Multipurpose speaker enclosure in a display assistant device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12405635-B2
Application number	US-202418643419-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2024
Priority date	Oct 8, 2018
Publication date	Sep 2, 2025
Grant date	Sep 2, 2025

Abstract

This application is directed to a speaker assembly in which a speaker is mounted in an enclosure structure. The enclosure structure exposes a speaker opening of the speaker and provides a sealed enclosure for a rear portion of the speaker, and further includes an electrically conductive portion. One or more electronic components are coupled to the electrically conductive portion of the enclosure structure (which is grounded in some implementations). The electrically conductive portion of the enclosure structure is configured to provide electromagnetic shielding for the electronic components and forms part of the sealed enclosure of the speaker. In some implementations, the electrically conductive portion of the enclosure structure is thermally coupled to the electronic components and acts as a heat sink that is configured to absorb heat generated by the electronic components and dissipate the generated heat away from the electronic components.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a rear speaker;
a front speaker; and
a base in which the rear speaker is mounted, the base comprising a first speaker opening for the rear speaker and a second speaker opening for the front speaker, wherein:
the first speaker opening is present on a rear side of the base;
the second speaker opening is present on a front side of the base; and
the base supports a screen at an angle to a surface upon which the base is configured to be placed such that a space of predefined height is present between a lower edge of the screen and the surface upon which the base is configured to be placed.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the base extends along a central axis not perpendicular to the surface upon which the base is configured to be placed.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the base further comprises a plurality of speaker grille portions distributed on the front side of the base and the rear side of the base.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the front speaker is attached with the base such that the front speaker faces the second speaker opening with a downward tilt angle.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system comprises the screen and the screen comprises: a camera, a microphone, and a sensor window, wherein the camera, microphone, and sensor window are located within a bezel area of the screen.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the base includes an electrically conductive portion that provides an electromagnetic shield for one or more electronic components.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the base provides a sealed enclosure for a rear portion of each of the rear speaker and the front speaker.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein an electrically conductive portion of the base is thermally coupled to one or more electronic components and acts as a heat sink that is configured to absorb heat generated by the one or more electronic components.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rear speaker is configured to output lower frequencies than the front speaker.

10. A voice assistant system, comprising:
a camera;
a display screen;
a microphone;
a rear speaker;
a front speaker;
a processor in communication with the microphone, rear speaker, and front speaker, wherein the voice assistant system is configured to receive and respond to voice commands by presenting information on the display screen; and
a base in which the rear speaker is mounted, the base exposing a first speaker opening of the rear speaker and a second speaker opening of the front speaker, wherein:
the first speaker opening is present on a rear side of the base;
the second speaker opening is present on a front side of the base; and
the base supports a screen at an angle to a surface upon which the base is configured to be placed such that a space of predefined height is present between a lower edge of the screen and the surface upon which the base is configured to be placed.

11. The voice assistant system of claim 10 , wherein the base extends along a central axis not perpendicular to the surface upon which the base is configured to be placed.

12. The voice assistant system of claim 10 , wherein the base further comprises a plurality of speaker grille portions distributed on the front side of the base and the rear side of the base.

13. The voice assistant system of claim 12 , wherein the front speaker is attached with the base such that the front speaker faces the second speaker opening with a downward tilt angle.

14. The voice assistant system of claim 10 , wherein the display screen comprises a bezel area in which the camera and the microphone are located.

15. The voice assistant system of claim 10 , wherein the base includes an electrically conductive portion that provides an electromagnetic shield for one or more electronic components.

16. The voice assistant system of claim 10 , wherein the base provides a sealed enclosure for a rear portion of each of the rear speaker and the front speaker.

17. The voice assistant system of claim 10 , wherein an electrically conductive portion of the base is thermally coupled to one or more electronic components and acts as a heat sink that is configured to absorb heat generated by the one or more electronic components.

18. The voice assistant system of claim 10 , wherein the rear speaker is a woofer speaker configured to produce first audio frequencies in a first frequency range and the front speaker is a tweeter speaker configured to produce second audio frequencies in a second frequency range that is higher than the first frequency range.

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Qin Xiaoping
• Bilger Christen Cameron
• Heckmann Frederic
• Kwee Frances
• Leong Justin
• Castro James

Classifications

• G06F1/1658

  related to the mounting of internal components, e.g. disc drive or any other functional module · CPC title

• G06F1/1605

  Multimedia displays, e.g. with integrated or attached speakers, cameras, microphones · CPC title

• G02F1/133761

  with different pretilt angles · CPC title

• G02F1/133325

  Assembling processes · CPC title

• H04R2499/15

  Transducers incorporated in visual displaying devices, e.g. televisions, computer displays, laptops · CPC title