Patent Description:
The present disclosure generally relates to an acoustic device, and particularly, to an acoustic device with a delivery mechanism.

Vibration speakers can convert electrical signals into mechanical vibration signals, and transmit the mechanical vibration signals to a user through human tissues and/or bones so that the user can hear sounds. Generally, when a vibration speaker outputs low-frequency vibration signals to the user via a direct contact with the user, the user may feel a strong sense of vibration, which may cause an uncomfortable experience to the user. It is desirable to provide vibration speakers that have abundant low-frequency signals and can also improve user experience.

The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present disclosure and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments shown but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the claims.

It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," and/or "including" when used in this disclosure, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

These and other features, and characteristics of the present disclosure, as well as the methods of operations and functions of the related elements of structure and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, may become more apparent upon consideration of the following description with reference to the accompanying drawing(s), all of which form part of this specification. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawing(s) is for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

It will be understood that, although the terms "first," "second," "third," etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

Spatial and functional relationships between elements are described using various terms, including "connected," "attached," and "mounted. " Unless explicitly described as being "direct," when a relationship between first and second elements is described in the present disclosure, that relationship includes a direct relationship where no other intervening elements are present between the first and second elements, and also an indirect relationship where one or more intervening elements are present (either spatially or functionally) between the first and second elements. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly" connected, attached, or positioned to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., "between," versus "directly between," "adjacent," versus "directly adjacent").

It should also be understood that terms such as "top," "bottom," "upper," "lower," "vertical," "lateral," "above," "below," "upward(s)," "downward(s)," "left-hand side," "right-hand side," "left," "right," "horizontal," and other such spatial reference terms are used in a relative sense to describe the positions or orientations of certain surfaces/parts/components of the acoustic device with respect to other such features of the acoustic device when the acoustic device is in a normal operating position and may change if the position or orientation of the acoustic device changes.

An aspect of the present disclosure relates to an acoustic device. The acoustic device includes a vibration speaker, a delivery mechanism, and a support component. The vibration speaker is configured to produce a vibration signal representing a sound according to an electrical signal. The delivery mechanism is mechanically connected to the vibration speaker. The delivery mechanism is configured to contact a user via a contact portion on the delivery mechanism and deliver the vibration signal to the user via the contact portion. The contact portion on the delivery mechanism is at a distance from the vibration speaker and has a less vibration intensity than that of the vibration speaker. The support component is mechanically connected to the vibration speaker via the delivery mechanism. The support component is configured to support the delivery mechanism.

In some embodiments outside the subject-matter of the claims, a contact area between the contact portion of the delivery mechanism and the user may change in response to the vibration signal. During a vibration signal delivering process, when the vibration speaker vibrates toward the user, the contact area between the contact portion of the delivery mechanism and the user (or user's skin) can be decreased gradually, which is smaller than a contact area when the vibration speaker directly contacts the user normally, thereby further reducing the vibration sensation of the user. In addition, since the contact portion of the delivery mechanism has a less vibration intensity than that of the vibration speaker, the vibration intensity of the vibration signal delivered to the user by the delivery mechanism may be reduced, thereby further reducing the vibration sensation of the user.

The delivery mechanism is an elastic element with an arc portion, thus the contact area between the contact portion of the delivery mechanism and the user may not change (or substantially not change) in response to the vibration signal. During a vibration signal delivering process, when the vibration speaker vibrates toward the user, part of the vibration signal generated by the vibration speaker can be converted into elastic deformation of the elastic element. Thus, the vibration sensation of the user may be smaller than a vibration sensation of the user in which the vibration speaker directly contacts the user.

Moreover, the vibration speaker may be arranged such that a surface of the vibration speaker faces an ear canal of the user. In this way, when the vibration speaker vibrates toward the user, the vibration speaker can drive the air around the vibration speaker to vibrate and transmit sound signal(s) to the user through the air, thereby enhancing sound intensity delivered to the user. As a result, the vibration speaker can be designed to provide deeper low-frequency signals such that the sound energy at the low-frequency range gets more abundant, thereby strengthening the feeling of users for sound (e.g., music) in low-frequency signals and allowing the users to feel more low-frequency effects.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary acoustic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the acoustic device <NUM> may be an acoustic device of an electronic device, such as an earphone, a headphone, a virtual reality glasses, an augmented reality glasses, etc. As illustrated in <FIG>, the acoustic device <NUM> includes a vibration speaker <NUM>, a delivery mechanism <NUM>, and a support component <NUM>. The vibration speaker <NUM> is connected to the support component <NUM> via the delivery mechanism <NUM>.

