Steerable acoustic resonating transducer systems and methods

• Main Authors: Wood, Jr., Lowell L, Smith, Michael A, Duesterhoft, Paul, Kare, Jordin T, Leuthardt, Eric C, Bowers, Jeffrey A, Tegreene, Clarence T, Hawkins, Daniel, Jung, Edward K. Y, Myhrvold, Nathan P, Hyde, Roderick A
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 03.11.2020
• Subjects: ACOUSTICS; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; DEAF-AID SETS; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKEACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING,NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; PHYSICS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS; SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES

The present disclosure provides systems and methods associated with acoustic transmitters, receivers, and antennas. Specifically, the present disclosure provides a transducer system for transmitting and receiving acoustic energy according to a determined acoustic emission/reception pattern. In various embodiments, an acoustic transducer system may include an array of sub-wavelength transducer elements each configured with an electromagnetic resonance at one of a plurality of electromagnetic frequencies. Each sub-wavelength transducer element may generate an acoustic emission in response to the electromagnetic resonance. A beam-forming controller may cause electromagnetic energy to be transmitted at select electromagnetic frequencies to cause a select subset of the sub-wavelength transducer elements to generate acoustic emissions according to a selectable acoustic transmission pattern. A common port may facilitate electromagnetic communication with each of the sub-wavelength transducer elements.