Personal wearable communication system with enhanced low frequency response
First Claim
1. A personal wearable, portable communication and entertainment system comprising:
- a hollow, closed structural member;
a first transducer means mounted on said structural member;
a second transducer means mounted on said structural member;
said first and second transducer means positioned in spaced relation to each other on said structural member;
driver means for driving said first and second transducer means with driving signals, said first and second transducer means being driven 180 degrees out-of-phase at a first frequency range and being driven in-phase at a second frequency range;
said first frequency range being lower than said second frequency range;
means for supplying audio signals to said first and second transducer means; and
means for changing the relative phase of driving signals from said driving means when the out-of-phase response would have been approximately the same as the in-phase response;
whereby the response of said system in said first frequency range is enhanced.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A personal wearable portable communication and entertainment system which provides improved quality audio response and which does not interfere with the wearer'"'"'s activities or block environmental sounds is disclosed. Transducers or speakers, which preferably are provided in arrayed pairs, are situated in a wearable structure, such as a garment for the wearer'"'"'s torso or a headband for the wearer'"'"'s head. The transducers are positioned on opposite sides of the wearer'"'"'s torso or head, adjacent the ears. In one embodiment, the transducers share a common closed enclosure and are driven 180° out of phase, so that back pressures cancel. In another embodiment, two hollow enclosures are provided, each with its own transducer and acoustic aperture. In a further embodiment, the transducers are positioned in a common hollow enclosure with at least one acoustic aperture between them. The speaker system is connected to or in communication with a conventional source of audio signals, such as a radio, tape player, CD player, cellular telephone or the like. With the invention, low frequency response in particular is enhanced.
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Citations
114 Claims
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1. A personal wearable, portable communication and entertainment system comprising:
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a hollow, closed structural member; a first transducer means mounted on said structural member; a second transducer means mounted on said structural member; said first and second transducer means positioned in spaced relation to each other on said structural member; driver means for driving said first and second transducer means with driving signals, said first and second transducer means being driven 180 degrees out-of-phase at a first frequency range and being driven in-phase at a second frequency range; said first frequency range being lower than said second frequency range; means for supplying audio signals to said first and second transducer means; and means for changing the relative phase of driving signals from said driving means when the out-of-phase response would have been approximately the same as the in-phase response; whereby the response of said system in said first frequency range is enhanced. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A personal wearable, portable communication and entertainment system comprising:
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a first hollow structural member; a first transducer means mounted on said first structural member; said first structural member having a first acoustic aperture in spaced relation to said first transducer means; a second hollow structural member; a second transducer means mounted on said second structural member; said second structural member having a second acoustic aperture in spaced relation to said second transducer means; driver means for driving said first and second transducer means; and means for supplying audio signals to said first and second transducer means; whereby when said system is worn with the first transducer means being positioned adjacent, but not blocking or covering one of the wearer'"'"'s ears, the second transducer means being positioned adjacent but not blocking or covering the other of the wearer'"'"'s ears; and
the first and second apertures each being positioned at a distance further from the wearer'"'"'s ears than the respective first and second transducers, the system provides a low frequency response which approximates that provided by conventional headphones and earphones that cover the wearer'"'"'s ears and significantly block external sounds to the ears. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A personal wearable, portable communication and entertainment system comprising:
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a hollow structural member; first and second transducer means mounted in spaced relation on said structural member; said structural member having at least one acoustic aperture positioned between said first and second transducer means; driver means for driving said first and second transducer means; means for supplying audio signals to said first and second transducer means; and whereby when the system is worn with the first transducer means being positioned adjacent, but not blocking or covering one of the wearer'"'"'s ears;
the second transducer means being positioned adjacent, but not blocking or covering the other of the wearer'"'"'s ears, and said aperture is positioned farther away from the wearer'"'"'s ears than said first and second transducer means, the low frequency response of said system approximates that provided by conventional headphones and earphones that cover the wearer'"'"'s ears and significantly block external sounds to the ears. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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34. A personal wearable, portable communication and entertainment system comprising:
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a hollow, closed structural member; a first transducer means mounted on said structural member; a second transducer means mounted on said structural member; said first and second transducer means positioned in spaced relation to each other on said structural member; driver means for driving said first and second transducer means with driving signals, said first and second transducer means being driven 180 degrees out-of-phase within a first frequency range and being driven in-phase within a second frequency range; said first frequency range being lower than said second frequency range; means for supplying audio signals to said first and second transducer means; and means for changing the relative phase of driving signals from said driving means when the out-of-phase response would have been approximately the same as the in-phase response; said structural member sized to be positioned on a wearer'"'"'s torso adjacent the head and shaped to conform to the wearer'"'"'s torso; wherein said structural member is positioned on the wearer'"'"'s torso, said first transducer means is positioned adjacent one of the wearer'"'"'s ears and said second transducer means is positioned adjacent the other of the wearer'"'"'s ears; whereby the response of said system in said first frequency range is enhanced. - View Dependent Claims (33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. The personal wearable, portable communication and entertainment system comprising:
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a first hollow structural member; a first transducer means mounted on said first structural member; said first structural member having a first acoustic aperture in spaced relation to said first transducer means; a second hollow structural member; a second transducer means mounted on said second structural member; said second structural member having a second acoustic aperture in spaced relation to said second transducer means; driver means for driving said first and second transducer means; and means for supplying audio signals to said first and second transducer means; said first and second structural members being sized to be positioned on a wearer'"'"'s torso adjacent the head and each being shaped to conform to the wearer'"'"'s torso; whereby when said system is worn with the first transducer means being positioned on the torso adjacent one of the wearer'"'"'s ears, the second transducer means being positioned on the torso adjacent the other of the wearer'"'"'s ears, and the first and second apertures being each positioned farther away from the wearer'"'"'s ears, the system provides to the wearer a low frequency response which approximates that provided by conventional head phones and ear phones that cover the wearer'"'"'s ears and significantly block external sounds to the ears. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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56. The personal wearable, portable communication and entertainment system comprising:
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a hollow structural member; first and second transducer means mounted in spaced relation on said structural member; said structural member having at least one acoustic aperture positioned between said first and second transducer means; driver means for driving said first and second transducer means; and means for supplying audio signals to said first and second transducer means; said structural member sized to be positioned on a wearer'"'"'s torso adjacent the head and shaped to conform to the wearer'"'"'s torso; wherein when said structural member is positioned on the wearer'"'"'s torso, said first transducer means is positioned adjacent one of the wearer'"'"'s ears and said second transducer means is positioned adjacent the other of the wearer'"'"'s ears; whereby when the system is worn with the first transducer means being positioned adjacent one of the wearer'"'"'s ears, the second transducer means being positioned adjacent the other of the wearer'"'"'s ears, and said apertures is positioned farther away from the wearer'"'"'s ears than said first and second transducer means, the low frequency response of said system to the wearer approximate that provided by conventional head phones and ear phones. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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68. A personal portable communication device for wearing on the head of the wearer, said device comprising:
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a hollow, closed structural member; means for securing said structural member on the head of a wearer; a first transducer means mounted on said structural member and positioned to be adjacent one ear of the wearer; a second transducer means mounted on said structural member and positioned to be adjacent the other ear of the wearer; driver means for driving said first and second transducer means with driving signals, said first and second transducer means being driven 180 degrees out-of-phase at a first frequency range and being driven in-phase at a second frequency range; said first frequency range being lower than said second frequency range; means for supplying audio signals to said first and second transducer means; and means for changing the relative phase of driving signals from said driving means when the out-of-phase response is approximately the same as the in-phase response; whereby the response of said system in said first frequency range is enhanced. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 92, 97, 98, 99, 100)
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87. A portable device for wearing on the head of a wearer, said device comprising:
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first and second hollow structural members incorporated in said device and positioned to lie adjacent opposed portions of the wearer'"'"'s head when said device is worn; a first and second transducer means mounted on said first and second structural members, respectively; said first structural member having a first acoustic aperture in spaced relation to said first transducer means; and said second structural member having a second acoustic aperture in spaced relation to said second transducer means; driver means for driving said first and second transducer means; and means for supplying audio signals to said first and second transducer means; whereby when said device is worn on the wearer'"'"'s head with the first transducer means being positioned adjacent, but not blocking or covering one of the wearer'"'"'s ears, the second transducer means being positioned adjacent, but not blocking or covering the other of the wearer'"'"'s ears, and the first and second apertures each being positioned at a distance further from the wearer'"'"'s ears than the respective first and second transducers, the system provides a low frequency response which approximates that provided by conventional headphones and earphones that cover the wearer'"'"'s ears and significantly block external sounds to the ears. - View Dependent Claims (88, 89, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96)
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101. A person portable device for wearing on the head of a wearer, said device comprising:
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a hollow structural member positioned in said device for encircling at least a portion of said wearer'"'"'s head; first and second transducer means mounted on said structural member adjacent said first and second ears, respectively, of said wearer; said structural member having at least one acoustic aperture positioned substantially mid-way between said first and second transducer means; driver means for driving said first and second transducer means; means for supplying audio signals to said first and second transducer means; and means for securing said device to the head of the wearer; whereby when the device is worn on the head of the wearer with the first transducer means being positioned adjacent, but not blocking or covering said first ear of the wearer, the second transducer means being positioned adjacent, but not blocking or covering said second ear of the wearer, and said aperture is positioned farther away from the wearer'"'"'s ears than said first and second transducer means, the low frequency response of said device approximates that provided by conventional headphones and earphones that cover the wearer'"'"'s ears and significantly block external sounds to the ears. - View Dependent Claims (102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114)
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Specification