Earpiece with cellular connectivity

• US 10,200,790 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2017
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bragi GmbH
• Original Assignee: Bragi GmbH
• Inventors: Boesen, Peter Vincent, Hviid, Nikolaj
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Vivian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Odunukwe, Ubachukwu
• Application Number:
  US15/406,094
• Publication Number:
  US 20170208393A1
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: 381 74, 381311, 455 412, 4555752, 455 111
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/05 specially adapted for use on head, throat or breast
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6033 for providing handsfree use or a loudspeaker mode in telephone sets arrangements for preventing acoustic echo H04M9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6066 including a wireless connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1016 Earpieces of the intra-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1025 Accumulators or arrangements for charging secondary cells per se H01M10/00; charging in general H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1058 Manufacture or assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1091 Details not provided for in groups H04R1/1008 - H04R1/1083
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/09 Applications of special connectors, e.g. USB, XLR, in loudspeakers, microphones or headphones
• 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 5/033 Headphones for stereophonic communication details thereof, e.g. relating to batteries, cables or control elements H04R1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An earpiece includes an earpiece housing, a processor disposed within the ear piece housing, a speaker operatively connected to the processor, at least one microphone operatively connected to the processor, and a cellular transceiver disposed within the earpiece housing and operatively connected to the processor. The cellular transceiver may be a low energy long term evolution (LTE) cellular transceiver. The ear piece may include an inertial sensor disposed within the earpiece housing and operatively connected to the processor. The earpiece may further include a short range transceiver disposed within the earpiece housing. The short range transceiver may be a Bluetooth transceiver. The earpiece may also include a slot within the earpiece housing for receiving an identity module.

Claims

1. An earpiece comprising:

an ear bud housing;

a processor disposed within the ear bud housing;

a speaker operatively connected to the processor;

at least one microphone operatively connected to the processor;

a cellular transceiver, for direct cellular communications disposed within the ear bud housing and operatively connected to the processor;

a short range transceiver disposed within the ear bud housing and operatively connected to the processor; and

an inertial sensor disposed within the ear bud housing and operatively connected to the processor;

wherein the short range transceiver is configured to wirelessly communicate with a second earpiece; and

wherein the earpiece is configured to receive user input from a user based on head movement of the user detected with the inertial sensor and to take or ignore an incoming call to the cellular transceiver based on the user input.

2. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the cellular transceiver is a low energy long term evolution (LTE) cellular transceiver.

3. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the short range transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver.

4. The earpiece of claim 1 further comprising a slot within the earpiece housing for receiving an identity module.

5. The earpiece of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of contacts stored on a machine readable storage medium operatively connected to the processor.

6. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to provide for voice control of the earpiece.

7. A system comprising:

a pair of wireless earpieces comprising a left ear piece and a right ear piece, each of the wireless earpieces comprising an ear piece housing, a processor disposed within the ear piece housing, a speaker operatively connected to the processor, at least one microphone operatively connected to the processor, a cellular transceiver, for direct cellular communications with a cellular network, disposed within the ear piece housing and operatively connected to the processor, a short range transceiver operatively connected to the processor for wirelessly communicating with the other wireless earpiece, and an inertial sensor disposed within the earpiece housing and operatively connected to the processor;

wherein each of the wireless earpieces is configured to receive user input from a user based on head movement of the user detected with the inertial sensor and to take or ignore an incoming call to the cellular transceiver based on the user input.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the cellular transceiver is a low energy long term evolution (LTE) cellular transceiver.

9. The system of claim 7 further comprising a slot within each of the earpiece housings to receive an identity module.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein the left ear piece and the right ear piece are configured to determine to use either the cellular transceiver of the left ear piece or the cellular transceiver of the right ear piece based on available battery life in the left earpiece and available battery life in the right earpiece.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein the left ear piece and the right ear piece are configured to provide for sending stereo communications by sensing left channel audio at the left ear piece and sensing right channel audio at the right ear piece and communicating the left channel audio at the left ear piece and the right channel audio at the right ear piece over a cellular communications channel using either the cellular transceiver of the left ear piece or the cellular transceiver of the right ear piece.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the left ear piece and the right ear piece are configured to provide for reproducing stereo communications by receiving over the cellular communications channel a stereo communication comprising a left channel and a right channel and transducing audio associated with the left channel at the left ear piece and transducing audio associated with the right channel at the right ear piece.

13. The system of claim 7 wherein the ear piece housing of each of the earpieces is an ear bud housing.

14. A system comprising:

a pair of wireless earpieces comprising a left ear piece and a right ear piece, each of the wireless earpieces comprising an ear piece housing, a processor disposed within the ear piece housing, a speaker operatively connected to the processor, at least one microphone operatively connected to the processor, a first cellular transceiver, for direct cellular communications over a cellular network, disposed within the ear piece housing and operatively connected to the processor, a first short range transceiver operatively connected to the processor and configured to wirelessly communicate with the other wireless earpiece, and an inertial sensor disposed within the earpiece housing and operatively connected to the processor, wherein each of the wireless earpieces is configured to receive user input from a user based on movement of a user'"'"'s head detected with the inertial sensor and to take or ignore an incoming call to the first cellular transceiver based on the user'"'"'s head movement; and

a charging case comprising a case housing, a second short range transceiver disposed therein and a second cellular transceiver disposed therein;

wherein each first short range transceiver of the pair of wireless earpieces is configured to communicate with the second short range transceiver of the charging case.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the ear piece housing of each of the ear pieces is an ear bud housing.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the charging case is configured to recharge the pair of wireless earpieces inductively.