Apple Inc.

Christopher R Wilk

Scott P Porter

Onur I Ilkorur

Ruchir M Dave

Andrew P Bright

Anthony P Grazian

Jonathan Sarjeant Aase

Yacine Azmi

Michael B Howes

Pablo Seoane Vieites

Hongdan Tao

Nikolas T Vitt

Alexander V Salvatti

Michael J Newman

Matthew A Donarski

Suzanne Hardy

Oliver Leonhardt

Rebecca J Mikolajczyk

Bonnie W Tom

Sawyer Isaac Cohen

Justin Derry Crosby

Peter C Hrudey

Jesse A Lippert

Gokhan Hatipoglu

Thomas H Tsang

Martin E Johnson

Daniel K Boothe

Roderick Brian Hogan

Rex Tyler Ehman

Daniel T McDonald

Claudio Notarangelo

David S Wilkes, Jr

Paul Xiaopeng Wang

Dinesh C Mathew

Keith J Hendren

Xiang Zhang

Benjamin J Pope

Brad G Boozer

Nicholas Alan Rundle

Simon S Lee

Neal D Evans

David M Pelletier

Nathan Alan Johanningsmeier

Miikka Olavi Tikander

Michael Asfaw

Stuart M Nevill

Chanjuan Feng

Teemu P Sipila

Logan A Rotolo

Suzanne C Brown

Scott A Myers

Tang Yew Tan

Richard Hung Minh Dinh

David A Pakula

Daniel William Jarvis

Matthew D Hill

Patrick Kessler

Anthony Sagala Montevirgen

Ashutosh Yugesh Shukla

Samuel Bruce Weiss

Yang Liu

Esge Brandt Andersen

Scott Charles Grinker

Tyler B Cater

Dennis R Pyper

Derek C Krass

Eric N Nyland

Kevin M Froese

John H Sheerin

Jiahui Liang

Ihtesham H Chowdhury

Jae Han Lee

David A Hurrell

Thomas M Jensen

David MacNeil

James W VanDyke

Jarrett B Lagler

Tom-Davy William Jendrik Saux

Xin Luo

Salome Bavetta

Daniel W Corona

Aneesh R Kudekar

Benjamin M Russo

Rebecca J Russell

Thomas R Luce

Martial A Rousseau

Mark A Murphy

Joseph F Maldonado

Yang Boon Quek

Teemu Pekka Silipä

Catherine G Waft

Miodrag Pejin

Martin D Taylor

A transducer assembly comprising: an air motion transformer having a magnet assembly operable to provide a magnetic field and a folded diaphragm having conductive traces and operable to expand or contract in a first direction and emit a sound in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; and a ferromagnetic assembly comprising a number of fixed members arranged within folds of the folded diaphragm to provide a closed loop magnetic circuit that drives the expansion or contraction of the folded diaphragm.

Air motion transformer transducer with closed-circuit magnet motor system

Aspects of the subject technology relate to electronic devices having speakers such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) speakers. A MEMS speaker can include an electrostatically driven, corrugated MEMS structure to move air without a magnet, coil, or traditional speaker membrane, and thus provide a low-power, compact speaker with a large acoustically active area in a small volume. Neighboring folds in the corrugated MEMS structure may form pairs of MEMS electrodes that can be pushed together and/or pulled apart to deform the MEMS structure in a breathing motion that generates pressure differentials on opposing sides of the corrugated MEMS structure to generate sound. Additional modes of operation are described.

MEMS speaker

A transducer assembly comprising: a frame positioned within an interior chamber defined by an enclosure comprising a port to an ambient environment; a surround comprising a fixed portion sealed to the frame and a movable portion dividing the interior chamber into a front volume chamber coupling a first side of the surround to the port and a back volume chamber coupled to a second side of the surround; and a barometric vent coupled to the fixed portion to vent a pressure between the front volume chamber and the back volume chamber.

Transducer surround having a barometric vent

A portable electronic device comprising: an enclosure having an enclosure wall that defines a first chamber, a second chamber and an acoustic opening from the first chamber or the second chamber; and an electroosmotic flow valve operable to open and close the acoustic opening.

