JP2018538449A - Connection assembly for joining peripheral devices with host wearable devices - Google Patents

Abstract

A connection assembly for joining peripheral devices to a host wearable device. An embodiment of the assembly can be a helmet with accessory connections that allow both mechanical and electrical attachment of various accessories such as earphones, video displays, headlamps, welding face shields, etc. It is. [Selection] Figure 5

Description

  This is a continuation-in-part of US patent application Ser. No. 14 / 883,157, filed Oct. 14, 2015, which is US Pat. No. 9,013, filed Oct. 17, 2014. This is a divisional application of US Pat. No. 9,177,458, which is a divisional application of No.297.

1. The present invention relates generally to the field of “high performance” safety gears. More particularly, the present invention relates to an accessory system for a “high performance” safety device that provides a mechanical connection mechanism and is capable of exchanging data and power between a peripheral device and a host wearable device. .

2. Description of Prior Art In today's manufacturing environment, workers use a variety of accessories such as earphones, face shields, headlamps or personal protective equipment attached to gears on the head or other parts of clothing. Often to do. Current accessory mounting systems only provide a means for mechanically connected peripherals and host devices. As personal protective equipment is "high performance", a simple and universal solution is needed that allows both mechanical and electrical connections of the device.

  The connection assembly joins peripheral devices with a host wearable device. The connection assembly includes a housing secured to the host wearable device. The housing defines a receiver. The electrical contacts extend through the housing into a portion of the host wearable device.

  The advantages of the present invention will be readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

It is a side view of one embodiment of the present invention fixed to a wearable device. It is a top view of the wearable apparatus of FIG. It is a bottom perspective view of a wearable device. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. It is a disassembled perspective view of the wearable apparatus provided with the earphone accessory. It is a perspective view of a wearable device provided with an earphone accessory fixed to it. FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway side view taken along line 7-7 in FIG. 1. FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway side view taken along line 8-8 in FIG. 5. FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway side view taken along line 9-9 in FIG. 6. It is a perspective view of a wearable device provided with two peripheral devices fixed to it in a stacked relationship. It is a disassembled perspective view of the wearable apparatus provided with the 2nd peripheral device removed from the 1st peripheral device.

  Operators use connection assemblies to attach various peripheral devices (eg, headphones, welding shields, video displays, etc.) to the host wearable device both mechanically and electrically. The connection assembly is a design in such a way that the connection assembly is compatible with existing non-electrical accessories. In addition to the mechanical attachment mechanism, the assembly includes circuitry that provides a data interface and a power interface. Such an assembly can provide power to the device as well as allow the exchange of data (including audio and video signals) between the host wearable device and the attached "high performance" peripheral device. The accessory connection can be designed in such a way that a plurality of accessories can be simultaneously connected to a single host port (hereinafter referred to as “stacking”). Data and power interfaces may be compatible with industry standards for electrical connections and communication protocols such as USB, UART, PBI, FireWire, and the like. Since the host wearable device may be mounted in a volatile environment, the peripheral device must be fixed and electrically connected to the host wearable device using a spark-suppressing connection.

  1-3, one embodiment of the present invention is indicated generally at 20. The present invention is a connection assembly 20. The connection assembly 20 is secured to a host wearable device indicated generally at 22. In this embodiment, the host wearable device 22 is a protective headgear part commonly referred to as a helmet. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the host wearable device 22 may be a vest, jacket, collar, glove or any other device adapted to be worn by an operator.

  Helmet 22 has a hard outer shell 24. The outer shell 24 is designed to cover the adult head. The outer shell 24 includes an outer edge 26 that defines an opening 28 (best shown in FIG. 3). The helmet 22 typically includes a harness 30 so that the helmet 22 does not need to be placed directly on the operator's head. In the illustrated embodiment, the harness 30 has an adjuster 32 that allows the operator to harness the harness 32 so that the helmet 22 fits comfortably over the head, even if the helmet 22 is not so easy to fall off. It can be adjusted to an appropriate size.

  The helmet 22 also includes a visor 34 to help protect the face of the operator wearing the helmet 22. The electronics 36 may be secured to the visor 34 or any other part of the helmet 22. The electronics 36 connected to the helmet is the subject of US Pat. Nos. 9,013,297 and 9,177,458, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

  In the embodiment shown in the drawings, there are two connection assemblies 20 secured to a host wearable device (helmet) 22. These two connection assemblies 20 are diametrically opposed to each other. In other embodiments, there may be more or fewer connection assemblies 20 secured to the helmet 22, and more or less usage will depend on the environment in which the helmet 22 is deployed.

