Samsung Electronics’ history of suit-counter-suit patent-infringement litigation was referenced last post. The patent-infringement lawsuit strategy is not peculiar to Samsung. Such lawsuits increased by 25% in 2013. Recent bills introduced in the US House and Senate have bipartisan congressional and White House support. Among other things, the bills propose to reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits, give manufacturers a green light to fight on behalf of their customers, force patent owners to explain patent-infringement allegations in letters sent prior to filing lawsuits, and enable the FTC to levy civil penalties if such letters contain “fraudulent or misleading information.”
If passed, such laws may come in handy in the near future as our small industry and its consumer recipients are visited by consumer electronics companies with large patent portfolios.
The Bi-Monthly Patent Printout
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee | Issued |
| Apparatus and Method for Enhancing Audio Quality Using Non-Uniform Configuration of Microphones | 8965002 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Suwon-si, KR) | 2/24/2015 |
| Encoding Fine Time Structure in Presence of Substantial Interaction across an Electrode Array | 8965519 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 2/24/2015 |
| Frequency Selective Measuring Device and Frequency Selective Measuring Method | 8964823 | Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. (Munich, DE) | 2/24/2015 |
| Signal Processing Using Spatial Filter | 8965003 | Rasmussen Digital ApS (Charlottenlund, DK) | 2/24/2015 |
| Subcutaneous Piezoelectric Bone Conduction Hearing Aid Actuator and System | 8965021 | Dalhousie University (Halifax, CA) | 2/24/2015 |
| Encoding of Multichannel Digital Audio Signals | 8964994 | Orange (Paris, FR) | 2/24/2015 |
| Remotely Controlling a Hearing Device | 8971556 | Apple Inc. (Cupertino, Calif) | 3/03/2015 |
| Method and an Apparatus for Processing an Audio Signal | 8972270 | LG Electronics Inc. (Seoul, KR) | 3/03/2015 |
| Systems and Methods for Identifying Speech Sound Features | 8983832 | The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (Urbana, Ill.) | 3/17/2015 |
| First Responder Wireless Emergency Alerting with Automatic Callback and Location Triggering | 8970366 | TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (Annapolis, MD) | 3/03/2015 |
| Hearing Aid with a Sensor for Changing Power State of the Hearing Aid | 8971554 | Sonion Nederland BV (Amsterdam, NL) | 3/03/2015 |
| Earpiece | 8971545 | Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG (Wedemark, DE) | 3/03/2015 |
| Hearing device with external electrode | 8971558 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 3/03/2015 |
| Method for operating a hearing apparatus | 8976989 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 3/10/2015 |
| Method for operating a hearing apparatus | 897989 | Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbH (Erlangen, DE) | 3/10/2015 |
| Sound Processing Assembly for Use in a Cochlear Implant System | 8977369 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 3/10/2015 |
| BTE/CIC Auditory Device and Modular Connector System Therefor | 8976991 | Hear-Wear Technologies, LLC (Tulsa, OK) | 3/10/2015 |
| Diminishing Tinnitus Loudness by Hearing Instrument Treatment | 976990 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 3/10/2015 |
| Audio processing device, system, use and method | 8976998 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 3/10/2015 |
| Earphone Assembly | 8983101 | Shure Acquisition Holdings, Inc. (Niles, IL) | 3/17/2015 |
| System and Method for Exchanging a Battery of a Hearing Device | 8978885 | Phonak AG (Stafa, CH) | 3/17/2015 |
| Tinnitus Rehabilitation Device and Method | 8979729 | Neuromonics Pty Limited (Chatswood, New South Wales, AU) | 3/17/2015 |
| Speech Processor Headpiece | 8983102 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 3/17/2015 |
| Modular wireless auditory test instrument with intelligent transducers | 8983084 | GN Resound A/S (Ballerup, Denmark) | 3/17/2015 |
| Sound Capture Focus Adjustment for Hearing Prosthesis | 8989413 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 3/24/2015 |
| Active Delay Method and an Improved Wireless Binaural Hearing Device Using the Same Method | 8989394 | Kyunpook National University Academic Industry Cooperation Foundation (Dae-Gu Si, South Korea) | 3/24/2015 |
| Hearing aid with antenna for reception and transmission of electromagnetic signals | 8995699 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 3/31/2015 |
| Visual Speech Mapping | 8995698 | Starkey Laboratories, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) | 3/31/2015 |
| Hearing Protector | 8995676 | 3M Svenska AB (Sollentuna, Sweden) | 3/31/2015 |
| Varying the effective coil area for an inductive transcutaneous power link | 8996121 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 3/31/2015 |
| Using interaction to measure neural excitation | 8996127 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 3/31/2015 |
| Methods and systems of adjusting one or more perceived attributes of an audio signal | 8996120 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 4/07/2015 |
