Ear Bud Retraction Mechanism Having a Break Away Dust Door
AssigneeHeadlogic LLC
InventorsJohn Cataldo, Daniel C. Sullivan, Mardis Bagley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A retractable ear bud module, comprising: a housing having a cover and a door with a hinge for removably attaching the door to the cover; the cover includes a side defining a curved depression for removably holding the hinge; a retraction mechanism including a rotatable spool having an axis, and an ear bud cable mounted in the housing, the retraction mechanism selectively retracts or dispenses the ear bud cable; at least one ear bud attached to the ear bud cable; a wireless receiver for receiving audio signals, the wireless receiver being in electronic communication with the ear bud cable to communicate audio signals to at least one ear bud.
Claims22
A retractable ear bud module, comprising:
- a housing having a cover and a door with a hinge for removably attaching the door to the cover;
- the cover includes a side defining a curved depression for removably holding the hinge;
- a retraction mechanism including a rotatable spool having an axis, and an ear bud cable mounted in the housing, the retraction mechanism selectively retracts or dispenses the ear bud cable;
- at least one ear bud attached to the ear bud cable;
- and
- a wireless receiver for receiving audio signals, the wireless receiver being in electronic communication with the ear bud cable to communicate audio signals to at least one ear bud.
The case assembly of an electronic device with a retractable ear bud module mounted therein, the case assembly comprising:
- a housing having a cover and a door with a hinge for removably attaching it to the cover;
- the cover including a side to define a curved depression for removably holding the hinge;
- the hinge has a partially cylindrical shape having two ends and a length, the hinge being configured with an axial hole on each end thereof for engaging a respective ball plunger and a detent hole configured on the length for engaging the latch;
- a retraction mechanism including a rotatable spool having an axis, and an ear bud cable mounted in the housing, the retraction mechanism retracts and dispenses the ear bud cable;
- at least one ear bud attached to the ear bud cable;
- a wireless receiver mounted on the housing for receiving audio signals and the wireless receiver being in electronic communication with the ear bud cable to communicate audio signals to at least one ear bud.
A method of operating a retractable ear bud module of an electronic device, the method comprises the steps of:
- inserting finger/s in the handle recess provided on the door of the device;
- lifting the door till the latch fully retracts into the latch recess provided on the cover;
- pressing the switch of the pawl latch and switch assembly for releasing the pawl latch from the spool to enable rotation of the spool to retract the ear bud cable inside the housing.
A retractable ear bud module, comprising:
- a housing having a cover and a door with a hinge for removably attaching the door to the cover;
- the cover includes a side defining a curved depression for removably holding the hinge;
- a retraction mechanism including a rotatable spool having an axis, and an ear bud cable mounted in the housing, the retraction mechanism selectively retracts or dispenses the ear bud cable;
- at least one ear bud attached to the ear bud cable;
- and
- an asymmetrical bridge for guiding the ear bud cable with respect to the spool, whereby the asymmetrical bridge offsets the ear bud cable from the spool axis to reduce friction applied to the ear bud cable when the ear bud cable retracts or dispenses.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.