Speaker grill assembly for vehicle seats

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9682641-B1
Application number	US-201615071631-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 16, 2016
Priority date	Mar 16, 2016
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

The technology described in this document can be embodied in a seat headrest that includes an interior chamber that accommodates an acoustic transducer, and an acoustic channel disposed between the interior chamber and an external opening in the seat headrest. The headrest also includes a soft outer layer disposed around at least a portion of a periphery of the external opening, and a grill mount. The grill mount is disposed in or attached to the outer layer, the grill mount extending, at least in part, around the periphery of the acoustic channel, and configured to engage with a portion of a speaker grill-assembly in a mating configuration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A seat headrest comprising:
an interior chamber that accommodates an acoustic transducer, and
an acoustic channel disposed between the interior chamber and an external opening in the seat headrest;
a soft outer layer disposed around at least a portion of a periphery of the external opening; and
a grill mount disposed in or attached to the outer layer, the grill mount extending, at least in part, around the periphery of the acoustic channel, and configured to engage with a portion of a grill-assembly in a mating configuration.

2. The headrest of claim 1 , wherein the grill mount is separated from a substantially rigid portion of the headrest, at least in part, by the soft outer layer.

3. The headrest of claim 1 , wherein the soft outer layer comprises a material having shore A hardness less than 50.

4. The headrest of claim 1 , wherein the soft outer layer comprises closed-cell foam.

5. The headrest of claim 1 , wherein the grill mount is over-molded on the soft outer layer.

6. The headrest of claim 1 , wherein the grill mount comprises a snap-fit mechanism configured to engage with the portion of the grill-assembly.

7. The headrest of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the grill-assembly is constructed from a material having shore A hardness less than 90.

8. The headrest of claim 7 , wherein the material comprises a liquid silicone rubber or a rubber urethane.

9. The headrest of claim 1 , wherein the grill mount is visually occluded upon engaging with the grill-assembly.

10. The headrest of claim 1 , wherein the portion of a grill-assembly comprises at least a portion of a grill-ring.

11. A grill mount for a speaker system disposed in a headrest of a vehicle seat, the grill mount comprising:
an attachment surface configured to allow the grill mount to be attached to an outer layer of the vehicle seat, the outer layer disposed around at least a portion of a periphery of an external opening of an acoustic channel associated with the speaker system; and
an engagement structure that is configured to engage a portion of a speaker grill-assembly in a mating configuration such that the speaker grill-assembly is removable from the engagement structure following engagement,
wherein the grill mount extends, at least in part, around the periphery of the acoustic channel.

12. The grill mount of claim 11 , wherein the engagement structure comprises a snap-fit mechanism configured to engage with the portion of the speaker grill-assembly.

13. The grill mount of claim 11 , wherein the at least a portion of the speaker grill-assembly is constructed from a material having shore A hardness less than 90.

14. The grill mount of claim 13 , wherein the material comprises a liquid silicone rubber or a rubber urethane.

15. The grill mount of claim 11 , wherein the grill mount is configured to fit a profile of at least a portion of the periphery of the acoustic channel around which the grill mount is disposed.

16. The grill mount of claim 11 , wherein the portion of the vehicle seat comprises a headrest.

17. A housing for an acoustic transducer, the housing being disposed in a vehicle seat, and comprising:
an interior chamber, and
an acoustic channel disposed between the interior chamber and an external opening of the housing,
wherein at least a portion of a periphery of the external opening comprises a soft outer layer; and
a grill mount over-molded on the soft outer layer, the grill mount extending, at least in part, around the periphery of the acoustic channel, and configured to receive at least a portion of a grill-assembly.

18. The housing of claim 17 , wherein the soft outer layer comprises closed-cell foam.

19. The housing of claim 17 , wherein at least the portion of the grill-assembly is over-molded on the soft outer layer.

20. The housing of claim 19 , wherein the portion of a grill-assembly comprises at least a portion of a grill-ring.

21. The housing of claim 17 , wherein the grill mount comprises a snap-fit mechanism configured to engage with the grill-assembly.

22. The housing of claim 17 , wherein at least a portion of the grill-assembly is constructed from a material having shore A hardness less than 90.

23. The housing of claim 22 , wherein the material comprises a liquid silicone rubber or a rubber urethane.

Assignees

• Bose Corp

Inventors

• Subat Bradford Kyle
• Oswald Charles

Classifications

• H04R1/023

  Screens for loudspeakers · CPC title

• H04R1/025

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

• B60N2/4876 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• H04R2499/13

  Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles · CPC title

• B60N2/879 Primary

  with additional features not related to head-rest positioning, e.g. heating or cooling devices or loudspeakers · CPC title