Headphone responsive to optical signaling

摘要

An optical sensor may be integrated into headphones and feedback from the sensor used to adjust an audio output from the headphones. For example, an emergency vehicle traffic preemption signal may be detected by the optical sensor. Optical signals may be processed in a pattern discriminator, which may be integrated with an audio controller integrated circuit (IC). When the signal is detected, the playback of music through the headphones may be muted and/or a noise cancellation function turned off. The optical sensor may be integrated in a music player, a smart phone, a tablet, a cord-mounted module, or the earpieces of the headphones.

主权项

1. A headphone device, comprising:
an optical sensor configured to (a) receive an optical signal comprising a strobe pattern that corresponds to an emergency vehicle and (b) output a sensor signal; and an audio controller coupled to the optical sensor, wherein the audio controller is configured to:
output an audio signal to a transducer;decode the sensor signal using clock and data recovery to obtain the strobe pattern from the sensor signal and to compare a characteristic of the decoded strobe pattern with a known pattern to detect a presence of the emergency vehicle; andadjust the output audio signal based, at least in part, on the detection of the presence of the emergency vehicle.