If future AirPods can’t identify who’s wearing them, they may automatically block personal information, like Siri forwarding text messages. “User Identification Using Headphones” is a newly disclosed Apple patent application that outlines what else the headphones can do, then focuses on making sure they only do that for the owner.
Apple said in the patent application that the headset can provide a useful interface between a human user and an electronic device, such as a user can provide voice input containing user requests to a digital assistant operating on an electronic device, such as a mobile device.
Various outputs can also be provided to the user through the headset, for example, when information, such as an instant message, is received on a mobile device, an audio representation of the information can be provided to the user through the headset.
However, conventional systems do not address whether the user wearing the headset is authorized to interact with the device’s personal functions, such as receiving information from the device, etc. So Apple’s suggestion is that the headphones, iPhone, and Apple Watch you’re wearing work together to determine the likelihood that you’re the owner.
The idea is that all three devices do at least some motion and movement tracking, and then compare the results. Call the headset the first device, then the iPhone might be the second device and the watch the third device. For example, the first movement information corresponding to the movement of the second electronic device is detected, and the second movement information corresponding to the movement of the third electronic device is detected.
A similarity score is determined according to the first motion information and the second motion information, and if the similarity score is higher than a threshold, the user is identified as an authorized user of the headset.
In some cases, Apple says, your iPhone can play ultrasound when you put on the headphones, the headphones can pick up the ultrasound, and the system can know that the devices are together. Therefore, if the three devices, AirPods, Apple Watch, and iPhone, are not far apart, it is likely that the owner is using them.