JPH066887A - Rotary speaker system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To miniaturize a rotary speaker by rotating a speaker unit. CONSTITUTION:The speaker unit 2 is installed on a rotary chamber 3, a rotary shaft 4 provided on this rotary chamber 3 is supported by a bearing 6 provided on a fixed chamber 5, and a circular arc-like gear 7a provided on the outer periphery 3a of the rotary chamber 3 is driven by a motor 8 through other circular gears 7b-7h. In this constitution, the motor 8 rotates the rotary chamber 3 to change the direction of the speaker unit 2. Thus, the speaker unit 2 is rotated, to the effect that the gear can be driven even by the motor which has relatively small torque and since the motor 8 and gears 7b-7h are arranged in the fixed chamber 5, so the overall size of the rotary speaker system 1 can be made relatively smaller.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary speaker device, among speaker devices mainly used for audiovisual reproduction devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the development of audiovisual devices has been remarkable, and particularly in sound reproduction, an electrical means such as a so-called surround system which takes a step further than the two-channel stereo to improve the realism, and the orientation and installation of the speaker are installed. Means such as changing the position are used.

Among these, as a technique for changing the direction of the speaker, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-6188 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-36698 (hereinafter referred to as Publication 1 or 2) is disclosed. ing. The publication 1 relates to a speaker device for rotating a speaker unit, and the publication 2 relates to a speaker device for rotating a speaker cabinet to which the speaker unit is attached.

Further, the rotary speaker is provided with a dedicated chamber (c
It is also known that the sound quality is improved by placing it in a room (hamber, room). FIG. 11 shows an example thereof. According to this figure, the speaker unit 100 is housed in the spherical chamber 101,
The recess 102 that fits into this spherical chamber is provided in the speaker cabinet 103, and the rotary chamber 104 provided in the speaker cabinet 103 pivotally supports the spherical chamber 101 to manually rotate the speaker unit 100.

[0005]

However, these speaker devices have relatively poor operability because the speaker unit is manually rotated in the example shown in Publication 1 and FIG. 11, and in Patent Publication 2, the motor is driven. In order to rotate the speaker unit together with the speaker cabinet, a relatively large driving device is required. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a rotary speaker device that facilitates the rotary operation of the speaker unit, can be rotated by a relatively small rotary device, and further has improved frequency characteristics.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a first semi-spherical shape having a speaker unit attached thereto.
A rotation chamber, a rotation shaft provided in the first rotation chamber, a first fixed chamber having a bearing for supporting the rotation shaft, and the rotation shaft on the outer periphery of the first rotation chamber. By providing an arcuate gear formed in a circular shape as a center, another gear meshing with the arcuate gear, and a gear rotating means for rotating the other gear, the first gear in the first fixed chamber is provided. One rotation chamber was configured to rotate.

The first rotation chamber has an opening communicating with the inside of the first fixed chamber, and is configured to rotate within a range in which at least a part of the opening is not exposed to the outside of the first fixed chamber. May be.

A second fixed chamber provided with an arcuate fixed gear, a second rotatable chamber rotatably provided in the second fixed chamber, and a speaker unit rotatably provided in the second rotatable chamber. Attached to the third rotation chamber, and an arcuate movable gear or the second movable gear provided in the third rotation chamber.
A switchable gear that selectively meshes with an arcuate fixed gear provided in the fixed chamber is provided, and the second or third rotating chamber is rotated by switching or rotating the switchable gear. Good.

A rotation direction display means for displaying the rotation direction of the first or third rotation chamber may be provided.

[0010]

The first rotating chamber rotates in the first fixed chamber, and the rotating chamber is rotated by the gear rotating means via the gear.

A first opening is provided that communicates with the first fixed chamber.
By providing the rotation chamber, the volume of the first chamber is substantially increased.

The range of rotation is widened by forming the rotation chamber in a dual structure and rotating the chambers separately.

