High directivity microphone array

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6763118
  • Patent Number
    6,763,118
  • Date Filed
    Monday, October 28, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 13, 2004
    20 years ago
Abstract
A microphone array for providing a focused field of optimum audio reception is disclosed. The array has a series of interconnected microphones spaced within a housing. At a midpoint of the spaced microphones is an illuminated polarized centering marker which gives the user a visual signal that the user is located within the optimum filed of audio reception. The housing can be placed on the top front edge of video monitor and has slideably mounted removable feet, which allow the microphones to be aimed more accurately at the user. The array is foldable along a midpoint, which allow for compact storage. The folding mechanism is a hinge, which has a hollow core, and openings which allow the internal wiring to interconnect two wings of the array without exposing the wires. The wings are held in their longitudinally oriented position by a latching mechanism of pins in one wing which snap fit into capture boots within the other wing. Microphones are maintained in sound deadening pods, which absorb side and rear audio signals and provide rear pressure relief.
Description




TECHNICAL FIELD




This invention relates to the technical field microphone arrays and housing therefore.




BACKGROUND




Use of a microphone while operating a computer or similar terminal device has demanded a new type of highly directional microphone to selectively receive the voice of the speaker situated directly in front of it, but with the ability to cancel or reject sounds coming from other directions. This is particularly important in an open workstation environment where there is little sound insulation from the sides and rear. Furthermore, speech-to-text applications take accurate reception of the audio from the speaker all the more critical.




Prior art devices range from simple single unit element microphone with an adhesive base mounted on the top of a video monitor, to the use of headsets. The first solution is generally inadequate to provide sufficient sound isolation and the headset concept, while highly effective, requires the user to wear the headset in some cases still requires the user to be tethered to some part of the computer.




The present invention overcomes the problems inherent in prior “set top” mounted solutions while providing a highly direction microphone in a hands free, untethered environment.




The solution to the above problems lies in both the supporting electronics for the array and the cabinet design and microphone placement. The placement and electronics solutions are addressed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/191,208 filed Nov. 12, 1998, which is specifically incorporated herein by reference. The solution to the cabinet is addressed in this application.




As to the cabinet, there is a need to mount the microphone array in a way to maximize its effectiveness, yet provide a convenient enclosure which will fit on monitors (or other fixtures like an automobile dashboard) of different sizes and shapes. Finally, it is important that a mobile solution be available so that the length of the array, which contributes to its effectiveness, will not detract from the transportability of the product.




It is also important that a structure be provided to warn the user to stay positioned in the field of optimum audio capture defined by the array.




The present invention addresses these issues and the invention comprises each individual solution as well as combinations of solutions.




BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




The invention can be characterized in many different ways and combinations. The following summary may be helpful in getting a general understanding of the invention in its many forms. Be aware however that the invention is defined by the claims which follow the specification and not by any summary information contained herein.




The invention relates to a microphone array preferably having an elongated housing for holding a series of spaced apart microphones. The housing is preferably formed in two half wings, the wings being hinged together at one of their ends to allow for folding at the hinge.




In one embodiment the housing has removable fee.




In another embodiment the feet are adjustable along a slot.




Another configuration of the array has an indicator which allows the user to know when he/she is speaking from the proper position, i.e. with the field of optimum audio reception.




Another configuration provides a locking mechanism to hold the winds in an extended open position, and additionally may provide a latching mechanism for maintaining the wings in a folded position (feet removed) for transport.




The array may also have structure for permitting the passage of wires through the hinge itself so that no exposed wires appear outside the housing.




The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describe each illustrated embodiment or every implementation of the present invention. The figures and the detailed description which follow more particularly exemplify these embodiments.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




The figures form a part of the invention disclosure and are used to illustrate a preferred embodiment but not to limit the scope of the claims to that embodiment:




In the following, the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawing, where





FIG. 1

is a top perspective view of one the invention with feet removed;





FIG. 2

is a perspective view of like

FIG. 1

, but non folding, with feet shown;





FIG. 3

is a pop plan view with feet removed;





FIG. 4

is a front plan view with feet removed;





FIG. 5

is a rear perspective view, non folding, with feet attached;





FIG. 6

is a top perspective view with portions broken away;





FIG. 7

is a perspective view in a partially folded position;





FIG. 8

is a perspective view in a partially folded position;





FIG. 9

is a close-up perspective view of the hinge;





FIG. 10

is a view like

FIG. 9

except a wire path is shown;





FIG. 11

is a view like

FIG. 10

except that the removable hinge pin is fitted;





FIG. 12

is a view like

FIG. 11

with the hinge removed to show other elements;





FIGS. 13



a


,


13




b


, and


13




c


are side, top and in plan views of the latching clip;





FIG. 14

is a perspective view of the latching clip;





FIG. 15



a


is an exploded perspective view of the latching clip in the housing;





FIG. 15

is a perspective view of the latching clip with portions removed;





FIG. 16

is a top perspective view of the lower housing portion as seen from the inside;





FIG. 17

is a view like

FIG. 16

except with microphone pods shown;





FIG. 18

is an exploded view of a microphone pod;





