AU609413B2

AU609413B2 - Communications device

Info

Publication number: AU609413B2
Application number: AU77994/87A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Jiro Nawa; Hiroaki Yanagisawa
Original assignee: Temco Japan Co Ltd
Current assignee: Temco Japan Co Ltd
Priority date: 1986-09-25
Filing date: 1987-09-04
Publication date: 1991-05-02
Anticipated expiration: 2007-09-04
Also published as: DE3723275A1; FR2604589A1; FR2604589B1; GB8718117D0; AU7799487A; GB2197158B; KR880004712A; GB2197158A

Description

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i I: I- I; i COMMONWEALTH OF PATENT ACT 195: COMPLETE SPECIFICA

AUSTRALIA

TION 609413 u

(ORIGINAL)

FOR OFFICE USE CLASS INT. CLASS Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority: Related Art-: This document contains the amendments made under Section 49 and is correct for printing.

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4 NAME OF APPLICANT: SADDRESS OF APPLICANT: NAME(S) OF INVENTOR(S) ADDRESS FOR SERVICE: 4 t TEMCO JAPAN CO., LTD.

No. 6-41-106, 7-chome, Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo,

JAPAN

Jiro NAWA, Hiroaki YANAGISAWA DAVIES COLLISON, Patent Attorneys 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, 3000.

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i COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR THE INVENTION ENTITLED: &-hon device, The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us -1- 4LLQVVED I ti 900712kxdat.023,temco.1,2 omn' a 9 0 *d p o 4.o 4.

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944 1A COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE The present invention relates to a communications device and, more particularly, to a communications device suitable for use under noisy circumstances by providing a vibration pick-up mechanism for picking up a bone conductive voice signal from the external auditory canal wall of the ear and a speaker for converting a received signal to a voice.

U.S. Patent Nos. 4,150,262 and 4,334,315, and West German Patent No. 2,849,152, etc. disclose conventional type communications devices.

These devices include an earpiece containing an ear microphone utilizing a vibration pick-up such as a piezo element having a weight attached through a support such as a spring to the ear microphone to be inserted into an external auditory canal. When the ear microphone is inserted in the external auditory canal, the user's voice sounds vibrate through the sound conductive bone structure of the skull to produce a voice signal in the external auditory canal wall.

The vibration pick-up mechanism picks up the vibration and generates a voltage proportional to the vibration. The voltage is amplified by an amplifier connected to pick-up cords, and is then transmitted externally.

A speaker, for converting a received signal into a voice, is disposed out of the earpiece, and connected through a sound conductive tube to the earpiece,.

In the above mentioned conventional earpiece, the sound generated from the speaker is transmitted through the sound conductive tube into the ear through the earpiece. Thus, when the sound conductive tube is bent, it has the disadvantage that the sound is hard to hear at the earpiece.

Also the sound conductive tube easily picks up noise, so 900712.kxldat.023,temco,l

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4 2 1 that the voice is readily mixed with the noise.

2 0J 0* 0 0* *4 *9 3 4 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 S 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 S 23 24 S 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 The earpiece is closely inserted into the external auditory canal. Since the conventional earpiece does not have a duct for communicating between the inside and the outside of the ear in the earpiece, the external auditory canal is completely closed when the earpiece is inserted.

Thus, the sound generated from the speaker is completely enclosed in the external auditory canal and sounds unnatural. Since the external auditory canal is completely closed, external sound cannot be heard from that ear, and the directional feeling of the ear is lost, which can be dangerous. In addition, since the external auditory canal is closed as described above, it has such a disadvantage that the external auditory canal easily sweats.

Further, the vibration pick-up mechanism in the conventional ear microphone is disposed generally in parallel with the external auditory canal when inserted. In this arrangement the earpiece containing the pick-up mechanism must be quite long to accommodate the length of the pick-up mechanism, with the result that the end of the earpiece to be inserted into the external auditory canal must be also quite long. H1!wever, since the vibration is picked up through the end of the earpiece inserted into the external auditory canal, the end portion of the earpiece must be rigid. Since the end of the earpiece is inserted deeply into the external auditory canal, a rigid end portion can cause pain in the user's ear. Moreover, any ear discharge tends to build up in the sound canal formed at the end of the earpiece, and there is a disadvantage that the ear discharge is hard to remove.

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ti #ka aheeze e the nesentiinvenihen I +-e communications device, suitable for mn c ion, while avoiding the mix olse due to a long sound conductive -4 11 14, .2 r r~~r~irr~^ t i z n arnn _:P 900712.kxldat.023, temco.2

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i *a 69 a I oo e I 6 -3- According to the present invention there is provided a communications device comprisi ig a vibration pick-up mechanism for detecting a bone conducted sound signal from an external auditory canal wall and a speaker for converting a received signal into a voice sound signal, said vibrating pick-up mechanism and said speaker being disposed in an earpiece body wherein an end portion of said earpiece body for insertion into said external auditory canal is made of an elastic material such as urethane or silicon.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are hereinafter described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Fig. 1 is a side view of an embodiment of a communications device according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of an earpiece according to the present 15 invention; Fig. 3 is a view showing the earpiece inserted in the ear; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of another embodiment of the invention; and Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of still another embodiment of the invention.

