A microphone

Abstract

This specification discloses a microphone comprising: a housing structure and a vibration pickup unit that generates vibration in response to vibration of the housing structure; and at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements configured to receive vibration of the vibration pickup unit and generate electrical signals, wherein the at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements have different frequency responses to vibration of the vibration pickup unit.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of sound transmission device technology, and particularly to a microphone. Background Technology

[0002] Microphones (e.g., bone conduction or air conduction microphones) output full-band signals based on external sound signals. After sub-band frequency division (also known as sub-band decomposition), the full-band signal output by the microphone can be better processed for subsequent signal processing tasks such as speech recognition, noise reduction, and signal enhancement. Sub-band frequency division technology has wide applications in electroacoustics, communications, image coding, echo cancellation, and radar sorting. Current sub-band frequency division technology typically uses hardware circuits (e.g., electronic components) and software algorithms (e.g., digital technology) to perform sub-band frequency division on the full-band signal. On the one hand, electronic components are limited by their inherent characteristics; higher-performance filters require more complex circuit designs. On the other hand, using software algorithms for sub-band frequency division on the full-band signal demands significant computational resources and can also cause sound signal distortion and noise introduction during processing, affecting sound quality.

[0003] Therefore, it is desirable to provide a microphone that simplifies the process of sub-band division of full-band signals, realizes sub-bands from the device end, reduces its dependence on complex hardware circuits and software algorithms, and improves the quality of the final sound signal. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a microphone, the microphone comprising: a housing structure and a vibration pickup unit, the vibration pickup unit generating vibration in response to vibration of the housing structure; and at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements configured to respectively receive the vibration of the vibration pickup unit and generate electrical signals, wherein the at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements have different frequency responses to the vibration of the vibration pickup unit.

[0005] In some embodiments, the frequency response corresponding to each acoustic-electric conversion element includes at least one resonant frequency, and at least two of the plurality of resonant frequencies corresponding to the at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements are in the range of 20Hz-16000Hz.

[0006] In some embodiments, the number of molecular bands corresponding to the at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements is not less than five.

[0007] In some embodiments, the vibration pickup unit and the housing structure define at least one acoustic cavity, the at least one acoustic cavity including a first acoustic cavity; the housing structure includes at least one aperture located at the first acoustic cavity, the at least one aperture guiding the external sound signal into the first acoustic cavity, wherein the vibration pickup unit vibrates in response to the sound signal within the first acoustic cavity, and the at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements respectively receive the vibration of the vibration pickup unit and generate electrical signals.

[0008] In some embodiments, the vibration pickup unit is connected to the housing structure via its periphery; wherein at least a portion of the structure of the vibration pickup unit vibrates in response to the external sound signal.

[0009] In some embodiments, the vibration pickup unit includes a first vibration pickup unit, and the at least two acoustic-to-electric conversion elements are directly or indirectly connected to the first vibration pickup unit.

[0010] In some embodiments, the vibration pickup unit includes a first vibration pickup unit and a second vibration pickup unit arranged sequentially from top to bottom, the first vibration pickup unit and the second vibration pickup unit being connected to the housing structure through their peripheries; wherein at least a portion of the structure of the first vibration pickup unit and the second vibration pickup unit vibrates in response to the external sound signal.

[0011] In some embodiments, a vibration transmission section with a tubular structure is provided between the first vibration pickup section and the second vibration pickup section, wherein a cavity is formed between the vibration transmission section, the first vibration pickup section and the second vibration pickup section.

[0012] In some embodiments, the vibration pickup unit includes a first vibration pickup unit, a second vibration pickup unit, and a third vibration pickup unit. The first vibration pickup unit and the second vibration pickup unit are arranged vertically opposite each other. A vibration transmission unit with a tubular structure is provided between the first vibration pickup unit and the second vibration pickup unit. A cavity is formed between the vibration transmission unit, the first vibration pickup unit, and the second vibration pickup unit. The third vibration pickup unit is connected between the vibration transmission unit and the inner wall of the housing structure. The third vibration pickup unit vibrates in response to the external sound signal.

[0013] In some embodiments, each of the acoustic-electric conversion elements includes a cantilever beam structure, one end of which is connected to the inner wall of the vibration transmission part, and the other end of which is suspended in the cavity; wherein the cantilever beam structure deforms based on the vibration signal to convert the vibration signal into an electrical signal.

[0014] In some embodiments, different cantilever beam structures are spaced apart on the inner wall of the vibration transmission section.

[0015] In some embodiments, the cantilever beam structures corresponding to the at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements are of different sizes or materials.

[0016] In some embodiments, the at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements include a first cantilever beam structure and a second cantilever beam structure, wherein the length of the first cantilever beam perpendicular to its vibration direction is greater than the length of the second cantilever beam perpendicular to its vibration direction, and the resonant frequency corresponding to the first cantilever beam is lower than the resonant frequency corresponding to the second cantilever beam.

[0017] In some embodiments, the cantilever beam structure includes a first electrode layer, a piezoelectric layer, a second electrode layer, an elastic layer, and a base layer, wherein the first electrode layer, the piezoelectric layer, and the second electrode layer are arranged sequentially from top to bottom, the elastic layer is located on the upper surface of the first electrode layer or the lower surface of the second electrode layer, and the base layer is located on the upper surface or the lower surface of the elastic layer.

[0018] In some embodiments, the cantilever beam structure includes at least one elastic layer, an electrode layer, and a piezoelectric layer; the at least one elastic layer is located on the surface of the electrode layer; the electrode layer includes a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein the first electrode is bent into a first comb-like structure, the second electrode is bent into a second comb-like structure, the first comb-like structure and the second comb-like structure cooperate to form the electrode layer, and the electrode layer is located on the upper or lower surface of the piezoelectric layer; the first comb-like structure and the second comb-like structure extend along the length direction of the cantilever beam structure.

[0019] In some embodiments, each of the acoustic-electric conversion elements includes a first cantilever beam structure and a second cantilever beam structure, the first cantilever beam structure and the second cantilever beam structure being disposed opposite to each other and having a first distance between them; wherein the first distance between the first cantilever beam structure and the second cantilever beam structure changes based on the vibration signal to convert the vibration signal into an electrical signal.

[0020] In some embodiments, the first cantilever beam structure and the second cantilever beam structure corresponding to each acoustic-electric conversion element are spaced apart on the inner wall of the periphery of the vibration transmission part.

[0021] In some embodiments, the stiffness of the first cantilever beam structure is different from that of the second cantilever beam structure.

[0022] In some embodiments, the microphone includes at least one diaphragm structure located on the upper and / or lower surface of the acoustic-electric conversion element.

[0023] In some embodiments, the at least one membrane structure covers all or part of the upper and / or lower surface of the acoustic-electric conversion element.

[0024] In some embodiments, the microphone includes at least one support structure, one end of which is connected to a first vibration pickup portion of the vibration pickup unit, and the other end of which is connected to a second vibration pickup portion of the vibration pickup unit. The free ends of the at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements have a second distance from the support structure.

[0025] In some embodiments, the microphone further includes at least one sampling module configured to convert electrical signals output by different acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements into digital signals; wherein the sampling module samples the electrical signals output by different acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements using different sampling frequencies. Attached Figure Description

[0026] This application will be further described by way of exemplary embodiments, which will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. These embodiments are not limiting; in these embodiments, the same reference numerals denote the same structures, wherein:

[0027] Figure 1 This is an exemplary flowchart illustrating subband frequency division processing according to some embodiments of this application;

[0028] Figure 2 This is an exemplary flowchart illustrating subband frequency division processing according to some embodiments of this application;

[0029] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a spring-mass-damping system for an electroacoustic conversion element according to some embodiments of this application;

[0030] Figure 4 This is an exemplary normalized schematic diagram of the displacement resonance curve of a spring-mass-damped system according to some embodiments of this application;

[0031] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0032] Figure 6A yes Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the cross-section of the microphone along the AA direction;

[0033] Figure 6B yes Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the cross-section of the microphone along the direction perpendicular to AA;

[0034] Figure 7AThis is a schematic diagram of the cantilever beam structure distribution according to some embodiments of this application;

[0035] Figure 7B This is a schematic diagram of the cantilever beam structure distribution according to some embodiments of this application;

[0036] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0037] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the frequency response curve of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0038] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0039] Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0040] Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0041] Figure 13 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0042] Figure 14 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0043] Figure 15 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0044] Figure 16A This is a schematic cross-sectional view of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0045] Figure 16B This is a schematic cross-sectional view of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0046] Figure 17A This is a schematic cross-sectional view of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0047] Figure 17B This is a schematic cross-sectional view of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0048] Figure 18 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0049] Figure 19 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application;

[0050] Figure 20 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0051] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings described below are merely some examples or embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, these drawings can be applied to other similar scenarios without creative effort. Unless obvious from the context or otherwise specified, the same reference numerals in the drawings represent the same structures or operations.

[0052] It should be understood that the terms “system,” “device,” “unit,” and / or “module” used herein are one way to distinguish different components, elements, parts, sections, or assemblies at different levels. However, if other terms can achieve the same purpose, they may be replaced by other expressions.

[0053] As indicated in this application and claims, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the words "a," "an," "an," and / or "the" do not specifically refer to the singular and may also include the plural. Generally speaking, the terms "comprising" and "including" only indicate the inclusion of explicitly identified steps and elements, which do not constitute an exclusive list, and the method or apparatus may also include other steps or elements.

[0054] Flowcharts are used in this application to illustrate the operations performed by the system according to embodiments of this application. It should be understood that the preceding or following operations are not necessarily performed precisely in sequence. Instead, the steps can be processed in reverse order or simultaneously. Furthermore, other operations can be added to these processes, or one or more steps can be removed from them.

[0055] This specification describes a microphone. A microphone is a transducer that converts sound signals into electrical signals. In some embodiments, the microphone may be a moving-coil microphone, a ribbon microphone, a condenser microphone, a piezoelectric microphone, an electret microphone, an electromagnetic microphone, a carbon microphone, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, microphones may be distinguished by the method of sound acquisition, including bone conduction microphones and air conduction microphones. The microphone described in the embodiments of this specification may include a housing structure, a vibration pickup unit, and at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements. The housing structure may be configured to support the vibration pickup unit and at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements. In some embodiments, the housing structure may be a cuboid, a cylinder, or other irregular structure. In some embodiments, the housing structure may be a hollow structure, and the housing structure may independently form an acoustic cavity, with the vibration pickup unit and at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements located within the acoustic cavity of the housing structure. In some embodiments, the vibration pickup unit may be connected to the sidewall of the housing structure, and the vibration pickup unit may vibrate in response to external sound signals transmitted to the housing structure. In some embodiments, at least two acoustic-to-electric conversion elements may be directly or indirectly connected to the vibration pickup unit to receive the vibration of the vibration pickup unit and convert the received vibration signal into an electrical signal for output.

[0056] In some embodiments, different acoustic-to-electric conversion elements (e.g., cantilever beam structures) may have different frequency responses to the vibration of the vibration pickup unit. For example, each acoustic-to-electric conversion element has its own resonant frequency, and each acoustic-to-electric conversion element has a high response to sound components near its own resonant frequency. In some embodiments, the response of each acoustic-to-electric conversion element to sound signals or vibration signals can be described by its corresponding frequency response curve (e.g., Figure 9The frequency response curves 920 and 930 are shown in the figures. In some embodiments, the structure, size, and material of each acoustic-electric conversion element (e.g., a cantilever beam structure) can be individually configured to achieve frequency responses with different frequency widths and resonant frequencies for different acoustic-electric conversion elements. For example, cantilever beam structures of different lengths can be configured so that the resonant frequencies of the cantilever beam structures of different lengths are located in the frequency ranges of 300Hz–500Hz, 500Hz–700Hz, 700Hz–1000Hz, 2200Hz–3000Hz, 4700Hz–5700Hz, and 7000Hz–12000Hz, respectively. In some embodiments, each acoustic-electric conversion element maintains high sensitivity only near its resonant peak; that is, the sensitivity of the acoustic-electric conversion element at its resonant peak is much greater than the sensitivity in other regions (especially the region at the original resonant peak position). Therefore, by using multiple acoustic-electric conversion components to perform acoustic-electric conversion on the sound signals near their respective resonant peaks, sub-band frequency division of the sound signal can be achieved. In some embodiments, the resonant frequency difference between at least two of the different acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements is greater than 5000 Hz. In some embodiments, the resonant frequency difference between at least two of the different acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements is greater than 3000 Hz. In some embodiments, the resonant frequency difference between at least two of the different acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements is greater than 2000 Hz. In some embodiments, the resonant frequency difference between at least two of the different acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements is greater than 1000 Hz. In some embodiments, the resonant frequency difference between at least two of the different acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements is greater than 500 Hz. In some embodiments, the resonant frequency difference between at least two of the different acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements is greater than 200 Hz. In some embodiments, the resonant frequency difference between at least two of the different acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements is greater than 100 Hz. For ease of description and as an example only, the sensor may include 100 sub-bands within the range of 20Hz-15000Hz, where each sub-band has a bandwidth of approximately 150Hz, the minimum resonant frequency ranges from 20Hz to 170Hz, the maximum resonant frequency ranges from 14850Hz to 15000Hz, and the difference between the maximum resonant frequency (e.g., approximately 14920Hz) and the minimum resonant frequency (e.g., approximately 95Hz) is approximately 14825Hz.For example, within the 20Hz-10000Hz range, the sensor may include 40 sub-bands, each with a bandwidth of 250Hz. The minimum resonant frequency ranges from 20Hz to 270Hz, and the maximum resonant frequency ranges from 9750Hz to 10000Hz. The difference between the maximum resonant frequency (e.g., approximately 9875Hz) and the minimum resonant frequency (e.g., approximately 145Hz) is approximately 9730Hz. As another example, within the 20Hz-10000Hz range, the sensor may include 10 sub-bands, each with a bandwidth of 1000Hz. The minimum resonant frequency ranges from 20Hz to 1020Hz, and the maximum resonant frequency ranges from 9000Hz to 10000Hz. The difference between the maximum resonant frequency (e.g., approximately 9500Hz) and the minimum resonant frequency (e.g., approximately 510Hz) is approximately 8090Hz. It should be noted that the above is only an illustrative example. The specific values ​​of the selected frequency band range, number of sub-bands, bandwidth, etc., can be adaptively adjusted according to different application scenarios (e.g., indoor communication scenarios, outdoor noise scenarios, etc.), and no further limitations are made here. The frequency response of a microphone can be regarded as a higher signal-to-noise ratio and flatter frequency response curve formed by the fusion of the frequency responses of different acoustic-electric conversion elements (e.g., ...). Figure 9 The frequency response curve shown is 910. On the one hand, the microphone provided in the embodiments of this specification can perform sub-band frequency division processing on full-band signals through its own structure without utilizing hardware circuits (e.g., filtering circuits) or software algorithms. This avoids the problems of complex hardware circuit design and high computational resource consumption, signal distortion, and noise introduction caused by software algorithms, thereby reducing the complexity and production cost of the microphone. On the other hand, the microphone provided in the embodiments of this specification can output a high signal-to-noise ratio and a flatter frequency response curve, improving the signal quality of the microphone. In addition, by setting different acoustic-to-electric conversion elements (e.g., cantilever beam structure), resonance peaks in different frequency ranges can be added to the microphone system, improving the microphone's sensitivity near multiple resonance peaks, thereby improving the microphone's sensitivity across the entire bandwidth.

[0057] Figure 1 This is an exemplary flowchart illustrating subband frequency division processing according to some embodiments of this application. Figure 1 As shown, in some embodiments, the microphone 100 may include an acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 110, a sampling module 120, a sub-band frequency division module 130, and a signal processing module 140.

[0058] Microphone 100 is a transducer that converts sound signals into electrical signals. In some embodiments, microphone 100 may be a moving-coil microphone, ribbon microphone, condenser microphone, piezoelectric microphone, electret microphone, electromagnetic microphone, carbon microphone, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, microphone 100 may be distinguished by the method of sound acquisition, including bone conduction microphones and air conduction microphones.

[0059] The acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 110 is configured to receive vibrations and generate electrical signals. Taking a bone conduction microphone as an example, in some embodiments, the microphone 100 may further include a housing structure and a vibration pickup unit, wherein the vibration pickup unit is housed within the housing structure and vibrates in response to external sound signals transmitted to the housing structure. Taking an air conduction microphone as an example, in some embodiments, the vibration pickup unit and the housing structure define at least one acoustic cavity, the at least one acoustic cavity including a first acoustic cavity, the housing structure including one or more orifices located at the first acoustic cavity, the one or more orifices allowing external sound signals to be introduced into the first acoustic cavity, wherein the vibration pickup unit vibrates in response to sound signals transmitted to the housing structure and further into the first acoustic cavity, and the acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 110 receives the vibrations of the vibration pickup unit and generates electrical signals.

[0060] In some embodiments, the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 110 can convert sound signals into electrical signals. In some embodiments, the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 110 may include a capacitive acoustic-to-electric conversion element or a piezoelectric conversion element. In some embodiments, the piezoelectric conversion element may be an element that converts changes in the measured non-electrical quantity (e.g., pressure, displacement, etc.) into changes in voltage. For example, the piezoelectric conversion element may include a cantilever beam structure that can deform under the vibration of the vibration pickup unit, and the inverse piezoelectric effect caused by the deformed cantilever beam structure can generate an electrical signal. In some embodiments, the capacitive acoustic-to-electric conversion element may be an element that converts changes in the measured non-electrical quantity (e.g., displacement, pressure, light intensity, acceleration, etc.) into changes in capacitance. For example, the capacitive conversion element may include a first cantilever beam structure and a second cantilever beam structure that can deform to different degrees under the vibration of the vibration pickup unit, thereby changing the distance between the first and second cantilever beam structures. The first and second cantilever beam structures can convert the change in the distance between them into a change in capacitance, thereby realizing the conversion of vibration signals into electrical signals. For details regarding the structure of the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 110, please refer to the specification of this application. Figure 5 , Figure 8 And its related descriptions.

[0061] The sampling module 120 can sample (and hold), quantize, and encode electrical signals based on a sampling frequency, thereby converting electrical signals into digital signals. In some embodiments, the sampling module 120 may include a sampling circuit, an analog-to-digital converter, etc. Specifically, the sampling circuit can discretize the continuous electrical signals input to the sampling module 120, that is, sample the continuous electrical signals based on the sampling frequency to obtain a series of discrete sample values ​​(i.e., sampled signals).

[0062] The subband frequency divider module 130 can decompose a digital signal into multiple subband frequency divider signals. In some embodiments, the subband frequency divider module 130 may include electronic components (e.g., filters, frequency dividers, etc.). In some embodiments, the filter can select electrical signals within a specific frequency range based on its own frequency characteristics, and attenuate electrical signals within other frequency ranges. The frequency characteristics of the filter can be achieved by adjusting the parameters of components such as resistors, capacitors, and inductors in the filter circuit. In some embodiments, the subband frequency divider module 130 may include multiple filters with different frequency characteristics. Filters with different frequency characteristics can resonate within their own resonant frequency range, and select electrical signals within their corresponding resonant frequency ranges, thereby decomposing the wideband electrical signal into multiple subband frequency divider signals. In some embodiments, the signal can also be processed by a back-end algorithm for subband frequency division. In some embodiments, the back-end algorithm may include, but is not limited to, one or more of Linear Predictive Analysis (LPC), Linear Predictive Cepstral Coefficients (LPCC), Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC), etc.

[0063] Signal processing module 140 can process subband frequency division signals. In some embodiments, signal processing module 140 may include one or more of an equalizer, a dynamic range controller, a phase processor, etc. In some embodiments, the equalizer may be configured to gain and / or attenuate the subband frequency division signal output by subband frequency division module 130 according to a specific frequency band (e.g., the frequency band corresponding to the subband frequency division signal). Gaining the subband frequency division signal means increasing the signal amplification; attenuating the subband frequency division signal means reducing the signal amplification. In some embodiments, dynamic range controller may be configured to compress and / or amplify the subband frequency division signal. Compressing and / or amplifying the subband frequency division electrical signal means decreasing and / or increasing the ratio between the input signal and the output signal in microphone 100. In some embodiments, phase processor may be configured to adjust the phase of the subband frequency division signal. In some embodiments, signal processing module 140 may be located inside microphone 100. For example, signal processing module 140 may be located in an acoustic cavity independently formed by the housing structure of microphone 100. In some embodiments, the signal processing module 140 may also be located in other electronic devices, such as headphones, mobile devices, tablets, laptops, etc., or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, mobile devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, smart home devices, smart mobile devices, etc., or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, smart home devices may include control devices for smart appliances, smart monitoring devices, smart TVs, smart cameras, etc., or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, smart mobile devices may include smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), gaming devices, navigation devices, POS devices, etc., or any combination thereof.

[0064] During the operation of the microphone 100 described above, on the one hand, when the sub-band frequency division module 130 is an electronic component, its filter circuit design is usually quite complex to achieve a good frequency division filtering effect due to the characteristics of its electronic components. On the other hand, the sub-band frequency division module 130 implements sub-band frequency division through a back-end algorithm, which places high demands on the computational resources of the back-end algorithm and requires processing a large amount of data, resulting in excessively long computation time. Implementing sub-band frequency division through a back-end algorithm can also cause sound signal distortion and noise introduction during processing, affecting sound quality. Therefore, to address the problems existing in the above-mentioned sub-band frequency division method, this specification provides a microphone to solve the problems of complex filter circuit design and large computational load of back-end algorithm in microphones, while improving the Q value and sensitivity of the microphone. For details about the microphone, please refer to this application specification. Figures 2-20 And its related descriptions.

[0065] It should be noted that the components of microphone 100 are not limited to... Figure 1The acoustic-to-electric conversion element 110, sampling module 120, sub-band frequency divider module 130, and signal processing module 140 shown may also include other modules. Furthermore, the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 110, sampling module 120, sub-band frequency divider module 130, and signal processing module 140 can be a system, with the microphone 100 as part of this system, which may only include the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 110. The sampling module 120, sub-band frequency divider module 130, and signal processing module 140 can be located outside the microphone 100, and the electrical signal output by the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 110 can be transmitted to the corresponding module for subsequent processing via wired or wireless means.

[0066] Figure 2 This is an exemplary flowchart illustrating subband frequency division processing according to some embodiments of this application. Figure 2As shown, in some embodiments, the microphone 200 may include at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements 210, a sampling module 220, and a signal processing module 230. The microphone 200 picks up external sound signals and transmits them to the acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements 210, which convert the sound signals (e.g., vibrations) into electrical signals. In some embodiments, each of the at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements 210 (e.g., a first acoustic-to-electrical conversion element, a second acoustic-to-electrical conversion element, ..., an nth acoustic-to-electrical conversion element, etc.) has a different frequency response to the sound signal, such that the electrical signals mainly output by each acoustic-to-electrical conversion element correspond to different frequency ranges and frequency bandwidths (i.e., sub-band frequency division electrical signals 1, ..., sub-band frequency division electrical signals n, etc.). For example, the acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements may include a first acoustic-to-electrical conversion element, a second acoustic-to-electrical conversion element, a third acoustic-to-electrical conversion element, and a fourth acoustic-to-electrical conversion element, which may have a first frequency response, a second frequency response, a third frequency response, and a fourth frequency response, respectively. In some embodiments, the frequency ranges corresponding to the first frequency response, the second frequency response, the third frequency response, and the fourth frequency response may be different. Alternatively, the frequency ranges corresponding to the first, second, and third frequency responses may be different from each other, while the frequency range of the fourth frequency response may be the same as that of the third frequency response. In some embodiments, the frequency bandwidths corresponding to the first, second, third, and fourth frequency responses may be the same or different. For example, the frequency bandwidth of the second frequency response is greater than that of the first frequency response, and the frequency bandwidth of the third frequency response is greater than that of the second frequency response. Another example is that the frequency bandwidth corresponding to the fourth frequency response is equal to that corresponding to the third frequency response. In some embodiments, the frequency ranges corresponding to different acoustic-electric conversion elements may overlap or not overlap. For example, the first and second frequency responses may each correspond to one of two adjacent sub-bands, the frequency range of the second frequency response includes at least a portion of the frequency range of the first frequency response, and the frequency ranges of the second and first frequency responses may overlap. Another example is that the first and fourth frequency responses may each correspond to one of two non-adjacent sub-bands, and the frequency range of the fourth frequency response does not share the same frequency or frequency range as the frequency range of the first frequency response; in this case, the fourth frequency response and the first frequency response do not overlap. In some embodiments, the resonant frequencies corresponding to different acoustic-electric conversion elements may be different. For example, the resonant frequencies corresponding to the first, second, third, and fourth frequency responses gradually increase. In some embodiments, the second frequency response and the first frequency response may intersect at a position close to or located at the half-power point. For example, the resonant frequency of the second frequency response is greater than the resonant frequency of the first frequency response, and the half-power point of the second frequency response intersects with the half-power point of the first frequency response.In some embodiments, the second frequency response may intersect the first frequency response at a location not close to the half-power point.

[0067] In some embodiments, by adjusting the dimensions (e.g., length, width, thickness, etc.) and materials of the cantilever beam structure, different cantilever beam structures can resonate within desired frequency ranges, thereby obtaining frequency responses corresponding to different resonant frequency ranges. Taking a cuboid structure as an example, in some embodiments, the resonant frequency of the acoustic-electric conversion element 250 is negatively correlated with the length of the cantilever beam structure. For example, the acoustic-electric conversion element 250 may include a first acoustic-electric conversion element and a second acoustic-electric conversion element. The first acoustic-electric conversion element may include a first cantilever beam structure, and the second acoustic-electric conversion element may include a second cantilever beam structure. The length of the first cantilever beam structure is greater than the length of the second cantilever beam structure, and the resonant frequency corresponding to the first acoustic-electric conversion element is lower than the resonant frequency corresponding to the second acoustic-electric conversion element. It should be noted that the first and second cantilever beam structures are identical in all parameters (e.g., width, thickness, material) except for their length. In other embodiments, the length, width, thickness, and material of different cantilever beam structures can be adjusted to adjust the resonant frequency of different cantilever beam structures.

