The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 42 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover five granted patents covering different aspects of Apple's AirPod case.

1): Magnetic retention of earbud within cavity

Abstract for Patent 9,883,272: A case for an earbud includes a receiving cavity sized and shaped to accept the earbud within the receiving cavity. The case includes one or more housing magnetic components configured to magnetically attract and secure the earbud within the receiving cavity. The one or more housing magnetic components can be configured to form a Halbach array to increase the magnetic force of the one or more housing magnetic components. The earbud includes a speaker magnet and a separate magnetic element that are arranged to be attracted to the one or more housing magnetic components such that the earbud is attracted into the receiving cavity.

2) Earbud case with wireless radio shutdown feature

Abstract for Patent 9,883,276: A case for a portable listening device includes a lid and a lid sensor to detect if the lid is in an open or a closed position. The case further includes circuitry configured to turn on a wireless radio within the portable listening device when the lid sensor detects the lid is moved from the closed position to the open position.

3) Earbud case with charging system

Abstract for Patent 9,883,274: A case for a pair of earbuds includes a housing having cavities to receive the pair of earbuds and charging circuitry that is configured to initiate charging of the pair of earbuds when an earbud detector detects that the earbuds are inserted within the cavities.

4) Case with inductive charging system to charge a portable device

Abstract for Patent 9,883,277: A case for a portable listening device includes a rechargeable battery and a first and a second charging system. The first charging system is configured to charge the portable listening device and the second charging system is configured to wirelessly charge a portable electronic device positioned outside of the case adjacent to an exterior charging surface.

5) Earbuds with acoustic insert

Abstract for Patent 9,883,281: An earbud includes a housing that includes a driver assembly positioned within the housing forming a front volume in front of the driver and a back volume behind the driver. An acoustic insert is positioned behind the driver assembly and attached to an interior surface of the housing such that it forms a bass channel that is routed from the back volume to a vent in the housing.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 is a side view of a case having a lid and configured to hold a pair of earbuds; FIG. 2 is a system level diagram of a case with a charging system coupled to a pair of earbuds.

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