Abstract:
A portable speaker with elastomeric bezels and integral isolation feet is provided herein. More specifically, the portable speaker comprises a speaker cabinet having a front and a rear and defining an acoustic chamber, a front speaker grill covering at least a portion of the front of the speaker cabinet, a rear speaker grill covering at least a portion of the rear of the speaker cabinet, a front elastomeric bezel positioned about a perimeter of the front speaker grill, the front bezel having a first integrated isolation foot extending from the front bezel, and a rear elastomeric bezel positioned about a perimeter of the rear speaker grill, the rear bezel having a second integrated isolation foot extending from the rear bezel.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/871,527 filed on Aug. 29, 2013, the entire disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Disclosure 
         [0003]    The present disclosure relates generally to a portable speaker with elastomeric bezels and integral isolation feet. 
         [0004]    2. Related Art 
         [0005]    Mobile electronic devices (e.g., tablets, computers, smartphones, etc.) are becoming increasingly more popular, and are consistently used to electronically store and play music. As a result, there is a growing need for portable speakers for such devices. 
         [0006]    Portable speakers can suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, portable speakers can slide across surfaces, and as a result, potentially fall off of those surfaces and damage the speaker. Additionally, some portable speakers output sound in only one direction, thereby limiting the maximum output volume. Still further, the edges of the speakers can be damaged if they are not adequately cushioned and the speaker is dropped on an edge. 
         [0007]    Therefore, there is a need in the art for a portable speaker that will not slide across surfaces, is cost efficient and simple to manufacture, is adequately cushioned, and can play music from a variety of different sources (e.g., remote computer, tablet computer, smartphone, etc.). 
       SUMMARY 
       [0008]    The present disclosure relates to a portable speaker system with elastomeric bezels and integral isolation feet. The bezels and isolation feet protect the speaker from impact and work as a flexible acoustic gasket which seals the interface between the molded plastic speaker baffle and a solid wood acoustic chamber of the speaker cabinet. Further, the bezels and isolation feet provide a flexible footing with sufficient grip such that the unit will not slide across a surface. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    The foregoing features will be apparent from the following Detailed Description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of a portable speaker with elastomeric bezels and integral isolation feet in accordance with the present disclosure; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a rear view of the portable speaker; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a rear view of the portable speaker, showing the portable speaker with one grille removed; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a top view of the portable speaker; 
           [0014]      FIGS. 5-6  are bottom views of the portable speaker; 
           [0015]      FIGS. 7-8  are left side views of the portable speaker; and 
           [0016]      FIG. 9  is a diagram of circuitry of the portable speaker. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0017]    The present disclosure relates to a portable speaker with elastomeric bezels and integral isolation feet, as discussed in detail below in connection with  FIGS. 1-9 . 
         [0018]      FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of a portable speaker with elastomeric bezels and integral isolation feet in accordance with the present disclosure. The speaker  10  comprises a speaker cabinet  12 , a front speaker grill  14 , a rear speaker grill  16  (see  FIG. 2 ), a front bezel  18  having an integrated isolation foot  20 , a rear bezel  22  with an integrated isolation foot  24  (see  FIG. 2 ), a central panel  24 , and a connection panel  26 . The design of the speaker  10  and bezels  18 ,  22  is simple and cost-efficient to manufacture. The speaker cabinet  12  defines an internal acoustic chamber and has a top  30 , bottom  32  (see  FIG. 5 ), front  34 , rear wall  36  (see  FIG. 2 ), left wall  38  (see  FIG. 3 ), and right wall  40 . The speaker cabinet  12 , and the surfaces thereof, could be of any of a variety of shapes (e.g., cubical, spherical, etc.). The speaker cabinet  12  could be made of wood (e.g., solid wood) or any of a variety of other materials (e.g., plastic). It is believed that, if the cabinet  12  is made of wood, better acoustic properties are afforded the cabinet  12 . 
         [0019]    The speaker  10  includes a connection panel  26  on the right wall  40  of the cabinet, which includes one or more electrical connectors (the connectors could be separated and could be located on any side of the cabinet, if desired). The connection panel  26  is flush against the right wall  40  and includes a silicone cover to protect the connectors. The connectors could include an auxiliary-input port  50 , a universal serial bus (USB) port  52  for receiving data and/or charging a speaker battery, and/or any other type of wired input. The speaker  10  could also communicate with another device using wireless communications (e.g., Bluetooth). The speaker  10  could communicate with one or more of a variety of computer systems (e.g., remote electronic device, personal computer system, a smart cellular telephone, a tablet computer, etc.) through a network, such as a private network (e.g., Piconet, wide-area network (WAN) connection, file transfer protocol (FTP) file transfers, etc.), over the Internet (e.g., using an Ethernet connection), or any other suitable wireless (or wired) electronic communication protocol. Further, the speaker cabinet  12  houses various electronic components (e.g., a rechargeable battery, printed circuit board, and associated wiring). 
         [0020]      FIG. 2  is a rear view of the portable speaker  10 . The speaker  10  could include one or more grills, although the embodiment shown includes two (e.g., front grill and rear grill). The front speaker grill  14  (as shown in  FIG. 1 ) and rear speaker grill  16  could be painted, perforated metal grills, although they could also be made from other materials (e.g., plastic). The front grill  14  and rear grill  16  cover substantially all of the front  34  and rear  36  of the speaker  10  (e.g., the rear grill  16  extends to the perimeter of the rear surface  36  of the cabinet). Further, the speaker grills  14 ,  16  could be of any shape and/or curvature to conform to the shape and/or curvature of the surfaces of the cabinet  12 . As discussed in more detail below, perimeters of the front speaker grill  14  and rear speaker grill  16  are covered by bezels  18 ,  22 . 
