System and method for locating a hearing aid

• US 9,911,310 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2014
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 4, LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: III Holdings 4, LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Neumeyer, Frederick Charles, Yancey, Gregory Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Yun, Eugene
• Application Number:
  US14/496,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20150010178A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,258 Days
• Field of Search: 455 412
• 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 one or more processors and configurable to communicate with a hearing aid through a communication channel; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a hearing aid locator application that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to;

store location data generated while the electronic device is in communication with the hearing aid via the communication channel;

in response to re-establishing the communication channel after a loss of the communication channel, measure a signal strength of the communication channel; and

present, via the display, a visual indication of the signal strength.

2. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the visual indication of the signal strength is an indication of the closeness of the hearing aid to the electronic device.

3. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to re-establish the communication channel with the hearing aid.

4. The electronic device as recited in claim 3, wherein the electronic device outputs an audible sound in response to re-establishing the communication channel.

5. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to present the location data on the display.

6. The electronic device as recited in claim 5, wherein the location data is presented with respect to a map.

7. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to present time data associated with a last known location of the hearing aid on the display.

8. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to log time data associated with the hearing aid.

9. The electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to present a current location of the hearing aid.

10. A portable electronic device comprising:

one or more processors;

a user interface coupled to the one or more processors to receive inputs from a user and to provide information to the user;

a transceiver coupled to the one or more processors to communicate with the hearing aid through a communication channel;

a position detecting circuit coupled to the one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

establish the communication channel with the hearing aid;

store location data generated by the position detecting circuit while the electronic device is in communication with the hearing aid via the communication channel;

monitor a signal strength of the communication channel, in response to reestablishing the communication channel after a disruption of the communication channel; and

present, via the user interface, a visual indication representative of the signal strength.

11. The portable electronic device of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to present on the user interface a location associated with the location data.

12. The portable electronic device of claim 11, wherein the location is overlaid on a map.

13. The portable electronic device of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to store the location data in response to the distribution of the communication channel.

14. The portable electronic device of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to log a time of the disruption of the communication channel.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, in response to execution by a processor of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform operations for interacting with a hearing aid, the operations comprising:

storing location data generated while the electronic device is in communication with the hearing aid via a communication channel;

in response to re-establishing the communication channel after a loss of the communication channel, measuring a signal strength of the communication channel; and

presenting, via a display of the electronic device, a visual indication of the signal strength.

16. A method for locating a hearing aid via an electronic device, the method comprising:

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

storing location data generated by the electronic device while the electronic device is in communication with the hearing aid via the communication channel;

monitoring a signal strength of the communication channel, in response to reestablishing the communication channel after a disruption of the communication channel; and

presenting, via the electronic device, a visual indication representative of the signal strength.