On October 31, 2024, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a patent application from Google that relates to systems and methods for future smartglasses with built-in Earbuds to improve the quality of sound or audio. The earbuds are removable.

Earbuds Coupled to Smartglasses

In a general aspect, Google's invention relates to smartglasses. The frame has at least one temple with a first end and a second end. The first end is connected to the frame. The eyewear further includes a first speaker disposed in the at least one temple. The first speaker is configured to deliver sound externally through air or through bone conduction to an ear of a person wearing the eyewear.

Further, an earbud is removably attached to the second end of the at least one temple. A second speaker is disposed in the earbud and is configured to deliver sound into an ear canal of the person in which the earbud is placed. The eyewear further includes or is coupled to a controller configured to deactivate the first speaker disposed in the at least one temple and activate the second speaker after the earbud is detached from the second end of the at least one temple.

Google's patent FIG. 1 below is a schematic illustrating a mockup of an earbud (e.g., left earbud #100L). The figure shows the left earbud placed in an ear canal (e.g., ear canal #110C) a person's left ear; FIG. 2 shows, for example, an example smart glasses #120 with the earbuds (e.g., left earbud, right earbud #100R) removably attached to temple tip #120L and temple tip #120R, respectively, of the smart glasses; FIG. 5 illustrates the earbud and provides an overview of the parts.  

Google's patent FIG. 7 above illustrates a method 700 for playing an audio portion of an augmented reality presentation on speakers associated with a pair of glasses.

For more details, review U.S. Patent Application 20240361614.