CLIP BASED SPEAKER RETENTION TO A MOUNTING SURFACE
The technology disclosed herein enables retention of an audio component on a mounting surface using a clip and a flange. In a particular embodiment, an apparatus includes a mounting surface including a flange. The flange is substantially cylindrical and includes a first portion for positioning a frame of an audio component therein under a retaining rim of the flange. The rim includes a second portion of the flange with a smaller inner diameter than the first portion of the flange. When the frame is positioned in the first portion of the flange, a clip positioned in the first portion of the flange between the frame and the retaining rim of the flange retains the audio component within the flange. Manipulating the shape of the clip allows the clip to fit through the retaining rim and into the first portion of the flange.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/931,885, entitled “CLIP BASED SPEAKER RETENTION TO A MOUNTING SURFACE,” filed May 14, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 10,694,273, entitled “CLIP BASED SPEAKER RETENTION TO A MOUNTING SURFACE,” filed Feb. 22, 2019, which are both hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
TECHNICAL BACKGROUNDTraditionally, speakers have been retained on a mounting surface of a product using rear supports from a rear cover of the product or by screwing down a bracket that surrounds a perimeter of a speaker. In other cases, a speaker is fastened with adhesives on the perimeter of the speaker's frame or by screws into the mounting surface through holes in the speaker's frame. These above examples tend to require many parts (e.g., brackets, gaskets, screws, etc.), which adds to cost and amount of labor needed for assembly. Some of these examples, such as retention of a speaker using a rear cover of the product, also transmits undesirable vibrations from the speaker to the rear cover of the product. These vibrations can lead to audio distortions and require greater efforts to compensate for the loss of fidelity. Furthermore, vibrations to the rear cover can cause rattles in other components of the product.
SUMMARYThe technology disclosed herein enables retention of an audio component on a mounting surface using a clip and a flange. In a particular embodiment, an apparatus includes a mounting surface including a flange. The flange is substantially cylindrical and includes a first portion for positioning a frame of an audio component therein under a retaining rim of the flange. The rim includes a second portion of the flange with a smaller inner diameter than the first portion of the flange. When the frame is positioned in the first portion of the flange, a clip positioned in the first portion of the flange between the frame and the retaining rim of the flange retains the audio component within the flange. Manipulating the shape of the clip allows the clip to fit through the retaining rim and into the first portion of the flange.
In some examples, the clip includes a gap in a perimeter of the clip. In those examples, on each side of the gap, the clip may include a tool grip point corresponding to a tool for positioning the clip.
In some examples, when the frame is position in the first portion of the flange, at least one vibration dampening element positioned in the first portion of the flange isolates the audio component from the mounting surface and the clip. The at least one vibration dampening element may be of similar shape to the frame.
In some examples, the audio component faces the mounting surface. The mounting surface may include at least one opening through which sound passes.
In some examples, the audio component faces away from the mounting surface and an opening in the mounting surface allows portions of the audio component, other than the frame, to pass through the mounting surface.
In some examples, the apparatus includes a device that uses the audio component, wherein the device includes the mounting surface.
In some examples, the audio component includes a microphone.
In another example, a method includes positioning a frame of an audio component into a first portion of a flange of a mounting surface. The frame is substantially cylindrical and is positioned under a retaining rim of the flange. The retaining rim includes a second portion of the flange with a smaller inner diameter than the first portion of the flange. When the frame is positioned in the first portion of the flange, a clip positioned in the first portion of the flange between the frame and the retaining rim of the flange retains the audio component within the flange. Manipulating the shape of the clip allows the clip to fit through the retaining rim and into the first portion of the flange.
The manner of audio speaker retention described herein uses fewer parts to assemble, which leads to reduced cost and a reduced amount of labor when assembling a product that includes a speaker. Furthermore, the speaker is not retained using a back face of a product, so none of the vibrations caused by the speaker producing sound are transferred through that back-face retention. Instead, the mounting surface to which the speaker is retained includes a flange into which the speaker is positioned. A clip holds the speaker within the flange when placed between the speaker's frame and a rim of the flange. Thus, to mount the speaker to the mounting surface only two parts are required, the mounting surface itself (with the required flange) and a clip, as described further below.