The vibration speaker <NUM> is configured to produce vibration signal(s) representing a sound according to electrical signal(s). The electrical signal(s) may contain sound information. The sound information may refer to a video file or an audio file with a specific data format, and may also refer to general data or a file which may be converted to sound through specific approaches eventually. The electrical signal(s) may be received from a signal source such as a microphone, a computer, a mobile phone, an MP3 player, etc. For example, a microphone may receive sound signal(s) from a sound source. Then the microphone may convert the received sound signal(s) into the electrical signal(s) and transmit the electrical signal(s) to the vibration speaker <NUM>. As another example, the vibration speaker <NUM> may be connected to or communicated with an MP3 player, the MP3 player may directly transmit the electrical signal(s) to the vibration speaker <NUM>. In some embodiments, the vibration speaker <NUM> may be connected to and/or communicated with the signal source via a wired connection, a wireless connection, or a combination thereof. The wired connection may include, for example, an electrical cable, an optical cable, a telephone wire, or the like, or any combination thereof. The wireless connection may include a Bluetooth™ network, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN)), a near field communication (NFC) network, a ZigBee™ network, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the vibration speaker <NUM> may be a bone conduction speaker. In some embodiments, the vibration speaker <NUM> may be a composite speaker. In such cases, the vibration speaker <NUM> may produce bone conduction waves and air conduction waves that can both be perceived by the user wearing it. It should be noted that the vibration speaker <NUM> may be of various types, such as an electromagnetic type (e.g., a moving-coil type, a moving-iron type, etc.), a piezoelectric type, an inversed piezoelectric type, an electrostatic type, etc., which is not limited in the present disclosure.

The delivery mechanism <NUM> is mechanically connected to the vibration speaker <NUM>. Thus, the delivery mechanism <NUM> may receive the vibration signal(s) from the vibration speaker <NUM>. When the acoustic device <NUM> is worn on a user, an angle between the delivery mechanism <NUM> and the user may be formed. As used herein, the angle between the delivery mechanism <NUM> and the user refers to an angle between the long axis of the delivery mechanism <NUM> and a plane where the user's skin is located. In some embodiments, the angle may be in an angle range from <NUM> to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, etc..

The delivery mechanism <NUM> is configured to contact a user via a contact portion on the delivery mechanism <NUM> and deliver the received vibration signal(s) to the user via the contact portion. In some embodiments, a contact area between the delivery mechanism <NUM> and the user (e.g., user's skin) may change in response to the vibration signal(s). In some embodiments, a region of the user's body that the contact portion on the delivery mechanism <NUM> is positioned at and/or contacted with may include the forehead, the neck (e.g., the throat), the face (e.g., an area around the mouth, the chin), the top of the head, a mastoid, an area around an ear, a temple, or the like, or any combination thereof.

The contact portion on the delivery mechanism <NUM> is at a distance from the vibration speaker <NUM>. The vibration speaker <NUM> may vibrate around a rotation axis near the contact portion of the delivery mechanism <NUM>. In such cases, the contact portion on the delivery mechanism <NUM> may be closer to the rotation axis than that of the vibration speaker <NUM>. Thus, the contact portion on the delivery mechanism <NUM> has a less vibration intensity than that of the vibration speaker <NUM>, thereby reducing the vibration transmitted to the user. The delivery mechanism <NUM> includes an elastic element having at least one arc potion. The contact portion of the delivery mechanism <NUM> may be on the convex part of the at least one arc portion. The vibration speaker <NUM> may vibrate around the contact potion in response to the vibration signal(s). More descriptions about the arc potion may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., <FIG> and the descriptions thereof). As another example, the delivery mechanism <NUM> may include a connection unit, a vibration plate, and an elastic element. The vibration speaker <NUM> may be disposed on an upper surface of the connection unit and the vibration plate may be connected to one end of the connection unit. The contact portion of the delivery mechanism <NUM> may be on the vibration plate. The support component <NUM> may be connected to the connection unit or the vibration plate via the elastic element. The vibration speaker <NUM> may vibrate around a connection point between the support component <NUM> and the elastic element in response to the vibration signal(s). More descriptions about the delivery mechanism with a connection unit, a vibration plate, and an elastic element may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., <FIG> and the descriptions thereof).

