Patent ID: 8190203

Claim:
An earphone comprising: a body, wherein the body comprises: at least one acoustic transducer for converting an analog electrical signal to sound; an antenna; and a transceiver circuit in communication with the at least one acoustic transducer and the antenna, wherein the transceiver circuit is for receiving and transmitting wireless signals via the antenna, and wherein the transceiver circuit is for outputting the analog electrical signal to the at least one acoustic transducer, and wherein the wireless transceiver circuit comprises firmware, which when executed by the transceiver circuit, causes the transceiver circuit to: receive digital audio wirelessly from a data source via an ad hoc wireless network when the data source is in wireless communication range with the earphone via the ad hoc wireless network; transmit data via the ad hoc wireless network to the data source regarding one or more infrastructure wireless networks detected by the transceiver circuit when the earphone and the data source are communicating via the ad hoc wireless network, wherein the data comprises identification data for the one or more infrastructure wireless networks whose signal strength exceeds a threshold signal strength level; and when the data source is not in wireless communication range with the earphone via the ad hoc wireless network, transition automatically to receive digital audio via an infrastructure wireless network.