JP3246057U - bone conduction earphones - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides bone conduction earphones that can be used in combination with an external personal audio amplifier to improve the user's auditory experience and also amplify sounds emitted by the user. [Solution] The bone conduction earphone includes a rear-mounted module, a left-mounted module, a right-mounted module, a control circuit board installed in the left-mounted module, and a battery module installed in the right-mounted module, The module has a circuit board accommodating case, and the control circuit board is installed in the accommodating space formed in the circuit board accommodating case, and a control chip of the earphone and a wireless communication module are formed. Exchanging signals with the audio amplifier for The personal audio amplifier collects sounds in the environment and transmits them wirelessly to the bone conduction earphone's speaker module, while also acting as an external speaker. [Selection diagram] Figure 4

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to the field of earphones, and particularly to bone conduction earphones used in combination with a personal sound amplifier (hereinafter abbreviated as PSAP).

Sound is generated by the vibrations of objects, and when the sound pressure waves vibrate the ossicles (acoustic ossicles) in a person's inner ear, these vibrations are converted into minute electronic brain waves, which are the sounds that people notice. be. Under normal conditions, people hear sound in at least two ways: bone conduction and air conduction. Bone conduction refers to the method of vibrating the skull using audio signals and transmitting them directly to the inner ear without going through the outer and middle ears. On the other hand, the air conduction method refers to transmission to the inner ear via the outer ear and middle ear.

When lesions occur in a person's outer and middle ear, the propagation of sound through air conduction is affected and the patient's hearing is weakened or lost. In this case, bone conduction can be used to supplement hearing. At present, bone conduction earphones have better performance as hearing aids and have better hearing aid effects. However, with the increasing standard of living and the demands of spiritual civilization, people already need not only ordinary hearing aids, but also hearing aids that are more convenient and have more diverse functions.

On the other hand, conventional bone conduction earphones are often connected to mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones and tablets via signal transmission lines, making them extremely inconvenient to use.

In view of this situation, there is a need to provide bone conduction earphones that can be used in wireless cooperation with an external PSAP device to improve the user's hearing experience and amplify the sounds emitted by the user.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the bone conduction earphone according to the present invention includes a back hook assembly, a left ear hook assembly, and a right ear hook assembly,
the left ear hook assembly is provided with a control circuit board; the right ear hook assembly is provided with a battery module;
The left ear hook assembly has a circuit board housing case, and the control circuit board is provided in a housing space formed by the circuit board housing case,
The control circuit board is provided with an earphone control chip and a wireless communication module,
The wireless communication module exchanges signals with an external personal sound amplifier.

Further, the wireless communication module transmits and receives signals using a Bluetooth (registered trademark) chip provided on the control circuit board.

Further, the bone conduction earphone and the personal sound amplifier are wirelessly connected via Bluetooth.

Further, the right ear hook module includes a battery housing case in which a battery module is attached.

Further, the circuit board housing case and the battery housing case are respectively connected to the first sounding unit case and the second sounding unit case via a first connecting arm and a second connecting arm.

Furthermore, both the first connection arm and the second connection arm are hollow cases, and are bent rearward to form an arc shape.

Furthermore, a left speaker and a right speaker are provided inside the first sounding unit case and the second sounding unit case, respectively, and the left speaker and the right speaker are connected to the control circuit board and the battery module. electrically connected to.

Furthermore, the left ear hook case and the right ear hook case are integrally molded.

Further, the audio system of the personal sound amplifier includes a microphone, an analog-to-digital conversion module, an extractor, a Bluetooth system level chip/digital signal processor core, an interpolator, an audio codec, an amplifier and a speaker;
The analog-to-digital conversion module converts the signal from the microphone into a digital signal, extracts the digital signal with the audio codec and transfers it to the Bluetooth system level chip/digital signal processor core via a buffer, and then , processed by the digital signal processor core and then transferred back to the audio codec via the buffer, interpolating the digital signal by the interpolator before converting to an analog signal, and then transferring the digital signal via the audio codec. and converts it into an audio signal, and drives the speaker via the amplifier to output the audio signal.