In some embodiments, the contact portion of the delivery mechanism <NUM> may be positioned at a region around the ear, in which the vibration speaker <NUM> can be arranged such that a surface of the vibration speaker <NUM> faces an ear canal of the user. In this way, when the vibration speaker vibrates, the vibration speaker <NUM> may drive the air around the vibration speaker to vibrate and produce air conduction waves. The air conduction waves may be transmitted to the ear through air, thereby enhancing sound intensity delivered to the user. Accordingly, the user may not only hear the bone conduction waves generated by the vibration of the contact portion of the delivery mechanism <NUM>, but also hear the air conduction waves generated by the vibration speaker <NUM> driving the surrounding air.

In some alternative embodiments, the housing of the vibration speaker <NUM> may include one or more openings at, e.g., the sidewall of the housing, or the side facing the ear canal of the user. In this way, when the vibration speaker <NUM> vibrates, air conduction waves generated inside the housing of the vibration speaker <NUM> (e.g., by the vibration of a vibration component inside the housing) may be transmitted outside the housing through the one or more openings and further transmitted to the user's ear. In some embodiments, the one or more openings of the vibration speaker <NUM> can be arranged toward the ear canal of the user when the user wears the acoustic device <NUM>. Accordingly, the user may further hear the air conduction waves transmitted by the one or more openings of the vibration speaker <NUM>, thereby enhancing the sound intensity heard by the user.

The support component <NUM> is mechanically connected to the vibration speaker <NUM> via the delivery mechanism <NUM>. The support component <NUM> may be configured to support the delivery mechanism <NUM> and/or the vibration speaker <NUM> so that the delivery mechanism <NUM> can contact the user's skin.

In some embodiments, the support component <NUM> may include a fixing portion which allows the acoustic device <NUM> to be better fixed on the user, and prevent falling off during use by the user. In some embodiments, the fixing portion may have any shape suitable for a part (e.g., the ear, the head, the neck) of human body, for example, a U-shape, a C-shape, a circular ring shape, an ellipse shape, a semi-circular shape, etc., so that the acoustic device <NUM> may be independently worn on the user's body. For example, the shape of the fixing portion of the support component <NUM> may match the shape of the human auricle, so that the acoustic device <NUM> can be independently worn on the user's ear. As another example, the shape of the fixing portion of the support component <NUM> may match the shape of the human head, so that the support component <NUM> can be hung on the user's head, which prevents the acoustic device <NUM> from falling off easily.

In some embodiments, the support component <NUM> may be a shell structure with a hollow interior. The hollow interior may hold a battery, a circuit board, a Bluetooth device, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the support component <NUM> may be made of various materials such as metal materials (e.g., aluminum, gold, copper, etc.), alloy materials (e.g., aluminum alloys, titanium alloys, etc.), plastic materials (e.g., polyethylene, polypropylene, epoxy resin, nylon, etc.), fiber materials (e.g., acetate fiber, propionic acid fiber, carbon fiber, etc.), etc. In some embodiments, the support component <NUM> may be provided with a sheath. The sheath may be made of soft materials with certain elasticity, such as soft silica gel, rubber, etc. which can provide better touch for users.