         [0021]      FIG. 3  is a rear view of the portable speaker  10  showing interior elements thereof. The cabinet houses two front speakers (not shown) secured by a speaker baffle  54 , with one front speaker closer to the left wall and the other front speaker closer to the right wall. The cabinet also houses two rear speakers  56  (facing a direction opposite to the front speakers) secured by the speaker baffle  54 , with one back speaker  56   b  closer to the left wall  38  and the other back speaker  56   a  closer to the right wall  40 . However, fewer or more speakers and/or more speaker baffles could be used. 
         [0022]      FIG. 4  is a top view of the portable speaker  10  showing exterior and interior elements thereof and a control panel. The top  30  of the cabinet  12  includes a control panel  24  for controlling the speaker volume (e.g., volume up  60 , volume down  62 , etc.), although the control panel could include a variety of other controls (e.g., play, stop, fast forward, etc.). However, as explained above, the speaker  10  could also be controlled wirelessly through one or more remote electronic devices. The control panel  24  could include a status light  64  (e.g., in the shape of a company logo), which could indicate whether the speaker is powered and/or receiving input (e.g., whether music is streaming to the speaker). The control panel  24  could include a touchscreen interface and/or a display (e.g., liquid crystal display (LCD), cathode ray tube (CRT), etc.). Further, the control panel  24  could include a flush set silicone button cover for protection thereof. 
         [0023]      FIG. 5  is a bottom view of the portable speaker and  FIG. 6  is a bottom view of the portable speaker showing interior elements thereof. The bottom  32  could include an ID tag  66  (e.g., FCC/CE ID tag), which could be flush set and could be colored to match the color of the elastomer bezels  18 ,  22  with integral isolation feet  20 ,  24 . 
         [0024]      FIG. 7  is a left side view of the portable speaker. The left side (or any surface) could include a logo  68  (e.g., Grain Audio), which could be applied in any of a variety of suitable ways (e.g., laser etched).  FIG. 8  is a left side view of the portable speaker  10  showing interior elements and enlarged cross-sectional views of the connection of the bezel  18 . Each bezel  18 ,  22  and bass isolation foot  20 ,  24  are comprised of a contiguous molded elastomer structure (e.g., silicone). Each bezel  18 ,  22  and isolation foot  20 ,  24  protect the grill from impact (e.g., dropped or set down forcefully), and work as a flexible acoustic gasket which seals the interface between the molded plastic speaker baffle and the solid wood acoustic chamber of the speaker cabinet. Further, each bezel  18 ,  22  and isolation foot  20 ,  24  provides a flexible footing for the speaker  10  with sufficient grip such that the speaker  10  will not slide across a surface at maximum volume and/or maximum bass output. 
         [0025]    As shown in the enlarged cross-sectional views, each bezel  18 ,  22  has an outer protrusion  70  that extends towards the cabinet  12  from the front of the bezel, and an inner protrusion  72  that extends away from the cabinet  12  from the back of the bezel, where the protrusions  70 ,  72  define a recess  74 . Along the perimeter of the front and back surface of the cabinet  12 , the cabinet  12  has a protrusion  76  that is correspondingly shaped to the recess  74  of the bezel  18 . In this way, the front bezel  18  having an integrated isolation foot  20  is attached at the front  34  of the speaker cabinet  12  by protrusion  76 , and the back bezel  22  with integral isolation foot  24  is attached at the back  36  of the speaker cabinet  12  by protrusion  78 . More specifically, the front bezel  18  attaches at the perimeter of the front  34  of the cabinet  12  such that a portion of the perimeter of the front speaker grill is secured between the outer protrusion  70  of the bezel  18  and the front surface of the cabinet  12 , thereby attaching the speaker grill to the cabinet  12 . It is noted that bezels  18 ,  22  could be flush with the top, bottom, left, and right surfaces of the cabinet  12 . 
         [0026]    As shown in  FIGS. 7-8  (as well as in  FIGS. 2 and 5 ), the isolation foot  20 ,  24  is integral with the bezel  18 ,  22  and extends from a bottom surface of each bezel  18 ,  22 . Each isolation foot  20 ,  24  is approximately as tall as the bezel  18 ,  22 , but not as thick or wide (although it could be). In this way, for example, the front surface of isolation foot  20  is not flush with the front surface of the bezel  18 , and the left and right surfaces of the isolation foot  20  are not flush with the left and right surfaces of the bezel  18  (although it could be). The bezel  18 ,  22  and isolation foot  20 ,  24  have been described as integral, however, it is anticipated that the bezel  18 ,  22  and isolation foot  20 ,  24  could be separate as well. 
         [0027]      FIG. 9  is a diagram of circuitry  100  of the portable speaker  10 . More specifically, the circuitry  100  includes a wireless antenna  102  for sending and receiving wireless signals. The wireless antenna  102  is in electrical communication with a wireless receiver/transmitter  104 , which is in electrical communication with a digital-to-analog converter  106 , which is in electrical communication with an amplifier  108 , which is in electrical communication with speakers  110  to output the received signal. Control panel  24  is in electrical communication with control sub-system microprocessor  112 , which is in electrical communication with the wireless receiver/transmitter  104 , the digital-to-analog converter  106 , and the amplifier  108 . The circuitry  100  further includes a power supply  114  to supply power to all of the circuit components. It is noted that digital components are shown but purely analog components could also be provided. 
         [0028]    Having thus described the disclosure in detail, it is to be understood that the foregoing description is not intended to limit the spirit or scope thereof. It will be understood that the embodiments of the present disclosure described herein are merely exemplary and that a person skilled in the art may make many variations and modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. All such variations and modifications, including those discussed above, are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.