Abstract:
In an earloop headset or earphone or other ear-mounted audio device, a housing is attached to an earloop by providing a ball and complementary socket arrangement between the earloop and a pivot post secured to the housing. The earloop or pivot post are made of an elastomeric material to allow the earloop and pivot post to each be made of a single piece of material and be clipped into engagement after manufacture.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to ear-mounted audio devices such as earphones and headsets. In particular it relates to ear-mounted audio devices equipped with earloops for wearing on users&#39; ears. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In order to reduce their size and bulkiness, headsets have been adapted such that they are suspended from or attached to users&#39; earlobes by including loops (called earloops) attached to a housing that houses the headset&#39;s microphone and/or audio driver. In order to ensure a high degree of versatility, the earloop-housing connection is typically provided with freedom of movement to allow the housing not only to rotate relative to the earloop but also to pivot transversely to the direction of rotation. The microphone and/or audio driver of the headset or earphone (as appropriate) is typically coupled to a sound source and/or sound sink, which may be a cellular phone, MP3 player or other sound device by wires or wirelessly, e.g., via a Bluetooth® connection. 
     The problem with current earloops is the considerable number of parts, typically 4 to 5 elements that are involved in defining the loop and the microphone housing in order to ensure the degrees of movement discussed above. It will be appreciated that this increases not only the capital expenditure and cost of manufacture by requiring a large number of individual parts to be manufactured, e.g. by molding the pieces using individually designed molds, but also increases the time and cost of assembly. 
     The present invention seeks to address this issue by providing an earloop and housing connection (also referred to herein as the pivot post) with fewer parts. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided an earloop and pivot post arrangement for an ear-mounted audio device such as an earloop headset or earphone, comprising an earloop made from a single piece of material and a pivot post made from a single piece of material, one of the earloop and pivot post including a ball arrangement and the other of the earloop and pivot post including a socket shaped to complementarily receive the ball arrangement. Preferably at least one of the socket and ball arrangement is made from an elastomeric material. The ball arrangement may include a ball with a lip extending tangentially from the ball. The lip may have a substantially rectangular shape with the short sides being rounded. The socket may be defined by a pair of opposite low side walls with concave inner surface and a pair of opposite high side walls with concave inner surface, the high walls being higher than the low walls and defining a convex upper surface. The inner surfaces of the low and high walls are typically shaped to complementarily receive the convex outer surface of the ball, thus requiring elastomeric deformation of the ball or socket in order for the ball to be received in the socket. The height of the high side walls is preferably chosen so that the low ends of the convex surface extend to below the lip height of the ball arrangement when the ball arrangement is partially inserted into the socket from below. The height of the apex of the convex upper surface of the high side walls is preferably chosen to engage with the lower surface of the lip when the ball arrangement is fully received in the socket. 
     Further, according to one aspect of the invention there is provided an earloop, comprising a loop and a socket or ball arrangement at one end of the loop, the loop and socket or ball arrangement being made of a single piece of material, e.g., molded plastics material, which may be an elastomeric material. In the case of a ball arrangement, the ball arrangement may include a ball with a lip extending tangentially from the ball. The lip may have a substantially rectangular shape with the short sides being rounded. In the case of a socket, the socket may be defined by a pair of opposite low side walls with concave inner surface and a pair of opposite high side walls with concave inner surface, the high walls being higher than the low walls and defining a convex upper surface. The inner surfaces of the low and high walls are typically shaped to complementarily receive the convex outer surface of a complementarily sized ball, thus requiring elastomeric deformation of the ball or socket in order for the ball to be received in the socket. 
