WO2013103290A1

WO2013103290A1 - Adjustable sound bar home theater system

Info

Publication number: WO2013103290A1
Application number: PCT/MY2012/000062
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yoshiyasu TANIGO; Shinji Takeuchi; Faizatulhazli Bin Ishak MOHD
Original assignee: S&O Electronics (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
Priority date: 2012-01-04
Filing date: 2012-03-23
Publication date: 2013-07-11
Also published as: MY153732A

Abstract

An adjustable sound bar speaker system comprising a set of two identical main housing sound bar members (1) with a plurality of rectangular speakers (2) aligned together and sealed within a close chamber (3) has a mechanical joint structure (4a) at one of their ends that can connect with a corresponding joint structure (4b) on an extension bar member (5) which is made of varying lengths, that when fitted together, would be able to adjust and to aestatically match with the lengths, widths and heights of modern flat panel TV monitors in a home theater system.

Description

ADJUSTABLE SOUND BAR HOME THEATER SYSTEM

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a home theater system, in particular it relates to a sound bar speaker system for a modern home theater system.

Background of the Invention

Home theater systems or "home cinemas" are home entertainment setups that seek to reproduce a near movie theater experience and conducive mood with the utilization of video and audio equipment in a home environment. The home theater sound system forms an integral part of the modern home theater system along with video equipment and flat panel TV monitors.

For sonic realism in a good home theater sound system, a full surround sound effect is desired. Conventionally, the setup requires at least five audio speakers placed strategically around the listening area, plus a subwoofer for deep, dramatic bass, but for a lot of people in modern homes, positioning speakers in the back of the room and running messy wires to them may not be very practical. Sound bars with virtual surround sound effect have recently been developed to provide more dynamic sound to the TV without the potential clutter of such a conventional surround sound system. These sound bars provide much better sound than the tiny speakers built in to those TV sets as it normally consist of a number of speaker units which have been set up in a constant line in series which have its independent volume inside a close set of air volume. This air volume normally is sealed inside the plastic cabinets which conventionally consist of a front buffer panel to fix the speaker units and a back cabinet attached onto the front buffer to complete a boxed shaped volume. Normally, this kind of construction also requires a set of cushioning materials and glue materials to tightly attach these different parts together. Conventional sound bars can either be active speaker systems which have amplication circuits and wiring inside them or passive speaker systems which have the amplification circuits and wiring inside a separate amplifier system. The sound bar size would normally be determined by the speaker unit's size which is applied inside the system and the required space needs to be sealed in order to get the minimum air volume required by these speaker units inside. Conventional speaker units which have round shapes cause limitation to the sound bar design especially when considering the minimum size of the front buffer board required to fix these speaker units. Yet sound bar sleek designs perfectly complement the styling of the latest TV monitor displays.

Present day flat panel TV monitors for home theater systems, come in various sizes and dimensions, with a tendency towards larger and larger units and may range from 42 inches to 70 inches and beyond. To accomodate these modern TV monitors, it is commonly practised that audio speakers are mounted within separate units of sound bar speakers to be placed alongside the TV monitors either in a vertical position or a horizontal position, according to individual preferences. But due to limitations on its bulky elongated shape, a conventional sound bar system may come only either in horizontal setup or in vertical setup irregardless of whether it is an active sound bar speaker system or a passive sound bar speaker system. From an aestatic point of view, the sizes of these passive sound bar speakers should preferably match, as far as possible, with the lengths of the various sizes of flat panel TV monitors in use, where it should match with the TV monitor's width if it is a horizontal system or it should match with the TV monitor's height if it is a vertical setup system.

As such, as the TV monitors move towards larger and larger sizes, the sound bar speakers tend to become longer and longer, creating now a great demand for sleeker and slimmer sound bar speakers in order to match and accomodate the newer TV monitors, especially with the trend now also moving towards being slimmer and slimmer in the TV monitor's thickness.

There is presently a need to manufacture sound bar speakers for modern home theater systems that comes in various lengths with sleek and slimmer sizes to suit the various styling and sizes of present day flat panel TV monitors. As the trend is going towards a longer and slimmer design, it is becoming quite a challenge to maintain the sound quality as well, because slimmer shapes would mean that these sound bar speakers will lose the neccessary air volume as well which is to be required to enhance sound quality and reproduce better surround sound effect.

