Patent Application
20240089646
The present application relates to wireless earpieces having external antenna features, and more specifically, to a wireless earpiece wherein at least the entirety of a peripheral external side wall of an earpiece housing serves as the antenna for the earpiece.
Wearable audio devices typically include an earpiece configured to be worn at a user's ear. The earpiece can include a speaker that converts an audio signal into sound. Because the sound is generated near a user's ear drum, the sound may be fully audible to the user while still being inaudible or minimally audible to others around the user. For this reason, wearable audio devices tend to be well-suited for use in public settings. Some wearable audio devices include one or two ear-supported earpieces. Examples of ear-supported earpieces include earpieces including earbuds shaped to extend into a user's ear canal and earpieces including hooks shaped to extend over a user's auricle. Other wearable audio devices include one or two head-supported earpieces. Examples of head-supported earpieces include earpieces at opposite respective ends of a headpiece shaped to bridge a user's head. Ear-supported and head-supported earpieces can be wired or wireless. Wired earpieces receive audio content from an audio player via a wire. Wireless earpieces receive audio content from an audio player via Bluetooth or a similar wireless communication standard. In a wearable audio device including a wireless earpiece, the earpiece may still be connected to another earpiece or to a control element via a wire.
In order for wireless earpieces to receive wireless communication, they generally require an antenna. In many wireless earpieces, the antenna is incorporated into the housing of the earpiece to help minimize the size of the earpiece. Many different factors impact that performance of an antenna incorporated into a wireless earpiece. As such, antenna design in wireless earpieces is generally focused on factors such as shielding the antenna from internal and external interference, maximizing antenna performance, and avoiding the attenuation of signals received by the wireless earpiece. Many of these factors are interdependent, meaning that changing the design of a wireless earpiece antenna to try to improve one factor may adversely impact another factor. For example, some previously known wireless earpiece antenna have been designed to be partially (but not fully) embedded within the wireless earpiece housing. An aim of this design is to move the antenna to a location where it is partially shielded from both internal and external sources of interference. However, in order to partially embed the antenna in this manner, the overall size of the antenna needs to be reduced, which can lower antenna performance.
Accordingly, a need exists for a wireless earpiece antenna that is designed to maximize antenna performance while minimizing or eliminating design features that may negatively impact antenna performance.
The present application relates to wireless earpieces having external antenna features for improved antenna reception and performance, reduced interference from sources internal to the earpiece, reduced signal attenuation, and/or improved grounding stabilization.
In some embodiments, the wireless earpiece described herein generally includes a housing in which various earpiece componentry (e.g., circuitry, speaker, etc.) is located. The housing generally includes a first major surface, a second major surface opposite the first major surface, and one or more peripheral side wall segments extending between the first major surface and second major surface so as to thereby form a substantially enclosed space within the housing. In some embodiments, the entirety of one peripheral side wall segment serves as the earpiece antenna, and has extending from its internal surface (i.e., into the housing) one or more pins for connecting the antenna to the circuitry located within the housing. In some embodiments, the peripheral side wall serving as the antenna is at least the entirety of the peripheral side wall oriented substantially vertically and closest to the user's face when the earpiece is positioned in the user's ear (also referred to herein as the anterior peripheral side wall segment).
The housing of the wireless earpiece described herein may also include a portion of the peripheral side wall that serves as a grounding element. A plurality of grounding pins may extend from the internal surface of the grounding element and connect with the circuitry located within the housing. In some embodiments, the portion of the peripheral side wall serving as the grounding element is at least the entirety of the peripheral side wall at the posterior side of the housing and a majority of peripheral side wall at both the superior and inferior side of the housing.
Many aspects of the present technology can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale. Instead, emphasis is placed on illustrating clearly the principles of the present technology. For ease of reference, throughout this disclosure identical reference numbers may be used to identify identical, similar, or analogous components or features of more than one embodiment of the present technology.
Specific details of wearable audio devices and related devices, systems, and methods in accordance with several embodiments of the present technology are described herein with reference to
The processing circuitry 111 included within the housing 102 can be any suitable circuitry required for operation and functioning of the earpiece 100. In some embodiments, the circuitry 111 is supported by a rigid circuit board (not shown). The processing circuitry 111 is configured to receive audio content via an antenna 204 (
The earpiece 100 can further include an earbud 114. The earbud 114 can be positioned to extend outwardly from the second portion 108 toward a canal of a user's ear when the earpiece 100 is mounted to the user's ear. For example, the earbud 114 can include a rigid stem (not shown) extending outwardly from the second portion 108. The earbud 114 can also include a removable cushion 116 extending circumferentially around the stem. The cushion 116 can be shaped to be snugly received within a canal of a user's ear when the earpiece 100 is mounted to the user's ear.
Based on the configuration of earpiece 100 described above and as shown in
With reference now to
The peripheral side wall segments 203a-d extend around the entire periphery of the housing 102 such that, combined with the first major surface 201 and the second major surface 202, the peripheral side wall 203 forms a substantially enclosed space within the housing and in which various earpiece componentry (e.g., speaker 103, circuitry 111, battery 113) can be located.
With reference now to
As also shown in, e.g.,
As shown in
The type and material of antenna 204 is generally not limited. Generally speaking, the material of anterior peripheral side wall segment 203a that serves as the antenna 204 is selected such that the material is a suitable antenna material.
The design of antenna 204 as shown in
The location of the antenna 204 at the anterior peripheral side wall 203a of the housing 102 also helps to avoid skin contact with the antenna, which is desirable as a means to avoid signal attenuation. Antenna contact with the user's skin is avoided when the antenna 204 is positioned as described above because the antenna is retained in a relatively fixed position by virtue of its alignment with and proximity to the earbud 114. When the earpiece is worn by a user, the earbud 114 is inserted to the ear canal, and this generally immobilizes the anterior side of the housing 102 since the earbud 114 extends from the housing 102 at the anterior side of the housing. In contrast, the posterior peripheral side wall 203b has a much higher chance of being contacted by skin because the posterior side of housing 102 is opposite the side of housing 102 that is anchored in the ear canal. In this regard, the posterior end of the housing can be considered as “floating” in the concha since it is not directly anchored and can move around within the concha. As such, the posterior side of housing 102 is more susceptible to movement (such as when the housing 102 pivots about the ear bud 114 anchored in the ear canal) and can contact, for example, the antitragus, the antihelix, the scapha, and other portions of the ear, as well as the user's fingers.
While the location of antenna 204 as described herein has various benefits as described previously, the design of antenna 204 may also present some disadvantages that can diminish antenna performance unless additional design modifications are made. For example, while the increased size of the antenna 204 and its location at an external surface of the housing generally improve antenna performance, these features also make it more likely that the antenna 204 will be contacted by skin (regardless of its location at the anterior portion of the housing 102). Accordingly, in order to address the possible increased likelihood of the antenna 204 being contacted by skin (and the associated attenuation of signal caused by skin contact), the earpiece 100 described herein further includes a grounding element 205 aimed at providing antenna stabilization in the event of skin contact with the antenna 204.
With reference to
In some embodiments, the terminal ends of the grounding element 205 abut and are flush with the terminal ends of the antenna 204. As shown in the Figures, the terminal ends of the antenna 204 and the terminal ends of the grounding element 205 will generally meet on the interior and superior sides of the housing at location proximate the anterior side of the housing. In other embodiments, the terminal ends of the grounding element 205 and the terminal ends of the antenna 206 are separated by a thin gap (as shown in
In embodiments where the posterior side of housing 102 is curved (as shown in the Figures), this configuration gives the grounding element 205 a generally U-shape. However, it should be appreciated that other shapes for both the grounding element 205 and the antenna 204 are possible, such as when the housing 102 has a different overall shape than is shown in the Figures. For example, housing 102 may have an overall square or rectangular shape (i.e., with no rounded side at the posterior side), in which case the grounding element 205 may have a square C-shape. In another example, the rounded side of the housing 102 may be switched to the anterior side of the housing 102, such that antenna 204 has a U or semi-circle shape.
As also shown in, e.g.,
As shown in
The present application has generally described a single earpiece 100. However, it should be appreciated that a second earpiece (similar or identical to earpiece 100 though having a mirrored configuration) may be supplied such that the user may place an earpiece in both ears. Such a second earpiece may have some or all of the features of the earpiece 100 described herein.
This disclosure is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present technology to the precise forms disclosed herein. Although specific embodiments are disclosed herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible without deviating from the present technology, as those of ordinary skill in the relevant art will recognize. In some cases, well-known structures and functions have not been shown and/or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the embodiments of the present technology. Although steps of methods may be presented herein in a particular order, in alternative embodiments the steps may have another suitable order. Similarly, certain aspects of the present technology disclosed in the context of particular embodiments may be combined or eliminated in other embodiments. Furthermore, while advantages associated with certain embodiments may have been disclosed in the context of those embodiments, other embodiments may also exhibit such advantages, and not all embodiments need necessarily exhibit such advantages or other advantages disclosed herein to fall within the scope of the present technology.
Throughout this disclosure, the singular terms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Similarly, unless the word “or” is expressly limited to mean only a single item exclusive from the other items in reference to a list of two or more items, then the use of “or” in such a list is to be interpreted as including (a) any single item in the list, (b) all of the items in the list, or (c) any combination of the items in the list. Additionally, the terms “comprising” and the like, as used throughout this disclosure, mean including at least the recited feature(s) such that any greater number of the same feature(s) and/or one or more additional types of features are not precluded. Directional terms, such as “upper,” “lower,” “front,” “back,” “vertical,” and “horizontal,” may be used herein to express and clarify the relationship between various elements. It should be understood that such terms do not denote absolute orientation. Reference herein to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar formulations means that a particular feature, structure, operation, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the present technology. Thus, the appearances of such phrases or formulations herein are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, various particular features, structures, operations, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments of the present technology.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US22/14097 | 1/27/2022 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63142350 | Jan 2021 | US |
