ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,356,163, issued on July 8, was assigned to Amazon Technologies Inc. (Seattle).
"Beamforming output audio using open headphones" was invented by Mihir Dhananjay Shetye (Ashland, Mass.), Wontak Kim (Watertown, Mass.) and Zhen Sun (Newton, Mass.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A wearable audio output device (e.g., headphones) having an open design that allows ambient noise to pass to a listener without physically isolating the listener from a surrounding environment. The device may include an open earcup design that may partially or completely surround the listener's ear, and in some examples a portion of the listener's head may be uncovered ...