In addition, the personal sound amplifier collects sounds in the environment and transmits them wirelessly to the left and right speakers of the bone conduction earphones, and also serves as an external speaker to amplify the sounds emitted by the user through the bone conduction earphones. Function.

Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects. Specifically, the bone conduction headphones are provided with a wireless communication module inside for receiving and transmitting signals, so that they can be used in conjunction with an external PSAP device to transmit wireless signals between the two. transmission can be realized. In this way, the PSAP device can collect sounds in the environment and wirelessly transmit them to the speaker module of the bone conduction earphone to improve the user's hearing experience. At the same time, the PSAP can also act as an external speaker to amplify the sound emitted by the user. The PSAP device is used as an auxiliary hearing device in an ear-worn device to improve the hearing of hearing-impaired and normal-hearing users in difficult environments.

In order to more clearly explain the technical aspects of the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art are briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and a person skilled in the art can derive other drawings based on these drawings without any creative effort.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the bone conduction earphone of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the bone conduction earphone of the present invention from another perspective; FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the bone conduction earphone of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a state diagram when the bone conduction earphone of the present invention and the PSAP device are used in combination. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the operating principle of the bone conduction earphone of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a PSAP device of bone conduction earphones applied to the present invention.

Hereinafter, technical aspects of the present application will be described with reference to drawings in the embodiments of the present application, but it is clear that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application and not all embodiments. be.

Note that when a component is referred to as being "fixed" to another component, it may exist directly on the other component or may exist on the other component via an intermediate medium. When a component is identified as "connected" to another component, it may be directly connected to the other component or there may be an intermediate medium present at the same time. When a component is identified as being "installed" into another component, it may be directly attached to the other component or an intermediate medium may be present at the same time. As used herein, the terms "vertical", "horizontal", "left", "right" and similar expressions are for descriptive purposes only.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The terminology used in the specification of this application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the application. The term "or/and" as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Hereinafter, several embodiments of the present application will be described in detail based on the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments and features in the embodiments may be combined with each other unless inconsistent.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the bone conduction earphone 100 according to the present invention is a neck-type bone conduction earphone, and includes a back hook assembly 10, a left ear hook assembly 20, and a right ear hook assembly 30. The back strap assembly 10 is curved in an arc for hanging around the neck. The rear assembly 10 includes an elastic metal wire 11 , a lead wire 12 , a fixing sleeve 13 that encloses the elastic metal wire 11 and the lead wire 12 , and insertion parts 14 provided at both ends of the elastic metal wire 11 .

Here, the fixed sleeve 13 and the lead wire 12 are an extruded integral structure. A threading passage (not shown) is formed within the fixed sleeve 13. The elastic metal wire 11 is inserted into the threading passage described above. The left ear hook assembly 20 has an integrally molded left ear hook case 21. The right ear hook assembly 30 has an integrally molded right ear hook case 31. The left ear hook case 21 and the right ear hook case 31 are connected to both ends of the rear hook assembly 10 via the insertion portion 14, respectively.

The insertion portion 14 is inserted and fitted into the circuit board housing case 210 and the battery housing case 310 of the left ear hook case 21 and the right ear hook case 31, respectively. Optionally, the inserts 14 are fixed to both ends of the elastic metal wire 11 by injection molding. Thereby, the insertion portion 14 can be more firmly fixed to both ends of the elastic metal wire 11. Of course, the connection between the left ear hook assembly 20, the right ear hook assembly 30, and the back hook assembly 10 can also be realized by an insertion method, a snap method, a screw method, or the like.

Bone conduction earphone 100 further includes a control circuit board 40 and a battery module 50. Here, the control circuit board 40 is provided inside the left ear hook case 21, and the battery module 50 is installed inside the right ear hook case 31.

