Granted Patent B2

US 12,356,132 · App. 18/640,588 · Granted Jul 8, 2025

Inventors: Joel Miller (Westborough, MA); Todd Reily (North Reading, MA)

Assignee: Bose Corporation

H04R1/1016H04R1/08H04R1/1025H04R5/027

Abstract

Claims (24)

1. An open-ear headphone, comprising:

an acoustic module comprising: a portion that is configured to sit in a cavum conchae of an outer ear of a user, an acoustic transducer, and a first sound-emitting opening that is configured to emit sound produced by the acoustic transducer;

a battery housing configured to be located behind the outer ear and containing a battery power source; and

a body coupled to the acoustic module and comprising a first portion configured to pass over an outer side of at least one of an anti-helix, a helix, or a lobule of the outer ear, and a second portion comprising the battery housing.

2. The open-ear headphone of claim 1 , wherein the first sound-emitting opening is configured to be spaced from and proximate a user's ear canal opening.

3. The open ear headphone of claim 1 , wherein the body further comprises a connecting portion coupling the battery housing to the first portion.

4. The open-ear headphone of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic module and body together are generally “C”-shaped.

5. The open-ear headphone of claim 3 , wherein the connecting portion is disposed between the first portion of the body and the battery housing.

6. The open-ear headphone of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic module and the body are parts of a unitary molded plastic housing.

7. The open-ear headphone of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic module has a lower portion that is outwardly convex and is configured to sit in a concavity of a user's cavum conchae.

8. The open-ear headphone of claim 3 , wherein the connecting portion is complaint and enables displacement of the battery housing relative to the acoustic module.

9. The open-ear headphone of claim 8 , wherein the connecting portion is formed of an elastomer.

10. The open-ear headphone of claim 1 , further comprising one or more external microphones.

11. The open-ear headphone of claim 10 , wherein the one or more external microphones are configured as feed-forward microphones of an active noise cancelation system.

12. The open-ear headphone of claim 10 , wherein the one or more external microphones comprise a plurality of microphones which are beam-formed.

13. The open-ear headphone of claim 1 , wherein a center of gravity of the open-ear headphone is between the acoustic module and the body.

14. The open-ear headphone of claim 13 , wherein the center of gravity is configured to lie within the outer ear when the open-ear headphone is worn.

15. The open-ear headphone of claim 1 , wherein a center of gravity of the open-ear headphone is between the acoustic module and the body.

16. The open-ear headphone of claim 1 , further comprising a printed circuit board in the first portion of the body and that is electrically coupled to the battery.

17. The open-ear headphone of claim 16 , further comprising a flexible circuit element that electrically couples the printed circuit board to the acoustic transducer.

18. The open-ear headphone of claim 3 , wherein the connecting portion is configured to pass over an outer edge of a user's outer ear at a location of one or more of a helix, an anti-helix, and a lobule.

19. The open-ear headphone of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface element built into the body.

20. The open-ear headphone of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic module further comprises a second sound-emitting opening that is configured to be farther from the user's ear canal opening than is the first sound-emitting opening.

21. The open-ear headphone of claim 20 , wherein the first and second sound-emitting openings are arranged to accomplish a dipole-like acoustic pattern.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (151)