To overcome this, the modern passive sound bar system can be made as slim as possible by using a slim and rectangular-shaped speaker unit that comprises a set of rectangular speaker cones which can utilize the area better compared to the conventional round-shaped speaker unit.

To cater for better surround sound effect, the prior art sound bar speakers were generally more bulky and traditionally, comprised a combination of different speakers (subwoofers and tweeters) designed to provide for a wide range of frequency output.

In US Patent Application No. 2010/008522 by Sumitani et.al, an attempt was made to provide for aesthetically aligning bar speakers along with the TV display facilitated by connecting one or more speakers together with the help of a speaker connector or extension. However, it may require extra tools and skills in assembling and dissembling the joints and it is less cost effective as it only uses a standard uniform extension bar to connect different speakers to provide for different lengths and positioning. Further, there is no teaching, in this disclosure, as to how to maintain and enhance the sound effect of the system.

There is evidently now a need in this field to provide a system of sound bar speakers which could be adjusted to various lengths and heights without further need for a different system altogether, where the same system of sound bars may be easily and conveniently attached together, when required, to suit and complement the various sizes and styles of TV monitors, be they Plasma, LCD, LED or SmartTV in order to cater for a wider customer choice and need and yet be able to maintain good sound quality and better surround sound effect.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention provides for an adjustable sound bar speaker system used in a home theater system. The main objective of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for a sound bar speaker system that is detachable and adjustable to aestatically match with the various flat panel TV monitors of modern day home theater systems and yet able to further maintain or enhance the sound quality and reproduce better surround sound effect. It is a further object of the present invention to provide for both horizontal and vertical positioning, when in use, to suit wider customer preferences and to provide a simple, easy to assemble, more economical product by reducing manufacturing costs with minimising investment in tooling costs, plus with obviating the need to fabricate different kinds of tooling to cater for different sizes of the parts of the article.

The present invention is founded on the idea of the market need for a slim sound bar speaker system to match with the market trend of slimmer and bigger flat panel TV monitor sizes. In order to produce as slim as possible a sound bar speaker system, a different speaker unit compared to conventional round-shaped speakers is needed. Technically, round-shaped speakers produce a well balanced sound output. Louder sound output from a speaker unit basically is derived from the speaker magnet size and the area of the cone paper around the speaker unit edge including the capability of the amplification unit. Bigger diameter of cone paper size of a speaker means the speaker would produce a louder sound as it has a bigger vibrating area which will vibrate more air hence produce louder sound.

But, to build a sound bar speaker system using round shaped speakers would mean it will require bigger space to arrange the speaker units in a line. Detachable and adjustable sound bar speakers could well mess up and inconvenience the end user if the sound bar speaker system itself is bulky. So, the present invention is based on the need for an adjustable sound bar speaker system which is as slim as possible and yet able to produce or maintain good sound quality.

To achieve this objective, the present invention is built around an unconventional rectangular shape of full range speaker unit. This speaker unit preferably covers a frequency output ranging from 20Hz until 20KHz. By using the rectangular shape, the height of the speaker unit can be reduced to the minimum height possible, and to compensate for the loss of the volume area of the speaker unit cone edge, the length would be stretched to obtain the slim and rectangular shape of speaker cone. With this rectangular slim speaker unit, it can produce the same loud effect of the sound output, as produced by a round shaped speaker unit with the same length of the cone paper edge. By using multiple speakers and aligning them closely together side by side in one single line, a louder sound can then be generated by assembling plastic cabinets around the speakers to make them become one long and slim speaker enclosure thereby reducing sound cancellation between the sound emitted from front of speaker cone and those sound emitting from behind.

The present invention of the sound bar speaker system, has slim and rectangular speaker units fixed onto the front buffer plastic panel as the conventional sound bar speaker system. But, the conventional sound bar speakers system has a u-shaped back cover that could make the air volume inside reduced due to plastic cabinet draft needed for the part release during the molding process. To overcome this problem, the conventional sound bar speaker u-shaped back cover is now being separated into three separate pieces of plastic covers, i.e. to make a top cover, bottom cover and a back cover respectively which then when combined together with the front buffer panel would make a close sealed enclosure volume for the speaker units of the present invention.

