Patent ID: 7076070

Claim:
An active speaker comprising: a speaker with a monolithic integrated circuit operatively connected to the speaker for providing a power signal to drive the speaker, said monolithic integrated circuit for providing a class D amplifier function, said monolithic integrated circuit comprising a conditioning circuit having an input for receiving an audio input frequency signal and generating an output series of class D amplifier conditioning pulses representative of the amplitude and the frequency of the audio input signal, said output series of pulses having a frequency substantially greater than said audio frequency; a bridge driver circuit, formed from a first transistor type, having an input for receiving the output series of class D amplifier conditioning pulses and translating a voltage level of the pulses to a driver voltage level, and means for generating a power MOSFET gate driver signal comprising a series of output driver pulses having pulse widths proportional to the sampled audio signal and pulse amplitudes at the driver voltage level; and a bridge circuit comprising a plurality of power MOSFET devices of a second, different transistor type for receiving the output power driving pulses from the bridge driver circuit, means for applying the power driver pulses to the gates of the power MOSFETs to generate output power voltage pulses at a power voltage level.