Dual-speaker system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12413890-B2
Application number	US-202318188191-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2023
Priority date	Sep 25, 2020
Publication date	Sep 9, 2025
Grant date	Sep 9, 2025

Abstract

An output device that includes a housing, a first speaker driver that is integrated within the housing at a first location and is arranged to project sound into an ambient environment in a first direction, and a second speaker driver that is integrated within the housing at a second location that is different than the first location and is arranged to project sound into the ambient environment, where the first and second speaker drivers are integrated within the housing and share a common back volume within the housing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A head-worn device comprising:
a housing;
an elongated tube coupled to the housing;
a first speaker driver that is integrated within the housing at a first location and is arranged to project sound into an ambient environment; and
a second speaker driver that is integrated within the housing at a second location that is different than the first location and is arranged to project sound into the ambient environment,
wherein a front face of the first speaker driver is directed towards a first direction and a front face of the second speaker driver is directed towards a second direction,
wherein the first direction and the second direction are opposite directions along a same axis,
wherein the first and second speaker drivers share a common back volume within the housing and the elongated tube opens the common back volume into the ambient environment.

2. The head-worn device of claim 1 , wherein the housing forms an open enclosure that is outside of the common back volume and surrounds the front face of the second speaker driver.

3. The head-worn device of claim 2 , wherein the open enclosure is open to the ambient environment through a plurality of ports through which the second speaker driver projects front-radiated sound into the ambient environment.

4. The head-worn device of claim 1 , wherein the elongated tube comprises a first open end that is coupled to the housing and a second open end that comprises an exhaust port through which back-radiated sound produced by the first speaker driver or the second speaker driver is expelled into the ambient environment.

5. The head-worn device of claim 1 , wherein the first speaker driver is a same type of speaker driver as the second speaker driver.

6. The head-worn device of claim 1 , wherein the first speaker driver is a different type of speaker as the second speaker driver.

7. An output device comprising:
a housing that includes an internal volume;
a first extra-aural speaker driver and a second extra-aural speaker driver, both extra-aural speaker drivers integrated within the housing and share the internal volume as a back volume;
a processor; and
memory having instructions stored therein which when executed by the processor causes the output device to:
receive an audio signal;
determine a current operational mode for the output device;
generate first and second driver signals based on the audio signal, wherein the current operational mode corresponds to whether at least portions of the first and second driver signals are generated to be at least one of in-phase or out-of-phase with each other;
drive the first extra-aural speaker driver with the first driver signal; and
drive the second extra-aural speaker driver with the second driver signal.

8. The output device of claim 7 , wherein the instructions to determine the current operational mode comprises instructions to determine whether a person is within a threshold distance of the output device, wherein, in response to determining that the person is within the threshold distance, the first and second driver signals are generated to be at least partially out-of-phase with each other.

9. The output device of claim 8 , wherein, in response to determining that the person is not within the threshold distance, the first and the second driver signals are generated to be in-phase with each other.

10. The output device of claim 7 , wherein the memory has further instructions to drive the first and second extra-aural speaker drivers with the first and second driver signals, respectively, comprises instructions to produce a beam pattern having a main lobe in a direction of a user of the output device.

11. The output device of claim 10 , wherein the produced beam pattern has at least one null directed away from the user of the output device.

12. The output device of claim 7 further comprising receiving a microphone signal produced by a microphone of the output device that includes ambient noise of an ambient environment in which the output device is located, wherein the current operational mode is determined based on the ambient noise.

13. The output device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions to determine the current operational mode for the output device comprises instructions to:
determine whether the ambient noise masks the audio signal across one or more frequency bands;
in response to the ambient noise masking a first set of frequency bands of the one or more frequency bands, select a first operational mode in which portions of the first and second driver signals are generated to be in-phase across the first set of frequency bands; and
in response to the ambient noise not masking a second set of frequency bands of the one or more frequency bands, select a second operational mode in which portions of the first and second driver signals are generated to be out-of-phase across the second set of frequency bands.

14. The output device of claim 13 , wherein the first and second sets of frequency bands are non-overlapping bands, such that the output device operates in both the first and second operational modes simultaneously.

15. A head-worn device comprising:
a first extra-aural speaker driver and a second extra-aural speaker driver, wherein the first extra-aural speaker driver is closer to an ear of a user than the second extra-aural speaker driver while the head-worn device is worn on a head of the user;
a processor; and
memory having instructions stored therein which when executed by the processor causes the head-worn device to:
receive an audio signal that comprises noise; and
produce, using the first and second extra-aural speaker drivers, a directional beam pattern that includes 1) a main lobe that has the noise and is directed away from the user and 2) a null that is directed towards the user, wherein a sound output level of the second extra-aural speaker driver is greater than a sound output level of the first extra-aural speaker driver.

16. The head-worn device of claim 15 , wherein the main lobe is a first main lobe, and the null is a first null, wherein the audio signal is a first audio signal and the directional beam pattern is a first directional beam pattern, wherein the memory has further instructions to:
receive a second audio signal that comprises user-desired audio content; and
produce, using the first and second extra-aural speaker drivers, a second directional beam pattern that includes 1) a second main lobe that has the user-desired audio content and is directed towards the user and 2) a second null that is directed away from the user.

17. The head-worn device of claim 15 , wherein the first and second extra-aural speaker drivers project front-radiated sound towards or in a direction of the ear of the user.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Boothe Daniel K
• Johnson Martin E
• Sumberg David
• Kalinowski David A
• Jupin Peter V

Classifications

• H04R1/2819

  for loudspeaker transducers · CPC title

• H04R1/1083

  Reduction of ambient noise (active noise reduction per se G10K11/175; protective devices for the ear, e.g. providing acoustic protection A61F11/06) · CPC title

• H04R3/12

  for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers {(specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407)} · CPC title

• H04R1/323

  for loudspeakers (H04R1/34 and H04R1/40 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04R1/10 Primary

  Earpieces; Attachments therefor {; Earphones; Monophonic headphones (H04R1/28 takes precedence; stereophonic headphones H04R5/033)} · CPC title