Apple patents adaptive volume controls based on environment, not quality of your music

Ever walk through a crowd with your headphones on, only to find your music drowned out by the uproar? A recent Apple patent proposes dynamic volume adjustment based on your local surroundings. According to the filing, a sound sensor would be used to detect ambient noise and adapt accordingly. It says user volume controls are accounted for, so passing by a construction site likely won't cause your jams to be pumped up to an ear-shattering 11. Although it sounds more likely than some of the company's other patents, don't get your hopes up for seeing this any time soon. Hit up the read link for more details.

[Via Electronista]

[Pradster Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:09PM]

Quick and easy way to get deaf!
Awesome!! I want in!

[Adamd21 Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:14PM]

Woot

[Nerdtalker Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:24PM]

Anyone else notice how the reflection of that iPhone doesn't match what's on the screen at all? Is it wrong that I immediately noticed that?

[Stereotype Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:28PM]

lol! I noticed that too.... Nice photoshop there guys! :P

[Saad Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:31PM]

Yeah nerdtalker, you probably are suffering from Reflectionitize, a disease that causes you to notice Photoshop mistakes way faster than normal beings, and sometimes much more differently than other people. Thank god it's only stage one of more to come. I suggest that you visit a doctor immediately, these things could turn out to become some serious troubles in the coming future.

[Trebawa Posted Jan 22nd 2009 11:01PM]

A gift:

[Trebawa Posted Jan 22nd 2009 11:02PM]

Whoops messed up with the link there. Here it is: http://img134.imageshack.us/my.php?image=applepatentlp6.jpg

[Raul7 Posted Jan 23rd 2009 1:04AM]

Next thing you know, they will be offering ear operations! It's just triple the price than a normal one, due to their usage of special Apple certified equipment!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 23rd 2009 4:43AM]

How can they patent this? I swear my friend's Mazda 6 stereo has been doing this since 2004!

[mondaymorning Posted Jan 23rd 2009 5:23AM]

Yeah, my silly little Citroen Pluriel does this too. It sucks when your music suddenly gets quiet.

[RioRyan Posted Jan 23rd 2009 9:21AM]

"Jack Hohnson"
"If I Had Eyes"
"Sleep Through the Static"

[RioRyan Posted Jan 23rd 2009 9:22AM]

Whooooops.
"Jack Johnson"

[CRA1G Posted Jan 23rd 2009 2:10PM]

There's no way this patent will hold up. Hell, a friend of mine had this same functionality in the factory stereo in his 1987 Mitsubishi Starion. When it got louder (because of road noise or the windows going down or whatever) in the cabin, the stereo got louder to compensate. Amazing thing was that it actually could tell the difference between noise and conversation -- for conversation, it slightly turned down the stereo volume. Was pretty awesome tech for 1987.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 23rd 2009 10:11PM]

Yes, I love how the reflection doesn't match!!!! Haha!!!!

[Onashi608 Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:15PM]

I want this. I love riding my scooter with my iPod, but the wind and other noise like that can really get bothersome when you can't change the volume. I've mastered the art of changing the songs while it sits in my pocket, but you can't very well change the volume without reaching in at a stop light.

[letstakeawalk Posted Jan 22nd 2009 10:13PM]

http://www.ccrane.com/radios/radio-accessories/inline-volume-control.aspx

http://www.google.com/products?q=headphones+in+line+volume+control&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7RNWE&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title

[j2inet Posted Jan 23rd 2009 8:12AM]

Wow, a Microsoft employee did the exact same thing!

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163341.aspx

[robjennings Posted Jan 23rd 2009 1:25PM]

I don't recommend listening to an iPod on your scooter or motorcycle. It's pretty dangerous, plus illegal in many jurisdictions. Besides, it's way cooler to find a novel way to cram a stereo in your scooter.

[Wwhat Posted Jan 23rd 2009 3:46PM]

Stop the world, mr jennings did a recommendation.

So remember kids, get a zune not an ipod for listening in traffic.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:16PM]

Car audio systems have been doing this for years. When will Apple ever patent something that's acutally novel?

[LJKelley Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:26PM]

I was gonna comment that my Benz does exactly this. I don't see how this is new or patent worthy.

[Ravnos Posted Jan 22nd 2009 10:01PM]

You guys are insane. Clearly Apple invented this and car manufacturers stole the technology and took it back in time with them. Only they failed because people didn't want it then. They want it now, and the iPhone will give it to them.

[Decoy Posted Jan 22nd 2009 10:21PM]

Xerox invented cars in 1984.

