Wireless earpiece assembly

• US 20070049362A1
• Filed: 08/29/2005
• Published: 03/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WFR IP LLC (Pueblo Nuevo LLC)
• Original Assignee: Effingo Wireless Incorporated
• Inventors: Ryann, William
• Granted Patent: US 7,505,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/575.200
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3866 carried on the head
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/05 specially adapted for use on head, throat or breast
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6066 including a wireless connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1016 Earpieces of the intra-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/105 Earpiece supports, e.g. ear hooks for stereophonic headphones H04R5/0335

Abstract

A wireless earpiece assembly configured to physically contact a user exclusively at an ear support behind a user'"'"'s ear when in use. The ear support does not exceed about 0.25 inches in width. The assembly is configured to distribute a significant portion of its bulk away from the isolated location of a user'"'"'s ear for long term user comfort without sacrifice of audio or communicational integrity. The wireless earpiece assembly simultaneously eliminates the use of any conventional extraneous wiring in order to optimize the un-encumbering user-friendly advantages afforded by wireless technology.

Claims

1. A wireless earpiece assembly comprising:

an ear support for securing a speaker at a user'"'"'s ear;

a casing coupling to said ear support and housing a component of the earpiece assembly; and

a casing support to provide the coupling and displace a bulk of said casing away from the user'"'"'s ear to a location above a neckline of the user.

2. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein said casing support is between about 0.25 inches and about 5.0 inches in length.

3. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein said casing support is less than about 0.25 inches wide.

4. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein the component is one of a transceiver and antenna assembly for the wireless pairing, a power source, a microprocessor, and a microphone.

5. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 4 wherein the casing support is of a pliant conformation for loosely suspending said casing from said ear support.

6. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 5 wherein the component is the microphone, the microphone being a focused microphone.

7. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein said casing support is of a stable conformation for supporting said casing in a lateral direction toward a mouth of the user.

8. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 7 wherein said casing support is wiring of between about 8 gauge and about 20 gauge.

9. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 further comprising an actuator to serve as a physical controlling interface for the user and supported by said ear support.

10. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 9 wherein said actuator is located at a front of said ear support.

11. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 9 wherein the actuator is one of a button for pressing by the user and an electronic reader for covering by the user.

12. A wireless earpiece assembly comprising:

a speaker;

an ear support coupled to said speaker and to occupy less than about 0.25 inches in width between an ear of a user and a head of the user; and

a casing coupling to said ear support and for housing a component of the wireless earpiece assembly, the wireless earpiece assembly to physically contact the user substantially exclusively at said ear support.

13. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 12 further comprising a casing support to provide the coupling, said casing support being less than about 0.25 inches wide.

14. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 12 further comprising an actuator to serve as a physical controlling interface for the user and supported by said ear support.

15. An earpiece comprising:

an ear support for placing behind a user'"'"'s ear and securing the earpiece thereat;

a speaker for delivering sound to the user'"'"'s ear; and

a speaker support for coupling said speaker to said ear support and maintaining a separation between said speaker and the user'"'"'s ear, said speaker equipped with hypersonic sound delivery capacity to direct the sound across the separation to the user'"'"'s ear during the delivering.

16. The earpiece of claim 23 wherein the separation is up to about 0.5 inches.

17. A method of employing a wireless earpiece assembly comprising:

securing an ear support of less than about 0.25 inches in width behind an ear of a user, the ear support having a speaker; and

pairing the wireless earpiece assembly to an audio device, the wireless earpiece assembly to physically contact the user substantially exclusively at the ear support.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the audio device is a mobile cell phone.

19. A method of wirelessly employing earpiece assemblies and comprising:

securing an ear support of a first earpiece assembly at a user'"'"'s first ear; and

securing an ear support of a second earpiece assembly at a user'"'"'s second ear, the first earpiece assembly and the second earpiece assembly each further including a speaker and a casing support coupled to the ear support, the speaker for delivering sound, the casing support to displace a bulk of a casing housing a component of the respective earpiece assembly from the user'"'"'s respective ear to a location above a neckline of the user.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising delivering stereo sound to the user'"'"'s first and second ears with the speakers of the first and second earpiece assemblies.