Source: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2016/0073189.html
Timestamp: 2019-03-22 10:38:39
Document Index: 192541086

Matched Legal Cases: ['art.\n2', 'art.\n3', 'art.\n6', 'art.\n7', 'art 22', 'art 24', 'art 26', 'art 24', 'art 24', 'art 22', 'art 24', 'art 24', 'art 24', 'art 26', 'art 24', 'art 26', 'art 26', 'art 24', 'art 26', 'art 26', 'art 26', 'art 24', 'art 26', 'art 22', 'art 26', 'art 26', 'art 22', 'art 22', 'art 26', 'art 22', 'art 26', 'art 22', 'art 26', 'art 22', 'art 24', 'art 26', 'art 26', 'art 22', 'art 26', 'art 26', 'art 24', 'art 22', 'art 24', 'art 24', 'art 24', 'art 24', 'art 24', 'art 24', 'art 24']

CHARGING OF WIRELESS EARBUDS - EPICKAL AB
United States Patent Application 20160073189
Lindén, Olle (Hollviken, SE)
Trajkovski, Kiril (Klagshamn, SE)
Sennström, Per (Malmo, SE)
Ståhl, Carl (Malmo, SE)
Millfjord, Markus (Halmstad, SE)
Hovmøller, Henrik (Holbaek, DK)
14/478774
Download PDF 20160073189 PDF help
20090290719 STETHOSCOPIC ASSEMBLY WITH RECORD/PLAYBACK FEATURE November, 2009 Kugler et al.
20100080407 Hearing aid device with a directional microphone system as well as method of operating such a hearing aid device April, 2010 Schulz
EP2037661 2009-03-18
MOTOROLA, Motorola_HINT_2014, 2014, pg.1
MOTOROLA, Motorola_HINT_2_2014, pg.1
MOTOROLA, Motorola_HINT_2014, pg. 1
1. A storage and charging capsule for a pair of wireless earbuds, the storage and charging capsule comprising: a base part; an elongate intermediate part, the intermediate part having a longitudinal major axis; and a cover part being retractable over the intermediate part, wherein the intermediate part has a first end attached to the base part, a second end, and an earbud chamber formed between the first and second ends, the earbud chamber being adapted to receive the pair of wireless earbuds arranged one after another along the longitudinal major axis of the intermediate part, and wherein the capsule further has a power source for charging the pair of wireless earbuds when placed in the earbud chamber in the intermediate part.
2. The storage and charging capsule as defined in claim 1, wherein the power source comprises a rechargeable battery and wherein the capsule further comprises a power transmission arrangement for feeding electric power from the rechargeable battery to both earbuds when placed in the earbud chamber in the intermediate part.
3. The storage and charging capsule as defined in claim 2, the rechargeable battery being accommodated in the base part, wherein the power transmission arrangement comprises a first charging connector disc at the first end of the intermediate part, the first charging connector disc comprising a plurality of charging connector elements symmetrically distributed over a surface of the charging connector disc to allow electric contact with a charging interface of one of the earbuds irrespective of its radial orientation in the earbud chamber.
4. The storage and charging capsule as defined in claim 3, wherein the plurality of charging connector elements are adapted to reach electric contact with a conductive pattern provided at a rear end of the earbud.
5. The storage and charging capsule as defined in claim 3, wherein the power transmission arrangement further comprises a second charging connector disc at the second end of the intermediate part, the second charging connector disc comprising a plurality of charging connector elements symmetrically distributed over a surface of the second charging connector disc to allow electric contact with a charging interface of the other earbud irrespective of its radial orientation in the earbud chamber, wherein the charging connector elements of the first charging connector disc are connected to the rechargeable battery, and wherein the charging connector elements of the second charging connector disc are connected to the charging connector elements of the first charging connector disc or to the rechargeable battery by an interconnector extending between the first and second ends of the intermediate part.
6. The storage and charging capsule as defined in claim 1, the cover part being shaped essentially as a cylinder having an open end for receiving the intermediate part, and a closed end, the cover part being placeable in a first position in which the cover part is retracted from the intermediate part to allow insertion or removal of the earbuds in/from the earbud chamber, and in a second position in which the cover part encapsulates the intermediate part with the open end of the cover part abutting against the base part.
7. The storage and charging capsule as defined in claim 6, further comprising a first magnet mounted at the second end of the intermediate part and a second magnet mounted at the closed end of the cover part, the first and second magnets urging the cover part against the base part in the second position of the cover part.
FIGS. 1-4 illustrate an embodiment of a storage and charging capsule 20 for a pair of wireless earbuds 10a, 10b. An embodiment of a wireless earbud 10, which may be one of the wireless earbuds 10a, 10b and is thus suitable for use with the storage and charging capsule 20, is illustrated in more detail in FIGS. 5-12.
As seen in FIGS. 1-4, the storage and charging capsule 20 comprises a base part 22, an elongate intermediate part 24 and a cover part 26 which is retractable over the intermediate part 24. A first end 25a of the intermediate part 24 is attached to the base part 22. An earbud chamber 31 is formed in the intermediate part 24 between its first and second ends 25a, 25b. The earbud chamber 31 is adapted to receive the pair of wireless earbuds 10a, 10b arranged one after another along a longitudinal major axis 60 of the intermediate part 24.
In FIG. 1, a first earbud 10a of the earbud pair is shown outside of the capsule 20, while the second earbud 10b of the earbud pair is shown positioned in the capsule 20, and more specifically in the earbud chamber 31 formed in the intermediate part 24. FIG. 2 shows both earbuds 10a, 10b positioned in the capsule 20, or more specifically in the earbud chamber 31.
The cover part 26 of the storage and charging capsule 20 is shaped essentially as a cylinder having an open end 27a for receiving the intermediate part 24, and a closed end 27b. The cover part 26 can be placed in a first, or open, position in which the cover part 26 is retracted by a user from the intermediate part 24 to allow insertion or removal of the earbuds 10a, 10b in or from the earbud chamber 31. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the cover part 26 of the capsule 20 is refracted to its first position and exposes the earbud 10b and the earbuds 10a, 10b, respectively.
The cover part 26 can moreover be placed in a second, or closed, position in which the cover part 26 encapsulates the intermediate part 24 with the open end 27a of the cover part 26 abutting against the proximal end 23b of the base part 22. FIG. 3 shows the storage and charging capsule 20 in a situation where the cover part 26 has been moved by a user towards the second, or closed, position to encapsulate the earbuds 10a, 10b in the earbud chamber 31. The capsule 20 is not fully closed in FIG. 3; the cover part 26 still has to be moved a distance 62 to abut against the base part 22.
When the capsule 20 is fully closed, the base part 22 and the cover part 26 will together essentially take the form of a cylinder. A ring 30 is affixed to the distal end 23a of the base part 22 to facilitate carrying of the storage and charging capsule 20 in for instance a necklace, a waist belt or a key ring. Thus, accidental loss or damage of the capsule 20 and the earbuds 10a, 10b contained therein may be prevented. The ring 30 may also act as a handle for the user when retracting the cover part 26 from the base part 22 to insert or remove the earbuds 10a, 10b.
To keep the cover part 26 safely engaged with the base part 22, the storage and charging capsule 20 further comprises a first magnet 58 mounted at the second end 25b of the intermediate part 24, and a second magnet (not shown) mounted at the closed end 27b of the cover part 26. The first and second magnets will thus urge the cover part 26 against the base part 22 in the second position of the cover part 26. Hence, accidental retraction of the cover part 26 and resulting potential loss or damage of the earbuds 10a, 10b in the capsule 20 may be prevented.
As is best seen in the exploded view of FIG. 4, the storage and charging capsule 20 has a power source for charging the pair of wireless earbuds 10a, 10b when placed in the earbud chamber 31 in the intermediate part 24. In the disclosed embodiment, the power source comprises a rechargeable battery 40 which is accommodated in the base part 22 and which can be charged by a cable connection interface 46, 47, such as a micro Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface.
The storage and charging capsule 20 further comprises a power transmission arrangement for feeding electric power from the rechargeable battery 40 to the earbuds 10a, 10b when placed in the earbud chamber 31 in the intermediate part 24. As seen in FIG. 4, the power transmission arrangement comprises a first charging connector disc 42 at the first end 25a of the intermediate part 24. The first charging connector disc 42 comprises a plurality of charging connector elements 44a, 44b, 44c which are symmetrically distributed over a surface of the charging connector disc 42 to allow electric contact with a charging interface of the nearest earbud (earbud 10a in FIGS. 1-4), irrespective of the radial orientation of the earbud in the earbud chamber 31.
In the disclosed embodiment, there are three charging connector elements 44a, 44b, 44c in the form of pogo pins soldered onto the surface of the charging connector disc 42, being a circuit board substrate. The resilient tips of the pogo pins 44a, 44b, 44c extend through respective openings 54a, 54b, 54c at the first end 25a of the intermediate part 24. The earbuds 10a, 10b are to be placed “nose to nose” in the earbud chamber 31 in the intermediate part 24, with their respective foam tips 11 at the front ends thereof (FIG. 6) abutting each other.
The resiliency of the foam tips 11 will urge the rear end of the earbud 10a towards the resilient tips of the pogo pins 44a, 44b, 44c. As a result, they will reach electric contact with a conductive pattern 17a provided at the rear end of the earbud 10a (see FIG. 6). One of the pogo pins 44a, 44b, 44c, such as the center pogo pin 44b, will provide a first power supply potential, such as ground or 0 V. The other two of the pogo pins 44a, 44b, 44c, such as the leftmost and rightmost pogo pins 44a and 44c, will provide a second power supply potential, such as +Vcc. The opposite order is of course also possible. Particulars of the charging procedure for the earbud will be described in more detail in a later section of this document.
To allow charging also of the other earbud 10b, the power transmission arrangement in the storage and charging capsule 20 further comprises a second charging connector disc 48 at the second end 25b of the intermediate part 24. Like the first disc 42, the second charging connector disc 48 comprises a plurality of charging connector elements symmetrically distributed over a surface of the second charging connector disc 48 to allow electric contact with a charging interface of the other earbud 10b, irrespective of its radial orientation in the earbud chamber 31.
In the disclosed embodiment, the second charging connector disc 48 has three charging connector elements in the form of pogo pins soldered onto the surface of the charging connector disc 48, being a circuit board substrate. The resilient tips of these pogo pins extend through respective openings at the second end 25b of the intermediate part 24. In FIG. 4, only one of the pogo pins are seen at 50c, and only two of the openings are seen at 56a, 56b. The charging functions of the pogo pins of the second charging connector disc 48 are analogous to what has been described above for the pogo pins 44a, 44b, 44c of the first charging connector disc 42.
The charging connector elements 44a, 44b, 44c of the first charging connector disc 42 are connected to the rechargeable battery 40. The charging connector elements 50c of the second charging connector disc 48 are connected to the charging connector elements 44a, 44b, 44c of the first charging connector disc 42, or directly to the rechargeable battery, by an interconnector 52 extending between the first and second ends 25a, 25b of the intermediate part 24.
An embodiment of a wireless earbud 10, which may be one of the wireless earbuds 10a, 10b as referred to above in conjunction with the storage and charging capsule 20, will now be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 5-12.
FIGS. 5 to 7 show the wireless earbud 10 in schematic isometric and exploded views. Even though shown in isolation, the earbud 10 will typically be used together with a second earbud to form a pair of earbuds, like the earbud pair 10a, 10b as previously referred to. One of the earbuds may then be used for playing left-channel stereo audio into one ear of the user, whereas the other earbud will be used for playing right-channel stereo audio into the other ear.
The earbud housing comprises a tapered front housing portion 12 and a rear housing portion 16. The tapered front housing portion 12 comprises a loudspeaker chamber 12b for accommodating the loudspeaker element 13. Further, the tapered front housing portion 12 comprises a sound guiding channel forming element 12a for receiving an earbud foam tip 11 by threading a flexible hollow engagement portion 11 a thereof onto the sound guiding channel forming element 12a. Preferably, the frictional engagement between the sound guiding channel forming element 12a and the foam tip 11 is designed to be firm but yet possible to interrupt. This will make sure that the foam tip 11 stays in place during normal use but may be removed for replacement by another foam tip for reasons of wear and tear or user preference.
The loudspeaker element 13 is operatively connected to the audio codec circuitry on the main printed circuit board 15 via two connecting wires 13a, 13b. In the disclosed embodiment, the loudspeaker element 13 is a magnetic balanced armature (BA) receiver, such as an SR-31843-000 mini siren which is provided by Knowles Electronics, Itasca, Ill., USA. Using a balanced armature receiver for the loudspeaker element 13 is advantageous, since it offers high audio performance at a small physical size. As a result, it has been made possible to design the earbud 10 to have a compact overall size.
In the illustrated embodiment, the rear housing portion 16 is essentially cylindrical or frusto-conical. The rear housing portion 16 comprises a first end 16a proximate to the front housing portion 12, and a second distal end 16b. Together with the front housing portion 12, the rear housing portion 16 accommodates the main printed circuit board 15 inside the rear housing portion 16 nearest its second distal end 16b, then the rechargeable battery 14 and the loudspeaker element 13 in successive order towards the front housing portion 12 along the longitudinal main axis 19 of the earbud housing. Thus, a very compact physical size is obtained.
In the illustrated embodiment, the rear housing portion 16 has a wall 16c at the second distal end 16b. The main printed circuit board 15 is mounted at an internal surface of the wall 16c. Moreover, the charging interface member 17 is mounted at an external surface of the wall 16c in a shallow protective recess formed by the wall 16c and the surrounding parts of the second distal end 16b of the rear housing portion 16.
As seen in FIG. 6, the wall 16c comprises first and second openings 16d, 16e for providing access from the outside of the wall to the main printed circuit board 15 inside the wall 16c, i.e. inside the earbud housing. In the disclosed embodiment, the openings 16d, 16e in the wall 16c at the second distal end 16b of the rear housing portion 16 have dual purposes—to allow charging of the rechargeable battery 14, and to allow programming or writing of data to the circuitry of the main printed circuit board 15 during product manufacture or upgrade.
Hence, the main printed circuit board 15 has mounted thereon first and second charging connectors 15a, 15b which are aligned with the first and second openings 16d, 16e in the wall 16c to provide electric contact with the charging interface member 17 at the external surface of the wall 16c through contact areas 17d, 17e (FIG. 7). In the disclosed embodiment, the charging connectors 15a, 15b are elongated resilient members, such as pogo pins, which protrude partly through the first and second openings 16d, 16e in the wall 16c. In other embodiments, elongated resilient connecting members may protrude from the charging interface member 17 through the first and second openings 16d, 16e in the wall 16c to the main printed circuit board 15.
In the disclosed embodiment, the charging interface member 17 comprises a circuit board substrate which is mounted to the external surface of the wall 16c of the rear housing portion 16. A conductive pattern 17a is printed on the external surface of the circuit board substrate, i.e. the surface which faces away from the wall 16c. The conductive pattern is designed for electric contact with a power transmission arrangement in a storage and charging capsule for the wireless earbud, typically the storage and charging capsule 20 previously described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.
The conductive pattern 17a on the charging interface member 17 (i.e. circuit board substrate) comprises a first sub-pattern 17b adapted to reach electrical contact with a first charging connector element of the power transmission arrangement in the storage and charging capsule, i.e. the pogo pin 44a or 44c when the earbud 10a in FIGS. 1 to 4 implements the earbud 10. The conductive pattern 17a also comprises a second sub-pattern 17c electrically isolated from the first sub-pattern 17b and being adapted to reach electrical contact with a second charging connector element of the power transmission arrangement in the storage and charging capsule (e.g. the pogo pin 50c when the earbud 10b in FIGS. 1 to 4 implements the earbud 10).