Mounting surface 101 is preferably one piece but may also be composed of multiple pieces assembled to create mounting surface 101. For example, a one-piece mounting surface 101 may be produced from injection molded materials, such as plastic, may be 3D printed, may be casted, or may be created using some other manufacturing method. In another example, flange 111 may be mated to the rest of mounting surface 101 using an adhesive or mechanical fastener. While mounting surface 101 is shown as a simple rectangular shape with flange 111, it should be understood that mounting surface 101 may be a larger component, such as a panel for a product that includes speaker 102, and may therefore take many different shapes.
Speaker 102 in this example is a round speaker but could take other substantially elliptic shapes, such as an oval shape that is another common speaker shape. The shape of flange 111, at least the interior thereof, is similar to the shape of frame 121 of speaker 102 but is larger than frame 121 in order for speaker 102 to be positioned into flange 111. Similarly, mounting surface 101 in this example includes an opening 113 within flange 111 that allows sound generated by speaker 102 to pass through mounting surface 101. Opening 113 must be sized and/or shaped such that, once speaker 102 is positioned within flange 111, speaker 102 does not pass through mounting surface 101. While opening 113 in mounting surface 101 is similar in shape to frame 121, the opening in other examples may take other shapes and/or may include multiple openings as long as that shape or multiple opening arrangement does not allow frame 121 to pass through mounting surface 101 when placed in flange 111.
Flange 111 includes rim 112 at the top of flange 111 that reduces the internal size of flange 111 at the location of rim 112. In this example, rim 112 comprises six tabs but more or fewer tabs of different sizes may be used in other examples as long as rim 112 is still able to perform as described herein. In some cases, rim 112 may go around the entirety of flange 111 rather than being split into tabs, as shown. The number and size of the tabs may depend on the material and size of clip 103 to ensure that clip 103 can be positioned properly within flange 111 while still being rigid enough to hold speaker 102 in flange 111 once positioned. In some examples, the diameter of frame 121 may be smaller than the inner diameter of rim 112 to ensure speaker 102 can be positioned into flange 111, although, in other examples, the arrangement of tabs that make up rim 112 may such that a larger diameter frame 121 can pass through rim 112 in certain orientations.
As alluded to above, clip 103 is positioned within flange 111 after speaker 102 has been placed within flange 111. In particular, clip 103 is shaped similarly to frame 121 and flange 111 such that clip 103 can fit around all but frame 121 of speaker 102 and within flange 111 while still being held within flange 111 by rim 112. This allows clip 103 to hold speaker 102 in flange 111 since rim 112 holds clip 103 in flange 111 while clip 103 in turn holds speaker 102 within flange 111. In order to fit clip 103 under rim 112 and into flange 111 clip 103 is manipulated (e.g., bent, squeezed, flexed, or otherwise misshapen) to fit within the diameter of rim 112. Clip 103 is composed of a material, including some types of plastics and some metals, that causes clip 103 to return to its original shape, at least when manipulated to the extent necessary to fit clip 103 within rim 112, when placed in flange 111. In this example, clip 103 includes a gap in the perimeter of its elliptic shape to make manipulating the shape of clip 103 to fit through rim 112 easier. The gap forms what, in some applications, is called a c-clip and may be any size as long as it still allows clip 103 to hold speaker 102 in flange 111. In other examples, possibly depending on the material composition of clip 103, clip 103 may not include a gap in its elliptic shape and still be able to be manipulated to fit under rim 112 and into flange 111.
As can be gleaned from the discussion above, only the internal configuration/dimensions of flange 111 are important for retaining speaker 102. As such while the outside of flange 111 is shown as rising straight up on mounting surface 101, other external flange configurations may be used. For example, mounting surface 101 may taper to the top of flange 111 or mounting surface 101 may be thicker to reduce the amount that flange 111 protrudes from the rest of mounting surface 101 (possibly making the top of flange 111 be flush with the rest of mounting surface 101).
It should be understood that, while tab 621, tab 622, hole 611, and hole 612 are each placed right next to the gaps in their respective clip 601 and clip 602, tab 621, tab 622, hole 611, and hole 612 may be positioned elsewhere on clip 601 and clip 602 as long as the functionality described above is maintained. Similarly, the grip points offered by tab 621, tab 622, hole 611, and hole 612 may take forms other than holes and tabs while maintaining the same functionality.
