Personal audio visual system

• US 20030235320A1
• Filed: 06/09/2003
• Published: 12/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bruce D. Hirschhorn
• Original Assignee: Bruce D. Hirschhorn
• Inventors: Hirschhorn, Bruce D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,369,672 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/333
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/041 Allowing quick release of the apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/08 around a vertical axis , e.g. panoramic heads F16M11/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/14 with ball-joint ball-jointed hinges F16C11/06 ; adjustable mountings employing universal joints for lighting devices F21V21/26 - F21V21/30
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/2064 for tilting and panning F16M11/2078 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/2092 comprising means allowing depth adjustment, i.e. forward-backward translation of the head relatively to the undercarriage
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/24 changeable in height or length of legs, also for transport only, e.g. by means of tubes screwed into each otherF16M11/42 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 11/40 by means of coilable or bendable legs or spiral shaped legs
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 13/00 Other supports for positioning apparatus or articles heads thereof F16M11/02 ; undercarriages thereof F16M11/20 ; adapted to be stuck in the ground A45F3/44 ; sockets or holders for poles or posts E04H12/22; Means for steadying hand-held apparatus or articles supports for measuring instruments G01D11/30; supports for casings of remote control switching devices H01H9/025
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 2200/044 for balancing rotational movement of the undercarriage
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 2200/063 Parallelogram arms
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 2200/065 with a special structure, e.g. reinforced or adapted for space reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/15 Transducers incorporated in visual displaying devices, e.g. televisions, computer displays, laptops
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/02 Spatial or constructional arrangements of loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 1/002 Non-adaptive circuits, e.g. manually adjustable or static, for enhancing the sound image or the spatial distribution control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field H04S7/30
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 248/917 Video display screen support
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/32008 Plural distinct articulation axes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/32213 Articulate joint is a swivel
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/32951 Transverse pin or stud
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/32975 Rotatable
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/32983 Rod in socket
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/7041 : including set screw

Abstract

An audio visual system has a housing with a video display and one or more speakers. The speakers are housed in cavities which limit dispersion of the sound generated, and the video display is preferably a directional LCD display. The housing is preferably mounted to a base by an adjustable arm having passages to accommodate enclosed wiring. One adjustable arm has segments joined by dual-pivot joints, while another has segments joined by single pivot joints. In both types of arms, the frictional resistance of the joints can be adjusted. Preferably, the elements of the arm are strung onto the wiring prior to assembly. The housing can also contain a light source to provide a reading light.

Claims

1. An audio visual system for personal use without disturbing those around the user, the audio visual system comprising:

a housing having a front face;

a LCD video display with a substantially planar display surface mounted in said front face, said video display being bounded by side edges and top and bottom edges;

one or more speaker assemblies mounted in said housing for generating sound, each of said one or more speaker assemblies having,

a driver having a driver axis,

a membrane symmetrically disposed about said driver axis, said membrane terminating in a distal end attached to said driver, and a proximal end, said proximal end having a greater cross section than said distal end, and

a rim attached to said proximal end of said membrane; and

a speaker cavity for each of said one or more speaker assemblies, each of said speaker cavities intersecting said front face of said housing and having a cavity bottom positioned with respect to said front face so as to define a cavity depth which is sufficient in size to accommodate said speaker assembly while providing a free volume therebehind adequate to assure a responsive speaker assembly and a separation between said cavity bottom and said driver,

said rim of said speaker assembly being positioned in said cavity so as to establish a setback distance from said front face of said housing.

2. The audio visual system of claim 1 wherein said front face is substantially planar and each of said speaker cavities terminates at said substantially planer front face.

3. The audio visual system of claim 2 wherein said LCD video display is a passive matrix liquid crystal display.

4. The audio visual system of claim 3 wherein said cavity depth is less than about twice said diameter of said rim.

5. The audio visual system of claim 3 wherein said cross section of said membrane has a nominal diameter at said proximal end, and further wherein said setback has a nominal minimal setback which is 50% to 100% of the nominal diameter at said proximal end.

6. The audio visual system of claim 5 wherein each of said one or more speaker assemblies has a circular cross section and said nominal diameter is the diameter of said proximal end of said membrane.

7. The audio visual system of claim 6 wherein said at least one or more speaker assemblies comprises:

a first speaker assembly residing in a first speaker cavity; and

a second speaker assembly residing in a second speaker cavity.

8. The audio visual system of claim 7 wherein said first speaker assembly and said second speaker assembly each have a driver axis that is perpendicular to said front face.

9. The audio visual system of claim 8 wherein said first speaker cavity has a first bevel and said second speaker cavity has a second bevel, said first bevel and said second bevel being so positioned that they extend toward each other.

10. The audio visual system of claim 9 wherein said first bevel and said second bevel are inclined with respect to said driver axes by an angle a of between about 30°

and 50°

.

11. The audio visual system of claim 8 wherein the audio visual system is designed to interface with an entertainment system that generates various media output signals, the audio visual system further comprising:

a base;

means for attaching said base to said housing so as to provide articulation of said housing with respect to said base; and

means for transmitting the media output signals to said LCD video display and said first speaker assembly and said second speaker assembly.

12. The audio visual system of claim 11 wherein said means for attaching said base to said housing so as to provide articulation of said housing with respect to said base further comprises:

a housing bracket for supporting said housing; and

an adjustable arm having,

at least two rigid arm segments,

joints between said at least two rigid arm segments, at least one of said joints being a pivotal joint, and

means for adjusting the torsional load bearing capacity of said joints,

said adjustable arm terminating in an arm first end and an arm second end, said arm first end connecting to said base and said arm second end connecting to said housing bracket.

13. The audio visual system of claim 12 wherein said housing has a top surface and a bottom surface and said housing bracket attaches to said top surface of said housing, and further wherein the audio visual system further comprises:

LED lamps on said bottom surface of said housing; and

a switch for activating said LED lamps.

14. The audio visual system of claim 12 wherein said arm segments have arm passages therethrough, and said joints have joint passages which provide communication between said arm passages.

15. The audio visual system of claims 12 wherein, for at least one of said joints, said means for adjusting the torsional load bearing capacity of said joints further comprises:

a first joint element;

a second joint element, said first and second joint elements being mounted about a common pivot axis;

a friction element positioned between said first joint element and said second joint element; and

means for varying the force of engagement of said first joint element and said second joint element with said friction element, thereby varying the torsional load bearing capacity of said joint.

16. The audio visual system of claim 15 wherein,

said first joint element is provided by a joint central region attached to one of said rigid arm segments,

further wherein said second joint element is provided by a pair of joint end caps attached to another of said rigid arm segments, said joint central region rotatably engaging said pair of end caps,

still further wherein said friction element is provided by a resilient ring positioned between each of said end caps and said joint central region,

yet further wherein said means for varying the force of engagement of said first joint element and said second joint element with said friction element is provided by means for varying the position of each of said pair of joint end caps with respect to said joint central region so as to vary the compression of said resilient ring.

17. The audio visual system of claim 12 wherein said joints are dual pivoting joints and further wherein, for each of said dual pivoting joint, said means for adjusting the torsional load bearing capacity of said joints further comprises:

a first saddle bracket frictionally engaging and pivotably attaching to one of said arm segments, said first saddle having a first pivot axis, about which said one of said arm segments pivots, and a first bracket passage;

means for varying the force of engagement of said first saddle bracket with said one of said arm segments attached thereto;

a second saddle bracket frictionally engaging and pivotably attaching to another of said arm segments, said second saddle bracket having a second pivot axis, about which said another of said arm segments pivots, and a second bracket passage communicating with said first bracket passage;

means for varying the force of engagement of said second saddle bracket with said another of said arms attached thereto;

a bracket rotation axis about which said first saddle bracket and said second saddle bracket can rotate with respect to each other;

means for rotatably and frictionally engaging said first saddle bracket with said second saddle bracket so as to allow relative rotation therebetween about said bracket rotation axis; and

means for varying the force of the frictional, rotatable engagement of said first saddle bracket with said second saddle bracket.

18. A segmented arm for supporting a housing of an audio visual system with respect to a base, the segmented arm comprising:

an arm first rigid segment that connects to the base and defines an arm first end;

an arm second rigid segment;

an arm third rigid segment;

an arm fourth rigid segment that connects to the housing and defines an arm second end;

a first pivot joint which connects,said arm first segment to said arm second segment to allow relative pivotable motion therebetween;

means for adjusting the torsional load supported by said first pivot joint;

a second pivot joint which connects said arm second segment to said arm third segment to allow relative pivotable motion therebetween;

means for adjusting the torsional load supported by said second pivot joint; and

a third pivot joint which connects said arm third segment to said arm fourth segment to allow relative pivotable motion therebetween.

19. The arm of claim 18 wherein all relative pivotable motions lie in a common plane.

20. The arm of claim 19 wherein,

said arm second segment comprises an arm second segment first member and an arm second segment second member which is parallel to and affixed with respect to said arm second segment first member, and

said arm third segment comprises an arm third segment first member and an arm third segment second member which is parallel to and affixed with respect to said arm third segment first member.

21. The arm of claim 20 wherein all arm segments and segment members have arm passages therethrough and all joints have passages which connect said arm passages in adjacent arm segments.

22. The arm of claim 21 wherein each of said first pivot joint and said second pivot joint further comprises:

a joint central region attached to one of said rigid arm segments;

a pair of joint end caps attached to another of said rigid arm segments, said joint central region rotatably engaging said pair of end caps; and

a resilient ring positioned between each of said end caps and said joint central region; and

further wherein each of said means for adjusting the torsional load supported by said pivot joint further comprises;

means for varying the position of each of said pair of joint end caps with respect to said joint central region so as to vary the compression of said resilient ring.

23. The arm of claim 22 wherein said arm and joint elements are so configured that they can be assembled after being strung onto a power cable and a signal cable.

24. The arm of claim 23 further comprising:

at least one tension spring operably connected to one of said pivot joints and to one of said rigid arm segments so as to counteract torques on said one of said pivot joints due to weight.

25. The arm of claim 18 wherein at least one of said pivot joints further comprises:

a first saddle bracket having one of said arm segments pivotally attached thereto and pivoting about a first pivot axis;

a second saddle bracket having another of said arm segments pivotably attached thereto and pivoting about a second pivot axis,

said first saddle bracket frictionally and rotatably connected to said second saddle bracket about a bracket rotation axis such that said first pivot axis and said second pivot axis rotate in parallel planes, said first saddle bracket communicating with said second saddle bracket via a joint passage therebetween; and

further wherein each of said means for adjusting the torsional load supported by said pivot joint further comprises;

means for adjusting the torsional loads about said bracket rotation axis,

means for adjusting the torsional loads about said first pivot axis, and

means for adjusting the torsional loads about said second pivot axis.