[0068] In some embodiments, multiple sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals can be transmitted separately through different parallel lines. In some embodiments, multiple sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals can also be output in a specific format according to specific protocol rules through a shared line. In some embodiments, the specific protocol rules may include, but are not limited to, one or more of direct transmission, amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, etc. In some embodiments, the line medium may include, but is not limited to, one or more of coaxial cable, communication cable, flexible cable, spiral cable, non-metallic sheathed cable, metallic sheathed cable, multi-core cable, twisted pair cable, ribbon cable, shielded cable, telecommunication cable, two-strand cable, parallel two-core conductor, twisted pair, optical fiber, infrared, electromagnetic waves, sound waves, etc. In some embodiments, the specific format may include, but is not limited to, one or more of CD, WAVE, AIFF, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-3, MPEG-4, MIDI, WMA, RealAudio, VQF, AMR, APE, FLAC, AAC, etc. In some embodiments, the transmission protocol may include, but is not limited to, one or more of AES3, EBU, ADAT, I2S, TDM, MIDI, CobraNet, Ethernet AVB, Dante, ITU-T G.728, ITU-T G.711, ITU-T G.722, ITU-T G.722.1, ITU-T G.722.1 Annex C, AAC-LD, etc.

[0069] In some embodiments, each of the acoustic-to-electric conversion elements 210 (e.g., the first acoustic-to-electric conversion element, ..., the nth acoustic-to-electric conversion element) outputs its corresponding sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal (e.g., sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal 1, ..., sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal n), which is then transmitted to the corresponding sampling module 220 (e.g., the first sampling module 1, ..., the nth sampling module, etc.) for sampling, so as to convert the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal (e.g., sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal 1, ..., sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal n, etc.) into its corresponding digital signal (e.g., digital signal 1, ..., digital signal n, etc.). For example, the first sampling module can sample the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal 1 to convert it into digital signal 1. It should be noted that the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal can also be simply referred to as a sub-band. In some embodiments, the number of sampling modules 220 may also be different from the number of acoustic-to-electric conversion elements 210. For example, the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals output by multiple acoustic-to-electric conversion elements can be sampled by the same sampling module at the same sampling frequency. In some embodiments, the frequency ranges of the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals output by two or more adjacent acoustic-to-electric conversion elements are relatively close. To improve the conversion efficiency of the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals, the same sampling module can sample the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals output by two or more adjacent acoustic-to-electric conversion elements. To reduce the sampling frequency, the amount of sampling data, and the sampling difficulty, in some embodiments, the sampling frequency of the sampling module 220 can be determined based on the frequency range of different sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals. This can be understood as different sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals having different frequency ranges, and the sampling module can process different sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals according to different sampling frequencies. For example, a lower sampling frequency is used for the low-frequency range sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals to ensure a lower cutoff frequency. As another example, a higher sampling frequency is used for the mid-to-high frequency range sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals to ensure a relatively high cutoff frequency. The sampling module can process different sub-band frequency-divided electrical signals according to different sampling frequencies to reduce the amount of sampling data, while also reducing the sampling difficulty and cost. In addition, processing the sub-band signals by different sampling frequencies avoids problems such as signal distortion and noise introduction during sub-band frequency division and sampling processing. In some embodiments, the sampling cutoff frequency of the sampling module corresponding to each sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal may be greater than the maximum frequency within the resonant frequency range (hereinafter also referred to as the "bandwidth") corresponding to that sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal, which can be greater than a specific value. Here, the resonant frequency range corresponding to the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal refers to the 3dB bandwidth of the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal, which can also be understood as the frequency range defined when the response amplitude drops to half of the resonant peak. In some embodiments, this specific value may be greater than 500Hz. In some embodiments, this specific value may be greater than 600Hz. In some embodiments, this specific value may be greater than 800Hz.To further improve the conversion quality of the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal, in some embodiments, the sampling frequency may be no less than twice the highest frequency of the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal bandwidth. In some embodiments, the sampling frequency may be no less than three times the highest frequency of the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal bandwidth. In some embodiments, the sampling frequency may be no less than twice the highest frequency of the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal bandwidth and no more than four times the highest frequency of the sub-band frequency-divided electrical signal bandwidth.

[0070] In some embodiments, the digital signals output by each sampling module in sampling module 220 (e.g., digital signal 1, ..., digital signal n, etc.) can be further transmitted to signal processing module 230 for signal processing. In some embodiments, multiple digital signals can be transmitted to signal processing module 230 separately through different parallel lines. In some embodiments, multiple digital signals can also share a single line and be transmitted to signal processing module 230 in a specific format according to specific protocol rules.

[0071] In some embodiments, by setting acoustic-to-electric conversion elements with different frequency response characteristics (e.g., cantilever beam structure) in the microphone, the acoustic-to-electric conversion elements can directly decompose the broadband sound signal into subbands. This avoids the problems of complex hardware circuit design and high computational resource consumption, signal distortion, and noise introduction caused by using hardware circuits or software algorithms, thereby reducing the complexity and production cost of the microphone.

[0072] It should be noted that the components of microphone 200 are not limited to... Figure 2 The acoustic-to-electric conversion element 210, sampling module 220, and signal processing module 230 shown may also include other modules, such as a vibration pickup unit, a vibration transmission unit, a circuit module, or any combination thereof. It is also understood that... Figure 2 The n described in the text (e.g., the nth acoustic-to-electric conversion element, the nth sampling module, etc.) can be an integer greater than or equal to 2. The specific value of n can be adjusted adaptively according to the actual application scenario.

[0073] To facilitate understanding of the acoustic-to-electric conversion element, in some embodiments, the acoustic-to-electric conversion element of the microphone can be approximately equivalent to a spring-mass-damped system. When the microphone is operating, the spring-mass-damped system may vibrate under the action of an excitation source (e.g., vibration of the vibration pickup unit). Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a spring-mass-damping system for a sound-to-electric conversion element according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 3 As shown, the spring-mass-damped system can be moved according to the differential equation (1):

[0074]

[0075] Where M represents the mass of the spring-mass-damping system, x represents the displacement of the spring-mass-damping system, R represents the damping of the spring-mass-damping system, K represents the spring-mass-damping coefficient, F represents the amplitude of the driving force, and ω represents the angular frequency of the external force.

[0076] The differential equation (1) can be solved to obtain the displacement under steady state (2):

[0077] x = x a cos(ωt-θ), (2)

[0078] Where x represents the value of the output electrical signal when the deformation of the spring-mass-damping system is equal to the value of the output electrical signal during microphone operation. Chinese x a Z represents the output displacement, Z represents the mechanical impedance, and θ represents the oscillation phase.

[0079] The normalization of the ratio A of displacement amplitudes can be described by equation (3):

[0080]

[0081] in, Chinese x a0 This represents the displacement amplitude under steady-state conditions (or the displacement amplitude when ω = 0). middle In the ratio of the external force frequency to the natural frequency, ω0 = K / M represents the circumferential frequency of the vibration. China Q m This represents the mechanical quality factor.

[0082] Figure 4 This is an exemplary normalized schematic diagram of the displacement resonance curve of a spring-mass-damped system according to some embodiments of this application. The horizontal axis can represent the ratio of the actual vibration frequency of the spring-mass-damped system to its natural frequency, and the vertical axis can represent the normalized displacement of the spring-mass-damped system. It is understood that... Figure 4 The curves in the diagram can represent the displacement resonance curves of spring-mass-damped systems with different parameters. In some embodiments, the microphone can generate an electrical signal based on the relative displacement between the acoustic-to-electric conversion element and the housing structure. For example, an electret microphone can generate an electrical signal based on the change in distance between the deformed diaphragm and the substrate. As another example, a cantilever beam bone conduction microphone can generate an electrical signal based on the inverse piezoelectric effect caused by the deformed cantilever beam structure or the capacitance change caused by the change in distance between the cantilever beams. In some embodiments, the greater the displacement of the cantilever beam structure deformation, the larger the electrical signal output by the microphone. Figure 4As shown, when the actual vibration frequency of the spring-mass-damped system is the same as or approximately the same as its natural frequency (i.e., the ratio ω / ω0 of the actual vibration frequency of the spring-mass-damped system to its natural frequency is equal to or approximately equal to 1), the larger the normalized displacement of the spring-mass-damped system, the narrower the 3dB bandwidth of the resonance peak in the displacement resonance curve (which can be understood as the resonant frequency range). Combining the above equation (3), it can be seen that the larger the normalized displacement of the spring-mass-damped system, the larger the Q value of the microphone.

[0083] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a microphone structure according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 5 As shown, the microphone 500 may include a housing structure 510, at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements 520, and a vibration pickup unit 522. The housing structure 510 may be configured to support the vibration pickup unit 522 and the acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements 520. In some embodiments, the housing structure 510 may be a regular structure such as a cuboid, cylinder, or frustum, or other irregular structures. In some embodiments, the housing structure 510 is a hollow structure, and the housing structure 510 may independently form an acoustic cavity, within which the vibration pickup unit 522 and at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements 520 may be located. In some embodiments, the material of the housing structure 510 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of metals, alloys, and polymers (e.g., acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, polyvinyl chloride, polycarbonate, polypropylene, etc.). In some embodiments, the vibration pickup unit 522 may be connected to the sidewall of the housing structure 510, thereby dividing the acoustic cavity formed by the housing structure 510 into multiple cavities, including a first acoustic cavity 530 and a second acoustic cavity 540.

[0084] In some embodiments, one or more holes 511 may be provided on the sidewall of the housing structure 510 corresponding to the first acoustic cavity 530. These holes 511 may be located in the first acoustic cavity 530 and guide external sound signals into it. In some embodiments, external sound signals may enter the first acoustic cavity 530 of the microphone 500 through the holes 511 and cause the air inside the first acoustic cavity 530 to vibrate. The vibration pickup unit 522 may pick up the air vibration signal and transmit it to the acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 520, which receives the vibration signal and converts it into an electrical signal for output.

[0085] In some embodiments, the vibration pickup unit 522 may include a first vibration pickup unit 5221 and a second vibration pickup unit 5222 arranged sequentially from top to bottom. The first vibration pickup unit 5221 and the second vibration pickup unit 5222 can be connected to the housing structure 510 through their peripheral sides, and at least a portion of the structure of the first vibration pickup unit 5221 and the second vibration pickup unit 5222 can generate vibration in response to a sound signal entering the microphone 500 through the aperture 511. In some embodiments, the material of the vibration pickup unit 522 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of semiconductor materials, metallic materials, metal alloys, organic materials, etc. In some embodiments, semiconductor materials may include, but are not limited to, silicon, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, silicon carbide, etc. In some embodiments, metallic materials may include, but are not limited to, copper, aluminum, chromium, titanium, gold, etc. In some embodiments, metal alloys may include, but are not limited to, copper-aluminum alloys, copper-gold alloys, titanium alloys, aluminum alloys, etc. In some embodiments, organic materials may include, but are not limited to, polyimide, phenylene oxide, PDMS, silicone gel, silicone, etc. In some embodiments, the structure of the vibration pickup unit 522 may be a plate structure, a columnar structure, etc.

[0086] In some embodiments, different regions on the vibration pickup section 522 may be made of different materials. For example, the portion of the vibration pickup section 522 that contacts the vibration transmission section 523 and the portion of the vibration pickup section 522 that corresponds to the cavity 550 may be made of a rigid material with a stiffness greater than that of other regions in the vibration pickup section 522, such as the edge region that is mainly used to respond to air vibrations and move relative to the housing structure 510. In some embodiments, the portion of the vibration pickup section 522 made of rigid material hardly deforms under the action of air vibrations within the first acoustic cavity 530, so that the volume of the cavity 550 remains essentially constant. This avoids the influence of volume changes of the cavity 550 on the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 1320, thereby ensuring that the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 520 can convert the received vibration signal from the vibration pickup section 522 into an electrical signal within the desired frequency range. In some embodiments, the cavity 550 may be a vacuum cavity. The acoustic-to-electric conversion element 520 is located in a vacuum cavity, preventing it from contacting the air in the acoustic cavity. This solves the problem of air vibration in the acoustic cavity during the acoustic-to-electric conversion process, thus addressing the issue of high microphone background noise. Furthermore, the vacuum cavity prevents friction between the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 520 and the gas during vibration, reducing air damping within the vacuum cavity of the microphone 500 and improving its Q value. In some embodiments, the vacuum level of the cavity 550 can be less than 100 Pa. In some embodiments, the vacuum level of the cavity 550 can be 10⁻⁶ Pa to 100 Pa. In some embodiments, the vacuum level of the cavity 550 can be 10⁻³ Pa to 100 Pa. In some embodiments, the vacuum level of the cavity 550 can be 1 Pa to 100 Pa.

