IP Library Granted Patent US 7,769,412
Granted Patent B1
US 7,769,412 · App. 11/406,959 · Granted Aug 3, 2010

Wearable wireless telecommunications systems

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,769,412
App. No.
11/406,959
Granted
Aug 3, 2010
Kind
B1
Abstract

A wearable wireless telecommunications system for providing wireless telecommunications capabilities to a wearer. The wearable wireless telecommunications system includes an interface device, a microphone, and a speaker, each of which may be integrated with a garment having e-textiles. The interface device includes a long-range wireless telecommunications component for communicating with a wireless telecommunications network. In addition, the interface device includes e-textile interfaces for interfacing with the e-textiles in the garment. At least one of the microphone and speaker are communicatively coupled with the interface device via the e-textiles in the garment.

Claims (36)

1. A wearable wireless telecommunications system comprising:

at least two garments comprising one or more e-textiles;

at least one interface device, the at least one interface device comprising at least one wireless communications component for communicating with a wireless telecommunications network, the at least one interface device further comprising one or more e-textile interfaces for interfacing with one or more e-textiles of either of the garments, the at least one interface device configured to determine presence received from one or more physiological monitoring components determining that one of the garments is currently being worn by a user and the at least one interface device configured to communicate a network presence indication to the wireless telecommunications network, causing the wireless telecommunications network to direct calls to the garment currently being worn by the user;

at least one speaker communicatively coupled to the at least one interface device, the at least one speaker for receiving audio signals from the at least one interface device and converting the audio signals to sound;

at least one microphone communicatively coupled to the at least one interface device, the at least one microphone for converting sound to audio signals for communication to the interface device;

wherein at least one of the at least one speaker and the at least one microphone is communicatively coupled with the at least one interface device via at least one of the one or more e-textiles; and

the one or more physiological monitoring components for automatically determining which garment is currently being worn by the user and to cause calls to be directed to the garment currently being worn by the user, wherein the at least one interface device automatically communicates the network presence indication to the wireless telecommunications network responsive to an automatic determination that the garment is currently being worn by the user.

2. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , wherein the interface device further comprises a personal area network component for communicating with at least one of the at least one microphone and the at least one speaker via a personal area network.

3. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one microphone is communicatively coupled to the interface device via at least one of the one or more e-textiles.

4. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 3 , wherein the at least one speaker is communicatively coupled to the interface device via a personal area network.

5. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one speaker is communicatively coupled to the interface device via at least one of the one or more e-textiles.

6. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured to allow hands-free user control.

7. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 6 , wherein the system comprises a speech recognition component for interpreting audio signals from the at least one microphone, the audio signals representing at least one of a verbal command and a verbal input from a user.

8. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 6 , wherein the system comprises a text-to-speech component for converting text to audio signals for communication to the at least one speaker.

9. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , further comprising an e-textile user interface for controlling the wearable wireless telecommunications system, the e-textile user interface being communicatively coupled to the interface device via at least one of the one or more e-textiles.

10. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface embodied in a wearable accessory item, the user interface being communicatively coupled to the interface device via a personal area network, wherein the interface device further comprises a personal area network component for communicating with the user interface via the personal area network.

11. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , wherein each of the interface device, the at least one speaker, and the at least one microphone are powered by a common power supply.

12. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the interface device, the at least one speaker, and the at least one microphone are electrically connected with the common power supply by at least one of the one or more e-textiles.

13. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , wherein the wearable wireless telecommunications system is configured to determine presence by at least one of determining a physical connection of the interface device to the wearable wireless telecommunications system and determining user interface with one or more controls.

14. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more e-textiles comprises a conductive material sewn onto a textile.

15. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more e-textiles comprises a wire or conductive metal element that is embedded into a textile.

16. The wearable wireless telecommunications system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more e-textiles comprises a textile that has been doped with conductive material and then insulated.

17. A wearable wireless telecommunications system comprising:

at least two garments comprising one or more e-textiles;

at least one interface device, the at least one interface device comprising a long-range wireless telecommunications component for transmitting audio signals to a wireless telecommunications network and receiving audio signals from the wireless telecommunications network, the at least one interface device further comprising one or more e-textile interfaces for interfacing with one or more e-textiles of either of the garments,

the at least one interface device further comprising a personal area network component for communicating via a personal area network, the at least one interface device configured to determine presence received from one or more physiological monitoring components determining that one of the garments is currently being worn by a user and the at least one interface configured to communicate a network presence indication to the wireless telecommunications network, causing the wireless telecommunications network to direct calls to the garment currently being worn by the user;

the one or more physiological monitoring components for automatically determining which garment is currently being worn by the user and to cause calls to be directed to the the garment currently being worn by the user, wherein the at least one interface device automatically communicates the network presence to the wireless telecommunications network responsive to an automatic determination that the garment is currently being worn by the user;

at least one speaker communicatively coupled to the at least one interface device via the personal area network, wherein audio signals from the wireless telecommunications network are received by the long-range wireless telecommunications component and communicated from the at least one interface device to the at least one speaker via the personal area network, and wherein the at least one speaker converts the audio signals to sound; and

at least one microphone communicatively coupled to the at least one interface device via at least one of the one or more e-textiles, wherein the at least one microphone converts sound to audio signals and communicates the audio signals to the at least one interface device via the at least one of the one or more e-textiles,

and wherein the at least one long-range wireless telecommunications component communicates the audio signals to the wireless telecommunications network.

18. A wearable wireless telecommunications system comprising:

at least two garments comprising one or more e-textiles;

at least one interface device comprising a long-range wireless telecommunications component for communicating with a wireless telecommunications network over a long-range wireless interface, wherein the long-range wireless telecommunications component transmits audio signals to the wireless telecommunications network and receives audio signals from the wireless telecommunications network, the at least one interface device further comprising one or more e-textile interfaces for interfacing with at least one of the one or more e-textiles, the at least one interface device configured to determine presence received from one or more physiological monitoring components determining that one of the garments is currently being worn by a user and the at least one interface device is configured to communicate a network presence indication to the wireless telecommunications network, causing the wireless telecommunications network to direct calls to the garment currently being worn by the user;

the one or more physiological monitoring components for automatically determining which garment is currently being worn by the user and to cause calls to be directed to the garment currently being worn by the user, wherein the at least one interface device automatically communicates the network presence to the wireless telecommunications network responsive to an automatic determination that the garment is currently being worn by the user;

at least one speaker communicatively coupled with the at least one interface device via at least one of the one or more e-textiles, the at least one speaker for receiving audio signals from the at least one interface device and converting the audio signals to sound; and

at least one microphone communicatively coupled with the at least one interface device via at least one of the one or more e-textiles, the at least one microphone for converting sound to audio signals for communication to the at least one interface device.

Assignments (6)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Aug 23, 2022
From: DEUTSCHE BANK TRUST COMPANY AMERICAS
To: IBSV LLC; LAYER3 TV, LLC; PUSHSPRING, LLC; T-MOBILE CENTRAL LLC; T-MOBILE USA, INC.; ASSURANCE WIRELESS USA, L.P.; BOOST WORLDWIDE, LLC; CLEARWIRE COMMUNICATIONS LLC; CLEARWIRE IP HOLDINGS LLC; SPRINTCOM LLC; SPRINT COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY L.P.; SPRINT INTERNATIONAL INCORPORATED; SPRINT SPECTRUM LLC
Reel/Frame 062595/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 4, 2021
From: SPRINT COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY L.P.
To: T-MOBILE INNOVATIONS LLC
Reel/Frame 055604/0001 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF FIRST PRIORITY AND JUNIOR PRIORITY SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT RIGHTS Recorded Apr 2, 2020
From: DEUTSCHE BANK TRUST COMPANY AMERICAS
To: SPRINT COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY L.P.
Reel/Frame 052969/0475 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 2, 2020
From: T-MOBILE USA, INC.; ISBV LLC; T-MOBILE CENTRAL LLC; LAYER3 TV, INC.; PUSHSPRING, INC.; BOOST WORLDWIDE, LLC; CLEARWIRE COMMUNICATIONS LLC; CLEARWIRE IP HOLDINGS LLC; CLEARWIRE LEGACY LLC; SPRINT COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY L.P.; SPRINT INTERNATIONAL INCORPORATED; SPRINT SPECTRUM L.P.; ASSURANCE WIRELESS USA, L.P.
To: DEUTSCHE BANK TRUST COMPANY AMERICAS
Reel/Frame 053182/0001 →
GRANT OF FIRST PRIORITY AND JUNIOR PRIORITY SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENT RIGHTS Recorded Mar 6, 2017
From: SPRINT COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY L.P.
To: DEUTSCHE BANK TRUST COMPANY AMERICAS
Reel/Frame 041895/0210 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 19, 2006
From: GAILLOUX, MICHAEL ARTHUR
To: SPRINT COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY L.P.
Reel/Frame 017791/0705 →