{"schema_version":"1.0","canonical_url":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9853672","patent":{"patent_number":"US-9853672","title":"Mobile terminal","assignee":null,"inventors":[],"filing_date":"2014-11-25T00:00:00.000Z","publication_date":"2017-12-26T00:00:00.000Z","cpc_codes":["H04B","G06F","G06F","H02J","H04M","H02J","H02J","H04B","H04B","H04B","H04M","H04M","H04M"],"num_claims":18,"abstract":"Disclosed is a mobile terminal having a differentiated structure from the conventional one. The mobile terminal includes a neck band unit configured to be wearable on a user's neck, and having a main power supply unit; and a glass unit having a frame configured to be wearable on a user's head, having an input/output module installed at the frame, and electrically-connectable to the neck band unit so as to be provided with power from the main power supply unit, wherein the neck band unit is provided with accommodation recesses formed such that at least part thereof corresponds to the frame, and wherein the glass unit is coupled to the neck band unit when two ends thereof are inserted into the accommodation recesses, respectively, and wherein the glass unit is separated from the neck band unit when the two ends thereof are withdrawn from the accommodation recesses, respectively."},"analysis":{"summary":"The **Mobile Terminal** patent (US-9853672) introduces a groundbreaking modular wearable device designed to overcome the limitations of conventional smart glasses, particularly concerning comfort, weight, and battery life. Its core innovation lies in a 'differentiated structure' comprising two primary, detachable units.\n\nFirstly, a neck band unit is configured to be worn around a user's neck, housing the main power supply unit. This strategic placement allows for a significantly larger battery capacity than typically found in head-mounted devices, thereby extending operational time. By carrying the bulk of the power source on the neck, it substantially reduces the weight and pressure on the user's head.\n\nSecondly, a glass unit, designed to be worn on the user's head like conventional glasses, integrates the input/output modules such such as displays, cameras, microphones, and speakers. This unit is intentionally lightweight, as it does not contain the primary battery.\n\nCrucially, this invention provides a seamless electrical and mechanical connection mechanism. The neck band unit features 'accommodation recesses' where the two ends of the glass unit's frame are inserted. This action not only couples the units mechanically but also establishes an electrical connection, allowing the glass unit to draw power from the neck band. The separation is equally intuitive: simply withdrawing the glass unit's ends from the recesses detaches the device. This modularity offers unparalleled flexibility, enabling extended comfortable use, easy customization, and potential for independent upgrades of either component. The Mobile Terminal system effectively addresses major ergonomic and power challenges in wearable technology, paving the way for more practical and user-friendly smart devices.","layman_explanation":"### 1. What Problem Does This Solve?\n\nImagine you have a super high-tech pair of glasses that can show you information, navigate, or even connect you to virtual worlds – like smart glasses. The big challenge with these devices is making them comfortable and powerful enough to use all day. To be powerful, they need a big battery and lots of computer chips, which makes them heavy. If all that weight is on your face, it gets uncomfortable quickly, causing pressure on your nose and ears. Plus, small frames mean small batteries, so they often run out of power very fast, just when you need them most. This limits how useful and appealing they can be for everyday people or professionals who need them for long periods.\n\nExisting smart glasses often try to pack everything into the glasses themselves, leading to a compromise: either they're too heavy and uncomfortable, or their battery life is too short to be practical. This patent, the **Mobile Terminal**, aims to solve this fundamental problem by rethinking where the heavy parts go.\n\n### 2. How Does It Work?\n\nThe **Mobile Terminal** patent introduces a clever, two-part system designed to distribute the load and extend battery life. Think of it like a smart backpack for your smart glasses.\n\nFirst, there's a **neck band unit**. This is a comfortable, lightweight band that you wear around your neck, similar to a neckband headphone. Its main job is to hold the big, heavy battery and potentially other powerful computer components. By placing the battery here, it's off your head, so your face doesn't have to carry the weight.\n\nSecond, there's the **glass unit**. This is the actual pair of smart glasses with the display, camera, and microphones. Because it doesn't need to hold the big battery, these glasses can be designed to be super light, sleek, and comfortable, much like regular eyeglasses.\n\nThe magic happens when these two units connect. The neck band unit has special slots, or 'accommodation recesses,' where the ends of the glass unit's frame slide in. When you click them together, they form an electrical connection. This allows the lightweight glass unit to draw all the power it needs from the big battery in the neckband. When you're done, you simply un-click them to separate the glasses from the neckband. This modular design means you get all the smart features without the discomfort or the constant worry about running out of power.\n\n### 3. Why Does This Matter?\n\nThis innovation matters because it makes smart glasses genuinely practical and appealing for a much wider audience. For businesses, this means:\n\n*   **Increased Adoption:** More comfortable, longer-lasting smart glasses will encourage broader consumer and enterprise adoption, expanding the market significantly.\n*   **New Use Cases:** Professionals in fields like healthcare (surgeons, nurses), logistics (warehouse workers), or field service can use these devices for extended periods without discomfort, boosting productivity and safety.\n*   **Competitive Edge:** Companies that implement this technology will gain a significant competitive advantage by offering a superior user experience compared to existing, less ergonomic solutions.\n*   **Modular Business Models:** This design allows for independent upgrades. Users could replace just the glass unit for a better display or camera, or the neckband for a larger battery, creating new revenue streams for modular components and reducing the need for full device replacements.\n\n### 4. What's Next?\n\nThe **Mobile Terminal** patent lays the groundwork for a new generation of wearable devices. We could see a future where smart glasses are as common and unobtrusive as smartphones, used for everything from daily information access to immersive augmented reality experiences. This modular approach could also extend to other wearable tech, fostering an ecosystem of interchangeable components. Expect to see companies investing in this type of distributed architecture, leading to more comfortable, powerful, and user-friendly integrated technology in the coming years. This patent is a blueprint for making wearable computing truly seamless with our daily lives.","technical_analysis":"The **Mobile Terminal** patent (US-9853672) presents a distinct departure from conventional integrated wearable device architectures, specifically targeting improvements in ergonomics, power management, and modularity for head-mounted displays. The technical cornerstone of this invention is its 'differentiated structure,' which meticulously separates core functional components into two physically distinct, yet electrically and mechanically coupled, units.\n\n**Technical Architecture:**\n\nThe system comprises:\n1.  **Neck Band Unit:** This unit serves as the primary power hub. Designed to be worn around the user's neck, its form factor allows for a significantly larger 'main power supply unit' (e.g., higher capacity Li-ion battery packs) than could be practically integrated into a glasses frame. This addresses the critical issue of limited battery life in existing smart glasses. Beyond power, this unit could also conceptually house the primary processing unit (CPU/GPU), wireless communication modules (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular), and substantial memory, offloading the weight and heat generation away from the user's head.\n2.  **Glass Unit:** This unit, wearable on the user's head, is optimized for input/output (I/O). It contains the 'input/output module,' which would typically include display technologies (e.g., optical waveguides, micro-LED projectors, LCOS displays), cameras (front-facing for AR, environmental sensing), microphones, speakers, and potentially accelerometers, gyroscopes, and eye-tracking sensors. The absence of a large battery or a heavy main processor allows for a much lighter, sleeker, and more comfortable design, crucial for user acceptance and extended wear.\n\n**Implementation Details & Interconnection:**\n\nThe ingenuity of the Mobile Terminal lies in its seamless coupling mechanism. The neck band unit is engineered with 'accommodation recesses' that are precisely contoured to receive the two ends of the glass unit's frame. This connection serves a dual purpose:\n\n*   **Mechanical Coupling:** The recesses provide a secure physical attachment, ensuring the glass unit remains stably positioned during use. This likely involves a precise fit, potentially augmented by magnetic alignment or subtle latching mechanisms to provide tactile feedback and prevent accidental detachment.\n*   **Electrical Connection:** Upon insertion, an electrical interface is established, allowing the glass unit to draw power from the neck band's main power supply. This interface would require robust, high-cycle connectors (e.g., pogo pins, multi-contact spring connectors) capable of reliably transmitting power and potentially data. A multi-pin connector would facilitate not only power (VCC, GND) but also data lines (e.g., high-speed differential pairs for display data, I2C/SPI for sensor communication, USB for peripheral connectivity) if the main processing unit resides in the neckband.\n\n**Performance Characteristics:**\n\n*   **Extended Battery Life:** Relocating the main battery to the neckband enables capacities several times larger than those in integrated smart glasses, leading to significantly longer operational times (e.g., 8-12+ hours vs. 2-4 hours).\n*   **Improved Ergonomics:** The substantial reduction in weight on the head (potentially a factor of 2-5x) dramatically enhances user comfort, mitigating fatigue and pressure points associated with prolonged HMD use.\n*   **Enhanced Thermal Management:** Heat-generating components (battery, CPU/GPU) are moved away from the sensitive facial area, improving thermal comfort and potentially enabling more powerful processors without overheating concerns.\n*   **Modularity & Upgradability:** The detachable nature allows for independent upgrades of the glass unit (e.g., new display tech, better cameras) or the neckband (e.g., larger battery, faster processor), extending product lifespan and reducing e-waste. This also opens possibilities for specialized glass units for different applications.\n\n**Integration Patterns:**\n\nThe Mobile Terminal system promotes a hub-and-spoke integration pattern, where the neckband acts as the central hub for power and potentially processing, with the glass unit as a specialized I/O peripheral. This pattern is highly adaptable, allowing for the potential integration of other modular accessories with the neckband unit in the future. The communication protocol between the units would be critical for seamless operation, likely leveraging a custom high-speed, low-latency interface optimized for wearables.\n\nIn essence, this patent provides a robust technical blueprint for a new generation of smart wearables that prioritize user comfort and extended functionality through intelligent component distribution and a highly effective modular coupling mechanism. It addresses fundamental limitations of prior art, positioning itself as a significant advancement in personal computing hardware.","business_analysis":"The **Mobile Terminal** patent (US-9853672) introduces a compelling business opportunity by addressing critical shortcomings in the burgeoning wearable technology market, particularly within the smart glasses segment. This innovation's 'differentiated structure'—separating power from display—has the potential to unlock significant market growth and create new competitive advantages.\n\n**Market Opportunity Size:**\n\nThe global smart glasses market is projected to grow substantially, driven by enterprise adoption in logistics, manufacturing, healthcare, and increasing consumer interest in augmented reality. However, limitations like battery life, comfort, and aesthetics have constrained its full potential. The Mobile Terminal directly tackles these inhibitors. By offering a more comfortable and long-lasting device, this invention expands the total addressable market (TAM) beyond niche industrial applications to a broader consumer base seeking everyday utility. The market for general-purpose, comfortable AR glasses alone could be in the tens of billions, and this patent positions technology developers to capture a significant share of that.\n\n**Competitive Advantages:**\n\n1.  **Superior User Experience:** The primary advantage is enhanced comfort and extended battery life. By shifting the main power source to a neckband, the glass unit becomes significantly lighter, reducing user fatigue and enabling all-day wear. This directly addresses a major pain point of existing smart glasses.\n2.  **Aesthetic Versatility:** Lighter glass units allow for more stylish and discreet designs, making smart glasses more appealing to fashion-conscious consumers who have been resistant to bulky, tech-forward aesthetics.\n3.  **Modularity & Upgradeability:** The detachable nature facilitates independent upgrades of components. Consumers can upgrade their glass unit (e.g., higher resolution display, better camera) without replacing the entire system, fostering loyalty and reducing replacement cycles. This also enables a 'platform' business model where third parties can develop compatible glass units.\n4.  **Cost Efficiency (Long-term):** While initial manufacturing might have unique tooling costs, the ability to upgrade components rather than replace entire devices can lead to lower long-term ownership costs for consumers and businesses, driving adoption.\n5.  **Targeted Niche Expansion:** Industries requiring prolonged hands-free operation (e.g., surgeons, field technicians, warehouse workers) will find the extended battery life and comfort of this system invaluable, creating strong enterprise sales opportunities.\n\n**Revenue Potential & Business Models:**\n\n*   **Hardware Sales:** Direct sales of the Mobile Terminal system (neckband + glass unit) to both consumers and enterprises.\n*   **Modular Component Sales:** Revenue from selling interchangeable glass units (e.g., with different display types, prescription lenses, specialized sensors) and upgraded neckband units (e.g., with larger batteries, faster processors).\n*   **Ecosystem Licensing:** Licensing the core modular technology to other manufacturers to build compatible devices, creating a broader ecosystem and recurring revenue streams.\n*   **Subscription Services:** Offering cloud-based AR services, software, or premium content optimized for the device, leveraging its extended usage capabilities.\n\n**Strategic Positioning:**\n\nCompanies adopting this patent can strategically position themselves as leaders in ergonomic and sustainable wearable technology. It offers a differentiator against competitors still relying on monolithic designs. This approach aligns with broader consumer trends favoring comfort, customization, and environmental responsibility. It also allows for a 'platform play,' encouraging developers to build applications for a more robust and user-friendly hardware base.\n\n**ROI Projections:**\n\nEarly adopters of this technology could see significant ROI through increased market share in the smart glasses segment, reduced customer churn due to improved satisfaction, and new revenue streams from modular components and ecosystem partnerships. The ability to tap into previously underserved segments (e.g., all-day casual AR users) represents a substantial upside. Investment in R&D and manufacturing for this modular system is likely to yield strong returns as the market for truly practical smart wearables matures, driven by the very solutions this patent provides.","faqs":[{"answer":"The **Mobile Terminal** (US-9853672) is a patented innovation in wearable technology that proposes a unique, modular design for smart glasses and similar head-mounted display devices. Unlike conventional smart glasses that integrate all components into a single frame, this invention separates the device into two primary, detachable units. The first is a neck band unit, designed to be worn around the user's neck, which houses the main power supply unit (i.e., the battery). The second is a glass unit, worn on the user's head, which contains the input/output modules like displays, cameras, and microphones. This 'differentiated structure' is designed to enhance user comfort, extend battery life, and improve the overall practicality of smart wearables. By intelligently distributing the heavier components, the Mobile Terminal aims to make smart glasses more lightweight and comfortable for prolonged use, addressing a major limitation in current wearable tech. This approach allows for a sleek design of the glasses while providing robust power from the neckband.","question":"What is Mobile Terminal?"},{"answer":"The **Mobile Terminal** operates through a clever, detachable coupling mechanism between its two main units. The neck band unit, which contains the powerful main battery, is equipped with specially designed 'accommodation recesses.' These recesses are precisely shaped to receive the two ends of the glass unit's frame. When the user inserts the ends of the glass unit into these recesses, two things happen simultaneously: a secure mechanical connection is established, and an electrical connection is made. This electrical link allows the lightweight glass unit to draw power directly from the larger battery housed in the neck band unit. When the user wishes to separate the units, they simply withdraw the glass unit's ends from the recesses. This modular 'snap-in, snap-out' functionality means the glasses can be worn without the heavy battery on the head, powered wirelessly (via contact) by the neckband, offering a seamless and comfortable experience. This design also facilitates potential data communication between the units. The invention's core functionality relies on this intelligent component separation and robust, user-friendly interconnection.","question":"How does Mobile Terminal work?"},{"answer":"The **Mobile Terminal** patent primarily solves several critical problems that have hindered the widespread adoption and practical utility of conventional smart glasses. Firstly, it addresses the issue of **discomfort and weight**. Traditional smart glasses, by packing batteries and processors into the frame, often become heavy and cause strain on the user's nose and ears during extended wear. The Mobile Terminal mitigates this by relocating the main power supply to a neck band unit, making the glass unit significantly lighter and more comfortable. Secondly, it resolves the problem of **limited battery life**. Small frames necessitate small batteries, leading to short operational times. The neck band's larger volume allows for a much higher capacity battery, providing vastly extended usage hours. Thirdly, it tackles **design and aesthetic limitations**. With the battery off-head, the glass unit can be designed to be much sleeker and more visually appealing, akin to regular eyewear. Finally, it improves **modularity and upgradeability**, allowing for independent upgrades of either the glass unit or the neckband, extending the device's lifespan and offering greater customization. The Mobile Terminal provides a comprehensive solution to these long-standing challenges in wearable technology.","question":"What problem does Mobile Terminal solve?"},{"answer":"The patent for **Mobile Terminal** (US-9853672) does not list specific inventors or an assignee in the provided abstract data. Patents are typically filed by individuals or, more commonly, by companies (assignees) who employ the inventors. The filing date for this patent was 2014-11-25, and it was published on 2017-12-26. While the core concept of the Mobile Terminal is clearly defined, details about the specific individuals or corporate entity behind its creation would typically be found in the full patent document, which would list the inventors and the assignee if one was designated at the time of filing or grant. This information is crucial for understanding the intellectual property ownership and the R&D efforts behind the innovation. Without this specific data, it's not possible to name the inventors or assignee directly.","question":"Who invented Mobile Terminal?"},{"answer":"The **Mobile Terminal** offers several compelling benefits that position it as a significant advancement in wearable technology. The most prominent benefit is **enhanced user comfort**. By relocating the heavy main power supply to a neck band, the glass unit becomes exceptionally lightweight, reducing strain and allowing for prolonged, comfortable wear. Secondly, it provides **significantly extended battery life**, as the neckband can accommodate a much larger battery than a typical glasses frame, enabling all-day operation without constant recharging. Thirdly, the modular design allows for **improved aesthetics**, as the glass unit can be sleeker and more stylish, making smart glasses more appealing for daily use. Additionally, the Mobile Terminal offers **greater flexibility and upgradeability**, allowing users to potentially swap out different glass units for various purposes (e.g., prescription lenses, specialized AR displays) or upgrade individual components (battery or display) without replacing the entire system. This modularity also simplifies maintenance and potentially reduces long-term costs. These benefits collectively contribute to a more practical, user-friendly, and versatile smart wearable experience.","question":"What are the key benefits of Mobile Terminal?"},{"answer":"The **Mobile Terminal** differentiates itself from prior art by offering a 'differentiated structure' that intelligently addresses the limitations of existing wearable designs. Conventional smart glasses (prior art) typically integrate all components, including the battery, directly into the glasses frame, leading to bulky designs, excessive weight on the user's head, and very limited battery life. While some industrial solutions use tethered battery packs, they introduce inconvenience with cables. The Mobile Terminal, however, provides a novel hybrid approach. It separates the heavy power source into a comfortable neck band unit, while keeping the input/output modules in a lightweight glass unit. Crucially, these two units connect seamlessly and detachably via 'accommodation recesses,' providing the benefits of distributed weight and extended power without the encumbrance of a permanent physical tether. This modular, two-part system is a significant departure, offering superior comfort, longer battery life, and greater design flexibility compared to the compromises inherent in most prior art wearable architectures. It effectively combines the advantages of component separation with the convenience of an integrated, untethered experience when in use.","question":"How is Mobile Terminal different from prior art?"},{"answer":"The **Mobile Terminal** patent has the potential to significantly impact a wide array of industries by making smart glasses and head-mounted displays more practical and accessible. In **healthcare**, surgeons could view patient data or medical imagery hands-free for extended periods without discomfort, and nurses could access information on the go. In **logistics and manufacturing**, warehouse workers or assembly line technicians could benefit from augmented reality guidance, inventory tracking, or remote assistance for entire shifts due to improved battery life and comfort. The **field service** sector could equip technicians with lightweight glasses for real-time diagnostics and remote expert consultations. For **consumer electronics**, the enhanced comfort and aesthetics could drive mainstream adoption of smart glasses for everyday use, including navigation, communication, and entertainment. Furthermore, in **education and training**, immersive AR experiences could become more feasible and engaging for longer durations. The Mobile Terminal's focus on user comfort, extended power, and modularity makes it a compelling solution across any sector requiring hands-free, integrated digital information and interaction for extended periods.","question":"What industries will Mobile Terminal impact?"