Audio system having integral handle

• US 10,097,911 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2017
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bose Corporation
• Original Assignee: Bose Corporation
• Inventors: Parker, Robert Preston, Litovsky, Roman N., Chan, Jacky Chi-Hung, Brown, Todd Charter, Pucci, Lino A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ensey, Brian
• Application Number:
  US15/728,761
• Publication Number:
  US 20180035184A1
• Time in Patent Office: 364 Days
• Field of Search: 381334, 381337, 381338, 381339, 381345, 381386
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/02 Manually-operated control H03G3/001 and H03G3/002 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/02 Casings; Cabinets ; Supports therefor; Mountings therein H04R1/28 takes precedence ; attachments for microphones H04R1/08; mounting of transducers in earpieces H04R1/1075
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/2857 for loudspeaker transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2205/021 Aspects relating to docking-station type assemblies to obtain an acoustical effect, e.g. the type of connection to external loudspeakers or housings, frequency improvement
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/01 Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems

Abstract

An audio system includes a housing that defines an acoustic enclosure, an acoustic driver supported by the housing and arranged to radiate acoustic energy from a front surface of the housing, an acoustic exit located in a rear surface of the housing, opposite the front surface. The acoustic exit has a shape that facilitates a grasping of the housing with a plurality of fingers and the thumb from a single human hand, such that at the plurality of fingers or the thumb can be inserted into the exit while the plurality of fingers or the thumb of the same hand can rest on a top surface of the housing.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a housing defining an acoustic enclosure;

an acoustic driver supported by the housing and arranged to radiate acoustic energy from a front surface of the housing; and

a waveguide located within the housing, the waveguide comprising a first subsection that bends around a first axis and includes a first cross-sectional area with an aspect ratio that is substantially different from unity, a second subsection that bends around a second axis that is non-parallel to the first axis and includes a second cross-sectional area with an aspect ratio that is substantially different from unity, and a third subsection that acoustically couples the first subsection to the second subsection, the third subsection comprising a third cross-sectional area with an aspect ratio that varies between the first aspect ratio and the second aspect ratio.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the waveguide comprises moldable parts.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first, second, and third cross-sectional areas comprises a rectangular shape.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first, second, and third cross-sectional areas of the waveguide comprises a long dimension and a short dimension and the first and the second subsections each bend around an axis parallel to the long dimension of the respective first and second subsection.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the third cross-sectional area of the waveguide comprises a long dimension and a short dimension and a first axis parallel to the long dimension and a second axis parallel to the short dimension are substantially not rotating when the aspect ratio of the third subsection varies.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first cross-sectional area and the second cross-sectional area are identical.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first cross-sectional area is smaller than the second cross-sectional area.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the aspect ratio of the first cross-sectional area is different than the aspect ratio of the second cross-sectional area.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first axis is in a plane substantially perpendicular to the second axis.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second subsections bends around a cavity.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the waveguide comprises an open end having a shape that facilitates the grasping of the housing with a plurality of fingers from a single human hand.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an acoustic exit located in a rear surface of the housing, opposite the front surface,

wherein the acoustic exit has a shape that facilitates a grasping of the housing with a plurality of fingers and the thumb from a single human hand, such that the plurality of fingers or the thumb can be inserted into the exit while the plurality of fingers or the thumb of the same hand can rest on at least one of the front surface or a top surface of the housing.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the waveguide has a first end acoustically coupled to the acoustic enclosure and a second end that terminates at the acoustic exit.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises a docking cradle mechanically coupled to the housing such that the docking cradle is capable of being rotated horizontally between an open position and a closed position.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises an acoustic exit that exits the housing, the acoustic exit having a shape that facilitates the grasping of the housing with a plurality of fingers from a single human hand.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the acoustic exit is an exit of the waveguide.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the acoustic exit is located next to an exterior surface of the housing such that the shape of an open end together with the exterior surface facilitates grasping of the housing with the plurality of fingers and a thumb from the single human hand.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the acoustic exit comprises a flared end.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein an inside surface of the acoustic exit comprises a textured surface.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the textured surface facilitates gripping the inside surface of the acoustic exit with the plurality of fingers from the human hand.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the housing substantially encases a portable audio system.