SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HIGH RELIABILITY SOUND PRODUCTION

• US 20140198920A1
• Filed: 01/14/2013
• Published: 07/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Degimax, LLC
• Original Assignee: Degimax, LLC
• Inventors: Lee, Kyounghee
• Granted Patent: US 8,989,397 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/59
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/06 Monitoring of the line circuits, e.g. signalling of line faults
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/003 of the moving-coil type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 9/063 using a plurality of acoustic drivers H04R1/24 and H04R1/403 take precedence

Abstract

A system and method are provided for creating a loudspeaker system with low failure rate of sound production. The system uses a loudspeaker with more than one voice coil, a circuit to detect breakage of a voice coil and a switching circuit to steer the system input signal to a remaining good voice coil.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a loudspeaker comprising at least two voice coils;

a circuit comprising an input coupled to the voice coils and configured to detect breakage of at least one of the voice coils; and

a switching circuit configured to switch an input signal on the input to a remaining good voice coil.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuit is further configured to generate a voice coil broken notification.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuit is further configured to detect breakage of at least one of the voice coils by monitoring voice coil current.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuit is further configured to determine breakage of at least one of the voice coils by monitoring voice coil impedance.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuit is further configured to determine breakage of at least one of the voice coils by monitoring speaker sound output level with a microphone.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuit further comprises an amplifier and is further configured to determine breakage of at least one of the voice coils by monitoring a supply current to the amplifier.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuit further comprises at least one amplifier and wherein the switching circuit is configured to selectively enable and disable the at least one amplifier.

8. A system, comprising:

a loudspeaker comprising at least two voice coils that share a same two contacts;

a circuit configured to detect breakage of the voice coils; and

a voice coil broken notification output.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the circuit is further configured to detect breakage of at least one of the voice coils by monitoring voice coil current.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the circuit is further configured to detect breakage of the voice coils by measuring voice coil impedance.

11. A system, comprising:

at least two loudspeakers;

a circuit comprising an input and configured to detect breakage of a voice coil of at least one of the loudspeakers; and

a switching circuit configured to switch an input signal on the input to a remaining good loudspeaker.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the circuit is further configured to generate a voice coil broken notification.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the circuit is further configured to detect breakage of the voice coil by monitoring a voice coil current.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the circuit is further configured to detect breakage of the voice coil by monitoring an impedance of the voice coil.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the circuit is further configured to determine breakage of the voice coil by monitoring a speaker sound output level with a microphone.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the circuit further comprises at least one amplifier and is further configured to determine breakage of the voice coil by monitoring a supply current to the at least one amplifier.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the switching circuit is configured to selectively enable and disable the at least one amplifier.

18. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving an input signal to a loudspeaker comprising at least two voice coils; and

detecting breakage of one of the at least two voice coils of the loudspeaker; and

upon detecting breakage, switching the input signal to a remaining good voice coil.

19. A machine-readable medium having data stored thereon representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps of:

measuring an impedance of a number of coils connected in parallel; and

based on the measured impedance, providing a notification if one or more of the coils are broken.

20. A machine-readable medium having data stored thereon representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps of:

detecting breakage of a voice coil; and

upon detecting breakage of the voice coil, switching an input signal to a remaining good voice coil.