  Although two connection assemblies 20 are shown fixed to the helmet 22, only the single connection assembly 20 will be considered in the following discussion because the two operate similarly. Each connection assembly 20 operates in the same manner even though some embodiments may have different connection assemblies 20 with different configurations.

  The connection assembly 20 includes a housing 40 that is secured to the helmet 22. More specifically, the housing 40 is fixed to the outer shell 24 of the helmet 22. The housing 40 is assembled from a rigid material such as the outer shell 24. In many cases, the housing 40 is formed integrally with the outer shell 24.

  The housing 40 defines a receiver 42. Receptor 42 is designed to receive a peripheral adapter 44 which will be discussed in more detail below. Receptor 42 is a generally rectangular tube having a side wall 46 that extends vertically up to a portion of outer shell 24. The receiver 42 has an upper opening 48 and a lower opening 50. Peripheral adapter 44 may be designed to be inserted into either of these openings 48, 50. In an embodiment not shown, the receiver 42 has one of its side walls 46 removed to either secure an otherwise designed peripheral device or to clean the interior of the receiver 42. Should have a part. Side wall 46 includes an inner side wall surface 52, which will be discussed in more detail below. Two guides 53, 55 are used to guide the peripheral adapter 44 into the receiver 42. The guides 53, 55 may be simple sidewalls as shown in the drawing, or the guides 53, 55 may include grooves.

  The connection assembly 20 also includes an electrical contact 54. The electrical contacts 54 extend along at least one inner wall 56 of the receiver 42. The electrical contacts 54 may include a plurality or set of contacts 54, 54 ', 54 "(shown in FIG. 1) so that multiple functions can be performed through a single contacting" point ". As an example, if the electrical contact 54 is a single contact, it merely provides a voltage at that point. If the electrical contacts are actually 54, 54 ', 54 "pairs, each may supply a voltage, a data signal, and an audio / video signal, respectively. Depending on the protocol and data compression used, one or more types of data may be transmitted through a single contact. Additional electrical contacts may be incorporated into the guides 53, 55 depending on the data capacity requirements.

  Electrical contact 54 is electrically connected to conductor 58, which is then electrically connected to controller 60. The control device 60 may extend along the front of the helmet 22 as shown in FIG. 6, or the control device 60 may be housed in an electronic housing 62 as shown in FIG. The electric contact 54 and all electronic devices 36 embedded in the host wearable device 22 are supplied with electric power (from a battery (not shown) accommodated in the battery casing 63) to transmit and receive data. The controller 60 is described in more detail in the aforementioned US patent.

  With reference to FIGS. 5, 6, 8, and 9, the peripheral device is indicated generally at 64. In these drawings, peripheral device 64 is a pair of ear pads (only two are shown in FIGS. 10 and 11). The ear pad 64 attenuates or absorbs noise generated in the environment to protect the operator's ear. The ear pad 64 also has a function of transmitting information to the operator via a sound signal through a speaker 66 (shown by a broken line), and the ear pad 64 is provided with the ear pad 64 as such. Has a function of detecting information. For example, the ear pad 64 may have an ambient light sensor or an ambient temperature sensor attached to it. In order to measure the temperature of the operator, a thermometer may also be fixed to the ear pad.

  Communication between these signals and electrical equipment (represented by the microphone 66 in the figure) installed in the ear pad 64 is accomplished through the peripheral adapter 44. Peripheral adapter 44 includes an adapter contact 68 that is wired to an electrical device 66 that hosts ear pad 64 through a suitable wire harness. In FIG. 11, these adapter contacts 68, 68 ', 68 "are shown as being electrically connected to the three electrical contacts 54, 54', 54" of FIG. Peripheral adapter 44 is designed to be inserted into connection assembly 20. Peripheral adapter 44 extends down distal end 70. Peripheral adapter 44 may be shorter than the length of receptacle 42 and thus may not extend therethrough when fully inserted into receptacle 42. The peripheral device adapter 44 has an outward surface 72, and the adapter contact 68 is fixed to the outward surface 72. As discussed above, there may be a set of adapter contacts 68, 68 ′, 68 ″ fixed to the outward surface 72, and the outward surface 72 passes through the electrical contacts 54, Electrical contact is made with 54 ', 54 ".

  Peripheral adapter 44 also includes a bias surface 74. The bias surface 74 contacts the inner wall surface 52 of the receiver 42. Bias surface 74 presses adapter contact (s) 68 into engagement with electrical contact (s) 54. Through friction, the bias surface 74 locks the peripheral adapter 44 to the connection assembly 20. This prevents the peripheral device 64 from being disconnected from the helmet 22. In an alternative embodiment, a physically different locking surface or relief is used to ensure that the peripheral adapter 44 is not pulled out of the receiver 42.

  Referring now to FIG. 10, the host wearable device 22 is shown with a second peripheral device 80. The second peripheral device 80 is a convertible face protection shield with an augmented reality display device. An operator using the host wearable device 22 may be placed in or moved from the use position depending on the task of using the convertible face protection shield 80. In FIG. 10, the convertible face protection shield 80 is in the retracted position rather than its use position.

  Referring to FIG. 11, the second peripheral device 80 includes a peripheral control device 90, and the peripheral control device 90 may include a power transformer as necessary. Peripheral controller 90 communicates with controller 60 through a set of adapter contacts 92 that can receive power and can transmit and receive data therefrom. In one embodiment, the convertible face protection shield 80 should include a screen device 94 that can transmit video in a holographic or projection manner. In another example, the screen device 94 can include a paint film for the outer surface 82. The paint film can be a transparent “touch screen” film that allows the operator to better communicate and freely transmit data in both directions. The second peripheral device 80 receives the second peripheral device 80 and uses the slot 96 designed to electrically connect with the second peripheral device 80 in the first set of peripheral devices 64. Laminated. A cap (not shown) may be secured over the slot 96 to protect the components in the slot 96 from damage if the second peripheral device 80 is not used.

  The second peripheral device 80 is stacked with respect to the first peripheral device 64 such that the adapter contacts of the second peripheral device 80 extend along the peripheral adapter received by the first peripheral device 64. The first peripheral device 64 is electrically connected from the second peripheral device 80 through the connection assembly 20 to the host wearable device 22.

  The list of possible peripheral devices is not interpreted in a limited way, but headphones, augmented reality display devices, face shields, welding visors, flashlights, visibility light, various biometric and environmental sensors, wireless Communication devices (including mobile phones), microphones, CB radios, cameras, gas masks, chin straps, ear pads, safety glasses, linings, and the like may be included.

  The present invention has been described in an illustrative manner. It is to be understood that the terminology used is intended to be the nature of the words described rather than limitation.

  Many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. Accordingly, the invention can be practiced within the scope of the appended claims unless otherwise indicated.

Claims (12)

A connection assembly for joining peripheral devices with a host wearable device,
A housing secured to the host wearable device, the housing defining a receptacle; and
An electrical contact extending through the housing and into a portion of the host wearable device.   The connection assembly according to claim 1, comprising a biasing surface disposed along a portion of the housing for securing the peripheral device to the housing.   The connection assembly of claim 1, wherein the receiver defines an opening through which a portion of the peripheral device extends.   The connection assembly of claim 1, comprising a second contact extending through a portion of the host wearable device and the receiver to provide power to the peripheral device.   The connection assembly according to claim 1, wherein the receiver includes an open end accessible to the electrical contact.   The receptacle includes a bias surface that pushes a portion of the peripheral device into contact with the electrical contact, and maintains a closed circuit between the electrical contact and the peripheral device as long as the peripheral device is within the receptacle. The connection assembly according to claim 1.   The connection assembly of claim 5, wherein the bias surface extends at an angle with respect to the electrical contact.   The connection assembly of claim 4, wherein the electrical contact is a data interface.   The connection assembly of claim 8, wherein the second contact is a power interface. A helmet assembly and a base ring surrounding the user's head;
A coating extending upward from the base ring to cover and protect the head;
A connection for joining a peripheral device to the helmet assembly, the connection including a housing fixed to the base ring, the housing locking the receiver and the peripheral device to the receiver A connection defining a bias surface for
And an electrical contact extending through a portion of the helmet assembly.   The helmet assembly of claim 10, wherein the connection includes a plurality of electrical contacts for allowing a number of peripheral devices to be secured thereto. The helmet assembly according to claim 11, comprising a controller for controlling the plurality of peripheral devices secured to the helmet assembly.

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