It should be noted that the above descriptions of the acoustic device <NUM> is merely provided for the purposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art, multiple variations and modifications may be made under the teachings of the present disclosure. However, those variations and modifications do not depart from the scope of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the connection between any two components (e.g., the vibration speaker <NUM>, the delivery mechanism <NUM>, and the support component <NUM>) of the acoustic device <NUM> may include bonding, riveting, thread connection, integral forming, suction connection, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the acoustic device <NUM> may further include an auxiliary support component configured to assist the support component <NUM> to support the vibration speaker <NUM> by contacting the user. The auxiliary support component may have a rod-like structure and an end of the auxiliary support component may be directly connected to the vibration speaker <NUM>. Accordingly, when the user wears the acoustic device <NUM>, the auxiliary support component may be in contact with the user and the vibration speaker <NUM> such that the vibration speaker <NUM> can transmit a portion of the vibration signal(s) to the user through the auxiliary support component, thereby further enhancing the sound intensity heard by the user.

<FIG> shows exemplary images associated with a process of an exemplary acoustic device delivering vibration signal(s) to a user according to some embodiments outside the subject-matter of the claims. As shown in <FIG> (e.g., image 2a), an acoustic device <NUM> includes a vibration speaker <NUM>, a delivery mechanism <NUM> (components in dotted frame <NUM>), and a support component <NUM>.

The vibration speaker <NUM> is connected to the support component <NUM> via the delivery mechanism <NUM>. The vibration speaker <NUM> generates vibration signal(s) representing a sound according to electrical signal(s). Merely by way of example, the vibration speaker <NUM> may include a magnetic circuit component, a vibration component, and a housing. The magnetic circuit component may be configured to provide a magnetic field. The vibration component may convert an electrical signal inputted into the vibration component to a mechanical vibration signal in the magnetic field. The housing may include a panel facing a human body side and a back opposite to the panel. The housing may accommodate the vibration component. In some embodiments, the vibration component may cause the panel and the back to vibrate. The vibration speaker <NUM> may provide various resonance peaks. In some embodiments, the vibration speaker <NUM> may provide one or more low-frequency resonance peaks in the frequency range of less than <NUM>, or in the frequency range of less than <NUM>, or in the frequency range of less than <NUM>. The low-frequency resonance peak(s) may be related to the elastic moduli of the vibration component. The less the elastic moduli of the vibration component, the lower the low-frequency resonance peak of the vibration speaker <NUM> may be.

The delivery mechanism <NUM> may deliver the vibration signal(s) to a user (e.g., the user's cochlea) by contacting the user. In some embodiments, the delivery mechanism <NUM> may include a connection unit <NUM>, a vibration plate <NUM>, and an elastic element <NUM>. A contact portion on the delivery mechanism <NUM> that contacts the user may be on the vibration plate <NUM>.

In some embodiments, the connection unit <NUM> may be a structure having two ends (e.g., a first end E1 and a second end E2). For example, the connection unit <NUM> may be a rod-like structure, a sheet-like structure, etc., having two ends. The vibration speaker <NUM> may be connected to the vibration plate <NUM> via the connection unit <NUM>. For example, a sidewall (e.g., the lower sidewall) of the vibration speaker <NUM> may be connected to a side wall (e.g., the upper sidewall) of the connection unit <NUM>. Optionally, the vibration speaker <NUM> may be disposed on the upper side or connected to the first end E1 of the connection unit <NUM>. For example, when the connection unit <NUM> is a rectangular rod, the vibration speaker <NUM> may be disposed on the upper sidewall of the connection unit <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG>. For brevity, the upper side of the connection unit <NUM> refers to the side of the connection unit <NUM> that faces away from the user's skin, and the lower side of the connection unit <NUM> refers to the side of the connection unit <NUM> that faces towards the user's skin. Similarly, the upper side of the vibration speaker <NUM> refers to the side of the vibration speaker <NUM> that faces away from the user's skin, and the lower side of the vibration speaker <NUM> refers to the side of the vibration speaker <NUM> that faces towards the user's skin. In some embodiments, when the connection unit <NUM> is a rod structure, a cross-section of the rod may be of any other shape, such as a rectangle, a triangle, a circle, an ellipse, a regular hexagon, an irregular shape, etc. In some embodiments, when the connection unit <NUM> is a sheet, the shape of the sheet may include a rectangle, an ellipse, an irregular shape, etc..

