Flat-panel acoustic apparatus
First Claim
1. A directional acoustic apparatus for accommodating an acoustic signal to or from one or more selected target locations in an acoustic environment of the apparatus, comprising:
- a substrate having a structural configuration including;
a thickness about two orders of magnitude smaller than a width and a length of the substrate;
a single acoustic transducer arranged in communication with the substrate; and
a plurality of substrate acoustic pathways formed inside the substrate, wherein each substrate acoustic pathway has a predetermined length, from a proximal end of each substrate acoustic pathway forming an opening in a surface of the substrate, to a distal end terminating at the single acoustic transducer, wherein the predetermined substrate acoustic pathway lengths induce substrate acoustic pathway time delays for the acoustic signal traveling from the distal end to the proximal end, and a location of each substrate opening induces an environment time delay for the acoustic signal traveling between a selected target location and the substrate opening,wherein the substrate acoustic pathway lengths and the substrate opening locations are designed such that, for each selected target location, the sum of the substrate acoustic pathway time delay and the environment time delay is approximately equal for all substrate acoustic pathways, such as to form an acoustic spatial filter that selectively passes acoustic signals from or to different locations in the acoustic environment.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In an acoustic apparatus, an acoustic transducer is arranged in a substrate. Multiple acoustic pathways in the substrate have predetermined lengths, wherein a proximal end of each pathway forms an opening in a front surface of the substrate, and a distal end terminates at the acoustic transducer. The predetermined lengths of the acoustic pathways are designed to form an acoustic spatial filter that selectively passes acoustic signals from or to different locations. The transducer can convert electric energy to acoustic energy when the apparatus operates as a speaker, or the the transducer can convert acoustic energy to electric energy and operate as a microphone.
7 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A directional acoustic apparatus for accommodating an acoustic signal to or from one or more selected target locations in an acoustic environment of the apparatus, comprising:
a substrate having a structural configuration including; a thickness about two orders of magnitude smaller than a width and a length of the substrate; a single acoustic transducer arranged in communication with the substrate; and a plurality of substrate acoustic pathways formed inside the substrate, wherein each substrate acoustic pathway has a predetermined length, from a proximal end of each substrate acoustic pathway forming an opening in a surface of the substrate, to a distal end terminating at the single acoustic transducer, wherein the predetermined substrate acoustic pathway lengths induce substrate acoustic pathway time delays for the acoustic signal traveling from the distal end to the proximal end, and a location of each substrate opening induces an environment time delay for the acoustic signal traveling between a selected target location and the substrate opening, wherein the substrate acoustic pathway lengths and the substrate opening locations are designed such that, for each selected target location, the sum of the substrate acoustic pathway time delay and the environment time delay is approximately equal for all substrate acoustic pathways, such as to form an acoustic spatial filter that selectively passes acoustic signals from or to different locations in the acoustic environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A directional acoustic apparatus for accommodating an acoustic signal to or from one or more selected target locations in an acoustic environment of the apparatus, comprising:
a substrate having a structural configuration including; a thickness about two orders of magnitude smaller than a width and a length of the substrate; a single acoustic transducer arranged in communication with the substrate; and a plurality of substrate acoustic pathways formed inside the substrate, wherein each substrate acoustic pathway has a predetermined substrate length, from a proximal end of each substrate acoustic pathway forming a substrate opening in a surface of the substrate, to a distal end terminating at the single acoustic transducer, wherein the predetermined substrate acoustic pathway lengths induce substrate acoustic pathway time delays for the acoustic signal traveling from the distal end to the proximal end, and a location of each substrate opening induces an environment time delay for the acoustic signal traveling between a selected target location and the substrate opening, wherein the substrate acoustic pathway lengths and the substrate opening locations are designed such that, for each selected target location, the sum of the substrate acoustic pathway time delay and the environment time delay is approximately equal for all substrate acoustic pathways, and for one or more locations different from the one or more selected target locations, a sum of the substrate acoustic pathway time delay and an environment time delay is not equal for all substrate acoustic pathways, such as to form an acoustic spatial filter that selectively passes acoustic signals from or to different locations in the acoustic environment that are passive acoustic processed signals.
Specification