.

16. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to:
determine a usage configuration of a wearable device;
set an activation state of an air conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration; and
set an activation state of a tissue conduction speaker of the wearable device based at least in part on the usage configuration,
wherein the usage configuration is to be determined based on a set of status signals that indicate a physical position, a physical activity, a current activation state, an interpersonal proximity state and a manual user request associated with one or more of the air conduction speaker or the tissue conduction speaker.

17. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the apparatus to determine an attribute of an audio signal associated with the wearable device, wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on an attribute.

18. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein one or more of the activation state of the air conduction speaker or the activation state of the tissue conduction speaker are to be set further based on one or more of a power condition or an ambient noise condition associated with the wearable device.

19. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the apparatus to set an optimization state of the tissue conduction speaker based on the usage configuration.

20. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the optimization state is to be one or more of a music-specific optimization state or a voice-specific optimization state.

21. A wearable device comprising:
an air conduction speaker;
a tissue conduction speaker; and
logic, implemented at least partly in one or more of configurable logic hardware or fixed-functionality logic hardware, to:
determine a usage configuration of the wearable device,
set an activation state of the air conduction speaker based at least in part on the usage configuration, and
set an activation state of the tissue conduction speaker based at least part on the usage con

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Anderson Glen J
• Brotman Ryan S
• Raffa Giuseppe
• Weast John C
• Lake Daniel S
• Vembar Deepak S
• Durham Lenitra M
• Jackson Brad

Classifications

• H04R1/1016 Primary

  Earpieces of the intra-aural type · CPC title

• H04R1/1041

  Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements (switches in general H01H) · CPC title

• H04R2201/107

  Monophonic and stereophonic headphones with microphone for two-way hands free communication · CPC title

• H04R2225/43

  Signal processing in hearing aids to enhance the speech intelligibility · CPC title

• H04R25/554

  using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils · CPC title