The vibration plate <NUM> may be connected to the lower side of the connection unit <NUM> at the second end E2. The vibration plate <NUM>, as well as the contact portion on the delivery mechanism <NUM>, may be at a distance from the vibration speaker <NUM>. The vibration plate <NUM> may be configured to contact the user (as illustrated in <FIG>, the dotted line <NUM> may be roughly regarded as the skin of the user) to deliver the vibration signal(s) to the user. In some embodiments, the vibration plate <NUM> may be a block such as a wedge-shaped block, which may allow or cause the vibration speaker <NUM> to be suspended above the skin of the user, thus forming an angle (e.g., θ in image 2a of <FIG>) between the upper surface or lower surface of the connection unit <NUM> and the surface of the user's skin. In some embodiments, the angle between the upper surface or lower surface of the connection unit <NUM> and the surface of the user's skin may be in a range from <NUM> to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, etc. In some embodiments, the angle between the upper surface or lower surface of the connection unit <NUM> and the surface of the user's skin may also be referred to as an angle between the delivery mechanism <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> (or a plane where the user's skin is located).

The elastic element <NUM> and the vibration plate <NUM> may be located on the same end of the connection unit <NUM>, i.e., the elastic element <NUM> may also be connected to the second end E2 of the connection unit <NUM>. An upper surface of the vibration plate <NUM> may be provided with a convex structure <NUM> (as illustrated in <FIG>). Two ends of the elastic element <NUM> may be respectively connected to the convex structure <NUM> and the second end E2 of the connection unit <NUM>. In some embodiments, the elastic element <NUM> may be a sheet-like structure or a rod-like structure with a certain elasticity.

A first end of the support component <NUM> may be connected with the elastic element <NUM> at any point (e.g., a center point) of the elastic element <NUM>. In some embodiments, the first end of the support component <NUM> may be connected to the elastic element <NUM> directly or via a connection element <NUM>. For example, the first end of the support component <NUM> may be connected to the center of the elastic element <NUM> directly or via the connection element <NUM>. When the acoustic device <NUM> is fixedly worn on the user, the support component <NUM> may be regarded as to be stationary with respect to the user, and in such cases, the vibration speaker <NUM> may drive the connection unit <NUM> and the vibration plate <NUM> to rotate around a specific connection point <NUM> (e.g., the center point of the elastic element <NUM>) between the support component <NUM> and the elastic element <NUM> in response to the vibration signal(s).

According to images 2a and 2b in <FIG>, image 2a represents an initial state of the acoustic device <NUM> during a vibration signal delivering process, and image 2b represents an intermediate state of the acoustic device <NUM> during the vibration signal delivering process. Arrow A denotes a vibration direction of the vibration speaker <NUM> and the length of the arrow A denotes the vibration intensity.

When the acoustic device <NUM> is in the initial state (image 2a), the angle between the delivery mechanism <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> has a value equal to θ, and at this time, a contact area between the vibration plate <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> is the largest in the vibration signal delivering process. When the acoustic device <NUM> is in the intermediate state (image 2b), an angle between the delivery mechanism <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> may be smaller than the angle between the delivery mechanism <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> in the initial state of the acoustic device <NUM>. Accordingly, a contact area between the delivery mechanism <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> may change in response to the vibration signal(s). For example, during a process that the vibration speaker <NUM> vibrates around the specific connection point <NUM> towards the user's skin <NUM>, the angle between the delivery mechanism <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> may decrease gradually (i.e., θ' < θ in image 2b). In such cases, a contact area between the vibration plate <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> in the intermediate state of the acoustic device <NUM> may be less than a contact area between the vibration plate <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> in the initial state of the acoustic device <NUM>. As a result, during the process that the vibration speaker <NUM> delivering vibration signal(s) to the user, the vibration sensation of the user may be reduced.

