As usual, from time to time the United States Patent and Trademark Office unveils recently granted patents. Today we bring a series of them presented by Apple, which can be really interesting regarding the design and improvement of the headphones from the Californian brand.
All of them are simply called "Earbuds with Biometric Sensing", and make up a series of improvements that Apple would be thinking of introducing in future AirPods.
The filing of the patents show a PPG, which is a sensor that would monitor some biometric data of the individual who uses it to improve the experience of using it. This technique is not so far from reality since the Apple Watch already makes use of it.
The main problem with this sensor is that in the place where said sensor should go, the tragus, generally there is not enough contact surface to obtain accurate biometric information. Therefore, in this series of patents, Apple details how this limitation could be overcome.
One of the solutions would be to place the PPG sensor close to the earpiece speaker opening, thus forcing both surfaces to contact each other. For it, patents detail a "retaining wall" at the opposite end of the sensor, to fit the headset to the ear of each user.
We can understand the structure devised by Apple in the following sketch:
This biometric sensor could provide user information such as heart rate, body temperature and other data of interest.
In addition, Apple presents a triangular configuration of three microphones built into the AirPod as a proposal to improve noise cancellation as well of future headphone designs. Clearly the current noise cancellation of current AirPods is something for which they have been heavily criticized.
As always, the presentation and / or discovery of this type of patent does not imply an immediate update in the future products of the brand, but rather helps us to understand, as a demonstration, where is innovation in technology going.
