Wireless earring assembly

• US 7,536,150 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2005
• Issued: 05/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: William Frederick Ryann
• Original Assignee: William Frederick Ryann
• Inventors: Ryann, William Frederick
• Primary Examiner(s): Anderson; Matthew D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dao; Minh D
• Application Number:
  US11/218,860
• Publication Number:
  US 20070054703A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,355 Days
• Field of Search: 455/3.06, 455/575.1, 455/575.2, 455/575.6, 455/90.3, 379/330, 379/428.01, 379/431, 379/447
• US Class Current: 455/3.06
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones

Abstract

A wireless earpiece assembly configured to physically contact a user substantially exclusively at an outer ear location of a user'"'"'s ear when in use. For example, the outer ear location may be an ear lobe providing the assembly with an appearance of an earring. 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 extraneous wiring in order to optimize the un-encumbering user-friendly advantages afforded by wireless technology.

Claims

1. A wireless earpiece assembly comprising:

a speaker for delivering sound to an ear of a user;

a casing for housing a component of the wireless earpiece assembly;

a fastener for securing the wireless earpiece assembly to an outer ear location of the ear;

a coupling mechanism to accommodate said speaker and said fastener; and

a casing support coupled to said coupling mechanism and said casing to displace said casing from said coupling mechanism to a location below the ear.

2. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein said fastener is one of a piercing, a clamp, a cuff, and a wrap.

3. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein said fastener contacts no more than about 1.0 inches longitudinally of an outer ear surface of the ear.

4. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein the outer ear location is one of an ear lobe of the ear, cartilage at the back of the ear, and cartilage at the front of the ear.

5. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein the coupling mechanism is up to about 0.25 inches wide.

6. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein the coupling mechanism is between about 0.75 inches and about 3.75 inches circumferentially.

7. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 further comprising a weighted extension extending from said coupling mechanism to balance the wireless earpiece assembly relative to the ear.

8. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein said casing is positioned along said coupling mechanism relative to said speaker as a counterbalance thereto.

9. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein a weight of said casing is supported from an upper garment of the user.

10. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein the component is one of a microprocessor, a microphone, an actuator, a power source, a light emitting diode, and a transceiver and antenna assembly.

11. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 10 wherein the actuator is an electronic reader for actuation by a manual touching thereof.

12. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 1 wherein the location below the ear is a location between the ear and a neckline of the user.

13. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 12 wherein said casing support is of a pliant conformation for loosely suspending said casing from said coupling mechanism.

14. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 13 wherein the microphone is a focused microphone.

15. A wireless earpiece assembly comprising:

a speaker for delivering sound to an ear of a user;

a casing for housing a component of the wireless earpiece assembly;

a first fastener for securing to a first outer ear location;

a second fastener for securing at a second outer ear location;

a coupling mechanism to accommodate said speaker, said first fastener, and said second fastener; and

a casing support for displacing said casing from said coupling mechanism to a location between the ear and a neckline of the user, said casing support to retain a stable user-defined conformation and direct said casing toward a mouth of the user.

16. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 15 wherein said casing support is between about 8 gauge and about 20 gauge dual conductor wiring.

17. An earpiece comprising:

a fastener for securing the earpiece to an outer ear location of an ear of a user;

a speaker for delivering sound to the ear;

a coupling mechanism to accommodate said fastener and said speaker;

a speaker support for electrical and physical coupling of said speaker to said coupling mechanism, said speaker support to provide a stable separation between said speaker and the user'"'"'s ear, said speaker equipped with a directional sound delivery capacity to focus the sound across the separation to the user'"'"'s ear during the delivering while maintaining substantial personal integrity of the sound.

18. The earpiece of claim 17 wherein said speaker support is less than about 0.2 inches wide.

19. The earpiece of claim 17 wherein said speaker support is of conformable wiring configured to stably retain a user-defined shape.

20. The earpiece of claim 19 wherein the conformable wiring is between about 8 gauge and about 20 gauge.

21. The earpiece of claim 17 wherein the separation is up to about 0.5 inches.

22. A wireless earpiece assembly comprising:

a speaker;

an ear support coupled to said speaker and to occupy a location 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, a portion of the weight of the casing to be supported from another position at an outer ear location, the location being one of an ear lobe of the ear, cartilage at the back of the ear, and cartilage at the front of the ear.

23. The wireless earpiece assembly of claim 22 wherein said ear support is configured to occupy less than about 0.25 inches in width between the ear and the head.

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

securing a wireless earpiece assembly to an outer ear location of a user'"'"'s ear with a fastener, the assembly having a coupling mechanism for accommodating the fastener and a speaker, a casing support coupled to the coupling mechanism to displace a casing housing a component of the assembly to a location between the ear and a neckline of the user; and

wirelessly coupling the wireless earpiece assembly to an audio device.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the audio device is a mobile cell phone.

26. A method of wirelessly employing earpiece assemblies, the method comprising:

securing a first wireless earpiece assembly to a first outer ear location of a user'"'"'s first ear; and

securing a second wireless earpiece assembly to a second outer ear location of the user'"'"'s second ear, the first and second wireless earpiece assemblies each including a coupling mechanism accommodating a speaker for delivery of sound, a casing for housing a component of the respective earpiece assembly, a fastener for said securing, and a casing support for displacing said casing from said coupling mechanism to a location between the ear and a neckline of the user.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising delivering stereo sound to the user'"'"'s first and second ears with the speakers of the first and second earpiece assemblies.