JPH10313494A - Earphone - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To adjust a relative physical relationship between an ear hanging part and a speaker part, to have a good mounting feeling and also to simplify the structure by supporting a shaft member to support a speaker part freely and vertically shiftable and turnable and providing the speaker part with a microphone protruded therefrom. SOLUTION: A speaker part 11 is mounted on an ear hole and reproduces a sound and an assembly has almost semi-spherical appearance. A shaft member 12 is attached to the backside top of the part 11 and made of a hollow round pole-shaped rigid cellular plastic. A wiring 13 is taken out from the top of the member 12 to a speaker unit and also, a flange part 12a is formed to protrude on the periphery at the top periphery part of the member 12. A hollow cylindrical part 14c whose inner diameter is slightly smaller than an outer diameter of the member 12 is integrally formed on the top edge of a pole-shaped part 14a as a member that supports the member 12 in a freely turnable and vertically shiftable way. A tube body 15 is provided at the backside center of the part 11 in a freely turnable way with a central axis of the part 11 as a center, and a microphone 16 is incorporated at the front of the body 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a small and lightweight earphone, and more particularly to an earphone that can be used while moving.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as earphones that can be used when traveling by train or on foot, there are known earphones having an ear hook portion that hooks to the outside of the ear so that the earphone does not fall off from the ear.

However, in such a conventional earphone,
Although the ear hook portion is curved so as to hang around the outer periphery of the ear, it is formed of a hard synthetic resin, so that it has poor adhesion to the ear, and since the speaker is fixed, depending on the user, There was a problem that it did not fit the shape of the ear and the wearing feeling was poor.

[0004] Further, in such an earphone, the earphone falls off from the ear depending on the relative positional relationship between the ear hanging part and the speaker part and the ear of the wearer, and the original purpose of the ear hanging type is sufficiently achieved. There was also a problem that it could not be done.

In order to solve such a problem, the present applicant disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 9-53916 the relative positional relationship between the ear hook and the speaker in accordance with the shape of the user's individual ear. Propose adjustable earphones.

[0006]

However, in the earphone according to the above-mentioned prior application, although the ear hook portion and the speaker portion are relatively rotatable to improve the feeling of wearing,
If the speaker rotates freely, the wiring may be cut off and the reliability and durability may be reduced. For this reason, a stopper member is provided to restrict the rotation range of the speaker so that the wiring is not cut off. Was. For this reason, the number of parts has increased and the structure has been complicated.

The above-mentioned prior application proposes that a microphone is provided at the lower end of the ear hook portion to be used as a hands-free receiver of a mobile phone. However, the microphone is extended to the lower end of the ear hook portion made of an elastic member. Since the microphone is provided, there is a problem that the microphone sways and shakes as the user walks, and the feeling of wearing is deteriorated, and that the quality of the call deteriorates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and the relative positional relationship between an ear hook portion and a speaker portion can be adjusted according to the shape of an individual ear of a user. It is an object of the present invention to provide an earphone having a good feeling and a simple structure.

[0009]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an earphone according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the earphone is fixed to the speaker, and is fixed to the speaker. A rod-shaped shaft member for supporting the speaker portion, an ear hook portion curved to be wound around the outer periphery of the ear, and provided on the ear hook portion to support the shaft member vertically movable and rotatably. And a microphone protruding from the speaker section.

[0010] In the earphone thus configured, the speaker is inserted into the projection of the ear and shaped to be in contact with the ear hole. When the speaker is moved and rotated, the ear hook can be wound around the ear while the speaker is in contact with the ear hole, and the speaker can be worn.

After the earphone is attached, the entire earphone is held so that the ear is sandwiched between the speaker and the ear hook, so that the speaker is securely fixed. By attaching a microphone to the speaker unit, the microphone is not stably shaken by vibration during walking or the like, and is stably held at a position near the mouth.

On the other hand, when the earphone is removed from the ear and the speaker is rotated, the microphone also turns integrally,
The microphone is in contact with the ear hook and the rotation range is restricted to a certain range. Therefore, even if a special stopper member is not provided, there is no possibility that the speaker section is rotated too much and the wiring is cut off. That is, the microphone is also used as a stopper.

In this case, if the microphone is rotatably mounted on the speaker section as described in claim 2, the speaker section is rotated to the opposite side of the ear hook section and the microphone is turned. By doing so, the right earphone can be converted to the left earphone. That is, it is possible to provide an earphone with a microphone that can be used for both the left and right ears.

The microphone is turned in order to return the microphone to the face side because the microphone turns from the face side to the occipital side when the speaker section is rotated. Although not limited, if the microphone is turned so as to pass near the mouth as described in claim 3,
The microphone can be positioned closer to the mouth. As a result, call quality is improved, and confidentiality during a call is improved.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the relative position between the shaft member and the support member can be displaced not only in the rotational direction but also in the axial direction of the shaft member. It is preferable that the mounting property and the fitting property are further improved.