Wherefore to cater for a stereo effect surround sound system, the present invention comprises a set of two identical main housing sound bar members that each houses a plurality of wide range speakers wired together in series and hermitically sealed within a closed chamber with one end each open with a snap joint locking mechanical structure to be able to latch on to a extension bar member, the said extension bar member, being of varying lengths, to be able to adjust and to aestatically match the lengths of various modern flat panel TV monitors in use, when it is assembled in between the two main housing sound bar members, serving as left and right speakers respectively. The snap latch joint mechanical structure comprises a unique double-sided chamfered surface joint that locks and unlocks easily to facilitate easy assembly and disassembly of the parts. So, instead of using single sided chamfer of conventional snap joints, the present invention utilizes a double-sided chamfer to make the connection easier and smoother both ways for in and out during latching and unlatching. The outside end of the snap joint will have a drafted chamfer surface, whereas the inside end will have a cut chamfer surface. This will allow the snap joint to lock into its mating part which is another structure that provides a groove at its end in order for the snap joint to lock into securely in a lateral direction although it has a chamfer end. This is further supported by identical double-sided chamfer surface snap joint structure that provides a catching for the snap joint structure and it's mating part to lock into securely in a lateral direction. However in order to prevent the joint from inadvertently slipping out in the axial direction, an additional snap joint structure that serves as a locking cover is incorporated from the reverse side to securely lock the joints together. To improve the flexibility of the snap joint, a cutting gap is being created between the snap and the extension bar's wall.

The extension bar member will have two open ends with preferably male joints at each end, whilst the main housing sound bar members will have preferably a female joint at one of its end, thereby the same main housing bar member can be used as for both left and right speakers and the extension bar would be used in the middle to connect them together with the double snap joint for horizontal positioning, and by the use of varying lengths of the extension bar member to suit the diferent requirements of lengths according to the TV monitors. In the vertical positioning the arrangement would be the joining of one end of the main housing bar member with an extension bar member to be connected to a stand positioned on each side of the TV monitor.

This method will obviate the necessity of manufacturing separate left and right speakers and thereby reducing manufacturing costs and further providing for interchangeable extension bar members to cater for different lengths and sizes to fit the actual width and height of the TV monitors and further will also help to reduce not only manufacturing cost but packaging cost as well with this "one product suits all sizes" concept.

The more important features of the present invention have thus been outlined in order that the more detailed description that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. Additional features of the present invention will be described hereinafter and will form the subject matter of the claims that follow.

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or as the illustrated in the drawings. The present invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practised or carried in various other ways. Further it is to be understood that the terminology and phraseology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important therefore that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the scope and meaning of the present invention.

Brief Description Of The Drawings

FIG 1 is a perspective view of the horizontal assembly of the present invention which shows the two identical main housing sound bar members which comprises a series of rectangular shaped speaker units within, and both attached to an extension bar member and secured together by a mechanical joint cover from the back side, with one of the main housing sound bar members exposed to show the speaker units inside.

FIG 2 shows top cross-sectional view of the main housing sound bar of the present invention which comprises a series of wide range rectangular shaped speaker units wired together sealed within a close chamber.

FIG 3 shows the main housing sound bar of the present invention which has a mechanical joint structure on one of it's open end which would be able to latch onto the corresponding mechanical joint structure at open end of the extension bar.

FIG 4 shows the various range of lengths of the extension bar member assembled in place between the two main housing sound bar of the present invention forming the left and right speakers to cater for the various lengths of the sound bar speaker system to be matched with various widths of the TV monitors.

FIG 5 shows the perspective views of a main housing sound bar of present invention both dissembled and assembled in vertical position with an extension bar comprising a series of aligning pitch holes for fixing onto a stand.

FIG 6 shows how the main housing sound bar and the extension bar members can be connected together and mounted thereafter to a vertical stand through a hanging mechanical structure in a vertical position.

FIG 7(a) shows the extension bar member of the present invention which comprises of double-sided chamfer surface joint structure at both of it's open ends.

FIG 7(b) shows mechanical joint structure at an open end of main housing sound bar of present invention latched into the double-sided chamfer surface joint at one of the open end of extension bar member which further is supported by another snap joint structure to further secure the assembly.

FIG 8(a) shows the double-sided chamfer surface joint structure of the present invention.

FIG 8(b) shows the mechanical joint structure of the prior art.

