ACOUSTIC COMPLIANCE ADJUSTER

• US 20070177742A1
• Filed: 01/27/2006
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Mimer, Markus, Edgren, Dan
• Granted Patent: US 7,957,541 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/89
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/035 Improving the acoustic characteristics by means of constructional features of the housing, e.g. ribs, walls, resonating chambers or cavities
• 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 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's

Abstract

A speaker arrangement is described, suitable for improving the sound quality of a small size first speaker. The arrangement comprises a cavity, to which the first speaker is acoustically coupled. A second speaker is also acoustically coupled to the cavity, and the first and second speakers are excited in phase with each other. The first speaker may be an earphone speaker tuned to be held to a user'"'"'s ear, whereas the second speaker may be a larger ring alert speaker with lower compliance than the first speaker, both of which are incorporated in the same mobile phone. By exciting the second speaker in phase with the first speaker, the second speaker will aid the smaller first speaker'"'"'s reproduction of sound, particularly in the lower frequency range.

Claims

1. A speaker arrangement, comprising:

a cavity, defined by a number of boundary walls,

a first speaker having one side acoustically coupled to the cavity;

a second speaker having one side acoustically coupled to the cavity;

a speaker signal generator device connected to excite the first speaker and the second speaker in phase with each other.

2. The speaker arrangement of claim 1, wherein the speaker signal generator device is configured to excite the first speaker and the second speaker in phase so as to simultaneously oscillate towards and away from the interior of the cavity.

3. The speaker arrangement of claim 1, wherein the speaker signal generator device is configured to excite the first speaker and the second speaker in phase so that the first speaker oscillates towards the interior of the cavity when the second speaker oscillates away from the interior of the cavity.

4. The speaker arrangement of claim 1, wherein the speaker signal generator device is configured to excite the first speaker at a higher amplitude than the second speaker.

5. The speaker arrangement of claim 1, wherein the speaker signal generator device is connected to the second speaker over a signal attenuator.

6. The speaker arrangement of claim 1, wherein the speaker signal generator device comprises a first generator connected to the first speaker, a second generator connected to the second speaker, and a phase-locking unit connected to the first and second signal generator.

7. The speaker arrangement of claim 1, wherein the first speaker is positioned inside the cavity, attached over an aperture formed in a first boundary wall of the cavity.

8. The speaker arrangement of claim 1, wherein the second speaker is positioned inside the cavity, attached over an aperture formed in a second boundary wall of the cavity.

9. The speaker arrangement of claim 1, wherein the cavity is sealed to the exterior thereof.

10. The speaker arrangement of claim 1, wherein a partition wall is formed in the cavity, dividing the cavity into a first sub-cavity and a second sub-cavity, and wherein a pressure transferring member is formed in the partition wall.

11. The speaker arrangement of claim 10, wherein the pressure transferring member comprises an aperture.

12. The speaker arrangement of claim 10, wherein the pressure transferring member comprises a membrane.

13. The speaker arrangement of claim 1, wherein the second speaker has lower acoustic compliance than the first speaker.

14. A mobile phone, comprising:

a housing;

a cavity defined within the housing by a number of boundary walls;

a first speaker within the housing, having a first output side coupled to a first opening in the housing, and a first backside acoustically coupled to the cavity;

a second speaker within the housing, having a second output side coupled to a second opening in the housing, and a second backside acoustically coupled to the cavity;

a speaker signal generator device connected to excite the first speaker and the second speaker in phase with each other.

15. The mobile phone of claim 14, wherein the speaker signal generator device is configured to excite the first speaker and the second speaker in phase so as to simultaneously oscillate towards and away from the interior of the cavity.

16. The mobile phone of claim 14, wherein the speaker signal generator device is configured to excite the first speaker at a higher amplitude than the second speaker.

17. The mobile phone of claim 14, wherein the first speaker is an earphone speaker configured to operate in phone mode by transmitting sound to a user'"'"'s ear placed over the first aperture in the housing, the second speaker is connected to an audio player unit and configured to operate in alert mode or audio player mode by transmitting sound to free air through the second aperture in the housing, and wherein the second speaker assists the first speaker in phone mode.

18. The mobile phone of claim 14, wherein the first opening in the housing is formed in a front side of the phone and the first speaker and the second opening in the housing is formed in backside of the phone, wherein the first and second speakers are positioned such that their backsides face each other.

19. The mobile phone of claim 14, wherein the second speaker has lower acoustic compliance than the first speaker.

20. A test rig for measuring acoustic quality of a speaker arrangement, including:

an acoustic device comprising

a housing;

a first speaker within the housing, having a first output side coupled to an opening in the housing, the first speaker being configured to transmit sound to a user'"'"'s ear placed over the aperture;

an artificial ear device comprising;

a cavity defined by boundary walls;

an opening in a boundary wall shaped to fit with sealed engagement over the aperture in the housing;

a second speaker having a second output side acoustically coupled to the cavity;

a speaker signal generator device connected to excite the first speaker and the second speaker in phase with each other.

21. The test rig of claim 20, wherein the speaker signal generator device is configured to excite the first speaker and the second speaker in phase so that the first speaker oscillates towards the interior of the cavity when the second speaker oscillates away from the interior of the cavity.

22. The test rig of claim 20, wherein the artificial ear device includes:

a coupler, and

an adapter member comprising

a through hole;

a first side shaped to fit to the housing with the through hole over the aperture in the housing;

a second side shaped to fit over the opening to the cavity as formed by the coupler.

23. The test rig of claim 20, wherein the speaker signal generator device is included in the housing.

24. The test rig of claim 20, wherein the speaker signal generator device is configured to excite the first speaker at a higher amplitude than the second speaker.