Patent ID: 11917387
Assignee: APPLE INC.
Field: Audio-visual technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  B | IPC B  H

Claim 16:
17. A method, comprising:
applying a voltage to a corrugated microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) structure of a speaker, wherein the corrugated MEMS structure comprises a single contiguous structure that extends, in a first dimension, from a first edge to a second edge, that includes a plurality of alternating folds disposed between the first edge and the second edge, and that includes a plurality of MEMS electrodes each forming a part of the single contiguous structure, the part extending in a second dimension perpendicular to the first dimension between a corresponding pair of the plurality of alternating folds, and wherein the plurality of MEMS electrodes comprise a plurality of pairs of MEMS electrodes resiliently coupled together by corresponding ones of the alternating folds; and
deforming the corrugated MEMS structure in a breathing motion that generates pressure differentials above and below the corrugated MEMS structure to generate sound for the speaker by pushing together and pulling apart, by the applied voltage, each of the pairs of MEMS electrodes.