Patent Application
20140348366
From an engineering perspective, providing a loudspeaker for a handheld electronic device (e.g., a laptop computer, tablet computer, smartphone) typically involves a compromise between numerous factors. By way of example, there is typically a desire to provide loud, clear audio, generally associated with relatively large transducers that are adequately spaced from each other. However, the overall size of a handheld device tends to limit the use of such components and arrangements.
Briefly described, one embodiment, among others, is a handheld electronic device comprising: a housing defining an interior; a display supported by the housing; a distributed mode loudspeaker supported by the housing, the distributed mode loudspeaker having a driver and a panel, the driver being mounted within the interior and being operative to vibrate the panel, the panel being movable between a stowed position, in which a first portion of the panel is positioned within the interior, and an extended position, in which the first portion of the panel is positioned outside the interior.
Another embodiment is a method for operating a handheld electronic device comprising: determining that a panel of a distributed mode loudspeaker is an operative position relative to the electronic device such that, responsive thereto, the distributed mode loudspeaker is enabled to be driven; and determining that the panel is not in the operative position such that, responsive thereto, the distributed mode loudspeaker is disabled.
Other systems, methods, features, and/or advantages of the present disclosure will be or may become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the present disclosure, and be protected by the accompanying claims.
Many aspects of the disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
Having summarized various aspects of the present disclosure, reference will now be made in detail to the description of the disclosure as illustrated in the drawings. While the disclosure will be described in connection with these drawings, there is no intent to limit it to the embodiment or embodiments disclosed herein. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.
In this regard, devices and methods are provided that involve the use of distributed mode loudspeakers. In some embodiments, a handheld electronic device, such as a laptop computer, tablet or smartphone, incorporates a distributed mode loudspeaker that includes a panel. The panel is selectively movable to an operative position (e.g., an extended position in which a portion of the panel extends outwardly from a housing of the device) so that the panel is positioned for propagating sound waves. In some embodiments, the device may incorporate another loudspeaker (e.g., a diaphragm-based loudspeaker) that is used alternately and/or in addition to the distributed mode loudspeaker to provide sound for the device.
Panel 110 of the DML includes a portion 112 that extends outwardly from an upper side 114 of housing 102. The panel 110 is generally rectangular and planar, with a relatively thin profile, and is generally rigid enough to reduce the tendency of the panel to deform based on the extension from the housing. The panel 110 may be formed of various materials, such as plastic, carbon fiber, or corrugated cardboard, for example. In the extended position, the panel 110 is able to propagate highly diffuse (non-directional) acoustic energy responsive to inputs by an associated driver (not shown in
In
It should also be noted that
As shown in more detail in
The local interface 166 may comprise, for example, a data bus with an accompanying address/control bus or other bus structure as can be appreciated.
The touchscreen interface 164 is configured to detect contact within the display area of the display 162 and provides such functionality as on-screen buttons, menus, keyboards, etc. that allow users to navigate user interfaces by touch.
The network interface 160 comprises various components used to transmit and/or receive data over a network environment. By way of example, the network interface 160 may include a device that can communicate with both inputs and outputs, for instance, a modulator/demodulator (e.g., a modem), wireless (e.g., radio frequency (RF)) transceiver, a telephonic interface, network card, etc.) capable of supporting, for example, wide area network (WAN), local area network (LAN) communications.
Operating system 158 is stored in the memory 156 and executable by the processor 152. A number of software components may be stored in the memory 154 (even though depicted separately in
An executable program may be stored in any portion or component of the memory 154 including, for example, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard drive, solid-state drive, USB flash drive, memory card, optical disc such as compact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, magnetic tape, or other memory components.
The memory 154 is defined herein as including one or both of volatile and nonvolatile memory and data storage components. Volatile components are those that do not retain data values upon loss of power. Nonvolatile components are those that retain data upon a loss of power. Thus, the memory 154 may comprise, for example, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard disk drives, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, memory cards accessed via a memory card reader, floppy disks accessed via an associated floppy disk drive, optical discs accessed via an optical disc drive, magnetic tapes accessed via an appropriate tape drive, and/or other memory components, or a combination of any two or more of these memory components.
In addition, the RAM may comprise, for example, static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magnetic random access memory (M RAM) and other such devices. The ROM may comprise, for example, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other like memory device.
Although the DML actuation system 170, and other various components described herein, may be embodied in software or code executed by general purpose hardware as discussed above, as an alternative the same may also be embodied in dedicated hardware or a combination of software/general purpose hardware and dedicated hardware. If embodied in dedicated hardware, each can be implemented as a circuit or state machine that employs any one of or a combination of a number of technologies. These technologies may include, but are not limited to, discrete logic circuits having logic gates for implementing various logic functions upon an application of one or more data signals, application specific integrated circuits having appropriate logic gates, or other components, etc. Such technologies are generally well known by those skilled in the art and, consequently, are not described in detail herein.
The flowchart of
Although the flowchart herein shows a specific order of execution, it is understood that the order of execution may differ from that which is depicted. For example, the order of execution of two or more blocks may be scrambled relative to the order shown. Also, two or more blocks shown in succession may be executed concurrently or with partial concurrence. Further, in some embodiments, one or more of the blocks may be skipped or omitted. In addition, any number of counters, state variables, warning semaphores, or messages might be added to the logical flow described herein, for purposes of enhanced utility, accounting, performance measurement, or providing troubleshooting aids, etc. It is understood that all such variations are within the scope of the present disclosure.
In the respective extended positions (depicted in
Also depicted are DML drivers 224, 226, with each being arranged to drive a corresponding panel. Notably, an optional additional DML driver 228 is depicted in association with panel 210, exhibiting an embodiment in which multiple drivers may be used with a single panel to vibrate the panel in different modes.
In order to set the extent of movement of a panel in the extended position, the device incorporates mechanical stops (e.g., stop 230). The stops are oriented to engage corresponding features of the panels. In this embodiment, the features are tabs (e.g., tab 232) that are affixed to the panels.
In this embodiment, the panels are biased to their respective extended positions by a biasing mechanism 240 (e.g., a spring assembly). A locking mechanism 242 (e.g., a latch assembly) also is provided that is operative to selectively lock the panel in the stowed position, thereby preventing the biasing force of the biasing mechanism from retaining the panels in the extended positions.
As shown in
In the context of the present disclosure, a “computer-readable medium” can be any medium that can contain, store, or maintain the logic or application described herein for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system. The computer-readable medium can comprise any one of many physical media such as, for example, magnetic, optical, or semiconductor media. More specific examples of a suitable computer-readable medium would include, but are not limited to, magnetic tapes, magnetic floppy diskettes, magnetic hard drives, memory cards, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, or optical discs.
Also, the computer-readable medium may be a random access memory (RAM) including, for example, static random access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magnetic random access memory (MRAM). In addition, the computer-readable medium may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other type of memory device.
It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments are merely examples of possible implementations. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the principles of the present disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.
