Abstract:
A wireless headphone kit for use with a media player. The wireless headphone kit includes a wireless headphone unit with an RF wireless receiver, a communication attachment unit that is adapted to physically attach to a media player device and communicates therewith, with the communication attachment unit having an RF wireless transponder that is adapted to communicate with the wireless headphone unit, and a wireless control device including a volume control, pause/play control, a forward control and a reverse control, which controls the communication attachment unit. The wireless headphone unit that is worn around a user&#39;s neck and includes earplugs with length adjustable wires.

Description:
SUMMARY 
     The invention relates to wireless headphones and earphones, and more particularly to wireless headphone units for portable media players, with a portion worn around a user&#39;s neck, a separate control portion, and a communication attachment unit that fits on the portable media player. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The continued cost reduction in miniaturized electronics and memory storage has lead to the development of media players that store high volumes of media in small spaces. The use of small cassette tape players has largely been supplanted by CD players, and more recently, MP3 players. 
     An advantage of the MP3 players is that can store thousands of songs, photographs, books on tapes, and other digital files in a very small space, and provide a user with the ability to download songs one at a time or in groups from various music download services, and to literally carry around a whole music library and photo album in a user&#39;s pocket or backpack. 
     One popular brand of MP3 player is the ipod®, offered by Apple Computer, of Cupertino, Calif. The ipod® player is about the same size as a pack of standard playing cards. To listen to the device, headphones or earphone which are wired to a plug are plugged into a jack on the portable media player. Since some users prefer not to have any wires dangling from the media player to the headphones or earphones, various wireless headphones and earphones have been developed. These wireless headphones have a transmitter portion that connects to the media player, and transmits a signal via radio frequency (RF) to the headphones or earphones. 
     While wireless headphones and earphones may free the user from being tethered with wires to the media player, some of the prior wireless headphones and earphones can be relatively heavy and bulky and place excessive weight and stress on the user&#39;s head or ears. Moreover, these wireless headphones and earphones frequently do not give users the ability to control anything other than the volume to the headphones, and the volume control may not be conveniently accessible. Furthermore, operating the various functions of the portable media player without accessing a control panel and/or switches on the portable media player cannot be accomplished. Thus, while users may be freed from having their headphones tethered by wires to the portable media player, they still must directly access the portable media player&#39;s control panel and other switches to control the signal that goes to the headphones. 
     There accordingly remains a need for a wireless headphone kit for media players and a comfortable to wear wireless headphones unit, that permit a user to easily control the media player without directly accessing its control panel. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of an exemplary embodiment of one form of the wireless headphone kit for media players of the invention with a wireless headphone unit with its earphone buds partially withdrawn, an communication attachment unit for a media player and a control device; and 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of the exemplary embodiment of the wireless headphone unit of  FIG. 1  with its earphone buds minimally withdrawn device. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. The invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art. 
     Turning first the  FIG. 1 , is a shown a front view of an exemplary embodiment of one form of the wireless headphone kit  10  for media players (in particular portable media players) of the invention which has a wireless headphone unit  20  with earphone buds  22  and  24  on wires  26  and  28  partially withdrawn from a length adjustment and communication case  30 , with the wires  26  and  28  being slideably passable though passages  32  a neck sleeve  34 . The neck sleeve  34  is preferably formed of a soft and absorbent material, and the passages are preferably formed such that the wires  26  and  28  can smoothly and freely slide therethrough. The wireless headphone kit  10  for portable media players also has a communication attachment unit  40  with connectors, e.g., via an accessory control plug  42  and a headphone plug  44  that permit it to be attached to a media player device  36 , (shown in phantom.) The wireless headphone kit  10  is particularly well suited for use with portable media player devices. The communication attachment unit  40  comprises interface electronics that provides for electrical and logical communication between the communication attachment unit  40  through the accessory control plug so that the communication attachment unit  40  can control and communicate with the media player  36 . 
