Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to an all-new AirPods Family device concept. The device includes a fabric that covers the user's eye area to promote relaxation and sleep while they listen to their favorite music. In addition, the associated AirPods integrated into the fabric of the device is packed with biometric health sensors including sensor monitoring eye and brain activity. The new device is like a next-gen smart eye mask. 

Headphones may be worn by people who desire to listen to audio content. Headphones may not, however, be sufficiently comfortable for napping or wearing for long periods of time.

Apple's invention covers an all-new AirPods family device that is primarily formed with a soft fabric that sits over the user's eye and nose area.

The ends may have ear openings with triangular edge portions that receive the user's ears. Tragus openings may be formed in the fabric to accommodate the tragus portions of the user's ears. A soft central portion of the fabric between the ends may overlap the user's eyes. Light sources may be placed within the central portion to provide illumination for the user's eyes.

The wearable electronic device may have control circuitry that receives power from a power source. Sensors may be used to gather sensor information such as biometric sensor information. The sensors, control circuitry, and power source may be mounted in a stiff edge portion of the fabric. The stiff edge portion of the fabric may have an elongated strip shape and may extend along an upper edge of the central portion of the fabric. Stiffener structures that are between inner and outer layers of the fabric may be used to support the speakers.

Apple's patent FIG. 5 below illustrates a top view of user #71 and device #10 showing how device may be worn by user. As shown in FIG. 5, the device may stretch across the face of user's head #70, covering the user's eyes #72.

The device may also cover some or all of the user's nose #74. By blocking the eyes, the device may allow a user to sleep or rest even when ambient lighting conditions are bright.

To attach the device to user's head, openings #50 at ends #32 of the device may be placed over the user's ears #64 (e.g., so that portions 30' of fabric at the outermost edges of fabric 30 are located behind ears 64). In this position, the fabric of the device may stretch slightly to create tension in the device that helps secure the device to the user's ears and hold it over the user's face (e.g., over eyes).

To allow the fabric to stretch, the fabric may include strands of material that can accommodate stretching without becoming damaged (e.g., spandex, polyester, other stretchable materials, or combinations of these materials).

In Apple's patent FIG. 1 above they illustrate the face of the device that's made with fabric. The device #10 may include conductive strands or metal traces on a substrate such as a printed circuit or fabric layer that form signal paths for carrying electrical signals (e.g., wires in fabric 30 and/or attached to a surface of fabric #30).

Electrical components may be included in the device such as speakers or bone conduction transducers that may be formed in end portions to provide audio to a user. Electrical components may also be located in the central portion of the fabric between end portions #32.

For example, light sources (e.g., light-emitting diodes or other light sources) may be located at locations such as locations #40 that are aligned with the positions of the user's eyes when the device is being worn on a user's face. Light sources such as these may be used to supply a user with light (e.g., to influence a user's sleep cycle as part of a light therapy regimen, to serve as an alarm, etc.).

According to Apple, sensors integrated into the device may include force sensors (e.g., strain gauges, capacitive force sensors, resistive force sensors, etc.), audio sensors such as microphones (e.g., microphones to monitor snorting, microphones for active noise cancellation, etc.), touch and/or proximity sensors such as capacitive sensors (e.g., capacitive touch sensors for gathering user touch input to adjust the operation of the device, capacitive touch sensors for determining when the device is being worn against the skin of a user or is not being worn, etc.), optical sensors such as optical sensors that emit and detect light, and/or other touch sensors and/or proximity sensors, monochromatic and color ambient light sensors, image sensors, sensors for detecting position, orientation, and/or motion (e.g., accelerometers, magnetic sensors such as compass sensors, gyroscopes, and/or inertial measurement units that contain some or all of these sensors), biometric sensors such as muscle activity sensors (EMG) for measuring eye muscle contractions and other muscle contractions, eye motion sensors , blood pressure sensors, heart rate sensors, electrocardiography (ECG) sensors for measuring heart activity, photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors for sensing the rate of blood flow using light, and electroencephalograph (EEG) sensors for measuring electrical activity in the user's brain, pressure sensors (e.g., force sensors that can detect pressure on the side of a user's head when the user is resting against a pillow), humidity sensors, temperature sensors, moisture sensors, and/or other sensors. In some arrangements, device 10 may use sensors such as sensors 18 and/or other input-output devices such as input-output devices 16 to gather user input (e.g., buttons may be used to gather button press input, touch sensors overlapping displays can be used for gathering user touch screen input, touch pads may be used in gathering touch input, microphones may be used for gathering audio input, accelerometers may be used in monitoring when a finger contacts an input surface and may therefore be used to gather finger press input, etc.).

For more details, review Apple's granted patent 11,290,818. Apple kept this invention under the radar by not publishing a patent application for the public. The work on the invention began in 2018 and only today is it being made public when Apple has been granted this patent so that it's legally protected right out of the gate.

Posted by Jack Purcher on March 29, 2022 at 05:33 AM in 2. Granted Patents, Audio, HomePod, AirPods, AirPods Max | Permalink | Comments (0)

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