New Transducers Limited

Nvf Tech Ltd

Google Inc.

Hiwave Technologies (uk) Limited

New Tranducers Limited

Neil John Harris

Martin Colloms

Henry Firouz Azima

Graham Bank

James East

Graham Robert Landick

Neil Simon Owen

Denis Morecroft

Martin Christopher Cassey

Paul Antony Burton

Christopher Julian Travis

Bijan Djahansouzi

Geoffrey Arthur Boyd

Christien Ellis

Ian D MacFarlane

Martin Roberts

Timothy Christopher Johnson Whitwell

Keith D Hills

Mark Starnes

Andrew D Bank

Chris Cowdery

David Keith Berriman

Douglas Andrew Marchant

A transducer () having a mechanical impedance over an operative frequency range and having a desired power coupling () to a load over the operative frequency range comprises a piezoelectric device () having a frequency distribution of modes in the operative frequency range; and an overmould (). The overmould () is arranged to surround at least part of the piezoelectric device (); and the parameters of the overmould () are selected to provide a required impedance matching between the mechanical impedance of the transducer () and the mechanical impedance of the load. An alternative transducer comprises a mounting means for holding a discrete portion of at least a part of the periphery of the piezoelectric device wherein the parameters of the mounting means are selected to provide a required boundary condition for the periphery of the piezoelectric device whereby the desired power coupling between the transducer and the load is provided.

Transducers with improved impedance matching

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for selecting distributed mode loudspeaker electrodes using an output frequency. One of the methods includes determining, for a piezoelectric transducer, a subset of frequencies, from a range of frequencies, at which to output a sound; selecting, based on the subset of frequencies, one or more electrode pairs from two or more electrode pairs included in the piezoelectric transducer to generate the sound; and providing, by a drive module connected to each of the two or more electrode pairs, current to each of the selected one or more electrode pairs to cause the piezoelectric transducer to generate a force that, when provided to a load, causes the load to generate the sound within the subset of frequencies.

Distributed mode loudspeaker actuator including patterned electrodes

A panel loudspeaker controller for controlling a panel loudspeaker including a plurality of actuators, the panel loudspeaker controller including a plurality of electrical signal inputs, each input being associated with each actuator of the panel loudspeaker to be controlled; a plurality of signal processors, each signal processor being associated with each input and having an output for an electrical signal to control an actuator of the panel loudspeaker, and each signal processor implementing a transfer function from its input to its output based on each actuator of the panel loudspeaker to a desired acoustic receiver; and a signal processor controller associated with all of the plurality of signal processors, wherein the signal processor controller is preconfigured to improve phase alignment between the signals as an ensemble output at the outputs of the signal processors.

Panel loudspeaker controller and a panel loudspeaker

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for changing a distributed mode loudspeaker's fundamental frequency. One of the systems includes a distributed mode loudspeaker comprising an actuator that includes: a supported portion, and a cantilevered portion having a length, a first fundamental frequency, and adapted to create a force to cause vibration of a load to generate sound waves using the first fundamental frequency; a support element connected to the supported portion of the actuator and adapted to adjust, based on a change to a shape of the support element, a size of the length of the cantilevered portion to change the first fundamental frequency to a second fundamental frequency with which the load will generate sound waves; and a frequency selection module that provides a signal to the support element to cause the support element to change shape.

Active distributed mode actuator

A system includes a flat panel display having a panel resonant frequency response corresponding to a composition, shape, and structure of the flat panel display; and an actuator having an actuator resonant frequency response corresponding to a composition, size, and shape of the actuator; in which the actuator is mechanically-coupled to the flat panel display at a mechanical drive point, in which a coupled resonant frequency response of the system is lower than the panel resonant frequency response of the flat panel display.

Multi-resonant coupled system for flat panel actuation

A touch sensitive device comprising a touch surface, a force exciter coupled to the touch surface to excite vibration in the surface in response to a signal sent to the exciter, with the touch surface and exciter together forming a coupled system and a signal generator to generate the signal, with the signal generator generating a carrier wave signal at frequencies within the frequency bandwidth of the coupled system and modulating the carrier wave signal with a complex modulation where the modulated carrier wave signal has a time response comparable to that of a low frequency signal which produces a desired haptic sensation whereby a user touching the touch surface excited by the exciter in response to the modulated carrier wave signal experiences the desired haptic sensation which is perceived at a frequency below the frequency bandwidth of the coupled system.

Touch sensitive device

A method of generating a set of filters determining an initial estimate of a filter to be applied to a signal associated with each transducer; defining a model of the system; calculating the vibration of the member as an output of the model of the system; calculating the output of the model by comparing the output of the model with a measured value; determining changed parameter values of parameters of the model; recalculating the error value for the output of the model by comparing the output of the model with the changed parameter values with the measured value; comparing the recalculated error value with the reference error value; setting the recalculated error value as the reference error value, setting the changed parameter values as the model parameters, and repeating the above steps, or outputting the model parameters; generating a set of new filters each using respective output model parameters.

A method of generating a keyboard switch haptic sensation in a coupled system comprising a touch-sensitive surface and a force exciter or actuator coupled to the touch-sensitive surface, the method comprising generating a carrier wave signal at frequencies within the frequency bandwidth of the coupled system, modulating the carrier wave signal with a modulation envelope so that the modulated carrier wave signal has a closely spaced pair of peaks, and driving the exciter or actuator with the modulated carrier wave signal to excite the touch-sensitive surface to provide a closely spaced pair of impulses whereby the keyboard switch haptic sensation is simulated to a user touching the touch-sensitive surface.

A method includes determining, for a piezoelectric cantilever-type transducer of a distributed mode loudspeaker adapted to cause vibration of a load, a subset of frequencies from a range of frequencies at which to output vibrations, in which the transducer includes two or more electrode pairs positioned along a length of the transducer and each electrode pair including a first electrode on a first side of a piezoelectric layer of the transducer and a second electrode on a second side of the piezoelectric layer of the transducer that is opposite to the first side; selecting, for the subset of frequencies, a respective input voltage for each of the two or more electrode pairs based on a relative position of each pair on the transducer; and applying the respective input voltage to each of the two or more electrode pairs to cause the transducer to generate a vibrational force.

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, United Kingdom

Neil John Harris