Wearable device
A wearable device for attachment to the ear of a user can comprise an earpiece including a speaker and a body section including a hook for attachment about the ear of a user. The length of the earpiece can be adjusted. The earpiece can rotate relative to the body section. The point of rotation can be located within a region defined by the perimeter of the concha of the ear of a user. The wearable device can comprise magnetic elements configured to magnetically couple through the user's ear to retain the wearable device in place. A magnetometer which is configured and arranged to detect a degree of magnetic coupling between the magnetic elements is disclosed.
1 . A wearable device for attachment to an ear of a user comprising:
an earpiece including a speaker and a first magnetic element; and
a body section including a hook for attachment about an ear of a user and configured to engage around an upper part of a region connecting the ear to a skull of the user, the body section further including a processor housed within the body section and a second magnetic element,
wherein the earpiece is movable relative to the body section and the earpiece and body section are configured so that when the body section is hooked about the ear the first magnetic element and second magnetic element are adapted to be magnetically attracted to each other through the ear to retain the device in place.
2 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the second magnetic element is positioned so as to be proximate a concha of the ear when the body section is worn on the ear of the user.
3 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the hook is twisted so as to direct a weight of the body section into the user's skull.
4 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the hook is flexible to wrap around the ear of the user.
5 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the earpiece is connected to the body section via a flexible section.
6 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 5 wherein when the first and second magnetic elements are proximate each other the flexible section is drawn around the ear of the user in use.
7 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first magnetic element is located at a distal end of the earpiece.
8 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 5 wherein the earpiece includes a face at a distal end that is inclined at an angle of between plane 30° and 60° with respect to a face of the earpiece that engages the user's ear in use.
9 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the earpiece is separate from the body section.
10 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 7 wherein the earpiece communicates with the body section via a wireless connection.
11 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the body section includes multiple magnets spaced at intervals to enable attachment of the earpiece at a plurality of positions to suit a range of ear shapes.
12 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the body section includes an extendable section to adjust a relative position of the second magnetic element with respect to the body section to allow adjustment of the relative position of the second magnetic element to accommodate different ear shapes.
13 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the earpiece includes an extendable section attached to the first magnetic element allowing positioning of the first magnetic element towards or away from the earpiece to allow adjustment to accommodate different ear shapes.
14 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 including a microprocessor housed in the body section.
15 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 including one or more biometric sensors selected from a heart rate monitor, temperature sensor, movement sensor, microphone, accelerometer, location sensor, GPS, gyroscope, altimeter and acoustic sensor.
16 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 11 including a wireless communication circuit for uploading or streaming content from another device.
17 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 16 wherein the wireless communication circuit is capable of communicating with a cellular communication system.
18 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the device is adapted to communicate location and/or biometric data to a cloud based system that analyses biometric and location data and provides coaching tips, directions and other derived information to the user.
19 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein a coating is applied to portions of the body section formed of a thermoplastic elastomer or silicone material.
20 . A wearable device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the processor is a sound processing circuit.