US 12,439,201 B2
Narrow aperture waveguide loudspeaker for use with flat panel display devices
Benjamin Alexander Jancovich, Arncliffe (AU)
Assigned to Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation, San Francisco, CA (US)
Appl. No. 18/550,197
Filed by Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation, San Francisco, CA (US)
PCT Filed Apr. 14, 2022, PCT No. PCT/US2022/024897
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 12, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/221582, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 20, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/174,797, filed on Apr. 14, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 21168313 (EP), filed on Apr. 14, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0314494 A1, Sep. 19, 2024
Int. Cl. H04R 1/34 (2006.01); H04R 1/28 (2006.01)
CPC H04R 1/345 (2013.01) [H04R 1/2811 (2013.01); H04R 2499/15 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A speaker comprising:
a transducer;
a waveguide attached to the transducer, and having an increasing cross sectional aspect ratio and an increasing cross sectional area, both the cross sectional aspect ratio and cross sectional area increasing as the waveguide extends away from the transducer; and
an aperture portion formed with the waveguide wherein the aperture portion comprises a curved section configured to direct soundwaves around an edge of a display panel housing the speaker and substantially directly to a listener positioned in front of the display panel;
wherein the waveguide includes fins that control the directivity of soundwaves exiting the waveguide and around the edge of the display panel, and wherein the fins form a plurality of passages within the waveguide that are configured to direct the soundwaves around the edge of the display panel substantially perpendicular to a front surface of the display panel when the transducer is attached to the display panel in an outward firing configuration and the maximum wall to wall dimension within said plurality of passages formed by the fins is defined by c/fmax/4, wherein c is the speed of sound and fmax is an upper limit of the frequency range within which the speaker has a flat frequency response.