CN111245994B

CN111245994B - Conference telephone

Info

Publication number: CN111245994B
Application number: CN201811436526.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 林春吉; 李冠葳; 吕志豪
Original assignee: Inventec Pudong Technology Corp; Inventec Corp
Current assignee: Inventec Pudong Technology Corp; Inventec Corp
Priority date: 2018-11-28
Filing date: 2018-11-28
Publication date: 2021-03-26
Anticipated expiration: 2038-11-28
Also published as: CN111245994A

Abstract

The invention discloses a conference telephone, which comprises a device shell, a loudspeaker and a plurality of microphones. The device shell is provided with a sound outlet hole and a plurality of sound collecting holes, the sound outlet hole is arranged upwards, and the plurality of sound collecting holes are arranged laterally and incline upwards. The loudspeaker is aligned upwards to the sound outlet hole and is arranged in the device shell. The microphones are correspondingly arranged in the device shell towards the sound receiving holes.

Description

Conference telephone

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of communication, in particular to a conference telephone.

Background

In a current general conference telephone, a microphone also receives sound from the outside, which is played by a speaker, to generate an echo. In addition, the microphone and the speaker of a general conference telephone are both disposed in the same device housing, so in principle, the microphone may also receive sound transmitted inside the device housing or sound generated by vibration of the device housing and components, which may also cause the sound played by the speaker to include noise. In any case, it is easy for the conference participants to speak repeatedly because they are not easy to hear the sound played by the speaker, and the communication efficiency is greatly reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the problems in the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a conference phone having a speaker disposed upward and including a plurality of microphones disposed laterally and inclined upward to suppress or eliminate echo and effectively receive a user's voice.

The conference telephone according to the present invention comprises a device housing, a speaker and a plurality of microphones. The device shell is provided with a sound outlet hole and a plurality of sound collecting holes, the sound outlet hole is arranged upwards, and the plurality of sound collecting holes are arranged laterally and incline upwards. The loudspeaker is aligned upwards to the sound outlet hole and is arranged in the device shell. The microphones are correspondingly arranged in the device shell towards the sound receiving holes. Therefore, the conference telephone can suppress or eliminate echo and effectively receive the voice of the user so as to improve the communication efficiency.

The advantages and spirit of the present invention can be further understood by the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conference call of an embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a partial exploded view of the conference phone of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the conference phone of fig. 1 along the line X-X.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of circle a in fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of an alternative perspective of the upper housing of the device housing base of fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the conference phone of fig. 1 along the line Y-Y.

Fig. 7 is a schematic view of an alternative view of the upper cover of the device housing of fig. 2.

Description of the symbols:

1 conference telephone

12a sound outlet

12b acoustic hole

12c loudspeaker chamber

12d microphone accommodating chamber

122 upper cover

122a keycap

124 base

124a mounting port

124b bottom surface

1242 Upper casing

1244 lower casing

1259 Sound-absorbing Material

1260 bubble cotton pad

1262 annular winding groove

1262b side wall

1264 rubber pad

14 system mainboard

142 switch

16 loudspeaker

18 microphone

182 circuit board

184 sound receiving unit

186 rubber sleeve

186a hole

20. 21 spacer ring

22 dust screen

23 cover net

24. 28 electric connection wire

26 push-button switch

34 annular foot pad

Opening directions of D1 and D2

Detailed Description

Please refer to fig. 1 and fig. 3. A conference phone 1 according to one embodiment includes a device housing 12 and a system motherboard 14 housed within the device housing 12, a speaker 16 (shown in single entity to simplify the drawing), and a plurality of microphones 18 (including but not limited to two). The device housing 12 has a sound outlet 12a and a plurality of sound emission holes 12b (including but not limited to two), wherein the sound outlet 12a is disposed upward, the sound emission holes 12b are disposed laterally and inclined upward, or the sound emission holes 12a are disposed vertically, and the sound emission holes 12b are disposed horizontally and inclined upward. The speaker 16 is disposed in the device housing 12 aligned upward with the sound outlet 12a such that the speaker 16 can generate sound to be transmitted through the sound outlet 12 a. The microphones 18 are disposed in the device case 12 toward the sound-receiving holes 12b, respectively, so that each microphone 18 can receive external sound through the corresponding sound-receiving hole 12 b. The system motherboard 14 is electrically connected to the speaker 16 and the microphone 18 to control the speaker 16 to generate sound and receive sound signals through the microphone 18. In the embodiment, the system motherboard 14 substantially includes a circuit board, required electronic components disposed thereon, and connectors electrically connected to other components, wherein the circuit board is configured to match the speaker 16 to avoid structural interference, but the implementation is not limited thereto.

In the present embodiment, the opening direction D1 of the sound outlet hole 12a is upward, so that the sound generated by the speaker 16 is transmitted through the sound outlet hole 12a in the opening direction D1. The opening direction D2 of the sound receiving hole 12b is horizontal and slightly inclined upward, so that the sound receiving range (shown in fig. 3 by the hatched area) of the microphone 18 is also slightly upward, which can increase the efficiency of the microphone 18 for receiving the user's voice; for example, the conference phone 1 is placed on a table (shown in fig. 3 by chain lines) and a user (not shown) sits around the table. In practice, the angle between the opening direction D1 and the opening direction D2 may be designed to be between 80 degrees and 90 degrees, so as to satisfy both the requirement of echo suppression or cancellation and the efficiency of receiving the user's voice. In addition, in the embodiment, the acoustic opening 12b (or the microphone 18) is located at two opposite sides of the device housing 12, so as to implement suppression or cancellation of echo, which can be implemented by using the existing algorithm and is not described in detail herein. In practice, the conference phone 1 may have more sound emission holes 12b (and corresponding microphones 18), and the sound emission holes 12b (and corresponding microphones 18) are disposed at an angle with respect to the center such as the hole opening direction of the sound emission hole 12 a.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the device housing 12 includes a speaker accommodating chamber 12c and a plurality of microphone accommodating chambers 12d (including but not limited to two). Each microphone accommodating chamber 12d is correspondingly communicated with one sound receiving hole 12b, and the microphone 18 is correspondingly accommodated in the microphone accommodating chamber 12 d. The speaker 16 is accommodated in the speaker accommodating chamber 12 c. In practice, the speaker housing chamber 12c and the plurality of microphone housing chambers 12d are airtight, so that the sound generated by the speaker 16 can be prevented or eliminated from being transmitted to the microphone housing chamber 12d through the inside of the device case 12, and the influence of the vibration generated when the speaker 16 operates on the device case 12 can be prevented or eliminated. In the present embodiment, the device housing 12 includes a top cover 122 and a base 124 engaged with the top cover 122. The system board 14 is fixed on the base 124 and located between the upper cover 122 and the base 124, the sound outlet 12a is formed on the upper cover 122, and the sound outlet 12b, the speaker accommodating chamber 12c, and the microphone accommodating chamber 12d are formed on the base 124. The base 124 includes a mounting opening 124a communicating with the speaker accommodating chamber 12c and aligned with the sound hole 12a, and the speaker 16 is exposed from the base 124 through the mounting opening 124 a. The outer edge of the diaphragm of the speaker 16 (for example, the outer ring supporting the diaphragm) is tightly fitted to the sound outlet hole 12 a; in the present embodiment, the speaker 16 is sealed to the sound outlet 12a by a spacer ring 20 (including but not limited to foam). Similarly, the outer edge of the diaphragm of the speaker 16 is also sealed with the mounting opening 124 a; in this embodiment, the speaker 16 is sealed to the mounting opening 124a by a spacer ring 21 (including but not limited to one made of foam). In addition, in the embodiment, the conference phone 1 further includes a dust screen 22 (including but not limited to a fabric or a sponge) and a cover 23 (including but not limited to a metal mesh or a metal mesh with a plastic frame) disposed on the upper cover 122.

Please refer to fig. 4 to fig. 6. In the embodiment, the base 124 includes an upper case 1242 and a lower case 1244, the mounting opening 124a is formed in the upper case 1242, the upper case 1242 and the lower case 1244 are connected to form the speaker accommodating chamber 12c and the plurality of microphone accommodating chambers 12d, and the system board 14 is fixed to the upper case 1242. The upper housing 1242 includes an upper wall 1242a, an outer annular wall 1242b and an upper partition 1242C, the outer annular wall 1242b is connected to the periphery of the upper wall 1242a, and the upper partition 1242C is substantially C-shaped and connected to the upper wall 1242a and the outer annular wall 1242 b. The lower housing 1244 includes a lower wall 1244a, an outer annular wall 1244b and a lower partition 1244C, the outer annular wall 1244b is connected to the periphery of the lower wall 1244a, and the lower partition 1244C is substantially a C-shaped structure and is connected to the lower wall 1244a and the outer annular wall 1244 b. The outer annular wall 1242b is connected to the outer annular wall 1244b, and the upper and

lower bulkheads

1242c, 1244c are aligned and sealed together by a sound absorbing material (including but not limited to a foam pad 1246) to form a microphone chamber 12d and to make the microphone chamber 12d and the speaker chamber 12c airtight with each other.

In addition, the microphone 18 includes a circuit board 182 and a sound receiving unit 184 disposed on the front side 182a of the circuit board 182, wherein the sound receiving unit 184 faces the corresponding sound receiving hole 12 b. Disposed within the microphone receiving chamber 12d are an upper sound absorbing pad 1248, a lower sound absorbing pad 1250, a rear sound absorbing pad 1252, a left sound absorbing pad 1254 and a right sound absorbing pad 1256, which may be made of, but not limited to, foam. The upper side 182b of the circuit board 182 abuts the upper sound absorbing pad 1248, the lower side 182c of the circuit board 182 abuts the lower sound absorbing pad 1250, the back side 182d of the circuit board 182 abuts the rear sound absorbing pad 1252, the left side 182e of the circuit board 182 abuts the left sound absorbing pad 1254, and the right side 182f of the circuit board 182 abuts the right sound absorbing pad 1256. Therefore, the noise or vibration in the device case 12 can be further suppressed or eliminated from interfering with the sound receiving unit 184. In addition, in the present embodiment, the microphone 18 further includes a rubber sleeve 186 covering the sound receiving unit 184. The hole 186a of the rubber sleeve 186 also helps to suppress the noise from interfering with the sound receiving unit 184, and the rubber sleeve 186 itself also has the effect of suppressing or eliminating the vibration inside the device housing 12 from affecting the sound receiving unit 184. In addition, in practice, a dust screen 1258 (including but not limited to a fabric or sponge) is disposed in front of the sound receiving unit 184, which also has the effect of suppressing or eliminating noise outside the device housing 12. In addition, the microphone 18 is electrically connected to the system motherboard 14 through an electrical connection wire 24 (including but not limited to a flexible flat cable), and the electrical connection wire 24 is fixed along the upper housing 1242 and the system motherboard 14 (including but not limited to being implemented through a double-sided tape and an adhesive tape). Thus, vibrations (and possibly noise) that may be generated by the electrical connection wires 24 during operation of the speaker 16 may be suppressed or eliminated.

In addition, in practice, sound absorbing material (including but not limited to foam) may be disposed in the speaker accommodating chamber 12c to inhibit or eliminate the propagation of the speaker 16 in the device housing 12; for example, sound absorbing material 1259 is positioned around speaker 16 (shown in fig. 3 as a dashed cloud). In addition, in the present embodiment, a foam pad 1260 (including but not limited to foam) is also disposed under the speaker 16, which also helps to suppress or eliminate vibration (and noise) that may be generated during operation of the speaker 16.

In addition, as shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, in the embodiment, the conference phone 1 further includes a button switch 26 disposed on the upper cover 122 and electrically connected to the system main board 14 through an electrical connection wire 28 (including but not limited to a flexible flat cable). The electrical connection wires 28 are located inside the upper cover 122 and fixed along the support of the upper cover 122 (including but not limited to, by double-sided adhesive or viscose). Thus, vibrations (and possibly noise) that may be generated by the electrical connection 28 during operation of the speaker 16 may be suppressed or eliminated. Referring to fig. 7, the top cover 122 includes a plurality of key caps 122a (including but not limited to volume up keys, volume down keys, talk off keys, bluetooth keys, power keys, etc.) disposed around the top cover 122 in an inclined manner. The system main board 14 includes a plurality of switches 142 correspondingly located under the plurality of key caps 122a, and the user presses the key caps 122a to trigger the corresponding switches 142. Each key cap 122a is a cantilever structure, and the upper cover 122 can be integrally formed (for example, by plastic injection) during the implementation. Thus, vibrations (and possibly noise) that may be generated by the key caps 122a during operation of the speaker 16 may be suppressed or eliminated.

In addition, as shown in fig. 1 to 3, the conference phone 1 further includes an external connection cable 30 (only shown in fig. 1 and 2 for simplicity), and a connector 32 (such as a USB connector) connected to an end of the external connection cable 30. The conference phone 1 can be connected to an external electronic device (e.g., a computer) through the connector 32, and can also be supplied with power through the connector 32. The base 124 of the device housing 12 includes an annular wire take-up groove 1262, and the annular wire take-up groove 1262 includes an enlarged receiving area 1262 a. Outer connecting cable 30 extends from enlarged receiving area 1262a out of base 124 and can be wound in annular winding groove 1262 so that connector 32 can be received in enlarged receiving area 1262 a. In addition, the base 124 includes a rubber pad 1264 disposed on a side wall 1262b of the annular winding groove 1262 to help wind and secure the external connection cable 30. In addition, as shown in fig. 1 to 3, the conference phone 1 further includes a ring-shaped foot pad 34 (including but not limited to rubber) fixed on the bottom surface 124b of the base 124. The annular pad 34 not only increases the friction between the conference phone 1 and the desk surface to facilitate the placement of the conference phone 1, but also has the effect of suppressing vibration.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the claims of the present invention should be covered by the present invention.