As shown in FIG. 2, the left ear hook case 21 specifically includes a circuit board housing case 210, a first connection arm 211, and a first sound generating unit case 212. Specifically, the right ear hook case 31 includes a battery housing case 310, a second connection arm 311, and a second sounding part case 312. Both the circuit board housing case 210 and the battery housing case 310 have a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The first connection arm 211 and the second connection arm 311 are both hollow cases, and are curved backward to form an arc shape. Both the first sounding part case 212 and the second sounding part case 312 are circular hollow casings.

The control circuit board 40 is provided within a housing space formed by the circuit board housing case 210. The control circuit board 40 is provided with important components such as an earphone control chip, a wireless communication module (for example, a Bluetooth chip), an adapter circuit, and a USB connection port (not shown).

In this embodiment, the bone conduction earphone 100 described above is a Bluetooth earphone. The aforementioned Bluetooth earphone is connected to a wireless communication module with Bluetooth transmission function in the control circuit board 40. Wireless communication modules are used to send and receive wireless signals. This eliminates the need for users to use an earphone cable connected to their mobile phone or audio device when making calls or listening to music, making it more convenient for users to carry and use.

As shown in FIG. 3, a left speaker 60 and a right speaker 70 are provided inside the first sounding unit case 212 and the second sounding unit case 312, respectively. The left speaker 60 and the right speaker 70 are collectively referred to as a speaker module. Both the left speaker 60 and the right speaker 70 are electrically connected to the control circuit board 40 and the battery module 50. The control circuit board 40 controls the operation of the left speaker 60 and the right speaker 70.

The left speaker 60 includes a speaker front cover 61, a speaker middle cover 62, a side cover 63 connected to the side wall of the speaker middle cover 62, a vibrator 64, a vibrator rubber cover 65, a microphone (MIC) 66, a photosensor PCBA 67, and It includes a photosensor transmission sheet 68. The speaker middle cover 62 is fixed to the speaker front cover of the first sounding part case 212, the vibrator 64 is housed inside the speaker middle cover 62, and the arcuate space formed by the side cover 63 accommodates a microphone (MIC) 66, a photosensor PCBA, etc. 67 and photosensor translucent sheet 68. The vibrator rubber cover 65 is fixed to the opposite side of the speaker middle cover 62 from the speaker front cover 61, and confines the vibrator 64 within the speaker middle cover 62. The right speaker 70 includes a vibrator 74, and other internal structures are substantially the same as the left speaker 60, so a detailed explanation will be omitted here.

After the user wears the bone conduction earphone 100, the left speaker 60 and the right speaker 70 are positioned outside the user's ear and close to the tragus so that the user can hear the sound emitted by the left speaker 60 and the right speaker 70. will be installed.

The left ear hook assembly 20 and the right ear hook assembly 30 are generally used to hang earphones on the user's ear when the user wears the earphones. When worn, the first connecting arm 211 and the second connecting arm 311 are hung on the wearer's ears, and the left speaker 60 and the right speaker 70 respectively touch the wearer's face and vibrate to generate sound.

The left speaker 60 and the right speaker 70 are used to output sound to the user using vibration using a bone conduction method. The battery module 50 is used to supply power to each element of the bone conduction earphone. Control circuit board 40 is used to control the bone conduction earphones. For example, it enables functions such as volume adjustment, earphone on/off, audio playback, and Bluetooth communication. Preferably, battery module 50 is a rechargeable lithium battery.

As a modification, the left ear hook case 21 may include a first case and a second case, and the right ear hook case 31 may include a third case and a fourth case, respectively. The first case and the second case of the left ear hook case 21 are assembled together to form a first storage space. The third case and the fourth case of the right ear hook case 31 are assembled together to form a second storage space. They may be assembled by engaging, snapping, screwing or other conventional methods. The first housing space and the second housing space are for housing elements such as a bone conduction speaker, a control circuit board, and a battery module, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 3, a power switch key 2101 and a USB connection port (not shown) are provided on the side surface of the circuit board housing case 210 of the left ear hook case 21. The power switch key 2101 and the USB connection port are each electrically connected to the control circuit board 40. Power switch key 2101 is used to turn the power on or off. The battery module 50 of the bone conduction earphone 100 is charged via the aforementioned USB connection port.

In one modification, a plurality of function keys electrically connected to the control circuit board 40 may be provided on the side surface of the circuit board storage case 210. In addition, the aforementioned function keys include a volume control key, a mode switching key (for switching between different modes, such as switching to noise reduction mode), and a smart voice assistant key for activating a smart voice assistant. Good too. By providing these keys, users can easily control each function of the earphones, and can easily adjust the power, volume, mode, etc., and improve the user's usage experience.

As shown in FIG. 3, a waterproof member 2102 is further attached to the side surface of the circuit board housing case 210. The waterproof member 2102 is locked in a through hole (not shown) in the circuit board housing case 210 via a fixing plug 2103 at one end thereof. The waterproof member 2102 may be made of rubber, and is sealed and fixed to the side surface of the circuit board housing case 210 in a position corresponding to the USB connection port, and serves as dustproof and waterproof. When the waterproof member 2102 is opened, the aforementioned USB connection port appears.

In addition to the wireless communication module described above, the control circuit board 40 further integrates a volume control module 301, an audio input module 302, a processing module 303, an amplification module 304, a sound collection module 305, and the like. Here, the output terminal of the sound collection module 305 is connected to the input terminal of the processing module 303, the output terminal of the audio input module 302 is connected to the input terminal of the processing module 303, and the input terminal of the processing module 303 is connected to the output terminal of the function key. The output terminal of the processing module 303 is connected to the input terminal of the amplification module 304, and the output terminal of the amplification module 304 is connected to the input terminals of the transducers 64 and 74 in the speaker modules (60, 70), respectively. , the output terminal of the volume control module 301 is connected to the input terminal of the amplification module 304. The processing module 303, the sound collection module 305, the amplification module 304, and the volume control module 301 are each electrically connected to the power supply module 40. A sound collection module 305 picks up the sound source of the user's surrounding environment, then a processing module 303 converts the analog signal into a digital signal, the information is processed by an algorithm processor in the processing module 303, and then an amplification module The digital signal is amplified by 304, and finally the digital signal is transmitted to the speaker module (60, 70) to emit vibrations of different frequencies.

Furthermore, the processing module 303 includes an analog-to-digital conversion module 3031, an algorithm processor 3033, and a Bluetooth chip 3035. The aforementioned analog-to-digital conversion module 3031 is electrically connected to the algorithm processor 3033. The algorithm processor 3033 is electrically connected to the Bluetooth chip 3035 to perform signal interaction. The mode switching button 3102 of the bone conduction earphone 100 is electrically connected to the processing module 303 and switches the mode via the processing module 303.

Hereinafter, the operating principle of the bone conduction earphone 100 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

When operating the bone conduction earphones 100, first turn on the power using the power switch key 2101, adjust the volume, mode, etc. of the bone conduction earphones using the function keys, and then the environmental sound acquired by the sound collection module 305 is converted into an analog/digital conversion module. The algorithm processor 3033 processes the electric signal converted by the controller 3031 or the audio signal input from the outside, and determines what operating mode the control circuit board 40 is in. After the audio information is screened by the processing module 303, which is composed of an analog-to-digital conversion module 3031 and an algorithm processor 3033, the audio electrical signal is amplified by the amplification module 304, and the speaker module 60 is connected in the form of a wired connection or a Bluetooth wireless connection. 70 and convert the sound into mechanical vibrations of different frequencies by the vibrators 64, 74, and then transmit the sound waves through the human skull, auditory nerve and auditory center. The bone conduction earphone 100 of the present invention can be used in combination with one personal sound amplifier (hereinafter abbreviated as PSAP) 400 based on the above-described configuration. A Bluetooth wireless connection communication method is used between the bone conduction earphone 100 of the present invention and the PSAP 400. The PSAP 400 is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped or square box-shaped box provided with a power switch key 4001, a function key 4002, a USB connection port 4003, and a speaker hole 4004. Function keys 4002 are used to adjust the volume of the PSAP 400, and to realize functions such as pause and mode switching. USB connection port 4003 is used to charge the entire PSAP 400.

