Wireless earphone

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10110984-B2
Application number	US-201515302163-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 20, 2015
Priority date	Apr 21, 2014
Publication date	Oct 23, 2018
Grant date	Oct 23, 2018

Abstract

The wireless earphone ( 1 ) comprises a housing ( 2 ) having a bud portion abutting an elongated stem portion. The bud portion is to fit within an ear. The bud portion has a primary sound outlet ( 5 ) at its far end that is to be inserted into an outer ear canal, and abuts the stem portion at its near end. A speaker driver ( 6 ) is inside the bud portion. Electronic circuitry ( 7,24 ) inside the housing ( 2 ) includes a wireless communications interface ( 4 ) to receive audio content over-the-air and in response provides an audio signal to the speaker driver. A rechargeable battery ( 3 ) as a power source for the electronic circuitry is located inside a cavity of the stem portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless earphone comprising:
a housing having a bud portion abutting an elongated stem portion, wherein the bud portion is sized and dimensioned to fit within an ear, the bud portion a) having a primary sound outlet at its far end that is to be inserted into an outer ear and b) abutting the stem portion at its near end;
a speaker driver inside a cavity of the bud portion;
electronic circuitry inside the housing that includes a wireless communications interface to receive audio content over-the-air and in response provides an audio signal to the speaker driver; and
a rechargeable power source inside a cavity of the stem portion.

2. The earphone of claim 1 wherein a front face of the bud portion extends between the near end and the far end and is positioned just behind and in contact with a tragus of the ear, and a rear face of the bud portion also extends between the near end and the far end.

3. The earphone of any one of the previous claims further comprising a first acoustic microphone positioned in the stem portion, closer to the far end than the near end of the stem portion wherein the near end is closer to the bud portion than the far end.

4. The earphone of claim 1 wherein the cavity in the stem portion has a) a near end that is open to the cavity in the bud portion and through which a plurality of wires pass to supply power to the electronic circuitry, and b) a far end, wherein the power source is positioned inside the cavity of the stem portion between the near end and the far end.

5. The earphone of claim 4 further comprising a second acoustic microphone and a third acoustic microphone, both within the housing, wherein the second acoustic microphone is positioned closer to the primary sound outlet than is the third acoustic microphone.

6. The earphone of claim 5 further comprising a connector positioned in the stem portion, closer to the far end and than the near end of the stem portion, wherein the connector is coupled to a) the rechargeable power source, for charging the power source from an external power source, and b) to the electronic circuitry, for data communications with an external device.

7. The earphone of claim 6 wherein the connector comprises a pair of conductive terminals that are exposed at an external surface of the far end of the stem portion to conduct electrical power from the external power source to charge the rechargeable power source that is inside the stem portion.

8. The earphone of claim 7 wherein the first acoustic microphone is positioned within the stem portion, longitudinally between the pair of conductive terminals and the rechargeable power source.

9. The earphone of claim 1 wherein the rechargeable power source is a lithium-based rechargeable battery.

10. The earphone of claim 1 wherein the longitudinal axis of the stem portion is vertical, while the center axis of the primary sound outlet is horizontal.

11. A wireless earphone comprising:
a housing having a bud portion abutting a stem portion, wherein the bud portion is sized and dimensioned to fit within an ear, the bud portion a) having a primary sound outlet at its far end that is to be inserted into the ear and b) abutting the stem portion at its near end;
a speaker driver inside the housing; and
electronic circuitry inside the housing that includes a wireless communications interface to receive audio content over-the-air and, in response, provides an audio signal to the speaker driver; and
a rechargeable power source inside a cavity of the stem portion.

12. The earphone of claim 11 wherein the speaker driver is positioned within a cavity of the housing that is inside the bud portion.

13. The earphone of claim 11 wherein the stem portion is elongated.

14. The earphone of claim 11 further comprising a first acoustic microphone positioned in the stem portion, closer to a far end than a near end of the stem portion wherein the near end is closer to the bud portion than the far end.

15. The earphone of claim 11 wherein the cavity in the stem portion has a) a near end that is open to a cavity in the bud portion within which the speaker driver is position and through which a plurality of wires pass to supply power to the electronic circuitry, and b) a far end, wherein the rechargeable power source is positioned inside the cavity of the stem portion between the near end and the far end.

16. The earphone of claim 15 further comprising a second acoustic microphone and a third acoustic microphone, both within the housing, wherein the second acoustic microphone is positioned closer to the primary sound outlet than is the third acoustic microphone.

17. The earphone of claim 16 further comprising a connector positioned in the stem portion, closer to the far end than the near end of the stem portion, wherein the connector is coupled to a) the rechargeable power source, for charging the power source from an external power source, and b) the electronic circuitry, for data communications with an external device.

18. The earphone of claim 17 wherein the connector comprises a pair of conductive terminals that are exposed at an external surface of the far end of the stem portion to conduct electrical power from the external power source to charge the rechargeable power source that is inside the stem portion.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Rich Zachary C
• Stiehl Kurt R
• Chawan Arun D
• Howes Michael B
• Aase Jonathan S
• Andersen Esge B
• Azmi Yacine
• Minoo Jahan C
• Shaw David J
• Kumar Aarti
• Prats Augustin
• Watson Robert D
• Paquier Baptiste P
• Berny Axel D
• Cook Benjamin W
• Guterman Jerzy S
• Cousins Benjamin Adair

Classifications

• H04R1/105

  Earpiece supports, e.g. ear hooks (for stereophonic headphones H04R5/0335) · CPC title

• H04R1/1025

  Accumulators specially adapted for earpieces; Arrangements specially adapted for charging thereof · CPC title

• H04R1/1075

  Mountings of transducers in earphones or headphones · CPC title

• H04R1/1016 Primary

  Earpieces of the intra-aural type · CPC title

• H04R2420/07

  Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones · CPC title