Hearing instrument and method of providing such hearing instrument

Abstract

A method of providing a hearing instrument includes: providing at a manufacturer the hearing instrument with a firmware which comprises a plurality of selectable functional properties; distributing the hearing instrument from the manufacturer to a middleman, wherein the hearing instrument is configured to be programmed by a programming station at the middleman, wherein the programming station is configured for selecting at least one of the plurality of selectable functional properties according to an input from the middleman, wherein the programming station is also configured to program the firmware of the hearing instrument according to the selecting to provide a programmed hearing instrument; billing an end user for the programmed hearing instrument, wherein the billing reflects the selecting; and receiving, at the manufacturer, data regarding the selecting from the middleman.

Claims

1. A method of providing a hearing instrument, comprising: providing, at a manufacturer, the hearing instrument with a firmware which comprises a plurality of selectable functional properties; providing the hearing instrument from the manufacturer to a middleman for programming the hearing instrument, wherein the firmware of the hearing instrument is programmable according to a selection of at least one of the plurality of selectable functional properties, and wherein after the firmware of the hearing instrument is programmed according to the selection of the at least one of the plurality of selectable functional properties, the hearing instrument becomes a programmed hearing instrument; and receiving, at the manufacturer, data regarding the selection of the at least one of the plurality of selectable functional properties; wherein the hearing instrument is configured to receive a security identification provided by a programming station of the middleman, and to store the security identification; and wherein the plurality of selectable functional properties comprises a plurality of signal processing properties selectable for processing audio signal, noise signal, or both the audio signal and the noise signal.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the firmware of the hearing instrument comprises a majority of all functional properties available to the manufacturer.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one or all of the selectable functional properties can be locked or unlocked.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein when one of the selectable functional properties is locked, it is unavailable to the end user in the programmed hearing instrument, and when the one of the selectable functional properties is unlocked, it is available to the end user in the programmed hearing instrument.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one or all of the selectable functional properties can be locked or unlocked at the middleman.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one or all of the selectable functional properties can be locked or unlocked by a process at the manufacturer.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein at least one of the plurality of selectable functional properties is unlocked by the manufacturer.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the hearing instrument is provided to the middleman at a first price.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising billing the end user at a second price, wherein the second price is larger than the first price.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising billing the end user at a second price, wherein the second price reflects the selection.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one or all of the selectable functional properties are locked by the manufacturer before the act of providing the hearing instrument to the middleman.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one or all of the selectable functional properties are unlocked by the manufacturer before the act of providing the hearing instrument to the middleman.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising communicatively coupling the hearing instrument with a programming station at the middleman by establishing a wired or a wireless communication link between the programming station and the hearing instrument.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the wireless communication link is a short-range wireless communication link.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the short-range wireless communication link is a Bluetooth Low Energy communication link.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of receiving the data regarding the selection comprises establishing a communication link between a programming station at the middle man and a server located at the manufacturer.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the communication link comprises a public network.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the public network comprises the Internet.

19. The method according to claim 1, further comprising programming the firmware of the hearing instrument according to the selection; wherein the act of programming comprises: generating the security identification at a programming station; and storing the security identification on a memory device contained in the hearing instrument.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the security identification comprises information about the selection.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the security identification is generated at a programming station utilizing a security key, and wherein the security key is provided to the middleman in a registration process using a server located at the manufacturer.

22. The method according to claim 1, further comprising billing the middleman based on the data regarding the selection.

23. A hearing instrument comprising programmable selectable functional properties, wherein the hearing instrument is programmed according to claim 1.

24. A hearing instrument comprising: a microphone configured for conversion of sound into an audio signal; a processing unit coupled to the microphone, wherein the processing unit is programmable to provide a hearing loss compensated output signal that compensates for a hearing loss of a user based at least in part on the audio signal; and a speaker coupled to the processing unit; wherein the processing unit includes a first functional property, the first functional property having a first locked state and a first unlocked state; wherein when the first functional property is in the first locked state, it is unavailable to the user, and when the first functional property is in the first unlocked state, it is available to the user; wherein the hearing instrument is configured to receive a security identification from a programming station of a middleman, and to store the security identification; and wherein the first functional property comprises a signal processing property for processing the audio signal or a noise signal.

25. The hearing instrument of claim 24, wherein the processing unit is configured to be programmed by a programming station to place the first functional property at the first locked state or the first unlocked state.

26. The hearing instrument of claim 24, wherein the first functional property is resided in the processing unit even when the first functional property is in the first unlocked state.

27. The hearing instrument of claim 24, wherein the processing unit comprises a firmware that includes the first functional property.

28. The hearing instrument of claim 24, wherein the processing unit includes a non-transitory medium for storing information indicating whether the first functional property is at the first locked state or the first unlocked state.

29. The hearing instrument of claim 24, wherein the processing unit is configured to receive the security identification from a programming station.

30. The hearing instrument of claim 24, wherein the processing unit includes a non-transitory medium storing information regarding the first functional property.

31. The hearing instrument of claim 24, wherein the hearing instrument comprises a behind-the-ear (BTE) device, an in-the-ear (ITE) device, an in-the-canal (ITC) device, or a binaural hearing system.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The drawings illustrate the design and utility of embodiments, in which similar elements are referred to by common reference numerals. These drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. In order to better appreciate how the above-recited and other advantages and objects are obtained, a more particular description of the embodiments will be rendered, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. These drawings depict only exemplary embodiments and are not therefore to be considered limiting in the scope of the claims.

