Mobile telephone

• US 10,079,925 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2016
• Issued: 09/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Finewell Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Finewell Co., Ltd., ROHM Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Hosoi, Hiroshi, Hosoi, Yoji, Morimoto, Masashi, Tanaka, Masahide
• Primary Examiner(s): HSIEH, PING Y
• Application Number:
  US15/266,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20170006144A1
• Time in Patent Office: 733 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/00 Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/26 using coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0214 Foldable telephones, i.e. with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position combined with translation movement H04M1/0235
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0237 Sliding mechanism with one degree of freedom
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0245 using open/close detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0258 for a headset device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/03 Constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. telephone hand-sets
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/05 specially adapted for use on head, throat or breast
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/605 involving control of the receiver volume to provide a dual operational mode at close or far distance from the user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6058 involving the use of a headset accessory device connected to the portable telephone
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6066 including a wireless connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/026 Supports for loudspeaker casings
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 17/005 using a piezoelectric polymer
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/01 Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2440/05 Aspects relating to the positioning and way or means of mounting of exciters to resonant bending wave panels
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/13 Hearing devices using bone conduction transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 : Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/04 : for correcting frequency response
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 31/006 : Interconnection of transducer parts of diaphragm and outer suspension by moulding H04R31/003
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 7/045 : using the distributed mode principle, i.e. whereby the acoustic radiation is emanated from uniformly distributed free bending wave vibration induced in a stiff panel and not from pistonic motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0254 : detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The mobile telephone disclosed in the present specification has a mobile telephone upper edge unit including a right-ear cartilage conduction unit, a left-ear cartilage conduction unit, and a linking unit linking the right-ear cartilage conduction unit and the left-ear cartilage conduction unit, the units being exposed at the mobile telephone surface; and a cartilage-conduction vibration source for transmitting vibration to the mobile telephone upper edge unit.

Claims

1. A mobile telephone comprising:

a sound signal source unit for outputting a sound signal;

an acoustic signal processing unit for applying correction, based on vibration transmission frequency characteristics of cartilage-conduction, to the sound signal from the sound signal source unit; and

a cartilage-conduction vibration source vibrated by the sound signal corrected by the acoustic signal processing unit,

wherein the acoustic signal processing unit is arranged, in an external auditory meatus occluded state, to perform correction to boost a gain at a high end within a frequency band at which the cartilage-conduction vibration source is vibrated, to a level higher than the gain in an external auditory meatus unoccluded state.

2. The mobile telephone according to claim 1 further comprising:

a mobile telephone upper edge unit including a right-ear cartilage conduction unit,

a left-ear cartilage conduction unit, and

a linking unit linking the right-ear cartilage conduction unit and the left-ear cartilage conduction unit, the units being exposed at the mobile telephone surface, wherein the cartilage-conduction vibration source is arranged to transmit vibration to the mobile telephone upper edge unit.

3. The mobile telephone according to claim 2, the cartilage-conduction vibration source transmitting vibration to either one of the right-ear cartilage conduction unit and the left-ear cartilage conduction unit, and the linking unit transmitting the vibration to the other of the right-ear cartilage conduction unit and the left-ear cartilage conduction unit.

4. The mobile telephone according to claim 2, the linking unit bypassing an in-camera built-in the mobile telephone and linking the right-ear cartilage conduction unit and the left-ear cartilage conduction unit.

5. The mobile telephone according to claim 2, a vibration isolating part intervening between the mobile telephone upper edge unit and other sections of the mobile telephone, and the cartilage-conduction vibration source being furnished to the inside of the mobile telephone upper edge unit in such a way as to have substantially no conduct with other sections of the mobile telephone.

6. The mobile telephone according to claim 2, the cartilage-conduction vibration source being furnished at the inside center of the linking unit.

7. The mobile telephone according to claim 2, the mobile telephone upper edge unit being an antenna.

8. The mobile telephone according to claim 1 further comprising an external sound output unit, wherein the acoustic signal processing unit is arranged to perform correction to boost the gain at the high end within the frequency band at which the cartilage-conduction vibration source is vibrated, to a level higher than the gain in sound output signal to the external sound output unit.

9. The mobile telephone according to claim 1 further comprising a short-range wireless communication unit, wherein the acoustic signal processing unit is arranged to perform correction to boost the gain at the high end within the frequency band at which the cartilage-conduction vibration source is vibrated, to a level higher than the gain in a sound signal output from the short-range wireless communication unit.

10. The mobile telephone according to claim 1, wherein the acoustic signal processing unit includes a plurality of acoustic signal processing units, and wherein the mobile telephone further comprises an amplifier unit for outputting, as a drive signal to the cartilage-conduction vibration source, a processed signal processed by the plurality of acoustic signal processing units and synthesized thereby.

11. A mobile telephone comprising:

a sound signal source unit arranged to output a sound signal;

an external sound output unit to which the sound signal is applied;

a cartilage-conduction vibration source vibrated by the sound signal; and

an acoustic signal processing unit for applying correction to the sound signal from the sound signal source unit to boost a gain at a high end within a frequency band at which the cartilage-conduction vibration source is vibrated, to a level higher than the gain in the sound output signal applied to the external sound output unit, the cartilage-conduction vibration source being vibrated by the sound signal corrected by the acoustic signal processing unit, wherein the acoustic signal processing unit is arranged, in an external auditory meatus occluded state, to perform correction to boost the gain at the high end within the frequency band at which the cartilage-conduction vibration source is vibrated, to a level higher than the gain in an external auditory meatus unoccluded state.

12. The mobile telephone according to claim 11 further comprising a short-range wireless communication unit, wherein the acoustic signal processing unit is arranged to perform correction to boost the gain at the high end within the frequency band at which the cartilage-conduction vibration source is vibrated, to a level higher than the gain in a sound signal output from the short-range wireless communication unit.

13. The mobile telephone according to claim 11, wherein the acoustic signal processing unit includes a plurality of acoustic signal processing units, and wherein the mobile telephone further comprises an amplifier unit for outputting, as a drive signal to the cartilage-conduction vibration source, a processed signal processed by the plurality of acoustic signal processing units and synthesized thereby.

14. A mobile telephone comprising:

a short-range wireless communication unit to output a sound signal;

a cartilage-conduction vibration source vibrated by the sound signal; and

an acoustic signal processing unit arranged to perform correction to the sound signal to boost a gain at a high end within a frequency band at which the cartilage-conduction vibration source is vibrated, to a level higher than the gain in the sound signal output from the short-range wireless communication unit, the cartilage-conduction vibration source being vibrated by the sound signal corrected by the acoustic signal processing unit,

wherein the acoustic signal processing unit is arranged, in an external auditory meatus occluded state, to perform correction to boost the gain at the high end within the frequency band at which the cartilage-conduction vibration source is vibrated, to a level higher than the gain in an external auditory meatus unoccluded state.

15. The mobile telephone according to claim 14 further comprising an external sound output unit, wherein the acoustic signal processing unit is arranged to perform correction to boost the gain at the high end within the frequency band at which the cartilage-conduction vibration source is vibrated, to a level higher than the gain in sound output signal to the external sound output unit.

16. The mobile telephone according to claim 14, wherein the acoustic signal processing unit includes a plurality of acoustic signal processing units, and wherein the mobile telephone further comprises an amplifier unit for outputting, as a drive signal to the cartilage-conduction vibration source, a processed signal processed by the plurality of acoustic signal processing units and synthesized thereby.