# US 2025/0097622 A1 · Earphones

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- Number: US 2025/0097622 A1
- Document ID: US20250097622A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 18/963,742
- Filed: 2024-11-28
- Published: 2025-03-20
- Earliest claimed: 2022-10-11
- Assignees: Shenzhen Shokz Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Shenzhen Shokz Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Wenjun DENG; Yongshuai YUAN; Yujia HUANG; Wenbing ZHOU; Fengyun LIAO; Xin QI
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20250097622A1

## CPC

- H04R 1/1041: {Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements (switches in general H01H)}
- H04R 5/0335: {Earpiece support, e.g. headbands or neckrests (for monophonic headphones H04R1/105)}
- G01B 7/18: {using change in resistance}
- H04R 1/1008: {Earpieces of the supra-aural or circum-aural type}
- H04R 1/105: {Earpiece supports, e.g. ear hooks (for stereophonic headphones H04R5/0335)}
- H04R 1/1066: {Constructional aspects of the interconnection between earpiece and earpiece support (earpiece support for monophonic headphones H04R1/105; earpiece support for stereophonic headphones H04R5/0335)}
- H04R 3/04: for correcting frequency response
- H04R 2460/03: Aspects of the reduction of energy consumption in hearing devices
- H04R 2460/13: Hearing devices using bone conduction transducers
- H04R: LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; ELECTRIC HEARING AIDS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS (producing sounds with frequency not determined by supply frequency G10K)
- G01B: MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS

## Abstract

Disclosed is an earphone including: two speaker assemblies, a connection member, and a processing circuit. The connection member is configured to connect the two speaker assemblies, and the connection member provides, through a bending deformation, a clamping force for placing the two speaker assemblies on a head of a user, and the connection member includes a housing with an accommodation cavity. A bending sensor is disposed in the accommodating cavity, and the bending sensor is configured to generate a bending signal based on a bending state of the connection member. The processing circuit is configured to determine a placement state of the earphone based on the bending signal. The placement state includes one of a normal wearing state, an abnormal wearing state, or a free placement state.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An earphone comprising:
two speaker assemblies;
a connection member configured to connect the two speaker assemblies, wherein the connection member provides, through a bending deformation, a clamping force for placing the two speaker assemblies on a head of a user, and the connection member includes a housing with an accommodation cavity, wherein
a bending sensor is disposed in the accommodation cavity, and the bending sensor is configured to generate a bending signal based on a bending state of the connection member; and
a processing circuit configured to determine a placement state of the earphone based on the bending signal, wherein the placement state includes one of a normal wearing state, an abnormal wearing state, or a free placement state, wherein at least one of the two ear hook assemblies includes an earphone compartment, and the earphone further includes:
a contact sensor disposed within the earphone compartment and configured to identify whether the earphone compartment is in contact with the user, and
the processing circuit is further configured to determine the placement state of the earphone based on the bending signal of the bending sensor and a contact signal of the contact sensor.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The earphone of claim 1, wherein the connection member includes two ear hook assemblies and a rear hanging assembly, the two speaker assemblies are connected to the rear hanging assembly through the two ear hook assemblies, respectively, and the bending sensor is disposed in the accommodation cavity formed by the rear hanging assembly.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The earphone of claim 2, wherein a sensitivity direction of the bending sensor is the same as a bending direction of the rear hanging assembly.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The earphone of claim 2, wherein the bending sensor is disposed at a position where a symmetrical surface of the rear hanging assembly intersects the rear hanging assembly.

### Claim 5 (depends on 2)

The earphone of claim 2, wherein the rear hanging assembly further includes a skeleton structure, wherein
the bending sensor is fitted to the skeleton structure, and a stiffness of the skeleton structure is greater than a stiffness of the bending sensor in the bending direction of the rear hanging assembly.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The earphone of claim 2, wherein the bending signal reflects an equivalent curvature radius of the rear hanging assembly.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The earphone of claim 6, wherein
when the bending signal indicates that the equivalent curvature radius of the rear hanging assembly is greater than an equivalent curvature radius of the earphone when the earphone is freely placed and is less than a preset threshold, the processing circuit determines that the earphone is in the abnormal wearing state; or
when the bending signal indicates that the equivalent curvature radius of the rear hanging assembly is greater than the equivalent curvature radius of the earphone when the earphone is freely placed and is greater than the preset threshold, the processing circuit determines that the earphone is in the normal wearing state.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The earphone of claim 7, wherein the earphone further includes:
a threshold adjustment assembly configured to adjust the preset threshold.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The earphone of claim 8, wherein the threshold adjustment assembly is further configured to receive a confirmation instruction from a user when the earphone is worn normally, and the processing circuit is further configured to:
determine, based on the confirmation instruction, a target equivalent curvature radius of the earphone when the user is wearing the earphone in in the normal state; and
adjusting the preset threshold based on an adaptive calibration algorithm and the target equivalent curvature radius.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The earphone of claim 1, wherein the earphone includes one or more electronic assemblies, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to adjust an operating state of the one or more electronic assemblies according to the placement state of the earphone, including:
controlling the one or more electronic assemblies to be in an awake state when the earphone is in the normal wearing state; and
controlling the one or more electronic assemblies to be in a low-power operating state when the earphone is in the abnormal wearing state or in the free placement state.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The earphone of claim 1, wherein when the bending signal is a first bending signal and the contact signal is a first contact signal, the processing circuit determines that the earphone is in the normal wearing state, wherein
the first bending signal indicates that the equivalent curvature radius of the rear hanging assembly is greater than a preset threshold, the preset threshold being greater than an equivalent curvature radius of the earphone when the earphone is freely placed, and
the first contact signal indicates that the earphone compartment is not in contact with the user.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The earphone of claim 1, wherein when the bending signal is a first bending signal and the contact signal is a second contact signal, the processing circuit determines that the earphone is in the abnormal wearing state, wherein
the first bending signal indicates that an equivalent curvature radius of the connection member is greater than a preset threshold, the preset threshold being greater than an equivalent curvature radius of the earphone when the earphone is freely placed, and
the second contact signal indicates that the earphone compartment is in contact with the user.

### Claim 13 (depends on 6)

The earphone of claim 6, wherein the earphone further includes:
a second contact sensor disposed within a shell of at least one speaker assembly of the two speaker assemblies and configured to identify whether the at least one speaker assembly is in contact with the user.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The earphone of claim 13, wherein when the bending signal is a first bending signal and a contact signal of the contact sensor is a second contact signal, the processing circuit determines that the earphone is in the normal wearing state, wherein
the first bending signal indicates that an equivalent curvature radius of the connection member is greater than a preset threshold, the preset threshold being greater than an equivalent curvature radius of the earphone when the earphone is freely placed, and
the second contact signal indicates that the at least one speaker assembly is in contact with the user.

### Claim 15 (depends on 13)

The earphone of claim 13, wherein when the bending signal is a first bending signal and the contact signal is a first contact signal, the processing circuit determines that the earphone is in the abnormal wearing state, wherein
the first bending signal indicates that an equivalent curvature radius of the connection member is greater than a preset threshold, the preset threshold being greater than an equivalent curvature radius of the earphone when the earphone is freely placed, and
the first contact signal indicates that the at least one speaker assembly is not in contact with the user.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The earphone of claim 1, wherein the contact sensor includes at least one of a capacitive proximity sensor, a film pressure sensor, and an infrared sensor.

### Claim 17 (depends on 6)

The earphone of claim 6, wherein, to determine the equivalent curvature radius of the rear hanging assembly, the processing circuit is further configured to:
generate a mapping relationship between the bending signal and the equivalent curvature radius of the rear hanging assembly based on test data under different wearing scenarios; and
determine the equivalent curvature radius of the rear hanging assembly based on the bending signal and the mapping relationship.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

The earphone of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:
determine a head circumference of the user based on the bending signal;
determine forces between the two speaker assemblies and the head or an ear of the user based on the head circumference of the user; and
adjust an audio output signal of the earphone based on the forces between the two speaker assemblies and the head or the ear of the user.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The earphone of claim 18, wherein to adjust the audio output signal of the earphone, the processing circuit is further configured to:
in response to determine that the forces between the two speaker assemblies and the head or the ear of the user is less than a certain value, increase an output gain of low and medium frequency signals of the two speaker assemblies.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

The earphone of claim 1, wherein a cable is also accommodated in the accommodation cavity, a gap between the cable and the bending sensor, or a gap between the cable or the bending sensor and an inner wall of the accommodation cavity is filled using a filler, the filler including silicone or sponge.