In these cases, it is desirable to form the ear hook portion with an elastic member as described in claim 5, since the adhesion to the ear and the feeling of wearing are improved.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wireless receiving circuit for receiving a radio wave generated from the main unit and reproducing sound on the speaker unit, and transmitting an audio signal collected by the microphone to the main unit. If a wireless transmission circuit is provided, it can be used as a hands-free receiver for a mobile phone.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an earphone according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same elements will be denoted by the same reference symbols, without redundant description.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is an overall plan view showing an earphone 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The earphone 1 is configured as a hands-free receiver for a mobile phone.

In FIG. 1, a speaker section 11 is mounted on an ear hole to reproduce sound, has a substantially hemispherical appearance, and has a speaker unit (not shown) built therein. The surface facing the ear hole is covered with a slightly convex mesh-like metal net so that the sound generated by the speaker unit can be heard.

The shaft member 12 is fixed to the upper portion of the back surface of the speaker section 11 and is made of a hollow round bar-shaped hard plastic. From the upper end face, the wiring 13 to the speaker unit is drawn out. A flange portion 12a is formed on the outer periphery of the upper end so as to protrude outward.

The ear hook portion 14 is formed in a substantially "?" Shape in accordance with the shape of the outer periphery of the human ear, and is made of an elastic member such as rubber. On the outer side, a plate-shaped overhang portion 14b is extended substantially in a crescent shape as shown by an imaginary line, and a printed circuit board of a radio circuit described later is built in. Note that the shape of the overhang portion 14b is not limited to the crescent shape, but is arbitrarily determined according to the size and shape of the built-in circuit board. In the case where a wireless circuit is not built-in as in a second embodiment described later, the overhang portion 14b may not be provided.
Therefore, the overhang portion 14b is shown by an imaginary line, and the description is omitted in the following drawings.

The shaft member 1 is provided at the upper end of the rod-shaped portion 14a.
Hollow cylindrical portion 1 having an inner diameter slightly smaller than the outer diameter of 2
4c is integrally formed as a support member that supports the shaft member 12 rotatably and vertically movable with an appropriate frictional force (see FIG. 2).

A tube 15 is pivotally mounted at the center of the rear surface of the speaker unit 11 and is rotatable around the center axis of the speaker unit 11 (see FIG. 3). Has a built-in microphone 16.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a radio circuit built in the earphone. In FIG. 4, the antenna 20
, Which communicates with the main unit of the mobile phone (not shown) by radio waves, and corresponds to the tube 15 in FIG. The receiving circuit 21 is a circuit for demodulating a radio wave received from the main body of the mobile phone by the antenna 20 to an audio signal, and the audio signal is amplified by an amplifier circuit 22, and is passed through the wiring 13 to the speaker unit. 11 is sent to the speaker unit 23.

On the other hand, the voice of the wearer of the earphone is received by the microphone 16, FM-modulated by the modulation circuit 24, and then transmitted from the antenna 20 as a radio wave from the transmission circuit 25. These wireless circuits for transmission and reception are mounted on a sheet-shaped printed wiring board made of a crescent-shaped plastic film, and are incorporated in the overhang portion 14b. In addition, a small battery power supply is built in the mounting portion of the microphone 16.

In the present embodiment, the main unit of the portable telephone (not shown) once receives radio waves from the base station, FM-modulates the voice of the other party, and sends it out to the earphone of the present invention. On the other hand, the voice of the wearer of the earphone is FM-modulated by the earphone, received by the main body of the mobile phone, and transmitted by the main unit as a radio wave to the base station. As a result, the user of the mobile phone can make a hands-free call by attaching the earphone of the present embodiment to the ear while keeping the main body of the mobile phone in a bag or pocket.

Next, a method of using the earphone 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing each step of a specific mounting procedure of the earphone 1. In order to mount the earphone 1, the shaft member 12 is previously attached to the hollow cylindrical portion 14c according to the shape and size of the user's ear. The speaker 11 is rotated and moved up and down to adjust the relative positions of the speaker unit 11 and the ear hook unit 14 so that the surface of the speaker 11 is approximately positioned above the ear hole.

First, while holding the rear surface of the speaker unit with the right index finger and holding the lower end of the ear hook unit 14 with the left hand, while increasing the distance between the ear hook unit 14 and the speaker unit 11,
The ear hook 14 is located behind the earring.

The outer diameter of the speaker section 11 is sized so that it can be inserted between the ear hole, which is the entrance of the ear canal, and the tragus and tragus, which are special notes of the ear, as shown in FIG. As described above, the speaker unit 11 is inserted between the tragus 50 and the antitragus 51.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the ear hook portion 14 is positioned behind the earring while holding down the speaker portion 11 with a finger, as shown in FIG. The speaker unit 11 is held so as to be wound around the outer periphery of the earphone.

At this time, the speaker section 11 is
At the same time, the earphone 1 is relatively rotated with respect to the hollow cylindrical portion 14c, and the entire earphone 1 is held in a reasonable posture. Therefore, the ear hook portion 14 is not twisted, and the speaker portion 11 does not hit the ear hole obliquely. Further, even after the mounting, the relative positional relationship between the speaker unit 11 and the ear hook unit 14 automatically changes, and it is possible to maintain the optimum position.

