Ear-wearable device having tunnel with electrical contact pins
AssigneeStarkey Laboratories, Inc.
InventorsSidney A. Higgins, David Tourtelotte, Mohammed Alshehri, Mark Farley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ear-wearable device includes a shell shaped for wearing in a user's ear. The shell comprises a tunnel wall shaped to define a tunnel that passes through the ear-wearable device. The tunnel wall defines one or more contact pin apertures through which distal ends of two or more contact pins pass. One or more electrical components are encased within the shell. The contact pins are conductors from the one or more electrical components. The distal ends of the contact pins are positioned to make electrical contact with terminals of a cable plug that is removably inserted into the tunnel.
Claims17
An ear-wearable device comprising:
- a shell shaped for wearing in an ear of a user, wherein:
- the shell comprises a tunnel wall,
- the tunnel wall being a portion of the shell shaped to define a tunnel that is open-ended and passes through the ear-wearable device;
- two or more contact pins positioned within the shell;
- the tunnel wall being shaped such that the tunnel wall defines one or more contact pin apertures through which distal ends of the contact pins pass;
- one or more electrical components encased within the shell, the contact pins being conductors from the one or more electrical components, wherein:
- the shell comprises a faceplate and a shell component,
- the shell component is shaped to define an interior cavity containing the one or more electrical components,
- the faceplate is shaped to cover an opening of the interior cavity,
- the faceplate is shaped to define a protrusion shaped to engage a recess defined in the shell component,
- the recess is defined by a floor portion of the shell component and a riser portion of the shell component,
- the protrusion forms a sector of a segment of the tunnel wall and the riser portion of the shell component defines a sector of the segment of the tunnel wall complementary to the sector of the segment of the tunnel wall formed by the protrusion, and
- the first contact pin aperture and the second contact pin aperture are defined in the sector of the segment of the tunnel wall formed by the riser portion of the shell component;
- and
- wherein the distal ends of the contact pins are positioned to make electrical contact with terminals of a cable plug that is removably inserted into the tunnel.
A system comprising:
- a cable having a cable plug;
- an ear-wearable device comprising:
- a shell shaped for wearing in an ear of a user, wherein the shell comprises a tunnel wall, the tunnel wall being a portion of the shell shaped to define a tunnel that is open-ended and passes through the ear-wearable device;
- two or more contact pins positioned within the shell;
- the tunnel wall being shaped such that the tunnel wall defines one or more contact pin apertures through which distal ends of the contact pins pass;
- and
- one or more electrical components encased within the shell, the contact pins being conductors from the one or more electrical components,
- wherein the distal ends of the contact pins are positioned to make electrical contact with terminals of the cable plug that is removably inserted into the tunnel;
- and
- a sensor unit connected to an end of the cable opposite an end of the cable having the cable plug, the sensor unit including one or more sensors, and the sensor unit configured to rest in or proximate the ear of the user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.