Magnetic Ear Cushion Attachment for Correct Headphone Orientation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing headphones do not ensure correct attachment and orientation of left and right ear cushions, leading to potential misplacement and interference with electro-acoustic calibration, particularly affecting Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) performance.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing specific polarities of permanent magnets in the ear cushions and speaker housings to ensure correct attachment and orientation, preventing interchangeability and ensuring precise positioning through magnetic attraction and repulsion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If magnetic attachment means are used to attach ear cushions to headphone speaker housings, then the attachment strength is improved, but the ability to ensure correct angular orientation and prevent interchangeability of left and right components is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by configuring the magnets in the ear cushion and corresponding magnets in the speaker housing with specific asymmetric polarity arrangements. The left ear cushion has a different magnet polarity configuration than the right ear cushion, creating asymmetric magnetic attraction patterns that only match with their corresponding left or right speaker housing. This asymmetric design ensures that left and right components cannot be interchanged while maintaining strong magnetic attachment.
2Reliability
If separate left and right headphone devices with corresponding ear cushions are used, then the acoustic characteristics can be optimized, but the risk of incorrect ear cushion placement and interchangeability increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service through magnetic polarity configuration where the ear cushions and speaker housings automatically guide correct pairing through magnetic attraction. When a user attempts to attach an ear cushion to a speaker housing, the magnetic fields either attract (correct pairing) or repel (incorrect pairing), providing automatic self-correction without requiring user knowledge or manual intervention to ensure correct left-right placement.
3Ease of repair
If ear cushions are made detachable for cleaning and replacement, then the ease of maintenance is improved, but the risk of misplacement and rotation errors increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical attachment systems (screws, clips, or adhesive) with a magnetic attachment system. This substitution maintains ease of attachment and detachment for cleaning and replacement while incorporating magnetic polarity encoding that automatically ensures correct orientation and placement precision. The magnetic field provides both the attachment force and the orientation guidance, eliminating the need for complex mechanical orientation features.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Ensures correct and precise placement of ear cushions, maintaining electro-acoustic calibration and enhancing ANC performance by preventing misplacement and rotation errors.
Implementation Method 1
the ear cushion can be held attached to the earphone by the magnetic forces acting between the magnets and the ring-shaped member
Implementation Method 2
If two magnets have the same polarity they will repel each other and if they have opposite polarity they will attract each other
Data Source
Figure 1(a)~1(b)
Figure 2
Figure 3(a)~3(b)
AI summary
The invention relates to a headphone device comprising a speaker housing (2) and an ear-cushion (3), the speaker housing (2) comprising a speaker housing side portion (6) and the ear-cushion (3) comprising an ear cushion side portion (5), where the speaker housing side portion (6) and the ear cushion side portion (5) respectively are configured for releasable connection to each other along an end surface (7) of the ear cushion side portion (5) and a corresponding end surface (8) of the speaker housing side portion (6), wherein said speaker housing side portion (6) comprises a plurality of first permanent magnets (30, 31, 32, 33) provided at respective first locations on or in the speaker housing side portion (6) with each respective magnet generating a magnetic field in a direction substantially perpendicular to the end surface (8) of the speaker housing side portion (6); said ear cushion side portion (5) comprises a plurality of second permanent magnets (26, 27, 28, 29) provided at respective second locations on or in the ear cushion side portion (5) with each respective magnet generating a magnetic field in a direction substantially perpendicular to the end surface (7) of the ear cushion side portion (5); where said first locations respectively corresponds substantially to one of said second locations; where for each pair of said first and second permanent magnets (26-33; 27-32; 28-31; 29-30), the magnetic field of a first permanent magnet (30, 31, 32, 33), provided at one of said first locations, is opposite to the polarity of the magnetic field of the corresponding second permanent magnet (26, 27, 28, 29) provided at the corresponding of said second locations, when the speaker housing side portion (6) of the speaker housing (2) and the ear cushion side portion (5) of the ear cushion (3) are aligned and in contact with each other. The invention comprises a number of different magnet configurations of which some are shown and described in the specification. The invention is also related to a headphone comprising headphone devices according to the invention.