According to a patent published
yesterday by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Apple is looking to
improve the performance of the speakerphones for iOS devices.
The patent reveals that Apple may change
the position of the speakerphones (which are currently at the bottom,
next to the dock connector) to improve its performance, even when the
iPhone or iPad is docked.
iPhone 4S
comes with improved speakerphones, probably to ensure that the
experience with Apple's personal assistant Siri is crystal clear, but as
you would expect, Apple looks to further improve performance of the
speakerphones for future iPhone and iPad models.
PatentlyApple explains:
Technically
speaking, Apple's invention relates to a speaker having a frame, a sound
radiating surface, and a suspension that couples the sound radiating
surface to the frame to allow substantially vertical movement of the
sound radiating surface relative to the frame. A horizontal former is
coupled to the sound radiating surface. The former extends substantially
horizontally outward of a peripheral portion of the sound radiating
surface, to a peripheral portion that is separate from the suspension. A
coil is coupled to the peripheral portion of the horizontal former.
This enables the mounting location of the coil to move further outward,
thereby substantially increasing the size or area that is spanned by the
coil. As a result, a larger coil and magnet assembly is realized, while
maintaining the same piston area of the sound radiating surface. This
enables the design of a speaker that has a relatively small piston area,
for use in relatively small back volume enclosures, but that may have
improved performance.
The patent is filled with technical
jargon and doesn't mention any specific benefits to consumers, but as we
mentioned earlier, the new position of the speakerphone could provide
superior sound, even when docked.
It is important to note that Apple's patent applications generally
reveals a very wide-range of possibilities but might never see the light
of day, though its always interesting to get a glimpse of Apple's
recent research effort.
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