Advantageously, the conductive pattern 17a may be designed as a graphical symbol representing the individual earbud 10, a product type of the earbud 10, or a producer or supplier of the earbud 10. Such a graphical symbol may convey technical or commercial information pertaining to the individual earbud 10, its product type, or its producer or supplier. When used together with the storage and charging capsule 20 shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the symmetrical distribution of the charging connector elements (e.g. 44a, 44b, 44c) over the surface of the charging connector disc (e.g. 42) will guarantee electrical contact with the conductive pattern 17a on the earbud 10, irrespective of the radial orientation of the earbud 10 in the earbud chamber 31 of the storage and charging capsule 20. As a result, great flexibility in the layout of the graphical symbol formed by the conductive pattern 17a is achieved together with a reliable charging procedure.
As already indicated, in the disclosed embodiment, the first and second openings 16d, 16e in the wall 16c of the rear housing portion 16 of the earbud 10 are aligned with a programming or data writing interface on the main printed circuit board 15. When assembling the earbud 10 during manufacture, at a late stage in the assembly process, all parts of the earbud 10 may have been assembled except for the charging interface member 17. Hence, at this stage, the openings 16d, 16e in the wall 16c are available for insertion of probes or electrodes of a programming or data writing device. The probes or electrodes may access the programming or data writing interface on the main printed circuit board 15 to fill memories and registers thereof with software or firmware instructions, and/or data. Such a procedure is commonly referred to as “flashing” (of flash memories). In one embodiment, the earbuds 10a and 10b are paired with each other by writing the Bluetooth address of the first wireless earbud 10a into a memory or register of the second wireless earbud 10b, and vice versa.
Once the programming or data writing has been completed, the assembly procedure may be finalized by a step of affixing the charging interface member 17 on the wall 16c of rear housing portion 16 of the earbud 10 by means of for instance an adhesive. A medium-strong adhesive may be chosen, in some embodiments, to provide a balance between safe mounting of the charging interface member 17 on the one hand, and the ability of a non-destructive removal thereof at a later time in the event of a need for a product repair or software/firmware/data upgrade.
One inventive aspect can be seen in a kit of parts comprising a storage and charging capsule 20 and two wireless earbuds 10/10a, 10b as referred to above.
The main printed circuit board 15 has a front surface 15f, a rear surface 15r and a circumferential edge surface 15e. In the disclosed embodiment, components are provided on all three surfaces, as is seen in FIG. 8, FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, respectively. This is beneficial since it allows a size-efficient implementation, as will be clear from the following disclosure. It is moreover beneficial since it allows an efficient implementation of an antenna function for the wireless radio communication 110.
FIG. 8 illustrates the schematic layout of the front surface 15f of the main printed circuit board 15. FIG. 9 illustrates the schematic layout of the read surface 15, of the main printed circuit board 15. Component D1, FIG. 8, is a BlueCore CSR8670 WLCSP System on a Chip (SoC) integrated circuit device for Bluetooth 4.0. The device is available from Cambridge Silicon Radio Ltd, Churchill House, Cambridge Business Park, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WZ, UK. Component D1 features Bluetooth 4.0 software, a radio with an integrated balun, an 80 MHz RISC MCU (application processor) and an 80 MIPS DSP (digital signal processor), internal flash memory, a stereo audio codec, noise reduction, audio interfaces, serial interfaces, integrated switch-mode regulators, linear regulators and battery charger, LED controllers, etc.
