Vehicle with ear piece to provide audio safety
An earpiece includes an earpiece housing, a speaker associated with the ear piece housing, a microphone associated with the ear piece housing a wireless transceiver disposed within the ear piece housing and a processor disposed within the ear piece housing. The earpiece is configured to connect with a vehicle using the wireless transceiver and after connection with the vehicle automatically enter a driving mode. In the driving mode, the earpiece senses ambient sound with the microphone and reproduces the ambient sound at the speaker.
1 . An earpiece comprising:
an earpiece housing;
a speaker associated with the ear piece housing;
a microphone associated with the ear piece housing;
a wireless transceiver disposed within the ear piece housing;
an intelligent control system disposed within the ear piece housing;
wherein the earpiece is configured to connect with a vehicle using the wireless transceiver and after connection with the vehicle automatically enter a driving mode;
wherein in the driving mode, the earpiece senses ambient sound with the microphone and reproduces the ambient sound at the speaker.
2 . The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the earpiece persistently maintains the driving mode while a user of the earpiece is driving the vehicle.
3 . The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the earpiece is locked in the driving mode while a user of the earpiece is driving the vehicle.
4 . The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the earpiece is further configured to receive audio from one or more microphones of the vehicle.
5 . The earpiece of claim 3 wherein one of the microphones of the vehicle is outside of a vehicle cabin of the vehicle.
6 . The earpiece of claim 3 wherein one of the microphones of the vehicle is within a vehicle cabin of the vehicle.
7 . The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the intelligent control system is adapted to process the ambient sound to remove noise.
8 . The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the intelligent control system is adapted to combine the ambient sound and an audio stream.
9 . The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the intelligent control system is adapted to reduce the amplitude of the ambient sound.
10 . The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the intelligent control system is adapted to increase the amplitude of the ambient sound or portions thereof.
11 . A method comprising:
providing an earpiece comprising an ear piece housing, a speaker, a microphone, an intelligent control system operatively connected to the microphone and the speaker, and a transceiver disposed within the ear piece housing and operatively connected to the intelligent control system;
communicating data from a vehicle to the earpiece to put the earpiece in a driving mode. wherein in the driving mode ambient sound sensed with the microphone of the ear piece is reproduced at the speaker of the ear piece.
12 . The method of claim 11 further comprising providing the vehicle, the vehicle comprising a vehicle transceiver for operative communication with the transceiver of the ear piece.
13 . The method of claim 11 further comprising communicating an audio stream from the vehicle to the ear piece.
14 . The method of claim 13 further comprising combining the audio stream from the vehicle with the ambient sound at the ear piece.
15 . The method of claim 11 further comprising receiving audio from one or more vehicle microphones and communicating an audio stream containing the audio from the vehicle to the earpiece.
16 . The method of claim 15 wherein at least one of the vehicle microphones is within a vehicle cabin of the vehicle.
17 . The method of claim 15 wherein at least one of the vehicle microphones is outside of the vehicle cabin of the vehicle.
18 . The method of claim 11 further comprising processing the ambient sound at the ear piece to change audio characteristics of the ambient sound.
19 . The method of claim 18 wherein the audio characteristics of the ambient sound include volume of the ambient sound.
20 . The method of claim 19 wherein the processing comprises increasing the volume of the ambient sound.