Earphones with left/right magnetic asymmetry

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9609420-B2
Application number	US-201414151583-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 9, 2014
Priority date	Jan 9, 2014
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

A first earphone of an earphone system includes a first magnet assembly and a first voice coil. A second earphone of the earphone system includes a second magnet assembly and a second voice coil. The second magnet assembly has a magnetic polarity that is opposite to the first magnet assembly. The current direction in the second voice coil is reversed relative to the current direction in the first voice coil. The first earphone and the second earphone attract each other because of the opposite magnetic polarity between the first magnet assembly and the second magnet assembly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An earphone system comprising:
a first earphone comprising a first speaker driver having a first magnet assembly, a first coil, and a first diaphragm, wherein the first magnet assembly and the first coil work together to drive the first diaphragm;
a second earphone comprising a second speaker driver having a second magnet assembly, a second coil, and a second diaphragm, wherein the second magnet assembly and the second coil work together to drive the second diaphragm, wherein the second magnet assembly has a magnetic polarity that is opposite to that of the first magnet assembly; and
a touch detector installed in one of the first or second earphones, to signal an audio source to turn off audio processing for the first and second speaker drivers in response to detecting that the left earphone and the right earphone are touching each other;
wherein the first and second earphones each have a symmetrical housing, each symmetrical housing having a) a front side that is positioned inside an ear of a user when the earphone is worn by the user and wherein the front side has openings through which sound produced by the diaphragm directly enters the ear canal of the user when the earphone is being worn by the user, and b) a back side that is outside of the ear when the earphone is worn by the user,
wherein the magnet assembly and coil are installed inside the housing between the front and back sides thereof,
and wherein the magnet assemblies of the first earphone and the second earphone attract each other so that the housings touch at their respective front sides, when the front side of the first earphone housing is placed close to the front side of the second earphone housing, and
wherein the touch detector is installed in the housing and is closer to the front side than the back side.

2. The earphone system of claim 1 , wherein current direction in the second coil is reversed relative to current direction in the first coil.

3. The earphone system of claim 2 , wherein the first coil and the second coil have a same winding direction, wherein audio signal polarity in the first coil is reversed relative to audio signal polarity in the second coil.

4. The earphone system of claim 2 , wherein the first coil and the second coil have reversed directions of winding.

5. The earphone system of claim 1 , wherein the first magnet assembly is attached to a first stationary component of the first earphone and the second magnet assembly is attached to a second stationary component of the second earphone, wherein the first coil is affixed to the first diaphragm of the first earphone and the second coil is affixed to the second diaphragm of the second earphone.

6. The earphone system of claim 1 , wherein the first earphone and the second earphone are to be connected to a same audio source.

7. An earphone system comprising:
a left earphone housing having a front side that is positioned inside an ear of a user when the earphone is worn b the user and wherein the front side has openings through which sound produced by a left diaphragm directly enters the ear canal of the user when the ea shone is being worn by the user, a back side that is outside of the ear when the earphone is worn by the user, and a left speaker driver therein;
a right earphone housing having a front side that is positioned inside an ear of a user when the earphone is worn by the user and wherein the front side has openings through which sound produced by a right diaphragm directly enters the ear canal of the user when the earphone is being worn by the user, a back side that is outside of the ear when the earphone is worn by the user, and a right speaker driver therein, wherein the left and right speaker drivers have respective magnet systems that are oriented with opposite polarity relative to each other when the housings are brought close to each other; and
a touch detector installed in one of the left or right earphones, to signal an audio source to turn off audio processing for the left and right speaker drivers in response to detecting that the left earphone and the right earphone are touching each other;
wherein the magnet systems of the left and right speaker drivers attract each other so that the housings touch at their respective front sides, when the front side of the left earphone housing is placed close to the front side of the right earphone housing,
wherein the touch detector is installed in the housing and is closer to the front side than the back side.

8. The earphone system of claim 7 , wherein the left speaker driver and the right speaker driver are to be connected to a same audio source.

9. The earphone system of claim 7 , wherein the touch detector comprises a mechanical switch to detect that the left earphone housing and the right earphone housing are in contact with each other.

10. The earphone system of claim 7 , wherein the touch detector comprises a Reed switch in one of the left or right earphone housings to detect proximity of another one of the left or right earphone housings.

11. The earphone system of claim 9 , wherein the left speaker driver in the left earphone housing comprises a left voice coil and the right speaker driver in the right earphone housing comprises a right voice coil, wherein current direction in the right voice coil is reversed relative to current direction in the left voice coil.

12. The earphone system of claim 11 , wherein the left voice coil and the right voice coil have a same winding direction, and audio signal polarity in the left voice coil is reversed relative to audio signal polarity in the right voice coil.

13. The earphone system of claim 11 , wherein the left voice coil and the right voice coil have opposite winding directions.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Azmi Yacine
• Andersen Esge B

Classifications

• H04R1/1033 Primary

  Cables or cables storage, e.g. cable reels (cord reels per se H02G11/02; arrangements for storing and repeatedly paying-out and re-storing lengths of conductors or cables B65H75/34; extensible conductors or cables, e.g. self-coiling cords H01B7/06) · CPC title

• H04R1/06

  Arranging circuit leads; Relieving strain on circuit leads · CPC title

• H04R1/1016

  Earpieces of the intra-aural type · CPC title

• H04R1/1041

  Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements (switches in general H01H) · CPC title

• H04R1/1075

  Mountings of transducers in earphones or headphones · CPC title