[0087] In some embodiments, the microphone 500 may include a vibration transmission section 523. The vibration transmission section 523 may be located between the first vibration pickup section 5221 and the second vibration pickup section 5222. The upper surface of the vibration transmission section 523 is connected to the lower surface of the first vibration pickup section 5221, and the lower surface of the vibration transmission section 523 is connected to the upper surface of the second vibration pickup section 5222. In some embodiments, a cavity 550 may be formed between the vibration transmission section 523, the first vibration pickup section 5221, and the second vibration pickup section 5222, and the acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 520 may be located within the cavity 550. Specifically, one end of the acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 520 may be connected to the inner wall of the vibration transmission section 523, and the other end of the acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 520 may be suspended in the cavity 550. In some embodiments, the vibration pickup section 522 (e.g., the first vibration pickup section 5221 and the second vibration pickup section 5222) may transmit vibration signals to the acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 520 through the vibration transmission section 523. In some embodiments, the material of the vibration transmission part 523 may be one or more selected from semiconductor materials, metallic materials, metal alloys, organic materials, etc. In some embodiments, the material of the vibration transmission part 523 may be the same as or different from the material of the vibration pickup part 522. In some embodiments, the vibration transmission part 523 and the vibration pickup part 522 may be an integrally formed structure. In some embodiments, the vibration transmission part 523 and the vibration pickup part 522 may also be relatively independent structures. In some embodiments, the vibration transmission part 523 may be a tubular structure, a ring structure, a quadrilateral, a pentagon, or other regular and / or irregular polygonal structure.

[0088] It should be noted that, in alternative embodiments, the vibration pickup unit 522 may only include a first vibration pickup unit 5221, which is connected to the housing structure 510 via its periphery. One or more acoustic-to-electric conversion elements 520 may be directly or indirectly connected to the first vibration pickup unit 5221. For example, the acoustic-to-electric conversion elements 520 may be located on the upper or lower surface of the first vibration pickup unit 5221. When there are multiple acoustic-to-electric conversion elements 520, they are spaced apart on the upper or lower surface of the first vibration pickup unit 5221, and do not contact each other. Alternatively, the acoustic-to-electric conversion elements 520 may be connected to the first vibration pickup unit 5221 via other structures (e.g., a vibration transmission unit 523). The first vibration pickup unit 5221 can vibrate in response to the sound signal entering the microphone 500 through the hole 511, and the sound-to-electric conversion element 520 can convert the vibration of the first vibration pickup unit 5221 or the vibration transmission unit 523 into an electrical signal.

[0089] In some embodiments, a plurality of acoustic-to-electric conversion elements 520 may be spaced apart on the inner wall of the vibration transmission section 523. It should be noted that this spaced-apart distribution may refer to the horizontal direction (perpendicular to...). Figure 5 (as shown in the AA direction) or vertical direction ( Figure 5 (As shown in the AA direction). For example, when the vibration transmission section 523 is an annular tubular structure, multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 can be distributed sequentially from top to bottom in the vertical direction. Figure 6A yes Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the cross-section of the microphone along the AA direction. (See diagram below.) Figure 6A As shown, multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 can be sequentially and spaced apart on the inner wall of the vibration transmission section 523, and in the horizontal direction, the multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 spaced apart are on the same plane or approximately parallel. Figure 6B yes Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the microphone's cross-section perpendicular to the AA direction. (See diagram below.) Figure 6B As shown, in the horizontal direction, the fixed ends of each acoustic-electric conversion element 520 and the vibration transmission section 523 can be spaced apart on the annular inner wall of the vibration transmission section 523. The fixed ends of the acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 and the vibration transmission section 523 can be approximately perpendicular. The other end (also referred to as the free end) of the acoustic-electric conversion element 520 extends towards the center of the vibration transmission section 523 and is suspended in the cavity 550, so that the acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 are arranged in a ring in the horizontal direction. In some embodiments, when the vibration transmission section 523 is a polygonal tubular structure (e.g., triangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, etc.), in the horizontal direction, the fixed ends of the plurality of acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 can also be spaced apart along the side walls of the vibration transmission section 523. Figure 7A This is a schematic diagram showing the horizontal distribution of the acoustic-electric conversion elements according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 7A As shown, the vibration transmission section 523 has a quadrilateral structure, and multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 can be alternately distributed on the four side walls of the vibration transmission section 523. Figure 7B This is a schematic diagram showing the distribution of sound-to-electric conversion elements according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 7B As shown, the vibration transmission section 523 has a hexagonal structure, and cantilever beam structures 521 of different lengths can be alternately distributed on the six side walls of the vibration transmission section 523. The multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 are spaced apart on the inner wall of the vibration transmission section 523, which can improve the utilization rate of the cavity 550 space, thereby reducing the overall volume of the microphone 500.

[0090] It should be noted that, in the horizontal or vertical direction, the multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 are not limited to being distributed at intervals on all inner walls of the vibration transmission part 523. The multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 can also be disposed on one or part of the side walls of the vibration transmission part 523, or on the same horizontal plane. For example, if the vibration transmission part 523 is a cuboid structure, the multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 can be simultaneously disposed on one side wall, two opposite or adjacent side walls, or any three side walls of the cuboid structure. The distribution of the multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 can be adaptively adjusted according to their number or the size of the cavity 550, and no further limitations are made here.

[0091] In some embodiments, each acoustic-electric conversion element 520 may include a cantilever beam structure, one end of which may be connected to the inner wall of the vibration transmission part 523, and the other end of which may be suspended in the cavity 550.

[0092] In some embodiments, the cantilever beam structure may include a first electrode layer, a piezoelectric layer, a second electrode layer, an elastic layer, and a base layer. The first electrode layer, piezoelectric layer, and second electrode layer may be arranged sequentially from top to bottom. The elastic layer may be located on the upper surface of the first electrode layer or the lower surface of the second electrode layer, and the base layer may be located on the upper surface or the lower surface of the elastic layer. In some embodiments, an external sound signal may enter the first acoustic cavity 530 of the microphone 500 through the aperture 511 and cause the air within the first acoustic cavity 530 to vibrate. The vibration pickup unit 522 may pick up the air vibration signal and transmit it to the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 520 (e.g., the cantilever beam structure) via the vibration transmission unit 523, thereby causing the elastic layer in the cantilever beam structure to deform under the action of the vibration signal. In some embodiments, the piezoelectric layer may generate an electrical signal based on the deformation of the elastic layer, and the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer may collect this electrical signal. In some embodiments, the piezoelectric layer may generate a voltage (potential difference) based on the piezoelectric effect under the deformation stress of the elastic layer, and the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer may extract this voltage (electrical signal).

[0093] In some embodiments, the elastic layer can be a film-like structure or a bulk structure supported by one or more semiconductor materials. In some embodiments, the semiconductor materials may include, but are not limited to, silicon, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, gallium nitride, zinc oxide, and silicon carbide. In some embodiments, the piezoelectric layer material may include piezoelectric crystal materials and piezoelectric ceramic materials. Piezoelectric crystal materials refer to piezoelectric single crystals. In some embodiments, piezoelectric crystal materials may include quartz, zincblende, borate, tourmaline, zinc ore, GaAs, barium titanate and its derived crystal structures, KH2PO4, NaKC4H4O6·4H2O (Roxi salt), etc., or any combination thereof. Piezoelectric ceramic materials refer to piezoelectric polycrystalline materials formed by the random aggregation of fine grains obtained through solid-state reactions and sintering between different material powders. In some embodiments, piezoelectric ceramic materials may include barium titanate (BT), lead zirconate titanate (PZT), lithium lead barium niobate (PBLN), modified lead titanate (PT), aluminum nitride (AlN), zinc oxide (ZnO), etc., or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the piezoelectric layer material may also be a piezoelectric polymer material, such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). In some embodiments, the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer may be conductive material structures. Exemplary conductive materials may include metals, alloy materials, metal oxide materials, graphene, etc., or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, metals and alloy materials may include nickel, iron, lead, platinum, titanium, copper, molybdenum, zinc, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, alloy materials may include copper-zinc alloys, copper-tin alloys, copper-nickel-silicon alloys, copper-chromium alloys, copper-silver alloys, etc., or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, metal oxide materials may include RuO2, MnO2, PbO2, NiO, etc., or any combination thereof.

[0094] In some embodiments, the cantilever beam structure may further include a wire-binding electrode layer (PAD layer), which may be located on the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer. The first and second electrode layers are connected to an external circuit via external wires (e.g., gold wire, aluminum wire, etc.), thereby leading the voltage signal between the first and second electrode layers to the back-end processing circuit. In some embodiments, the material of the wire-binding electrode layer may include copper foil, titanium, copper, etc. In some embodiments, the material of the wire-binding electrode layer may be the same as that of the first electrode layer (or the second electrode layer). In some embodiments, the material of the wire-binding electrode layer may be different from that of the first electrode layer (or the second electrode layer).

[0095] In other embodiments, the cantilever beam structure may include at least one elastic layer, an electrode layer, and a piezoelectric layer, wherein the elastic layer may be located on the surface of the electrode layer, and the electrode layer may be located on the upper or lower surface of the piezoelectric layer. In some embodiments, the electrode layer may include a first electrode and a second electrode. The first and second electrodes may be bent into a first comb-like structure, which may include multiple comb-like structures. Adjacent comb-like structures of the first comb-like structure and adjacent comb-like structures of the first comb-like structure have a certain spacing, which may be the same or different. The first and second comb-like structures cooperate to form the electrode layer. Further, the comb-like structures of the first and second comb-like structures may extend into the spacing of the second comb-like structures, and the comb-like structures of the second comb-like structures may extend into the spacing of the first comb-like structures, thereby cooperating to form the electrode layer. The first and second comb-like structures cooperate to make the first and second electrodes compactly arranged but not intersecting. In some embodiments, the first and second comb-like structures extend along the length direction of the cantilever beam (e.g., from the fixed end to the free end). For more information on elastic and piezoelectric layers, please refer to [link / reference]. Figure 5 And related descriptions. In some embodiments, each cantilever beam structure in different acoustic-electric conversion elements 520 can respectively constitute a cantilever beam resonant system, and the resonant frequency of the system can be expressed by formula (4):

[0096]

[0097] Where f0 represents the resonant frequency of the resonant system, k represents the stiffness of the resonant system, and m represents the mass of the resonant system. According to formula (4), when the ratio of the stiffness to the mass of the cantilever beam resonant system, k / m, decreases, the resonant frequency f0 of the resonant system also decreases. In some embodiments, by changing the resonant frequency of the resonant system, the sensitivity of the resonant system in a specific frequency range (e.g., below the resonant frequency) can be improved.

[0098] In some embodiments, when the cantilever beam structure is a cuboid structure, the formula (4) for calculating the resonant frequency of the cantilever beam resonant system can be further expressed as formula (5):

[0099]

[0100] Where f0 represents the resonant frequency of the resonant system, E represents the elastic modulus of the material of the cantilever beam structure, l represents the moment of inertia of the cross section of the cantilever beam structure (which can be understood as the length of the cantilever beam structure), ρ represents the density of the cantilever beam structure, and A represents the cross-sectional area of ​​the cantilever beam structure. Where b represents the width of the cross-section of the cantilever beam structure, and h represents the height of the cross-section of the cantilever beam structure. According to formula (5), when the cross-sectional dimensions (i.e., the width and height of the cantilever beam structure) and materials are the same, the longer the length of the cantilever beam structure, the smaller the resonant frequency of the cantilever beam structure.

[0101] Based on the above description, in some embodiments, different acoustic-to-electric conversion elements 520 (e.g., cantilever beam structures of different lengths) can be used to generate different frequency responses to the vibration signal of the vibration transmission unit 523, thereby producing different frequency responses. In some embodiments, frequency responses corresponding to different resonant frequencies can be obtained by setting parameters of the cantilever beam structure (e.g., length, width, thickness, material, etc.). In some embodiments, the resonant frequency corresponding to the cantilever beam structure can be negatively correlated with the length of the cantilever beam structure perpendicular to its vibration direction; that is, the longer the length of the cantilever beam structure perpendicular to its vibration direction, the smaller the resonant frequency corresponding to the cantilever beam structure. For example, Figure 7AThe length of the first cantilever beam structure 5211 perpendicular to its vibration direction is greater than the length of the second cantilever beam structure 5212 perpendicular to its vibration direction, and the resonant frequency corresponding to the first cantilever beam structure 5211 is lower than the resonant frequency corresponding to the second cantilever beam structure 5212. In some embodiments, the length of the cantilever beam structure can be adjusted so that at least two of the multiple resonant frequencies corresponding to different cantilever beam structures are in the range of 20Hz-16000Hz. In some embodiments, the length of the cantilever beam structure can be adjusted so that at least two of the multiple resonant frequencies corresponding to different cantilever beam structures are in the range of 100Hz-12000Hz. Since the cantilever beam structure is sensitive to vibrations near its resonant frequency, it can be considered that the cantilever beam structure has frequency selectivity for vibration signals, that is, the cantilever beam structure will mainly convert the sub-band vibration signals near its resonant frequency into electrical signals. Therefore, in some embodiments, by setting different lengths, different cantilever beam structures can have different resonant frequencies, thereby forming sub-bands near each resonant frequency. For example, 11 sub-bands can be set within the human voice frequency range using multiple cantilever beam structures. The resonant frequencies of the cantilever beam structures corresponding to the 11 sub-bands can be located at 500Hz-700Hz, 700Hz-1000Hz, 1000Hz-1300Hz, 1300Hz-1700Hz, 1700Hz-2200Hz, 2200Hz-3000Hz, 3000Hz-3800Hz, 3800Hz-4700Hz, 4700Hz-5700Hz, 5700Hz-7000Hz, and 7000Hz-12000Hz, respectively. For example, 16 sub-bands can be set within the human voice frequency range using multiple cantilever beam structures. The resonant frequencies of the cantilever beam structures corresponding to the 16 sub-bands can be located at 500Hz-640Hz, 640Hz-780Hz, 780Hz-930Hz, 940Hz-1100Hz, 1100Hz-1300Hz, 1300Hz-1500Hz, 1500Hz-1750Hz, 1750Hz-1900Hz, 1900Hz-2350Hz, 2350Hz-2700Hz, 2700Hz-3200Hz, 3200Hz-3800Hz, 3800Hz-4500Hz, 4500Hz-5500Hz, 5500Hz-6600Hz, and 6600Hz-8000Hz.For example, 24 sub-bands can be set within the human voice frequency range using multiple cantilever beam structures. These 24 sub-bands correspond to the resonant frequencies of the cantilever beam structures, which can be located at 20Hz-120Hz, 120Hz-210Hz, 210Hz-320Hz, 320Hz-410Hz, 410Hz-500Hz, 500Hz-640Hz, 640Hz-780Hz, 780Hz-930Hz, 940Hz-1100Hz, 1100Hz-1300Hz, and 1300Hz-150Hz respectively. 0Hz, 1500Hz-1750Hz, 1750Hz-1900Hz, 1900Hz-2350Hz, 2350Hz-2700Hz, 2700Hz-3200Hz, 3200Hz-3800Hz, 3800Hz-4500Hz, 4500Hz-5500Hz, 5500Hz-6600Hz, 6600Hz-7900Hz, 7900Hz-9600Hz, 9600Hz-12100Hz, 12100Hz-16000Hz. Using a cuboid cantilever beam structure as an example, in some embodiments, by adjusting the lengths of multiple cantilever beam structures to be different, at least five sub-bands can be formed within the human voice frequency range (e.g., 20Hz-16000Hz). In some embodiments, by adjusting the lengths of the multiple cantilever beam structures to different lengths, 5 to 11 sub-bands can be formed within the human voice frequency range (e.g., 20Hz-16000Hz). In some embodiments, by adjusting the lengths of the multiple cantilever beam structures to different lengths, 5 to 16 sub-bands can be formed within the human voice frequency range (e.g., 20Hz-16000Hz). In some embodiments, by adjusting the lengths of the multiple cantilever beam structures to different lengths, 6 to 24 sub-bands can be formed within the human voice frequency range (e.g., 20Hz-16000Hz). It should be noted that the acoustic-to-electric conversion element (or cantilever beam structure), the number of sub-bands, and the frequency range of the resonant frequency corresponding to each sub-band are not limited to the above descriptions. They can be adaptively adjusted according to the specific circumstances such as the application scenario and size of the microphone, and are not further limited here. In addition, the cantilever beam structure is not limited to the rectangular shape mentioned above. The cantilever beam structure can also be other shapes. The cross-sectional shape of the cantilever beam structure can be a regular or irregular shape such as a triangle, semi-circle, rhombus, pentagon, or hexagon. Furthermore, by adjusting the parameters related to the mass or stiffness of the cantilever beam structure, different cantilever beams can have different resonant frequencies.

[0102] In some embodiments, the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 520 of the microphone 500 can resonate within a desired frequency range by adjusting parameters such as the structure, size, and inner surface roughness of the first acoustic cavity 530 and / or the aperture 511. For example, by adjusting the shape, cavity volume, and inner surface roughness of the first acoustic cavity 530, sub-band decomposition of the vibration signal can be achieved, so that the sound entering the first acoustic cavity 530 has a specific sub-band frequency. For details on how adjusting parameters such as the structure, size, and inner surface roughness of the first acoustic cavity 530 and / or the aperture 511 can enable the microphone 500 to resonate within a desired frequency range, please refer to the patent application entitled "A Microphone" filed on the same day as this application, which will not be elaborated upon here.

[0103] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of a microphone structure according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 8 As shown, the microphone 800 may include a housing structure 810, an acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 820, and a vibration pickup unit 822. Figure 8 The microphone 800 shown can be used with Figure 5 The microphone 500 shown is the same as or similar to the microphone 800. For example, the housing structure 810 of the microphone 800 may be the same as or similar to the housing structure 510 of the microphone 500. As another example, the first acoustic cavity 830, the second acoustic cavity 840, and the cavity 850 of the microphone 800 may be the same as or similar to the first acoustic cavity 530, the second acoustic cavity 540, and the cavity 550 of the microphone 500, respectively. Furthermore, the vibration pickup section 822 of the microphone 800 (e.g., the first vibration pickup section 8221 and the second vibration pickup section 8222) may be the same as or similar to the vibration pickup section 522 of the microphone 500 (e.g., the first vibration pickup section 5221 and the second vibration pickup section 5222). More details about the structure of the microphone 800 (e.g., the aperture 811, the vibration transmission section 823, etc.) can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 5 And its related descriptions.

[0104] In some embodiments, Figure 8 The microphone 800 shown is Figure 5The main difference in the microphone 500 shown is that each acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 820 of the microphone 800 may include a first cantilever beam structure 8211 and a second cantilever beam structure 8212, which can be regarded as two electrode plates. In some embodiments, the first cantilever beam structure 8211 and the second cantilever beam structure 8212 may be arranged opposite to each other, and the first cantilever beam structure 8211 and the second cantilever beam structure 8212 have facing areas. In some embodiments, the first cantilever beam structure 8211 and the second cantilever beam structure 8212 are arranged vertically, and the facing area can be understood as the area of ​​the lower surface of the first cantilever beam structure 8211 opposite to the upper surface of the second cantilever beam structure 8212. In some embodiments, the first cantilever beam structure 8211 and the second cantilever beam structure 8212 may have a first distance d1. After receiving the vibration signal from the vibration transmission unit 823, the first cantilever beam structure 8211 and the second cantilever beam structure 8212 can generate different degrees of deformation in their vibration direction (the extension direction of the first gap d1), thereby causing the first gap d1 to change. Based on the change in the first gap d1, the first cantilever beam structure 8211 and the second cantilever beam structure 8212 can convert the received vibration signal from the vibration transmission unit 823 into an electrical signal.

[0105] To ensure that the first cantilever beam structure 8211 and the second cantilever beam structure 8212 deform to different degrees in their vibration directions, in some embodiments, the stiffness of the first cantilever beam structure 8211 and the stiffness of the second cantilever beam structure 8212 may be different. Under the action of the vibration signal of the vibration transmission unit 823, the cantilever beam structure with lower stiffness can produce a certain degree of deformation, while the cantilever beam structure with higher stiffness can be considered to produce no deformation or less deformation than that produced by the cantilever beam structure with lower stiffness. In some embodiments, when the microphone 800 is in the working state, the cantilever beam structure with lower stiffness (e.g., the second cantilever beam structure 8212) can deform in response to the vibration of the vibration transmission unit 823, while the cantilever beam structure with higher stiffness (e.g., the first cantilever beam structure 8211) can vibrate together with the vibration transmission unit 823 without deformation, causing the first gap d1 to change.

[0106] In some embodiments, the resonant frequency of the cantilever beam structure with lower stiffness in the acoustic-electric conversion element 8210 can be located within the frequency range of human hearing (e.g., within 12000 Hz). In some embodiments, the resonant frequency of the cantilever beam structure with higher stiffness in the acoustic-electric conversion element 8210 can be located within the frequency range in which the human ear is not sensitive (e.g., greater than 12000 Hz). In some embodiments, the stiffness of the first cantilever beam structure 8211 (or the second cantilever beam structure 8212) in the acoustic-electric conversion element 8210 can be achieved by adjusting the material, length, width, or thickness of the first cantilever beam structure 8211 (or the second cantilever beam structure 8212). In some embodiments, different frequency responses corresponding to different resonant frequencies are obtained by adjusting the parameters (e.g., the material, thickness, length, width, etc. of the cantilever beam structure) of each group of cantilever beam structures corresponding to different acoustic-electric conversion elements 8210. In some embodiments, the length of each cantilever beam structure (e.g., the first cantilever beam structure 8211 and the second cantilever beam structure 8212) corresponding to different acoustic-electric conversion elements 8210 can be adjusted so that at least two of the multiple resonant frequencies corresponding to different acoustic-electric conversion elements 8210 are in the range of 20Hz-16000Hz. In some embodiments, the length of each cantilever beam structure (e.g., the first cantilever beam structure 8211 and the second cantilever beam structure 8212) corresponding to different acoustic-electric conversion elements 8210 can be adjusted so that at least two of the multiple resonant frequencies corresponding to different acoustic-electric conversion elements 8210 are in the range of 100Hz-1200Hz. Since the set of cantilever beam structures corresponding to the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 8210 (e.g., the first cantilever beam structure 8211 and the second cantilever beam structure 8212) is sensitive to vibrations near its resonant frequency, it can be considered that the set of cantilever beam structures corresponding to the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 8210 has frequency selectivity characteristics for vibration signals. That is, the set of cantilever beam structures corresponding to the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 8210 mainly converts the sub-band vibration signals near its resonant frequency in the vibration signal into electrical signals. Therefore, in some embodiments, by setting different lengths, multiple sets of cantilever beam structures corresponding to different acoustic-to-electric conversion elements 8210 can have different resonant frequencies, thereby forming sub-bands near each resonant frequency. In some embodiments, at least 5 sub-bands can be set within the human voice frequency range (e.g., 20Hz-16000Hz) using multiple sets of cantilever beam structures.For example, 11 sub-bands can be set within the human voice frequency range using multiple cantilever beam structures. The resonant frequencies of each cantilever beam structure corresponding to the 11 sub-bands can be located at 500Hz-700Hz, 700Hz-1000Hz, 1000Hz-1300Hz, 1300Hz-1700Hz, 1700Hz-2200Hz, 2200Hz-3000Hz, 3000Hz-3800Hz, 3800Hz-4700Hz, 4700Hz-5700Hz, 5700Hz-7000Hz, and 7000Hz-12000Hz, respectively. For example, 16 sub-bands can be set within the human voice frequency range using multiple cantilever beam structures. The resonant frequencies of each cantilever beam structure corresponding to the 16 sub-bands can be located at 500Hz-640Hz, 640Hz-780Hz, 780Hz-930Hz, 940Hz-1100Hz, 1100Hz-1300Hz, 1300Hz-1500Hz, 1500Hz-1750Hz, 1750Hz-1900Hz, 1900Hz-2350Hz, 2350Hz-2700Hz, 2700Hz-3200Hz, 3200Hz-3800Hz, 3800Hz-4500Hz, 4500Hz-5500Hz, 5500Hz-6600Hz, and 6600Hz-8000Hz. For example, 24 sub-bands can be set within the human voice frequency range using multiple cantilever beam structures. The resonant frequencies of each cantilever beam structure corresponding to these 24 sub-bands can be located at 20Hz-120Hz, 120Hz-210Hz, 210Hz-320Hz, 320Hz-410Hz, 410Hz-500Hz, 500Hz-640Hz, 640Hz-780Hz, 780Hz-930Hz, 940Hz-1100Hz, 1100Hz-1300Hz, 1300Hz-1500Hz, 1500Hz-1500Hz respectively. 00Hz, 1500Hz-1750Hz, 1750Hz-1900Hz, 1900Hz-2350Hz, 2350Hz-2700Hz, 2700Hz-3200Hz, 3200Hz-3800Hz, 3800Hz-4500Hz, 4500Hz-5500Hz, 5500Hz-6600Hz, 6600Hz-7900Hz, 7900Hz-9600Hz, 9600Hz-12100Hz, 12100Hz-16000Hz. In some embodiments, by adjusting the lengths of multiple cantilever beam structures to be different, different acoustic-electric conversion elements 8210 can form 5 to 50 sub-bands within the human voice frequency range (e.g., 20Hz-16000Hz).Preferably, by setting the lengths of multiple cantilever beam structures to be different, multiple cantilever beam structures can form 6 to 24 sub-bands within the human voice frequency range (e.g., 20Hz-16000Hz).

[0107] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the frequency response curve of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 9 As shown, the horizontal axis represents frequency in Hz, and the vertical axis represents the frequency response of the sound signal output by the microphone in dB. The microphone here can refer to microphones such as 500, 800, 1000, 1100, 1300, 1400, 1500, 1800, 1900, and 2000. Figure 9 The dashed lines in the diagram represent the frequency response curves corresponding to the various acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements of the microphone. According to... Figure 9 As can be seen from the frequency response curves, each acoustic-to-electric conversion element has its own resonant frequency (for example, the resonant frequency of frequency response curve 920 is approximately 350Hz, and the resonant frequency of frequency response curve 930 is approximately 1500Hz). When an external sound signal is transmitted to the microphone, different acoustic-to-electric conversion elements are more sensitive to vibration signals near their own resonant frequencies. Therefore, the electrical signal output by each acoustic-to-electric conversion element mainly includes the sub-band signal corresponding to its resonant frequency. In some embodiments, the output at the resonant peak of each acoustic-to-electric conversion element is much larger than its output in the flat region. By selecting the frequency band close to the resonant peak in the frequency response curve of each acoustic-to-electric conversion element, sub-band frequency division of the full-band signal corresponding to the sound signal can be achieved. In some embodiments, Figure 9 By fusing the frequency response curves, a higher signal-to-noise ratio and flatter frequency response curve for the microphone can be obtained (910). Furthermore, by setting different acoustic-to-electric conversion elements (cantilever beam structure), resonance peaks in different frequency ranges can be added to the microphone system, improving the microphone's sensitivity near multiple resonance peaks and thus enhancing the microphone's sensitivity across the entire bandwidth.

[0108] By setting multiple acoustic-to-electric conversion elements in the microphone and utilizing the different resonant frequencies of these elements (e.g., cantilever beam structures), filtering and frequency band decomposition of vibration signals can be achieved. This avoids the complexity of filtering circuits in microphones and the problems of high computational resource consumption, signal distortion, and noise introduction caused by software algorithms, thereby reducing the complexity and production cost of microphones.

[0109] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of a microphone structure according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 10As shown, the microphone 1000 may include a housing structure 1010, an acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 1020, and a vibration pickup unit 1022. Figure 10 The microphone 1000 shown can be used with Figure 5 The microphone 500 shown is the same as or similar to the microphone 500. For example, the housing structure 1010 of the microphone 1000 may be the same as or similar to the housing structure 510 of the microphone 500. As another example, the first acoustic cavity 1030, the second acoustic cavity 1040, and the cavity 1050 of the microphone 1000 may be the same as or similar to the first acoustic cavity 530, the second acoustic cavity 540, and the cavity 550 of the microphone 500, respectively. Furthermore, the vibration pickup unit 1022 of the microphone 1000 (e.g., the first vibration pickup unit 10221 and the second vibration pickup unit 10222) may be the same as or similar to the vibration pickup unit 522 of the microphone 500 (e.g., the first vibration pickup unit 5221 and the second vibration pickup unit 5222). For more information on the structure of the microphone 1000 (e.g., the aperture 1011, the vibration transmission part 1023, the sound-to-electric conversion element 1020, etc.), please refer to [reference needed]. Figure 5 And its related descriptions.

[0110] In some embodiments, Figure 10 The microphone 1000 shown is Figure 5The main difference between the microphone 500 and the microphone 1000 shown is that the microphone 1000 may also include one or more diaphragm structures 1060. In some embodiments, the diaphragm structure 1060 may be located on the upper and / or lower surface of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1020. For example, the diaphragm structure 1060 may be a single-layer diaphragm structure, located on either the upper or lower surface of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1020. Alternatively, the diaphragm structure 1060 may be a double-layer diaphragm, comprising a first diaphragm structure and a second diaphragm structure, the first diaphragm structure located on the upper surface of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1020 and the second diaphragm structure located on the lower surface of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1020. By providing the diaphragm structure 1060 on the surface of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1020, the resonant frequency of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1020 can be adjusted. In some embodiments, the resonant frequency of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1020 can be affected by adjusting the material, dimensions (e.g., length, width), thickness, etc., of the diaphragm structure 1060. On the one hand, by adjusting the parameters of the membrane structure 1060 (e.g., material, size, thickness, etc.) and the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 1020 (e.g., cantilever beam structure), each acoustic-to-electric conversion element 1020 can resonate within the desired frequency range. On the other hand, by providing the membrane structure 1060 on the surface of the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 1020, damage to the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 1020 caused by the microphone 1000 under overload conditions can be avoided, thereby improving the reliability of the microphone 1000. Furthermore, by providing the membrane structure 1060 on the surface of the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 1020, the deformation of the microphone 1000 due to stress can be reduced, making the actual product closer to the design target.

[0111] In some embodiments, the membrane structure 1060 may cover all or part of the upper and / or lower surfaces of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1020. For example, the upper or lower surface of each acoustic-electric conversion element 1020 may be covered by a corresponding membrane structure 1060. The membrane structure 1060 may completely cover the upper or lower surface of the corresponding acoustic-electric conversion element 1020, or it may partially cover the upper or lower surface of the corresponding acoustic-electric conversion element 1020. For another example, when multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 1020 are simultaneously located on the same horizontal plane, a membrane structure 1060 may simultaneously cover all the upper or lower surfaces of multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 1020 on the same horizontal plane. For instance, here the membrane structure 1060 is connected to the inner wall of the vibration transmission part 1023 through its periphery, thereby dividing the cavity 1050 into two independent cavities. For example, the shape of the membrane structure 1060 can be the same as the cross-sectional shape of the vibration transmission part 1023. The membrane structure 1060 is connected to the inner wall of the vibration transmission part 1023 through its periphery. The middle part of the membrane structure 1060 may include a hole. Figure 10(Not shown in the image), the membrane structure 1060 can simultaneously and partially cover the upper or lower surfaces of multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 1020 on the same horizontal plane, and the cavity 1050 can be divided into two connected cavities by the membrane structure 1060.

[0112] In some embodiments, the material of the membrane structure 1060 may be one or more of semiconductor materials, metallic materials, metal alloys, and organic materials, including but not limited to. In some embodiments, semiconductor materials may include, but are not limited to, silicon, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, and silicon carbide. In some embodiments, metallic materials may include, but are not limited to, copper, aluminum, chromium, titanium, and gold. In some embodiments, metal alloys may include, but are not limited to, copper-aluminum alloys, copper-gold alloys, titanium alloys, and aluminum alloys. In some embodiments, organic materials may include, but are not limited to, polyimide, phenylene oxide, PDMS, silicone gel, and silicone.

[0113] Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of a microphone structure according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 11 The microphone 1100 shown can be used with Figure 8 The microphone 800 shown is the same as or similar to the microphone 800. For example, the housing structure 1110 of the microphone 1100 may be the same as or similar to the housing structure 810 of the microphone 800. As another example, the first acoustic cavity 1130, the second acoustic cavity 1140, and the cavity 1150 of the microphone 1100 may be the same as or similar to the first acoustic cavity 830, the second acoustic cavity 840, and the cavity 850 of the microphone 800, respectively. Furthermore, the vibration pickup unit 1122 of the microphone 1100 (e.g., the first vibration pickup unit 11221 and the second vibration pickup unit 11222) may be the same as or similar to the vibration pickup unit 822 of the microphone 800 (e.g., the first vibration pickup unit 8221 and the second vibration pickup unit 8222). For more information on the structure of the microphone 1100 (e.g., the aperture 1111, the vibration transmission part 1123, the sound-to-electric conversion element 1120, etc.), please refer to [reference needed]. Figure 8 And its related descriptions.

[0114] In some embodiments, Figure 11 The microphone 1100 shown is Figure 8The main difference in the microphone 800 shown is that the microphone 1100 may also include one or more diaphragm structures 1160. In some embodiments, the diaphragm structure 1160 may be located on the upper and / or lower surface of a cantilever beam structure (e.g., a second cantilever beam structure 11212) with relatively low stiffness of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1120. For example, the diaphragm structure 1160 may be a single-layer diaphragm structure, located on either the upper or lower surface of the second cantilever beam structure 11212. As another example, the diaphragm structure 1160 may be a double-layer diaphragm, comprising a first diaphragm structure and a second diaphragm structure, the first diaphragm structure located on the upper surface of the second cantilever beam structure 11212, and the second diaphragm structure located on the lower surface of the second cantilever beam structure 11212. In some embodiments, the diaphragm structure 1160 may completely or partially cover the upper and / or lower surface of the second cantilever beam structure 11212. For example, the upper or lower surface of each second cantilever beam structure 11212 is covered with a corresponding membrane structure 1160. The membrane structure 1160 may completely cover the upper or lower surface of the corresponding second cantilever beam structure 11212, or it may partially cover the upper or lower surface of the corresponding second cantilever beam structure 11212. More information regarding the membrane structure 1160 completely or partially covering the upper and lower surfaces of the second cantilever beam structure 11212 can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 10 And its related descriptions.

[0115] In some embodiments, the membrane structure 1160 may also be located on the upper and / or lower surface of the cantilever beam structure (e.g., the first cantilever beam structure 11211) of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1120, which has greater stiffness. The manner in which the membrane structure 1160 is located on the upper and / or lower surface of the first cantilever beam structure 11211 is similar to the manner in which the membrane structure 1160 is located on the upper and / or lower surface of the second cantilever beam structure 11212, and will not be described in detail here.

[0116] In some embodiments, the membrane structure 1160 may also be located simultaneously on the upper and / or lower surface of the cantilever beam structure with lower stiffness (e.g., the second cantilever beam structure 11212) and the upper and / or lower surface of the cantilever beam structure with higher stiffness (e.g., the first cantilever beam structure 11211) of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1120. For example, Figure 12 These are schematic diagrams of the microphone structure shown in some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 12As shown, the membrane structure 1160 is located on the upper surface of the first cantilever beam structure 11211 and the lower surface of the second cantilever beam structure 11212. In some embodiments, by providing the membrane structure 1160 on the upper and / or lower surface of a cantilever beam structure with greater stiffness (e.g., the first cantilever beam structure 11211), the cantilever beam structure with greater stiffness can remain undeformed relative to the vibration transmission part 1123, thereby improving the sensitivity of the microphone 1100. On the other hand, by providing the membrane structure 1060 on the surface of the second cantilever beam structure 11212 or the first cantilever beam structure 11211, the amount of deformation of the second cantilever beam structure 11212 or the first cantilever beam structure 11211 due to stress can be adjusted, thereby precisely controlling the distance between the second cantilever beam structure 11212 and the first cantilever beam structure 11211.

[0117] Figure 13 This is a schematic diagram of a microphone structure according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 13 As shown, the microphone 1300 may include a housing structure 1310, an acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 1320, and a vibration pickup unit 1322. Figure 13 The microphone 1300 shown can be used with Figure 5 The microphone 500 shown is the same as or similar to the microphone 1300. For example, the housing structure 1310 of the microphone 1300 may be the same as or similar to the housing structure 510 of the microphone 500. As another example, the first acoustic cavity 1330, the second acoustic cavity 1340, and the cavity 1350 of the microphone 1300 may be the same as or similar to the first acoustic cavity 530, the second acoustic cavity 540, and the cavity 550 of the microphone 500, respectively. Further details regarding the structure of the microphone 1300 (e.g., the aperture 1311, the vibration transmission section 1323, the acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 1320, etc.) can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 5 And its related descriptions.

[0118] In some embodiments, Figure 13 The microphone 1300 shown is Figure 5The main difference in the microphone 500 shown is the vibration pickup unit 1322. In some embodiments, the vibration pickup unit 1322 may include a first vibration pickup unit 13221, a second vibration pickup unit 13222, and a third vibration pickup unit 13223. In some embodiments, the first vibration pickup unit 13221, the vibration transmission unit 1323, and the first vibration pickup unit 13221 are arranged sequentially from top to bottom. Specifically, the lower surface of the first vibration pickup unit 13221 is connected to the upper surface of the vibration transmission unit 1323, the upper surface of the second vibration pickup unit 13222 is connected to the lower surface of the vibration transmission unit 1323, and a cavity 1350 may be formed between the first vibration pickup unit 13221, the second vibration pickup unit 13222, and the vibration transmission unit 1323, and the acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 1320 is located in the cavity 1350. In some embodiments, the third vibration pickup unit 13223 is connected between the vibration transmission unit 1323 and the inner wall of the housing structure 1310. When the microphone 1300 is working, the sound signal can enter the first acoustic cavity 1330 through the hole 1311 and act on the vibration pickup unit 1322, causing the third vibration pickup unit 13223 to vibrate. The third vibration pickup unit 13223 transmits the vibration to the sound-to-electric conversion element 1320 through the vibration transmission unit 1323.

[0119] In some embodiments, the third vibration pickup unit 13223 may include one or more thin film structures adapted to the vibration transmission unit 1323 and the housing structure 1310. For example, when both the housing structure 1310 and the vibration transmission unit 1323 are cylindrical structures, the third vibration pickup unit 13223 may be an annular thin film structure, with its outer wall connected to the housing structure 1310 and its inner wall connected to the vibration transmission unit 1323. As another example, when the housing structure 1310 is cylindrical and the vibration transmission unit 1323 is cuboid, the third vibration pickup unit 13223 may be a circular thin film structure with a rectangular hole at its center, with its outer wall connected to the housing structure 1310 and its inner wall connected to the vibration transmission unit 1323. It should be noted that the shape of the third vibration pickup unit 13223 is not limited to the aforementioned annular and rectangular shapes, but can also be other shapes of thin film structures, such as regular and / or irregular shapes such as pentagons and hexagons. The shape and structure of the third vibration pickup unit 13223 can be adaptively adjusted according to the shape of the housing structure 1310 and the vibration transmission unit 1323.

[0120] In some embodiments, the material of the third vibration pickup unit 13223 may include, but is not limited to, one or more of semiconductor materials, metallic materials, metal alloys, and organic materials. In some embodiments, semiconductor materials may include, but are not limited to, silicon, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, and silicon carbide. In some embodiments, metallic materials may include, but are not limited to, copper, aluminum, chromium, titanium, and gold. In some embodiments, metal alloys may include, but are not limited to, copper-aluminum alloys, copper-gold alloys, titanium alloys, and aluminum alloys. In some embodiments, organic materials may include, but are not limited to, polyimide, phenylene oxide, PDMS, silicone gel, and silicone.

