Wireless Ear Bud System With Pose Detection

Abstract

Ear buds may have sensors to gather orientation information such as accelerometer measurements during user movements. A host electronic device may communicate wirelessly with the ear buds and may form part of an ear bud system that supplies the user with coaching and feedback while evaluating user performance of a head movement routine or other exercise routine. During operation, the ear buds may gather accelerometer data in a first reference frame such as a reference frame associated with the ear buds and may use a rotation matrix to rotate the data in the first reference frame into a second reference frame such as a neutral reference frame with a fixed orientation to the earth. The data in the neutral reference frame may be analyzed using a user head pose look-up table to categorize measured user head positions as corresponding to respective user head poses.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An ear bud, comprising:
 an ear bud housing;   a speaker in the ear bud housing;   an orientation sensor in the ear bud housing that is configured to obtain sensor measurements; and   control circuitry in the ear bud housing that is configured to evaluate the sensor measurements to identify a forward head tilt and control the speaker in response to identifying the forward head tilt.   
     
     
         2 . The ear bud defined in  claim 1 , wherein the ear bud housing comprises a main body that houses the speaker and a stem that extends away from the main body. 
     
     
         3 . The ear bud defined in  claim 2 , further comprising an audio port in the main body, wherein the speaker provides sound through the audio port. 
     
     
         4 . The ear bud defined in  claim 1 , further comprising a microphone in the ear bud housing. 
     
     
         5 . The ear bud defined in  claim 4 , wherein the microphone is configured to gather audio data and wherein the control circuitry is configured to identify a voice command based on the audio data. 
     
     
         6 . The ear bud defined in  claim 1 , further comprising wireless communications circuitry configured to communicate wirelessly with an additional ear bud and configured to communicate wirelessly with a host device. 
     
     
         7 . The ear bud defined in  claim 6 , wherein the host device comprises a device selected from the group consisting of: a cellular telephone, a wristwatch device, and a computer. 
     
     
         8 . The ear bud defined in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a proximity sensor that is configured to detect the presence of a user.   
     
     
         9 . The ear bud defined in  claim 8 , wherein the proximity sensor emits and detects light. 
     
     
         10 . The ear bud defined in  claim 8 , wherein the proximity sensor comprises a capacitive proximity sensor. 
     
     
         11 . The ear bud defined in  claim 1 , wherein the orientation sensor collects three respective channels of data and wherein each channel of data is associated with a respective axis. 
     
     
         12 . An ear bud, comprising:
 an ear bud housing;   a speaker in the ear bud housing;   an accelerometer in the ear bud housing that is configured to collect data in three channels, wherein the three channels comprises a first channel that measures acceleration along a first axis, a second channel that measures acceleration along a second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis, and a third channel that measures acceleration along a third axis that is orthogonal to the first and second axes; and   control circuitry in the ear bud housing that is configured to compare the data in the three channels to predetermined accelerometer values to categorize a head movement.   
     
     
         13 . The ear bud defined in  claim 12 , wherein the head movement comprises a head tilt. 
     
     
         14 . The ear bud defined in  claim 12 , wherein the head movement comprises a forward head tilt. 
     
     
         15 . The ear bud defined in  claim 12 , wherein the head movement comprises a right head tilt. 
     
     
         16 . The ear bud defined in  claim 12 , wherein the ear bud housing comprises a main body having an audio port and a stem that extends away from the main body. 
     
     
         17 . The ear bud defined in  claim 12 , further comprising wireless communications circuitry configured to communicate wirelessly with an additional ear bud and configured to communicate wirelessly with a cellular telephone. 
     
     
         18 . An ear bud, comprising:
 an ear bud housing configured to be worn in an ear of a head of a user;   a speaker in the ear bud housing configured to play audio into the ear;   an accelerometer in the ear bud housing configured to obtain sensor measurements that indicate an orientation of the head of the user;   a microphone in the ear bud housing configured to gather audio data from the user;   a proximity sensor that is configured to detect the presence of the user; and   control circuitry in the ear bud housing that is configured to control the speaker based on the audio data, based on the presence of the user, and based on the sensor measurements from the accelerometer.   
     
     
         19 . The ear bud defined in  claim 18 , wherein the ear bud housing comprises a main body having an audio port for the speaker and a stem that extends away from the main body. 
     
     
         20 . The ear bud defined in  claim 18 , wherein the main body of the ear bud housing is configured to be placed in the ear.