Earpiece holder with access portal and pivoting clip element

Abstract

The present invention is generally directed to a retention means for receiving and retaining aural attenuation devices, and specifically to a holder for earpieces that has multiple points for temporarily affixing earpieces with the holder and means for removably attaching the holder to a secondary surface. The holder includes a plurality of access portals through the side surface aspects for accessing the earpiece contained therein and allowing for retention of earpieces having significantly different profiles and geometries. Attached to the holder is a clip element comprising a front and back clip profile. The front and back clip profiles act upon one another to achieve a pinch point useful for allowing the holder to be slidably engaged onto a surface such as a collar, pocket, purse edge or the like. The clip element is attached to the holder through a rotatable mount that allows the clip to move through a 360° planar arc relative to a long axis of the holder.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]Through the propagation of cellular phone and personal music devices, the associated earpieces needed for use of those devices and controlling the location of the earpieces has become a growing problem. Earpieces include those having an interconnecting wire for conducting signal from the device to the user's ear, and in the case of cellular phones, to return a separate signal from a microphone receiver associated with the earpiece back to the device. New technology has created the wireless earpiece which conveys the signals to and from the device to the user without use of a physical wire.[0002]When the earpieces are not in immediate use, the type of earpiece type defines the associated problem of controlling the location of the earpiece. For wired earpieces, there is the issue with the interconnecting wire becoming entangled with other objects in the environment. This entanglement of the connecting wire is at a minimum an inconvenience, but can caus...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005]The present invention is generally directed to a retention means for receiving and retaining aural attenuation devices, and specifically to a holder for earpieces that have multiple points for temporarily affixing earpieces with the holder and means for removably attaching the holder to a secondary surface. The holder includes a plurality of access portals through the side surface aspects for accessing the earpiece contained therein and allowing for retention of earpieces having significantly different profiles and geometries. The holder may optionally

Problems solved by technology

Through the propagation of cellular phone and personal music devices, the associated earpieces needed for use of those devices and controlling the location of the earpieces has become a growing problem.

For wired earpieces, there is the issue with the interconnecting wire becoming entangled with other objects in the environment.

This entanglement of the connecting wire is at a minimum an inconvenience, but can cause physical harm if the earpiece is suddenly and forcibly removed from either the user's ear or the electronic device.

While wireless earpieces do not suffer from inadvertent entanglement issues, the fact that the wireless earpieces are typically small in profile and do not have the connecting wire to act as a keeping mechanism, such wireless earpieces are more readily lost with a significantly higher financial impact.

Prior art attempts to address retention of earpieces have met with limited success.

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