Movable speaker covering

• US 8,189,849 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2007
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VOXX International Corporation
• Original Assignee: VOXX International Corporation
• Inventors: Waddell, Steve, Davi, Leonard
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Vivian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Olaniran, Fatimat O
• Application Number:
  US11/685,340
• Publication Number:
  US 20080226096A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,904 Days
• Field of Search: 381300-308, 381/87, 381386-390, 381 61- 65, 381332-336, 381/150, 381/337, 381/345, 381/353, 381/385, 381/189, 381/124, 181/150, 181198-199, 181/175, 181/284, 181/287, 312 3- 6, 312 71- 72, 312 21- 30
• US Class Current: 381/388
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/02 Casings; Cabinets ; Supports therefor; Mountings therein H04R1/28 takes precedence ; attachments for microphones H04R1/08; mounting of transducers in earpieces H04R1/1075

Abstract

A speaker cabinet includes at least one speaker contained in the speaker cabinet, and a speaker covering shrouding the at least one speaker, wherein the speaker covering is movable to expose the at least one speaker. The speaker covering motion may be automatic and provided by an electromechanical motion control system including at least one electric actuator and at least one electric actuator drive circuit. The automatic speaker covering motion may be activated by the electromechanical motion control system in response to an audio signal received by the speaker cabinet.

Claims

1. A speaker cabinet, comprising:

at least one speaker contained in the speaker cabinet; and

a speaker covering shrouding the at least one speaker,

wherein the speaker covering includes an open portion and a closed portion,

wherein the speaker covering rotates 360 degrees around the speaker cabinet to expose the at least one speaker through the open portion in a first position and to conceal the at least one speaker behind the closed portion in a second position, and

wherein the speaker covering surrounds the speaker cabinet to form the entire external surface of the speaker cabinet except for a bottom external surface of the speaker cabinet.

2. The speaker cabinet of claim 1, wherein the speaker covering motion is automatic and provided by an electromechanical motion control system including at least one electric actuator and at least one electric actuator drive circuit.

3. The speaker cabinet of claim 2, wherein the at least one electric actuator includes an electric motor or an electric solenoid.

4. The speaker cabinet of claim 2, wherein the at least one electric actuator provides motion to the speaker covering with at least one of gears, belts, linkages, or magnetic induction.

5. The speaker cabinet of claim 2, wherein the automatic speaker covering motion is activated by the electromechanical motion control system in response to an audio signal received by the at least one speaker.

6. The speaker cabinet of claim 2, wherein the speaker cabinet and the speaker covering are substantially cylindrical.

7. The speaker cabinet of claim 6, wherein the speaker covering can slide up or down to expose the at least one speaker.

8. The speaker cabinet of claim 6, wherein the speaker covering can slide up or down to expose the at least one speaker through the open portion.

9. The speaker cabinet of claim 6, wherein the speaker covering has a left portion that can slide toward a left side of the speaker cabinet to expose a left side of the at least one speaker and a right portion that can slide toward a right side of the speaker cabinet to expose a right side of the at least one speaker.

10. The speaker cabinet of claim 2, wherein the speaker cabinet has a substantially rectangular cross section and the speaker covering is substantially rectangular or substantially flat.

11. The speaker cabinet of claim 10, wherein the speaker covering can slide up or down to expose the at least one speaker.

12. The speaker cabinet of claim 10, wherein the speaker covering can slide up or down to expose the at least one speaker through the open portion.

13. The speaker cabinet of claim 10, wherein the speaker covering can slide or swing to one side of the speaker cabinet to expose the at least one speaker.

14. The speaker cabinet of claim 10, wherein the speaker covering can swing to one side of the speaker cabinet to expose the at least one speaker and can slide along the one side of the speaker cabinet after it swings toward the one side of the speaker cabinet.

15. The speaker cabinet of claim 10, wherein the speaker covering has a left portion that can slide or swing toward a left side of the speaker cabinet to expose a left side of the at least one speaker, and a right portion that can slide or swing toward a right side of the speaker cabinet to expose a right side of the at least one speaker.

16. The speaker cabinet of claim 10, wherein the speaker covering has a left portion that can swing toward a left side of the speaker cabinet to expose a left side of the at least one speaker and can slide along the left side of the speaker cabinet after it swings toward the left side of the speaker cabinet, and a right portion that can swing toward a right side of the speaker cabinet to expose a right side of the at least one speaker and can slide along the right side of the speaker cabinet after it swings toward the right side of the speaker cabinet.

17. A speaker cabinet, comprising:

at least one speaker contained in the speaker cabinet;

a speaker cover covering the at least one speaker and having an open portion and a closed portion; and

a speaker cabinet base having a first portion and a second portion,

wherein the speaker cover is rotated 360 degrees around the at least one speaker by the second portion of the speaker cabinet base to expose the at least one speaker through the open portion in a first position and to conceal the at least one speaker behind the closed portion in a second position, and

wherein the speaker cover surrounds the speaker cabinet to form the entire external surface of the speaker cabinet except for a bottom external surface of the speaker cabinet.

18. The speaker cabinet of claim 17, wherein the speaker cabinet rotary motion is automatic and provided by an electromechanical motion control system including at least one electric actuator and at least one electric actuator drive circuit.

19. The speaker cabinet of claim 18, wherein the at least one electric actuator includes an electric motor or an electric solenoid.

20. The speaker cabinet of claim 18, wherein the at least one electric actuator provides the rotary motion between the speaker cabinet and the stationary speaker cabinet base with at least one of gears, belts, linkages, or magnetic induction.

21. The speaker cabinet of claim 18, wherein the automatic rotary motion is activated by the electromechanical motion control system in response to an audio signal received by the at least one speaker.

22. The speaker cabinet of claim 17, wherein the at least one speaker is kept stationary by the first portion of the speaker cabinet base when the speaker cover is rotated around the at least one speaker by the second portion of the speaker cabinet base.