| Methods and systems for managing cochlear implant fitting software features | 8996122 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 4/07/2015 |
| Methods and systems for registering and identifying a cochlear implant emulation device and managing data associated therewith | 9002464 | Advanced Bionics AG (Staefa, CH) | 4/07/2015 |
| Method and System for Transcutaneous Proximity Wireless Control of a Canal Hearing Device | 9002046 | iHear Medical Inc. (San Leandro, Calif.) | 4/07/2015 |
| Hearing aids with adaptive beamformer responsive to off-axis speech | 9002045 | Starkey Laboratories, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) | 4/07/2015 |
| Method and Apparatus for an Insulated Electromagnetic Shield for Use in Hearing Assistance Devices | 9002047 | Starkey Laboratories, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) | 4/07/2015 |
| Housing for a Standard Fit Hearing Assistance Device | 9002049 | Starkey Laboratories, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) | 4/07/2015 |
| Automatic gain control with out of band blocking signal compensation | 9001942 | Starkey Laboratories, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) | 4/07/2015 |
| Implant Abutment | 9005202 | Cochlear Ltd. (Macquarie University, NSW, Australia) | 4/14/2015 |
| Drug retaining surface features in an implantable medical device | 9008796 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 4/14/2015 |
| Active electrode state control system | 9008787 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 4/14/2015 |
| Determining stimulation signals for neural stimulation | 9008786 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 4/14/2015 |
| Method and Apparatus to Test Hearing Ability and Hearing Aid Apparatus Using the Same | 9008340 | Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Suwon-si, KR) | 4/14/2015 |
| Method for determining the sound pressure level at the eardrum of an occluded ear | 9008325 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 4/14/2015 |
| Synchronous access method, and communication device and system in frequency hopping radio communication | 9008149 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 4/14/2015 |
| Conformable dome ear canal tip for a hearing instrument | 9004233 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 4/14/2015 |
| Storage System for a Hearing Aid | 9014405 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 4/21/2015 |
| Hearing instrument system with a rechargeable battery | 9014407 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 4/21/2015 |
| Formant Based Speech Reconstruction from Noisy Signals | 9015044 | Malaspina Labs (Barbados) Inc. (Upton, St. Michael, Barbados) | 4/21/2015 |
| Method of Initializing a Binaural Hearing Aid System and a Hearing Aid | 9014379 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 4/21/2015 |
| Vent Detection in a Hearing Assistance Device with a Real Ear Measurement System | 9014385 | Starkey Laboratories, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) | 4/21/2015 |
| Method for Controlling a Binaural Hearing Aid System and Binaural Hearing Aid System | 9014406 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) | 4/21/2015 |
| Method for Control of Adaptation of Feedback Suppression in a Hearing Aid, and a Hearing Aid | 9020171 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 4/28/2015 |
| Portable Electronic Device Which Provides Hearing Aid Compatibility | 9020175 | BlackBerry Ltd. (Waterloo, Canada) | 4/28/2015 |
| Format Based Speech Reconstruction from Noisy Signals | 9020818 | Malaspina Labs (Barbados) Inc. (Upton, St. Michael, Barbados) | 4/28/2015 |
| Method and apparatus for harvesting energy in a hearing assistance device | 9020173 | Starkey Laboratories, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) | 4/28/2015 |
| Apparatus for vented hearing assistance systems | 9020176 | Starkey Laboratories, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) | 4/28/2015 |
| Automatic Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) tuning circuit for a hearing aid and method | 9020063 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 4/28/2015 |
| Method for control of adaptation of feedback suppression in a hearing aid, and a hearing aid | 9020171 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 4/28/2015 |
| Adaptive data rate for a bilateral hearing prosthesis system | 9020169 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 4/28/2015 |
| Methods, systems, and devices for detecting feedback | 9020172 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 4/28/2015 |
| Bone conduction device having an integrated housing and vibrator | 9020174 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 4/28/2015 |
| Hearing prosthesis with a standard wire interface | 9020601 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 4/28/2015 |
| Network based media enhancement function based on an identifier | 9020621 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 4/28/2015 |
Editor’s note: The Patent Series is updated every two months. Click links for patents approved in Jan/Feb 2015, Nov/Dec 2014, Sep/Oct 2014, July/Aug 2014, May/Jun 2014, Mar/Apr 2014, Jan/Feb 2014, Nov/Dec 2013, September/October 2013, Jul/Aug 2013, May/Jun 2013, Mar/Apr 2013, Jan/Feb 2013, Nov/Dec 2012