FIG 9 shows the cross sectional view of the double-sided chamfer surface joint structure while it is locked into the groove structure joint and the cutting gap between the double-sided chamfer surface joint with the extension bar's wall, clearly illustrating the drafted chamfer surface and cut chamfer surface at the double-sided chamfer surface joint structure and how the joint structure are further secured together by a mechanical joint cover (4c).

FIG 10 shows the cross sectional view of the main housing bar which comprises of the rectangular shaped speaker units mounted onto front buffer plastic panel assembled with a top cover, bottom cover and back cover respectively which produce a close sealed enclosure chamber.

FIG 11 shows how the rectangular-shaped speaker units are arranged side by side in a row within the main housing sound bar which comprises a top cover, bottom cover and back cover to make them become one long and slim speaker enclosure chamber.

Detailed Description Of The Preferred Embodiment

The apparatus for embodying the method for providing for a sound bar speaker system according to the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to Figure 1 the present invention of an adjustable sound bar speaker is shown assembled in a horizontal position with a set of two identically similar main housing sound bar members (1) that each houses a plurality of wide range rectangular- shaped speakers (2) aligned closely together side by side in a row, wired in series, and all hermitically sealed within a closed chamber (3) as further illustrated in Figure 2 to provide for better sound effect, with at least one of its end open with a mechancal joint structure (4a) further illustrated in Figure 3 to enable it to connect onto an extension bar member (5) with a corresponding mechanical joint structure (4b) and further secured together by a mechanical joint cover (4c). The extension bar member (5) can be made of varying lengths as illustrated in Figure 4 to be able to adjust and to aestatically match with the lengths of various modern flat panel TV monitors in use, particularly when the said extension bar member (5) is assembled in place in between the two main housing sound bar members (1) forming the left and right speakers alongside the TV monitor.

The present invention of a sound bar speaker system may also be assenbled in a vertical positon in relation to the TV monitor, as shown in Figure 5 by connecting an extension bar member (5) to a main housing bar member (1) and mounted both together thereafter on to a separate stand (8) as shown in Figure 6 to be placed preferably on each side of the TV monitor to form the right and left speakers.The extension bar member (5) may be constructed with a series of aligning pitch of holes (6) which will engage with a correponding hanger structure (7) on a stand (8) to allow for adjustment to match the TV height.

The extension bar member (1) will have two open ends with preferably male joints at each end (4b), whilst the main housing sound bar members (1) will have preferably a female joint (4a) as shown in Figure 7(b) at one of its ends, thereby the same main housing bar member (1) can be used as for both left and right speakers and the extension bar member (5) would be used in the middle to connect them together with the double snap joint (4b) for horizontal positioning, and by the use of varying lengths of the extension bar member (5) to suit the diferent requirements of lengths according to the TV monitors. In the vertical positioning the arrangement would be the joining of one end of the main housing bar member (1) with an extension bar member (5) to be connected to a stand (8) positioned on each side of the TV monitor as clearly illustrated in Fig. 5 & Fig. 6.

The assembly and disassembly can be made quick and easy by providing with an open-end mechanical joint structure (4a) on the main housing sound bar (1) comprising a groove structure joint that will engage with a double-sided chamfer surface joint (4b) on the extension bar member (5) that locks and unlocks easily as shown in Figure 7(b) , wherein the outside end of the double-sided chamfered surface joint (4b) will have a drafted chamfer surface (9), whereas the inside end will have a cut chamfer surface (10)_Λ thereby allowing the chamfered surface joint (4b) to lock securely into the groove strucrture joint (4a) even though it has a chamfered end (10), as further illustrated in Figure 8(a) when compared with the prior art structure as shown in Figure 8(b) where the right end of the snap joint (4b) only have a flat angled surface for locking purpose only. This is further supported by another snap joint strucure (4c) that serves as a locking cover at its end in order for the chamfered surface joint (4b) to lock into the groove stucture (4a) securely in a lateral direction as clearly illustrated in Figure 7(b) and Figure (9). However in order to prevent the joint from inadvertently slipping out in the axial direction, an additional double-sided chamfer surface joint (4b) is incorporated on the reverse side. To improve the flexibility of the said double-sided chamfer surface joint (4b), a cutting gap (11) is being created between the said double- sided chamfer surface joint (4b) and the extension bar's (5) wall as clearly seen in Figure 9. To better maintain or enhance the sound effect of the speaker system, the rectangular-shaped speakers (2) preferably covers a frequency output ranging from 20Hz until 20KHz. and are mounted onto the front buffer plastic panel (12) like the conventional sound bar speaker system, but, instead of following the conventional sound bar speakers system construction which has a back cover that could make the air volume inside reduced due to plastic cabinet draft needed for the part release during the molding process, the conventional sound bar speaker u-shaped back cover is now being constructed into three separate pieces of plastic covers i.e. a top cover (13), bottom cover (14) and a back cover (15) as shown in Figure 10 which then when combined with the front buffer panel (12) would make a close sealed enclosure volume for the speaker units of the present invention. Further by using a pluarlity of speakers (2) and aligning them closely together side by side in one row, as shown in Figure 11 a louder sound can then be generated by assembling plastic cabinets around the speakers to make them become one long and slim speaker enclosure or chamber (3).

