The present disclosure is related to communication devices and in particular to a small communication device where space is a premium such as with a wrist watch size device.
The progress in electronics is directed in one aspect to smaller and smaller devices. When these devices have audio requirements, the speaker system needs to be dimensionally much smaller without sacrificing the quality of audio beyond what is pleasant sounding and that which can be easily understood by a user. In the middle of the last century wrist watch radios came into vogue in some of the popular comic strips, and more recently with creation of wrist watch phone systems. The state of semiconductor levels of integration has been important to getting to the point where a phone can be integrated into a wrist watch size device. Equally, or perhaps more important, is the size of the sound system that must be contained within a wrist watch size device.
US 2012/0122519 A1 (Jochheim) is directed to a wrist phone wherein a speaker is located in the cap and opposite a microphone located in the strap. Opening for the speaker and microphone are covered by a water-impermeable membrane to render the wrist phone water resistant. US 2009/0231960 A1 (Hutcheson) is directed to a wrist watch phone comprising a communication module and uses a headset microphone and receiver activated through BlueTooth. In US 2004/0071308 A1 (Guenther) a low cost broad range loudspeaker is directed for use in portable consumer electronics, wherein the speaker is an electromagnetic speaker with a rare earth magnet with a hole behind the diaphragm to communicate through the speaker. US 2003/0081506 (Karhu) is directed to a radio communications device, a wrist-watch phone, wherein a speaker and a microphone are inside the phone housing below holes for the speaker and a microphone is on opposite sides of the main housing from the speaker.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,234,010 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,801,476 B2 (Gilmour) a wrist worn phone is directed to a speaker on the back side of the main housing and a microphone located in one of the straps. U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,071 B1 (Voroba et al.) is directed to an apparatus and method for reducing side-tone feedback in wireless portable telephone systems by positioning a microphone and speaker to reduce acoustic feedback. U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,521 (Blonder) is directed to a wristwatch radio telephone wherein a top layer of a wrist band contains a speaker at one end and a microphone at the other end of a strap connected to the wrist band opposite to the wristwatch radio telephone. U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,818 (Olsen) is directed to a wristwatch radio telephone, wherein a wrist strap when opened comprises a speaker at one end of the open wrist strap and a microphone at the other end of the opened wrist strap.
The packaging of a miniature speaker into a small communication device, e.g. a wrist-watch phone, requires an equally miniature speaker enclosure that can be accommodated within the small communication device. Also important is the packaging of the microphone to allow complete communication capability without feedback between the microphone and the speaker.
It is an objective of the present disclosure to provide an enclosure for a miniature speaker that can be accommodated in a wrist-watch phone.
It is also an objective of the present disclosure to package the miniature speaker with a microphone on a same platform to be able to provide two way communications with the wrist-watch phone.
It is still an objective of the present disclosure to position the speaker and the microphone in such a way as to minimize, or eliminate, feedback between the speaker and the microphone.
It is yet again an object of the present disclosure to mount the miniature speaker “face down” onto a sound chamber such that sounds from the speaker enters a chamber in a downward direction and exits the chamber in an orthogonal direction from the side of the chamber.
The speaker enclosure is formed from ABS (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene) plastic, or a similar smooth and resilient material. The base, or platform, of the speaker enclosure also has enclosures attached for a microphone and a vibrator to provide notification when sound is turned off.
The speaker is preferably an oval shaped, electro-magnetic device that is matched preferably by an oval shaped sound chamber formed on the base platform, which in one exemplary embodiment has dimensions as follows. The sound chamber has a length of approximately 17 mm and a width of approximately 11 mm. The depth of the chamber is approximately 4 mm. At the bottom of the depth of the chamber along one side is an approximate 5 mm wide rectangular portal from the inside the chamber to the outside to allow sound from the speaker out of the chamber. The speaker is placed over the sound chamber face down and forms the speaker enclosure so that sound emanating from the speaker enters directly into the sound chamber. With the inclusion of the microphone holder and the vibrator holder, the base of the platform is approximately 35 mm long.
It should be noted that neither the microphone nor the vibrator need to be included on the same platform as the speaker, and the minimum length of the platform of an exemplary embodiment could be approximately 17 mm without the microphone and the vibrator. The important factor is the orientation of the microphone receiving portal with respect to the speaker chamber output portal, which is substantially orthogonal.
This invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
A miniature speaker 18 is shown above the sound chamber 12 in
In
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a cover made of a sound-insulating material such as rubber, may be placed over the speaker 18, to prevent unwanted audio output from the top of the speaker back upward into the device in which the disclosed speaker is mounted.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This application is related to the following U.S. Provisional patent applications: SP12-002, titled “Wearable communication Device and User Interface”, Ser. No. 61/682,804, filing date Aug. 14, 2012,SP12-004, titled “Wearable communication Device and User Interface”, Ser. No. 61/682,814, filing date Aug. 14, 2012, andSP12-005, titled “Wearable communication Device/System”, Ser. No. 61/681,792, filing date Aug. 10, 2012, all of which are assigned to the same assignee. The contents of these applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.