Wireless binaural hearing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8942396-B2
Application number	US-201113267567-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 6, 2011
Priority date	Oct 8, 2010
Publication date	Jan 27, 2015
Grant date	Jan 27, 2015

Abstract

A wireless binaural hearing system comprises a left-ear hearing device, a right-ear hearing device and auxiliary devices. The devices communicate via radio signals. Each device comprises a radio transmitter transmitting messages, each hearing device comprises a radio receiver receiving messages, the auxiliary device is adapted to transmit application messages, and the hearing devices are adapted to receive application messages. The quality of wireless communication varies when the user moves his head, which may lead to temporal gaps in communication. Such gaps may cause annoying pauses and/or delays in audio signals presented to the user, and the hearing devices may become temporarily unsynchronised. To avoid such gaps and improve reliability of the communication, without increasing the radio signal power, a first hearing device relays received application messages to a second hearing device in dependence on network messages received from the second hearing device indicating whether application messages were correctly received.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A binaural hearing system, comprising:
a left-ear hearing device,
a right-ear hearing device and
an auxiliary device,
each device comprising a radio transmitter for transmitting messages,
each hearing device comprising a radio receiver for receiving messages,
the auxiliary device being adapted to transmit application messages,
each of the hearing devices being adapted to receive the application messages and to transmit non-acknowledgement messages indicating that the application messages were not correctly received,
a first one of the hearing devices being adapted to transmit and thus relay received application messages,
a second one of the hearing devices being adapted to receive relayed application messages, wherein
the first hearing device is adapted to relay the received application messages in dependence on receiving non-acknowledgment messages transmitted by the second hearing device, and
wherein each of the devices is further configured to transmit application messages only within time slots allocated to that device.

2. A binaural hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein
a subset of the application messages comprises address information specifying an addressee, and
the first hearing device is adapted to relay the received application messages in dependence on the addressee being the second hearing device.

3. A binaural hearing system according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein
the first hearing device is further adapted to relay received network messages.

4. A binaural hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein
the auxiliary device comprises a remote control, an audio streaming device, a mobile phone, a public-address system, and/or a music player.

5. A binaural hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein
the hearing devices are configured to improve or augment the hearing capability of an individual.

6. A binaural hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein
the hearing devices comprise a hearing aid or an active ear-protection device.

7. A binaural hearing system according to claim 1 , wherein
the relative order of time slots allocated within each transmission cycle to each of the devices is fixed and invariant.

8. A binaural system according to claim 1 , wherein
each hearing device is configured to not transmit a positive acknowledgement when it correctly receives an application message.

9. A method for communicating via radio signals within a binaural hearing system including a left-ear hearing device, a right-ear hearing device and an auxiliary device, the method comprising:
transmitting application messages by the auxiliary device;
receiving the application messages by the hearing devices;
transmitting non-acknowledgement messages indicating that the application messages were not correctly received by the hearing devices;
transmitting and thus relaying received application messages by a first one of the hearing devices;
receiving relayed application messages by a second one of the hearing devices; and
relaying the received application messages by the first hearing device in dependence on receiving non-acknowledgement messages transmitted by the second hearing device, wherein
the transmitting of the application messages takes place only within time slots allocated to the transmitting device.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
in a subset of the application messages providing address information specifying an addressee; and
relaying the received application messages by the first hearing device in dependence on the addressee being the second hearing device.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10 , further comprising:
relaying received network messages by the first hearing device.

12. A method according to claim 9 , wherein
the left-ear hearing device and the right-ear hearing device do not transmit a positive acknowledgement upon correctly receiving an application message, and
the relative order of time slots allocated to each of the devices is fixed and invariant.

Assignees

• Popovski Petar
• Hansen Peter S K
• Midtgaard Jacob
• Oticon As

Inventors

• Popovski Petar
• Hansen Peter S K
• Midtgaard Jacob

Classifications

• H04L1/18 Primary

  Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems · CPC title

• H04R25/552

  Binaural · CPC title

• H04L2001/0097

  Relays · CPC title

• H04L12/28

  characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks] (wireless communication networks H04W {; arrangements for dividing the transmission path H04W40/00}) · CPC title

• H04R25/554

  using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils · CPC title