After speaker 102 (and spacer(s) 501 if used) are positioned, clip 103 is position into flange 111 between frame 121 and rim 112 to hold speaker 102 (and spacer(s) 501 if used) within flange 111 (803). As discussed above, clip 103 may be squeezed so as to reduce the size of a gap therein, which reduces the dimensions of clip 103 enough to pass through rim 112. Clip 103 can then be released once past rim 112 and in flange 111 so that clip 103 can return to dimensions that retain clip 103 within rim 112. In some cases, grip points like those shown in
While the above examples focus on retaining an audio speaker to a mounting surface, other types of similarly shaped audio components may be retained in a similar manner. For example, a microphone with an elliptic frame similar to the speaker frames described above may be retained within a flange of a mounting surface using a clip between the frame and a rim of the flange.
The descriptions and figures included herein depict specific implementations of the claimed invention(s). For the purpose of teaching inventive principles, some conventional aspects have been simplified or omitted. In addition, some variations from these implementations may be appreciated that fall within the scope of the invention. It may also be appreciated that the features described above can be combined in various ways to form multiple implementations. As a result, the invention is not limited to the specific implementations described above, but only by the claims and their equivalents.
Claims
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a mounting surface comprising a flange;
- wherein the flange includes a first portion for positioning a frame of an audio component therein under a retaining rim of the flange comprising a second portion of the flange with a smaller inner diameter than the first portion of the flange;
- wherein the flange is substantially cylindrical;
- wherein, when the frame is positioned in the first portion of the flange, a clip positioned in the first portion of the flange between the frame and the retaining rim of the flange retains the audio component within the flange; and
- wherein manipulating the shape of the clip allows the clip to fit through the retaining rim and into the first portion of the flange.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the clip includes a gap in a perimeter of the clip.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein, on each side of the gap, the clip includes a tool grip point corresponding to a tool for positioning the clip.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when the frame is position in the first portion of the flange, at least one vibration dampening element positioned in the first portion of the flange isolates the audio component from the mounting surface and the clip.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the at least one vibration dampening element is of similar shape to the frame.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio component faces the mounting surface.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the mounting surface includes at least one opening through which sound passes.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio component faces away from the mounting surface and an opening in the mounting surface allows portions of the audio component, other than the frame, to pass through the mounting surface.
9. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising:
- a device that uses the audio component, wherein the device includes the mounting surface.
10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio component comprises a microphone.
11. A method for retaining an audio component to a mounting surface, comprising:
- positioning a frame of an audio component into a first portion of a flange of a mounting surface.
- wherein the frame is positioned under a retaining rim of the flange comprising a second portion of the flange with a smaller inner diameter than the first portion of the flange;
- wherein the flange is substantially cylindrical;
- wherein, when the frame is positioned in the first portion of the flange, a clip positioned in the first portion of the flange between the frame and the retaining rim of the flange retains the audio component within the flange; and
- wherein manipulating the shape of the clip allows the clip to fit through the retaining rim and into the first portion of the flange.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the clip includes a gap in a perimeter of the clip.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein manipulating the shape of the clip comprises:
- squeezing the clip to reduce a size of the gap such that the clip fits through the rim and into the first portion of the flange; and
- releasing the clip once the clip is in the first portion of the flange.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein manipulating the shape of the clip comprises:
- gripping the clip on each side of the gap using a positioning tool gripping onto grip points on each side of the gap.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein, when the frame is position in the first portion of the flange, at least one vibration dampening element positioned in the first portion of the flange isolates the audio component from the mounting surface and the clip.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one vibration dampening element is of similar shape to the frame.
17. The method of claim 11, wherein the audio component faces the mounting surface.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the mounting surface includes at least one opening through which sound passes.
19. The method of claim 11, wherein the audio component faces away from the mounting surface and an opening in the mounting surface allows portions of the audio component, other than the frame, to pass through the mounting surface.
20. The method of claim 11, wherein the mounting surface is included in a device that uses the audio component.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 30, 2021
Publication Date: Mar 17, 2022
Inventors: William James Horne (Belleville), Philip Lo (Ottawa)
Application Number: 17/538,390