Apple introduced AirPods Max back on December 8, 2020. Five months later, Apple engineers filed for an alternative over ear headphones design. Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent for that design/concept. Apple kept this design/concept a secret by filing the original patent application under their engineers names so that it wouldn't be made public under Apple's name at the patent office database. At this stage, Apple's name must be associated with the approved/granted patent, and only now do we get to see this secretive design/concept.

Apple's granted patent is a utility patent that presents an broad overview of the concept in mind and not a design patent. So don't judge the patent figure presentation as an end result. We all know that beyond the mechanics, Apple will, should this concept become a product,  be a very cool design.

Over Ear Headphones 

Apple's granted patent covers a new kind of over-ear headphones. The headband may have a frame and a cover that is removably attached to the frame.

Engagement structures such as snaps, magnets, and/or other attachment mechanisms may be used in removably coupling the cover and frame.

The cover may have protrusions and other structures to enhance comfort as the headband is worn, may be adjusted using a pump that inflates the headband, may include a battery, and may include sensors and other components. The sensors may gather health information, motion information, and other information.

The earcups of the headphones may include a left earcup that is coupled to a left side of the headphones and a right earcup that is coupled to a right side of the headphones. An earcup movement synchronization mechanism in the headband may synchronize movement of the left earcup with movement of the right earcup.

A spring may be provided in the headband to bias the earcups inwardly towards the ears of a user. A torsion spring with a stop mechanism or other bend limiter may be configured to prevent overbending of the headband by the spring.

Apple's patent FIG. 2 below represents a top view of a pair of headphones. As shown in FIG. 2, support structures 26 may include a headband configured to be worn over the top of a user's head such as headband #26H. Support structures #26 may also include portions that enclose speakers (e.g., left and right speakers that provide sound to a user′ left and right ears, respectively) such as earcups #26E; FIG. 3 is a side view of the headphones.

In Apple's patent FIG. 6 above, earcups #26E include left earcup #26E-L and right earcup #26E-R coupled to headphone headband #26H (e.g. frame #26HF in headband #26H). Earcup support members #26M include left earcup support member #26M-L and right earcup support member #26M-R.

Earcup movement synchronization cables #50 and #58 are used to synchronize earcup motion. Cable #50 is attached to member #26M-L at point #52 and is attached to member #26M-R at point #54. The direction of cable #50 on the right side of headband #26H may be reversed using pulley #56. Cable #58 is attached to member #26M-R at point #60 and is attached to member #26M-L at point #62.

The direction of cable #58 on the left side of headband #26H may be reversed using pulley #64. Pulleys, guiding channels, and/or other guiding structures may be provided in the middle of headband #26H to help and ensure route cables #50 and #58 are tight.

The earcup motion synchronization mechanism of FIG. 6 helps synchronize movement of earcups #26 on the left and right sides of the headphones. If, for example, a user pulls downwardly on left earcup #26E-L in direction #66, cable #50 on the left side of device #10 will be pulled downwardly in direction #68. This pulls cable #50 at location #73 upwardly in direction #72. Due to the operation of pulley #56, cable at point #54 pulls downwardly on member #26M-R in direction #70, which moves earcup #26E-R downwardly in direction #70 by the same amount that earcup #26E-L was moved downwardly in direction #66 on the left side of the headphones. During these movements, cable #58 moves in directions #74 and #77 to accommodate the synchronized movement of the left and right earcups. When earcup #26E-L is pushed upwardly, cable #58 pulls earcup #26E-R upwardly in synchronization and cable 50 moves to accommodate the synchronized movement of the earcups.

Apple's patent FIG. 19 above is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative headband inflation system for inflating protrusions and/or other structures in a headband.

Sensors and Satellite Navigation Assistance

An interesting part of these headphones are its sensors. According to Apple, components #120 may include pressure sensors (e.g., a pressure sensor that measures the pressure of fluid in passageways #118), optical sensors, sensors for measuring electrical signals such as heart signals and/or brainwaves, inertial measurements units containing orientation sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and/or compasses, and/or other sensors #16.

The inclusion of sensors #16 at these locations and/or other locations in the headphones allow pressure in passageway and/or protrusions #106B to be measured (e.g., to measure blood pressure, to measure heart rate, to gather photoplethysmographs to assess blood volume changes, etc.) and/or allows other health-related and biometric measurements to be made (e.g., optical heart rate measurements, perspiration measurements, brainwave activity measurements such as electroencephalogram measurements, muscle activity measurements, temperature measurements, etc.). Orientation sensors may detect when a user is nodding or otherwise providing head motion input.

If desired, haptic modules may be embedded in the headphones to provide directional feedback while a user is navigating the world (e.g., a tap may be provided to the left side of a user's head to direct the user to turn to the left as a user is navigating through city streets with satellite navigation assistance from the headphones, etc.).

For more details, review Apple's granted patent  11838716.