Moreover, since the vibration plate <NUM> is at a distance from the vibration speaker <NUM>, and a distance from the vibration plate <NUM> to the specific connection point <NUM> is smaller than a distance from the vibration speaker <NUM> to the specific connection point <NUM>, during the vibration signal delivering process, the vibration plate <NUM> may have a less vibration intensity than that of the vibration speaker <NUM>, thereby further reducing the vibration sensation of the user. Merely by way of example, arrow B denotes the vibration of a point on the contact portion and the length of the arrow B denotes the vibration intensity of the point. Since the perpendicular distance from the specific connection point <NUM> to arrow B is less than the perpendicular distance from the specific connection point <NUM> to arrow A, the vibration intensity of arrow A (i.e., the length of arrow A) may be greater than the vibration intensity of arrow B (i.e., the length of arrow B).

Accordingly, by using the delivery mechanism <NUM>, the vibration originating from the vibration speaker <NUM> may be reduced, protecting the user from uncomfortable vibration sensation in a low-frequency range. On this basis, the frequency response of the vibration speaker <NUM> can be more flexibly designed to adapt to different needs. For example, the lowest resonance peak of the vibration speaker <NUM> may be moved to a lower frequency range to provide more abundant low-frequency signals to the user. As described above, the lowest resonance peak of the vibration speaker <NUM> may be adjusted by changing the elastic moduli of the vibration component of the vibration speaker <NUM>. In some embodiments, the elastic moduli of the vibration component of the vibration speaker <NUM> may be designed such that the lowest resonance peak of the vibration speaker <NUM> may be less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>.

It should be noted that the above description is merely provided for the purposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art, multiple variations and modifications may be made under the teachings of the present disclosure. However, those variations and modifications do not depart from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the vibration speaker <NUM> may be connected to the vibration plate <NUM> directly, i.e., the connection unit <NUM> may be omitted. In such cases, the elastic element <NUM> may be directly connected to the vibration speaker <NUM>. As another example, the acoustic device <NUM> may further include one or more additional components, such as an auxiliary support component (not shown). As still an example, the contact portion of the delivery mechanism <NUM> may be positioned at a region around the ear, in which the vibration speaker <NUM> can be arranged such that a surface of the vibration speaker <NUM> can face an ear canal of the user to better transmit air conduction waves to the ear. In some embodiments, the connection between any two components (e.g., the vibration speaker <NUM>, the connection unit <NUM>, the vibration plate <NUM>, the support component <NUM>, etc.) of the acoustic device <NUM> may include bonding, riveting, thread connection, integral forming, suction connection, or the like, or any combination thereof.

<FIG> shows exemplary images associated with a process of an exemplary acoustic device delivering vibration signal(s) to a user according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in <FIG>, an acoustic device <NUM> may be similar to the acoustic device <NUM> illustrated in <FIG>. The acoustic device <NUM> includes a vibration speaker <NUM>, a delivery mechanism <NUM>, and a support component <NUM>.

The vibration speaker <NUM> is connected to the support component <NUM> via the delivery mechanism <NUM>. The vibration speaker <NUM> generates vibration signal(s) representing a sound according to electrical signal(s). The vibration speaker <NUM> may be similar to or same as the vibration speaker <NUM> illustrated in <FIG>.

The delivery mechanism <NUM> includes an elastic element. The elastic element may include a connection portion <NUM> and an arc portion <NUM>, wherein a first end of the connection portion <NUM> is connected to a first end E3 of the arc portion <NUM>. In some embodiments, the elastic element (e.g., the connection portion <NUM> and/or the arc portion <NUM>) may be made of various elastic materials such as metal materials (e.g., aluminum, gold, copper, etc.), alloy materials (e.g., aluminum alloys, titanium alloys, etc.), plastic materials (e.g., polyethylene, polypropylene, epoxy resin, nylon, etc.), fiber materials (e.g., acetate fiber, propionic acid fiber, carbon fiber, etc.), etc..

The vibration speaker <NUM> may be mechanically connected to the connection portion <NUM>. For example, when the connection portion <NUM> is a sheet-like structure, the vibration speaker <NUM> may be disposed on an upper surface of the connection portion <NUM>. As another example, when the connection portion <NUM> is a rod-like structure, the vibration speaker <NUM> may be disposed on an upper surface of the connection portion <NUM>, or a sidewall of the vibration speaker <NUM> may be connected to a second end of the connection portion <NUM>.

The convex part of the arc portion <NUM> may be configured to contact with the user's skin <NUM>, thus the vibration speaker <NUM> can deliver the vibration signal(s) to the user through the delivery mechanism <NUM>. In such cases, a contact area between the arc portion <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> may be smaller than that of the contact portion of the delivery mechanism <NUM> illustrated in <FIG>. The contact area between the delivery mechanism <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> may be almost unchanged in response to the vibration signal(s). The vibration speaker <NUM> may be suspended on the skin of the user and an angle (e.g., α in image 3a of <FIG>) between the connection portion <NUM> and the surface of the user's skin <NUM> may be formed. In some embodiments, the angle between the connection portion <NUM> and the surface of the user's skin <NUM> may be in a range from <NUM> to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, or from <NUM>° to <NUM>°, etc. In some embodiments, the angle between the connection portion <NUM> and the surface of the user's skin <NUM> may also be referred to as an angle between the delivery mechanism <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> (or a plane where the user's skin is located).

In some embodiments, the convex part of the arc portion <NUM> that contacts with the user's skin <NUM> may also be referred to as a contact portion <NUM> of the delivery mechanism <NUM>. The contact portion <NUM> on the delivery mechanism <NUM> may be at a distance from the vibration speaker <NUM>. A second end E4 of the arc portion <NUM> may be connected with one end of the support component <NUM>. When the acoustic device <NUM> is fixedly worn on the user, the support component <NUM> may be regarded as to be stationary with respect to the user, and in such cases, the vibration speaker <NUM> may drive the delivery mechanism <NUM> (i.e., the elastic element connection portion <NUM> and the arc portion <NUM>) to vibrate or rotate around the contact portion <NUM> in response to the vibration signal(s). In some embodiments, the second end E4 of the arc portion <NUM> may be connected to the support component <NUM> via a connection element <NUM>.

According to images 3a and 3b in <FIG>, image 3a represents an initial state of the acoustic device <NUM> during a vibration signal delivering process, and image 3b represents an intermediate state of the acoustic device <NUM> during the vibration signal delivering process. Arrow B denotes a vibration direction of the vibration speaker <NUM> and the length of the arrow B denotes the vibration intensity.

During the vibration signal delivering process, since a contact area between the arc portion <NUM> and the user's skin <NUM> is very small, and the vibration signal(s) generated by the vibration speaker <NUM> is partially converted into the elastic deformation of the delivery mechanism <NUM> (e.g., the connection portion <NUM> and/or the arc portion <NUM>), the vibration sensation of the user may be reduced compared to the vibration sensation of the user when the vibration speaker <NUM> directly contacts the user's skin <NUM>.

Moreover, since the contact portion <NUM> is at a distance from the vibration speaker <NUM>, during the vibration signal delivering process, the contact portion <NUM> has a less vibration intensity than that of the vibration speaker <NUM>, thereby further reducing the vibration sensation of the user. Merely by way of example, arrow B denotes the vibration of a point near the contact portion <NUM> and the length of the arrow B denotes the vibration intensity of the point. Since the perpendicular distance from the contact portion <NUM> to arrow B is less than the perpendicular distance from the contact portion <NUM> to arrow A, the vibration intensity of arrow A (i.e., the length of arrow A) may be greater than the vibration intensity of arrow B (i.e., the length of arrow B).

Accordingly, by using the delivery mechanism <NUM>, the vibration originating from the vibration speaker <NUM> may be reduced, protecting the user from uncomfortable vibration sensation in a low-frequency range. On this basis, the frequency response of the vibration speaker <NUM> can be more flexibly designed to adapt to different needs. For example, the lowest resonance peak of the vibration speaker <NUM> may be moved to a lower frequency range to provide more abundant low-frequency signals to the user. As described above, the lowest resonance peak of the vibration speaker <NUM> may be adjusted by changing the elastic moduli of a vibration component of the vibration speaker <NUM>. In some embodiments, the elastic moduli of the vibration component of the vibration speaker <NUM> may be designed such that the lowest resonance peak of the vibration speaker <NUM> may be less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>, or less than <NUM>.

Merely for illustration purposes, only one elastic element is described in the acoustic device <NUM>. However, it should be noted that the acoustic device <NUM> in the present disclosure may also include multiple elastic elements, and thus the vibration signal(s) may also be jointly delivered by the multiple elastic elements. In some embodiments, the elastic element <NUM> may include multiple arc portions and thus the vibration signal(s) may also be jointly delivered by the multiple arc portions. For example, the multiple arc portions may be arranged side by side.

It should be noted that the above description is merely provided for the purposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art, multiple variations and modifications may be made under the teachings of the present disclosure. However, those variations and modifications do not depart from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the arc portion <NUM> may be connected to the vibration speaker <NUM> directly, i.e., the connection portion <NUM> may be omitted. As another example, the acoustic device <NUM> may further include one or more additional components, such as an auxiliary support component (not shown). As still another example, the contact portion <NUM> of the delivery mechanism <NUM> may be positioned at a region around the ear, in which the vibration speaker <NUM> can be arranged such that a surface of the vibration speaker <NUM> can face an ear canal of the user to better transmit air conduction waves to the ear. In some embodiments, the connection between any two components (e.g., the vibration speaker <NUM>, the arc portion <NUM>, the connection portion <NUM>, the support component <NUM>, etc.) of the acoustic device <NUM> may include bonding, riveting, thread connection, integral forming, suction connection, or the like, or any combination thereof.

Having thus described the basic concepts, it may be rather apparent to those skilled in the art after reading this detailed disclosure that the foregoing detailed disclosure is intended to be presented by way of example only and is not limiting. Various alterations, improvements, and modifications may occur and are intended to those skilled in the art, though not expressly stated herein. These alterations, improvements, and modifications are intended to be suggested by this disclosure and are within the scope of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure.

Therefore, it is emphasized and should be appreciated that two or more references to "an embodiment," "one embodiment," or "an alternative embodiment" in various portions of this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented entirely hardware, entirely software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or combining software and hardware implementation that may all generally be referred to herein as a "block," "module," "engine," "unit," "component," or "system.

In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider) or in a cloud computing environment or offered as a service such as a software as a service (SaaS).

Furthermore, the recited order of processing elements or sequences, or the use of numbers, letters, or other designations, therefore, is not intended to limit the claimed processes and methods to any order except as may be specified in the claims. Although the above disclosure discusses through various examples what is currently considered to be a variety of useful embodiments of the disclosure, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose, and that the appended claims are not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, are intended to cover modifications and equivalent arrangements that are within the scope of the claims. For example, although the implementation of various components described above may be embodied in a hardware device, it may also be implemented as a software-only solution-e.g., an installation on an existing server or mobile device.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the foregoing description of embodiments of the present disclosure, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various embodiments. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed subject matter requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, claimed subject matter may lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment.

In some embodiments, the numbers expressing quantities or properties used to describe and claim certain embodiments of the application are to be understood as being modified in some instances by the term "about," "approximate," or "substantially. " In some embodiments, the numerical parameters should be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques. Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of some embodiments of the application are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as practicable.

Claim 1:
An acoustic device (<NUM>), comprising:
a vibration speaker (<NUM>) configured to produce a vibration signal representing a sound according to an electrical signal;
a delivery mechanism (<NUM>) mechanically connected to the vibration speaker (<NUM>), the delivery mechanism (<NUM>) being configured to contact a user via a contact portion (<NUM>) on the delivery mechanism (<NUM>), and deliver the vibration signal to the user via the contact portion (<NUM>), the contact portion (<NUM>) on the delivery mechanism (<NUM>) being at a distance from the vibration speaker (<NUM>) and having a less vibration intensity than that of the vibration speaker (<NUM>); and
a support component (<NUM>) mechanically connected to the vibration speaker (<NUM>) via the delivery mechanism (<NUM>), the support component (<NUM>) being configured to support the delivery mechanism (<NUM>);
characterized in that,
the delivery mechanism (<NUM>) includes an elastic element, and the elastic element includes at least one arc portion (<NUM>).