Telecommunications device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9628887-B2
Application number	US-201314430694-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2013
Priority date	Oct 15, 2012
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

A telecommunications device ( 1 ) comprises a base part ( 2 ), a cap part ( 4 ), a body part ( 3 ), a control panel ( 5 ), an upper light ring ( 9 ), a lower light ring ( 8 ), a plurality of sound microphones and a plurality of sound speakers. The cap part ( 4 ) is concave in shape. The body part ( 3 ) is frusto-conical in shape and tapers outwardly away from the cap part ( 4 ) towards the base part ( 2 ). The body part ( 3 ) and the cap part ( 4 ) cover the sound microphones and the sound speakers. The control panel ( 5 ) is inclined relative to the plane of the support surface ( 6 ) and relative to the plane of the base part ( 2 ). The control panel ( 5 ) protrudes upwardly from the upper edge of the body part ( 3 ) over the concave cap part ( 4 ), and the control panel ( 5 ) protrudes downwardly from the lower edge of the body part ( 3 ). The control panel ( 5 ) controls operation of the sound microphones and the sound speakers. The upper light ring ( 9 ) is located between the cap part ( 4 ) and the body part ( 3 ). The lower light ring ( 8 ) is located between the body part ( 3 ) and the base part ( 2 ). When the device ( 1 ) is in an active state in which the device ( 1 ) is capable of capturing sound and/or rendering sound, each of the light rings ( 8, 9 ) emits light to indicate the active state of the device ( 1 ).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A telecommunications device comprising:
means to capture sound from one or more users, wherein the capturing means comprises a plurality of sound capturing elements, wherein an angle between a first sound capturing element and a second and adjacent sound capturing element is approximately 120 degrees and wherein the plurality of sound capturing elements comprises one or more sound microphones, and
means to render sound to one or more users, wherein the rendering means comprises a plurality of sound rendering elements and wherein an angle between a first sound rendering element and a second and adjacent sound rendering element is approximately 120 degrees.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the capturing means is configured to capture sound from one or more users spaced apart from the capturing means.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 wherein the capturing means is configured to capture sound from one or more users spaced apart from the capturing means by at least 0.25 m.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the rendering means is configured to render sound to one or more users spaced apart from the rendering means.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4 wherein the rendering means is configured to render sound to one or more users spaced apart from the rendering means by at least 0.25 m.

6. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the rendering means comprises one or more sound speakers.

7. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the device comprises means to control operation of the capturing means and/or of the rendering means.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7 wherein the control means comprises means to display information to a user.

9. A device as claimed in claim 8 wherein the display means comprises a screen element.

10. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the device comprises at least one of: an active state in which the device is capable of capturing sound and/or rendering sound; or an inactive state in which the device is incapable of capturing sound and/or rendering sound.

11. A device as claimed in claim 10 wherein the device comprises means to indicate the state of the device.

12. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein an angle between each sound capturing element and each sound rendering element is approximately 60 degrees.

13. A device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
lighting means to indicate the state of the device, wherein the lighting means includes at least one light ring.

14. A device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the lighting means includes means for illuminating at least one light ring in a first color for a standard phone call and illuminating at least one light ring in a second color for a spatial phone call.

15. A device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the lighting means includes means for indicating audio scene information.

16. A device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the lighting means includes means for indicating call quality.

17. A device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the lighting means includes means for indicating a request for a private call.

Assignees

• Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corp

Inventors

• Hovanky Thao D
• Clementson David
• Kalluri Venugopal
• Goesnar Erwin
• Spittle Gary

Classifications

• H04R27/00

  Public address systems (circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; {monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007}; amplifiers H03F) · CPC title

• H04R29/007

  for public address systems (public address systems per se H04R27/00) · CPC title

• H04R1/406

  microphones · CPC title

• H04R1/403

  loud-speakers · CPC title

• H04M3/56 Primary

  Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities (video conference systems H04N7/15) · CPC title