Safe Methods and Apparatus for Locating Lost Headsets (02-Feb-2010)

Plantronics INC.

INVENTION DISCLOSURE FORM

Safe Methods and apparatus for Locating Lost Headsets

Olympia Don Doff Functionality

All headsets

A common method for finding lost items is to have the item emit a loud alert tone or tones. If this method is used for a headset, there is a risk of accidentally emitting the tone while in the ear, causing ear damage or at a minimum, annoyance. 

An example of where the tone can cause problems is if a user accidentally initiates the lost tone alert, while wearing the headset.  Another example might be if a child imitates the lost tone alert while the adult is wearing the headset.

A previous solution to the problem of a loud tone in the ear is to use DON DOFF sensing to switch the alert on and off, so that the alert tone is only emitted when the headset is not in the ear.  This is discussed in disclosure 01-7295.  However, this is not fool proof. False DOFFs can occur for example if the headset is on, but not in proper worn position or the calibration is in error.  In this case, the user could still be exposed to a loud tone.

Previous solutions use the headset speaker as the source of the alert tone for the device.  This speaker which is optimized for hi-fidelity can have volume limitation that prevent the speaker from emitting a sufficiently loud tone,

This invention uses a method of verbal warning played through the ear-piece of the headset and or a tone or tones of ramping intensity.  This can be used in addition to the DON DOFF alert switching if desired.  As additional safety, a separate alert speaker facing outward from the ear can be used.

For example, if the user wishes to find a lost headset, they can initiate the search with a graphical user interface button on a PC or perhaps a button on the headset carrying case. Assuming the headset is paired wirelessly to the initiating device, the first thing it does is to do a verbal announce t...