SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOCATING A HEARING AID

• US 20160189523A1
• Filed: 03/07/2016
• Published: 06/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 4, LLC
• Original Assignee: III Holdings 4, LLC
• Inventors: Neumeyer, Frederick Charles, Yancey, Gregory Charles
• Granted Patent: US 10,089,852 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/55 Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/07 Use of position data from wide-area or local-area positioning systems in hearing devices, e.g. program or information selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/30 Monitoring or testing of hearing aids, e.g. functioning, settings, battery power
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A smart phone including a computer readable storage medium to store a hearing aid locator application and a processor coupled to the computer readable storage medium to execute the hearing aid locator application to track a last known location of a hearing aid.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

one or more processors;

a display;

at least one transceiver coupled to the processor and configurable to establish a first communication channel with a first hearing aid and a second communication channel with a second hearing aid; and

a computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to—

monitor a first signal strength of the first communication channel; and

present on the display a first visual indication of the first signal strength, the first visual indication representing a distance between the electronic device and the first hearing aid;

monitor a second signal strength of the second communication channel; and

present on the display, concurrently with the first visual indication, a second visual indication of the second signal strength, the second visual indication representing a distance between the electronic device and the second hearing aid.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to present location data associated with a last known location of the first hearing aid and location data associated with a last known location of the second hearing aid on the display.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to present location data associated with a current location of the first hearing aid and a current location of the second hearing aid on the display.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to present time data associated with the first hearing aid and time data associated with the second hearing aid on the display.

5. A method for locating at least one of a left hearing aid and a right hearing aid with an electronic device, the method comprising:

establishing a left communication channel with the left hearing aid;

establishing a right communication channel with the right hearing aid;

receiving position data from a position detection circuit integrated into the electronic device;

receiving time data corresponding to the position data;

while the left communication channel is established, storing a left hearing aid last known location and time in a memory integrated into the electronic device;

while the right communication channel is established, storing a right hearing aid last known location and time in the memory integrated into the electronic device;

receiving, via a graphical user interface integrated into the electronic device, a request for one or more of the left hearing aid last known location and time and the right hearing aid last known location and time; and

displaying at least one of the left hearing aid last known location and time and the right hearing aid last known location and time, on the graphical user interface.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

displaying a left hearing aid signal strength corresponding to the left communication channel on the graphical user interface; and

displaying a right hearing aid signal strength corresponding to the right communication channel on the graphical user interface.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

detecting a loss of the left communication channel and the right communication channel;

re-establishing the left communication channel and the right communication channel;

displaying a left hearing aid signal strength corresponding to the left communication channel on the graphical user interface; and

displaying a right hearing aid signal strength corresponding to the right communication channel on the graphical user interface.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising providing an alert on the graphical user interface in response to the detecting a loss of the left communication channel and the right communication channel.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing the left hearing aid last known location and time and the right hearing aid last known location and time to a server in communication with the electronic device.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the left communication channel and the right communication channel comprise a Bluetooth protocol.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein the position detection circuit comprises a GPS receiver.

12. The method of claim 5 wherein the electronic device comprises a smartphone.

13. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform operations for interacting with a hearing aid, the operations comprising:

establishing a communication channel between the electronic device and the hearing aid;

storing a last known position, wherein the last known position corresponds to a position of the electronic device at or near a time that the communication channel is lost; and

providing a visual representation of the last known position via the electronic device.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the operations further comprise providing a notification to a user, via the electronic device, that the communication channel has been lost.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein providing a visual representation of the last known position includes providing a visual representation of the last known position via a display integrated into the electronic device.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the operations further comprise storing time data corresponding to the time of the loss of the communication channel.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein storing the last known position includes transmitting data corresponding to the last known position to a server via the electronic device.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the operations further comprise:

re-establishing the communication channel; and

providing an indication of a signal strength of the communication channel.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein the indication includes an audible indication presented via the electronic device.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the operations further comprise storing a plurality of known positions via the electronic device, wherein the plurality of known positions correspond to positions of the electronic device while the communication channel is established, and wherein the plurality of known positions includes the last known position.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the last known position corresponds to a position of the electronic device after the communication channel has been lost.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the operations further comprise:

re-establishing the communication channel; and

providing an audio indication that the communication channel has been re-established.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the audio indication is provided via the electronic device.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the audio indication is provided via the hearing aid.

25. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform operations for interacting with a hearing aid, the operations comprising:

establishing a communication channel between the electronic device and the hearing aid; and

subsequent to a loss of the communication channel—

re-establishing the communication channel; and

providing an indication of a signal strength of the communication channel via the electronic device.