Modular Eyewear Architecture with Interchangeable Temple Modules
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current eyewear devices are not modularized, making them inflexible and expensive to reconfigure for different user needs. Additionally, existing sound transmission methods, such as earphones, obstruct the ear canal and interfere with hearing far-field sounds.
Innovation Solution
A modularized eyewear system with interchangeable frames and temples that can be fitted with various electronics configurations, including temple insert modules (TIMs) and a behind-the-neck module assembly. These modules can include sensors, speakers, and wireless communication systems, allowing for customizable functionality and seamless integration of audio and visual information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If eyewear devices are made non-modular with fixed configurations, then manufacturing and initial setup are simpler, but reconfiguration for different user needs becomes expensive and inflexible
Solution Approach 1:
The eyewear device is divided into modular components including interchangeable temples, frame sections, and electronic modules that can be independently selected and assembled. Each temple can be removed and replaced with different temples having various electronic configurations (e.g., audio processors, sensors, wireless communication modules), allowing users to reconfigure the device for different needs without replacing the entire eyewear system.
Solution Approach 2:
The frame chassis is designed as a universal platform that can accommodate multiple types of temples and electronic configurations. The standardized interface and mounting mechanism allow a single frame to support various temple designs with different functionalities (audio processing, display, sensing), making the system adaptable to diverse user requirements while maintaining a consistent base structure.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If traditional earphones are used for sound transmission, then personal audio delivery is achieved, but the ear canal is obstructed and far-field sound hearing is interfered with
Solution Approach 1:
The audio transmission function is extracted from the ear canal and relocated to the temple structure positioned behind the ear. The temple includes integrated speakers or bone conduction elements that deliver audio signals without inserting anything into the ear canal, thereby eliminating the obstruction problem while maintaining effective personal audio delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The temple acts as an intermediary structure between the audio source and the user's auditory system. Instead of direct ear canal insertion, the temple transmits audio signals through alternative pathways (such as air conduction near the ear or bone conduction), serving as a mediator that preserves both audio effectiveness and ear canal openness.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, apparatuses, and methods are taught that provide reconfigurable components for eyewear devices. A reconfigurable component for use in an eyewear device includes an embedded electronics system. The embedded electronics system is configured for wireless communication and for processing sensor signals. The embedded electronics system is embedded into a component of the eyewear device. A plurality of sensors is embedded into one or more of the reconfigurable component and the eyewear device. The plurality is in electrical communication with the embedded electronics system. The embedded electronic system further includes a processor. The processor is configured to receive outputs from the plurality of sensors and to determine a system control parameter from an output of at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors.