IP Library Granted Patent US 9,191,756
Granted Patent B2
US 9,191,756 · App. 13/708,140 · Granted Nov 17, 2015

System and method for locating a hearing aid

Inventors: Frederick Charles Neumeyer (Austin, TX); Gregory Charles Yancey (Austin, TX)
Assignee: III HOLDINGS 4, LLC
H04R25/554H04W4/008H04W4/02H04R2499/11
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,191,756
App. No.
13/708,140
Granted
Nov 17, 2015
Kind
B2
Abstract

A smart phone including a computer readable storage medium to store a hearing aid locator application and a processor coupled to the computer readable storage medium to execute the hearing aid locator application to track a last known location of a hearing aid.

Claims (58)

1. A smart phone comprising:

one or more processors; and

a transceiver coupled to the processor and configurable to communicate with a hearing aid through a communication channel; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing hearing aid locator application that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

establish the communication channel with the hearing aid;

monitor communication channel; and

periodically store data related to the location of the smart phone as the last known location of the hearing aid while the communication channel is open.

2. The smart phone of claim 1 , wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to store the time data with the data related to the location as the last known time of the hearing aid.

3. The smart phone of claim 1 , further comprising:

a user interface coupled to the one or more processors to receive inputs from a user and to provide information to the user; and

wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to:

display the last known location on the user interface.

4. The smart phone of claim 1 , wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to:

store data related to the location in response to receiving data from the hearing aid over the communication channel.

5. The smart phone of claim 1 , wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to:

update the data related to the location in response to losing communicating with the hearing aid.

6. The smart phone of claim 5 , wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

attempt to re-establish the communication channel with the hearing aid; and

cause the hearing aid to play a tone in response to the communication channel being re-established.

7. The smart phone of claim 1 , further comprising:

a speaker coupled to the one or more processors; and

wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to:

cause the speaker to play tones in response to losing the communication with the hearing aids.

8. The smart phone of claim 7 , wherein a rate of the tones is increased as a signal strength of the communication channel increases.

9. The smart phone of claim 1 , further comprising a position detecting circuit coupled to the one or more processors to determine the data related to the location of the smart phone.

10. The smart phone of claim 9 , wherein the position detecting circuit comprises a global positioning system (GPS).

11. The smart phone of claim 1 , further comprising:

a network interface coupled to the processor and configured to communicate with a network; and

wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to:

provide the last known location to a server through the network.

12. A portable electronic device comprising:

one or more processors;

a user interface coupled to the one or more processors to receive inputs from a user and to provide information to the user;

a transceiver coupled to the processor to communicate with the hearing aid through a communication channel;

a position detecting circuit coupled to the one or more processors to determine a location of the portable electronic device; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

establish the communication channel with the hearing aid;

monitor the communication channel; and

periodically store the location as a last known location of the hearing aid,

while the communication channel remains open.

13. The portable electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to:

update the location in response to communicating data to or from the hearing aid.

14. The portable electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

update the location in response to losing the communicating channel with the hearing aid.

15. The portable electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the hearing aid locator application, when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the one or more processors to:

attempt to re-establish the communication channel with the hearing aid; and

cause the hearing aid to play a tone in response to the communication channel being re-established.

16. The portable electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

attempt to re-establish the communication channel with the hearing aid in response to losing the communication; and

provide an alert to the user interface if the communication channel is not re-established.

17. The portable electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the alert includes the last known location.

18. A method comprising:

establishing a communication channel with a hearing aid at a smart phone;

storing time data and location data in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium of the smart phone in response to establishing the communication channel;

receiving a request for the time data and the location data at a user interface of the smart phone; and

providing the time data and location data to the user interface.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising updating the time data and location data while the communication channel is open.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising updating the time data and location data when the communication channel is closed.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 10, 2015
From: AUDIOTONIQ, INC.
To: III HOLDINGS 4, LLC
Reel/Frame 036536/0249 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 8, 2013
From: NEUMEYER, FREDERICK CHARLES; YANCEY, GREGORY CHARLES
To: AUDIOTONIQ, INC.
Reel/Frame 029957/0030 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 61583902 · Jan 6, 2012
Related Publication 20130178162A1 · Jul 11, 2013