     Still further, according to one aspect of the invention there is provided a housing for an earloop headset or earphone or other ear-mounted audio device, comprising a housing having a pivot post extending from the housing, the pivot post including socket or ball arrangement, the socket or ball arrangement being made of a single piece of material, e.g., molded plastics material, which may be an elastomeric material. In the case of a ball arrangement, the ball arrangement may include a ball with a lip extending tangentially from the ball. The lip may have a substantially rectangular shape with the short sides being rounded. In the case of a socket, the socket may be defined by a pair of opposite low side walls with concave inner surface and a pair of opposite high side walls with concave inner surface, the high walls being higher than the low walls and defining a convex upper surface. The inner surfaces of the low and high walls are typically shaped to complementarily receive the convex outer surface of a complementarily sized ball, thus requiring elastomeric deformation of the ball or socket in order for the ball to be received in the socket. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a three dimensional view of an earloop and pivot post arrangement according to one embodiment of the invention, 
         FIG. 2  shows a cross section through the earloop in  FIG. 1  along the line A-A, and 
         FIG. 3  is a three dimensional view of the earloop and pivot post of  FIG. 1  connected to each other. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     One embodiment of the earloop  100  and pivot post  102  arrangement of the invention is shown in  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  also shows part of a housing  104  for housing a microphone and/or audio driver (not shown). The earloop  100  is made from a single piece of material. In this case, the earloop  100  is molded from a single piece of elastomeric material, e.g., a moldable plastics material. The pivot post  102  is also molded from a single piece of material, in this case, also a moldable plastics material, which may be of the same type or a different type of plastics material to that used for the earloop  100 . In order to allow the earloop  100  and pivot post  102  to be rotatably and pivotably connected the present embodiment provides for a ball and socket arrangement in which the pivot post  102  is provided with a ball  110  and the earloop  100  is provided with a complementarily shaped socket  112  that receives the ball  110  in a manner discussed in greater detail below.  FIG. 2  shows a section through the earloop  100  along the line A-A in  FIG. 1 . As can be seen in  FIG. 2 , the socket  112  defines a concave surface  114  in which the ball  100  of the pivot post is received. The socket  112  provides a higher wall  116  (one of which is shown in  FIG. 2 ) on two opposing sides of the socket  112 , and two lower walls or retaining rims  118  between the higher walls  116 , and again facing each other in opposing fashion. In particular, the higher walls  116  define a bowed or convex upper surface  120  on which a retaining lip on the ball of the pivot post rides up during assembly, as is discussed in greater detail below. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 1 , it will be seen that the pivot post  102  includes a retaining lip  130  on top of the ball  110 . The retaining lip  130  has a substantially rectangular configuration with rounded short ends  132  and flat, parallel long ends  134 . For ease of understanding the movement of the earloop about its axis  150  will be referred to herein as rotation while a tilting of the earloop relative to this axis  150  will be referred to as tilting. During assembly the earloop  100  is connected to the pivot post  102  by rotating the earloop by 90° relative to its position shown in  FIG. 1 , and inserting the retaining lip  130  and ball  110  of the pivot post from below (indicated by the letter B in  FIG. 2 ). This allows the retaining lip  130  to enter the opening defined by the socket  112  with the rounded short ends  132  to face the two lower walls  118  and enter the socket opening without being obstructed by the overhanging higher walls  116 . The pivot post  102  is then rotated by 90° causing the rounded short ends  132  (which extend laterally from the pivotal axis of the earloop to a greater extent than the parallel long ends  134 ) to ride up on the convex upper surface  120  of the higher walls  116 . This pulls the ball  110  fully into the socket  112 . It will be appreciated that the elastomeric nature of the earloop material flexes to allow the ball  110  to enter into the complementarily shaped concave housing of the socket  112 . Thus the ball  110  is retained in the socket  112  both by the concave inner surface of the higher walls  116  which extend partly around the ball&#39;s upper and lower ends and, as an extra safeguard by the retaining lip  130 ,while the short ends  132  of the lip extend at least partially over the top surfaces  120  of the higher walls  116 . This assembled configuration is best shown in  FIG. 3  which shows the short ends  132  of the retaining lip extending over the convex upper surface  120  of the higher walls. The ball and socket arrangement allows the ball  110  to rotate within the socket about its axis  150  and pivot readily about an axis C in directions indicated by the letters D. It will be appreciated that pivoting in other directions other than directly in directions C is permitted to a certain degree as defined by the convex upper surface  120  of the higher wall  116 . 
     Thus the present invention provides for a highly maneuverable earloop arrangement making use of only a single earloop element and a single pivot post element. It will be appreciated that the above embodiment is by way of illustration only and is not intended to limit the invention as defined by the claims. For instance, the ball arrangement could, instead be provided on the earloop, with the socket formed on the housing. Also, it is not necessary that both the ball and socket be made of an elastomeric material. Only one of the two elements need to be deformable to allow the two elements to be assembled.