Let’s refine that a little — Sound in general is air movement back and forth over a differential of physical space. We draw waves, where the X dimension represents distance (or time), but the Y dimension represents pressure, so it’s not like a wave on the surface of a lake. That pressure radiates from the source and disperses.
The good and the bad thing about a patent, is that for a patent to be valid they have to tell you what they are doing. So somewhere off in that mass of documents is the answer to what they are doing if you are able to read and decipher “patentese”. It’s a language all unto itself. There will also be some guess work necessary too.
I have not read any of the patents, but let me make a hypothesis on how this thing might be made to work. Sometimes i’m a good guesser, but good or bad i enjoy the adventure. My thought.
The area of a vibrating surface could be covered by an array of MEMS ( microelectromechanical system ) micro-valves for air, that can be opened and closed at perhaps 120 Hz or more. These micro-valves may even permit partial opening and closing. By having a valve open on an upward move and closed on a downward move you create a directional air pump.
Since this is intended to be used within a narrowed range of frequencies, and that the sound is either musical or vocal, and not random, the frequencies in this audio band at any particular moment will tend to be related in frequencies. The processor calculates the best frequency to vibrate the plate, to create the mixture of vibration in this band of frequencies.
By varying which of these micro-valves are open and which are closed and how much at various times on this surface, you can create in conglomeration more complex waveforms, that very closely match the incoming sound signal. The shape of these valves being open and close will likely relate to the nodes you might see on a vibrating plate like shown in this video :
You can rapidly change the vibration of the plate even in motion, while changing the pattern of open and closed micro-valves. There may likely be a large diameter short tube connected to this “speaker” to give a differential in space over which this air pressure differential is spaced. Since this in some ways is more like an air-pump with very fast changes in direction of air motion, it should be highly efficient, capable of higher volume from a smaller space.
With multiple speakers it is possible to sense their relative placement and the acoustics of the room or area in which they sit with their in-built microphones, and thereby adjust their outputs in order to most optimally create musical sound in that space. The separate speaker systems in themselves could all be thought of as air pressure creating elements, and the processors would calculate how best to coordinate their individual sound-motion to best be part of that space.
Just an idea.