(2) FIG. 1 shows distribution of a hearing instrument from a manufacturer to a middleman to an end user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(3) Various embodiments are described hereinafter with reference to the figures. It should be noted that the figures are not drawn to scale and that elements of similar structures or functions are represented by like reference numerals throughout the figures. It should also be noted that the figures are only intended to facilitate the description of the embodiments. They are not intended as an exhaustive description of the invention or as a limitation on the scope of the invention. In addition, an illustrated embodiment needs not have all the aspects or advantages shown. An aspect or an advantage described in conjunction with a particular embodiment is not necessarily limited to that embodiment and can be practiced in any other embodiments even if not so illustrated, or if not so explicitly described.

(4) FIG. 1 shows a hearing instrument manufacturer 10. The manufacturer distributes at least one hearing instrument 20 to a middleman 30 such as a hearing instrument dealer or dispenser.

(5) The hearing instrument 20 comprises a firmware which comprises a plurality of selectable functional properties when being distributed from the manufacturer 10. Examples of selectable functional properties may be tinnitus signal generation, binaural directionality, surround sound processor, wind-noise guard.

(6) In an embodiment, the hearing instrument distributed from the manufacturer comprises a maximal number of selectable functional properties such as all possible features available from the manufacturer.

(7) In an embodiment, all the selectable functional properties of the hearing instrument are disabled when the hearing instrument is distributed from the manufacturer thereby making the hearing instrument uninteresting for a thief.

(8) In an embodiment, all the selectable functional properties of the hearing instrument are enabled when the hearing instrument is distributed from the manufacturer thereby making the hearing instrument fully-featured when distributed to the middleman.

(9) The middleman 30 receives the hearing instrument 20 from the manufacturer 10. The middleman 30 may introduce the hearing instrument 20 into a programming station 40. The hearing instrument 20 may e.g. be connected to the programming station 40 via a cable or wirelessly via a short-range communication link such as Bluetooth Low Energy.

(10) The middleman may, possibly in cooperation with an end user 50, select a number of selectable functional properties to be enabled and a number of selectable functional properties to be disabled. In an embodiment, all selectable functional properties are selected to be enabled. In another embodiment, only a single selectable functional property is selected to be enabled. In a third embodiment, a plurality of selectable functional properties are selected to be enabled and at least one selectable functional property is selected to be disabled.

(11) The programming station generates a security ID based on the enabled and disabled selection of selectable functional properties. The security ID is programmed into the firmware of the hearing instrument by the programming station by storing the security ID in a memory of the hearing instrument. The programming of the hearing instrument 20 results in a programmed hearing instrument 60.

(12) In an embodiment, the security ID is calculated by the programming station 40 using a security key. The security key may be received by the middleman 30 from the manufacturer after a registration of the middleman 30 on a server 80 located at the manufacturer 30. The registration may comprise name, email, phone-number, etc. of the middleman. Based on the registration, the manufacturer may transmit the security key to the middleman 30.

(13) The middleman 30 may sell the programmed hearing instrument 60 to the end user 50. In an embodiment, the middleman 30 distributes the programmed hearing instrument 60 to the end user 50. The middleman 30 may also bill the end user 60 for the programmed hearing instrument 60.

(14) The middleman 30 transmits data 70 to the server 80 located at the manufacturer 10. The data 70 may comprise information regarding which of the selectable functional properties were enabled and which of the functional properties were disabled.

(15) Based on the data 70, the server 80 may calculate, prepare and transmit an invoice 90 to the middleman 30. The calculation may comprise a valuation of the enabled and/or disabled selectable functional properties of the programmed hearing instrument 60. In an embodiment, the middleman 30 may have paid a first price for the hearing instrument 20. The invoice may in this embodiment comprise a reduction in the valuation by the first price.

(16) In some embodiments, the hearing instrument 20 may include: a microphone configured for conversion of sound into an audio signal; a processing unit coupled to the microphone, wherein the processing unit is programmable to provide a hearing loss compensated output signal that compensates for a hearing loss of a user based at least in part on the audio signal; and a speaker coupled to the processing unit; wherein the processing unit includes a first functional property, the first functional property having a first locked state and a first unlocked state; wherein when the first functional property is in the first locked state, it is unavailable to the user, and when the first functional property is in the first unlocked state, it is available to the user.

(17) In some embodiments, the processing unit is configured to be programmed by the programming station 40 to place the first functional property at the first locked state or the first unlocked state.

(18) In some embodiments, the first functional property is resided in the processing unit of the hearing instrument 20 even when the first functional property is in the first unlocked state.

(19) In some embodiments, the processing unit of the hearing instrument 20 comprises a firmware that includes the first functional property.

(20) In some embodiments, the processing unit of the hearing instrument 20 includes a non-transitory medium for storing information indicating whether the first functional property is at the first locked state or the first unlocked state.

(21) In some embodiments, the processing unit of the hearing instrument 20 is configured to receive a security ID from the programming station 40.

(22) As used in this specification, the term substantially refers to a degree that is more than 50% (e.g., 75%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 100%, etc.) of the full degree. For example, the phrase substantially all functional properties available to the manufacturer may refer to all of the functional properties available to the manufacturer, or to any number of functional properties that is more than 50% of all of the ones available to the manufacturer.

(23) Although particular embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the claimed inventions to the preferred embodiments, and it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without department from the spirit and scope of the claimed inventions. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than restrictive sense. The claimed inventions are intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents.