This week, the European Patent Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to a new kind of earphones that provides the user with a dual-speaker system. More specifically, the earphones provide the user the option to listen to their music in private or in public mode. Using Machine Learning, the earphones will be able to determine if the user is in a library, for example, and automatically restrict the user's music, phone call or podcast to only be heard in private mode. In public mode, the audio/music is channeled through an added exhaust port that extends over the user's ear. Apple notes at one point that one application for this style of earphone is in use with smartglasses.

Dual-Speaker System

In one aspect, Apple notes that their invention covers a head-worn device that may include an "extra-aural" speaker that is arranged to output sound into the environment to be heard by the user of the device.

In some aspects, unlike internal speakers that direct sound into the user's ear canals while housings of the device at least partially acoustically seal off the user's ear from the ambient environment, extra-aural speakers may project sound into the ambient environment (e.g., while the user's ears may not be acoustically sealed by the head­ worn device). For instance, the speaker may be arranged to project sound in any direction (e.g., away from the user and/or towards the user, such as towards the user's ear).

Apple's patent Fig. 1 below shows an example of an electronic device 6 with an extra-aural speaker 5 that is projecting sound (e.g., music) into the ambient environment for the user to hear. Since this sound is projected into the environment, nearby people may be able to eavesdrop.

In some instances, the user may wish to privately listen to audio content that is being played back by the extra-aural speaker, such as while engaged in a telephone conversation that is of a private nature. In which case, the user may not want others within the user's immediate surroundings from listening to the content.

The present disclosure describes a dual-speaker system that is capable of operating in one or more modes, e.g., a "non-private" (first or public) operational mode and a "private" (second) operational mode. Specifically, the system includes an output device with (at least) two speaker drivers (a first speaker driver and a second speaker driver), each of which are a part of (or integrated within a housing of) the output device at different locations, which are arranged to project sound into the ambient environment.

Apple's patent Fig. 2 below shows a dual-speaker system with an output device having two speaker drivers that share a common back volume.

Apple's patent Fig. 3 above shows the output device with an exhaust port; Fig. 5 shows an output device with both an exhaust port and a rear chamber; Fig. 6 shows a block diagram of the system that operates in one or more operational modes.

At one point in the patent, Apple notes that "the output device may be any (or a part of any) HWD, such as smartglasses. For instance, the output device may be a part of a component (e.g., the frame) of the smartglasses.

Context Engine

Apple also points to a new "context engine" wherein the earphones will determine not to play audio out into the user's environment in public mode if the user is in a library or in a room with a TV or stereo playing, for example.

Apple further notes that the context engine may determine to operate in public mode, when the audio content is a musical composition and in the past the user has listened to this type of content in this mode. In this way, the context engine may perform a machine-learning algorithm to determine which mode to operate based on how the user has listened to audio content in the past.

For the deeper part of the patent detailing the audio specifics of the invention, review Apple's European patent application number EP4218257.