The various elements labeled TPn (n being integer numbers) are input and output terminals for the component D1, and serial interfaces. The various capacitors Cn, Rn and Ln (n being integer numbers) are provided for decoupling and noise filtering purposes. Component XT1 is a 26 MHz Bluetooth® crystal oscillator. Component SAW90 is an antenna filter. Components Q80 and D80 form a battery safety control circuit. SP1 and SP2 are soldering pads for the charging connectors 15a, 15b (FIG. 6). Recesses M1 and M2 are for receiving power from the rechargeable battery 14.
Reference is now made to FIG. 10 which illustrates an efficient implementation of an antenna function for the wireless radio communication 110. The antenna comprises an elongate radiator pattern 70 disposed at the circumference of the main printed circuit board. More specifically, in the disclosed embodiment the elongate radiator pattern 70 of the antenna is disposed on the actual circumferential edge surface 15e of the circular main printed circuit board 15 along a portion of its circumference, as is seen in FIG. 10. The elongate radiator pattern 70 is formed by means of gold plating in the disclosed embodiment; other conductive materials are of course possible as an alternative.
The antenna is an inverted F antenna, and the elongate radiator pattern 70 provided on the portion of the circular circumferential edge surface 15e of the main printed circuit board 15 is tuned for resonance at a quarter-wave length suitable for the circuitry for wireless radio communication 110. The feeding point is indicated at 71 in FIG. 10.
The antenna design is efficient for several reasons. First, since a circular geometrical shape represents the largest possible ratio between circumference and area, a sufficient length of the elongate radiator pattern 70 on the circular circumferential edge surface 15e is available even when the area of the front and rear surfaces 15f, 15r is limited. Thus, the main printed circuit board 15 can be made compact and still accommodate a sufficiently long antenna 70 for the circuitry for wireless radio communication 110. Hence, antenna performance can be optimized in the smallest possible space.
Also, since the circuitry for wireless radio communication 110, audio codec 112 and earbud operation control 114 is disposed on the front and rear surfaces 15f, 15r of the main printed circuit board 15 with a component concentration towards the center of the front and rear surfaces, a maximum distance 72 is enabled to the component ground plane, as indicated by 74. Again, antenna performance is optimized.
FIG. 12 schematically illustrates a procedure for switching between idle and operational modes for a wireless earbud. The wireless earbud, for instance any of the earbuds 10, 10a, 10b referred to above, has an idle mode and an operational mode. The wireless earbud comprises an earbud housing (for instance housing 12, 16), a loudspeaker element (for instance loudspeaker element 13), a rechargeable battery (for instance rechargeable battery 14), and at least one main printed circuit board having disposed thereon circuitry for wireless radio communication, audio codec and earbud operation control (for instance the main printed circuit board 15 with its circuitry 110-116 as previously described). The circuitry is configured for automatic power preservation by performing the following steps.
In response to detecting connection to a charger, the earbud (e.g. earbud 10a) will enter idle mode, wherein existing connections to a second wireless earbud (e.g. earbud 10b) and to a wireless audio streaming host device (e.g. device 100) will be disconnected.
When a pair of earbuds, such as earbuds 10a and 10b, is used for true wireless stereo streaming from a wireless audio streaming host device, such as device 100 in FIG. 11, one of the earbuds will have a role as master device with respect to the other one of the earbuds, which will correspondingly be a slave device. This is for instance the case with Bluetooth-based wireless audio streaming. Another inventive power preservation scheme has therefore been provided which compensates for the fact that the master device will consume more power than the slave device. Therefore, after some time, the master device will run out of power and need to be recharged, even though the slave device still may have a decent remaining battery charge status.
According to this inventive aspect, a wireless audio streaming host device is provided for use with a first wireless earbud and a second wireless earbud, for instance earbuds 10a and 10b according to the previous description. The wireless audio streaming host device may for instance be any of the example devices 100 shown in FIG. 11 and will have a controller in the form of a CPU, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, etc. The controller will be configured to receive a message from the first earbud by wireless communication, such as Bluetooth. The message will indicate a current battery charge status for the first earbud. Correspondingly, the controller will be configured to receive a message from the second earbud by wireless communication. This message will indicate a current battery charge status for the second earbud.
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