Patents by Inventor Holger Kral
Holger Kral has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Publication number: 20160249142Abstract: A hearing aid, in particular a behind-the-ear hearing aid, has a housing to be worn behind an ear of a user, and a receiver which, in order to transmit sound to the ear, is connected to a sound tube having a housing-side end on which a plug connector is arranged. The plug connector is connected releasably to the housing. The hearing aid is characterized in that the plug connector contains a holder for the receiver, and the receiver is a component part of the plug connector.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 22, 2016Publication date: August 25, 2016Inventors: STEFANIE BEYFUSS, HOLGER KRAL, BJOERN FREELS, HARTMUT RITTER
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Patent number: 9374891Abstract: An electronic unit has a circuit board that is integrated into an injection molded circuit carrier. A hearing aid is provided with such an electronic unit. In order to reduce the complexity and size of an electronic unit with an injection molded circuit carrier and a circuit board, the circuit board is integrated into the injection molded circuit carrier by introducing the circuit board into the plastic mold such that the surface of a first side of the circuit board lies within the plastic mold and the surface of a second side of the circuit board is substantially flush with the surface of the plastic mold. At least one conductive track of the circuit board is electrically conductively connected to at least one conductive track of the injection molded circuit carrier.Type: GrantFiled: June 20, 2012Date of Patent: June 21, 2016Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.Inventors: Roman Bartulec, Holger Kral, Frank Naumann
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Patent number: 9247360Abstract: A hearing instrument has housing with a plug-in connection. The plug-in connection connects hearing tubes, sound tubes or electrical signal lines. The hearing instrument ensures against an unintentional detachment of the tubes and lines from the housing. The housing has a locking apparatus. The plug-in connection is arranged in the housing. The locking apparatus is embodied to prevent an unintentional detachment of the plug in the plug-in connection. The locking apparatus includes a catch, with a latching plate, and being moveably mounted in the housing. The catch moves at right angles to the plug-in direction of the plug and the latch is pushed into the housing and is protected herein by a blocking facility against unintentionally being pushed out. The blocking facility includes a stop and a blocking element, against which the stop strikes when sliding out. With the moveable catch, an easy-to-operate locking process is achieved.Type: GrantFiled: January 21, 2014Date of Patent: January 26, 2016Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.Inventors: Joachim Roland Barth, Holger Kral, Frank Naumann, Andreas Ratay
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Publication number: 20150208497Abstract: An electronic unit has a circuit board that is integrated into an injection molded circuit carrier. A hearing aid is provided with such an electronic unit. In order to reduce the complexity and size of an electronic unit with an injection molded circuit carrier and a circuit board, the circuit board is integrated into the injection molded circuit carrier by introducing the circuit board into the plastic mold such that the surface of a first side of the circuit board lies within the plastic mold and the surface of a second side of the circuit board is substantially flush with the surface of the plastic mold. At least one conductive track of the circuit board is electrically conductively connected to at least one conductive track of the injection molded circuit carrier.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 20, 2012Publication date: July 23, 2015Applicant: SIEMENS MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS PTE LTD.Inventors: Roman Bartulec, Holger Kral, Frank Naumann
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Publication number: 20150086053Abstract: A hearing instrument has a battery compartment switch which causes the hearing instrument to switch on/off. An electrical contact to the battery is established and interrupted by the battery compartment switch when the battery compartment is closed and opened. An on/off contour in the area of the battery compartment and a correspondingly shaped battery contact device are provided, the configurations are tailored, so that the lift-off area for lifting the battery contact device away from the battery and the contact area of the battery contact device are separated from one another. The battery contact device has a lift-off area and a contact area. Both areas are configured separately to reduce the wear on the on/off contour and to secure electrical contacting of the battery. This enables a lift-off area with a large surface, through which the mechanical pressure on the on/off contour is distributed and is thus reduced.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 24, 2014Publication date: March 26, 2015Inventors: UWE FLAIG, HOLGER KRAL
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Patent number: 8867769Abstract: A behind-the-ear hearing device has a housing with a plug-in connector on a sidewall of the housing for connecting to an earpiece tube or sound tube. The lateral arrangement of the plug-in connector moves the plug-in connector away from the exposed position on the front end face of the housing. This enables the front end face, which is generally visible, to be made smaller. Advantageously, at least two microphones are provided, with one microphone position in the vicinity of the front end face of the housing. The front microphone position is thus moved farther away from a position that may possibly be covered by the pinna, and the rear microphone position can also be moved farther toward the front. The microphone positions are thus approximately horizontal, which promotes the spatial resolution of the detected surrounding sound (directionality) by the signal processing of the hearing aid.Type: GrantFiled: April 20, 2010Date of Patent: October 21, 2014Assignee: Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd.Inventors: Frank Naumann, Holger Kral, Andreas Ratay, Joachim Roland Barth
