Apple Inc.

Onur I Ilkorur

Christopher R Wilk

Michael J Newman

Pablo Seoane Vieites

Matthew A Donarski

Anthony P Grazian

Oliver Leonhardt

Bonnie W Tom

Alexander V Salvatti

Miikka Olavi Tikander

Peter C Hrudey

Gokhan Hatipoglu

Esge Brandt Andersen

Jeremy C Franklin

Stephen E Dey

Phil M Hobson

Ivan S Maric

Jia Tao

Stuart M Nevill

Eugene Antony Whang

Benjamin Andrew Shaffer

Jared Mitchell Kole

Edward Siahaan

Claudio Notarangelo

Hongdan Tao

Justin Derry Crosby

Scott Charles Grinker

Daniel Ray Bloom

Daniel K Boothe

Sneha Kadetotad

Aneesh R Kudekar

David S Wilkes, Jr

Rebecca J Mikolajczyk

Thomas H Tsang

Kuldeep P Lonkar

Logan A Rotolo

Per Haakan Linus Persson

Derek C Krass

Bart K Andre

Thomas M Jensen

Rajesh Anantharaman

Geng Luo

Kristen L Cretella

David W Robison

Xin Luo

Edwin J Corona Aparicio

Tsu-Hui Lin

Christopher S Erickson

Teemu P Sipila

Andrew M Hulva

Daniel W Corona

Rebecca J Russell

Jacob E Mattingley

Audrey L Sheng

Jacob A Pfitsch

Martial A Rousseau

Jordi Antoni Garcia Selva

Ashwat Kandasamy Amirthalingam

Yang Liu

Marty E Johnson

Chris Wilk

Andrea Baldioceda Oreamuno

Dan W Maier

Catherine G Waft

Megan A Mcclain

Claire Puginier

Jason J Leblanc

Sean J Docherty

Miikka O Tikander

Aspects of the subject technology relate to electronic devices having speakers. An electronic device may operate the speaker at or near one or more resonance frequencies of the speaker and/or the electronic device. This can allow the electronic device to efficiently eject an occlusion when the speaker is occluded by a fluid or other debris. For example, the electronic device may determine a resonance frequency by obtaining one or more electrical characteristics of an electronic component while the speaker is occluded, determine the resonance frequency based on the obtained electrical characteristic(s), and operate the speaker at a frequency that is based on the resonance frequency to eject the occlusion.

Adaptive resonance-controlled audio systems and methods

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

An electronic device may include a speaker having fabric portions. The fabric-based speaker may have one or more fabric support layers on which other speaker components are disposed. In particular, the fabric-based speaker may include one or more conductive patterns and one or more magnetic structures. The one or more conductive patterns may be coupled to one or more fabric support layers and may receive electric signals that actuate the one or more fabric support layers in the presence of magnetic field created by the one or more magnetic structures to produce sounds waves.

Fabric speakers

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

Implementations of the subject technology provide occupant-based audio for enclosed environments. For example, an apparatus having an enclosure and one or more speakers may determine a location and/or an identity of an occupant within an enclosed environment defined by the enclosure, and operate the one or more speakers to provide audio output to the location of the occupant. The apparatus may also operate the one or more speakers to reduce the audio output to one or more other locations within the enclosure, such as to one or more non-occupant locations and/or to one or more locations of one or more other occupants. The audio output may be occupant-specific audio output, such as a personalized notifications, in one or more implementations.

Occupant-based audio control for enclosed environments

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

A headphone comprising: two headphone earcups each comprising: an earcup housing defining an active chamber that acoustically couples a sound output side of a speaker to an ear of a user, and an inactive chamber that surrounds the active chamber; and a passive valve assembly configured to open in response to a positive pressure and a negative pressure within the active chamber to fluidly couple the active chamber to the inactive chamber and equalize a pressure between the active chamber and the inactive chamber.

Pressure relief valve for headphones

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

Aspects of the subject technology relate to a device comprising a moving-coil speaker including a diaphragm to play low-frequency signals from an audio-signal source, and a piezoelectric transducer coupled to the diaphragm to play high-frequency signals from the audio-signal source. A coupler couples the diaphragm to a housing of the device.

Two-way integrated speaker with piezoelectric diaphragm as tweeter

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

Growing community of inventors

Campbell, CA, United States of America

Onur I Ilkorur