Touch-Sensitive Smart Speaker Housing With Controlled Microphone Sound Path
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for compact, cost-effective voice-activated electronic devices with multiple user interface options that can perform reliably in smart home environments, providing both eyes-free and hands-free voice interface capabilities for controlling local and remote devices, issuing requests, and consuming media, while maintaining a simple and compact form factor.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves an electronic device with a touch-sensitive housing and a controlled sound path to a microphone, incorporating touch sensors with capacitive sensing components and a capacitive electrode, and an acoustically porous cover to enhance sound delivery efficiency, allowing for voice-activated functions, media control, and status indication through LEDs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple user interface functions (touch sensors, microphones, speakers) are integrated into the device, then the device functionality and versatility are improved, but the device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple user interface functions into a single integrated housing structure. The touch-sensitive housing integrates touch sensors, the microphone and speaker systems are incorporated into the same housing, and the acoustically porous cover serves multiple purposes including acoustic transmission and aesthetic appearance. This merging approach allows the device to provide diverse user interface capabilities while maintaining a compact, unified form factor that does not significantly increase complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support, houses touch sensors for tactile input, contains acoustic apertures for microphone and speaker functionality, and incorporates an acoustically porous cover that enables sound transmission while maintaining aesthetic appearance. This multi-functionality allows the device to offer versatile user interface options without requiring separate components for each function, thereby controlling overall device complexity.
2Ease of manufacture
If the device form factor is kept compact and simple, then manufacturing cost and device size are reduced, but the reliability and performance of multiple user interface functions may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by giving different regions of the housing distinct functional properties. The housing includes specific areas with touch sensors for tactile input, apertures positioned for optimal microphone and speaker performance, and an acoustically porous cover with specific acoustic transmission characteristics. This localized optimization ensures that each user interface function performs reliably despite the compact overall form factor, as each component is positioned and designed for its specific function rather than using a uniform approach throughout.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a nested structure where touch sensors are integrated into the housing interior surface, the microphone and speaker are positioned within the housing volume, and the acoustically porous cover is attached to the housing exterior. This nesting approach allows multiple user interface components to be packed efficiently within a compact form factor while maintaining their individual performance characteristics, thereby achieving both compact size and reliable functionality.
3Shape
If touch sensors are integrated into the housing interior surface, then the device maintains a clean exterior design, but the touch sensor detection accuracy and reliability may be affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the housing interior surface as an intermediary between the user's touch and the touch sensor. The touch sensor is positioned behind the interior surface, which acts as a mediator that transmits the mechanical deformation or capacitive change from the user's touch on the exterior surface to the sensor. This intermediary approach allows the sensor to detect touches accurately while remaining hidden behind the interior surface, thus maintaining a clean exterior design without sacrificing detection precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent positions the touch sensor in a different spatial dimension relative to the housing exterior - specifically, the sensor is placed on the interior surface rather than the exterior surface. This dimensional relocation allows the sensor to remain hidden from external view, preserving aesthetic appearance, while still being positioned optimally for detecting touch inputs through the housing material. The sensor operates in the interior dimension while responding to external touches, effectively separating the aesthetic requirement from the functional requirement.
4Power
If an acoustically porous cover is used to enhance sound delivery, then the speaker system efficiency is improved, but the device exterior complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates an acoustically porous cover that allows sound waves to pass through while providing aesthetic coverage. The porous structure enables efficient sound delivery by allowing acoustic energy to transmit through the material, improving speaker system efficiency. The cover is manufactured as a single component that can be attached to the housing, and the porosity is achieved through standard manufacturing techniques for porous materials, balancing acoustic performance with manufacturability.
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
The device enables reliable eyes-free and hands-free voice interaction, effective media control, and status indication, maintaining a compact and aesthetically clean design while ensuring efficient sound delivery and touch sensitivity.
Implementation Method 1
Each touch sensor includes a capacitive sensing component
Implementation Method 2
an acoustically porous cover to enhance sound delivery efficiency
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
A compact electronic device has a touch sensor and/or a microphone that are concealed within a housing at least partially wrapped by an acoustically porous cover. In some implementations, the touch sensor includes a sensing portion and a contact portion extending from the sensing portion. While the sensing portion is placed in proximity to an interior surface of the housing to detect a touch on the housing, the contact portion is bent to electrically couple the sensing portion to a circuit board via two distinct electrical paths. In some implementations, an exterior surface of the housing includes a sealing area surrounding an aperture on the housing, and the acoustically porous cover is affixed to the sealing area via an adhesive. The adhesive covers the sealing area and permeates a thickness of the acoustically porous cover, thereby enabling formation of a controlled sound path to access the microphone via the aperture.