An earpiece 1 is ordinarily formed of plastic, and an inserting portion 2 of the earpiece 1, to be inserted into an external auditory canal, is projected in a curved shape capable of closely inserting into the external auditory canal. A pick-up mechanism 4 and a speaker 5 are contained in the portion of earpiece body 3 to be disposed outside the ear canal. In order to associate the pick-up mechanism 4 and the speaker 5 in the earpiece 1, the earpiece 3 is capable of being split longitudinally as shown in Fig. 2. The pick-up mechanism 4 consists of a sensing portion for sensing a voice signal (vibration) of the user himself p 9 9 *u 9 9c 0 9 i 910123,vsspc.001,icmco,3 I! t I 4 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 16 4 17

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18 a. Y 19 21 22 f 23 a. 24 'rf 26 27 28 29 30 t I 31 32 33 34 36 37 transmitted to the external auditory canal wall through the sound conductive bone structure of the skull, and a vibration pick-up element for converting the vibration sensed by the sensing portion into an electric signal. The vibration pick-up element ordinarily employs a piezo element, but may instead employ a silicon semiconductor to detect the variation in a resistance value upon changing of the pressure to the silicon semiconductor. The pick-up mechanism may alternatively employ another type of system for generating a current by vibrating a coil in a magnetic field.

A sound canal 6 which communicates with the end of the inserting portion 2 from the speaker 5, is formed in the earpiece 1. A duct 7 which communicates with the end of the inserting portion 2 from the rear surface of the body 3, is formed in the earpiece 1. The front half of the duct 7 may communicate with the sound canal 6 as shown in Fig. 2. The duct 7 is provided to communicate between the inside and the outside of the ear at the time of mounting the earpiece to balance sound pressures between the outside and the inside of the ear. Since an increase in the sound pressure in the ear is eliminated, this acts to obviate the sound enclosing feeling associated with the prior art. Also, since the duct 7 allows the user to hear external sounds, the user's sound direction feeling is not lost. Further, the ear does not sweat so readily, and the arrangement of the earpiece containing the microphone and the speaker can present further advantages such as preventing howling. The earpiece 1 also comprises a cord 8 leading from the pick-up mechanism 4 and a cord 9 leading from the speaker The pick-up mechanism 4 may not always necessarily be disposed laterally as shown in Fig. 2, but may be disposed longitudinally in the earpiece body 3 as shown in Fig. 4.

When the pick-up mechanism 4 is disposed laterally, the inserting portion 2 must be long enough to accommodate the 900712,kxldat.023, temco, 4 hik

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5 1 3 4 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 16 18 19 21 22 23 24 26 27 28 j 29 30 31 32 33 .J4 36 37 38 length of the pick-up mechanism, but when the pick-up mechanism 4 is disposed longitudinally in the body 3, the inserting portion 2 may be shortened in length. Even if the pick-up mechanism 4 is thus disposed longitudinally, the external auditory canal wall vibration is transmitted to the earpiece 1 and is picked up by the pick-up mechanism 4 in the same manner as when the pick-up mechanism is disposed laterally. With such an arrangement of the earpiece 1, the inserting portion 2 is shortened in length so that the earpiece 1 is not as deeply inserted in the external auditory canal. This provides a more comfortable feeling for the user with the earpiece 1 inserted. Since the pickup mechanism is not disposed in the inserting portion 2, the inserting portion 2 may be formed of a soft material.

Further, in the embodimcnts shown in Figs. 2 and- 4 the end of the inserting portion 2 may be formed to be removable. More specifically, as shown in Fig. 5, a detachable piece 10 is formed at the end of the inserting portion 2 to be detachably fitted to the inserting portion 2 by means such as a snap-fitting. A passage 11 which communicates with the sound canal 6 and the duct 7 (mostly formed commonly) is perforated in the detachable piece Since the passage 11 is disposed at the end of the inserting portion 2, an ear discharge tends to be stored, but can be simply cleaned by removing the earpiece 1 and can also be maintained in a clean state at any time. The detachable piece 10 may be formed of an elastic material such as urethane or silicon. Thus, the user's feeling of pain in case of inserting the earpiece 1 deeply into the external auditory canal can be alleviated.

900712.kxIdat.023,temco,5

Claims

1. A communications device comprising a vibration pick-up mechanism for detecting a bone conducted sound signal from an external auditory canal wall and a speaker for converting a received signal into a voice sound signal, said vibrating pick- up mechanism and said speaker being disposed in an earpiece body wherein an end portion of said earpiece body for insertion into said external auditory canal is made of an elastic material such as urethane or silicon.

2. A communications device according to claim 1 wherein the end portion is detachably attached to said earpiece body.

3. A communications device according to any one of the preceding claims, Swherein said earpiece body has first and second ends, a portion of said first end S 15 forming said end portion for insertion into said external auditory canal, and wherein said earpiece body includes a duct formed within said earpiece body and having first and second end openings at said first and second ends.

4. A communications device according to claim 3, wherein said duct is arranged to communicate with a sound canal formed from said speaker disposed within said earpiece body to said first end opening, whereby, in use, said voice sound signal is guided from said speaker to said first end opening and thereby into said external auditory canal. 25 5. A communications device according to any one of the preceding claims, S t C wherein said vibration pick-up mechanism is disposed longitudinally within said earpiece body. {J 910123,vrp.so001,lmo),6 -7-

6. A communications device substantially as hercinbefore described with rcfcrence to the accompanying drawings. 9*e* 99*

9.99 99 0909 99 09 00 099 0 9 9 909 DATED this 23rd day of January, 1991 TEMCO JAPAN CO., LTD. By its Patent Attorneys 20 DAVIES COLLISON 9.4.99

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