By providing the turning direction display means, the turning direction can be visually confirmed and the operability is improved.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, the first embodiment of claim 1 will be described. In the rotary speaker device 1 shown in FIG. 1 or 2, the speaker unit 2 is attached to a substantially hemispherical first rotation chamber 3, and the first rotation chamber 3 has a rotation shaft 4.
The rotating shaft 4 is supported by a bearing 6 provided in the first fixed chamber 5. Further, the first rotation chamber 3 is provided with an arcuate gear 7a on the outer periphery 3a, and the rotation shaft 8a of the motor 8 as gear rotation means is provided via other circular gears 7b to 7h which mesh with the gear 7a. Connected with. With this configuration, when the motor 8 rotates, the first rotation chamber 3 rotates via the gears 7b to 7h and 7a, and the orientation of the speaker unit 2 changes. Since the speaker unit 2 is rotated by the motor 8 as described above, the operability is improved. Further, since only the speaker unit 2 is rotated, the motor 8 having a relatively small torque can be used. Further, since the first rotation chamber 3 is configured to rotate in the first fixed chamber 5a, the motor 8 can be housed in the first fixed chamber 5a, and the rotary speaker can be stored. It is easy to reduce the size of the device 1. Therefore, when the rotary speaker device 1 is attached to the speaker cabinet together with other speaker units, there is less restriction on the size. or,
Since the motor 8 is used as the drive source, it is possible to operate the remote controller from the outside.

Next, a second embodiment of claim 2 will be described. In the second embodiment, an opening is provided on the outer circumference of the rotating chamber in the first embodiment. That is, as shown in FIGS.
Is a speaker unit 12 and this speaker unit 1
A first fixed chamber 1 having a first rotating chamber 13 attached with 2 and having an opening 13b in a part of an outer periphery 13a thereof, and a bearing 15 for supporting a rotating shaft 14 provided in the chamber 13.
6 and a motor and gear drive unit 1 similar to the first embodiment.
7 and 7. Further, the opening 13b communicates with the inside 16a of the first fixed chamber. Further, the end portions 16b and 16c of the first fixed chamber 16 are formed in a hemispherical surface so as to be slidable with the substantially hemispherical outer peripheral surface 13a of the first rotation chamber 13. Therefore, the inside of the first fixed chamber 16a is substantially blocked from the outside by the sliding portion 18.

FIG. 5 shows the operation of the first rotation chamber 13. The upward direction in this figure represents the left direction when viewed from the speaker unit 12, and the downward direction represents the right direction when viewed from the speaker unit. The figure (A) shows the case where the said speaker unit 12 rotated a little to the left, the figure (B) shows the case where it faces to the front, and the figure (C) shows the case where it rotated a little to the right. That is, even when the first rotation chamber 13 rotates in either the left or right direction, at least the opening 13b is formed.
A motor (not shown) is appropriately controlled so that a part of the above is not exposed outside the first fixed chamber 16g. The control of this motor is performed by, for example, the sliding portion 18 of both chambers 13 and 16.
A pair of contacts (not shown) may be provided in the vicinity, and the motor may be stopped when the contacts are joined.

According to this structure, the inside of the rotation chamber 13f
The volume (volume) is added to the volume in the fixed chamber 16a through the opening 13b, and the volume can be substantially expanded. Therefore, even if the motor and the gear drive unit 17 are housed in the fixed chamber 16a, the volume of the chamber can be ensured to be relatively large, and the rotary speaker device 11 can be downsized as a whole. Further, since the added capacity of the chamber is always substantially constant, it is possible to reduce the change in sound quality due to the rotation of the rotation chamber 13.

Next, a third embodiment of claim 3 will be described. 6 to 9, the rotary speaker device 2 is shown.
1 is a second fixed chamber 2 provided with an arcuate fixed gear 22
3, a second rotation chamber 24 that is rotatably provided with the second fixed chamber 23, and a third rotation chamber that is attached with the second rotation chamber 24 and a speaker unit 25 that is rotatably provided. 26, a switchable gear 28 that selectively meshes with the arcuate movable gear 27 provided in the third rotation chamber 26 or the arcuate fixed gear 22 provided in the second fixed chamber 23, and this gear 28 is driven. The same motor and gear drive unit 30 as in the first embodiment are used.

With this configuration, when the switchable gear 28 meshes with the arcuate movable gear 27 in FIG.
The movable gear 27 rotates as the gear 28 rotates. Therefore, the third rotation chamber 26 provided with the movable gear 27 rotates. In this case, the rotation chamber 2
6 rotates about a rotating shaft 29. Next, when the switchable gear 28 meshes with the arcuate fixed gear 22,
Since the gear 22 is fixed to the second fixed chamber 23, when the switching gear 28 rotates, the second rotation chamber 24 in which the switching gear 28 is provided rotates. In this case, the rotation chamber 24 is the rotation shaft 2
It rotates about an axis perpendicular to the axial direction of 9. That is, the rotation chamber 26 is rotated in two directions by switching the switchable gear 28. Therefore, it is possible to orient the speaker unit 25 not only right and left but also in an oblique direction, and it becomes easy to orient the speaker unit in a desired direction even when the speaker device is replaced from vertical to horizontal, for example. Further, since the fixed chamber 23 is arranged outside the first fixed chamber 5 in the first embodiment, the structure is relatively simple, and the first embodiment is modified to modify the third embodiment. It is also possible to realize and it is suitable for cost reduction.

As the control means of the motor and gear drive section 30, for example, as shown in FIG. 10, a microcomputer 33 equipped with direction selection buttons 31 and 32 for selecting one of the two directions as an input device, and a microcomputer 33. , The switchable gear 28
And a plunger drive unit 35 for driving the plunger 34. When the user inputs a desired direction with the button, the microcomputer drives the motor and gear drive unit 30, and
The plunger drive unit 35 may be driven to rotate either of the two rotation chambers 24 and 26.

Next, a fourth embodiment according to claim 4 will be described. The fourth embodiment is a turning direction display means that can be provided in any of the first to third embodiments.
In the present embodiment, the case where the turning direction means is provided in the first embodiment will be described, but it can be provided in other embodiments as well. In FIG. 2, the first rotation chamber 3
The direction display windows 41 to 43 are provided below. Furthermore, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, 3 is behind the direction display windows 41 to 43.
One light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as LED) 44 to 46 is provided, and the lighting light of these LEDs 44 to 46 is transmitted to the outside through the display windows 41 to 43. That is, when the rotation chamber 3 is turned to the left, the LED 4
When the LED 4 is facing the same front, the LED 45 is turned on and when the LED 4 is facing the right, the LED 46 is turned on to inform the user of the direction of the speaker unit 2.

The lighting control of the LEDs 44 to 46 is performed by a microcomputer (not shown) which controls the drive of the motor 8. This microcomputer is, for example, substantially the same as the microcomputer 33 used in the third embodiment. That is, when the direction selection button connected to the input side of the microcomputer is pressed, the microcomputer drives the motor to direct the speaker unit to the left, for example, and the LED4
A signal for lighting 4 is output, and the LED 44 lights up.

If a remote control receiver for receiving an infrared remote control signal is connected to the input side of the microcomputer and a rotation control signal is transmitted to the remote control receiver by the remote control transmitter, the speaker unit is operated by the remote control. It is also possible to rotate.

In this embodiment, the first rotation chamber 3
Although the LEDs 44 to 46 are provided in the above, the LEDs 44 to 46 may be provided other than the chamber 3 on, for example, the speaker cabinet side to which the rotary speaker device 1 itself is attached. Needless to say, the number of LEDs is not limited to three, and an arbitrary number of LEDs may be displayed.
As the light emitting element, a light bulb such as a miniature ball may be used instead of the LEDs 44 to 46, or another light emitting element may be used.

