Voice controlled assistant with stereo sound from two speakers

• US 10,123,119 B1
• Filed: 07/10/2017
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: List, Timothy T.
• Primary Examiner(s): McFadden, Susan
• Application Number:
  US15/645,612
• Time in Patent Office: 484 Days
• Field of Search: 381300
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/24 Structural combinations of separate transducers or of two parts of the same transducer and responsive respectively to two or more frequency ranges
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/26 Spatial arrangements of separate transducers responsive to two or more frequency ranges
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/401 2D or 3D arrays of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/00 Stereophonic arrangements stereophonic pick-ups H04R9/16, H04R11/12, H04R17/08, H04R19/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/02 Spatial or constructional arrangements of loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/04 Circuit arrangements, e.g. for selective connection of amplifier inputs/outputs to loudspeakers, for loudspeaker detection, or for adaptation of settings to personal preferences or hearing impairments combinations of amplifiers H03F3/68; stereophonic systems H04S
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 3/002 Non-adaptive circuits, e.g. manually adjustable or static, for enhancing the sound image or the spatial distribution control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field H04S7/30

Abstract

A voice controlled assistant has two speakers and stereo component configured to produce high quality stereo sound. The stereo component generates a first channel signal and a second channel signal used to produce stereo sound. The first channel signal is filtered to remove a range of frequencies, such as the low frequency range. The filtered first channel signal is passed to a first transducer associated with a first speaker to output a first part of the stereo sound. The second channel signal, together with the frequency portion removed from the first channel signal, are provided to a second transducer associated with a second speaker to output a second part of the stereo sound. In this manner, the two speaker arrangement plays stereo, without distortion, while preserving all frequencies in the signals.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a housing comprising a first end and a second end disposed opposite the first end;

a plurality of microphones arranged near the first end of the housing;

a first speaker and a second speaker disposed in a coaxial arrangement along a center axis of the housing;

a sound distribution cone disposed near the second end of the housing and configured to direct soundwaves produced by the second speaker in a direction substantially orthogonal to the center axis; and

one or more computing components disposed near the first end of the housing.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the first end of the housing comprises an upper skeletal member and the second end of the housing comprises a lower skeletal member.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the first speaker is supported by the lower skeletal member and the second speaker is supported by the upper skeletal member.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first speaker and the second speaker is configured to generate sound waves that emit omni-directionally from the device.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of microphones are configured to capture audio input from an environment surrounding the device.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the first end of the device is configured with one or more orifices to receive the plurality of microphones.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the first speaker and the second speaker are disposed in the coaxial arrangement relative to the plurality of microphones.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the first speaker and the second speaker are oriented to output sound waves towards the second end of the housing.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the first speaker is configured to operate at a first range of frequencies and the second speaker is configured to operate at a second range of frequencies, the first range of frequencies being different from the second range of frequencies.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the second speaker is disposed within a protective shielding, the protective shielding is coupled to the sound distribution cone, and the protective shielding is configured to shield the second speaker from sound waves emitted from the first speaker.

11. A device comprising:

a housing comprising a top end and a lower end disposed opposite the top end;

a plurality of orifices disposed near the top end of the housing, the plurality of orifices configured to house a plurality of microphones;

a plurality of speakers disposed in a coaxial arrangement along a center axis of the housing; and

a sound distribution cone disposed in a coaxial arrangement along the center axis of the housing, wherein the sound distribution cone is configured to direct sound waves emitted from a subset of the plurality of speakers to an environment surrounding the device.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein a speaker of the plurality of speakers is configured to generate sound waves that emit omni-directionally from the device.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein:

the sound distribution cone comprises an upper nose portion, a middle portion, and a lower flange portion, and

radii of the middle portion increase from a first section of the middle portion adjacent to the upper nose portion to a second section of the middle portion adjacent to the lower flange portion.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the lower flange portion is disposed adjacent to the lower end of the housing.

15. The device of claim 11, further comprising a plurality of openings disposed near the lower end of the housing and wherein the sound distribution cone is configured to direct the sound waves emitted from the subset of the plurality of speakers in a radial outward direction and towards the plurality of openings.

16. A device comprising:

a housing comprising a first support member and a second support member;

a first speaker supported by the first support member and a second speaker supported by the second support member, the first speaker and the second speaker disposed in a coaxial arrangement along a center axis of the housing;

a plurality of openings disposed near the second support member; and

a sound distribution cone disposed near the second support member and configured to direct soundwaves produced by the second speaker towards the plurality of openings.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein:

the second speaker is disposed proximate to a lower end of the housing,

the first speaker is disposed proximate to a top end of the housing, the top end of the housing being arranged opposite the lower end of the housing, and

the first speaker and the second speaker are configured to output sound waves towards the lower end of the housing.

18. The device of claim 16, wherein the plurality of openings individually have dimensions that are smaller than a first diameter of the first speaker and a second diameter of the second speaker.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the device further comprises a protective shielding, and wherein the second speaker is disposed within the protective shielding.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the protective shielding is coupled to the sound distribution cone and configured to shield the second speaker from sound waves emitted from the first speaker.