FIG. 19

is a bottom perspective showing feet in place (non-folding);





FIG. 20

is a bottom plan view;





FIG. 20



a


is a perspective view of the bottom with cross section in shadow;





FIG. 21

is a perspective view the feet;





FIG. 22

is a side plan view of the array with feet; and





FIG. 23

is a bottom perspective close-up view of a locking recess.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




A microphone array assembly


10


is shown generally in

FIGS. 1 through 6

. It has a front face


12


with a series of slot apertures


14


. The slots are parallel apertures of varying depth as shown in

FIG. 2

from the most shallow on the outside to the deepest and tallest on the inside. The slots provide access to the microphone pods, which reside behind the slot apparatus. At approximately the center or midpoint along the elongated portion of the array is an aperture


16


which is used to provide a visual indication of in range placement. That is to say when the user is speaking into the array at the location within the optimum capture envelope of the array, the user will be able to see the illumination of the visual indicator, through aperture


16


. An LED or other illumination device


116


resides directly behind the aperture. Aperture


116


is preferably formed in a slot formation so as to limit the viewability of the illumination device to a limited angle off dead center. The angle of viewability is determined by the width, of the slot and the depth at which the illumination device is located relative to the front face of the aperture. These parameters must be adjusted to achieve a viewability angle not greater than the acceptable range of capture for the microphone array. In the alternative, a polarizing light source could be provided so that the desired limitation on the viewable extent of the indicator can be controlled by the polarization alone.




The aperture


16


and illumination device


116


need not be placed in the center point of the array, if the above parameter are adjusted to accommodate the off center placement. On the top side of the array are depressions


18


and at the forward most end of the depression is an opening


20


which provides pressure relief for the microphone pods situated thereunder.




The preferable configuration is a “set-top” arrangement where the array is removablely resting on the edge of a video monitor, auto dashboard, or the like. It is however possible to build this structure into the facing of a video monitor or equivalent.




On the lower side of the array are found two movable and removable feet


22


, shown in

FIGS. 20

,


21


,


22


. (A single foot or multiple feet are also possible.) Each foot is provided with a front lip


24


(see

FIG. 21

) which is intended to overhang the monitor or other resting shelf on which the array is situated, and a resting surface area


26


, preferably covered by a gripping material such as neoprene. In the body of each foot is a concave recess


31


having a slot


30


, which terminates at least one end in a circular opening


32


. The concave recess appears a convex protrusion on the other side of the foot. The preferred shaped is oval or oblong though it could have parallel sidewalls, so long as it is curved. This circular opening


32


is sized to be slightly larger than a retaining cap


34


, which extends out of the underside


36


of the array. The retaining cap


34


has a head sized just smaller than that of opening


32


and a neck


35


(visible in part in FIG.


16


and in shadow cross section in

FIG. 20



a


) just smaller than slot


30


. Neck


35


is long enough to just accommodate the thickness of material adjacent slot


30


so that the foot can slide in the space between cap


34


and the underside


36


array. On the underside of the array


36


(

FIG. 20

) the convex surface


33


of the foot is mated with a similarly shaped concave depression


37


in underside


36


. The preferred shape of the depression


37


is circular as shown in FIG.


17


. Though other shapes would suffice so long as the shape of the foot at the contact points with the underside would be in a slideable configuration relative to each other as the foot was moved along the slot


30


. The resulting configuration provides a foot with full movement in 2 planes (x+y), i.e. the foot can tip forward or backward to adjust for the angle at which it contacts the monitor edge (or similar) and it may rotate right or left for similar reasons.




The right/left rotation is restricted if the neck is a planer member (parallel sides) and sized to fit the slot


30


.




If the neck is cylindrical, full rotation is possible. Diamond or oval shapes will provide limited rotational freedom.




This permits feet


22


to be captured by the cap


34


and slide comfortably down slot


30


to accommodate different angles or orientation as maybe required by environmental considerations (such as the height of the user, the size of the monitor, the angle of the monitor, etc.). Each foot


22


is independently adjustable of the other. The feet


22


are removable for storage and transport.




In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the array


10


is foldable into two sections (wings) of preferably equal length


120


and


140


see

FIGS. 7 and 8

. The halves are joined at a hinge


160


. On half


140


there are preferably two locking projections


142


to be received within two locking apertures


144


on side


120


. The projections have a wide first portion


146


and then a narrower neck


148


and a wider base portion


150


. Apertures


144


have a latching or retaining clip


160


. (See

FIGS. 13



a, b, c


,


14


and


15


) located just inside the housing adjacent apertures


144


.The locking clip


160


includes a body element


162


with flanges


164


. Apertures


168


are provided to receive a bias wire


170


which maintains flanges


164


biased in a predetermined horizontally opposed position. Locking mechanism


160


is maintained just behind apertures


144


. When projections


142


pass through apertures


144


, projections


164


on the U shaped locking clip


160


are briefly spread but under pressure of wire


170


quickly retract to engage the recess


148


in projections


142


thereby maintaining the two halves of the microphone array a locked-open position. When the array is folded, the reverse occurs permitting the removal of projections


142


. Clips


160


are held in place adjacent apertures


144


by simple wall formations in the housing.