Electroosmotic flow valve for an electronic device

An electro-acoustic transducer has an acoustic diaphragm and a voice-coil. The diaphragm defines a first major surface. A flange extends from the diaphragm in a direction opposite the first major surface. The voice-coil has a first plurality of windings positioned adjacent to the acoustic diaphragm and a second plurality of windings positioned distally from the acoustic diaphragm. The flange overlaps the first plurality of windings. The flange and the windings can be adhesively bonded with each other to form a lap joint. The lap joint can transfer force from the voice-coil to the diaphragm.

Electro-acoustic transducer diaphragm with integrated structural features, and related systems and methods

Aspects of the subject technology relate to a shaker module for an electronic device. The shaker module may include a movable component that is resiliently suspended in relation to a voice coil by one or more gap-separated pairs of the flat springs. The flat springs reduce the z-height of the shaker module for implementation in, for example, compact electronic devices. The gap-separated pairs of flat springs facilitate adjustment of the resonance frequency of the shaker module substantially independently of adjustments to drop performance, while providing stability against unwanted rocking motions of the movable component.

Shaker for electronic device

A moving magnet motor comprising: a stationary voice coil coupled to a frame; a moving magnet assembly movably coupled to the frame and operable to move relative to the stationary coil, the moving magnet assembly comprising a magnet and a flux concentrating member that define a gap within which the stationary coil is positioned; and an actuating surface coupled to the moving magnet assembly, and wherein a movement of the moving magnet assembly drives a movement of the actuating surface along an axis of translation.

Moving-magnet motor

A transducer assembly comprising: a magnet motor assembly comprising a first magnet plate and a second magnet plate arranged along an axis, a first support plate positioned between inward facing surfaces of the first magnet plate and the second magnet plate, a second support plate positioned along an outward facing surface of the first magnet plate to form a first magnetic gap between the first support plate and the second support plate, and a third support plate positioned along an outward facing surface of the second magnet plate to form a second magnetic gap between the first support plate and the third support plate; a voice coil coupled to the magnet motor assembly, wherein the voice coil is positioned around the first support plate and within the first magnetic gap and the second magnetic gap; and a piston coupled to the voice coil, wherein the piston is operable to vibrate in a direction parallel to the axis.

Dual function transducer

An electronic device can include a housing defining an aperture and a display positioned in the aperture. The display and the housing can define an internal volume in which a speaker assembly is positioned. The speaker assembly can include a speaker module and a speaker enclosure in fluid communication, with the speaker enclosure at least partially defining a speaker volume.

Speaker assembly

A loudspeaker having a compressible lead wire is described. The lead wire carries an electrical audio input signal to a voice coil. The electrical audio input signal drives the voice coil to oscillate in an axial direction. The compressible lead wire includes an elastic portion that stretches and compresses in the axial direction to allow the voice coil to oscillate freely. The elastic portion includes several compressible elements that are located within a cavity of the loudspeaker. The compressible elements extend through the cavity in the axial direction. Other aspects are also described and claimed.

Loudspeaker having collapsible lead wire

A portable electronic device comprising: an enclosure having an enclosure wall that forms an interior chamber and a sound output port to an ambient environment; a speaker positioned within the interior chamber, the speaker having a front volume chamber coupling a sound output surface of the speaker to the sound output port and a back volume chamber acoustically coupled to the interior chamber by an aperiodic vent; and a valve operable to open and close the aperiodic vent in response to a pressure change.

Impulse pressure rejecting valve for an electronic device

An earphone comprising: an earphone housing having a cap portion and a body portion that interlock with one another to enclose a driver, the driver having a front face that outputs sound waves and a back face opposite the front face, the cap portion defines a first chamber coupled to the front face of the driver and the body portion defines a second chamber coupled to the back face of the driver, a first opening formed through the cap portion; a first port and a second port formed through the body portion and open to a surrounding environment; and a mesh coupled to the first opening, the first port or the second port.

Earphone having a controlled acoustic leak port

Growing community of inventors

Los Gatos, CA, United States of America

Christopher R Wilk