Electronic device including pipeline structure through which sound propagates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12501204-B2
Application number	US-202318322160-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2023
Priority date	Jan 12, 2021
Publication date	Dec 16, 2025
Grant date	Dec 16, 2025

Abstract

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a housing including a front plate, a rear plate disposed to be spaced a predetermined distance apart from the front plate in parallel, and a side plate surrounding a space formed between the front plate and the rear plate, an opening disposed between an upper edge of the front plate and the side plate, a speaker including a sound radiation part in a direction of being directed toward the front plate and disposed inside the housing, a support member disposed to extend from the sound radiation part toward the upper edge of the front plate, and a pipeline including a space formed between the front plate and the support member. The pipeline may include a first structure disposed adjacent to the sound radiation part and a second structure disposed adjacent to the opening, and the second structure may be disposed to be spaced a predetermined length apart from the first structure in a direction of forming an acute angle with respect to a reference line orthogonal to the upper edge.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . An electronic device comprising:
a housing comprising:
a front plate,
a rear plate disposed to be spaced a predetermined distance apart from the front plate in parallel, and
a side plate surrounding a space formed between the front plate and the rear plate;
an opening disposed between an upper edge of the front plate and the side plate; a speaker comprising a sound radiation part in a direction of being directed toward the front plate and disposed inside the housing; a support member disposed to extend from the sound radiation part toward the upper edge of the front plate; and a pipeline comprising another space formed between the front plate and the support member, wherein the pipeline comprises a first structure disposed adjacent to the sound radiation part and a second structure disposed adjacent to the opening, and wherein the second structure is disposed to be spaced apart a predetermined length from the first structure in a direction of forming an acute angle with respect to a reference line orthogonal to the upper edge.

2 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first structure and the second structure are disposed in one surface of the support member.

3 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first structure and the second structure are disposed between the sound radiation part and the side plate.

4 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first structure and the second structure are formed in a shape of a rib.

5 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein a sum of a first size of a cross-sectional area of the first structure and a second size of a cross-sectional area of the second structure orthogonal to a direction in which a sound outputted from the speaker propagates is less than a size of a cross-sectional area of the pipeline orthogonal to the direction.

6 . The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein, when the size of the cross-sectional area of the pipeline is not constant, the size of the cross-sectional area of the pipeline corresponds to a minimum value among the sizes of the cross-sectional areas.

7 . The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein, when a cross-section of the first structure and a cross-section of the second structure orthogonal to the direction are projected respectively in parallel to a surface orthogonal to the direction, a value of differencing a size of a portion where a cross-section of the first structure and a cross-section of the second structure are overlapped in a sum of the first size and the second size of the first structure is less than the size of the cross-sectional area of the pipeline.

8 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein a height of the first structure and a height of the second structure are less than a length between the support member and the front plate.

9 . The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein the housing is made from a metal material, and wherein members around the pipeline forming the pipeline are made from an injection material.

10 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first structure and the second structure are made from an injection material.

11 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein a material of the first structure and the second structure comprises the same or different material from a material of a peripheral member forming the pipeline.

12 . The electronic device of claim 11 ,
wherein the members around the pipeline forming the pipeline are made from an injection material, and wherein the first structure and the second structure are made from a porous material.

13 . The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the porous material comprises at least one of a sponge or a sound absorbing material.

14 . The electronic device of claim 13 , wherein a density of the porous material is less than 0.2 g/cm 3 .

15 . The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a camera spaced a predetermined distance apart from the upper edge of the front plate and disposed inside the housing, on the reference line passing through the center of the electronic device,
wherein the speaker and the sound radiation part are disposed at a side of the camera.

16 . An electronic device comprising:
a housing comprising:
a front portion including a display,
a rear portion disposed to be spaced apart from the front portion by a predetermined distance in parallel, and
a side portion surrounding a space formed between the front portion and the rear portion;
an opening disposed between an upper edge of the front portion and the side portion; a speaker comprising a sound radiation part in a direction of being directed toward the front portion, and disposed inside the housing; a support member disposed to extend from the sound radiation part toward the upper edge of the front portion and including a first side at which the front portion is disposed and a second side at which the speaker is disposed; and a sound passage formed by at least a portion of the support member and a portion of the display, between the sound radiation part and the opening, wherein at least one structure is disposed in the sound passage to partially block a cross-sectional area of the sound passage, and wherein a first structure among the at least one structure is disposed adjacent to the sound radiation part.

17 . The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the first structure is disposed between the sound radiation part and the side portion.

18 . The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein a first size of a cross-sectional area of the first structure orthogonal to a direction in which a sound outputted from the speaker propagates is less than a size of the cross-sectional area of the sound passage orthogonal to the direction.

19 . The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein when the size of the cross-sectional area of the sound passage is not constant, the size of the cross-sectional area of the sound passage corresponds to a minimum value among the sizes of the cross-sectional area.

20 . The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein a height of the first structure is less than a length between the support member and the front portion.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Taeeon
• Kim Kiwon
• Yang Seongkwan
• LEE Myungcheol
• Cho Joonrae
• Kim Seungnam
• Kim Taewoo
• You Jaehee
• Han Kwanhee
• Heo Seungyoon

Classifications

• H04R2499/15

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

• H04R2499/11

  Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's · CPC title

• H04R1/288

  for loudspeaker transducers · CPC title

• H04R1/028

  associated with devices performing functions other than acoustics, e.g. electric candles · CPC title

• H04M1/026

  Details of the structure or mounting of specific components · CPC title