Back on September 3, 2020, 3 months prior to Apple officially introduced the new AirPods Max over-ear headphones, Patently Apple posted an IP report titled "Five new Over-Ear Headphone Patents cover Magnetic Assemblies for Removable Earpieces, Textiles Boosting Acoustic Resistance & more." The patents presented the same patent figures for all 5 patent applications. There were dozens of patent figures to choose from. One design that we passed on was one of the craziest of ideas and, wouldn't you know, it's the one that Apple officially chose to go with. The mesh based loop canopy patent figure that looked like a hot dog holder got thumbs up from Apple's executives.  

Apple's patent FIG. 3M below shows how stem wire (#332) includes an attachment feature (#370) that at least partially surrounds a portion of loop (#328). In this way, stem wires (#332 and #334) support structures (#366) that move along with loop. FIG. 3M also shows a dashed line illustrating how a covering for the headband (#330) can at least partially conform with loop and stem wires.

This week the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published Apple's continuation patent covering their new AirPods Max headphones. Being a continuation patent, Apple simply updated their patent claims to better protect the headphone's canopy and earcups with mesh fabrics. Below are just five of the new patent claims added to this invention.

Patent Claim #1: "Headphones, comprising: a left earpiece; a right earpiece; and a headband assembly extending between the left and right earpieces, the headband assembly comprising: a frame defining a central opening and having left and right frame ends and a central frame region between and elevated relative to the left and right frame ends; a signal cable electrically coupling the left and right earpieces and extending through an interior volume defined by the frame, and a mesh extending across the central opening."

Patent Claim #2: "The headphones as recited in claim 1, wherein the mesh extends between opposing segments of the central frame region and also between the left and right frame ends."

Patent Claim #4: "The headphones as recited in claim 1, wherein the mesh comprises a mesh material and a locking feature extending around a periphery of the mesh material, the locking feature being engaged within a channel defined by the frame."

Patent Claim #6: "The headphones as recited in claim 4, wherein the mesh material comprises at least one of nylon, PET, monoelastic woven fabric, bielastic woven fabric, or polyether-polyurea copolymer."

Patent Claim #10: "The headphones as recited in claim 4, wherein a density of the mesh material is substantially uniform."

To review all 20 patent claims, check out Apple's continuation patent 29219928435. This is now a patent fulfilled.