Granted Patent B2

US 12,192,698 · App. 18/377,261 · Granted Jan 7, 2025

Inventors: Martin E. Johnson (Los Gatos, CA); Simon K. Porter (San Jose, CA); Suzanne Hardy (San Jose, CA); John H. Sheerin (Santa Clara, CA)

Assignee: APPLE INC.

H04R1/2811H04R1/02H04R1/025H04R1/26H04R1/2803H04R1/288H04R1/403H04R3/14H04R2201/401

Abstract

Claims (26)

1. An electronic device comprising:

a housing;

an audio receiver disposed within the housing and configured to wirelessly receive a digital audio signal from an external device and generate transducer drive signals;

a plurality of power amplifiers disposed within the housing and coupled to receive the transducer drive signals from the audio receiver and generate amplified transducer drive signals;

a plurality of audio transducers disposed within the housing, wherein each audio transducer in the plurality of audio transducers is coupled to receive an amplified transducer drive signal output from one of the plurality of power amplifiers and wherein the plurality of audio transducers include a plurality of tweeters oriented such that a forward face of each diaphragm of the plurality of tweeters is oriented downward; and

one or more acoustic channels defined by horns that redirect sounds generated by the plurality of tweeters to one or more sound output openings of the device housing.

2. The electronic device set forth in claim 1 , wherein the transducer drive signals generated by audio receiver are digital transducer drive signals and the electronic device further includes circuitry coupled between the audio receiver and the power amplifiers to convert the digital transducer drive signals to analog transducer drive signals that are received by the plurality of power amplifiers.

3. The electronic device set forth in claim 1 , wherein the audio receiver includes both wireless and wired inputs.

4. The electronic device set forth in claim 1 , wherein the audio receiver is configured to wirelessly receive the digital audio signal using a Bluetooth protocol.

5. The electronic device set forth in claim 1 , wherein the audio receiver is configured to wirelessly receive the digital audio signal using a wireless protocol in accordance with an 802.11 suite of standards.

6. The electronic device set forth in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of tweeters are evenly spaced about the housing and aligned in a first horizontal plane.

7. The electronic device set forth in claim 6 wherein the plurality of audio transducers further includes a low frequency transducer configured for low frequency content and wherein the plurality of tweeters are configured for content within a frequency range higher than the low frequency transducer.

8. The electronic device set forth in claim 1 , wherein each transducer in the plurality of audio transducers is independently and separately driven to generate sound patterns that represent individual channels of sound content received at an audio input.

9. The electronic device set forth in claim 8 , wherein the sound patterns differ in shape and direction.

10. The electronic device set forth in claim 1 , wherein the housing is axisymmetric.

11. The electronic device set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

one or more processing components; and

a memory unit coupled to and readable by the one or more processing components and storing therein a set of instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing components, cause the processing components to implement an operating system for the electronic device and generate transducer drive signals from the digital audio signals.

12. The electronic device set forth in claim 11 , wherein the memory unit comprises a non-volatile random access memory.

13. The electronic device set forth in claim 11 , wherein the one or more processing components is further configured to decode digital audio stored locally on the electronic device.

14. The electronic device set forth in claim 11 , wherein the plurality of tweeters are aligned in a first horizontal plane and wherein the plurality of transducers includes at least one second transducer aligned in a second horizontal plane spaced apart vertically from the first horizontal plane.

15. The electronic device set forth in claim 14 , wherein the second transducer is a low frequency transducer configured for low frequency content and wherein each transducer in the plurality of tweeters is configured for content within a frequency range higher than the low frequency transducer.

16. The electronic device set forth in claim 1 , further comprising digital-to-analog converter circuitry coupled to inputs of the plurality of power amplifiers and configured to convert digital transducer drive signals received at the digital-to-analog converter circuitry to analog transducer drive signals transmitted to the plurality of power amplifiers.

17. The electronic device set forth in claim 11 , further comprising a second audio input configured to receive analog audio signals from an external device.

18. The electronic device set forth in claim 11 , wherein the housing is axisymmetric.

19. The electronic device set forth in claim 11 , wherein the housing is cylindrical.

Continuity (5)

References Cited (400)