US 12,143,776 B2
External device of prosthesis connector
Eddie Sze Chuen Chan, Macquarie University (AU); and Tadeusz Jurkiewicz, Macquarie University (AU)
Assigned to Cochlear Limited, Macquarie University (AU)
Filed by Eddie Sze Chuen Chan, Macquarie University (AU); and Tadeusz Jurkiewicz, Macquarie University (AU)
Filed on Aug. 27, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/459,136.
Application 17/459,136 is a division of application No. 15/599,668, filed on May 19, 2017, granted, now 11,109,168.
Prior Publication US 2022/0053276 A1, Feb. 17, 2022
Int. Cl. H04R 25/00 (2006.01); A61N 1/36 (2006.01); A61N 1/372 (2006.01); A61N 1/378 (2006.01)
CPC H04R 25/556 (2013.01) [A61N 1/36036 (2017.08); A61N 1/37211 (2013.01); A61N 1/3787 (2013.01); H04R 25/60 (2013.01); H04R 25/602 (2013.01); H04R 25/607 (2019.05); H04R 2225/0213 (2019.05); H04R 2225/31 (2013.01)] 28 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An external device of a prosthesis, comprising:
an electronics component; and
a power component removably attached to the electronics component, wherein the external device includes a connecting assembly connecting the power component to the electronics component, and
at least one of:
(a) the power component and the electronics component respectively have apparatuses of a bayonet coupling configured to removably attach the components together, the power component includes a positive terminal and a negative terminal of a battery, the electronics component includes a first contact and a second contact electrically isolated from the first contact, the external device is configured with electrical current protection at the bayonet coupling, the first contact is configured to be in electrical contact with the positive terminal and the second contact is configured to be in electrical contact with the negative terminal when the power component is fully attached to the electronics component, and the bayonet coupling is configured such that the negative terminal comes into electrical contact with the second contact before the positive terminal comes into contact with the first contact when the power component is initially attached to the electronics component; or
(b) the electronics component includes a socket having an electrically conductive body, the power component includes a plug having an electrically conductive body, the plug having a basin in which electrical contacts are present, an electrostatic discharge limiting component is located between at least one of the electrically conductive body of the power component or the electrically conductive body of the socket and the electrical contacts when the power component is at least initially connected to the electronics component, and the plug and socket establish a plug-socket arrangement, and the external device is configured with electrical current protection at the plug-socket arrangement.