Electronic Devices and Accessories with Media Streaming Control Features

Abstract

An electronic device may play audio content to a user through a pair of earphones. The audio content may be content that is stored locally on the electronic device or may be streaming content that is provided by an online service. Control circuitry in the electronic device may monitor ear presence sensor structures in the earphones to determine whether the earphones are present in the ears of the user. In response to determining that the earphones have been removed from the ears of the user, the control circuitry may communicate with the online service provider. Communicating with the online service provider may include sending media streaming control commands to the online service provider. The media streaming control commands may, for example, include media streaming pause commands that instruct the online service provider to pause the audio content in response to the earphones being removed from the ears of the user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for operating an electronic device that is configured to play audio for a user from an online service provider through a pair of earphones having sensor structures, comprising:
 with control circuitry in the electronic device, receiving information from the sensor structures indicating whether the earphones are present in the ears of the user; and   in response to receiving information from the sensor structures indicating that the earphones are not present in the ears of the user, communicating with the online service provider using the control circuitry.   
     
     
         2 . The method defined in  claim 1  wherein communicating with the online service provider comprises sending a media streaming control command to the online service provider. 
     
     
         3 . The method defined in  claim 2  wherein the media streaming control command comprises a media streaming pause command that instructs the online service provider to pause the audio that is being played for the user. 
     
     
         4 . The method defined in  claim 1  wherein the audio comprises an audio advertisement being played to the user through the earphones and wherein receiving the information from the sensor structures comprises receiving information indicating that the user has removed the earphones while the audio advertisement was being played for the user. 
     
     
         5 . The method defined in  claim 1  wherein the sensor structures comprise a temperature sensor and wherein receiving the information from the sensor structures comprises receiving a temperature measurement from the temperature sensor. 
     
     
         6 . The method defined in  claim 1  wherein the electronic device comprises cellular telephone transceiver circuitry, the method further comprising:
 receiving the audio for the user from the online service provider over a wireless communications link using the cellular telephone transceiver circuitry; and 
 in response to receiving the information from the sensor structures indicating that the earphones are not present in the ears of the user, terminating the audio that is being played for the user. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method defined in  claim 1  wherein the electronic devices is configured to play the audio from the online service provider via an application on the electronic device, the method further comprising:
 in response to receiving the information from the sensor structures indicating that the earphones are not present in the ears of the user, closing the application on the electronic device. 
 
     
     
         8 . A method of using an electronic device of a user listening to audio through earphones that are coupled to the electronic device to communicate with service provider computing equipment over a communications network, comprising:
 with ear presence detectors in the earphones, determining whether the earphones are present in the ears of the user; and   in response to determining that the earphones have been removed from the ears of the user, sending information to the service provider computing equipment over the communications network.   
     
     
         9 . The method defined in  claim 8  wherein the communications network comprises the internet and wherein sending the information to the service provider comprises sending media streaming commands to the service provider computing equipment over the internet. 
     
     
         10 . The method defined in  claim 9  further comprising:
 receiving the audio from the service provider computing equipment over the communications network. 
 
     
     
         11 . The method defined in  claim 10  wherein sending the media streaming commands to the service provider computing equipment comprises sending a media streaming pause command that instructs the service provider computing equipment to pause the audio to which the user is listening. 
     
     
         12 . The method defined in  claim 8  wherein sending the information to the service provider computing equipment comprises sending user data to the service provider computing equipment indicating that the user has removed the earphones during an audio advertisement provided by the service provider computing equipment. 
     
     
         13 . The method defined in  claim 8  wherein the ear presence detectors comprise at least one temperature sensor and wherein determining whether the earphones are present in the ears of the user comprises measuring at least one temperature at the earphones. 
     
     
         14 . An electronic device configured to receive audio content from an online service provider, comprising:
 an audio connector configured to receive an audio connector of earphones having sensor structures that determine whether the earphones are present in the ears of a user; and   control circuitry configured to:
 monitor the sensor structures to determine whether the earphones are present in the ears of the user, and 
 communicate with the online service provider in response to determining with the sensor structures that the earphones are not present in the ears of the user. 
   
     
     
         15 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14  wherein the electronic device comprises cellular transceiver circuitry and wherein the electronic device is configured to receive the audio content from the online service provider using the cellular transceiver circuitry. 
     
     
         16 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14  wherein the online service provider comprises an internet radio service and wherein the electronic device is configured to play the audio content from the internet radio service to the user through the earphones. 
     
     
         17 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14  wherein the audio content comprises streaming audio content and wherein communicating with the online service provider comprises sending a pause command that instructs the online service provider to pause the streaming audio content. 
     
     
         18 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14  wherein the audio content comprises a streaming audio advertisement and wherein communicating with the online service provider comprises sending user data to the online service provider. 
     
     
         19 . The electronic device defined in  claim 18  wherein the user data comprises information indicating that the user has removed the earphones during the streaming audio advertisement. 
     
     
         20 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14  wherein the sensor structures comprise temperature sensors and wherein the control circuitry in the electronic device is configured to monitor the temperature sensors to determine whether the earphones are present in the ears of the user. 
     
     
         21 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14  wherein the sensor structures comprise ultrasonic acoustic sensors and wherein the control circuitry in the electronic device is configured to monitor the ultrasonic acoustic sensors to determine whether the earphones are present in the ears of the user. 
     
     
         22 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14  wherein the sensor structures comprise capacitive sensor electrodes and wherein the control circuitry in the electronic device is configured to monitor the capacitive sensor electrodes to determine whether the earphones are present in the ears of the user.