Bone conductive ear microphone and method
First Claim
1. An ear piece device configured for being supported at the ear and providing a microphone which is sensitive only to sounds conducted within the skull of the user, said ear piece including:
- a housing which is configured at one end to fit snugly at the ear canal of the user but not extend into the ear canal, and includes means for passing sound waves into the housing, said housing being constructed of material which is sound conductive;
a microphone element coupled within the housing;
said microphone element including an inertial platform having sufficient inertial means to substantially resist movement associated with the housing by reason of audio vibration and which is cantilevered at one end within the housing and includes signal means for generating a signal representing vibrations transferred into the platform associated with the audio vibrations in the housing, wherein the inertial platform is suspended inside the housing but in a position which is not placed within the ear canal of the user during operation;
said signal means being coupled to electrical circuitry for converting relative movement of the inertial platform with respect to the housing into audio signal suitable for processing in an audio circuit.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An ear piece device configured for being supported in the ear and providing a microphone which is sensitive only to sounds conducted within the skull of the user is contained within a housing which is configured at one end to fit snugly at the ear canal of the user, but not to extend within the ear canal. A microphone element is coupled within the housing in a position such that the microphone element is separated from contact with the skull of the user by the housing. This microphone element includes an inertial platform which has sufficient inertial mass to substantially resist movement associated with the housing by reason of audio vibration and which is cantilevered at one end within the housing and includes signal means for generating a signal representing vibrations transferred into the housing in the form of audio vibrations from the user. This signal is supplied to an audio circuit for processing and reproduction of the user'"'"'s voice. A speaker element may be included within the ear device and can be decoupled acoustically so as to avoid feedback. This system can operate with full duplex and enable hands free communication and direct voice command by user through computer modems, telephone networks and other communication systems.
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Citations
38 Claims
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1. An ear piece device configured for being supported at the ear and providing a microphone which is sensitive only to sounds conducted within the skull of the user, said ear piece including:
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a housing which is configured at one end to fit snugly at the ear canal of the user but not extend into the ear canal, and includes means for passing sound waves into the housing, said housing being constructed of material which is sound conductive; a microphone element coupled within the housing; said microphone element including an inertial platform having sufficient inertial means to substantially resist movement associated with the housing by reason of audio vibration and which is cantilevered at one end within the housing and includes signal means for generating a signal representing vibrations transferred into the platform associated with the audio vibrations in the housing, wherein the inertial platform is suspended inside the housing but in a position which is not placed within the ear canal of the user during operation; said signal means being coupled to electrical circuitry for converting relative movement of the inertial platform with respect to the housing into audio signal suitable for processing in an audio circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An ear piece device for use in a communication system, said device comprising:
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a housing having a speaker end and a microphone end, said speaker end being configured for a snug fit at the ear canal of a user without including structure which substantially enters the ear canal during operation; a speaker element mounted with sound projection oriented toward the user'"'"'s ear canal and including isolation means coupled between the speaker element and the housing for selectively isolating undesirable frequencies that might interfere with sensitivity of audio pick up at the microphone end of the housing; a microphone element mounted at the microphone end of the housing, said microphone element being coupled to an acoustical lens which is attached between the speaker end and microphone end of the housing; said acoustical lens comprising a small vibration-sensitive element which is coupled between the speaker end and the microphone end of the housing such that audio vibrations received from the skull of the user are transmitted through the housing and into the acoustical lens; the other end of the acoustical lens including an attached inertial platform which includes means for converting relative physical vibrations actuated by sound waves received from the user'"'"'s skull into an electric signal capable of audio processing for reproduction. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for isolating an individual'"'"'s speech for reproduction from an environment of background noise which is not be detected, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) positioning a housing device in contact with a portion of the individual'"'"'s skull but outside an ear canal such that vibrations arising within the skull from voice communications of the individual are transmitted into the housing; b) gathering sound vibrations from the skull into the housing; c) suspending a cantilevered inertial platform as part of a microphone element inside the housing but in a position which is not placed substantially within the ear canal of the user during operation; d) detecting the sound vibrations within the housing by measuring movement with respect to the inertial platform contained within and cantilevered from the housing; e) producing an electric signal corresponding to the detected sound vibrations with respect to the inertial platform; and f) converting the electric signal to audio signal. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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32. An ear piece device configured for being supported at the ear and providing a microphone which is sensitive only to sounds conducted within the skull of the user, said ear piece including:
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a housing which is configured at one end to fit snugly at the ear canal of the user but not extend substantially into the ear canal, and includes means for passing sound waves into the housing, said housing being constructed of material which is sound conductive; a microphone element coupled within the housing, said microphone element including a support arm and a relatively larger inertial platform suspended at one end of the support arm, said inertial platform having sufficient inertial mass to substantially resist movement associated with the housing by reason of audio vibration, said support arm being cantilevered at a remaining end within the housing and including signal means for generating a signal representing vibrations transferred into the platform associated with the audio vibrations in the housing; said signal means being coupled to electrical circuitry for converting relative movement of the inertial platform with respect to the housing into audio signal suitable for processing in an audio circuit. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification