Display Panel Loudspeaker Apertures for Audio Directionality
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current portable consumer electronics face challenges in integrating high-quality loudspeakers due to size constraints, resulting in compromised audio performance, especially in handheld devices where space is limited and sound quality is prioritized over display size, leading to inadequate sound fidelity and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The integration of a loudspeaker behind a graphical display panel with sound holes or apertures that allow sound to radiate through the display, enabling a larger diaphragm area without increasing device size, using electret or piezo-electric speakers, and employing dipole or monopole acoustic responses for improved sound directionality and privacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If loudspeaker size is reduced to enable larger display, then display area increases, but sound quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the loudspeaker diaphragm with the display panel by integrating the speaker behind the display, allowing the display panel to serve dual purposes as both visual output and acoustic radiator. This integration enables the loudspeaker to utilize the entire display area for sound radiation, effectively increasing the radiating area without increasing device volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional front-facing speakers to a rear-integrated speaker configuration where sound radiates through the display panel from behind. This dimensional repositioning allows the speaker to exploit the display area's surface area for acoustic radiation, decoupling the trade-off between display size and speaker size.
2Volume of moving object
If traditional loudspeaker integration is used, then device size is constrained, but acoustic efficiency remains below 0.1%
Solution Approach 1:
By combining the loudspeaker diaphragm with the display panel structure, the patent eliminates the need for separate speaker housing and resonance chambers, reducing overall device volume while improving acoustic efficiency through direct radiation through the display panel.
Solution Approach 2:
The display panel incorporates acoustic holes or apertures that allow sound waves to pass through from the rear speaker diaphragm to the front surface. These porous-like structures enable efficient sound transmission while maintaining the display's visual functionality, significantly improving acoustic efficiency compared to traditional sealed speaker designs.
3Area of stationary object
If sound is routed through back or side housing to avoid large LCD screen, then display area is maximized, but audio fidelity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the audio output function with the display surface by positioning the speaker diaphragm behind the display panel and using the display panel itself as the sound radiation surface. This integration ensures that sound is emitted directly from the display area, maximizing both display real estate and audio fidelity simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The display panel acts as an intermediary structure that both displays visual information and transmits acoustic waves. The acoustic holes in the display panel serve as mediators that allow sound from the rear speaker to reach the front surface, enabling the display to fulfill dual functions without compromising audio quality.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enhances sound quality and efficiency by allowing a larger radiating area within the same device volume, providing natural audio-visual experience, improved audio privacy, and directional sound control, suitable for various portable devices and applications.
Implementation Method 1
employing electret or piezo-electric speakers
Implementation Method 2
employing electret or piezo-electric speakers
Implementation Method 3
sound holes or apertures that allow sound to radiate through the display
Data Source
Figure 1~1A
Figure 2A
Figure 2B
AI summary
In an embodiment an apparatus includes a graphical display panel and a loudspeaker. The panel has a display layer for displaying images and defines a plurality of apertures penetrating through at least the display layer. The loudspeaker includes a diaphragm arranged substantially parallel to the display layer. Sound from the loudspeaker diaphragm is directed outside a host device through the apertures. The speaker may be an electret or a piezo-electric speaker for thinness. There may be apertures on an opposed side of the host device housing to achieve a dipole pattern which is directed and gives acoustic privacy to the user, or a rear acoustic cavity for a monopole pattern which more broadly disperses the sound. One illustrated embodiment is selectable between monopole and dipole. Size and total area of the holes determines acoustic resistance and so a method is described to determine those from physical parameters of the display panel.