Claims

1. A conference phone, comprising:

the device comprises a device shell, a sound outlet and a plurality of sound receiving holes, wherein the sound outlet is arranged upwards, and the sound receiving holes are arranged laterally and inclined upwards;

the loudspeaker is upwards aligned with the sound outlet hole and arranged in the device shell; and

a plurality of microphones disposed in the device case facing the plurality of sound receiving holes correspondingly;

the device shell comprises a loudspeaker accommodating chamber and a plurality of microphone accommodating chambers, the loudspeaker accommodating chamber and the microphone accommodating chambers are airtight, each microphone accommodating chamber is correspondingly communicated with one sound receiving hole, the loudspeaker is accommodated in the loudspeaker accommodating chamber, and the microphones are correspondingly accommodated in the microphone accommodating chambers.

2. The conference phone of claim 1, wherein an angle between a direction of the opening of the sound outlet hole and a direction of the opening of the sound absorbing hole is between 80 degrees and 90 degrees.

3. The conference phone as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plurality of sound emission holes are disposed at an equal central angle with respect to the direction of the opening of said sound emission hole.

4. The conference phone according to claim 1, wherein said device housing comprises an upper cover and a base engaged with said upper cover, said sound outlet hole is formed in said upper cover, said speaker accommodating chamber and said plurality of microphone accommodating chambers are formed in said base, said base comprises a mounting opening communicating with said speaker accommodating chamber and aligned with said sound outlet hole, said speaker is exposed to said base through said mounting opening.

5. The conference phone of claim 4, wherein said speaker is sealed to said sound outlet hole.

6. The conference phone of claim 5, further comprising a spacer ring, wherein the speaker fits into the mounting opening through the spacer ring.

7. The conference phone of claim 4, wherein said speaker is sealed to said mounting port.

8. The conference phone of claim 7, further comprising a spacer ring, wherein the speaker fits into the mounting opening through the spacer ring.

9. The conference phone according to claim 4, wherein the base includes an upper case and a lower case, the mounting port is formed in the upper case, the upper case is joined to the lower case to form the speaker chamber and the plurality of microphone chambers, the upper case includes an upper partition, the lower case includes a lower partition, and the upper partition is aligned with the lower partition and sealed by an acoustic material so that the speaker chamber and one of the microphone chambers are airtight to each other.

10. The conference phone according to claim 9, wherein each microphone comprises a circuit board and a sound receiving unit disposed on a front side of the circuit board, the sound receiving unit faces the corresponding sound receiving hole, each microphone accommodating chamber is disposed with an upper sound absorbing pad, a lower sound absorbing pad and a rear sound absorbing pad, an upper side of the circuit board abuts against the upper sound absorbing pad, a lower side of the circuit board abuts against the lower sound absorbing pad, and a back side of the circuit board abuts against the rear sound absorbing pad.

11. The conference phone of claim 9, further comprising a system board fixed to the upper housing, wherein each microphone is electrically connected to the system board via an electrical connection line fixed along the upper housing and the system board.

12. The conference phone according to claim 4, further comprising a button switch and a system board, wherein the button switch is disposed on the upper cover, the system board is disposed on the base, the button switch is electrically connected to the system board through an electrical connection line, and the electrical connection line is fixed along the upper cover.

13. The conference call as claimed in claim 12, wherein the upper cover comprises a plurality of key caps disposed obliquely around the upper cover, the plurality of key caps are respectively in a cantilever structure, and the system main board comprises a plurality of switches correspondingly disposed under the plurality of key caps.

14. The conference phone of claim 1, further comprising a sound absorbing material disposed around said speaker in said speaker receiving chamber.

15. The conference phone of claim 1, further comprising an external connection cable and a connector connected to an end of the external connection cable, wherein the device housing comprises an annular winding groove and a rubber pad disposed on a sidewall of the annular winding groove, the annular winding groove comprising an enlarged receiving area, the external connection cable extending from the enlarged receiving area from the device housing and being capable of winding in the annular winding groove such that the connector is capable of being received in the enlarged receiving area.

16. The conference phone of claim 1, further comprising a ring-shaped foot pad fixed to a bottom surface of said device housing.