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Publication number: 20140205120Abstract: A hearing instrument has housing with a plug-in connection. The plug-in connection connects hearing tubes, sound tubes or electrical signal lines. The hearing instrument ensures against an unintentional detachment of the tubes and lines from the housing. The housing has a locking apparatus. The plug-in connection is arranged in the housing. The locking apparatus is embodied to prevent an unintentional detachment of the plug in the plug-in connection. The locking apparatus includes a catch, with a latching plate, and being moveably mounted in the housing. The catch moves at right angles to the plug-in direction of the plug and the latch is pushed into the housing and is protected herein by a blocking facility against unintentionally being pushed out. The blocking facility includes a stop and a blocking element, against which the stop strikes when sliding out. With the moveable catch, an easy-to-operate locking process is achieved.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 21, 2014Publication date: July 24, 2014Applicant: SIEMENS MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS PTE. LTD.Inventors: JOACHIM ROLAND BARTH, HOLGER KRAL, FRANK NAUMANN, ANDREAS RATAY
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Patent number: 8699735Abstract: The invention relates to an identification element for a hearing device unit of a hearing device system, with the hearing device system comprising a hearing device unit provided for the left ear of a wearer and a hearing device unit provided for the right ear of a wearer, with the identification element) visibly identifying the hearing device unit from the outside, characterized in that the identification element visibly identifies the hearing device unit as a left or right hearing device unit and comprising a means for assigning a function as a left or right hearing device unit to a signal processing facility of the hearing device unit. The assigning means can be mechanical, electrical and/or magnetic assigning means.Type: GrantFiled: August 16, 2007Date of Patent: April 15, 2014Assignee: Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbHInventors: Holger Kral, Frank Wagner
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Publication number: 20140003638Abstract: A connector-based link is suited to various signals and media for connecting a tube with a hearing instrument, which ensures a reliable mechanical hold, good connection and high tightness and in the process is easy to handle. This is achieved by a connector for a hearing instrument system including a housing which contains a number of connections, and a tube which contains a number of lines, which is embodied to detachably connect a number of lines of the tube to a number of connections of the housing, wherein the connections of the connector contain different spatial orientations. The fact that the connections each have a different spatial orientation brings about a mutual decoupling. As a result, the demands on dimensional stability of the various connections are advantageously reduced since the different connections are not closed in a shared, identical end position.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 27, 2013Publication date: January 2, 2014Inventors: JOACHIM ROLAND BARTH, HOLGER KRAL, JOSEPH SAUER
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Patent number: 8611573Abstract: A hearing aid has an audio-shoe interface, and a hearing-aid system includes a hearing aid and an audio shoe. The hearing aid has a housing, in which an undercut and an abutment are provided. The abutment is arranged opposite to the undercut. Undercut and abutment are embodied such that a retaining lug of an audio shoe can be inserted into the undercut by a rotational movement. The abutment is embodied such that a retaining lug inserted into the undercut can only be removed from the undercut again by a rotational movement in the opposite direction. A lock prevents a rotational movement of an inserted audio shoe in the opposite direction. When the electrical contacts between audio shoe and hearing aid are disposed in the undercut, these too are hidden from view and well protected against external influences.Type: GrantFiled: April 11, 2011Date of Patent: December 17, 2013Assignee: Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd.Inventors: Uwe Flaig, Holger Kral
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Patent number: 8542858Abstract: A behind-the-ear hearing device has a hearing device housing and a user-operable switch. At least two microphones are disposed below the switch in the hearing device housing, and the housing is formed with first sound openings that are arranged directly below the switch. The switch is preferably a rocker switch. The microphones can be positioned below a switch in a space-saving fashion and the installation space of the hearing device housing can thus be used optimally.Type: GrantFiled: December 3, 2010Date of Patent: September 24, 2013Assignee: Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd.Inventors: Uwe Flaig, Volker Gebhardt, Holger Kral, Dietmar Lommel, Herve Schulz
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Publication number: 20130195294Abstract: A hearing instrument has a basic frame with a cavity. A microphone is inserted in the cavity such that a back volume is defined. A coating of electrically conducting material is applied to the surface of the cavity to provide an electromagnetic shielding for the microphone. The electromagnetically shielded microphone is thus not disposed in a separate microphone housing, but rather directly integrated into the hearing instrument.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 16, 2012Publication date: August 1, 2013Applicant: SIEMENS MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS PTE. LTD.Inventors: ANTON GEBERT, ULI GOMMEL, HOLGER KRAL, FRANK NAUMANN
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Patent number: 8488821Abstract: With housing elements of a hearing device which are fastened to a frame for accommodating internal components of the hearing device, the use of a large number of additional parts is problematic because of the risk of losing parts. In accordance with the invention a snap-on fastening means is used to fasten a housing element to the frame of the hearing device, with an opening being provided in the housing element and the frame for accommodating the snap-on fastening means.Type: GrantFiled: February 28, 2008Date of Patent: July 16, 2013Assignee: Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbHInventors: Holger Kral, Stefanie Preusche, Joseph Sauer
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Patent number: 8351627Abstract: A hearing aid includes an identifier for identifying usage of the hearing aid at a correct side on the left ear or the right ear of a wearer. The identifier is constructed as a rotational element having a first feature and a second feature to be respectively set by a rotational movement.Type: GrantFiled: August 17, 2010Date of Patent: January 8, 2013Assignee: Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd.Inventors: Mo Choong Marie Chan, Uwe Flaig, Holger Kral, Martin Segerud, Wee Hiong Tan, Ju Lin Teo
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Publication number: 20130004005Abstract: A connector for a hearing instrument, in particular a receiver-in-canal behind-the-ear hearing aid, is small and visually inconspicuous. The connector should be as invisible as possible on the hearing instrument as it is worn, and the connector allows a microphone arrangement favorable for directionality and sound pick-up. The connector is disposed on an earpiece tube, which defines a longitudinal direction at the connector. The connector is connected by insertion into a connector receptacle of a hearing instrument transversely to the longitudinal direction. The hearing instrument has a laterally arranged connector receptacle, into which a connector is inserted transversely to the longitudinal direction. Because of the transverse insertion, the connector can be arranged laterally on the housing and because of the lateral placement, the front end face of the housing is smaller and the housing is overall flatter.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 27, 2010Publication date: January 3, 2013Applicant: SIEMENS MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS PTE. LTD.Inventors: Joachim Roland Barth, Holger Kral, Frank Naumann, Andreas Ratay, Markus Trautner
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Publication number: 20120328139Abstract: A behind-the-ear hearing device has a housing with a plug-in connector on a sidewall of the housing for connecting to an earpiece tube or sound tube. The lateral arrangement of the plug-in connector moves the plug-in connector away from the exposed position on the front end face of the housing. This enables the front end face, which is generally visible, to be made smaller. Advantageously, at least two microphones are provided, with one microphone position in the vicinity of the front end face of the housing. The front microphone position is thus moved farther away from a position that may possibly be covered by the pinna, and the rear microphone position can also be moved farther toward the front. The microphone positions are thus approximately horizontal, which promotes the spatial resolution of the detected surrounding sound (directionality) by the signal processing of the hearing aid.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 20, 2010Publication date: December 27, 2012Applicant: SIEMENS MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS PTE. LTD.Inventors: Frank Naumann, Holger Kral, Andreas Ratay, Joachim Roland Barth
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Patent number: 8331597Abstract: In order to connect a hearing device to a carrying hook, a connecting element is used, which has to satisfy high demands with regards to its precision and stability. To ensure this, the connecting element is designed as a powder injection molded part, in particular as a ceramic injection molded part or metal part, which is manufactured in a ceramic injection molding process or a metal injection molding process.Type: GrantFiled: April 29, 2008Date of Patent: December 11, 2012Assignee: Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd.Inventors: Werner Fickweiler, Björn Freels, Holger Kral, Joseph Sauer
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Patent number: 8213655Abstract: For individual coloring of the housing of the hearing device, a hearing device containing electromechanical and/or electronic components is provided. The components are accommodated in a divided housing, with the housing being constructed from an upper shell, a first lower shell and a second lower shell which can be releasably fastened to the first lower shell.Type: GrantFiled: May 1, 2008Date of Patent: July 3, 2012Assignee: Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd.Inventors: Holger Kral, Stefanie Preusche, Joseph Sauer
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Patent number: 8165331Abstract: A hearing apparatus is provided with a housing including a first housing mounting element and a control element that is mounted rotatably in the first housing mounting element via a control mounting element. Furthermore the housing has at least one second housing mounting element so that the control element can be optionally mounted rotatably in the first housing mounting element or in the second housing mounting element. Thus the control element can be actuated in a desired position.Type: GrantFiled: September 16, 2008Date of Patent: April 24, 2012Assignee: Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd.Inventors: Stefanie Beyfuβ, Holger Kral, Michael Sattler
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Patent number: 8155360Abstract: A hearing apparatus allowing a user to reliably switch the apparatus on and/or off includes a battery compartment for a battery and an actuation element disposed at the battery compartment for switching the apparatus on and/or off. A contact element has a contact point and taps an electric potential on the battery with the contact point when the actuation element is in a first position. The actuation element, in a second position linearly displaced from the first position, lifts the contact element at a lifting section of the contact element being different from the contact point, to remove the contact point of the contact element from the battery. Thus, the contact point of the contact element only contacts the battery and no additional material, preventing materials from being scratched and an electric circuit from being interrupted and ensures that an even, grippable surface of the actuation element is always available.Type: GrantFiled: July 21, 2008Date of Patent: April 10, 2012Assignee: Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd.Inventors: Stefanie Beyfuss, Werner Fickweiler, Holger Kral