Apple’s marketing materials state that “MacBook Air also features a four-speaker audio system. To fit into such a slim design, the speakers and microphones are fully integrated between the keyboard and the display — all while delivering an even better audio experience. A three-microphone array captures clear audio using advanced beamforming algorithms, while the speakers produce improved stereo separation and vocal clarity.” Apple arguably covered this new design feature in a patent application report on January 27, 2022 titled “Apple invents new audio architecture for future MacBooks that sits below the keyboard and eliminates speaker grills.” You can read the details of this report here. This is another patent that was fulfilled and had no rumors associated with it. The only place for this disclosure was Apple’s patent filing. Apple’s patent FIG. 1 below depicts a perspective view of a MacBook in the open state. FIG. Figure 2 illustrates a cross-sectional side view of an exemplary keyboard assembly having a speaker mounted thereunder. Apple’s patent FIG. 3 above depicts a perspective view of a speaker array attached to the chassis of a MacBook. FIG. 4 illustrates an enlarged view of the speaker assembly of FIG. 3. It’s worth repeating every now and then that whenever Apple introduces a new device, device feature, or software, the only thing that’s certain is that it’s patented, regardless of whether Apple has covered it with a patent in a reference or not. Nothing Apple introduces comes to market without being patented or in the patent process, so the product is legally protected from trolls and patent copying.