[0121] In some embodiments, the materials of the first vibration pickup unit 13221 and / or the second vibration pickup unit 13222 can be flexible materials. When the materials of the first vibration pickup unit 13221 and the second vibration pickup unit 13222 are both flexible materials, the first vibration pickup unit 13221 and the second vibration pickup unit 13222, as part of the vibration pickup unit 1322 (i.e., the first vibration pickup unit 13221 and the second vibration pickup unit 13222 are used to pick up vibration signals), can deform under the action of air vibration within the first acoustic cavity 1330. In some embodiments, the materials of the first vibration pickup unit 13221 and the second vibration pickup unit 13222 can be rigid materials. In this case, the first vibration pickup unit 13221 and the second vibration pickup unit 13222 do not deform under the action of air vibration within the first acoustic cavity 1330. In some embodiments, the first vibration pickup unit 13221 and the second vibration pickup unit 13222 are made of rigid materials, which can keep the volume of the cavity 1350 basically constant when the microphone 1300 is working. This can avoid the influence of the volume change of the cavity 1350 on the acoustic-electric conversion element 1320, thereby ensuring that the acoustic-electric conversion element 1320 resonates within the required frequency range.

[0122] In some embodiments, the microphone 1300 may further include at least one diaphragm structure (not shown in the figures), which may be located on the upper and / or lower surface of the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 1320. Details regarding the at least one diaphragm structure can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 10 The details and related descriptions will not be elaborated here.

[0123] Figure 14 This is a schematic diagram of a microphone structure according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 14 As shown, the microphone 1400 may include a housing structure 1410, an acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 1420, and a vibration pickup unit 1422. Figure 14 The microphone 1400 shown can be used with Figure 8The microphone 800 shown is the same as or similar to the microphone 1400. For example, the housing structure 1410 of the microphone 1400 may be the same as or similar to the housing structure 810 of the microphone 800. As another example, the first acoustic cavity 1430, the second acoustic cavity 1440, and the cavity 1450 of the microphone 1400 may be the same as or similar to the first acoustic cavity 830, the second acoustic cavity 840, and the cavity 850 of the microphone 800, respectively. Further details regarding the structure of the microphone 1400 (e.g., the aperture 1411, the vibration transmission section 1423, the acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 1420, etc.) can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 8 And its related descriptions.

[0124] In some embodiments, Figure 14 The microphone 1400 shown is Figure 8 The main difference in the microphone 800 shown is the vibration pickup unit 1422. In some embodiments, the vibration pickup unit 1422 may include a first vibration pickup unit 14221, a second vibration pickup unit 14222, and a third vibration pickup unit 14223. In some embodiments, the first vibration pickup unit 14221, the second vibration pickup unit 14222, and the third vibration pickup unit 14223 are arranged sequentially from top to bottom. Specifically, the lower surface of the first vibration pickup unit 14221 may be connected to the upper surface of the vibration transmission unit 1423, the upper surface of the second vibration pickup unit 14222 may be connected to the lower surface of the vibration transmission unit 1423, and a cavity 1450 may be formed between the first vibration pickup unit 14221, the second vibration pickup unit 14222, and the vibration transmission unit 1423, and the acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 1420 is located in the cavity 1450. In some embodiments, the third vibration pickup unit 14223 is connected between the vibration transmission unit 1423 and the inner wall of the housing structure 1410. When the microphone 1400 is working, the sound signal can enter the first acoustic cavity 1430 through the hole 1411 and act on the third vibration pickup unit 14223 to cause vibration. The third vibration pickup unit 14223 transmits the vibration to the acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 1420 through the vibration transmission unit 1423. For details about the third vibration pickup unit 14223, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 13 The details and related descriptions will not be elaborated here.

[0125] In some embodiments, the microphone 1400 may further include at least one diaphragm structure (not shown in the figures), which may be located on the upper and / or lower surface of the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 1420. Details regarding the at least one diaphragm structure can be found in [reference needed]. Figures 10-12 The details and related descriptions will not be elaborated here.

[0126] Figure 15 This is a schematic diagram of a microphone structure according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 15As shown, the microphone 1500 may include a housing structure 1510, an acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 1520, and a vibration pickup unit 1522. Figure 15 The microphone 1500 shown can be used with Figure 13 The microphone 1300 shown is the same as or similar to the microphone 1300. For example, the housing structure 1510 of the microphone 1500 may be the same as or similar to the housing structure 1310 of the microphone 1300. As another example, the first acoustic cavity 1530, the second acoustic cavity 1540, and the cavity 1550 of the microphone 1500 may be the same as or similar to the first acoustic cavity 1330, the second acoustic cavity 1340, and the cavity 1350 of the microphone 1300, respectively. Furthermore, the vibration pickup unit 1522 of the microphone 1500 (e.g., the first vibration pickup unit 15221, the second vibration pickup unit 15222, and the third vibration pickup unit 15223) may be the same as or similar to the vibration pickup unit 1322 of the microphone 1300 (e.g., the first vibration pickup unit 13221, the second vibration pickup unit 13222, and the third vibration pickup unit 13223). For more information on the structure of the microphone 1500 (e.g., the aperture 1511, the vibration transmission part 1523, the sound-to-electric conversion element 1520, etc.), please refer to [reference needed]. Figure 13 And its related descriptions.

[0127] In some embodiments, Figure 15 The microphone 1500 shown is Figure 13 The main difference of the microphone 1300 shown is that the microphone 1500 may also include one or more support structures 1560. In some embodiments, the support structure 1560 may be disposed in the cavity 1550, the upper surface of the support structure 1560 may be connected to the lower surface of the first vibration pickup unit 15221, and the lower surface of the support structure 1560 may be connected to the upper surface of the second vibration pickup unit 15222. On the one hand, by providing a support structure 1560 in the cavity, which is connected to the first vibration pickup unit 15221 and the second vibration pickup unit 15222 respectively, the rigidity of the first vibration pickup unit 15221 and the second vibration pickup unit 15222 is further improved. This allows the first vibration pickup unit 15221 and the second vibration pickup unit 15222 to be unaffected by the air vibration within the first acoustic cavity 1530, thus reducing the vibration modes of the internal components of the microphone 1500 (such as the first vibration pickup unit 15221 and the second vibration pickup unit 15222). On the other hand, the connection of the support structure 1560 to the first vibration pickup unit 15221 and the second vibration pickup unit 15222 respectively can also improve the reliability of the microphone 1500 under overload conditions.

[0128] In some embodiments, the shape of the support structure 1560 can be a plate-like structure, cylinder, frustum, cuboid, prism, hexahedron, or other regular and / or irregular structure. In some embodiments, the material of the support structure 1560 can be one or more of semiconductor materials, metallic materials, metal alloys, and organic materials, including but not limited to. In some embodiments, semiconductor materials can be, but not limited to, silicon, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, and silicon carbide. In some embodiments, metallic materials can be, but not limited to, copper, aluminum, chromium, titanium, and gold. In some embodiments, metal alloys can be, but not limited to, copper-aluminum alloys, copper-gold alloys, titanium alloys, and aluminum alloys. In some embodiments, organic materials can be, but not limited to, polyimide, pyrene, PDMS, silicone gel, and silicone.

[0129] Reference Figure 15 In some embodiments, the second distance d2 between the free end of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1520 (i.e., the end suspended in the cavity 1550) and the support structure 1560 is not less than 2 μm to prevent the acoustic-electric conversion element 1520 from colliding with the support structure 1560 during vibration. Simultaneously, when the second distance d2 is small (e.g., the second distance d2 is not greater than 20 μm), the overall volume of the microphone 1500 can be effectively reduced. In some embodiments, the second distance d2 between the free ends of different acoustic-electric conversion elements 1520 (e.g., cantilever beam structures of different lengths) and the support structure 1560 can be different. In some embodiments, by designing support structures 1560 of different shapes and sizes and adjusting the position of the support structure 1560, multiple acoustic-electric conversion elements 1520 (e.g., cantilever beam structures) can be closely arranged in the cavity 1550, thereby making the microphone 1500 have a smaller overall size. Figure 16A and Figure 16B These are schematic cross-sectional views of a microphone in different directions, as shown in some embodiments of this application. Figure 16A and Figure 16B As shown, when the support structure 1560 is an elliptical cylinder, the support structure 1560, the vibration transmission part, and the vibration pickup part constrain the formation of a ring-shaped or similar ring-shaped cavity. Multiple acoustic-to-electric conversion elements 1520 are located within this cavity and are spaced apart along the periphery of the support structure 1560. In some embodiments, the support structure 1560 may be located at the center of the cavity 1550. For example, Figure 17A This is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 17A As shown, the support structure 1560 is located at the center of the cavity 1550. This center location can be the geometric center of the cavity 1550. In some embodiments, the support structure 1560 may also be located within the cavity 1550 near either end of the vibration transmission section 1523. For example, Figure 17BThis is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a microphone according to some embodiments of this application, such as... Figure 17B As shown, the support structure 1560 is located in the cavity 1550 near the side wall L of the vibration transmission part 1523. It should be noted that the shape, arrangement, position, and material of the support structure 1560 can be adapted to the length, number, and distribution of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1520, and no further limitations are made here.

[0130] In some embodiments, the microphone 1500 may further include at least one membrane structure (not shown in the figures), which may be disposed on the upper and / or lower surface of the acoustic-electric conversion element 1520. In some embodiments, a hole for the support structure 1560 to pass through may be provided at the middle position of the membrane structure, and the hole may have the same or different cross-sectional shape as the support structure. In some embodiments, the peripheral sidewall of the support structure 1560 may be connected to the peripheral portion of the hole in the membrane structure, or may not be connected to the peripheral portion of the hole in the membrane structure. Further descriptions of the shape, material, structure, etc., of the membrane structure can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 10 And its related descriptions.

[0131] It should be noted that the support structure can also be applied to microphones in other embodiments, for example, it can be applied to... Figure 5 The microphone 500 shown Figure 8 The microphone 800 shown Figure 10 The microphone 1000 shown Figure 11 The microphone 1100 shown Figure 12 In the microphone 1200 shown, when the support structure is applied to other microphones, the shape, position, and material of the support structure can be adaptively adjusted according to the specific circumstances.

[0132] Figure 18 This is a schematic diagram of a microphone structure according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 18 As shown, the microphone 1800 may include a housing structure 1810, an acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 1820, and a vibration pickup unit 1822. Figure 18 The microphone 1800 shown can be used with Figure 14The microphone 1400 shown is the same as or similar to the microphone 1400. For example, the housing structure 1810 of the microphone 1800 may be the same as or similar to the housing structure 1410 of the microphone 1400. As another example, the first acoustic cavity 1830, the second acoustic cavity 1840, and the cavity 1850 of the microphone 1800 may be the same as or similar to the first acoustic cavity 1430, the second acoustic cavity 1440, and the cavity 1450 of the microphone 1400, respectively. Furthermore, the vibration pickup unit 1822 of the microphone 1800 (e.g., the first vibration pickup unit 18221, the second vibration pickup unit 18222, and the third vibration pickup unit 18223) may be the same as or similar to the vibration pickup unit 1422 of the microphone 1400 (e.g., the first vibration pickup unit 14221, the second vibration pickup unit 14222, and the third vibration pickup unit 14223). For more information on the structure of the microphone 1800 (e.g., the aperture 1811, the vibration transmission part 1823, the sound-to-electric conversion element 1820, etc.), please refer to [reference needed]. Figure 14 And its related descriptions.

[0133] In some embodiments, Figure 18 The microphone 1800 shown is Figure 14 The main difference between the microphone 1400 and the microphone 1800 shown is that the microphone 1800 may also include a support structure 1860. In some embodiments, the upper surface of the support structure 1860 may be connected to the lower surface of the first vibration pickup unit 18221, and the lower surface of the support structure 1860 may be connected to the upper surface of the second vibration pickup unit 18222. In some embodiments, the free ends (i.e., the ends suspended in the cavity 1850) of at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements 1820 may have a second distance d2 with the support structure 1860. Further description of the support structure 1860 can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 15 And its related descriptions.

[0134] In some embodiments, the microphone 1800 may further include at least one diaphragm structure (not shown in the figures), and a detailed description of at least one diaphragm structure of the microphone 1800 including the support structure 1860 can be found in [reference]. Figure 11 , Figure 12 , Figure 15 And its related descriptions.

[0135] It should be noted that the support structure in this embodiment is not limited to... Figure 15 and Figure 18 The microphone described herein, and the support structure therein, can be applied to microphones described in other embodiments, for example. Figure 5 , Figure 8 , Figure 10 , Figure 11 , Figure 12 The type of microphone used in this context is not limited here.

[0136] Figure 19 This is a schematic diagram of a microphone structure according to some embodiments of this application. In some embodiments, the microphone may be a bone conduction microphone, such as... Figure 19 As shown, the bone conduction microphone 1900 may include a housing structure 1910, an electroacoustic conversion element 1920, and a vibration pickup unit 1922. Figure 19 The components of the bone conduction microphone 1900 shown can be used with Figure 15 The components of the microphone 1500 shown are the same or similar, such as the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 1920, the first acoustic cavity 1930, the second acoustic cavity 1940, the cavity 1950, the vibration transmission part 1923, the support structure 1960, etc.

[0137] In some embodiments, the bone conduction microphone 1900 and Figure 15 The difference between the microphones 1500 shown lies in their vibration pickup methods. The vibration pickup unit 1522 of the microphone 1500 (e.g., the first vibration pickup unit 15221, the second vibration pickup unit 15222, and the third vibration pickup unit 19223) picks up the vibration signal of the air transmitted to the first acoustic cavity 1530 through the hole 1511. In contrast, the housing structure 1910 of the bone conduction microphone 1900 does not include the hole, and the bone conduction microphone 1900 generates a vibration signal in response to the vibration of the housing structure 1910 through the vibration pickup unit 1922 (e.g., the third vibration pickup unit 19223). Specifically, the housing structure 1910 can generate vibration based on external sound signals, and the third vibration pickup unit 19223 can generate a vibration signal in response to the vibration of the housing structure 1910, and transmit the vibration signal to the sound-to-electric conversion element 1920 through the vibration transmission unit 1923. The sound-to-electric conversion element 1920 converts the vibration signal into an electrical signal and outputs it.

[0138] Figure 20 This is a schematic diagram of a microphone structure according to some embodiments of this application. For example... Figure 20 As shown, the bone conduction microphone 2000 may include a housing structure 2010, an acoustic-to-electrical conversion element 2020, and a vibration pickup unit 2022. Figure 20 The components of the bone conduction microphone 2000 shown can be used with Figure 18 The components of the microphone 1800 shown are the same or similar, such as the acoustic-to-electric conversion element 2020, the first acoustic cavity 2030, the second acoustic cavity 2040, the cavity 2050, the vibration transmission part 2023, the support structure 2060, etc.

[0139] In some embodiments, the bone conduction microphone 2000 and Figure 18The difference between the microphones 1800 and 1800 lies in their vibration pickup methods. The vibration pickup unit 1822 (e.g., the first vibration pickup unit 18221, the second vibration pickup unit 18222, and the third vibration pickup unit 18223) of the microphone 1800 picks up the vibration signal of the air transmitted to the first acoustic cavity 1830 through the aperture 1811. In contrast, the housing structure 2010 of the bone conduction microphone 2000 does not include the aperture. The bone conduction microphone 2000 generates a vibration signal in response to the vibration of the housing structure 2010 through the vibration pickup unit 2022 (e.g., the third vibration pickup unit 20223). In some embodiments, the housing structure 2010 can generate vibration based on external sound signals, and the third vibration pickup unit 20223 can generate a vibration signal in response to the vibration of the housing structure 2010 and transmit the vibration signal to the acoustic-electric conversion element 2020 through the vibration transmission unit 2023. The acoustic-electric conversion element 2020 converts the vibration signal into an electrical signal and outputs it.

[0140] It is important to note that Figure 5 The microphone 500 shown Figure 8 The microphone 800 shown Figure 10 The microphone 1000 shown Figure 11 The microphone 1100 shown Figure 12 The microphone 1200 shown can also be used as a bone conduction microphone. For example, the microphone here may not have a hole. The housing structure can vibrate based on an external sound signal. The first vibration pickup unit or the second vibration pickup unit can generate a vibration signal in response to the vibration of the housing structure and transmit the vibration to the acoustic-electric conversion element through the vibration transmission unit. The acoustic-electric conversion element converts the vibration signal into an electrical signal and outputs it.

[0141] The basic concepts have been described above. Obviously, for those skilled in the art, the detailed disclosure above is merely illustrative and does not constitute a limitation of this application. Although not explicitly stated herein, those skilled in the art may make various modifications, improvements, and corrections to this application. Such modifications, improvements, and corrections are suggested in this application, and therefore remain within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of this application.

[0142] Furthermore, this application uses specific terms to describe embodiments of the application. For example, "an embodiment," "one embodiment," and / or "some embodiments" refer to a particular feature, structure, or characteristic associated with at least one embodiment of the application. Therefore, it should be emphasized and noted that "an embodiment," "one embodiment," or "an alternative embodiment" mentioned twice or more in different locations in this specification do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, certain features, structures, or characteristics in one or more embodiments of the application can be appropriately combined.

[0143] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that aspects of this application can be described and illustrated through several patentable types or situations, including any new and useful combination of processes, machines, products, or substances, or any new and useful improvements thereof. Accordingly, aspects of this application can be implemented entirely by hardware, entirely by software (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or by a combination of hardware and software. All of the above hardware or software may be referred to as a “data block,” “module,” “engine,” “unit,” “component,” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of this application may manifest as a computer product located on one or more computer-readable media, the product including computer-readable program code.

[0144] Computer storage media may contain a propagated data signal containing computer program code, for example, on baseband or as part of a carrier wave. This propagated signal may take various forms, including electromagnetic, optical, and suitable combinations thereof. Computer storage media can be any computer-readable medium other than a computer-readable storage medium, which can be connected to an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device to enable communication, propagation, or transmission of a program for use. The program code located on the computer storage medium can be propagated through any suitable medium, including radio, cable, fiber optic cable, RF, or similar media, or any combination of the above media.

[0145] The computer program code required for the operation of each part of this application can be written in any one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, Scala, Smalltalk, Eiffel, JADE, Emerald, C++, C#, VB.NET, Python, etc., conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as C, Visual Basic, Fortran 2003, Perl, COBOL 2002, PHP, ABAP, dynamic programming languages ​​such as Python, Ruby, and Groovy, or other programming languages. This program code can run entirely on the user's computer, or as a standalone software package on the user's computer, or partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In the latter case, the remote computer can be connected to the user's computer through any network, such as a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), or connected to an external computer (e.g., via the Internet), or in a cloud computing environment, or used as a service such as Software as a Service (SaaS).

[0146] Furthermore, unless expressly stated in the claims, the order of processing elements and sequences, the use of numbers and letters, or other names described in this application are not intended to limit the order of the processes and methods of this application. Although the foregoing disclosure has discussed some currently considered useful embodiments of the invention through various examples, it should be understood that such details are for illustrative purposes only, and the appended claims are not limited to the disclosed embodiments; rather, the claims are intended to cover all modifications and equivalent combinations that conform to the substance and scope of the embodiments of this application. For example, while the system components described above can be implemented using hardware devices, they can also be implemented solely through software solutions, such as installing the described system on existing servers or mobile devices.

[0147] Similarly, it should be noted that, in order to simplify the description of the present application and thus aid in the understanding of one or more embodiments of the invention, the foregoing description of the embodiments of the present application sometimes combines multiple features into a single embodiment, drawing, or description thereof. However, this disclosure method does not imply that the subject matter of the application requires more features than those mentioned in the claims. In fact, the embodiments contain fewer features than all the features of the single embodiments disclosed above.

[0148] In some embodiments, numbers describing the quantity of components and attributes are used. It should be understood that such numbers used in the description of embodiments are modified in some examples with the terms "approximately," "approximately," or "generally." Unless otherwise stated, "approximately," "approximately," or "generally" indicates that the numbers are allowed to vary by ±20%. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the numerical parameters used in the specification and claims are approximate values, which may be changed depending on the characteristics required by individual embodiments. In some embodiments, numerical parameters should take into account specified significant digits and employ a general method of digit reservation. Although the numerical ranges and parameters used to confirm their breadth of scope in some embodiments of this application are approximate values, in specific embodiments, such values ​​are set as precisely as feasible.

[0149] For each patent, patent application, patent application publication, and other material such as articles, books, specifications, publications, and documents referenced in this application, the entire contents of that patent are incorporated herein by reference. This excludes historical application documents that are inconsistent with or conflict with the content of this application, as well as documents that limit the broadest scope of the claims in this application (currently or subsequently appended to this application). It should be noted that if there are any inconsistencies or conflicts between the descriptions, definitions, and / or terminology used in the supplementary materials of this application and the content of this application, the descriptions, definitions, and / or terminology used in this application shall prevail.

[0150] Finally, it should be understood that the embodiments described in this application are merely illustrative of the principles of the embodiments of this application. Other modifications may also fall within the scope of this application. Therefore, alternative configurations of the embodiments of this application are considered as examples and not limitations, and are regarded as consistent with the teachings of this application. Accordingly, the embodiments of this application are not limited to the embodiments explicitly described and illustrated in this application.

Claims

1. A microphone, characterized in that, include: Shell structure; A vibration pickup unit, housed within the housing structure, vibrates in response to external sound signals transmitted to the housing structure; the vibration pickup unit includes at least a first vibration pickup unit and a second vibration pickup unit arranged sequentially from top to bottom, with a tubular vibration transmission unit between the first and second vibration pickup units, wherein a cavity is formed between the vibration transmission unit, the first vibration pickup unit, and the second vibration pickup unit; and At least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements are configured to receive vibrations from the vibration pickup unit and generate electrical signals, respectively. The at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements have different frequency responses to the vibration of the vibration pickup unit.

2. The microphone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The frequency response corresponding to each acoustic-electric conversion element includes at least one resonant frequency, and at least two of the plurality of resonant frequencies corresponding to the at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements are in the range of 20 Hz - 16000 Hz.

3. The microphone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The number of sub-bands corresponding to the at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements is no less than 5.

4. The microphone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The vibration pickup unit and the housing structure define at least one acoustic cavity, the at least one acoustic cavity including a first acoustic cavity; The housing structure includes at least one opening located at the first acoustic cavity, which guides the external sound signal into the first acoustic cavity. The vibration pickup unit vibrates in response to a sound signal within the first acoustic cavity, and the at least two acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements respectively receive the vibration of the vibration pickup unit and generate electrical signals.

5. The microphone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The vibration pickup unit is connected to the housing structure via its periphery; wherein at least a portion of the structure of the vibration pickup unit vibrates in response to the external sound signal.

6. The microphone according to claim 5, characterized in that, The at least two acoustic-to-electric conversion elements are directly or indirectly connected to the first vibration pickup unit.

7. The microphone according to claim 5, characterized in that, The first vibration pickup unit and the second vibration pickup unit are connected to the housing structure via their periphery; wherein at least a portion of the structure of the first vibration pickup unit and the second vibration pickup unit vibrates in response to the external sound signal.

8. The microphone according to claim 5, characterized in that, The vibration pickup unit further includes a third vibration pickup unit, which is connected between the vibration transmission unit and the inner wall of the housing structure; The third vibration pickup unit vibrates in response to the external sound signal.

9. The microphone according to any one of claims 7-8, characterized in that, Each of the aforementioned acoustic-electric conversion elements includes a cantilever beam structure, one end of which is connected to the inner wall of the vibration transmission section, and the other end of which is suspended in the cavity; wherein the cantilever beam structure deforms based on the vibration signal to convert the vibration signal into an electrical signal.

10. The microphone according to claim 9, characterized in that, Different cantilever beam structures are distributed at intervals on the inner wall of the vibration transmission section.

11. The microphone according to claim 9, characterized in that, The at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements each correspond to cantilever beam structures of different sizes or materials.

12. The microphone according to claim 11, characterized in that, The at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements include a first cantilever beam structure and a second cantilever beam structure. The length of the first cantilever beam perpendicular to its vibration direction is greater than the length of the second cantilever beam perpendicular to its vibration direction. The resonant frequency corresponding to the first cantilever beam is lower than the resonant frequency corresponding to the second cantilever beam.

13. The microphone according to claim 9, characterized in that, The cantilever beam structure includes a first electrode layer, a piezoelectric layer, a second electrode layer, an elastic layer, and a base layer. The first electrode layer, the piezoelectric layer, and the second electrode layer are arranged sequentially from top to bottom. The elastic layer is located on the upper surface of the first electrode layer or the lower surface of the second electrode layer, and the base layer is located on the upper surface or the lower surface of the elastic layer.

14. The microphone according to claim 9, characterized in that, The cantilever beam structure includes at least one elastic layer, an electrode layer, and a piezoelectric layer; the at least one elastic layer is located on the surface of the electrode layer; the electrode layer includes a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein the first electrode is bent into a first comb-like structure, the second electrode is bent into a second comb-like structure, the first comb-like structure and the second comb-like structure cooperate to form the electrode layer, and the electrode layer is located on the upper or lower surface of the piezoelectric layer; the first comb-like structure and the second comb-like structure extend along the length direction of the cantilever beam structure.

15. The microphone according to any one of claims 7-8, characterized in that, Each of the aforementioned acoustic-electric conversion elements includes a first cantilever beam structure and a second cantilever beam structure, the first cantilever beam structure and the second cantilever beam structure being disposed opposite to each other, and the first cantilever beam structure and the second cantilever beam structure having a first distance; wherein, the first distance between the first cantilever beam structure and the second cantilever beam structure changes based on a vibration signal, so as to convert the vibration signal into an electrical signal.

16. The microphone according to claim 15, characterized in that, The first and second cantilever beam structures corresponding to each acoustic-electric conversion element are spaced apart on the inner wall of the periphery of the vibration transmission part.

17. The microphone according to claim 16, characterized in that, The stiffness of the first cantilever beam structure is different from that of the second cantilever beam structure.

18. The microphone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The microphone includes at least one diaphragm structure located on the upper and / or lower surface of the acoustic-electric conversion element.

19. The microphone according to claim 18, characterized in that, The at least one membrane structure covers all or part of the upper and / or lower surface of the acoustic-electric conversion element.

20. The microphone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The microphone includes at least one support structure, one end of which is connected to a first vibration pickup part of the vibration pickup unit, and the other end of which is connected to a second vibration pickup part of the vibration pickup unit. The free ends of the at least two acoustic-electric conversion elements have a second distance from the support structure.

21. The microphone according to claim 1, characterized in that, The microphone further includes at least one sampling module configured to convert electrical signals output by different acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements into digital signals; wherein the sampling module samples the electrical signals output by different acoustic-to-electrical conversion elements using different sampling frequencies.

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