Patent Application
20090074226
The present invention is related to speakers in electronic devices, and more specifically to a printed circuit board (PCB) with an embedded speaker assembly.
As volume in electronic devices is occupied principally by a display, a battery, and other components, the need for the size/thickness for acoustic components to shrink is high. Electronic components such as cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, portable audio players (e.g., MP3 players), portable video players, etc. are continually being made smaller and smaller, thus minimizing the available space for electronic components and other components such as speaker systems. Current speaker systems take up valuable space in these electronic components. Further, in devices that require a telecoil (T-coil) to support hearing aid devices, additional space is need for the T-coil as well the coil that is a part of the speaker system.
Embodiments of the present invention are related to an electronic device that includes a printed circuit board (PCB), and a speaker assembly, the speaker assembly being embedded in the PCB.
Embodiments of the present invention are further related to a speaker system that includes a printed circuit board (PCB), and a speaker assembly, the speaker assembly being embedded in the PCB.
Embodiments of the present invention are still further related to an electronic device that includes a printed circuit board (PCB), the PCB including one of a cavity or through hole, and a speaker assembly, the speaker assembly comprising at least a magnet and a coil, wherein at least the magnet is at least partially located in the cavity or through hole of the PCB.
The present invention is further described in the detailed description which follows in reference to the noted plurality of drawings by way of non-limiting examples of embodiments of the present invention in which like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings and wherein:
According to embodiments of the present invention a speaker assembly may be embedded in a printed circuit board (PCB). The speaker assembly may be placed in the PCB and preferably be no more than the thickness of the PCB (e.g., 1 mm thick). The thickness of the diaphragm of the speaker assembly may be approximately 10 mm. Embedded speaker assemblies according to embodiments of the present invention may be applied to either an earphone speaker or a loudspeaker. Further, a coil in the speaker system may be used as a T-coil for hearing aid compatibility.
In embodiments of the present invention, a speaker assembly may be formed using a coil embedded in the PCB material and a diaphragm/magnet assembly located within the PCB. The diaphragm/magnet assembly may be placed into the PCB through a hole or cavity in the PCB and soldered or glued into place at the edges or a surface of the diaphragm of the speaker assembly. Further, for a loudspeaker, a shield may be used as an additional sealed or nearly sealed box to lower the resonance frequency and decrease distortion.
The speaker assembly that includes the magnet 103, the magnet holders 104, the attachment devices 107, the coil 102, and the diaphragm 105, may be embedded in the printed circuit board 101 such that the speaker assembly requires little to no additional space and may be the same or less than the thickness of the printed circuit board 101. This is advantageous for devices that have a need for a speaker assembly and may have space and size requirements.
Moreover, in embodiments according to the present invention, the embedded coil 102 may also serve as a telecoil (T-coil) that may be used to interface with hearing aid devices. When a T-coil is placed in an electromagnetic field, an electrical signal is produced that is received by the hearing aid device and amplified. Since the coil 102 embedded in the printed circuit board 101 may be used as a T-coil, no separate additional coil is required to serve this function. Further, should smaller sizes be desired, embodiments of the present invention are flexible in that the size of the speaker assembly components/materials and the coil may be adjusted as well as the speaker assembly surface area to get the desired properties from the speaker system while the speaker assembly is embedded in a thinner printed circuit board.
A speaker assembly according to example embodiments of the present invention may be used in any type of electronic device that uses a speaker. For example, the speaker assembly according to embodiments of the present invention may be used in mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), computers, electronic game devices, electronic audio devices, electronic video devices, etc.
The flexible film 410, with the ability to add additional components, is shown in this embodiment along with a portion 415 of the printed circuit board 401 that also may support the addition of electronic components (as noted previously). The portion 415 of the printed circuit board 401 may be located on the opposite side of the printed circuit board 401 from the side with the flexible film 410 and the diaphragm 405. The portion 415 of the printed circuit board 401, as noted in the discussion of
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Although the present invention has been illustrated with embodiments where the coil 102 is embedded in the PCB 101 and the magnet 103 is located in a through hole or a cavity of the PCB 101, other embodiments of the present invention may provide varying degrees of compactness of the speaker relative to the PCB. For example, an embodiment according to the present invention may include the coil 102 located on a surface of the PCB 101 and the magnet 103 located in a cavity or hole in the PCB in alignment with the coil. While this embodiment does not maximize the compactness of the speaker, it does recess the magnet in the PCB. Moreover, although embodiments of the present invention have been shown with the diaphragm 105 and shield can 106 as possible separate items that may also be attached to the PCB 101, other embodiments according to the present invention may include either one or both the diaphragm and shield being integrally formed with the PCB 101 or embedded as part of the PCB 101 during its manufacture.
Further, in addition to providing speaker systems embedded in PCBs, embodiments of the present invention also includes methods of manufacturing such items. For example, a PCB 101 may be provided or formed having a coil 102 either embedded or placed on a surface of the PCB. The PCB 101 may further include either a hole or cavity sized to receive a magnet 103. Either integrally formed as part of the PCB or placed in the hole or cavity may be one or more supports 104, with the magnet being connected to the supports. A diaphragm 105 may be placed over the cavity or hole in the PCB. The diaphragm may either be connected to the PCB 101, supports 104, or both. In some embodiments, a shield can 106 may be attached to the PCB on a side opposite that of the diaphragm. In some embodiments, ports 308 may be provided in either surface of the PCB adjacent to the magnet or the shield can, if one is present.
Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, those of ordinary skill in the art appreciate that any arrangement which is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown and that the invention has other applications in other environments. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the present invention. The following claims are in no way intended to limit the scope of the invention to the specific embodiments described herein.