The array is preferably hinged see

FIGS. 7 through 12

. The hinge element


260


performs two functions. First, it allows the two halves


120


and


140


to swing on the hinge axis, but it also permits the passage of electrical conductors from one half to the other, without exciting the housing and exposing them to possible damage. Each microphone in the array has conductors which must be brought back from their respective housing halves to a circuit for signal processing. Therefore, hinge


260


has a hollow core and aperture on each half of the microphone array.




Turning to

FIG. 10

, hinge


260


is held in place by two halves of a hinge pin (the lower one held inside cap


270


and not otherwise visible and the upper hinge pin


280


is slideably removable from hinge


260


). Hinge pin


280


has an aperture


300


in its side wall corresponding to a notch


320


in the hinged body itself which permits passage of wires


301


to pass into the hollow core of the hinge pin. Hinge pin


280


is removably maintained within the hinge body


260


by a baisable latch member


330


, which engages a like-shaped receiving portion


340


on the hinge body


260


. A like aperture


302


(See

FIG. 12

) on the other side of the hinge body


260


permits the exit of wires that were fed through aperture


300


into the hinge body and out into the other half of the microphone array via aperture


302


. Consequently, the wires are maintained completely within the structure and are not visible to the user.




Microphone pod units


400


(see

FIGS. 16 through 18

) sit behind slotted apertures


14


and are confined in defined recesses


410


on both halves


420


and


430


(upper and lower) of the housing which comprises each wing (


120


,


140


) of the microphone array housing. As mentioned earlier, apertures


20


are provided in both upper and lower halves of each wing and within microphone recesses


410


. They provide pressure release against the incoming sound pressure.




The preferred construction of each microphone pod


400


is shown in FIG.


18


. The main body is formed of a microphone receiving mount


500


having an aperture


502


sized to receive microphone element


504


and a further vertically oriented aperture


506


sized to receive a sound deadening and pressure relief block


508


, typically made of rubber material and having an aperture


510


which also provides rear passage for the microphone wires. It is block


508


that engages apertures


20


in the two halves of the housing.




In front of each microphone unit


400


is a noise-canceling block


512


made of typical material found on the face of microphone elements.




The circuitry for interconnecting microphone units


400


is described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/191,208 fled Nov. 12, 1998 and incorporated herein.




In the folded position, the wings


120


,


140


, can be maintained in abutment by an option pin latch, comprising a recess


600


, and projection


602


. Actually,


600


and


602


do not mate with each other but with their reverse image counterpart (not shown) on the other wing. (That is, where projection


602


is located on this wing, a recess


600


will be on the other wing).




Recess


600


includes a ridge


604


(also shown in the cross section) and a like ridge


606


on the projection


602


. The ridges are sized so that the projection cannot easily pass into the recess without a frictional encounter as the two ridges pass each other. In the alternative the diameter of projection


602


can simply be just larger than the inner diameter of ridge


604


, which will insure a friction fit throughout.




It is understood that this has been a detailed description of the preferred embodiment, but that the invention encompasses a much broader range of possible substitutions of element to achieve the objection of this invention.




As noted above, the present invention is applicable to video display monitors, dashboards of vehicles, but that the inventive concepts can be applied anywhere where highly directional microphones in a hands-free is advantageous, including as a built in feature of any of the above. Accordingly, the present invention should not be considered limited to the particular examples described above, but rather should be understood to cover all aspects of the invention as fairly set out in the attached claims. Various modifications, equivalent processes, as well as numerous structures to which the present invention may be applicable will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art to which the present invention is directed upon review of the present specification.



Claims
  • 1. A microphone array comprising,a) a housing for holding a series of microphones, said housing having an upper and lower face; b) said lower face including at least one stud member having a mounting pin extending generally outwardly from the face and terminating in an cap member of predetermined size; c) at least one foot having a top portion and a bottom portion, said top portion including a foot aperture at least as large as the predetermined size of said cap member, so that said cap member may pass entirely therethrough; d) a slot being at least as wide as said mounting pin but less than the width of said cap member, said slot extending from said foot aperture a predetermined distance away therefrom; whereby the orientation of the array may be adjusted by changing the relative positions of the foot member and the housing.
  • 2. An array according to claim 1 further including a concave depression in the face of the housing, and wherein the top portion of the foot includes a convex surface shaped to conform generally to the shape of said concave depression, so that the relative angles between the foot member and housing change as the foot member is slid relative to the housing along the slot.
  • 3. An array according to claim 1 wherein said housing has a longitudinal dimension and wherein said top portion of said foot is generally dome shaped and wherein said slot is oriented through the convex member along a path which is generally orthogonal to said longitudinal dimension.
  • 4. An array according to claim 1 wherein said stud member has two flat opposing sides and that member is maintained in said generally orthogonal relationship as it slides in the slot.
  • 5. An array according to claim 1 wherein said foot spaced from each other along the longitudinal dimension.
Parent Case Info

This application is a Divisional application of prior pending application No. 09/478,268 filed on Jan. 5, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,473,514 entitled High Directivity Microphone Array.

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