US 11,693,939 B2
Ear proximity detection
John Paul Lesso, Edinburgh (GB)
Assigned to Cirrus Logic, Inc., Austin, TX (US)
Filed by Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd., Edinburgh (GB)
Filed on Sep. 29, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/36,223.
Application 17/036,223 is a continuation of application No. 15/927,824, filed on Mar. 21, 2018, granted, now 10,810,291.
Prior Publication US 2021/0064729 A1, Mar. 4, 2021
Int. Cl. G06F 21/00 (2013.01); G06F 21/32 (2013.01); H04M 1/60 (2006.01); H04M 1/72454 (2021.01); H04M 1/67 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 21/32 (2013.01) [H04M 1/605 (2013.01); H04M 1/72454 (2021.01); H04M 1/67 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for detecting the presence of an ear in proximity to an audio device, the system comprising:
an input for obtaining an audio data signal from a transducer of the audio device; and
an ear biometric authentication module configured to:
compare one or more ear biometric features, extracted from the audio data signal, to an ear biometric template of an authorised user;
calculate one or more scores based on the comparison, the one or more scores being indicative of a distance between the one or more extracted ear biometric features and the ear biometric template;
compare the same one or more scores to each of a first threshold and a second thresholds, wherein the first and second thresholds are different to each other;
generate a first output indicative of the presence or absence of any ear in proximity to the audio device based on the comparison of the same one or more scores to the first threshold; and
generate a second output indicative of the presence or absence of an ear of the authorised user in proximity to the audio device based on the comparison of the same one or more scores to the second threshold;
wherein the one or more biometric features comprises one or more of: one of more resonant frequencies; one or more anti-resonant frequencies; oto-acoustic emissions; heart-rate variability; bone-conducted signals.