[VanillaSpice Posted Jan 22nd 2009 10:25PM]

IF this patent is granted (it does not sound like it has been, yet), then you dills should be criticising the patent office, not Apple. It is the patent office's responsibility to check for prior art, not the applicant.

[alan89 Posted Jan 22nd 2009 10:34PM]

yea even my Dad's 2000 Chevy Blazer did that

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 22nd 2009 10:42PM]

The system in my 350 Z does this, and I find it very annoying. I turned it off.

[kevout Posted Jan 22nd 2009 10:47PM]

I was just going to say the same thing - my old Malibu from 99 or 2000 did that. And I absolutely hated it, because it didn't do it very well...I had to adjust the volume so frequently that I almost stopped listening to the radio altogether.

[Alex Posted Jan 22nd 2009 10:53PM]

Bring on the 3rd-party "get back control of your volume" patches.

I wonder what would happen if you put two of these computers next to each other...

[aschettler Posted Jan 22nd 2009 11:05PM]

Sounds a lot like the Logic 7 system (which I think sucks ass... but, yeah).

[UnixSystemsEngineer Posted Jan 23rd 2009 3:55AM]

Hah, I, too, came here to comment on how annoying this system is in my car. Switched off first thing.

[The Count Of Monte Cristo Posted Jan 23rd 2009 5:19AM]

Don't cars just adjust the volume to your speed? My mini turns it up at about 35Km/h and then again at 70Km/h, but not "just" according to ambient noise.

[el Capitan Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:17PM]

Who cares about a fking filed patent? 2,000,000 are filed every year. Save yours and our time plse, and post on products who's availability is imminent.

[Nerdtalker Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:21PM]

This is engadget, and they have admittedly covered apple patents regularly for some time now. If that's news to you, sorry!

As someone else noted, car audio has been doing this forever (with respect to road noise and vehicle speed). I fail to see how this is novel. Plus, a majority of people dont walk around with their iPods outside a pocket/case. Placing a mic somewhere practical will be challenging.

[KR Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:33PM]

dude.... ITS FRICKEN APPLE!! everything they do is important!! this patent is made by apple, hence this patent is important.... DUH

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:16PM]

I'm surprised this has never been patented before... even I've thought of something like this a couple times while I walk onto the bus/subway and need to turn my volume up.

I'm wondering if sticking the mp3 player back into your jeans/coat/bag will muffle the sound going to the sound sensor, so it won't really adjust well?

[Pradster Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:20PM]

You'll go deaf every time you fart!

[KR Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:35PM]

@Pradster

HAHA!!! +1,000,000,000 win!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 22nd 2009 10:05PM]

HAHAH awesome!!! @pradster that is the best comment i've read on engadget..ever!

kudos, brownie points, etc etc. :D

[snowbound Posted Jan 23rd 2009 8:45AM]

@Pradster
Ripper vs. SBD... Go deaf or die from the stench... what a choice.

[DavidKuan Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:20PM]

Odd. This seems to have been covered by Patent US 7,302,062
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.htm&r=2&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&p=1&p=1&S1=(((adjust+AND+audio)+AND+output)+AND+ambient).ABTX.&OS=abst/(adjust+and+audio+and+output+and+ambient)&RS=ABST/(((adjust+AND+audio)+AND+output)+AND+ambient)

[Pradster Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:22PM]

Leave the patent hunting to Chapel and Flashpoint. Boy those muffins are so good at it, I bet they get cc'd on every patent Apple files!

[dcoaster Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:41PM]

Yep, almost verbatim, and it's already been approved. Sorry, Apple, try again.

[Broo Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:23PM]

How about just adding in noise cancellation instead...

[Saad Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:25PM]

Photoshoped iPhone reflection = Fail.

[calvinc Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:26PM]

or you could buy shure se110s and avoid hearing loss

[grahamj Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:28PM]

The patent has illustrations of a laptop not an iPod so I think the idea here would be for your laptop to automatically adjust its volume. This would be handy I think and would prevent that annoying case where you come into work, fire up your browser and the YouTube video you left open starts blasting.

[DavidKuan Posted Jan 22nd 2009 11:20PM]

@Graham, plz read the granted patent again. The patent claims are of utmost importance and it bears no restrictions to a device (ie laptop, portable MP3 player, etc). It claimed the methods of detecting ambient audio conditions to auto adjust audio output. It actually went into more detail mechanisms that what is proposed by Apple's application

[3rdman Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:28PM]

@ Pradster:

Ouch, you must have some explosive flatulence experiences.

[3rdman Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:29PM]

Crap, i forgot to press the reply button

[Pradster Posted Jan 22nd 2009 9:35PM]

LOL, Brighten up sunshine!