Electronic device accessories formed from intertwined fibers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9628890-B2
Application number	US-63735509-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2009
Priority date	Jun 10, 2009
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

Fibers may be intertwined to form structures for electronic devices and other parts. Fibers may be intertwined using computer-controlled braiding, weaving, and knitting equipment. Binder materials may be selectively incorporated into the intertwined fibers. By controlling the properties of the intertwined fibers and the patterns of incorporated binder, structures can be formed that include antenna windows, sound-transparent and sound-blocking structures, structures that have integral rigid and flexible portions, and tubes with seamless forked portions. Fiber-based structures such as these may be used to form cables and other parts of headphones or other electronic device accessories, housings for electronic devices such as housings for portable computers, and other structures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. Headphones, comprising:
a pair of speakers; and
a fiber-based cable formed from intertwined fibers including a first flexibility region with a first flexibility and a second flexibility region with a second flexibility wherein the fiber-based cable comprises:
a seamless Y-junction;
a first branch of the fiber-based cable is connected to an audio plug on one side of the seamless Y-junction;
a second branch and a third branch of the fiber-based cable, each connected to a respective one of the pair of speakers on another side of the seamless Y-junction, wherein:
at least one speaker of the pair of speakers comprises a respective earbud that is at least partially formed from the intertwined fibers that includes a first acoustic region having a first porosity such that it is transparent to audio and a second acoustic region having a second porosity that is lower than the first acoustic region such that it blocks audio and increases rigidity.

2. The headphones defined in claim 1 , wherein the fiber-based cable comprises a first conductive wire bundle and a second conductive wire bundle, wherein the first conductive wire bundle is contained in the first branch and the second branch of the fiber-based cable, and wherein the second conductive wire bundle is contained in the first branch and the third branch of the fiber-based cable.

3. The headphones defined in claim 2 further comprising a controller on a portion of the second branch of the fiber-based cable, wherein at least one conductive wire in the first conductive wire bundle is connected to the controller.

4. The headphones defined in claim 3 , wherein the at least one conductive wire is enclosed by at least a portion of the intertwined fibers along a length of the fiber-based cable except in a predefined region of the fiber-based cable, and wherein the at least one conductive wire lies on an outer surface of the fiber-based cable in the predefined region.

5. The headphones defined in claim 4 , wherein the at least one conductive wire comprises a pair of wires, and wherein each wire of the pair of wires comprises a stripped portion that forms a switch terminal in the predefined region.

6. The headphones defined in claim 1 , wherein a portion of the fiber-based cable forms a sheath that covers a first part of the audio plug.

7. The headphones defined in claim 6 , wherein the fiber-based cable further comprises binder that is incorporated into the sheath and that covers the first part of the audio plug.

8. The headphones defined in claim 1 , wherein the fiber-based cable comprises a rigid strain relief structure, and wherein the intertwined fibers form a sheath around at least part of the rigid strain relief structure.

9. The headphones defined in claim 1 , wherein the fiber-based cable comprises a length and a flexibility, and wherein binder is selectively incorporated into the fiber-based cable to adjust the flexibility along the length of the fiber-based cable.

10. The headphones defined in claim 1 wherein the intertwined fibers comprise monofilament fibers.

11. The headphones defined in claim 1 , wherein the intertwined fibers comprise fibers selected from the group consisting of: nylon fibers, para-aramid fibers, polyester fibers, magnetic material fibers, and shape memory material fibers.

12. The headphones defined in claim 1 , wherein the intertwined fibers each comprise multifilament fibers.

13. The headphones defined in claim 1 , wherein the intertwined fibers each comprise composite fibers formed from a plurality of different fiber materials.

14. The headphones defined in claim 1 , wherein the intertwined fibers comprise a first group of fibers and a second group of fibers, wherein the first group of fibers is contained in the first and second branches of the fiber-based cable and wherein the second group of fibers is contained in the first and third branches of the fiber-based cable.

15. The headphones defined in claim 1 , wherein the fiber-based cable has at least one substantially circular cross-section.

16. The headphones defined in claim 1 , wherein the fiber-based cable has at least one substantially rectangular cross-section.

17. The headphones defined in claim 1 wherein said first fiber type exhibits a first electromagnetic property and said second fiber type exhibits a second electromagnetic property.

18. The headphones defined in claim 17 wherein said first electromagnetic property includes electrical conductance.

19. The headphones defined in claim 17 wherein said first electromagnetic property includes optical conveyance.

20. The headphones defined in claim 1 wherein the first fiber type exhibits a first physical property and said second fiber type exhibits a second physical property.

21. A fiber-based cable, comprising:
intertwined fibers that form a cable sheath with a seamless Y-junction;
the intertwined fibers including a first fiber type and a second fiber type;
an audio connector comprising a base portion coupled to a strain relief, wherein:
a first portion of the cable sheath covers the strain relief and at least a portion of the base portion;
the second fiber type has different acoustic properties and flexibility properties from the first fiber type; and
the intertwined fibers comprise intertwined fibers selected from the group consisting of: woven fibers, knit fibers, and braided fibers.

22. The fiber-based cable defined in claim 21 , further comprising binder in the first portion of the cable sheath.

23. The fiber-based cable defined in claim 21 , wherein the fiber-based cable has a length and a flexibility, the fiber-based cable further comprising binder in regions of the cable that varies the flexibility of the cable along the length of the cable.

24. The fiber-based cable defined in claim 23 wherein the intertwined fibers include a plurality of intertwined monofilament nylon fibers that form the cable sheath.

25. The fiber-based cable defined in claim 24 , further comprising:
a region between the first portion of the cable sheath and a second portion of the cable sheath, wherein the region is more flexible than the first portion and wherein the region is less flexible than the second portion.

26. The fiber-based cable defined in claim 21 , wherein the first portion of the cable sheath is completely filled with binder and wherein a second portion of the cable sheath does not have binder.

27. The fiber-based cable defined in claim 26 , further comprising a region between the first and second portions of the cable sheath, wherein a first part of the region has binder and a second part of the region does not have binder.

28. The fiber-based cable defined in claim 27 wherein the region has binder distributed in a radially asymmetric pattern.

29. A method for forming a sheath for a headphone cable, comprising:
loading a plurality of fibers into an intertwining tool;
said plurality of fibers including a first fiber type and a second fiber type, said second fiber type including different acoustic and flexibility properties from said first fiber type;
intertwining the plurality of loaded fibers with the intertwining tool including a first region having a first porosity such that it is transparent to audio and a second region of second porosity lower than the first region such that it blocks audio and increases rigidity;
dur

Assignees

• Bibl David
• Rohrbach Matthew
• Russell-Clarke Peter
• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Bibl David
• Rohrbach Matthew
• Russell-Clarke Peter

Classifications

• Y10T29/49018

  with other electrical component · CPC title

• H04R5/033 Primary

  Headphones for stereophonic communication {(details thereof, e.g. relating to batteries, cables or control elements H04R1/10)} · CPC title

• 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

• H04R1/10

  Earpieces; Attachments therefor {; Earphones; Monophonic headphones (H04R1/28 takes precedence; stereophonic headphones H04R5/033)} · CPC title

• G06F3/044

  by capacitive means · CPC title