Apple Granted 41 Patents Today Covering the Technology behind AirPods, a Design for the iPhone SE and more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 41 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover a design patent for Apple's iPhone SE model and a utility patent for AirPods. We wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.
AirPods: Improving Voice Quality
Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to a system and method of improving the speech quality in a wireless headset with untethered earbuds of an electronic device (e.g., mobile device) by determining which of the earbuds should transmit the acoustic signal and the inertial sensor output to the mobile device. In one embodiment, the determination is based on at least one of: a noise and wind level captured by the microphones in each earbud, the inertial sensor output from the inertial sensors in each earbud, the battery level of each earbud, and the position of the earbuds.
Apple's patent FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the wireless headset with untethered earbuds; FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the right side of the headset (e.g., right untethered earbud) used with a consumer electronic device in which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented; FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a system for improving voice quality of a mobile device using a wireless headset with untethered earbuds.
Apple's patent claims put a lot of emphasis on the "voice activity detector (VAD)" which is highlighted in yellow in patent figure 3 above.
Apple's granted patent 9,913,022 was originally filed in Q4 2016 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Apple Granted Two Design Patents Today
Apple was granted two design patents today covering the iPhone SE, as noted below, and the Apple Watch Nylon Band under D812,052 (not illustrated).
The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today
Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of granted patents with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any Granted Patent should be read in its entirety for full details. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.
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