Method of programming a hearing aid by a programming device
First Claim
1. A method of determining the voltage of a battery in a hearing aid, comprising the steps ofproviding a line connection for connecting the hearing aid to a programming device;
- providing in the programming device a variable voltage source and an input comparator;
connecting a first input terminal of the input comparator to the voltage source;
connecting a second input terminal of the input comparator to the line connection;
controlling the voltage source to output a voltage that varies according to a predetermined pattern, by ramping the voltage using a D/A converter;
determining by the programming device the instant of a change at an output of the input comparator; and
determining by the programming device as the value of the battery voltage the value of the voltage source output voltage at said instant of a change at the output of the input comparator.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A battery-powered hearing aid (1) is programmed via a programming device (2), the hearing aid (1) having a battery (11) and a line connection (3, 4) for connecting the battery (11) to the programming device (2). The programming device uses a variable voltage source (5) and an input comparator (6) with a first and a second input terminal and an output terminal to output a variable voltage to one input of the input comparator (6) and determining the voltage of the hearing aid battery (11) by using the second input of the input comparator (6) of the programming device (2). By ramping the output of the variable voltage source (5) used as a reference, the voltage of the battery (11) can be determined with great accuracy using existing hearing aid programming circuitry.
19 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method of determining the voltage of a battery in a hearing aid, comprising the steps of
providing a line connection for connecting the hearing aid to a programming device; -
providing in the programming device a variable voltage source and an input comparator; connecting a first input terminal of the input comparator to the voltage source; connecting a second input terminal of the input comparator to the line connection; controlling the voltage source to output a voltage that varies according to a predetermined pattern, by ramping the voltage using a D/A converter; determining by the programming device the instant of a change at an output of the input comparator; and determining by the programming device as the value of the battery voltage the value of the voltage source output voltage at said instant of a change at the output of the input comparator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of programming a hearing aid, comprising the steps of
providing a line connection for connecting the hearing aid to a programming device; -
providing in the programming device a variable voltage source and an input comparator; connecting a first input terminal of the input comparator to the voltage source; connecting a second input terminal of the input comparator to the line connection; detecting the presence of a hearing aid by sending a data telegram from the programming device to the hearing aid and testing for the reception of an acknowledge data telegram from the hearing aid; controlling the voltage source to output a voltage that varies according to a predetermined pattern; determining by the programming device the instant of a change at an output of the input comparator; determining by the programming device as the value of a battery voltage of the hearing aid the value of the voltage source output voltage at said instant of a change at the output of the input comparator; and writing programming data from the programming device to the hearing aid.
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Specification