Claims

1. A sound bar speaker system for reproducing surround sound effect comprising a set of two main housing sound bar members (1) that each houses a plurality of wide range speakers (2) aligned closely together side by side in a row, wired in series, and all hermitically sealed within a closed chamber (3) characterized in that the two main housing sound bar members (1) are identically similar , with one of their open ends comprising a mechancal joint structure (4a) to enable them to latch onto an extension bar member (5) with a corresponding mechanical joint structure (4b), wherein the extension bar member (5) is made of varying lengths to be able to adjust and to aestatically match with the lengths, widths and heights of various modern flat panel TV monitors in use,

2. The sound bar speaker system as claimed in Claim 1 is characterized in that it is further secured together by a mechanical joint cover (4c) at the mechanical joint sturcture (4a, 4b) between the sound bar speaker member (1) and the extention bar member (5).

3. The sound bar speaker system as claimed in claim 1 or 2 characterized in that the open-end mechanical joint structure (4a) on the main housing sound bar member (1) comprises a groove structure joint (4a) that will engage with a double- sided chamfer surface joint (4b) on the extension bar member (5) that locks and unlocks easily, wherein the outside end of the double-sided chamfer surface joint (4b) will have a drafted chamfer surface (9), whereas the inside end will have a cut chamfer surface (10), thereby allowing the chamfered surface joint (4b) to lock securely into the groove strucrture joint (4a) even though it has a chamfered end.

4. The sound bar speaker system as claimed in Claim 1 is characterized in that the extension bar member (5) is assembled in place either between the two main housing sound bar members (1) for horizontal positioning or mounted onto a separate stand (8) for vertical positioning, forming left and right speakers (2) alongside TV monitor.

5. The sound bar speaker system as claimed in Claim 4 characterized in that the extention bar member (5) has a plurality of aligning pitch votes (6) which will engage with a corresponding hanger structure (7) on a stand (8) to allow adjustment to match with the TV height in vertical positioning.

6. The sound bar speaker system as claim in Claim 1 characterized in that the wide range speakers (2) are slim and rectangular in shape fixed onto the front buffer (12) which when combined with a top cover (13); bottom cover (14); and back cover (15) make a closed sealed enclosure volume (3), thereby reducing sound cancellation between the sound emitted from the front of the speaker (2) and sound emitting from behind to repoduce a louder sound effect.

7. The sound bar speaker system as claim in Claim 5 characterized in that the rectangular speakers (2) are of a range that covers a frequency output of between 20 Hz and 20kHz.

8. The sound bar speaker system as claim in Claim 1 characterized in that

The extension bar member will have two open ends with male joints (4b) at each end whilst the main housing sound bar will have a female joint (4a) at one of its ends thereby the identically similar main housing sound bar members (1) may be used as for either left or right speakers.

9. A method of adjusting sound bar speakers to aestaticaly match the lengths, widths and heights of modern flat panal TV monitors and able to maintain and enchance good sound effect is characterized by connecting a set of two main housing sound bar members (1) that are identically similar with one of their open ends comprising a mechanical joint structure (4a) to enable them to latch onto an extension bar member (5) with a corresponding joint structure (4b) wherein the extension bar members (5) is made of varying lengths to suit the different sizes of TV monitors, further characterized in that the sound bar speakers (1) housed a plurality of rectangular- shaped speakers (2) aligned closely together side by side ina row, wired in series, and all hermitically sealed within a closed chamber (3).