US Hearing Aid Device Patent Activity for March-April 2015

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Hearing Health & Technology Matters
May 12, 2015

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 2014Nov/Dec 2013September/October 2013Jul/Aug 2013May/Jun 2013Mar/Apr 2013Jan/Feb 2013Nov/Dec 2012

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