The structure, principle and function of PSAP 400 are basically the same as hearing aids, but the application areas are different. The use of hearing aids is located in the medical equipment field, while audio amplifiers are mainly used in consumer electronic products. Ear-mounted devices that support the necessary amplification of environmental sounds are commonly referred to as personal audio amplification products (PSAPs). PSAP 400 is an auxiliary hearing function in ear-worn devices that is used to enhance the hearing of hearing-impaired and normal-hearing users in noisy environments. The basic building blocks of the PSAP 400 system are one or more external microphones to capture environmental sounds, one or more internal microphones to capture residual sounds in the ear canal, and enhanced sound. including, but not limited to, earphone speakers and digital signal processing (DSP) modules for playback. Examples of such digital signal processing (DSP) modules include beamforming, feedback suppression, environmental/wind/pulse/microphone noise suppression, gain amplification, equalization, dynamic range compression, limiters, and the like.

A typical audio system used in PSAP 400 mainly includes a microphone 401, an analog-to-digital conversion module 402, an extractor 403, a Bluetooth (BT) SoC/digital signal processor (DSP) core ("Bluetooth system level chip/digital signal processor") 404, an interpolator 405, an audio codec 406, an amplifier 407, and a speaker 408. A Bluetooth (BT) SoC/digital signal processor (DSP) core 404 further attenuates the signal. A digital signal processor (DSP) processes the signal, interpolates, and then returns the digital signal to audio codec 406. Audio codec 406 converts the digital signal back to an analog signal and drives speaker 408 to output it. More specifically, the analog-to-digital conversion module 402 converts the signal of the microphone 401 into a digital signal, extracts it in the audio codec 406, and converts it into a Bluetooth (BT) SoC/digital signal processor (DSP) via a buffer. ) After being transferred to the core 404 and processed by the DSP module, the aforementioned digital signal is transferred via a buffer and returned to the audio codec 406, which interpolates the aforementioned digital signal before converting it to an analog signal, and then the audio It is converted into an audio signal via a codec 406. Finally, after passing through an amplifier 407, a speaker 408 is driven to output an audio signal.

Research has shown that people with mild to moderate hearing loss can communicate more effectively when using the PSAP 400. Since the bone conduction earphone 100 provided by the present invention is provided with a wireless communication module (Bluetooth chip), it may be used in conjunction with an external PSAP device. The PSAP 400 collects sounds in the environment and wirelessly transmits them to the bone conduction earphone's speaker module to improve the user's hearing experience. At the same time, the aforementioned PSAP 400 can also act as an external speaker to amplify the sound emitted by the user.

While embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions, and variations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present invention. It is possible to do this. The scope of protection of this utility model is limited by the appended claims and their equivalents.

10 Rear hook assembly 11 Elastic metal wire 12 Lead wire 13 Fixed sleeve 14 Insertion part 20 Left ear hook assembly 21 Left ear hook case 30 Right ear hook assembly 31 Right ear hook case 40 Control circuit board 50 Battery module 60 Left speaker 61 Speaker Front cover 62 Speaker middle cover 63 Side cover 64 Vibrator 65 Vibrator rubber cover 66 Microphone 67 Photo sensor PCBA
68 Photo sensor transparent sheet 70 Right speaker 74 Vibrator 100 Bone conduction earphone 210 Circuit board housing case 211 First connection arm 212 First sounding unit case 2101 Power switch key 2102 Waterproof member 2103 Fixed plug 301 Volume control module 302 Audio input module 303 Processing module 304 Amplification module 305 Sound collection module 310 Battery housing case 311 Second connection arm 312 Second sound generation unit case 3102 Mode switching button 3031 Analog-digital conversion module 3033 Algorithm processor 3035 Bluetooth chip 400 PSAP
401 Microphone 402 Analog-to-digital conversion module (ADC)
403 Extractor 404 Bluetooth (BT) SоC/Digital Signal Processor (DSP) Core 405 Interpolator 406 Audio Codec 407 Amplifier 408 Speaker 4001 Power switch key 4002 Function key 4003 USB connection port 4004 Speaker hole

Furthermore, the left ear hook assembly has a left ear hook case, the right ear hook assembly has a right ear hook case, and the left ear hook case and the right ear hook case are integrally molded. structure or a structure formed by two cases assembled together .

The insertion portion 14 is inserted and fitted into the circuit board housing case 210 of the left ear hook case 21 and the battery housing case 310 of the right ear hook case 31, respectively. Optionally, the inserts 14 are fixed to both ends of the elastic metal wire 11 by injection molding. Thereby, the insertion portion 14 can be more firmly fixed to both ends of the elastic metal wire 11. Of course, the connection between the left ear hook assembly 20, the right ear hook assembly 30, and the back hook assembly 10 can also be realized by an insertion method, a snap method, a screw method, or the like.

Claims (10)

A bone conduction earphone including a back-hook assembly, a left ear-hook assembly, and a right ear-hook assembly,
the left ear hook assembly is provided with a control circuit board; the right ear hook assembly is provided with a battery module;
The left ear hook assembly has a circuit board housing case, and the control circuit board is provided in a housing space formed by the circuit board housing case,
The control circuit board is provided with an earphone control chip and a wireless communication module,
The bone conduction earphone is characterized in that the wireless communication module exchanges signals with an external personal sound amplifier. The bone conduction earphone according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication module transmits and receives signals using a Bluetooth chip provided on the control circuit board. The bone conduction earphone according to claim 2, wherein the bone conduction earphone and the personal sound amplifier are wirelessly connected via Bluetooth. The bone conduction earphone according to claim 1, wherein the right ear hook module includes a battery housing case in which a battery module is attached. The circuit board accommodating case and the battery accommodating case are respectively connected to a first sounding unit case and a second sounding unit case via a first connecting arm and a second connecting arm, respectively. Bone conduction earphone according to item 4. The bone conduction earphone according to claim 5, wherein the first connection arm and the second connection arm are both hollow cases, and are bent backward to form an arc shape. A left speaker and a right speaker are provided inside the first sounding unit case and the second sounding unit case, respectively, and both the left speaker and the right speaker are electrically connected to the control circuit board and the battery module. 6. The bone conduction earphone according to claim 5, wherein the earphone is connected to the bone conduction earphone. The bone conduction earphone according to claim 1, wherein the left ear hook case and the right ear hook case are integrally molded. The audio system of the personal sound amplifier includes a microphone, an analog-to-digital conversion module, an extractor, a Bluetooth system level chip/digital signal processor core, an interpolator, an audio codec, an amplifier and a speaker;
The analog-to-digital conversion module converts the signal from the microphone into a digital signal, extracts the digital signal with the audio codec and transfers it to the Bluetooth system level chip/digital signal processor core via a buffer, and then , processed by the digital signal processor core and then transferred back to the audio codec via the buffer, interpolating the digital signal by the interpolator before converting to an analog signal, and then transferring the digital signal via the audio codec. 2. The bone conduction earphone according to claim 1, wherein the earphone converts the audio signal into an audio signal, and drives the speaker via the amplifier to output the audio signal. The personal sound amplifier collects sound in the environment and transmits it wirelessly to the left and right speakers of the bone conduction earbuds, and also functions as an external speaker to amplify the sounds emitted by the user through the bone conduction earbuds. The bone conduction earphone according to claim 9, characterized in that: