CONSTANT-BEAMWIDTH LOUDSPEAKER ARRAY
First Claim
1. A loudspeaker system, the loudspeaker system comprising:
- a frame;
an array of speaker drivers, where the array of speaker drivers is coupled to the frame and aligned in a frontal plane; and
a circuit configured to apply a plurality of delay levels to an incoming signal to place the array of speaker drivers in a virtual arc in a plane perpendicular to the frontal plane, where the circuit is further configured to also apply a plurality of attenuation levels to the incoming signal, so that each speaker driver of the array of speaker drivers is configured to receive a driving electrical signal based on the incoming signal that causes a respective speaker driver of the array of speaker drivers to generate a respective acoustic output, where each respective acoustic output is combined to form a directional sound field having a substantially constant beamwidth across an operational frequency range.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A loudspeaker is provided for receiving an incoming electrical signal and transmitting an acoustical signal that is directional and has a substantially constant beamwidth over a wide frequency range. The loudspeaker may include a curved mounting plate that has curvature over a range of angles. The loudspeaker may include an array of speaker drivers coupled to the mounting plate. Each speaker driver may be driven by an electrical signal having a respective amplitude that is a function of the speaker driver'"'"'s respective location on the mounting plate. The function may be a Legendre function. Alternatively, the loudspeaker may include a flat mounting plate. In this case, the respective electrical signal driving each speaker may have a phase delay that virtually positions the speaker onto a curved surface.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A loudspeaker system, the loudspeaker system comprising:
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a frame; an array of speaker drivers, where the array of speaker drivers is coupled to the frame and aligned in a frontal plane; and a circuit configured to apply a plurality of delay levels to an incoming signal to place the array of speaker drivers in a virtual arc in a plane perpendicular to the frontal plane, where the circuit is further configured to also apply a plurality of attenuation levels to the incoming signal, so that each speaker driver of the array of speaker drivers is configured to receive a driving electrical signal based on the incoming signal that causes a respective speaker driver of the array of speaker drivers to generate a respective acoustic output, where each respective acoustic output is combined to form a directional sound field having a substantially constant beamwidth across an operational frequency range. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of generating a directional sound field from a loudspeaker system including a plurality of speaker drivers, the method comprising:
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aligning the plurality of speaker drivers along a first plane; receiving an incoming signal; applying a plurality of predetermined phase delay levels to the incoming signal to generate a respective input signal for each of the plurality of speaker drivers and to place the plurality of speaker drivers in a virtual arc; applying a predetermined attenuation level to each respective input signal to form a respective attenuated input signal; driving each of the plurality of speaker drivers with the respective attenuated input signal to generate a respective acoustic output; and combining each respective acoustic output to form a directional sound field due to each respective attenuated input signal, the acoustic output having a substantially constant beamwidth across an operational frequency range, where the directional sound field is directed in a radially outward direction away from the virtual arc. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A loudspeaker system, the loudspeaker system comprising:
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an input terminal configured to receive an incoming electrical signal; a frame; and a circuit coupled to the input terminal that includes an array of speaker drivers, where the array of speaker drivers is secured to the frame along a frontal plane; where the circuit includes a delay stage to place the array of speaker drivers in a virtual arc having a curvature over a range of angles from −
A to +A in a plane perpendicular to the frontal plane, and an attenuation stage so that each speaker driver of the array of speaker drivers is configured to receive a driving electrical signal based on the incoming electrical signal that causes a respective speaker driver of the array of speaker drivers to generate a respective acoustic output with a respective sound pressure level that is based on a respective angle Ax, of the respective speaker driver that is greater than angle −
A and less than angle +A, and respective acoustic outputs from the array of speaker drivers are configured to combine to form a directional sound field having a substantially constant beamwidth across an operational frequency range, where the directional sound field is directed in a radially outward direction away from the virtual arc. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A loudspeaker system comprising:
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an input terminal configured to receive an incoming electrical signal; a speaker frame; and a circuit coupled to the input terminal, where the circuit includes a first array of speaker drivers and a second array of speaker drivers, where the first array of speaker drivers and the second array of speaker drivers are coupled to the speaker frame, and where the first array of speaker drivers are aligned along a first plane; where the circuit is configured to apply a plurality of delay levels to the incoming signal to place the first array of speaker drivers in a virtual arc in a plane perpendicular to the first plane, where the circuit is further configured to apply a plurality of attenuation levels to the incoming signal, so that each speaker driver of the first array of speaker drivers is configured to receive a first driving electrical signal based on the incoming electrical signal that causes a respective speaker driver of the first array of speaker drivers to generate a first respective acoustic output, where each first respective acoustic output is combined to form a first directional sound field based on application of the plurality of delay levels, the first directional sound field having a substantially constant beamwidth across a first operational frequency range. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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Specification