On June 26, 2008, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a series of Apple patent applications respectfully covering the iPhone’s wireless headset, iMovie and other technologies. The main patent relates to personal media devices and, more particularly, to acoustic assemblies for personal media devices. The patent particularly describes a wireless headset incorporating micro-speaker technology from NXP Semiconductors. In addition, Apple’s patent once again references possible future iPhone incarnations that include one for an in-car application as well as those incorporating a helmet, glasses and wearable apparel.

Apple’s Patent Background

The proliferation of compact portable personal media devices (e.g., portable MP3 players, portable video players, and media capable cellular telephones) has created a need for improved delivery of audio (e.g., voice and music) to users while respecting the need to minimize the overall form factor of personal media devices.

One problem with existing media devices such as cellular telephones is that the sensitivity of the media device’s acoustic source, e.g., speaker, can be adversely affected by a user. For example, when a user presses their ear against the housing of a cellular telephone where the housing aperture of the speaker is located, the user’s ear can form a seal that alters the sensitivity of the acoustic source. This effect may be the result of increased pressure applied to the acoustic source or the result of directly coupling the user’s eardrum with the acoustic source. Existing media devices attempt to mitigate this problem by adjusting the dimensions of the housing aperture or including an additional housing aperture such that a seal with the user’s ear is prevented. Because the shape and size of each user’s ears can vary, this approach is not comprehensive enough to cover all potential users. Accordingly, there is a need for a more comprehensive approach to improving acoustic source audio quality for any potential user.

Another problem with existing media devices is that the acoustic source must typically be positioned adjacent to the housing aperture to maximize the acoustic coupling from the acoustic source to a user’s ear. Because personal media devices require compact form factors, the need to position the acoustic source adjacent to the housing aperture limits the manufacturer’s ability to configure or arrange certain internal circuit components within the personal media device. Accordingly, there is a need for efficiently coupling audio from an acoustic source to the housing aperture without requiring the acoustic source to be directly adjacent to the housing aperture.

Another problem with existing media devices is that the acoustic source may not be properly tuned for providing certain audio such as voice, music, or both. Accordingly, there is a need for more appropriately tuning the audio output of media devices such as cellular telephones to further improve acoustic source audio quality.

Apple’s Summary

The invention, in various embodiments, addresses deficiencies in the prior art by providing systems, methods and devices that enhance sound quality and design flexibility of media devices while respecting the need for a compact and portable form factor for such devices.

In various aspects, the invention employs an acoustic assembly in a media device. The acoustic assembly includes an acoustic source that emits a sound into a first chamber. The first chamber then couples a first portion of the sound outside of the media device to a listening user. The first chamber also couples a second portion of the sound into a second chamber such as the inside cavity of the media device. The coupling of sound from the first chamber to the user and to the second chamber may be via apertures that enable the flow of sound waves from the first chamber. By adjusting the volume or size of the first chamber in relation to the volume or size of the second chamber, the sensitivity or frequency response of acoustic assembly is adjusted to enhance the quality of the sound received by the listening user. Also, by adjusting the size or area of the apertures, the sensitivity or frequency response of acoustic assembly is adjusted to enhance the quality of the sound received by the listening user. Further, the aggregate size of numerous opening or gaps in the shell or housing of the media device may be determined to define an effective leak aperture size for the second chamber which can then be used to optimize the size of the apertures and first chamber to enhance the frequency response of the acoustic assembly.

Noted above is Apple’s patent FIG 2 which illustrates a media device (described as a cellphone) with tethered headphones 200 and, alternatively, a wireless earpiece 206 according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention. The wireless earpiece is simply Apple’s optional wireless headset for the iPhone as noted in the illustration.

Apple’s patent FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of an acoustic assembly where the output aperture location is shifted with respect to the acoustic source according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

Apple lists Richard Hung Minh Dinh (San Jose, CA), Tang Yew Tan (San Francisco, CA), Derek Boyd Barrentine (San Jose, CA) and Michael M. Lee (San Jose, CA) as the inventors of this patent which was originally filed in December 2006.

Other Apple Patents Published Today

Other Apple patents that were published today include one for Sharing a Data Buffer, another relating to user interfaces titled Graduated Visual and Manipulative Translucency for Windows and a series of six iMovie related patents as follows:

1 – Modified Media Presentation during Scrubbing

2 – Anchor Point in Media

3 – Regular Sampling and Presentation of Continuous Media Stream

4 – Two-Dimensional Timeline Display of Media Items

5 – Select Drag and Drop Operations on Video Thumbnails across Clip Boundaries, and

6 – Associating Keywords to Media

NOTICE: MacNN presents only a brief summary of patents with associated graphic(s) for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application and/or grant is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent applications and/or grants should be read in its entirety for further details.

Written and researched by Neo.