     The communication attachment unit  40  shown is  FIG. 1  is just an exemplary embodiment of one possible form of a communication attachment unit  40 . The communication attachment unit  40  can take other forms as required to engage with media player devices. Lastly, the unit wireless headphone kit for portable media players  10  includes a control device  50  which is used to control and direct the communication attachment unit  40 , and possibly also the headphone unit  20  directly. The control device  50  is shown in a form incorporated into a wrist watch, but the control device  50  can be part of another device or can be an independent device that is not part of another device. The control device  50  preferably has a case  52  with a volume control mechanism, for example, in the form of an increase volume button  54  and a decrease volume button  56 . A time display  58  will appear on the control device if it is incorporated into a wrist watch and time setting and mode buttons  60  and  62  can also be provided to control the watch functions. The control device  50  can have a watch band  64  for carrying on a person&#39;s body, but can be carried in other known ways. In order to provide more full functionality, a play/pause button  66 , a back button  68  and a fast forward button  70  can also be provided. The control device  50  include communication and control circuitry (not shown) that translations activation of the buttons to control signal(s), which control signal(s) are communicated via a wireless link  72  (e.g., RF) to the communication attachment unit  40  which attaches to the portable media player  36 . The communication attachment unit  40  is adapted to communicate via a wireless link  80 , e.g., RF, to the wireless headphone unit  20 , in order to send an audio signal to the headphone unit  20  from the media player device through the communication attachment unit  40 . As described so far, a user will engage the communication attachment unit  40  with the portable media player device  36 . The control device  50  is used to control the portable media player  36  through the communication attachment unit  40  attached thereto, and can be used, for example, to control the volume, play, reverse, fast forward, etc. The audio signal is then sent via the communication link  80  to the headphone unit  20 , for example to a RF receiver and communication circuitry  92  in the length adjustment and electronics case  30 . An audio feed therefrom will be passed through pairs of contacts  94  and  96  to lead wires  26  and  28 , respectively, to the earphones  22  and  24 , respectively. 
     In another embodiment of the invention, the control device  50  can also have a direct communication link  90  with the communication circuitry  92  of the headphone unit  20 , in which case the communication circuitry  92  can include a RF transmitter so that some or all of the control signals from the control device  50  will be sent from the control device  50  to the headphone unit  20  and bounced to the communication attachment unit  40 , which will then send the appropriate signal back to the headphone unit  20 . 
       FIG. 2  is a front view of the exemplary embodiment of the wireless headphone unit  20  of  FIG. 1  with the earphone buds  22  and  24  minimally withdrawn from the communication case  30 , which can comprise the state of the earphone buds  22  and  24  when not in use. The wireless headphone unit  10  of  FIGS. 1 and 2  is well-suited to be worn around a user&#39;s neck, with the neck sleeve  34  being behind the nape of the user&#39;s neck, and with the length adjustment and communication case  30  being below a user&#39;s throat area or upper chest. Thus, the weight of the headphone unit  20  will be carried comfortably around a user&#39;s neck area. The wires  26  and  28  slideably pass through passageways  32  in the neck sleeve  34  and have free length portions  100  and enter the length adjustment and communication case  30 , pass through guides  102  (e.g., pulleys), and exit the length adjustment and communication case  30  and connect to the ear buds  22  and  24  with working lengths  104  of the wires extending from the length adjustment and communication case  30 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the free lengths  102  of the wires  26  and  28  are relatively short, and in this position, the ear buds will lie on the user&#39;s chest below the throat area. By pulling down on the ear buds  22  and  24  while holding or pulling up on the length adjustment and communication case  30 , the wires  26  and  28  will be pulled down through the length adjustment and communication case  30 , which has the affect to lengthen the working lengths  102  and shorten the free lengths  102  of wires  26  and  28 , as is shown in  FIG. 1 . Thus, the working lengths will be long enough to permit the ear buds  22  and  24  to be placed in a user&#39;s ears. When a user no longer wishes to uses the headphones, the user can simply pull downwardly on the length adjustment and communication case  30 , with the neck sleeve  34  being retained (e.g., around a user&#39;s neck), which will cause the wires  26  and  28  to move back up through the length adjustment and communication case  30  to shorten the working lengths  104  and lengthen the free lengths  100  of wires  26  and  28 , as shown in  FIG. 2 . The pulleys  102  are provided to ensure smooth and low force operation of the headphone unit  20 . Other mechanisms can be used to control the working lengths  104  of the wires  26  and  28 . While the wireless headphone unit  20  is shown as having the above described support features, if desired, the wireless headphone kit  10  of the invention can be used with a headphone unit that lacks a length adjustment mechanism. 
     Thus, by utilizing a separate the control device  50  to control the signal being transmitted to the headphone unit  20 , the weigh of the headphone unit can be reduced, and greater control and functionality can be achieved without a user having to directly access the portable media player  36  each time a volume change or change to the tracks is desired. 
     Having thus described exemplary embodiments of the present invention, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above disclosures are exemplary only and that various other alternatives, adaptations and modifications may be made within the scope of the present invention. The presently disclosed embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.