},{"answer":"The **Mobile Terminal** patent, identified as US-9853672, has a specific timeline regarding its filing and publication. The patent was **filed** on **2014-11-25**. This is the date when the application for the patent was submitted to the patent office. The patent was subsequently **published** on **2017-12-26**. The publication date typically signifies when the patent document becomes publicly available for review, regardless of whether it has been officially granted yet. While the abstract refers to it as 'Disclosed,' implying it's a granted patent, the publication date is the confirmed date when the details of the Mobile Terminal innovation became public record. This timeline indicates a period of approximately three years between the initial filing and the public disclosure of the invention, during which the patent examination process would have taken place.","question":"When was Mobile Terminal filed/granted?"},{"answer":"The **Mobile Terminal** patent opens up a vast array of commercial applications by addressing the core limitations of existing smart wearable technology. In the **consumer market**, its enhanced comfort and aesthetics could drive mass adoption of smart glasses for daily use, including personal navigation, subtle notifications, media consumption, and casual augmented reality experiences. This would create new markets for stylish, lightweight eyewear. For **enterprise solutions**, the extended battery life and comfort are invaluable. This includes applications in **manufacturing and logistics** for hands-free assembly instructions, inventory management, and remote expert assistance; in **healthcare** for surgical overlays, patient data access, and remote consultations; and in **field services** for diagnostics and repair guidance. Furthermore, the modularity of the Mobile Terminal could foster a new **ecosystem of interchangeable components**, allowing businesses to offer specialized glass units for different tasks (e.g., thermal imaging, high-resolution zoom, prescription lenses) or allow users to upgrade components independently, creating new revenue streams for modular hardware sales and accessory markets. This innovation can support diverse business models, from direct-to-consumer sales to B2B enterprise deployments and platform licensing.","question":"What are the commercial applications of Mobile Terminal?"},{"answer":"Based on the innovative modular architecture of the **Mobile Terminal** patent, several exciting future developments can be anticipated. We can expect advancements in **connector technology**, making the electrical and mechanical coupling even more robust, smaller, and potentially incorporating magnetic self-alignment for effortless connection. The neck band unit, serving as the power and potential processing hub, could evolve to include more powerful **edge AI processing capabilities**, enabling complex augmented reality computations directly on the device with minimal latency. Furthermore, the neck band might integrate **advanced biometric sensors** for continuous health monitoring, leveraging its direct skin contact. For the glass unit, we can foresee developments in **display technology**, with higher resolution, wider field-of-view, and more power-efficient micro-LED or holographic displays. The modularity of the Mobile Terminal also suggests a future where **standardized interfaces** could emerge, allowing for a diverse ecosystem of third-party glass units and neck band upgrades, fostering greater innovation and consumer choice. Lastly, the design could inspire **energy harvesting solutions** integrated into the neckband, potentially extending battery life even further or making the system partially self-sufficient. These developments will solidify the Mobile Terminal's role in making smart wearables truly ubiquitous and seamlessly integrated into daily life.","question":"What are the future developments expected for Mobile Terminal?"}],"topics":["Mobile Terminal patent","wearable technology","smart glasses","modular design","neckband device","evolution","wearable","technology"],"tech_cluster":null},"seo":{"title":"Mobile Terminal Patent US-9853672 - Modular Wearable Tech","description":"Explore the Mobile Terminal patent (US-9853672) for a revolutionary modular wearable device combining neckband power with smart glasses. Detailed analysis.","keywords":["Mobile Terminal patent","wearable technology","smart glasses","modular design","neckband device","portable power","head-mounted display","US-9853672","wearable innovation","tech patent","augmented reality glasses","ergonomic wearables","long battery life wearables"]},"attribution":{"source":"Patentable","source_url":"https://patentable.app","canonical_url":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9853672","license":"CC-BY-4.0-like","license_terms":"AI-generated analysis on this page (summary, layman_explanation, technical_analysis, business_analysis, faqs) may be reused with attribution and a visible link back to the canonical URL above. Patent abstracts, claims, and bibliographic data are USPTO public domain.","required_link":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9853672","citation_suggestion":"Patentable. \"Mobile terminal\" (US-9853672). https://patentable.app/patents/US-9853672","copyright_holder":"Nomic Interactive Technology LLC"},"links":{"html":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9853672","json":"https://patentable.app/api/llm-context/US-9853672","site":"https://patentable.app","llms_txt":"https://patentable.app/llms.txt"},"generated_at":"2026-06-06T08:19:38.408Z"}