As described above, in the earphone, since the curved bar-shaped portion 14a has elasticity, the earphone is mounted so that the ear is sandwiched between the bar-shaped portion 14a and the speaker portion 11, so that the earphone may be subjected to intense exercise. Even if it does, it will not fall out of the ear. Therefore, it is possible to make a call even during sports, as well as walking. When the use of the earphone is finished, the rod-shaped portion 14a or the tubular body 15a may be used.
Can be easily removed from the ear.

Next, a procedure for converting the earphone of the present embodiment from the right ear to the left ear will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a procedure for converting the earphone from the right ear to the left ear, and FIG. 8 is a top view.

Now, it is assumed that the earphone 1 is in a state for the right ear as shown in FIGS. 7 (a) and 8 (a). To convert this for the left ear, first rotate the speaker unit 11 with respect to the ear hook unit 14 so that the speaker unit 11 faces the opposite side (FIGS. 7B and 8B). reference). By rotating the speaker unit 11 in this manner, the speaker unit 1 is rotated.
When 1 rotates about 180 °, the tube 15 at the root of the microphone 16 comes into contact with the ear hook portion 14 (see FIGS. 7C and 8C). In this state, the ear hook 14
On the other hand, the speaker unit 11 is oriented in the direction for the left ear, but the microphone 16 has turned to the back of the head. Then, the microphone 16 is turned downward and returned to the face side (see FIGS. 7D and 8D). With the above operation, the earphone 1 for the right ear can be converted to the earphone for the left ear.
Since the microphone 16 turns so as to pass near the mouth, it may be fixed at a position closest to the mouth.

(Second Embodiment) Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. In this embodiment, the earphone of the present invention is configured as a hands-free receiver of a wired telephone. It is. In this embodiment, the connection cord 30 is pulled out from the center of the rear surface of the speaker unit and connected to the telephone body. The connection cord 30 includes a wiring to the speaker unit 11 and a wiring from the microphone 16. Note that this embodiment does not include a wireless circuit. This earphone can be connected to a cassette tape recorder in addition to a wired telephone, and can also be used for computers, industrial equipment, and the like.

[0037]

According to the present invention, the relative positional relationship between the ear hook portion and the speaker portion can be adjusted according to the subtle difference in the shape of the ear of the user. As a result, the ear, the ear hook portion and the speaker portion fit tightly, and the feeling of wearing is improved.

At this time, since the relative rotation range between the support member and the shaft member is restricted to a certain range, the wiring connected to the speaker unit is not cut and damaged.

The earphone does not fall off from the ear even when a heavy exercise or the like is performed, since the earphone is attached so as to sandwich the ear by the elasticity of the ear hook.

The microphone is held at a stable position without being shaken even by vibration during walking.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view showing an earphone according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a movable portion of the earphone according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a movable portion of the earphone according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a wireless circuit of the earphone according to the first embodiment;

FIGS. 5A to 5C are diagrams for explaining a procedure for mounting the earphone according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state of a mounted speaker.

FIGS. 7A to 7D are diagrams for explaining a procedure for converting the earphone of the first embodiment from the right ear to the left ear.

FIGS. 8A to 8D are diagrams for explaining a procedure for converting the earphone of the first embodiment from the right ear to the left ear.

9A is a top view showing an earphone according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9B is a front view thereof. FIG. 9C is a bottom view thereof.
(d): Right side view

10A is a left side view showing an earphone according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Earphone 11 ... Speaker part 12 ... Shaft member 12a ... Flange part 13 ... Wiring 1
4 ... ear hanging part 14a ... rod-shaped part 14b ...
Overhanging part 14c ... hollow cylindrical part (support member) 1
4d ... opening 14e ... annular part 15 ... flexible tube 16 ... microphone 20 ...
Antenna 21 ... Reception circuit 22 ... Amplifier circuit 23 ... Speaker unit 24 ... Modulation circuit
25 transmission circuit 30 connection code

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A speaker portion formed in a size that can be closely attached to an ear hole, a rod-shaped shaft member fixed to the speaker portion and supporting the speaker portion, and a curved portion formed to be wound around the outer periphery of the ear. And a support member provided on the ear hook portion for vertically moving and rotatably supporting the shaft member, wherein a microphone is projected from the speaker portion. And earphones. 2. The earphone according to claim 1, wherein the microphone is rotatably attached to the speaker unit. 3. The earphone according to claim 2, wherein the microphone turns so as to pass near the mouth. 4. The earphone according to claim 1, wherein a relative position between the shaft member and the support member is displaceable in the axial direction. 5. The earphone according to claim 1, wherein the ear hook portion is made of an elastic member. 6. A wireless receiving circuit for receiving a radio wave generated from the main unit and reproducing sound on the speaker unit, and a wireless transmitting circuit for transmitting an audio signal collected by the microphone to the main unit. The earphone according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: