Rotationally symmetric speaker array

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017238091-A1
Application number	US-201715583949-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 1, 2017
Priority date	Aug 18, 2014
Publication date	Aug 17, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A multi-way speaker array is disclosed that includes rings of transducers of different types. The rings of transducers may encircle the cabinet of the speaker array such that the speaker array is rotationally symmetric. The distance between rings of transducers may be based on a logarithmic scale. By separating rings of transducers using logarithmic spacing, denser transducer spacing at short wavelengths is achieved while limiting the number of transducers needed for longer wavelengths by spacing them in larger and larger logarithmic increments. Transducers with overlapping frequency ranges may be used in the speaker array to avoid initial dips or shortfalls in directivity for corresponding beam patterns.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A multi-way speaker array, comprising:
a rotationally symmetric cabinet for holding a plurality of transducers; a first set of transducers of a first type arranged in a first set of rings along a surface of the cabinet; and a second set of transducers of a second type arranged in a second set of rings along the surface of the cabinet and surrounding the first set of rings such that an equal number of rings of the second set of transducers are positioned on each side of the first set of rings; wherein each ring of transducers is spaced logarithmically from each adjacent ring of transducers beginning from a center ring of transducers and moving outwards to the outermost ring of transducers.

2 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 1 , further comprising:
a third set of transducers of a third type arranged in a third set of rings along the surface of the cabinet and surrounding the second set of rings such that an equal number of rings of the third set of transducers are positioned on each side of the second set of rings.

3 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 1 , further comprising:
a third set of transducers of a third type arranged on ends of the enclosure and pointed perpendicular to the first and second sets of transducers.

4 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 3 , wherein the first set of transducers are selected to produce audio frequencies in a first range, the second set of transducers are selected to produce audio frequencies in a second range, and the third set of set transducers are selected to produce audio frequencies in a third range.

5 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 2 ,
wherein the frequencies in the first range of frequencies overlap with the frequencies in the second range of frequencies; and wherein the frequencies in the second range of frequencies overlap with the frequencies in the third range of frequencies.

6 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 1 , wherein the rotationally symmetric enclosure is shaped as one of a cylinder, a polyhedron, a frustum, a cone, a pyramid, a triangular prism, a hexagonal prism, and a sphere.

7 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 1 , wherein the first set of rings is offset from the second set of rings.

8 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 1 , wherein the center of each transducer in the first set of rings is aligned with the center of a transducer in the second set of rings to form N uniform columns of rings, wherein the uniform columns of rings encircle the cabinet such that the speaker array is rotationally symmetric on the order of N.

9 . A method for driving one or more types of transducers in a speaker array, comprising:
receiving, by the speaker array, a first segment of an audio signal during a first time period; detecting that the first segment of the audio signal is at a first frequency; determining that the first frequency falls within a frequency range of a first transducer type and a frequency range of a second frequency type within the speaker array; and driving the speaker array to generate a first beam pattern based on the first segment of the audio signal using one or more transducers of the first transducer type and one or more transducers of the second transducer type.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, by the speaker array, a second segment of the audio signal during a second time period; detecting that the second segment of the audio signal is at a second frequency; determining that the second frequency falls within the frequency range of the first transducer type and is outside the frequency range of the second transducer type; and driving the speaker array to continue to generate the first beam pattern based on the second segment of the audio signal using one or more transducers of only the first transducer type.

11 . A multi-way speaker array, comprising:
a rotationally symmetric cabinet for holding a plurality of transducers; a first set of transducers of a first type arranged in a first set of rings along a surface of the cabinet; and a second set of transducers of a second type arranged in a second set of rings along the surface of the cabinet and surrounding the first set of rings such that an equal number of rings of the second set of transducers are positioned on each side of the first set of rings.

12 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 11 , further comprising:
a third set of transducers of a third type arranged in a third set of rings along the surface of the cabinet and surrounding the second set of rings such that an equal number of rings of the third set of transducers are positioned on each side of the second set of rings.

13 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 11 , further comprising:
a third set of transducers of a third type arranged on ends of the enclosure and pointed perpendicular to the first and second sets of transducers.

14 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 13 , wherein the first set of transducers are selected to produce audio frequencies in a first range, the second set of transducers are selected to produce audio frequencies in a second range, and the third set of set transducers are selected to produce audio frequencies in a third range.

15 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 12 ,
wherein the frequencies in the first range of frequencies overlap with the frequencies in the second range of frequencies; and wherein the frequencies in the second range of frequencies overlap with the frequencies in the third range of frequencies.

16 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 11 , wherein the rotationally symmetric enclosure is shaped as one of a cylinder, a polyhedron, a frustum, a cone, a pyramid, a triangular prism, a hexagonal prism, and a sphere.

17 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 11 , wherein the first set of rings is offset from the second set of rings.

18 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 11 , wherein the center of each transducer in the first set of rings is aligned with the center of a transducer in the second set of rings to form N uniform columns of rings, wherein the uniform columns of rings encircle the cabinet such that the speaker array is rotationally symmetric on the order of N.

19 . The multi-way speaker array of claim 11 , wherein each ring of transducers is equally spaced from each other ring of transducers.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Johnson Martin E
• Dix Gordon R
• Howes Michael B
• Geaves Gary P
• Saux Tom-Davy William Jendrik

Classifications

• H04R1/24

  Structural combinations of separate transducers or of two parts of the same transducer and responsive respectively to two or more frequency ranges · CPC title

• H04R5/02

  Spatial or constructional arrangements of loudspeakers · CPC title

• H04R3/14

  Cross-over networks · CPC title

• H04R2201/401

  2D or 3D arrays of transducers · CPC title

• H04R1/025

  Arrangements for fixing loudspeaker transducers, e.g. in a box, furniture · CPC title