Since the directions are displayed by the LEDs 44 to 46, it is easy to confirm the direction of the speaker unit when the direction of the speaker unit is changed in a dark room or when the direction of the speaker unit is changed by remote control operation. Therefore, the operability is improved.

[0026]

First, since the speaker unit is rotated, it is possible to use a small motor having a relatively small torque, and it is easy to downsize the rotating speaker device. Therefore, when this speaker device is housed in a speaker cabinet together with other speaker units, it is less likely to be restricted by the size.

Further, since the rotary chamber is provided with the opening, the volume of the rotary chamber can be substantially increased, and the opening is prevented from being exposed to the outside of the fixed chamber. When rotated, the substantial volume of the rotation chamber changes little. Therefore, it is substantially easy to reduce the size of the rotary speaker device, and the change in sound quality due to the rotation of the speaker unit can be reduced.

Further, by arranging the rotary chamber in a double manner and disposing the fixed chamber outside thereof, it is possible to change the direction of the speaker unit in an oblique direction. In particular, the speaker device is changed from vertical installation to horizontal installation. Even in such a case, it becomes easy to orient the speaker in a desired direction.

Further, by providing the turning direction indicating means of the speaker unit, the direction can be easily confirmed even when the remote control is operated from a dark place or a remote place, and the operability can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an internal configuration of a chamber of a rotary speaker device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an internal structure of a chamber of the second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the chamber with the speaker unit of the second embodiment removed.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a pivoting operation of the chamber of the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing an internal configuration of a chamber according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing the internal structure of the chamber of the third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a positional relationship of gears according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a direction control circuit according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional rotary speaker device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 11, 21 ... Rotating speaker device, 2, 12, 25
... Speaker units, 3, 13 ... First rotation chamber,
4, 14 ... Rotating shaft, 5, 16 ... First fixed chamber, 6,
15 ... Bearings, 7a, 22 ... Arc gears, 7b to 7h ... Other circular gears (gear rotating means), 8 ... Motors, 13a ...
Outer peripheral surface, 13b ... Opening portion, 16b, 16c ... End portion, 1
7, 30 ... Motor and gear drive unit, 23 ... Second fixed chamber, 24 ... Second rotation chamber, 26 ... Third rotation chamber, 27 ... Arc movable gear, 28 ... Switchable gear, 31,
32 ... Direction selection button, 33 ... Microcomputer (microcomputer), 41-43 ... Direction indication window (rotation direction display means), 44-46 ... Light emitting diode (LED, rotation direction display means).

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Takeshi Hirano, 3-12 Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (72) Kiyomi Okano, 3--12, Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Address: Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (72) Inventor, Junichi Yajima, 3-12 Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first fixing chamber having a substantially hemispherical first rotation chamber to which a speaker unit is attached, a rotation shaft provided in the first rotation chamber, and a bearing for supporting the rotation shaft. A chamber, an arcuate gear formed around the outer circumference of the first rotation chamber around the rotation axis, another gear meshing with the arcuate gear, and the other gear. A rotary speaker device, wherein the first rotary chamber is configured to rotate within the first fixed chamber by providing a gear rotating means. 2. The first rotation chamber has an opening communicating with the inside of the first fixed chamber, and at least a part of the opening is rotated within a range not exposed to the outside of the first fixed chamber. The rotary speaker device according to claim 1, wherein the rotary speaker device is configured. 3. A second fixed chamber provided with an arcuate fixed gear, a second rotary chamber rotatably provided in the second fixed chamber, and a second rotary chamber rotatably provided in the second rotary chamber. A third rotating chamber to which the speaker unit is attached, and a switchable gear that selectively meshes with the arcuate movable gear provided in the third rotating chamber or the arcuate fixed gear provided in the second fixed chamber. A rotary speaker device characterized in that the second or third rotary chamber is rotated by switching or rotating the switchable gear. 4. The rotary speaker device according to claim 1, further comprising a rotary direction display means for displaying a rotary direction of the first or third rotary chamber.