ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,696,025, issued on July 28, was assigned to SHENZHEN SHOKZ Co. LTD. (Shenzhen, China).

"Earphones" was invented by Lei Zhang (Shenzhen, China), Peigeng Tong (Shenzhen, China), Guolin Xie (Shenzhen, China), Yongjian Li (Shenzhen, China), Jiang Xu (Shenzhen, China), Tao Zhao (Shenzhen, China), Duoduo Wu (Shenzhen, China), Ao Ji (Shenzhen, China) and Xin Qi (Shenzhen, China).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An earphone comprises a sound production component and an ear hook including a first portion and a second portion connected in sequence. The first portion is hung between an auricle of a user and a head of the user, and the second portion e...