Vented in-the-ear headphone
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsVictor M. Tiscareno, Kurt R. Stiehl
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vented tip for in-the-ear headphones has a core portion to be mounted to a sound output tube of an in-the-ear earphone and a flange portion extending outward from and surrounding the core portion. The vented tip has a) an outer portion formed in the flange portion that is to be in contact with, and thereby form a seal with, a user's ear canal, and b) an inner portion spaced inwards from the outer portion to thereby not form the seal with the user's ear canal. The inner portion has a calibrated perforation or hole formed therein. Other embodiments that may help reduce bone conduction effects are also described and claimed.
Claims15
A vented tip for in-the-ear headphones, comprising:
- a core portion to be mounted to a sound output tube of an in-the-ear earphone;
- and
- a flange portion extending outward from and surrounding the core portion,
- wherein the vented tip has
- a) an outer portion formed in the flange portion that is to be in contact with, and thereby form a seal with, a user's ear canal, and
- b) an inner portion spaced inwards from the outer portion to thereby not form the seal with the user's ear canal, the inner portion having a calibrated perforation or hole formed therein.
A vented tip for in-the-ear headphones, comprising:
- a core portion to be mounted to a sound output tube of an in-the-ear earphone;
- and
- a flange portion extending outward from and surrounding the core portion,
- wherein the vented tip has a trench formed on an outer surface of the flange portion that extends across a contact section of the flange portion, the contact section to be in contact with, and thereby form a seal with, a user's ear canal wall.
An in-the-ear headphone comprising:
- an in-the-ear earphone housing containing a receiver that is coupled to a housing sound output tube whose open end is to be inserted into a wearer's ear canal, wherein a calibrated vent passage is formed through a wall of the sound output tube, the vent passage having a front bore segment formed in a front portion of the sound output tube and a rear bore segment formed in a rear portion of the sound output tube, the front and rear portions of the sound output tube being connected to each other so that one can be manually rotated relative to the other, by the wearer, between first and second stable positions, in the first stable position the front and rear bore segments are aligned to thereby vent the ear canal, and in the second stable position the front bore segment is blocked to thereby not vent the ear canal.
A vented tip for in-the-ear headphones, comprising:
- a core portion to be mounted to a sound output tube of an in-the-ear earphone;
- and
- a flange portion extending outward from and surrounding the core portion,
- wherein the vented tip has a trench formed on an inner surface of the core portion that is to contact an outer surface of the sound output tube to thereby form a calibrated vent passage, the trench running generally longitudinally from a front face of the tip to a rear face of the tip.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.